Native cemetery at Circle – Summer 2014

 

I took this is a photo on a recent trip to Circle. It is a small Native cemetery beside the Steese Highway just outside of town.  Circle began in 1894 as a supply center for the Circle Mining District about 50 miles to the southeast. It was predominantly non-Native to begin with, but as the town’s role as a supply center and winter refuge for miners diminished, the proportion of residents who were Athabascan Indians increased until they now represent almost 90 % of the population.