Dyea, Alaska
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Dyea ( ) is a ghost town in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
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 ...
. A few people live on individual small homesteads in the valley; however, it is largely abandoned. It is located at the convergence of the
Taiya River The Taiya River (also Dyea RiverTaiya River
, Donald J. Orth, ''Dictionary of Alaska Place ...
and Taiya Inlet on the south side of the
Chilkoot Pass Chilkoot Pass (el. ) is a high mountain pass through the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains in the U.S. state of Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest point along the Chilkoot Trail that leads from Dyea, Alaska to Bennett ...
within the limits of the
Municipality of Skagway Borough, Alaska The Municipality and Borough of Skagway is a borough in Alaska on the Alaska Panhandle. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,240, up from 968 in 2010. The population doubles in the summer tourist season in order to deal with the large ...
. During the Klondike Gold Rush, prospectors disembarked at its port and used the Chilkoot Trail, a
Tlingit The Tlingit or Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized List of Alaska Native tribal entities, Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; ...
trade route over the
Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains () are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the British Columbia Coast, Coast of British Columbia sout ...
, to begin their journey to the gold fields around
Dawson City Dawson City is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest municipality in Yukon. History Prior t ...
,
Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...
, about away. Confidence man and crime boss
Soapy Smith Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II (November 2, 1860 – July 8, 1898) was an American con artist and gangster in the American frontier and the Klondike. Smith operated confidence schemes across the Western United States, and had a large hand ...
, famous for his underworld control of the town of
Skagway The Municipality and Borough of Skagway is a borough in Alaska on the Alaska Panhandle. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,240, up from 968 in 2010. The population doubles in the summer tourist season in order to deal with the large ...
in 1897–1898 may have had control of Dyea as well. The port at Dyea had shallow water, and neighboring
Skagway The Municipality and Borough of Skagway is a borough in Alaska on the Alaska Panhandle. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,240, up from 968 in 2010. The population doubles in the summer tourist season in order to deal with the large ...
had deep water. Dyea was abandoned when the
White Pass and Yukon Route The White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&Y, WP&YR) is a Canadian and U.S. Class III narrow-gauge railroad linking the port of Skagway, Alaska, with Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon. An isolated system, it has no direct connection to any other rail ...
railroad chose the White Pass Trail (instead of the alternative Chilkoot Trail), which began at Skagway, for its route. Use of the name Dyea for its present location first occurred in 1886, when John J. Healy (1840–1908) and Edgar Wilson (1842–1895) opened their trading post there. Previously, only a small hunting and fishing cabin had existed at the location.“May 1886 I established a trading-post at a place now called Dyea, … with Edgar Wilson, … who resided at Dyea up to … his death in 1895.
Healy Dep., May 20, 1903
''Proceedings of the Alaska Boundary Tribunal'', S. Doc. No. 162, 58th Cong. (2nd Sess. 1903), Vol. IV, App. 2, at page 233, reprinted, Serial 4602. Before 1886, only a small hunting and fishing cabin had existed at this location. , at page 202 (map entry: “''Kleines Jagd & Fischerhaus''” erman.
Before 1886, Dyea or Dei-yi (phonetic spelling) had been the second half of the name Jilḵoot Dei-yi hilkoot-owned Trail“The trail … is known among the Indians as the Chilkoot trail...It was monopolized solely by the Chilkoots, who had even gone so far as to forbid the Chilkats, almost brothers in blood, from using it” , at page 60. It is, however, unlikely that the Indians used the English word for trail! Because the Chilkoot Indians claimed ownership of the trail, it would have been called Chilkoot Dei-yi hilkoot-owned Trail Prior publications state that Dyea was derived from the words for “to pack” 'yaa''or “carrying place” 'yaa yé''; , at page 43 (Dyea “Tlingit word purportedly meaning “carrying place”). However, the presence of the initial \d\ sound in Dyea casts doubt on those latter possibilities and suggests that the first syllable was in fact dei (as in dei-yi). Chilkoot Trail and Dyea Site is a U.S.
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 ...
. Dyea is now within the
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park is a national historical park operated by the National Park Service that seeks to commemorate the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s. Though the gold fields that were the ultimate goal of the stampe ...
. All that remains are a number of foundations surrounded by scraps of lumber and metal, three cemeteries, including one where almost every person buried died on the same date in 1898 in an avalanche on the gold rush trail, and the ruins of the wharf.nps.gov Visitors can usually spot brown bears, black bears, and eagles. Brown bears tend to use the Dyea inlets to feed during salmon spawning season (July–August).


Demographics

Dyea appeared one time on the U.S. Census in 1900 as an unincorporated village. It has since been annexed into the city of Skagway.


References


External links


Guide to Dyea, Alaska from ExploreNorth
* {{authority control Geography of the Municipality of Skagway Borough, Alaska Ghost towns in Alaska Historic American Engineering Record in Alaska Klondike Gold Rush Mining communities in Alaska