Editing Kiana, Alaska (section)

==History==

===Before contact===
Kiana, meaning where three rivers meet, was founded several centuries ago. Before Kiana became a village, the [[Iñupiat|Inupiat]] tended to travel with certain animal herds; constantly hunting for meat and furs.

In the 1800s, the Inupiaqs of Kiana used to live along the [[Kobuk River]]. Throughout the year the villagers hunted and fished near their houses. They moved to an area where there was an abundance of animals and fish. The Inupiaqs lived in houses made of sod; that is because they would follow where the animals would go.

When someone died inside the house they abandoned it, believing they would catch a contagious disease. Instead of building coffins or digging graves, the villagers wrapped the bodies of the deceased in cloths; they put poles in the cloths making the shape of a teepee.

Archaeological studies have been done on the local site 'Igliqtiqsiugvigruaq' (Swift Water Place) which was inhabited by the ancestors of the present day residents of Kiana from 1790 to 1810. The town consisted of burrowed homes connected by tunnels.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.swiftwaterplace.com/ |title=Igliqtiqsiugvigruaq |access-date=September 8, 2016 |archive-date=September 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916055315/http://www.swiftwaterplace.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Early 20th century===
	The first white people arrived from the south with boats in 1898 and changed the way of life. They settled in what is now Kiana. More white people came in 1901 and 1902 and started building houses. Inupiaq women moved to them and married the men.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://jukebox.uaf.edu/kiana/html/kianaibstory.html |title=Black, Inez |access-date=February 26, 2014 |archive-date=September 10, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100910231235/http://jukebox.uaf.edu/kiana/html/kianaibstory.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

	Archaeologists have discovered a pre-contact Inupiaq village near Kiana. From carbon dating, the archaeologists discovered the village was from the late 1700s to the early 1800s. After more digging was done, they found that some of the houses they excavated were connected with tunnels and passageways. The average house size in the village was about the size of typical one-roomed cabins. Some of the artifacts that were found include metal fragments and shards, as well as glass beads.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Homepage |url=https://alaskapublic.org/ |access-date=March 30, 2023 |website=Alaska Public Media |language=en-US}}</ref>

Kiana is the central village of the Kobuk river, for Kowagmiut Inupaiq Eskimos. Kiana became known to the Federal Government after a population increase, eventually making the town in to a city, in the year 1915. A United States Post Office was founded in the year 1964.<ref>(Kiana: Looking Back oral history as told by some of its people and written by Kiana Students)</ref>

Before the post office was built, mail came only once a month. The mail transportation method was mainly by dogsled or by walking from one village to another. During that time, Kiana  became a key supply city for coal and gold miners who were posted along the [[Squirrel River]]. The Blankenship Trading Post was managed by Walter Blankenship, and later by Robinson Blankenship and Ruth Blankenship Sandvik. The trading post was the only store with goods such as flour, salt, carbonated beverages, coffee, tea, sugar, and fruit, both dried and canned.