Yakutat, Alaska: History
The original settlers in the Yakutat area are believed to have been Eyak-speaking people from the Copper River area. Tlingit people migrated into the region and the Eyak were assimilated into the tribe before the arrival of Europeans in Alaska. Yakutat was only one of a number of Tlingit and mixed Tlingit-Eyak settlements in the region. The others have been depopulated or abandoned.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, English, French, Spanish, and Russian explorers came to the region. The Shelikhov-Golikov Company, a precursor of the Russian-American Company, built a fort in Yakutat in 1795 to facilitate trade with the Alaska Natives in sea-otter pelts. The settlement became known as New Russia, Yakutat Colony, or Slavorossiya. After the Russians cut off access to the fisheries nearby, a Tlingit war party attacked and destroyed the fort in 1805.
By 1886, after the 1867 Alaska Purchase by the United States from the Russian Empire, the area's black sand beaches were being mined for gold. In 1889 the Swedish Free Mission Church opened a school and sawmill in the area.
In around 1903, the Stimson Lumber Company constructed a cannery, another sawmill, a store, and a railroad. Many people moved to the current site of Yakutat to be closer to work at the Stimson cannery, which operated through 1970. During World War II, the USAAF stationed a large aviation garrison near Yakutat and built a paved runway. The troops were withdrawn after the war. The runway is still in use as Yakutat Airport, which offers scheduled airline service.
Fishing is the largest economic activity in Yakutat.
In 2004, the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe (YTT) received a Language Preservation Grant from the Administration for Native Americans. With this, they have reinvigorated their efforts to teach the Tlingit language to middle-aged and young people. YTT received another ANA grant in 2007 and is expanding its role in the schools. All the YTT Tlingit language revitalization work focuses on using communicative approaches to second-language teaching, such as TPR and American Sign Language (ASLA).
While working at a local cannery from 1912 to 1941, Seiki Kayamori extensively photographed Yakutat and its area; Yakutat City Hall holds a large set of prints of his work.
Yakutat and Southern Railway was a rail operation in the area. It served several canneries south of Yakutat and primarily hauled fish to the harbor. Service ended in the mid-1960s.