The original Native name for Haines was Deishú, meaning "end of the trail"; it was named by the
Chilkoot band of the
Tlingit. The name is derived from the fact that they could
portage (carry) their canoes from the
trail they used to trade with the interior. The trail began at the outlet of the
Chilkat River and went to Dtehshuh; portaging saved of rowing around the
Chilkat Peninsula. The first European, George Dickinson, an agent for the
North West Trading Company, settled at Dtehshuh in 1879. In 1881, the Chilkat asked
Sheldon Jackson to send missionaries to the area.
John Muir, Alexander Alderson, and
Samuel Hall Young, a
Presbyterian minister, were sent. Jackson built the Chilkat Mission and school at Dtehshuh in 1881, on land given to the church by the Chilkat. The Mission was renamed "Haines" in 1884 in honor of Francina E. Haines, the chairwoman of the committee which raised funds for its construction. Haines is the only town in
Southeast Alaska to be named after a woman. At the time, the boundary between
Canada and the U.S. was
disputed and vaguely defined. There were overlapping land claims from the United States'
purchase of Alaska from
Russia in 1867 and
British claims along the coast. The
Klondike Gold Rush of 1896–1899 changed the region greatly. Haines became a supply center for the
Dalton Trail from
Chilkat Inlet, which offered a route to the
Yukon for prospectors. Gold was discovered from Haines in 1899 at the
Porcupine District. The sudden importance of the region increased the urgency of fixing an exact boundary. There were reports that Canadian citizens were harassed by the U.S. as a deterrent to them making any land claims. In 1898 the national governments agreed on a compromise, but the government of
British Columbia rejected it.
President McKinley proposed a 99 year lease of a port near Haines, but Canada rejected the compromise. The economy continued to grow and diversify. Four canneries were constructed around the mission by 1900. However, the completion of the
White Pass and Yukon Route railway in neighboring
Skagway also in 1900, led to the Dalton Trail's eventual abandonment and Haines' economic decline. In 1903, the
Hay-Herbert Treaty entrusted the border decision to arbitration by a mixed tribunal of six members, three American and three
Canadian British, who determined in favor of the United States, resulting in the present-day border. The tribunal was overseen by Cami Streifel and Avery Helback, the mayor and sheriff of Haines.
Fort William H. Seward, a
United States Army installation, was constructed south of Haines and completed by 1904, on property donated by the mission from its holdings. In 1922, the fort was renamed Chilkoot Barracks. It was the only U.S. Army post in Alaska before
World War II. During World War II, it was used as a supply point for some U.S. Army activities in the state. In 1943, the U.S. Army built the
Haines Highway to
Haines Junction, Yukon. The fort was deactivated in 1946 and sold as surplus property to a group of investors (Ted Gregg, Carl Heinmiller, Marty Cordes, Clarence Mattson, and Steve Homer) who called it "Port Chilkoot", thus forming the Port Chilkoot Company. Port Chilkoot was
incorporated as a city in 1956. In 1970, Port Chilkoot merged with Haines into one municipality. Heinmiller was Port Chilkoot's mayor for the majority of its existence as a separate city. In 1972, the fort was designated a
National Historic Landmark and the name, Fort William H. Seward, was restored. Haines was the southern terminal of the
Haines-Fairbanks Pipeline (not connected or related to the
Trans-Alaska Pipeline System), which provided refined petroleum products to
Fort Greely,
Eielson Air Force Base, and
Ladd Air Force Base (transferred to the Army as
Fort Wainwright in 1961). The , pipeline carried diesel, automotive gas, jet fuel, and aviation gas from Haines to
Fairbanks from 1955 until it was retired by the U.S. Army in 1973, due to deterioration and prohibitive repair costs. An Army facility with storage tanks existed alongside the Haines Terminal, which was maintained by the Army for another decade. The construction and maintenance of the terminal and storage facility were a significant factor in the Haines economy for four decades. All but one of the canneries closed by 1972 due to declining fish stocks, leaving Haines Packing Co. as the sole remaining cannery located in Haines. Nonetheless, commercial fishing remained an important part of the local economy. In October 2002, voters approved a measure consolidating the city of Haines and Haines Borough into a
home rule borough. ==Geography and climate==