OLD TOWN, KNIGHT ISLAND 



By Francis A. Riddell and Frederica de Lacuna 



NATIVE TRADITIONS 



Knight Island (map 5) is roughly 3 miles in diameter and Hes close 

 to the eastern side of Yakutat Bay, about 13 miles northeast of the 

 town of Yakutat. The island is low lying, composed of sands, silts, 

 and boulder clay. It is heavily timbered, and studded with small 

 lakes, swamps, and creeks, none of which has salmon runs. 



The native name for the island, Gauawas, is not Thngit, and we 

 suspect it to be an Eyak word, although some informants think it is 

 Atna or even Chugach. The island was the first piece of territory 

 acquired by the ancestors of the K^'ackqwan when they came to 

 Yakutat Bay from Copper River. At that time there were no trees 

 on the island, and it was covered with strawberries. The owners 

 caught a K^ackqwan girl picking berries here and cut the basket 

 from her back. Her father, a Galyix-Kagwantan chief, then bought 

 the island for her and her people. Shortly afterward, a similar inci- 

 dent involving the fishing rights at the Humpback Salmon Stream, 

 K'^ack (see No. 6 on map 3), induced the K'^ackqwan chief to 

 purchase territory on the mainland, thereby acquiring the present 

 name for the sib and title to all the lands around Yakutat Bay. 



Some informants say that the original owners of Yakutat Bay and 

 Knight Island were Indians (Hmyedi, Ysnyedi, or Qusqedi) ; others 

 call them "Aleuts" (Chugach Eskimo), but agree that they had no 

 permanent settlement on the island. The site which we excavated 

 is usually described as a K'^ackqwan town, founded and abandoned 

 before the Russians came. Its correct name is said to be "Raven 

 Falling Down" (yel ada qutciyE), because smoke from the many 

 houses would asphyxiate any raven attempting to fly across. The 

 same name has also been apphed to the reported site (No. 7) on the 

 cove about half a mile farther east. A few informants said that the 

 village was founded by a K'^ackqwan chief who built the first Hneage 

 house here, "Fort House," and that his THngit brother-in-law, the 

 famous Xatgawet, built "Bear House" and named the village "Old 

 Town" (Ti'Ak^'-'an), after the famous town (Klukwan) on the Chilkat 

 River, to suggest that this also was the home of high-class people. 



While it is tempting to associate this tradition with the oldest house 

 pit at the site, we must remember that our most reliable informant 



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