Were any first nations aware that there were Athabaskan speakers in the north and south?

by tupacarrot

Was there contact between the coastal BC groups and the California groups, and did they think of eachother as more closely related?

retarredroof

You can find a number of assertions that the Haida and Tlingit travelled as far south as California on tribal websites, blogs and even Wikipedia. But I can find no peer reviewed or reputable published data to support it and I have worked at it. The distribution of Athabaskans in North America and how they came to be there is enigmatic. I can find no information that suggests the B.C. Athabaskans were in contact with their California and Southern Oregon counterparts.