The area was once the home of a US Military installation named Fort William H. Seward (formally named in 1904). It was also known as Chilkoot Barracks and Haines Mission. This cache is located adjacent to a building that at one time was a bakery for the fort. The fort was formally authorized by an executive order of President William McKinley in December 1898. The fort was located at Port Chilkoot in Haines Borough, Alaska, about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) from the city of Haines.
Fort William H. Seward was a military post established in Alaska during the gold rush era. It was the last in a series of 11 forts/outposts.
Between 1921 and 1925 all other military installations in Alaska were shut down. This action made Fort W.H. Seward, Alaska's only military facility between 1925 and 1945. In 1927 Fort Seward was manned by a force of 255. It provided a policing presence for miners moving into the gold mining areas in the Alaskan interior, and a military presence during negotiations over the nearby international border with Canada.
The fort was originally named for William H. Seward, the United States Secretary of State who oversaw the Alaska purchase known as Seward’s Folly.
Fort William H. Seward first appeared separately on the 1910 U.S. Census and in 1920. Its name was changed to Chilkoot Barracks on both the 1930 and 1940 census. The fort was formally deactivated in 1945, and sold to the Port Chilkoot Company.