Athabaskan people and natural resource use
The area where the Innoko National Wildlife Refuge exists today was, and still is, a land rich in natural resources. The Athabaskan people (pdf) lived for centuries along the Innoko and Iditarod rivers, in villages (map .gif) such as Dishkakat, Dementi, Holikachuk and Old Shageluk. They used a variety of seasonal campsites, depending on the resources being harvested. As hunters and gatherers, their very survival depended on the harvest of plants, animals and fish. These rich, renewable resources provided food, shelter, fuel, clothing, tools and modes of transportation, and were bartered for other needed 
supplies. They set up spring camps to harvest furbearers and waterfowl, and summer camps for fishing and picking berries. Berries, including blueberries, salmonberries, cranberries, blackberries and raspberries, provided an important staple to their diet. These summer camps, also called “canoe camps”, were often located near the forks of rivers, or along the Yukon River, where salmon and whitefish runs were abundant. Throughout the year, hunters roamed over what is now the refuge in search of caribou, waterfowl, other wild game and moose (after the early 1900’s).
Though there are no communities within the refuge boundaries today, residents of adjacent villages on the lower Innoko and Yukon rivers continue to harvest the land’s resources to feed their families and to preserve local cultural practices. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) recognizes this historic, cultural lifestyle and provides rural residents continued opportunities for subsistence use.
Historic settlements
Several Athabaskan historic villages (map .gif) were located in what is now the Innoko Refuge. Confirmed sites include Dishkakat (Korotsenaledalten) and Holikachuk (Khuligichagat), which were "winter" 
or more permanent villages of the Holikachuk Athabaskan people.
During Lieutenant Zagoskin’s Russian exploration(pdf) in the 1840s there were many villages documented in the lower, middle and upper reaches of the Innoko River. Some of these villages were probably fish camps or trapping camps that were seasonal in nature. The villages were called Iltenleyden or Unagunchagelyugmyut, Inselnostlende or Katykhkatmyut, Khuligichagat (Holikachuk), Kkholikakat, Tlegokokhkakat, Ttality (“Fast Current” also known as Dementi).
Around the turn of the century, Interior Alaska experienced numerous gold rushes. Several towns (map .jpg) sprang up in the area which is now the Innoko Refuge after “color” was found along the Innoko River and its tributaries. The supply towns of Ophir and McGrath came about as the result of the September 1906 gold strikes on the Ganes Creek. In the following years, gold was discovered on Ophir Creek as well as on other nearby creeks. Three more new towns (Flat, Dikeman, and Iditarod) came about with the 1908 discovery on Otter Creek, a tributary of the Iditarod River. Remnants of some of these gold rush towns can still be found along the banks of the Innoko and Iditarod Rivers.
Gold Rush
In 1906, Thomas Ganes, Mike Roke, John Maki and FCH Spencer struck gold on Ganes Creek in the upper Innoko River area. This initiated the first Innoko gold rush in 1907. Other areas of discovery included tributaries of the Innoko and Iditarod rivers. The “Inland Empire”(map .gif), as the area was known, experienced a brief boom of activity which included the growth of the communities of Dikeman and Dishkakat. Supply towns, such as Rennies Landing, sprang up on what is now the Innoko Refuge. These communities, now abandoned, were located on what are currently refuge lands. The gold rush history of the area and the resulting historic sites on the refuge are valuable cultural resources of the refuge.
