On a recent Friday night, people streamed into a wood-paneled building on a dock overlooking the Lynn Canal. A local performance group, the Chilkat Dancers, performed a Tlingit song and dance while the crowd looked on.
The space sat empty for years. But now the building is at the center of the Chilkoot Indian Association’s new effort to launch a tourism brand to bring in extra dollars – and to reduce their reliance on the federal government.
“It has taken us 10 years. But I would like to say thank you. Thank you everyone for being here to support us in our next step toward sovereignty,” Harriet Brouillette, the tribal administrator, said during the event marking the effort’s launch.
The tribe has dubbed the business venture, “Discover Deishú.”
Deishú, the traditional name of the Haines townsite, has a dual meaning: the beginning of the trail and the end of the trail. It’s a nod to the trade routes that Alaska Natives have used for millennia to transport goods – including hooligan oil– between the coast and the interior.
James G̱ooch Éesh Hart is the tribal council president. In an interview, he called Discover Deishú a “beacon of hope” that has been in the works for years.
“I feel like we have this opportunity to really grow and create something of our own,” Hart said.
The initiative is made up of several businesses. First there’s the dock itself. It’s been used as a port by a private ferry for the last several years, and more recently by small cruise ships. There’s also an outdoor tour business and gear and apparel store, which the tribe started operating this year.
But the restaurant, named “Taste of Deishú,” is the centerpiece. It’s a two-story building with big windows that look out over the fjord and Chilkoot mountains. Upstairs, there’s a seating area with tables decorated with Tlingit art.
The restaurant is downstairs. Its menu will feature locally sourced ingredients and traditional foods. During the opening night reception, guests queued up to order. Halibut and black cod chowder were on the menu. Drinks included locally made beverages such as spruce tip soda and chaga root beer.
The plan, Hart said, is to take a similar approach to the entire initiative.
“My hope and my goal is that we Indigenize it into a way that it seems relevant for us, and we’re able to share our way of thinking and way of doing things,” he said.
The restaurant is part of a larger effort that aligned with the Chilkoot Indian Association’s desire to rely less heavily on the federal government.
Hart said that’s especially the case given the Trump administration’s efforts to drastically downsize the government, including by making cuts to funding for tribes and Native organizations.
“Here we are in a place and a time where we can start steering our ship and work towards giving ourselves opportunities to live the way we would like to, on our traditional homelands, and not have to rely on grants,” he said.
The restaurant’s official opening date is still uncertain, but Hart said tourists and locals should be able to eat there soon. The dock, for its part, has already hosted multiple smaller cruise ships this season.
