Kasaan

I went to the Village of Kasaan on Prince of Wales Island last week for work.  Kasaan is a Haida (Indigenous Alaskan people) village.  We had a meeting there and after the meeting they took us to see the last original standing Haida clan house in Alaska.  It was Chief Son-I-Hat's house.  We also saw his burial site. The house was near the shore and the totems would be visible from boats on the ocean. 

The setting was just beautiful - very isolated and peaceful.  I wish I had taken a pic looking out at the ocean - an incredible view of mountains and islands, with absolutely no visible sign of human activity. It must look close to the same as it did 200 years ago.

We were told not to hold on to the railings on this bridge (that they give a false sense of security because they're about to fall off).  The village of Kasaan is desperately trying to raise funds to maintain this place.  If you're feeling generous, go to their website - you can buy a tee-shirt to help with the fund-raising (I bought 2 while I was there). 



 This bridge was in Kasaan, but in a different place - our meeting had to walk to look at the site of a proposed Magnetite mine. (Our souvenir magnetite rocks did not go over very well at the security in the airport).  And this was the most beautiful rainbow ever we saw from the Inter-island Ferry, which goes from Ketchikan to Hollis, on Prince of Wales.