Welcome to the Site of the Old Gulkana Village

Welcome to the Site of the Old Gulkana Village. . , The old Gulkana village was a thriving, established community. But in the 20th century, government construction projects forced villagers to move, dividing the village from its ancestral cemetery. The Gulkana Village Council eventually lost ownership of the old townsite and cemetery. After almost fifty years, Gulkana Village Council successfully recovered ownership of our land, family burial grounds and old village site., THE AHTNA ATHABASCAN PEOPLE , The Ahtna are an Alaska Native Athabascan people. We have lived in harmony with the environment in the Copper River Basin for untold centuries. Customary and traditional activities and beliefs play a vital role in each individual's daily life. Historically, our people were semi- nomadic and extensive travelers, living in small groups of 20 to 40 people and continually following food sources from place to place according to the seasons. Annual summer fish camps for the entire family and winter villages served as base camps., This seasonal pattern of salmon fishing in the summer, fall plant gathering and meat hunts, winter hunting and trapping, and spring fishing and trapping is the cornerstone of Ahnta life. Seasonal patterns are not only a link to our customary and traditional practices, but are crucial for our survival and prosperity., C'UUL C'ENA' (GULKANA) ERODED RIVER , Archaeological evidence shows that the Ahtna have occupied the area around the mouth of the Gulkana River for at least a thousand years. Ahtna oral tradition says that a large village located along a series of ridges above Bear Creek, which enters the Gulkana River just above the river's mouth, was the home of Cuuy, a famous chief who abundantly provided for his family by making and trading copper implements., Gulkana Village began when Chief Ewan and his family settled on the south side of the Gulkana River in the early 1900s. Around the same time, a trail was constructed for miners traveling between Valdez and Eagle, and a U.S. Army Signal Corps telegraph station was established. Gulkana became a stop along the way, and the Ahtna used camps long-established for harvesting salmon to trade with travelers on the Valdez-Eagle Trail., Today Gulkana is primarily an Alaska Native community, whose residents depend on subsistence hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering. Although a traditional village, Gulkana holds many modern amenities, including paved roads, a wood pellet mill and even streetlights., [Left photo caption reads] , Starting around 1902, the Richardson Highway was the primary access route for gold miners of the Klondike gold fields to the interiors of Alaska. , Victor Rivers family papers Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage, [Right photo caption reads] , Chief Ewan's potlatch, Gulkana Village, July 4, 1921. Balico Ewan is at the left and George Ewan is at the right. The building on the right is Oscar Ewan's cabin and the building on the left is a cache. , Photo courtesy of Bill Joe, Chistochina