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Five groups of northern Athapaskan people once occupied, at least seasonally, the region now within Denali National Park and Preserve. The formidable Alaska Range separated the territories of the Dena’ina and Ahtna to the south and east from the Lower Tanana, Koyukon, and Upper Kuskokwim to the north. The rugged terrain did not pose a barrier to these mobile people, who carried out trade via mountain passes and sometimes over glaciers. The remains of villages, fish camps, and trails attest to the presence of Athapaskans during historic times, when 20th century explorers, trappers and miners were first coming into the Denali area. Their place names provide a rich context for understanding traditional patterns of subsistence and settlement across the landscape.
Archeologists have found evidence for more ancient occupation at small camp sites where hunters produced and sometimes discarded their stone tools. The age of these archeological sites is often difficult to determine exactly, unless remains of charcoal or bone from old fire hearths are discovered. One of the earliest sites in Interior Alaska, the Dry Creek site, is located just outside the park boundaries. The bones of large Pleistocene mammals, such as elk and bison, were found at Dry Creek, proving beyond a doubt that ancient hunters killed species of animals which eventually became extinct in Alaska. The oldest cultural level at Dry Creek was dated to about 12,000 years before present.
Perhaps the greatest influx of people, until recent park visitation, occurred during the early 1900s gold rush to the Kantishna Hills. By the early summer of 1905, prospectors Joe Quigley and Jack Horn had found gold in paying quantities in Glacier Creek. During the next few months the rush to Kantishna was on. Several thousand prospectors flocked to the area during the summer and fall, staking claims on every creek that heads in the Kantishna Hills, but the shallow, easily accessible gold deposits were quickly mined and the region's mining population dwindled to about 50 people by the fall. Fannie Quigley, whose accomplishments ranged from hunting and mining to cooking and gardening, was one of the more colorful characters to live in Kantishna.
Mountaineering is another important theme in Denali’s history, as is the establishment of the original park, Mt. McKinley National Park, in 1917. Many of the historic buildings in Denali are located in the front county along with road corridor, and date to the first few decades after the park was established. Several cabins built as hubs for construction camps during the building of the park road (1923- 1938) were later put to use as ranger patrol cabins. The research and fieldwork of National Park Service archeologists, historians, and landscape architects continue to bring to light the details of Denali’s vibrant past.
The Cultural Resource program at Denali National Park and Preserve documents people in the parks, past and present, and strives to preserve places with unique history. To learn more about cultural resources, visit our program page.
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