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The true settlers of the Copper River Valley are the Ahtna people. In Alaska, the term "village" almost always means "Native American Village." Before the late 1800's, the Ahtna people lived in large territories, with mutually understood borders for each family, or band. In each of these territories, there was a range of hunting and gathering opportunities.
For example, bands had access to fish areas, and lands that extended into the hills where they could hunt for dall sheep. In Alaska, migratory arrivals and departures of all kinds of animals are very common. The Ahtna people were also great travelers. They traveled outside of their region to trade with surrounding Native people, including fellow Athabascan Indians, Eyak and other coastal Indians, and Eskimos. They also routinely traveled on circuits throughout the Copper Valley itself, within their own territories, following the well-understood migratory patterns of caribou, moose, and other valuable animals.
Eventually, in the 1950's, Alaska made laws that forced Native people in the Copper Valley and elsewhere to stay in one place to send their children to schools. This led to year-round "villages", often assembling near trading posts that were most often placed at the mouth of a tributary of the Copper River.
Today, there are a number of official Native villages in the Copper Valley, most located very near the site of both a fishing or river outlet and a former trading post or lodge.
From north to south, the Ahtna villages are: Mentasta, Chistochina, Gulkana, Gakona, Tazlina, Copper Center (Kluti-Kaah), and Chitina. There is another Ahtna village outside the actual physical parameters of the Copper Valley, called Cantwell, on the Parks Highway.
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