Table of Contents:
NOT SO ANCIENT
HAINES TODAY.
SHOULD SEE HAINES
OUTSIDE HAINES.
Haines looks smaller than its neighbor Skagway, just 14 nautical miles to the north. However, with a population of over 2500 residents, it has more than double the number of people compared to Skagway.
It is also one of the few cities in Southeast Alaska that you can reach by car. But most people arrive by water or air.
Ancient Haines.
Going back to around 14,000 B.C., groups began following animals (food) from Asia. But Asia is on the other side of the Pacific. Back then, Asia and North America were one body of land.
Some scientists believe the Bering Land Bridge connected Asia with North America.
As the continents begin to drift, the land bridge sinks beneath the Chukchi and Bering Seas’ waters.
Others believe that the ocean levels fell enough during the glacial epoch to expose the land bridge. But most agree that the people of western Alaska and eastern Siberia have much in common biologically.
Some migrate south to the American West, Central America, and South America.
Those remaining in the Alaska area break into different tribes. Eventually, there are distinct first-people tribes. They include the Ancient Beringian, Alaskan Athabaskans, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eskimo, Inupiat, Yupik, and Aleut.
Over the years, they acclimate to the climate and environment and develop their own cultures and languages.
The name “Alaska” comes from the Aleut word Alaxsxaq or Alyeska, which means the “mainland.”
The Chilkoot and Chilkat, sub-tribes of the Tlingit, use the Skagua River area for hunting and fishing. They probably set up a seasonal camp, not a village.
Not So Ancient Haines.
The Chilkat group of Tlingit inhabitants name the area Deishu, which means “end of the trail. Here they could portage (carry) their canoes from the Chilkat River to the trailhead of their path through the interior. This would save them 20 miles (32 km) of paddling around the Chilkat Peninsula.
The first Europeans would not show up in this area until 1879. Working as an agent for the North West Trading Company, George Dickinson set up shop in the small community forming here, Dtehshuh.
Two years later, the Chilkat ask Presbyterian minister Sheldon Jackson to send missionaries to the area. Jackson builds the Chilkat Mission and school at Dtehshuh on land the Chilkat donate. Francina Haines is the chairwoman of the committee that raises the funds for the building. He installs Samuel Hall Young as the first minister.
A few years later, they rename the mission “Haines” in honor of Francina. Very few towns in Alaska are named for women. Haines is the only one in Southeast Alaska.
Circa 1876, south of Haines, Joe Juneau and Richard Harris explore with a local Tlingit chief.
What they discover will change Alaska forever. They discover gold in the area that will become the city of Juneau.
Early Haines.
Explorers start pounding out walking trails from the Haines area to the Yukon, following the Chilkat trading trails. At first, the Tlingit tribes charge tolls and require explorers to use local guides.
Around 1890 John Dalton breaks the Tlingit monopoly on the “Grease Trail.” This trading trail runs west of Haines to Fort Selkirk, on the Yukon River, more than 240 miles away. He develops a series of trading posts along the trail, and by 1899, he is charging a toll to use the Grease Trail. Prospectors are soon calling it Dalton’s Trail.
In 1896 there is a major gold find in the Yukon.
Haines became the landing spot for ships coming up from the United States. Prospectors could buy supplies for the Dalton Trail.
The town’s economy was growing and diversifying. Taverns, boarding houses, supply stores, and even four canneries were within a few short years.
The Chilkoot Trail into the Yukon from Dyea, near Skagway, was more challenging than the Dalton Trail. There were so many prospectors arriving that both trails were busy. And the towns at the beginning of the trails were thriving.
However, in July of 1900, Haines receives a double punch. First, the White Pass and Yukon Railroad begins operation from Skagway into the Yukon.
By the end of the same year, the whole region gets a shock. The Klondike is mined out. The gold rush is over in this area.
Haines After the Rush.
In 1898, President William McKinley ordered a series of 11 military posts to be built in Alaska to police the areas overrun with miners and as a military presence during international border negotiations.
In 1904, just south of Haines, the US Army opens Fort William H. Seward. Much like the White Pass train, the army arrives too late for the gold rush. However, it remains open and outlasts the other posts. Between 1925 and 1940, it is the only United States Army post in Alaska. That will change with the Japanese bombing of Dutch Harbor in 1942 and Alaska entering World War II.
During World War II, it becomes a recruitment station and training center for troops heading to the Aleutian Campaign. After the war, they deactivate the post and sell it as surplus property. The area was renamed Port Chilkoot and was incorporated in 1956. By 1970 it became part of Haines.
Fort William H. Seward is a National Historic Landmark run by the National Park Service today.
Haines After World War II.
In 1955, the Haines-Fairbanks Pipeline opened. Under the operation of the U.S. Army, it carried diesel, jet fuel, and aviation gas from ships in Haines 626 miles to Fairbanks. They were shared between Fort Greely, Eielson Air Force Base, and Ladd Air Force Base. The pipeline was shut down in 1973
By 1972, all but one of the canneries had closed due to over-fishing. However, commercial fishing is still an important part of the economy.
The logging and timber industry around Haines is not what it used to be.
Today, the largest industries in Haines are Health Care, Construction, and Retail. Tourism also contributes, but Haines only has one cruise dock, and the airlines serving the local airport are all Alaskan airlines who serve the local area. The Alaska Marine Highway also calls on Haines.
Haines is one of the few towns in S.E. Alaska you can drive to. However, it is almost 150 miles to Haines Junction, where you pick up the Alaska/Klondike Highway. From there, it is another 600 miles north to Anchorage or 200 miles south to Skagway.
So it takes some planning to get to Haines.
Haines Today.
The tourists who do figure out how to get to Haines do so for the two main reasons you visit Alaska in the first place; Scenery and potential wildlife sightings.
Both are visible and amazing year-round.
The Takshanuk Mountains separate the Chilkat and the Chilkoot watersheds. Each one of these areas is spectacular by itself. Together, they are even better. They offer rafting and hiking in the summer. Heli-skiing is becoming popular in the winter.
On a clear day, you can see the Davidson Glacier from Chilkat State Park, approximately eight miles away. The park is nine miles south of town. This valley glacier comes from one of the ice fields that feed several of the glaciers along the Muir Inlet. The inlet is accessible from Glacier Bay National Park.
There are also boat tours that can get you closer, although the face of the glacier is more than a mile from the inlet.
You can see bald eagles year-round in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, approximately 18 miles from Haines. However, between October and February, the population goes from around 300 to more than 3000 as eagles migrate here for the winter. It is the world’s largest concentration of bald eagles during this time.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, Haines hosts the Great Alaska Craft Beer and Home Brew Festival. Beginning in 1992, it is Alaska’s oldest craft beer festival and features breweries from Alaska and the Yukon.
During the last weekend of July. Haines hosts the Southeast Alaska State Fair, with rides, games, and a music festival.
What is in Haines for Me?
See and Hear.
Get out and see the area’s natural beauty, whether at sea level or from a mountainside.
If you arrive by boat, you will transverse part of the Lynn Canal, the longest and deepest fjord in North America.
It is not unheard of to see whales, bears, and eagles just outside of town. So take a hike and listen to nature all around you.
Another option is to take a peaceful float down the Chilkat River, listening to life happening all around you.
Taste & Smell.
Take a walk through the woods after a rainstorm. The smells are numerous. Taste a local beer or a drink from the local distillery. Fish and Chips using local halibut is also a tasty option.
Feel.
Take a walk along the fort’s parade grounds, and you can almost feel like you’re in turn-of-the-century Haines.
Or a walk along the Chilkat and feel a part of nature.
Have a whiskey in one of the old (new) saloons and hear about the old days. Or walk outside town and look for golf balls in the trees. (Bald Eagles white head.)
There may be better ways to finish your afternoon, but these don’t suck.
Should-see Haines.
Haines Sheldon Museum. 11 Main Street.
This interesting museum preserves and displays the diverse cultures that make up the Chilkat Valley’s history. There are more than 4,000 artifacts dating from the Chilkat first settlers until today. Additional photos, books, documents, ship logs, maps, and research papers paint a vivid picture. In the summer, the museum is open every day but Sunday. For winter visits, click the orange link for more information.
Hammer Museum 108 Main Street.
This non-profit organization is the first museum in the world dedicated to hammers. Since its founding in 2000, it has been exhibiting hammers and related tools. The items range in age from ancient times to the industrial era. Today, the museum has six rooms displaying over 2500 tools. On Main Street, the museum is only open on certain days, May through September.
Haines Brewing Company 327 Main Street.
Since 1999, they have been brewing local beer. For the traveler who likes sampling local beers, here is the spot.
Main Street’s Older Buildings.
The Harbor Bar 1 Main Street.
The original structure, which you can still see parts of, dates from 1907. Starting as the Gateway Bar, it would serve drinks until Prohibition begins in 1934. It would be home to several businesses over the next 20 years until becoming the Harbor Bar circa 1954. The building and the bar have had many renovations since then.
Three Northman 102 Main Street.
Serving cider, mead, and hard sodas today, the building dates back to 1904 and was originally the Nettles and Ford Building. It began as a hardware store and has had many lives since then.
The Rusty Compass Coffeehouse 116 Main Street
Dating from 1923, the building has been home to a drugstore, bakery, and hardware store.
Fogcutter Bar 122 Main Street.
The building began as Oslund Hardware in 1923.
The J.H. Chisel Building. Corner of Main St and 2nd Avenue.
Dating from 1916, Chisel mixed the cement on site and built the four-story building. It has been a store, shoe store, hotel, hotel with a gambling saloon, grocery, and furniture store throughout its history. Today it houses apartments.
2nd Avenue.
Pioneer Bar 11 2nd Avenue.
In 1907, this building was a first-class rooming house, the Hotel de France. However, the building may date back to the late 1800s. It would not serve liquor until 1933 when Lou LaMoore renamed it “The White House.” The Pioneer Bar downstairs was a dance hall, and upstairs, ladies entertained the miners and soldiers from the fort.
Lou would sell the place circa 1940, and the new owners name it the Pioneer Cocktail Lounge. By the 1960s, the adjacent liquor store and cardroom become a restaurant. Unfortunately, like everywhere else in Haines, these old buildings go through so many renovations very little of the original is left.
Haines Visitor Center 122 Second Avenue
This information center is approximately 500 feet south of Main Street on 2nd Avenue. Besides more information on activities and lodging, they have a great downtown walking tour map.
You can also ask them about some of the hiking paths near town, including the Ayiklutu Trail, Battery Point Trail, Mount Riley Trail, and Mount Ripinsky Trail. They also have information on kayaking, rafting, & fishing.
Fort Seward Area.
Besides the remains of the fort, there are several other things to see in the Fort Seward Area.
American Bald Eagle Foundation.
The foundation is about halfway between the Visitor Center on 2nd Avenue and the fort. Here, through education, they are helping the protection of bald eagles and their habitat. In addition to other birds of prey, there is also a small natural history museum.
Alaska Indian Arts.
This nonprofit organization is dedicated to preserving and continuing the traditional culture and crafts of the Northwest Coast Native Tribes. They are set up in what used to be the hospital building of the fort. Here you can see Native art such as silver jewelry, silkscreen prints, and more. Totem carving demonstrations and classes for the young ones wishing to learn their traditions also take place.
Port Chilkoot Distillery
A block east (downhill) of the fort’s parade (Ft Seward Dr) is this local distillery in the fort’s restored bakery. Here they distill several spirits with locally inspired names. Tours are available. Reservations are suggested. Click the orange link for more information.
Outside of Town.
Chilkat State Park.
Nine miles south of town is this state park with more than 9000 acres of pristine forest and coastline. The park has three different hiking trails.
Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve.
This area, 18 miles northwest of Haines, is along the Chilkat River. Besides a boardwalk and viewing platform, there is a two-mile path for hiking to spot wildlife, predominantly eagles.
Klukwan Traditional Knowledge Camp.
The camp is a learning center where tribal members (and visitors) learn the subsistence skills of the Klukwan, a sub-tribe of the Chilkats. Lessons include building, fish and moose processing, and other traditional skills.
Located in the village of Klukwan, just past the Bald Eagle Preserve, Klukwan is also home to the Whale House and Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center. Contact them for activities and schedules.
Kroschel Wildlife Center in Haines.
Even further out the Chikat Valley is this home to movie stars of the four-legged variety. Part conservation, part education, the animals under Steve Kroschel’s care have been seen in numerous documentaries and even big-screen adventures. You can visit to see Alaska wildlife close up and learn more about them. Reservations are required.
Even further from Haines are the Big Nugget and Porcupine Mines, featured in Discovery Channel’s “Gold Rush” show. They have camping spots at Big Nugget and offer tours occasionally.
Chilkoot Lake State Recreation Site.
Heading the other way out of town, along Lutak Inlet, you can reach this recreation area approximately nine miles from Haines. Besides the beauty of the area, you can hike, canoe, and fish. There are several salmon runs each year in the Chilkoot. With salmon, you get those who feed off of them, bears, and eagles.
Haines Summary.
There is so much area to cover that one day is not enough to see everything.
You can easily see the town and fort area in half a day. Outside of town, nature will take up the rest of that day.
Then there is nearby Skagway, Lynn Canal, and the Yukon to see.
If you do plan to overnight in Haines, plan ahead. Accommodations go quickly as there are not a lot of them.
