Lake Aishihik

Aishihik Lake, called Män Shäw, or "Big Lake", in Southern Tutchone, lies in a broad basin of southwestern Yukon and drains south through the Aishihik River. Its sheltered northern bay is where fish came to spawn, and the hills around the lake offered good hunting for caribou and other game.

The old village of Äshèyi stood at the north end of the lake, and its name refers to the head or tail of a mountain range. Families returned there after seasonal hunting and fishing trips. Trails ran from the village along the western shore to Fort Selkirk on the Yukon River, and others led east to Long Lake and Hutshi, south to Klukwan, and west to Kluane Lake.

Southern Tutchone people guided Chilkat Tlingit traders who came inland from the coast, acting as middlemen between the Chilkat and the Northern Tutchone to the north. Artifacts from the old village include glass beads, engraved Tlingit mother-of-pearl buttons, dentalium shells and a copper arrow point, showing that goods moved through the lake country in both directions.