Looking Towards the Tatshenshini

Look-Towards-the-Tatshenshini-acrylic-36w-24h-2014-750px-500px-web

Looking Towards the Tatshenshini

Acrylic on Canvas 36″ x 24″

On a fall road trip to the Yukon we saw so much amazing country.  Despite a heavy cloud cover, you could see mountains receding back into the distance.  The fireweed leaves were red, the pines were heavy with cones, and the flat bottom grasses were golden and orange.  The hillsides also had colorful grasses and a break in the clouds highlighted the river cliffs.

I have been learning a little bit about the Tlingit language, so looking up the name Tatshenshini, I find that it comes from a Tlingit phrase: t’áchán shahéeni, a compound Tlingit noun meaning river with stinking chinook (king) salmon at its headwaters. The river this phrase referred to was what is currently called the Blanchard River, which is a tributary of the currently named Tatshenshini.