Taku Harbor

Seasonal community in Alaska, United States

Taku Harbor S'iknáx̱saankʼi
Seasonal community
Taku Harbor: public dock & cannery ruins.
58°04′04″N 134°01′11″W / 58.06778°N 134.01972°W / 58.06778; -134.01972
Country	United States
State	Alaska
Census Area	Juneau
Population (1880)--No year-round residents since 1980s--
• Total	269
Time zone	UTC-9 (Alaska (AKST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-8 (AKDT)

Taku Harbor (Lingít: S'iknáx̱saankʼi) is a sheltered bay located about 22 miles (35 km) southeast of central Juneau, Alaska, United States.^[1] With proximity to the Taku River, the harbor served as important center of trade for the Taku people, as a Hudson's Bay Company trading post, and salmon cannery. Currently nearly all of the harbor is part of the Taku Harbor State Marine Park. There are no current year-round residents.

History

T'aaku Kwáan

Taku Harbor is named after the Taku Tlingit people and is part T'aakú Kwáan lands which extend into the interior (British Columbia, Canada) and south to Tracy Arm and Gambier Bay. Taku Harbor (S'iknax̱'saankʼí, "Little one below the black bear community") and surrounding areas were used for fishing, hunting, and trapping. Tlingit petroglyphs, likely carved in the region around 8000 years ago^[2], are present south of the harbor mouth.

In the 1800s, the principal villages of the Taku Tlingit moved south to participate in trade including formation of a village, Sik'nax̱sáani, in Taku Harbor with two tribal houses. The opening of gold mines in nearby Juneau contributed to migration of the Taku Tlingit out of Taku Harbor. However, a community remained, contributing to the large scale salmon harvest and canning operation in the harbor. A cemetery located near the largest creek in the harbor remains visible near the site of the former Taku Tlingit village.

Fort Durham

Under an agreement with the Russian American Company, Hudson's Bay Company constructed Fort Durham in Taku Harbor as a trading post in 1840. Situated on the northern aspect of the harbor, the trading post had wood fortifications. The trading post engaged the Taku Tlingit to established by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1840. On the northern shore ; this location is now a National Historic Landmark.^[3]^[4]

On the eastern shore Taku Harbor is the community of Taku Harbor (alternatively spelled Tako, Takoo, or Takou and formerly known as Takokakaan or the Taku-kon Villages). This has comprised up to four Tlingit villages or camps. A census taken in 1880 provided a population count of 269.^[5]

The San Juan Fishing & Packing Company established a salmon cannery and cold-storage plant at Taku Harbor in 1901. It was the only such plant to operate in Alaska until 1909.^[6]

References

^ USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Taku Harbor (bay)
^ "The Mystery of This Petroglyph-Covered Alaskan Beach".
^ USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Fort Durham
^ Olson, Wallace M. A History of Fort Durham. 1994.
^ USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Taku Harbor (populated place)
^ Cobb, John N. Pacific Salmon Fisheries. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1921.