Shtax'héen Kwáan

Shtax’héen Kwáan is the Tlingit country of the Stikine River and its mouth, where a great river breaks through the coastal mountains to the sea. The Stikine Tlingit used its waters to reach inland trading partners, especially the Tahltan. Canoe parties journeyed upriver to exchange coastal goods for furs, and fishing camps supplied food along the way. The hereditary leaders known as Shakes held a prominent place in this trade.

In 1834 a Hudson’s Bay Company vessel, the Dryad, arrived intending to establish a post on the river. Russian traders had already fortified its mouth and turned the British ship away. Stikine leaders also guarded their trading position, objecting to outsiders who sought to bypass them and deal directly with the interior. The river remained a meeting place of competing interests, as well as an established route between Tlingit and Tahltan communities.