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Alaska » Southeast Region » U.S.-Canada Border » Dalton Trail Post

Dalton Trail Post

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Between 1891 and 1896. Mile 40 Haines Hwy.

The log building on the Canadian border was constructed by Jack Dalton, who negotiated with the Chilkat Tlingit and obtained access to the Chilkat pass to the Interior. Dalton kept tight control of this trail, establishing trading posts such as this one and setting up a toll road in 1899. With discovery of gold in the Klondike, the trail was used a good deal, but its use diminished with the construction of the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad to the Interior from Skagway. By 1914 a wagon road led from Haines to the border, following Dalton's trail; in 1943 the Haines Highway was constructed along this same route.

Operated as a roadhouse until the early 1970s, the Dalton Trail Post is a one-and-a-half-story building, 34 feet by 24 feet, constructed of horizontal round logs, saddle notched at the corners. A lower, one-story wing on one end is constructed of the same materials. The gables originally were finished with vertical planks; they now have wood shingles. In 1980, the building received a new roof and foundation.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Alison K. Hoagland
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Data

Citation

Alison K. Hoagland, "Dalton Trail Post", [, Alaska], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/AK-01-SE014.

Print Source

Buildings of Alaska, Alison K. Hoagland. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 168-168.

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