The Chilkat Environment
by Rosita Worl and Charles Smythe
Excerpts from the exhibit book “The Artists Behind the Work”
published by the University of Alaska Museum,
Fairbanks, Alaska 1986
Permission from author to be reprinted on this website

The Chilkat territory—the home of Jennie Thlunaut and the Chilkat blanket weavers—encompasses the northern regions around Lynn Canal and it tributaries. It extends northward through the Chilkat and Chilkoot passes into the Interior.

The Chilkat Tlingit controlled the pasess into the Interior where they traded with two Tlingit inland groups—the Atlin and Tagis—and an Athabaskan group, the Southern Tutchone. They were bordered to the south by the Auk Tlingit and to the southeast by the Hoonah Tlingit. The Chilkat Tlingit controlled the trade between the interior and coastal groups until the old rush period in the late 1800s.

The Chilkat region is surrounded by rugged, mountainous terrain. The mountains rise 2,500 to 5,000 feet above sea level. The topography shows the effects of glacial action, and the glaciers to the north, east, and west are the origins of the rivers in the area. To the north and west lie the St. Elias Mountains, the third largest glaciated area in the world.

The lower elevations are comprised largely of coastal western hemlock and Sitka spruce forests. Above four thousand to five thousand feet, the land becomes alpine tundra, barren ground, and exposed bedrock. This system, composed of barren rocks interspersed with herbaceous and shrubby plants, provides a home for the mountain goat. The goat is used for food, and its hair is one of the primary materials in the Chilkat blankets.

The Chilkat and Chilkoot Rivers and the southward-extending fjord (Lynn Canal) provided the Chilkat Tlingit with a steady and abundant resource base. The beaches and rivers are bordered by black cottonwood and red alder. The vegetation also includes a variety of berries, Sitka alder, devil’s club, and fern plants. The coastal area also contains red ribbon seaweed, which is a Tlingit delicacy. The vegetation provides an important dietary supplement. In former times, the vegetation was also important for materials used in the construction of many tools and equipment.

Klukwan is located some twenty miles up the Chilkat River, away from the sea and closer to the larger mountain range. This area has considerably less rainfall than other southeast communities. Average annual precipitation is lower at Klukwan, and a larger proportion is snowfall as compared with Haines, which is located on Lynn Canal near the mouth of the Chilkat River. Winter temperatures average about ten to fifteen degrees cooler, while summer temperatures are comparable to those in Haines.

The Chilkat Tlingit begin their Spring resource harvest with fishing for trout in the rivers. Cod, halibut, clams and mussels are obtained from the shore and Lynn Canal. Klukwan residents can obtain a plentiful supply of Dolly Varden and lesser quantities of rainbow and cutthroat trout from the Chilkat River directly in front of the village. Mammals hunted or trapped in the spring include wolf, fox, mink, land otter, sea otter, muskrat, marten, rabbit, porcupine, and brown bear. Ducks, geese and grouse are hunted, and different seaweeds are collected later in the spring. The bald eagles and ravens which populate the region in large numbers have significant cultural value to the Tlingit.

The berries and eulachon runs begin in early May and provide an important source of oil as well as meat and the much-prized roe. Naturally-occurring vegetable foods, including celery, potatoes, rhubarb, and clover, are gathered. The women also begin to gather spruce roots. Berries, roots, and herbs are gathered as summer approaches.

Salmon fishing for king, silver, red, and dog salmon begins in July and continues through September. The fish and eggs not immediately consumed are dried and stored. Today salmon is also canned and frozen. Blueberries, cranberries, soapberries, and salmonberries are picked alongside the streams in the late summer. Small mammals such as gophers and ground hogs are also available. Deer, mountain goat, lynx, wolverine, and black bear are hunted or trapped in the fall. Klukwan hunters climb the steep slopes to hunt these animals.

During the winter months, the people utilize the resources they have gathered and stored during the spring, summer, and fall. Women traditionally work on the raw material and prepare cedar bark, spruce roots, porcupine quills, mountain goat wool, furs, and hides for making clothing, baskets, Chilkat blankets, and mats.

The Chilkat Tlingit utilize both land and marine resources. Resources that were not available locally were obtained through trade. The abundance of resources allowed them to amass a surplus which they could trade, and their control over the inland coastal trade was an additional source of wealth. Up until the early 1900s, they lived in four major settlements named Klukwan, Yindestuki, Katkwaltu, and Chilkoot. Smaller villages and campsites were scattered throughout the region. Today, the Chilkat Tlingit are concentrated in Klukwan and Haines.

Village of Klukwan, Alaska mid-1980s

The Community of Klukwan
Klukwan is located twenty-two miles up the Chilkat River from Haines. It is situated on the north side of the river, opposite the outflow from Chilkat Lake and the point at which the Klehini River flows into the Chilkat. The village rests on the narrow outwash belt along the river; the steep wooded hill in back of the village rises over five thousand feet. The Haines highway passes along the foot of the hill within several hundred yards of the village.

Chilkat people from Klukwan traveled downriver to Lynn Canal for hunting, fishing, trading, and ceremonial activities. They also journeyed into the Chilkat Pass for hunting, trapping, and trading with the Interior Indians. The Chilkat people were known for their ferocity and controlled the trade routes, enforcing their monopoly on commerce with northern groups. For many years after white contact, Klukwan was accessible by canoe only, and the village remains apart from the large-scale influx of outsiders moving through the area to the Klondike.

Although situated close to the Haines highway, Klukwan is a small, isolated community whose residents tend to prefer to keep apart from impinging social and economic forces. The entrance to the village is posted with signs to discourage tourists from stopping off on their travels. There is no store or gas station in the town, and not more than half a dozen jobs are available. People drive to Haines for shopping and a few commute for work. People who have worked in Haines said they quit because the commute was a strain on their financial resources and family life or because they encountered some form of racism or discrimination.

English is the primary language in the community, but Tlingit is spoken by most of the adult population and is used exclusively in potlatch ceremonies. Until a year ago (1985), grade school children attended the village Bureau of Indian Affairs School, which has now been transferred to state jurisdiction. There is no local high school, and students are bussed to Haines or attend the boarding school in Mt. Edgecumbe.

People go to church in Haines. Klukwan has active camps (chapters) of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and the Alaska Native Sisterhood. The weekly bingo game at the ANB hall is a popular community activity.
Traditional foods are a large part of the diet in Klukwan. The different species of salmon and trout discussed above are important, as are the small mammals, birds and seals. Herring eggs, seal and eulachon oil, berries, seaweed, and larger game such as deer and moose are also significant. These food items are distributed by relatives to those who are too elderly to provide for themselves.

Klukwan has been the principal village of the Chilkat Tlingit at least since the time of American occupation of the region. In the 1880 census, the population of Klukwan was 565, more than three times the size of the three other Chilkat villages reported at the time. John R. Swanton, an early ethnographer, lists three other villages as belonging to the Chilkat tribe. Aurel Krause, who spent the winter of 1880-81 with the Chilkat people, reported a similar population figure for Klukwan, and counted sixty-five houses. He recorded six clans represented at Klukwan, and ten in all for the Chilkat people as a whole (Krause 1956:66-68, 78: Goldschmidt and Haas 1946:39).

By the time Oberg visited the area in 1931-32, the Chilkat people were divided between two communities: Klukwan, up the Chilkat River from Haines, and Haines itself on the Lynn Canal. This pattern has remained to the present day. Although formerly they were a single unit, they now considered themselves separate tribes (Goldschmidt and Haas 1946:39). Krause (1956:66-67), Oberg (1973:wii), and Goldschmidt and Haas (1946:39, 43) provide evidence that the Klukwan Chilkats have throughout the years protected themselves from incursions by whites and were regarded as the least influenced by the foreign culture.

Based on his work in Klukwan, Oberg (1973:58) reported the presence of four clans and twenty houses. Only ten of the houses were occupied at the time (1931-32). The houses were located side by side in a row, facing the Chilkat River. About eight to ten of these houses are still standing today, although none of them are inhabited. The road in front of these houses has been extended to loop back parallel to and behind it further up the hillside. In the late 1970s, federal Housing and Urban Development housing was built which forms the core of the present village. There are four active tribal houses in the village (Gaanaxteidi, Kaagwaantaan, Dakl’aweidi, and Shangukeidi), which are the same clans reported by Oberg (op.cit.).

The 1980 census reported a population of 135, with a median age of twenty-five years. There are seventy-one males and sixty-four females represented in the census. Of the sixty-four housing unites, forty are occupied on a permanent basis. Thirty-five of these are Chilkat households.

*Click here to see map of where Jennie Thlunaut gathered
her Chilkat and basket weaving materials.

*Click here to see map of where Jennie Thlunaut
worked and lived.

* Click here to read Master Chilkat Weaver
Jennie Thlunaut's Biography

Clarissa Hudson
970-903-8386