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Haines Borough
This
borough is up for adoption...
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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
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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.
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