Anchorage Area Pre 1915

Anchorage Area Pre 1915. . , In 1778, Captain James Cook sailed up "River Turnagain", present day Turnagain Arm. At the time, the Cook Inlet-Susitna River Basins were inhabited by coastal Athabaskan Indians, the Tanainas. The Dena'ina, a sub-group of the Tanaina, lived in the general area of today's Anchorage. The basic family unit consisted of a man, his wife(s), and their natural and adopted children, with extended family defined matrilineally. Leadership was unstructured, with decisions usually made by adult male consensus, although some individuals attained prestige and influence by demonstrating superior skills., Powerful shamans, usually male, used religious ceremonies to influence the spirit world, prevent and cure disease, and bring good or bad luck. Belief in reincarnation and a reciprocal dependency between men and animals caused spirits to influence many aspects of daily life. Raven is a familiar character in the spirit mythology of the origins of man and the world, the trickster who can produce anything he wants by wishing for it, constantly outwitting both strangers and friends for his own selfish reasons., Much Dena'ina technology differed from Interior Athabaskan technology as it was adapted from neighboring [E]skimos. They hunted for both land and sea mammals, fished in both the ocean and rivers. They gathered bird eggs, berries and roots. When game was scarce, starvation was common., In 1784, the Russians, active in Alaska since 1743, established trading posts on the shore of Cook Inlet beginning more [than] 100 years of Russian fur trade and missionary contact. Few Russians actually settled in the area, but the contact brought new diseases from Europe. In the late 1830's the Dena'ina population was decimated by smallpox., The United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. From 1867 until 1884, the military occupied and governed Alaska. In 1884 Alaska was made a customs district governed by several federal agencies. Native Americans could become citizens of the United States only on the condition that they applied for an allotment of land and gave up their tribal ways., In 1888, gold was discovered in the Turnagain Arm area. The Crow Creek Gold Mine is the only remaining example of the many placer mines established from this area., Congress extended the Homesteading Act to Alaska in 1898. By 1910 Tom Jetter had built the first cabin on the flats of Ship Creek., In 1912, Congress made Alaska a U.S. Territory with it's own legislature. The following year the legislature gave women the right to vote in Territorial elections., To open the territory, President Wilson created the Alaska Railroad Engineering Commission. Anchorage was chosen as the headquarters location. The first railroad engineering party arrived at Ship Creek in June, 1914. Their records note that there was only one cabin and no people as far as they could see. However, we now know that there were large Dena'ina winter houses on what is now Government Hill, a cemetery and a large fish camp along the inlet well before 1914. The fish camp, used in the summer, included an area for tents, a dip net plat[form], steam bath and smoke houses. This camp existed until the early 1940's. This land is now part of Elmendorf Air Force Base., [Map with Athabaskan place names]