ARCTIC Historic Archaeology and Ethnohistory at Healy

• Main Author: John P. Cook
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1988
• Subjects: Arctic; Yukon; Tanacross; Yukon river; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.615.8791; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic42-2-109.pdf

ABSTRACT. A habitation site at Healy Lake in eastern Alaska was occupied by Alaskan Natives more or less continuously for more than 10 O00 years. After contact, Euro-American traders entering the area in the nineteenth century influenced the subsistence patterns of the Native people to the extent that a Native village evolved at Healy Lake, and this led in turn to the founding of a local trading post- Newton’s- at the mouth of the Healy River nearby. In this way, a fixed Native community developed at Healy Lake in the late nineteenth century, with members of this community dealing with early Hudson’s Bay and American traders on the Yukon River. In the early twentieth century- some time after 1910 and perhaps not until after 1917- the community became permanent, and more sedentary, with more focussed trading patterns. Thus, trade became more localized (to Healy Lake and neighboring Tanacross) and Native interests shifted away from the Joseph winter village, and from the Fortymile and Yukon rivers. Key words: Alaska, trading patterns, Healy Lake, habitation, subsistence, village, Natives, traders RÉSUMÉ. Un site de peuplement à Healy Lake dans l’est de l’Alaska a été occupé par des autochtones alaskiens de fason plus ou moins ininterrompue pendant plus de 10 O00 ans. Après le contact, les commerçants euro-américains qui vinrent dans la région au XIXe siècle influencèrent les schémas de subsistance du peuple autochtone au point qu’un village autochtone fut établi à Healy Lake, ce qui entraîna la création d’un poste de commerce local, le poste de Newton, à l’embouchure de la rivière Healy voisine. C’est ainsi qu’une communauté autochtone fixe