What the record shows
The federal survey describes the site: on Sukkwan I., at head of Cordova Bay, Alex. Arch.
"Former Tlingit Indian village or camp name published in 1895 by U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS). According to Hodge (1910, p. 648), the name ""Sukkwan"" was said (by R. S. Swanton, Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) to be from Haidatown of the Koetas family, formerly on Cordova Bay, in the Kaigani country, Alaska. In 1836-41 John Work stated, ""the number of houses here was 14 and the number of people 229."" The population was absorbed by the village of Kaigani, which, in turn, was abandoned in 1911, when the village of Hydaburg was established, in order to centralize the school system. See Kaigani."
Sukkwanappears 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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