In some areas the trimlines of second growth forests reach up adjacent hillsides. And it is not uncommon while hiking the remote ridges to stumble onto some old mine shaft surrounded by piles of rusting debris. In places remains of old sawmills, canneries, salteries, fox farms and even whole mining towns and a fur trading post can be discerned-some still standing, others shambles of rickety timbers, and still others mere traces of former foundations in the invading moss.

It is hard to imagine all of this human presence in an area whose surface appearance seems to convey remoteness itself. And yet, they came here, thousands upon thousands of them-Eskimos back in the misty reaches of prehistory seeking better hunting grounds; English and Spanish square riggers looking for a Northwest Passage; Russian adventurers hunting for sea otter pelts; fox farmers and gold prospectors, and miners and Filipino cannery workers, and geologists and glaciologists.

And they left their names on the landscape itself. On modern charts of Prince William Sound ancient Eskimo place names mingle with the names of 18th century Spanish and English noblemen and explorers. Names left by Russian fur traders appear beside those of modern American prospectors, fur farmers, and scientists. And yet, the majority of the points, coves and smaller islands still remain unnamed. Prince William Sound in the modern world is a unique place-it has survived its history.

The first explorers of Prince William Sound were of Asian descent and had evolved a culture now known as "Eskimo." About 12,000 years ago near the end of the last great ice age, a nomadic Asian people apparently in pursuit of game crossed the Bering Land Bridge into what is presently northwest Alaska. As the coastal glaciers retreated with the general warming trend, these people spread inexorably southward and eastward ending their migration in Prince William Sound. They were a stout and intrepid lot, skillfully paddling their skin boats over the treacherous waters of the Gulf of Alaska under conditions which even with all our modern technologies we consider hostile. As the ice melted, these early adventurers explored the newly exposed landscape. While the Greeks were still squabbling about the best form of the city state, these early explorers were naming the bays, islands, and points and pioneering the routes they would later reveal to the Europeans so they could officially "discover" them.

No one knows exactly when the first Chugach Eskimos arrived in Prince William Sound nor exactly where they came from. Native legends record a period when there was considerably more glaciation than today. Icy and Whale Bays were reported to be filled with ice, and the glaciers of College Fiord purportedly extended to within three miles of Coghill Point. Frederica de Laguna's Native informant further recalled Native legends which described large glaciers above Port Chalmers on Montague Island and the ice sheet from Icy Bay covering the present day site of the abandoned Chenega Village and extending out as far as the Pleiades Islands. If these legends are true, then Eskimo habitation of the area may extend back several thousand years. A recent estimate by archeologists dates the earliest Chugach culture at three to four thousand years. A carbon 14 dating of the ancient site at Palugvik suggests a date of 205 AD for this site.

The legends, Chugach dialect (Alutiiq, a subdialect of Yupik) and culture of the Chugach people suggest an affinity with the Eskimos of the Kodiak Island area and the outer Kenai Peninsula. Indeed, one legend describes the migration of the Chugach from the Kodiak area to Prince William Sound. Both geography and the seafaring ways of the southern Eskimo make this tradition plausible.

Whatever the date of Prince William Sound's discovery by the Chugach peoples, they were well-established by the more recent arrival of the Europeans in the middle to late 18th century. When the Europeans arrived, the Chugach numbered about 500 to 700 people and were divided into eight groups-the Nuchek, Shallow Water (Hawkins Cutoff), Sheep Bay, Gravina Bay, Tatitlek, Kiniklik, Chenega, and Montague Island peoples. A hereditary chief and an assistant chief presided over each group. One of the most important functions of the chief was the holding of a feast each fall in which the wealthier groups (i.e., those most successful at gathering that seasons subsistence resources) hosted the poorer groups. A major feature of the feasts was a gift giving ceremony not unlike the potlatches of the more southerly Indians. This ritual gift giving served to cement alliances, create obligations for future gift giving and most importantly functioned to distribute the Sound's food resources among the groups in preparation for the long winter season. The size of each group's territory seems to have been inversely proportional to each region's productivity and population density. Early explorers report that the more productive eastern and southeastern corner of the Sound harbored the largest populations, even though their territories were smaller; whereas, the larger northern (Kiniklik) and western areas (Chenega) were more sparsely populated.

The Chugach inhabited rectangular bark or plank houses along the coastline of the Sound and rarely penetrated inland. Villages were usually positioned for an easy view of the approach of a potential enemy rather than at the cul de sacs at the heads of bays. Most of the villages were located in areas with a good southern exposure, possibly to take advantage of greater sunlight, more warmth, and early spring, edible plants. In addition to these more permanent settlements, the Chugach occupied temporary summer fish camps near the Sound's more productive salmon streams often located at the heads of bays.

Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Chugach tool kit consisted of stone, usually slate, spearheads, adzes, and scrapers supplemented by bone and ivory knives, arrow heads, and harpoon tips. Arrowheads, of native copper, have also been found. Perhaps the strangest piece of equipment to be found so far south is the seal oil lamp. The ready abundance of wood in Prince William Sound for heat, light and cooking makes the burning of blubber oils so indispensable in more barren climes unnecessary. However, many seal oil lamps of various sizes have been discovered throughout the Sound. Apparently cultural factors played a greater role in determining the Chugach tool kit than did the environment.

Seal oil lamp. Photo by Rollin dal Piaz.

The Chugach subsisted mainly on marine mammals such as seals, sea lions and whales as well as numerous species of fish. The seasonal salmon runs provided not only summer provisions; but dried and smoked, they saw the Chugach through the long Alaskan winters. Numerous middens found throughout the Sound by early explorers suggest that shell fish were also important to the Chugach diet. Birds and terrestrial mammals, berries and plants undoubtedly supplemented this fare.

In dress the Chugach sometimes wore woven conical reed rain hats bearing a semblance to those of the Indians further to the south. In addition to traditional animal furs, the southern Eskimos clothed themselves in seal gut raingear so necessary in Prince William Sound's damp climate. These raingear fastened directly to the cockpit of their bidarkas (kayaks) forming an effective spray cover. Much to the shock of the Europeans, the Chugach pierced their noses with bone nose pins and their lips with bone and ivory labrets while ear rings dangled from their pierced ears.

Alexander Walker in 1786 describes happening upon a recent grave in which the deceased was buried along with his earthly possessions. Carl Heinrick Merck, a scientist on the Billings Expedition in 1790, reported that Natives living in the Nuchek area cremated their dead. However, in 1883, Johann Adrian Jacobsen found mummies concealed in sea caves and refers to a burial site which had been disturbed by the Smithsonian Institute. In 1937, Frederica de Laguna found both burial sites and mummies in sea caves. Mummies buried in sea caves were often placed in crudely made wooden coffins. Apparently chiefs and tribal members of some importance were mummified, wrapped in valuable sea otter skins and placed in remote sea caves; whereas, commoners were often wrapped in less valuable seal skins and buried in wooden coffins not far from village sites.

Although the Sound is nearly sealed off from the Alaskan interior by the rugged Chugach range, the ancient Portage Pass route provided access for trade with the Cook Inlet Eskimos. The Valdez Glacier route near Valdez offered trade routes for the Athabaskan speaking Ahtnas of the interior Copper River area. In the fall, the Ahtnas often descended the Copper River in moosehide boats called "bidairas" to trade with the coastal Eyaks. The Eyak Indians (also Athabaskan) occupied the eastern fringes of the Copper River Delta to Yakutat. They served as the middlemen for trade between the Chugach and the interior Ahtna's and coastal Tlingits. The Eyaks did not like the Chugach Eskimos and were on much friendlier terms with the other nearby Indian groups-the Ahtnas and the Tlingits of the Yakutat area (also Athabaskan speakers). Like the Tlingits, the Eyaks preferred wooden dugout canoes to the skin bidarkas of the Chugach Eskimos and the Aleuts. They were not a seagoing people like their Eskimo neighbors but subsisted on the bounty offered by the Copper River Delta living mainly on salmon, shellfish, terrestrial mammals and waterfowl.