|
Seward | Moose
Pass | Girdwood
| Eagle River
| Eklutna |
| Knik | Skwentna
| Tolovana Roadhouse | Rainy
Pass | Takotna |
| Iditarod | Kaltag
| Galena | Unalakleet
| Golovin | Solomon
| Nome |
Kaltag
History:
Kaltag
is located in Koyukon Athabascan territory, and was used as a cemetery
for surrounding villages. It was located on an old portage trail
which led east through the mountains to Unalakleet. The Athabascans
had spring, summer, fall, and winter camps, and moved as the wild
game migrated. There were 12 summer fish camps located on the Yukon
River between the Koyukuk River and the Nowitna River. The village
was named by Russians for the Yukon Indian named Kaltaga. A smallpox
epidemic, the first of several major epidemics, struck the Koyukon
in 1839. A military telegraph line was constructed along the north
side of the Yukon around 1867. Missionary activity was intense along
the Yukon, and a Roman Catholic Mission and school opened upriver
in Nulato in 1887. Steamboats on the Yukon, which supplied gold
prospectors, peaked in 1900 with 46 in operation. during 1900, food
shortages and a measles epidemic struck down one-third of the Native
population. Kaltag was established shortly thereafter, when survivors
from three nearby seasonal villages moved to the area to regroup.
A post office opened in 1903, but closed in 1904. Gold seekers left
the mid-Yukon after 1906, but other mining activity, such as the
Galena lead mines, began operating in 1919. As a downriver village
on a major transportation route, Kaltag witnessed rapid economic
change. The post office reopened in 1909 and operated until 1920.
Kaltag's first school opened in 1925. The post office reopened again
in 1933. The old cemetery, which was located on Front Street, caved
into the River around 1937. A watering point, airport and clinic
were constructed during the 1960s.
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