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Aleutians East, Anchorage, Bristol Bay, City & Juneau, City & Sitka, City & Yakutat, Denali, Fairbanks North Star, Haines, Kenai Peninsula, Ketchikan Gateway, Kodiak Island, Lake And Peninsula, Matanuska-Susitna, North Slope, Northwest Arctic

Alaska Boroughs

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Alaska Boroughs

The U.S. state of Alaska is not divided into counties, as are 48 other states, but it is divided into boroughs (Louisiana is divided into parishes). Many of the more densely populated parts of the state are part of Alaska's sixteen boroughs, which function somewhat similarly to counties in other states.

Haines Borough, Alaska

Haines Borough History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Haines
Year Organized: 1968
Square Miles: 2,357

Court House:

P.O. Box 1209
Borough Seat
Haines, AK 99827-1049

Etymology - Origin of Borough Name

In 1881, the Chilkat asked Sheldon Jackson to send missionaries to this area. One of the missionaries sent was S. Young Hall, a Presbyterian minister. He built the Willard mission and school at Dtehshuh, on land that was given by the Chilkat. The mission was renamed Haines in 1884 in honor of Mrs. F. E. Haines, the chairwoman of the committee that raised funds for its building.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History of Haines Borough, Alaska

A look at Haines Borough today used to be called "'Dtehshuh" or "end of the trail" by the Chilkat group of Tlingit. It received this name because they could portage (carry) their canoes from the trail that they use to trade with the interior, which began at the outlet of the Chilkat River, to Dtehshuh and save (20 miles) of rowing around the Chilkat Peninsula. George Dickinson, an agent for the North West Trading Company, settled at Dtehshuh around 1880. In 1881, the Chilkat asked Sheldon Jackson to send missionaries to this area. One of the missionaries sent was S. Young Hall, a Presbyterian minister. He built the Willard mission and school at Dtehshuh, on land that was given by the Chilkat. The mission was renamed Haines in 1884 in honor of Mrs. F. E. Haines, the chairwoman of the committee that raised funds for its building.

Four canneries were constructed around the mission by the 1900. During the Klondike Gold Rush from 1898 to1899, Haines grew as a supply center, since the Dalton Trail from Chilkat Inlet offered a route to the Yukon for prospectors. Gold was also discovered 36 miles from Haines in 1899 at the Porcupine District. During this time, the name Haines came into use for this area around the mission and not for just the mission itself. With the finishing of the White Pass and Yukon Route railway in neighboring Skagway, the Dalton Trail was mostly abandoned and Haines declined economically.

Fort William H. Seward, a United States Army installation was constructed south of Haines around 1904, on property that was donated by the mission from its holdings. In 1922, the fort was renamed Chilkoot Barracks. It was the only United States Army post in Alaska before World War II. During World War II, it was used as a supply point for some U. S. Army activities in Alaska. The fort was deactivated in 1946 and sold as surplus property to a private group who called it Port Chilkoot. In 1970, Port Chilkoot merged with Haines into one municipality. In 1972, the fort was designated a national historic site and renamed to, Fort William H. Seward, was restored.

The last of the four canneries closed in 1972 due to declining of fish stocks. Logging and sawing timber has been an industry around Haines but has declined in recent years. Tourism is now an important source of income in the community. Many tourists visit during the annual appearance of bald eagles in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve between October and February Calendar year.

Neighboring Boroughs:

Juneau City and Borough, Alaska - south
Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska - west

Also shares eastern border with British Columbia, Canada.

Stikine Region, British Columbia

Cities and Towns:

- Haines (County Seat)

Borough Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."