The Dena’ina people are known as the indigenous population of the Knik Arm area and southcentral Alaska. Anchorage lies within Dena’ina Ełnena (Dena’ina Country). Specifically, it is home to the K’enaht’ana, the indigenous people of Nuti (Knik Arm), who today are members of Eklutna (Idlughet) and Knik (K’enakatnu) tribes. At present, however, public representation of Dena’ina history and culture is almost nonexistent to our city.
Dena’ina fished, hunted, trapped and gathered wild plants in and around the land between the Chugach and Talkeetna Mountains, in Upper Cook Inlet, for at least 1000 years before the Russians walked the land or Anchorage was founded.
In the early 19th Century, Russians set up trading posts in lower Cook Inlet to trade with the Dena’ina for furs. Later Russian priests came to Alaska to try to convert the people to their religion. The Dena’ina built churches at Knik and Eklutna in the late 19th century and continued to trade in furs even after Russia “sold” its interest in Alaska in 1867. At the turn of the twentieth century, there was an increase in gold seekers coming into Upper Cook Inlet. In 1915, the Federal government started to build a railroad that ran straight through the Dena’ina’s land into the Interior of Alaska and Anchorage was selected as the headquarters. Many Knik Arm Dena’ina helped build the railroad especially during the time between World War I and World War II. The large influx of people to work on the railroad brought with it in1918, a terrible worldwide influenza epidemic hit this area especially hard and as resulted almost 50 percent of the Dena’ina people perished in very short period of time.
The Dena’ina that did survive watched as their traditional homeland was slowly engulfed and expropriated by an ever-increasing number of newcomers to the state. Between the “founding” of Anchorage as city in 1920, two military installations built during World War II, private development, State Road and Rail right of ways, and the tapping of water from Eklutna Lake to satisfy the growing demand for drinking water and hydro electrical generation. Later, Eklutna Lake was included, as part of the third largest state park in the United States and Eklutna people were no longer allowed to practice traditional subsistence activities in this culturally significant area. On December 18, 1971, President Richard Nixon signed into law the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) that allowed Alaska Natives to retain 44 million acres of land and a cash settlement. This act created 13 Regional Corporations and approximately 175 village corporations. Eklutna, Inc. was formed on October 17, 1972 as one of the village corporations. In the ensuring years, Eklutna, Inc. has executed several different strategies to find a balance to maximize its position as the largest private landholder within the Municipality for its shareholders while still working hard to retain its Dena’ina identity. In June 2006, Mayor Mark Begich and the Anchorage Assembly announced that the Dena'ina people and their heritage were going to obtain the recognition that they deserve. Anchorage has built a $120 million convention center that is respectfully named "The Dena'ina Convention Center," which will educate residents and visitors alike about the rich history we all share with the original people of the Anchorage area.
