What the record shows
The federal survey describes the site: at Haines Airport at mouth of Chilkat River, 17 mi. SW of Skagway, Coast Mts.
"Former Tlingit Indian village name obtained in 1880 from an Indian interpreter, as ""Gan-te-gas-tak-heh,"" meaning ""village on right bank of river,"" by Marcus Baker, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS). In the 1880 Census, Petroff (1884, p. 31) listed ""Yondestuk,"" population 171; and in the same year, Captain L. A. Beardslee, U.S. Navy (USN), recorded the name ""Tondust."" The present inhabitants call it ""Yindastuki."" In 1867 this Indian village consisted of 12 houses; 13 years later it had grown to 16 houses and 171 people. In 1952 only a few houses remained."
Gantegastakiappears in the U.S. Geological Survey's place-name archive as a historical populated place — a settlement that once carried a name and no longer does. Our editors are verifying its full story against census records, newspaper archives, and county histories; this record will grow as sources are confirmed.
Before you visit
Unverified sites may sit on private land, and coordinates from historical records can be imprecise. Verify land status and access before traveling. Take photographs, leave nails — removing artifacts from federal land is a crime.
See it in context on the national atlas map.
From the field
The most valuable part of this record is the part only visitors can write.
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