The Upper Tanana people live right next to the Yukon/Alaska border and ensure that their connections to relatives across the border remain strong. There are also Northern Tutchone people living in this area. The original village sites were at Snag and Scotty Creek, not at modern day Beaver Creek where the White River First Nation is based today. After the building of the Alaska Highway in 1942 by the Americans to provide a route from Alaska to the United States, many Yukon First Nations were relocated to new towns and villages along the highway.