Traditional Way of Life
The Tlingit people came over from the Alaskan coast into Teslin, Carcross and Atlin, British Columbia as well as the Tahltan area of British Columbia. They traveled from Juneau, Alaska along the Taku River basin in search of fur to trade with the Russian traders of Alaska. Some of the Tlingits settled in the Teslin area at Nisutlin Bay around the Taylor and Drury trading post site.
"Trade between Tlingit groups such as the Chilkat, or with other coastal people, was carried out on an individual basis. Trade with the people of the interior, however, was a hereditary right given to certain Tlingit chiefs. Kohklux was one such chief.... The coastal people made the trip to the interior of the Yukon to trade at prearranged sites. The ordinary trip consumed about one month each direction and was undertaken two or three times in a year. Canoes and rafts were used on the rivers but most of the route was overland and trade goods had to be carried by people and pack dogs.
...For generations, the coastal Tlingit had traded with the interior people of the Yukon as part of a vast trading network that extended throughout Alaska and the Yukon and far to the South. The Chilkat traded fish oils, dried seaweed, dentalia shells and other sea products, which they produced themselves, along with goods they obtained in trade with the southern people. From the Tutchone and Tagish people of the Yukon interior, they received meat, hides, clothing, copper, and furs from beaver, marten and other small game. Some goods were then retraded to people further along the network. After white traders began trading along the coast, and the demand for furs increased dramatically, the Chilkats` intermediary role became very lucrative." ( The Kohklux Map, Pp. 8-10)
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Teslin Tlingit Council
