History & culture in Yakutat

Yakutat in brief

1. Yakutat is Yaakwdáat, 'the place where canoes rest.' The tribe describes its people as three stocks: Tlingit from the southeastern panhandle, Athabascans via the Alsek River, and Copper River People. (yakutattlingittribe.org · checked Oct 5, 2026)
2. Yakutat's five founding clans are the Raven L'uknax.àdi and K'inèix Kwàan/Kwaashk'i Kwáan and the Eagle Teikweidí, Shangukeidí and Galyáx Kaagwaantaan; four more Eagle clans came later. (yakutattlingittribe.org · checked Oct 5, 2026)
3. In 1805 the Russian-American Company put up a fort at Yakutat for the sea otter fur trade. When the Russians barred local Tlingits from their traditional fishing places, the Tlingit attacked and destroyed the post. (dot.alaska.gov · checked Oct 5, 2026)
4. Yakutat got an Alaska Commercial Company store in 1884; by 1886 people were mining the black sand beaches for gold, and in 1889 the Swedish Free Mission Church started a school and sawmill. (dot.alaska.gov · checked Oct 5, 2026)
5. Starting in 1903 the Stimson Lumber Company added a cannery, sawmill, store and railroad. The cannery, which kept running through 1970, drew most people to settle where Yakutat stands today. (dot.alaska.gov · checked Oct 5, 2026)
6. World War II brought a large aviation garrison and a paved runway to Yakutat; the troops left after the war but the runway stayed in use. (dot.alaska.gov · checked Oct 5, 2026)
7. Alaska's territorial governor banned Native song, dance and cultural practices in the early 1900s. Determined that this would not continue, Yakutat elders founded the Mount Saint Elias Dancers in the early 1950s, and the Yakutat Native Association gained federal recognition on March 24, 1993. (yakutattlingittribe.org · checked Oct 5, 2026)
8. A 2011 community transportation plan describes Yakutat's economy as based on fishing, fish processing and government, calls its sport fishing world-class, and says most residents depend on subsistence hunting and fishing. (dot.alaska.gov · checked Oct 5, 2026)