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HAINES |
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The small community of HAINES sits on a peninsula between the
Chilkat and the Chilkoot inlets at the northern end of the longest and
deepest fjord in the US, Lynn Canal. The town tends to be overshadowed
by its brasher neighbor, Skagway, but it remains a real Alaskan
experience nonetheless. When the weather is clear, it is nothing short
of spectacular, with snow-covered Mount Ripinsky rising up behind, the
Chilkoot and Chilkat mountains hemming it in on either side, and
glaciers spilling out into the deep fjord. The community itself is an
interesting mix of unreconstructed rednecks and urban escapees from the
Lower 48.
The Tlingit fished and traded here for years before 1881, when the first
missionaries arrived and renamed the settlement for a prominent
Presbyterian, Mrs F. Haines. Today the town survives on fishing and
tourism, and though cruise ships tend to press on to Skagway, it remains
a popular spot, which in mid-August hosts the cookouts, crafts and log-rolling
of the Southeast Alaska Fair . The fairgrounds also hold Dalton City , a
small pioneer theme park notable only in that its buildings came from
the movie sets of Jack London's White Fang , which was filmed in the
Haines area in 1989.
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