What is the history of Excursion Inlet, Alaska?
The Whooshkeetaans, Luknaxadi/T’Ak deintaan, Chookeneidi, and the Kaagwantaan were all the family groups which made the Huna Tlingits. The Huna Tlingits occupied Glacier Bay for thousands of years until glacial advance forced them out into Icy Straits, Excursion Inlet, and the Pacific coast. Whooshkeetaans moved to Excursion and the Kaagwantaan relocated to Homeshore, just south along the eastern shore of Excursion Inlet (Brock 2005). This would have placed my family’s property directly between the Kaagwantaan and the Whooshkeetaan clans. The Huna peoples had 2-4 permanent villages, one of which was located just behind the present day cannery. In 1880’s there was a Whooshkeetaans grave house at the head of the inlet and smoke house at the mouth (American antiquity 1965). It is possible the smoke house was on my property due to the large Sockeye salmon spawning stream running along our property. According to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration document Whooshkeetaan people
Excursion Inlet was originally an Alaska Native village. During World War II it was used as a prisoner-of-war camp, and a strategic base for the Battle of the Aleutian IslandsAleutian Campaign. Excursion Inlet has had a fishing cannery since 1891. The current plant, constructed in 1918, still functions to this day. It mostly processes pink and chum salmon, as well as salmon roe, salmon caviar, halibut and sablefish. It is located near the mouth of the inlet, about 40 miles west of Juneau, AlaskaJuneau. Its seasons run from late June to mid-September. Excursion Inlet Cannery is one of the largest fish canneries in the world and was acquired by Ocean Beauty Seafoods in 2003.
