By Kristin White

Sometime in the past, as the story goes, people passing through Klukwan came across a house full of meat. While no one was around, they filled their canoe. As they began paddling away, each item they had put in their canoe went back into the house. A house like a mirror: Kaay ya haay yee hit.

It’s what Joe Hotch named the Tlingit village’s newly completed long house during a dedication ceremony Friday.

The event, which included words from the construction crew and community leaders, drumming and dancing, boasted an attendance of nearly 100. Elders sat on benches, others stood; all the while, a fire in the center pit sent a steady plume of smoke out the top of the house.

It’s been more than a century since the traditional construction style has been used in the village.

"There’s a saying, without vision, the people perish," said Lani Hotch, who provided the group with a background of the project. "Part of the vision (for our community) is to maintain our culture, the things we learned from our ancestors."

The new long house embodies tradition returning to Klukwan, Joe Hotch said. "All cultures need to survive."

"For many years it was hard to express ourselves as Tlingit," Lani Hotch said. "In the territorial days, there was a push away from our culture…To become a voting citizen you had to renounce your tribal ways and have five others attest to it…We were punished for speaking our language…Those things weigh on our spirits. It’s taken a long time to become whole again, to know who we are and where we came from."

In 2002, the creation of Klukwan’s Traditional Knowledge Camp made real the village’s long-term goal of preserving its Tlingit ancestry. Sponsored by the Alaska Federation of Natives, various camps offer organized activities such as processing salmon, beading and carving.

Klukwan’s new 50-by-35-foot building, made of 22 spruce logs (some of them up to 50 feet long) donated by Sealaska Heritage Institute, was a camp itself during construction, with villagers learning traditional building methods. Now, it’s the site for future knowledge camps; one designated use is as a bunkhouse for salmon campers.

The long house took nine months of work over a period of two years to complete.

"For the last few days I’ve been telling these guys, ‘This is the last heavy thing we have to lift,’" said carver Jim Heaton, who led a core of eight workers in the project.

The crew—Jeff Bochart, Valentino Burattin, Christopher Hotch, Jones Hotch Jr., Joe King, Daniel Klanott, Jeffrey Klanott, and Jim Stevens Sr.—began by creating their own adzes, then got to work pounding wedges into logs to split boards for the walls and floor of the house.

Learning Northwest Coast construction as they went, each worker received college credit through the University of Alaska. Klukwan Indian Village supplied scholarships to foot the cost of the class, and a federal wellness grant administered through Tlingit Haida Regional Council slipped the crew a wage.

Standing in the main entrance of the long house, one can look to the right and see the first boards carved. They’ve slightly more uneven surfaces than found on the opposing wall.

"You can see the progression of our work," Heaton said. "It’s nice to step back and see what we’ve been working on the last couple of summers."

While the house was made primarily using handmade tools, there are a few exceptions to tradition: sawyer Tom Ward milled out corner posts and floorboards, and the roof is made of two-by-six-foot rafters nailed together in "standard carpentry," Heaton said.

"All we had to work with was drawings and photos of the traditional longhouses," he said. "I think the crew did a pretty good job."

"This building can inspire everyone to aim high. If they have something in mind, go for it," said Jones Hotch Jr., who worked with four of his nephews on the crew.

In Tlingit culture, uncles play a prominent role in raising children. "I was proud to have my nephews there as we built the house. There hasn’t been (a house) built like that for quite a long time. We were really learning as we went. One of my nephews said he wishes we could do another one now because we kind of know what we’re supposed to do now. I hope this will encourage our people."

"We came down every morning and built a fire, because we wanted to see smoke coming out of the roof of the house we built," crew member Stevens said at the dedication. "I’m proud to be an Indian and from Klukwan, on the banks of the Chilkat River."