Dalton Trail

Dalton Trail
This article is about the indigenous peoples' and gold rush-era trail from into the Yukon Territory from the northern Alaska Panhandle. For the road and highway from the lower Yukon River basin to the North Slope region of Alaska, see James Dalton Highway.

The Dalton Trail is a trail that runs between Pyramid Harbor, west of Haines, Alaska in the United States, and Fort Selkirk, in the Yukon Territory of Canada, using the Chilkat Pass. It is 396 km (246 mi) long.

Originally, the Chilkat group of Tlingit controlled the trail, which they used for trade with the Athabascan people of the interior. They called the trail "grease trail" after the eulachon oil (extracted from the tiny candlefish) that was the most important item of trade on the Chilkoot side. Each Tlingit chief had an exclusive Athabascan trading partner. Tlingits took eulachon oil and returned with furs, hides and copper nuggets gathered by the Athabascans. Trading parties often lasted a month or more and often consisted of as many as 100 men, each of whom would carry a 45 kg (100 pound) load.

Upon the arrival of Europeans, the Chilkat acted as middlemen between the traders and Athabascans and became quite wealthy.

The Chilkat trade monopoly was broken in 1890 when E. J. Glave, John (Jack) Dalton and several others were hired by Leslie's Illustrated Magazine of New York to explore the interior of Alaska. While exploring the Grease Trail, they saw the possibility of a trade route there. Dalton and Glave returned in the spring of 1891 to try taking pack horses on the trail. Glave died a few years later, but Dalton remained in the area. He developed a series of trading posts and, in 1899, began charging a toll to use the Grease Trail, which prospectors called Dalton's Trail and later the Dalton Trail. During the Klondike Gold Rush many prospectors walked the trail to Ft. Selkirk, where log rafts would float men, horses and cattle to Dawson City.

In 1900, the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway was completed to neighboring Skagway. This ended much of the traffic on the Dalton Trail. The west portion of the present-day Haines Highway follows much the same route as the Dalton Trail.

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Dalton Trail — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Dalton et Dalton Highway. Dalton Trail est une route du Yukon au Canada et d Alaska aux États Unis. Elle est située entre Pyramid Harbor, à l ouest de Haines en Alaska et Fort Selkirk au Yukon. Elle fait… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Dalton Trail Lodge — (Beloud Post,Канада) Категория отеля: 4 звездочный отель Адрес: Km 208 Haines Highway, Y0B …   Каталог отелей

  • Dalton — For people with the surname Dalton , see Dalton (surname). Dalton may refer to: Contents 1 Places 1.1 In Canada 1.2 In Isra …   Wikipedia

  • Dalton Highway — Not to be confused with Dalton Trail. Dalton Highway Route information Maint …   Wikipedia

  • Dalton — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Sommaire 1 Arts 2 Sciences …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Dalton Highway — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Dalton et Dalton Trail. Plan de l autoroute La James W. Dalton Highway, plus couramment nommée Dalton Highway (Alaska Route 11) est une …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Dalton, Georgia —   City   Downtown Dalton, GA Nickname(s): Carpet Capital of the World, Carpet Ci …   Wikipedia

  • Dalton Alan Munaretto — Dalton Personal information Full name Dalton Alan Munaretto Date of birth September 8, 1986 ( …   Wikipedia

  • Dalton, Massachusetts —   Town   Entering Dalton, Inc. 1784 …   Wikipedia

  • Dalton Township, Ontario — Dalton Township within former Victoria County The Township of Dalton was a municipality located in the northwest corner of the former Victoria County, now the city of Kawartha Lakes, in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was named after Dr.… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”