The Auke are an Alaskan Native people, a subgroup of the Tlingit whose name for thesmelves Aakʼw Ḵwáan means "Small Lake People"[1]. The Auke lived along the northwestern coast of North America, in the area that is now the Alexander Archipelago and adjoining mainlaind of the Alaska Panhandle around Juneau.
The Auke had a village on the bay just east of Point Louisa, about 13 miles northwest of Juneau. The site, now adjacent to Glacier Highway, has been reserved by the U.S. Forest Service as a recreation area.[2]
In 1880, after Joe Juneau and Richard Harris were led to gold in the Silver Bow Basin, U.S. naval officers encouraged the Auke to move from the area to avoid conflict with miners and prospectors.[3] The census of Alaska at the time listed the Auke population as 640, of whom 300 were on Admiralty Island, 50 on Douglas Island, and 290 on Stephens Passage, the latter presumably including those at the Point Louisa village.[2]
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