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Haines Borough

 

 

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Communities [populations in brackets]:

Covenant Life [102] Excursion Inlet [10]
Haines [1,811] Lutak [39]
Mosquito Lake [221] Mud Bay [137]

Haines Borough is located on the shores of the Lynn Canal, between the Chilkoot and Chilkat Rivers, 80 air miles northwest of Juneau. It is just south of the Canadian border at British Columbia.

The Haines area was called "Dei Shu" by the Tlingit, meaning "end of the trail." The Chilkat Tlingit controlled the trading routes between the coast and the Interior.

The first non-Native to settle here was George Dickinson, an agent for the North West Trading Company, in 1880. In 1881, S. Young Hall, a Presbyterian minister, received permission from the Chilkat to build the Willard Mission and school. The mission was renamed Haines in 1884 in honor of Mrs. F.E. Haines, Secretary of the Presbyterian Women's Executive Society of Home Missions, who had raised funds for the mission's construction.

During the Klondike gold rush in the late 1890s, this area grew as a mining supply center, since the Dalton Trail from Chilkat Inlet to Whitehorse, B.C. offered an easier route to the Yukon for prospectors. Gold was also discovered 36 miles from Haines in 1899 at the Porcupine District.

Four canneries had been constructed in the area by the turn of the century. The first permanent U.S. military installation was constructed south of Haines in 1904, Fort William H. Seward. In 1922, the fort was renamed Chilkoot Barracks. Until World War II, it was the only U.S. Army post in Alaska. It was deactivated in 1946 and sold as surplus property to a group of veterans who established it as Port Chilkoot. The City of Port Chilkoot was incorporated in 1956.

Haines Borough formed as a third-class borough on August 29, 1968. In 1970, Port Chilkoot merged with Haines into the City of Haines. In 1972, the post was designated a national historic site and the name, Fort William Seward, was restored. The last of the early canneries closed in 1972 due to declining fish stocks. Expansion of the timber industry in the early 1970s fueled growth. In 1974, the Borough annexed 420 square miles to the south, including Excursion Inlet. In 1978, it annexed the former military petroleum distribution facility at Lutak Inlet. The City of Haines and the Haines Borough were consolidated on October 17, 2002, resulting in the establishment of a home-rule borough. 

 


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AKWEB: Alaska Genealogy & History -
This is a statewide list intended for the exchange of genealogical, historical and cultural information about the state of Alaska and the ancestors who lived here. Newbies to genealogical research and/or computer researching in Alaska are welcome. 
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SOUTHEAST is a regional mailing list intended for Alaska's Southeast Region, also known as the Inside Passage. This encompasses Haines Borough, Juneau Borough, Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Prince of Wales-Outer Ketchikan Borough, Sitka Borough, Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Wrangell-Petersburg Census Area, and Yakutat Borough. Newbies to genealogical research and/or computer researching in Alaska are welcome.
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