Yak'éi Haat Yeey.aadí.

Ketchikan stands in the traditional lands of the Taant'a Kwáan Tlingit, whose stewardship has cared for this place from earliest human time. About three hundred years ago, the Neix.ádi clan of the Sanyaa Kwáan gifted the area to the Gaanax.ádi clan of the Taant'a Kwáan. The town and creek names come from an anglicized Tlingit word: when people climbed Deer Mountain to a lookout and looked down to the creek, they saw the image of an eagle with open wings sitting on a large rock at the head of the creek and named it Keech Ka Xa haan, later reduced to Keech Xaan, now Kichxáan; white settlers then changed the name to Ketchikan. Salmon have been central to life here in ancient and modern times, and during spawning season from the middle of June to September the creek fills with returning salmon that feed eagles and have long sustained people and many other creatures. Part of these ancient lands is now called the Tongass National Forest, which at seventeen million acres is the largest national forest in the United States and contains the largest temperate rainforest in the world; this creek traditionally hosted a fish camp for Indigenous people, and many people have made their home here because of the abundant salmon and the nourishment, hope, and beauty they bring.

Saxman, Alaska · United States