Taku Harbor (

Lingít The Tlingit or Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; however, some are First Nations in Can ...

: ''S'iknáx̱saankʼi'') is a sheltered bay located about southeast of central

Juneau Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of wha ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

.USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Taku Harbor (bay)
/ref> With proximity to the Taku River, the harbor served as important center of trade for the

Taku people The Taku are an Alaska Native people, a ''ḵwáan'' or geographic subdivision of the Tlingit, known in their own language as the ''Tʼaaḵu Ḵwáan'' or "Geese Flood Upriver Tribe". The Taku traditionally lived along the northwestern coast ...

, as a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

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, 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'na''x̱sáani,'' 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,

constructed

Fort Durham Fort Durham, also known as Fort Taku, Taku, Taco, and Tacouw, is an archaeological site near Taku Harbor, Alaska, within the limits of Juneau City and Borough and Tongass National Forest. It was one of three Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) posts ...

in Taku Harbor as a trading post in 1840. Situated on the northern aspect of the harbor, the 150-feet square trading post had 18 foot tall wood fortifications and two eight-sided corner bastions. This location is now a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

.USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Fort Durham
/ref>Olson, Wallace M. ''A History of Fort Durham''. 1994. The trading post engaged the Taku Tlingit to in trade directly and as intermediaries with tribes in the interior (current day British Columbia and Yukon, Canada). Workforce, which included some enslaved people, included French Canadians, Hawaiians, and Native Alaskans. The fort was not as profitable as expected and closed in 1943 in favor of a ship-based trade. However, the community of Taku Tlingit built near the fort remained for a period and the US Census taken in 1880 provided a population count of 269.USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Taku Harbor (populated place)
/ref> The fort and community around it has subsequently been fully reforested without substantial evidence of its prior history.

Salmon harvest and processing

The San Juan Fishing & Packing Company started salmon processing in the late 1800s in Taku Harbor at a prominence on the northwestern aspect of the harbor. In 1901, the operation was sold to Pacific Cold Storage Company who established the first cold-storage plant in Alaska at the site.Cobb, John N. ''Pacific Salmon Fisheries''. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1921. The facility was subsequent leased and then sold to John L. Carlson Company. In 1918, the cannery was sold to Libby, McNeil, and Libby who then ran and expanded the facility through large fires in 1919 and 1931. The cannery and cold storage was final closed and partially dissembled in 1947.

Libby, McNeil, and Libby

Libby, McNeil, and Libby purchased cannery.

Tiger Olson, Father Hubbard, and Gordon Meyer

Taku Harbor Marine State Park

References

External links

Tides and Currents for Taku Harbor
Geography of Juneau, Alaska Populated coastal places in Alaska on the Pacific Ocean Populated places in Juneau, Alaska Ports and harbors of Alaska Road-inaccessible communities of Alaska {{JuneauAK-geo-stub