SITKA Administrative History

Chapter 2:
SITKA -- HISTORICAL OVERVIEW (continued)

The Tlingits, the most northerly of the Northwest Coast Indians, occupied southeast Alaska possibly 10,000 years ago. Most archeologists believe that the Tlingits moved from the interior of today's Alaska and British Columbia to southeast Alaska. They followed the Nass, Stikine, and Taku rivers to their mouths, then fanned out to occupy the many islands. Although archeologists do not know for certain that Tlingits occupied it, a site on Baranof Island named Hidden Falls has been found. People lived there 8,000 years ago. When Tlingits first came to Sitka Sound is not known, but the Kiksadi Tlingits oral history indicates that they had a permanent village there for a number of years before Euro- Americans arrived. [58]

Because the Coast Mountains come right to the water's edge on Baranof Island, the large Tlingit winter village at Sitka stood on the beach. Fish, shellfish, and land animals were abundant in the area. This largess, combined with the moderate maritime climate, allowed the people to hunt and gather food relatively easily year-round. In late March the people began sea fishing for halibut and cod, and freshwater fishing for Dolly Varden. In early April, they gathered herring. Later that month, sea mammals migrating north passed through southeast Alaska waters. The Sitka Tlingits hunted sea otters, hair seal, fur seal, sea lion, and porpoise. Although whales passed en route north, the Sitka people did not hunt them.

Early in summer, most of the Sitka Tlingits moved to camps near the mouths of freshwater streams to fish for salmon. Kiksadi Tlingit families from the permanent village, Shee-Atika or "by the sea," at Nu-Tlan or Castle Hill, used a summer fishing camp, Gaja-Heen or "water coming from way up" at the mouth of Starrigavan Creek and another at the mouth of Indian River. The people most commonly trapped salmon in rock weirs or hooked them. Other Sitka Tlingits embarked on trading and war voyages early in summer. They might travel as far south as Prince of Wales and the Queen Charlotte islands. The Tlingits were frequently at war among themselves and with the Haida people to the south. They fought to obtain slaves, new hunting and fishing territories, and to increase their material possessions.

In late summer, families moved to hunting camps. There the women and children gathered berries, roots, and grasses. The men hunted deer, black bears, brown bears, mountain goats, and sheep. With the approach of winter, the Sitka people returned to the large village at Castle Hill. Year-round they could dig clams and gather crabs from the nearby tidal flats. [59]

The Sitka spruce forests that covered the lower elevations of Baranof Island provided wood that was used to build houses and provide heat. At their permanent village the Sitka people lived in large, rectangular, gable-roofed plank houses. The houses measured up to 30 by 40 feet. As many as 12 families and their slaves lived in a house. The Sitka village had a number of these houses. At their seasonal camps, the people had smaller wood structures. [60]

The people also used wood to make canoes. Although the coastal waterways through southeast Alaska were dangerous, they provided the best transportation routes through the region. The Tlingits had travel, war, work, and hunting canoes. A canoe was made from a single tree. Typically, the canoes were long, narrow, and high-pointed at the bow and stern. For their larger war canoes the Sitka Tlingits traded with the Haida people to the south who lived on Prince of Wales and the Queen Charlotte islands where western red cedar was available. [61]