Anchorage Daily News

DOT LAKE VILLAGE

POPULATION: 22 (2006)

LOCATION: Off the Alaska Highway, 50 miles northwest of Tok, 155 road miles southeast of Fairbanks.

DESCRIPTION: A traditional Upper Tanana Athabascan village where about three of every four residents is Alaska Native or part Native and subsistence activities are important. A separate, non-Native community in the same area, Dot Lake, is located near Dot Lake Lodge. Employment for village residents is limited to the village council, Tanana Chiefs Conference and the school. Parkas, moccasins, beadwork and other handicrafts are sold by local residents. Local residents sell parkas, moccasins, beadwork and other handicrafts. In the summer, the BLM hires firefighting crews.

HISTORY: Archaeological evidence at nearby Healy Lake has revealed more than 10,000 years of human habitation. Dot Lake was used as a seasonal hunting camp for Athabascans from George Lake and Tanacross. An Indian freight trail ran north to the Yukon River through Northway, Tetlin, Tanacross and Dot Lake. During construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942-'43, a work camp called Sears City occupied non-Native Dot Lake's present location, where some local Natives worked. After 1946, several families moved permanently to Dot Lake from nearby areas. A post office and school were built in the late 1940s. A licensed children's home was built in the late 1950s, a new children's home in 1967 and the lodge in 1973. Today, the lodge, motel, grocery store and gas station, owned by non-Natives, comprise the community of Dot Lake. The Natives in Dot Lake Village have limited local employment opportunities.

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