Dena’ina Stories from the Knik Tribe

[As part of KTNA’s river series, we reached out to coordinator of the Knik Tribal Council’s Dena’ina Cultural Exchange Program Kevin Toothaker. This is the first story in our Dena’ina story project, where we will share bits of history to give our readers a sense of the Knik Tribe and the Upper Inlet Dena’ina.]

It is a privilege for the Knik Tribe to have the opportunity to share some Dena’ina culture, language, and stories with the staff at KTNA and their listeners in Talkeetna! Most of the stories are pulled from “Shem Pete’s Alaska 2^nd Edition, and other books as details were sought from Shem Pete’s references. 

The Dena’ina of the Upper Inlet were part of a larger population of the Dena’ina in Alaska. The Upper Inlet Dena’ina had a Chief or Qeshqa in a village on every salmon bearing stream, many streams had more than one village. 

The resources of the Upper Inlet Dena’ina were well known throughout Alaska’s Southcentral region. As a result, the Upper Inlet Dena’ina were subjects to raids and invasions from other tribes, i.e. Alutiiq and Ulchena peoples.

Raids happened so often that some Dena’ina placenames were named after them, Uq’e Tsits’eldatl’I Betnu “Creek of On It Someone Went In Fear” and Uq’e Tsits’eldayl’I “On it Someone Went In Fear”, and Uq’e Tsits’eldaht’I Bena “On It Someone Went In Fear Lake”. There were cache pits prepared by the Dena’ina for when they were raided. One can only assume that there were many raids for there to be placenames as a result. 

Those who lived in the Upper Inlet lived knowing that they may be raided if they have rich resource nearby at any time. Thousands of years ago, this knowledge led the Qeshqa to send their children to a place called Keshch’a Bena “Feathers Lake” which is now Donkey Creek Lake.

There is a war story called “Jiggi Banehyaht” which translated means “Where the Princess Is Raised”. The sons and daughters of Qeshqa were raised here without fear of Ulchena or Alutiiq raids. Somehow the Ulchena discovered the village site and raided it, killing everyone in it except for a brother and sister who escaped and made it downstream to the next village and warned them of the raid, who then killed the raiders as they came downstream. This village site was never occupied again, but archaeological remains have been discovered to support this seemingly mythical tale of a hidden village. 

Sharing the Culture and history of Knik Tribe and the Upper Inlet Dena’ina is long overdue and we hope to share more about the Upper Inlet Dena’ina and Ahtna Peoples perseverance over time. 

We are still here.

Thank you.