Mt. Edgecumbe, a dormant volcano on Kruzof Island, is a landmark on Sitka’s seaward horizon.
The 3,201-foot volcano, known to the Tlingits as L’ux for thousands of years, was named Mt. Edgecumbe in 1778 by British Captain James Cook, most likely in honor of a British earl or after a hill overlooking Plymouth Harbor, England. Earlier, in 1775, Spanish explorer Juan de la Bodega had named it Montana de San Jacinto.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates volcanic activity began on Kruzof Island about 600,000 years ago, and reached the peak of its activity shortly after the last glaciers receded from the area between 12,000 and 14,000 years ago. The Alaska Volcanic Observatory in May 2022 put a seismometer and GPS on the island to better monitor activity.
There was a more recent “eruption” of Mt. Edgecumbe. On April 1, 1974, local prankster Oliver “Porky” Bickar and cohorts hired a helicopter to lower a pile of old tires into the crater and had them lit on fire. Around the volcano rim “April Fool” was spray painted in 50-foot letters.
