Haines

History

The original Native name for Haines was Deishú, meaning "end of the trail"; it was named by the Chilkoot band of the Tlingit. The name is derived from the fact that they could portage (carry) their canoes from the trail they used to trade with the interior. The trail began at the outlet of the Chilkat River and went to Dtehshuh; portaging saved of rowing around the Chilkat Peninsula. The first European, George Dickinson, an agent for the North West Trading Company, settled at Dtehshuh in 1879. In 1881, the Chilkat asked Sheldon Jackson to send missionaries to the area. John Muir, Alexander Alderson, and Samuel Hall Young, a Presbyterian minister, were sent. Jackson built the Chilkat Mission and school at Dtehshuh in 1881, on land given to the church by the Chilkat. The Mission was renamed "Haines" in 1884 in honor of Francina E. Haines, the chairwoman of the committee which raised funds for its construction. Haines is the only town in Southeast Alaska to be named after a woman. At the time, the boundary between Canada and the U.S. was disputed and vaguely defined. There were overlapping land claims from the United States' purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 and British claims along the coast. The Klondike Gold Rush of 1896–1899 changed the region greatly. Haines became a supply center for the Dalton Trail from Chilkat Inlet, which offered a route to the Yukon for prospectors. Gold was discovered from Haines in 1899 at the Porcupine District. The sudden importance of the region increased the urgency of fixing an exact boundary. There were reports that Canadian citizens were harassed by the U.S. as a deterrent to them making any land claims. In 1898 the national governments agreed on a compromise, but the government of British Columbia rejected it. President…

Geography

Haines has a dry-summer humid continental climate with warm summers (Köppen: Dsb), although featuring nearly double the precipitation of nearby Skagway. The Haines CDP is located in the north-central part of Haines Borough at . The CDP is situated on the Chilkat Peninsula at a narrow spot called the Deshu Isthmus. The community is bounded by Portage Cove of Chilkoot Inlet to the east and by the Chilkat River at its mouth into the Chilkat Inlet to the west. To the south, down the Chilkat Peninsula, Haines is bordered by the CDP of Mud Bay, and to the north it is bordered by the Lutak CDP. The end of Alaska Route 7, the Haines Highway is in Haines and the road travels northwest to the Canadian border near Pleasant Camp, British Columbia. The Haines Highway continues north to a junction with the Alaska Highway at Haines Junction, Yukon, from Haines. According to the United States Census Bureau, the Haines CDP has a total area of , of which are land and , or 36.02%, are water.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Haines Elementary
  Elementary · Haines · 166 students · 12.8:1 ratio
• Haines High School
  High · Haines · 83 students · 11.9:1 ratio
• Haines Home School
  Other · Haines · 13 students