Deishú (End of the Trail)

Described as an old Chilkat village at Portage Cove, four miles east of Yandeist’akyé , Deishú was not heavily populated until the establishment of the Presbyterian mission. The Presbyterians’ decision to place the mission at a neutral site was a strategic attempt to escape the traditionalism of the village and also the appearance of favoring a single village. As the missionary, Mrs. Eugene Willard, remarked, “Each of these villages has its chief or chiefs and medicine men, each its distinct nobility, and each its own interests and jealousies of all the others.” [6]