History & culture in Saxman

Saxman in brief

1. Saxman stands on Lingit Aani - Tlingit land - and in 1886 Tlingit families from the Saanyaa Kwaan (Cape Fox) and Taant'a Kwaan (Tongass) villages began seeking a single shared site where their children could attend school. (saxman.gov · checked Oct 16, 2026)
2. The village is named for Samuel Saxman, a Presbyterian teacher lost at sea with a Cape Fox elder while scouting for the new village site. (maps.commerce.alaska.gov · checked Oct 16, 2026)
3. By 1894 the families settled on a protected harbor on Tongass Narrows, building a sawmill, homes and a school; fishing and cutting lumber for Saxman and Ketchikan sustained the village, which counted 142 people by 1900. (maps.commerce.alaska.gov · checked Oct 16, 2026)
4. Saxman incorporated as a second-class city on September 30, 1929 (ratified October 26, with first trustees Peter McKay, Johnny K. Williams and Henry Denny, Jr.), and the Organized Village of Saxman's constitution under the Indian Reorganization Act was approved in October 1940 and ratified January. (saxman.gov · checked Oct 16, 2026)
5. During the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps worked with Native carvers to retrieve totem poles and ceremonial objects from the abandoned villages at Cape Fox, Tongass, Cat Island and Pennock Island; restored and re-carved under a U.S. (saxman.gov · checked Oct 16, 2026)
6. In 1899 members of the Harriman Alaska Expedition removed totems and cultural objects from the abandoned Cape Fox village; in 2001, under NAGPRA, many of these artifacts were returned to the Cape Fox Tlingit. (capefoxlodge.com · checked Oct 16, 2026)