Dyea Historic Townsite: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
NPS Alaska Regional Office. 2001. Dyea Historic Townsite: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 100046. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Alaska Regional Office/CLI Database
Dyea Historic Townsite is a historic vernacular and archeological landscape located on a desta at the mouth of the Taiya River Valley, at the northernmost extension of Alaska's Inside Passage. It is about 5 air miles northwest of the city of Skagway. The townsite was built on fluvial flats of the Taiya River in a moist, fertile environment typical of the temperate rain forests of the Pacific Northwest. Dyea's access to the inlet and its location at the mouth of the river valley made it an attractive settlement site. For years, the Chilkoot/Chilkat, a subgroup of the Tlingit, used the area as a seasonal hunting and fishing village and a starting point for trading expeditions to the interior of Canada. This strategic position on an important trading corridor attracted Euro American pioneers to the area, leading to the establishment of a well-known trading post. When gold was discovered in the Klondike in 1896, the town became the gateway for Stampeders heading to the Yukon gold fields by way of the Chilkoot Trail. Virtually overnight, it grew into a bustling center of hotels, saloons, warehouses, and outfitters. The development of the town reflects this important position, its rapid development, and the limited legal process for public land acquisition in the remote Alaskan territory. The population of Dyea declined in favor of neighboring Skagway, and homesteaders at the abandoned townsite turned the land into a farming, ranching, and recreational area. Today, it is a largely forested archeological district with some structural remains, continually evolving within an environmentally dynamic landscape.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- NPS Alaska Regional Office
- Date of Issue
- 2001-09
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- AKR , KLGO
- Keywords
- archeology, camp, cemetery, designed landscape, Exploration-settlement, Gold Rush, grazing, Historic Site, homestead, Lynn Canal, Native Alaskan, NHL, recreation, settlement, Skagway, spruce, tidal flat, Tlingit, trade, Vernacular landscape, wharf