Howkan
A historical populated place in Prince of Wales-Hyder (CA) County, Alaska, recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System.
Location Record
Names and historical notes
Recorded by GNIS. Source wording is retained; these notes have not been independently verified by Forgotten America.
GNIS description
Site of village on NW coast of Long I., at Howkan Narrows, Alex. Arch.
GNIS historical note
Tlingit Indian name reported in 1881 by Lieutenant Commander Nichols, U.S. Navy (USN). "Howkan * * * was at one time the largest village of the Hyda (Haido) Indians in the area. All that remains to mark this site is some evidence of clearing (U. W. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1962, p79)" This village was absorbed by the former village of Kaigani which, in turn, was abandoned when the village of Hydaburg was established in 1911 in order to centralize the school system. The Jackson post office was established at Howkan in 1882, and probably named for Sheldon Jackson, who established a mission here in 1881. The post office name was changed to Howcan in 1886, back to Jackson in 1890, and back to Howcan in 1903. In 1917 the post office was discontinued and transferred to Hydaburg (Ricks, 1937, p27). J. F. Swanton (in Hodge, 1907, p573), Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE), says "Howkan a Tlingit (Indian) word probably referring to a stone which stood up in front of the town, although some derive it from "gowakon," deer being numerous there).
Also recorded as
- Howcan
- Jackson
Source editions and recorded citations
Feature ID 1422672. Description/History extract: August 28, 2026. All Names extract: September 30, 2026. Retrieved October 22, 2026. Only populated fields are displayed.
GNIS citation text may identify a source series rather than a specific page. It is reproduced below without implying that its underlying documents were inspected.
- Text Orth, Donald J. Dictionary of Alaska Place Names. Washington, DC: GPO, 1967. This work is an alphabetical list of the geographic names generally including feature descriptions and often name origin information that are now applied and have been applied to places and features in Alaska. GNIS Library.
- Text U.S. Board on Geographic Names Geographic Names Post Phase I Board/Staff Revisions 2000-01-01 00:00:00 Board decisions referenced after Phase I data compilation or staff researched non-controversial names.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), Historical Features.