Digital Bob Archive

The place names of an area are often clues to the names of people who have lived there, or to special events that have taken place. That is true for the Taku region, although some of the names in the region have no local roots. To begin with, there is the name Taku which is used for at least ten physical features, as well as for buildings and business firms in the Juneau area. The \"Dictionary of Alaska Place Names\" states that Taku Inlet was \"Named for the Taku subdivision of the Tlingit Indians,? but does not define the word.

The late E.L. Keithahn, longtime curator of the Alaska Historical Library and Museum, had an inquiring turn of mind and was told that the name Taku is a shortened form of the Tlingit Tuh-wakh-tha-ku which means \"the place where the geese sit down.\" Since the geese sit down at many places in Alaska, that did not appear to me to have special significance.

It did not, that is, until this past June when I attended the first Borderlands Conference at Whitehorse. On the two-day program were several Natives from the Yukon and Alaska, including some Inland Tlingits. Chief Sylvester Jack and his wife, Mrs. Antonia Jack, related some Taku River history. Mrs. Jack explained the sitting geese.

The lower end of the grassy flats on the east side of the river mouth, opposite what we call Swede Point, was a favorite nesting ground for geese, said Mrs. Jack. By the time the young geese were ready to take to the water but were still unable to fly, most of the feed near the nests had been consumed. The mature geese could fly to other areas; the young ones could not. So they sat on the water and rode the the flood tide up to greener pastures, then rode the ebb back to the nests after dining.

Unfortunately, not all of the area place names have such a charming provenance. Davidson Creek, for example, commemorates a tragedy, the drowning of Secretary of Alaska Charles E. Davidson.

Davidson was born at Fort Jones, California, on March 7, 1873, and came north to Juneau in 1896. He got a job on a survey crew and learned the trade, then took a special course in the work in California. He made his home in Alaska after 1900, working out of Juneau, Nome and Fairbanks, and was married at Fairbanks in 1912. Davidson was active in the Democratic Party and was chairman of the Central Committee in 1913 when President Wilson appointed him Surveyor General and ex-officio Secretary of Alaska.

Late on Wednesday, August 6, 1919, Mr. and Mrs. Davidson joined Dr. Robert Simpson and his wife, Belle Goldstein Simpson, on their boat Ja-ka-da for a fishing trip to Turner Lake, Taku Inlet. They fished until late Friday evening, then started for town with Dr. Simpson at the wheel and the two women in the cabin. Davidson remained on deck and was missed after a time. The boat was turned back but no trace of Davidson was found then or by the several boats that searched and dragged the inlet during the next several days. In addition to Mrs. Davidson, he was survived by two boys and a girl, all born in Juneau.