The Xaadas came to present day Alaska from what is now the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia, Canada. From Masset on Graham Island, they headed north across Dixon Entrance.
They landed somewhere around Cape Muzon at the southern tip of Dall Island. This area is now known as "Kaigani" and the Xaadas in Alaska are known as "Kaigani Haida". Some Xaadas settled on islands of the Cordova Bay area, thus the villages of Howkan, Klinkwan, and Sukkwan.
Some headed East around Cape Chacon and along the southern coast of Prince of Wales Island. These Xaadas eventually settled in Gasa'aan (Kasaan), or what is now called "Old Kasaan". Gasa'aan was first a Tlingit village and the name means "Pretty Town" in the Tlingit language.
In the early 1900s, the people abandoned their homes and the village, Old Kasaan, and moved to "New" Kasaan, after being encouraged to move with the offer of employment in a fish cannery there.
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