Haines is a city situated in Haines Borough, Alaska, United States. Haines has an estimated population of the city is 1,900. In 1881, the Chilkat asked Sheldon Jackson to send missionaries to the area. S. Young Hall, a Presbyterian minister, was sent. He built the Willard mission and school at Dtehshuh, on land given the church by the Chilkat. The mission was renamed Haines in 1884 in honor of Mrs. F. E. Haines, the chairwoman of the committee that raised funds for its creation. Four canneries were built around the mission by 1900. During the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898-1899, Haines matured as a supply center. The last of the four canneries closed in 1972 due to dilapidated fish stocks. Logging and sawing timber has been an industry around Haines but has deteriorated also in recent years. Tourism is now an imperative source of income in the community. Many tourists visit during the yearly appearance of bald eagles in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve between October and February.
There are two places you should visit in Haines, Alaska. You can visit the Alaska Indian Arts Center. The Art Center features carvers and artisans making totem poles, masks, ceremonial blankets, rattles, dishes, and war clubs. The Center is in the former U.S. Army post hospital in Fort Wm. H. Seward.
The other place is the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. This place can be found below Klukwan on the Chilkat River flats. This area is called the "Council Grounds" because of its large congregation of eagles. The 48,000 acre Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve which was established to protect and preserve the world's largest concentration of Bald Eagles and their habitat.