Description
The Tagish were traditionally centered around a series of lakes forming part of the Yukon River headwaters that drain the interior plateau in northern British Columbia and southern Yukon. Their main 19th-century settlement was Tagish, at the junction of Tagish and Marsh Lakes. The 1898 Klondike gold rush brought about 40,000 settlers to the Yukon. The traditional territory of the Tagish and Inland Tlingit was the first to experience the environmental impact of this huge influx of newcomers. Prospectors forever upset the natural environment by cutting down all the trees and depleting game with the sudden need to feed thousands of new people.
Language
Tagish was a language spoken by the Tagish or Carcross-Tagish
Culture
The Tagish were boreal forest hunters and fishers. By about 1800, however, the near extinction of the coastal sea otter, owing to the fur trade, led to a demand for fine land animal furs from the interior. The Tagish increased their own trapping activities, including trade with the Tlingit between the coast and interior. They also acted as middlemen between Dene peoples farther inland and Coast Tlingit traders who, until shortly before the Klondike Gold Rush (1898-1899), prevented the Tagish from crossing the mountain passes to trade directly with Europeans.