White Mountain began as an Eskimo fishing camp. The natural resources of the Niukluk and the Fish Rivers supplied water and fish for the people who settled there. The community grew because many miners came during the Klondike Gold Rush. The first building built by non-native people was a warehouse built by a miner to store supplies. It then became an orphanage, which became a school in 1926. A Russian Orthodox Church was built about 1920, which is no longer used but still standing. A post office was opened in 1932.