24 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 192 



be poled at high water." He locates this area on the lower stretch 

 of the creek, just above the lagoon. A village at the junction of the 

 stream and Aka Lake was occupied by Eyak-speaking Indians who 

 were killed by the Tlingit Teqwedi. We were not able to visit this 

 site. 



17. Summit Lake drains both into the Ankau system and into 

 Lost River. On the ocean side of the outlet toward Lost River there 

 is said to have been a village, called in Tlingit, "Town on the Hill," 

 because of its situation on a sandhill. It was occupied first by Eyak- 

 speakers and later by the K'^ackqwan, who aU died in the smallpox 

 epidemic of 1836-39. We did not explore this locahty. 



SETTLEMENTS, LOST RIVER TO ITALIO RIVER 



The stream which flows southeast from Summit Lake is erroneously 

 designated as "Tawah Creek" (U.S.C. and G.S. chart No. 8402), or as 

 "Ankau Creek" (U.S.G.S. topographic sheet, "Yakutat"). The 

 natives call it "Lost River," and give the same name to the lower 

 part of the stream which it joins, referring to the upper part of the 

 same stream as "Little Lost River." We shall use the term "Lost 

 River" to refer to the lower part of the stream; designate the stream 

 from Summit Lake as its western branch; and retain the native name 

 "Little Lost River" for the small northern branch. 



18. Before the Russians came, there was a small settlement on the 

 western branch, approximately opposite the "Number Two" runway 

 of the Yakutat airfield. When the Russians were expelled, this 

 became the principal village of the K'^ackqwan, with at least four 

 large Hneage houses and other smaller homes. The inhabitants were 

 virtually wiped out by smallpox. Later the surviving K^ackqwan 

 moved to Khantaak Island, and the site was used as a fish camp 

 (only?). It is called Nessudat. Moser in 1901 (p. 384) noted three 

 houses and some fish racks at this locahty. 



The site occupies a fairly large clearing on the ocean side of the 

 stream and is marked by at least three house pits and several cache 

 pits, although none of the former could be identified as the ruins of 

 any of the particular houses mentioned by our informants. We made 

 test excavations along the cut bank of the stream, in the cultural 

 deposit at the western end of the clearing, and in a house pit at the 

 eastern end; but found only objects suggesting recent occupation. 

 The house pit measured about 18 feet square, with postholes and 

 remains of the corner posts some 5 inches beyond the end walls. The 

 cultural deposits in the midden and in the house pit consisted of hght- 

 brown or gray sandy soil, containing ashes, flecks of charcoal, and 

 occasional fire-cracked rocks. Maximum depths were about 24 inches 

 in the midden, and 38 inches within the house pit, where cache (?) 



