T’einaag̱ee (Tenakee Springs)

Photo provided courtesy of the Alaska State Library.

Tenakee (T’einaag̱ee) is located on the east side of Chichagof Island and on the north shore of Tenakee Inlet. T’einaag̱ee was known to the Native inhabitants as Tenakee Village before it became Tenakee Springs. 

T’einaag̱ee was primarily a cannery and logging town in the 1950s, but historically served as a thriving Native village whose occupants were members of the Tlingit Wooshkeetaan (Eagle/Shark Clan). The village dates back hundreds of years prior to the arrival of foreigners, and the inlet served as an ideal location for fish camps.

The natural hot springs of T’einaag̱ee also made the location suitable for the winter months and became a key staple of the small village as fishermen, prospectors and missionaries flocked to the area, quickly outnumbering the Native population.

Photo courtesy of the Alaska State Library.

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During the mining operation of the Gypsum Creek Mine, there was an influx of segregation, alcohol and disease that forced many Alaska Natives to leave Tenakee and start anew. When ANCSA enrollment started in the 1960s, 64 individuals continued to identify Tenakee as their traditional homelands. 

Unfortunately, while there was an active Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood in the 1920s, the Native population declined due to displacement and assimilation, forcing the group to disassemble in the 1950s.

It is still unclear as to why Tenakee was not included in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act more than 50 years ago, which is the same for the other four excluded Southeast communities. From having clear evidence of burial sites near, around, and on the current townsite, to the federal government recognizing the Native community of Tenakee as an “Indian Settlement” in 1935 and excluding Tenakee from the Tongass National Forest, ANCSA exclusion still remains an injustice that Alaska Natives Without Land and partnering organizations are working to fix to this day.

It would be nice for something, for some of the younger generation. You donʼt know what’s coming down the road. I mean, the way the world is changing all now. You never know whatʼs going to be here in 50 years.
— Ole Taug III, Tenakee Shareholder