The Tagish people live in the Southern Lakes region of the Yukon. Before contact with non-First Nations, they settled by the shores of Bennett Lake and Marsh Lake and other lakes that flow into the Yukon River. In the 1800s they were drawn into the fur trade, acting as middlemen between the coastal Tlingit and the inland Kaska and Tutchone. They traded shells, eulachon oil, dried clams, wooden boxes and seaweed for furs, tanned hides, clothing, special lichens or mosses used for dye.
The Tagish intermarried with the coastal Tlingit bringing about the present day blending of the two cultures, with many of the Tagish/Tlingits settled at present day Carcross eventually forming the Carcross/Tagish First Nation. Tagish/Tlingit culture is matrilineal and follows the mother’s line. When a child is born he or she is born into the mother’s moiety (Wolf or Crow), clan and house group.
The Carcross/Tagish First Nation still maintains many trails in Southern Yukon, Alaska and northern British Columbia, including the famous Chilkoot Trail which was a trading route long before the arrival of non-First Nations.