Tlingit trade routes resisted outside European use for almost 100 years, but the Tlingit could not resist the massive influx of Euro-Americans and the introduction of new diseases. Between 1836 and 1840, almost one half of the Tlingit people died by smallpox, influenza, and tuberculosis. At about the same time, U.S. miners started infiltrating to the area to prospect for gold. The Tlingit vigilantly defended trade routes, refusing travel over the Chilkoot Pass by either Euro-American traders or interior Natives (National Park Service 2001).
