Dalton Trail

Originally, the Chilkat group of Tlingit controlled the trail, which they used for trade with the Athabascan people of the interior.

Tlingits took eulachon oil and returned with furs, hides and copper nuggets gathered by the Athabascans.

Trading parties often lasted a month or more and often consisted of as many as 100 men, each of whom would carry a 45 kg (100 pound) load.

The Chilkat trade monopoly was broken in 1890 when E. J. Glave, John (Jack) Dalton and several others were hired by Leslie's Illustrated Magazine of New York to explore the interior of Alaska.

During the Klondike Gold Rush many prospectors walked the trail to Fort Selkirk, where log rafts would float men, horses and cattle to Dawson City.