Ka Ku What
Ka Ku What is a coastal Tlingit name. Eva Billy thinks he may have been from the Tagish area. The coastal traders often came to meet him and trade blankets, guns and other things, He stayed on an island at Thaytchow [Tthe Chaew Män] in a bush camp.1) Tthe Chaew Män is also known as Kelly Lake. The island referred to is on Tadru Lake (Teten Män). Tatchun village was at the mouth of Tatchun Creek on the Yukon River. Tatchun village was an important fish trap location. Tthe Chaew means ‘moose skin scraper’.2) People stayed at “Thay tchow” to fish and there were fish traps around the mouth of the creek. Tatchun was their village. They hunted over on the Pelly and Ross rivers and at Dawson and then floated down in a raft. They walked back and go up the Freegold Trail to Nansen and they hunted up La Chi [Lach’ę Ddhäw – Buffalo Mountain], and over then go over the mountain and come back down the Yukon River. They went over to Glenyon Mountain [Tthe Ezhú Ddhäw] to dry meat and then float down to Little Salmon Lake and down Little Salmon Creek. They would arrive in time for the salmon migration and then float back to their village at Tatchun. That was before the white people had a store. The coast people used to come to Tatchun to trade. They had a trail and Eva's grandfather [KaKu What] told her where it was. Eva's grandfather used to name things in the coastal language.3)
Ka Ku What (Takuwat [sic]) was a chief of the Little Salmon people in the late 19th century. Ka Ku What's grandson, Shratthégän Billy, tells of a time when people were staying at Little Salmon village, Tánintsé Chú Húchanu, at that time and the first white man they saw came into their camp. There was a bunch of little boys there and Shratthégän was one of them. All the boys ran to see the strange sight. The white men had short hair and long necks. Their pants were big and wide on top and tight from the knee down. The children laughed and laughed.4)
Ka Ku What is buried at Thay throw [Tthe Chaew Ddhäw? Tatchun Mountains] near Ta dru man, where the coastal people came to trade.5)