Nay'dini'aa Na' Xay Hnax

Nay'dini'aa Na' Xay Hnax. (Chickaloon River Winter Log House). , THE PEOPLE , The Chickaloon Ahtna Athabascan people traveled within the Copper River and Cook Inlet areas. Many families had their own traditional hunting and fishing grounds. The people moved from camp to camp, depending upon what food source they were seeking. They had camps along the rivers and streams for various kinds of fish in the spring and summer. They also had camps in the mountains for berries, ground squirrels, caribou, and sheep. In the winter months they structured winter lodges near trap lines and hunting grounds., WINTER LODGE STRUCTURE , The log houses were rectangular with excavated floors, central fireplaces, small entrances, sleeping benches, sweat baths and/or menstrual lodges. Along each side of the house were sleeping benches. The roofs were covered with spruce or birch bark then covered with moss for insulation. The walls of the house were vertical or horizontal and insulated with moss and heavy spruce bark., WINTER LODGE , Winter lodges were built in the forest. They were temporarily left in the spring when many of the people moved to their summer fish camps. Winter houses were semi-subterranean, built with logs and roofed with soil. Summer camps were built dome-shaped and were covered with birch bark or moose or caribou skins. Some camps were used only for a few days and others were used for weeks. Each resource collected from these camps, was important to the Chickaloon peoples survival., [Center photo caption reads] , Chickaloon Village Tribal citizens Mary Nickolai-Goodlataw and son, Paul, in Chickaloon, Alaska (circa 1927), [Bottom left] Winter Lodge Diagram, [Bottom right] Winter Lodge Illustration