Anchorage Daily News

POPULATION: 146 (2006)

LOCATION: On the south bank of the Tanana River, 12 miles northwest of Tok, off of the Alaska Highway.

DESCRIPTION: A traditional Athabascan village with a subsistence lifestyle, where nine of every 10 people are Alaska Native. Unemployment is high, but some residents work during the summer as emergency firefighters for the Bureau of Land Management. Some trap and make Native handicrafts to sell. Nearly every family depends on subsistence activities for food. During the April 2000 U.S. census, 24 residents were employed, per capita income was $9,429 and one of every three residents was living below the official U.S. poverty level. There is one school, attended by about a dozen students.

HISTORY: Residents are Tanah, or Tinneh, Athabascan Indians. Most villagers relocated from Mansfield Village, Kechumstuk and Last Tetlin in 1912 when Bishop Rowe established St. Timothy's Episcopal Mission. The village was originally called Tanana Crossing. In 1941, during World War II, the village gave the military permission to use its airfield as an emergency deployment post. Thousands of troops were deployed through Tanacross airfield during the war. Residents served as volunteer scouts and backup support for the Army. After the war, the airfield was closed. In 1972, the village relocated from the north bank of the Tanana River to the south bank, due to water contamination. In 1979, the old village site burned when a grass fire spread out of control.

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