The birth of Kawa/ée goes back fifty years before the purchase of Alaska from Russia and long before there were written records of most tribal births. (Kawa/ée, the most recently accepted spelling of his name, means "it is cooked", a prestigious name. Early spellings included: Koweeh, Kowee, Cow-eeh and Cowee which were found in Pilz's memoirs, early newspaper reports, maps, and mining claim documents.) It appears that Kawa/ée was a clan leader of the Young 's Bay Auk village on Admiralty Island. He was Raven, and probably married to Ok.Lak, an Eagle woman from the Auk village sixteen miles north of Juneau's present location. He was living in this village when he heard of George Pilz's offer of "100 Hudson Bay Blankets and work for the tribe" for each commercial gold discovery. Kawa/ée followed up with rich specimens of quartz containing gold, galena, and stibnite (the ores of lead and antimony). The Auk leader was persistent; it appears he made more than one trip to Sitka with samples. We do not know the source of the samples. Harris and Juneau later found rich-gold float in Gold Creek and Quartz gulch, possible sources, but they also staked the 'Kow.eeh Gold & Silver Quartz Lode Claim' on Kowee Creek on Douglas Island on October 12, 1880 so a Douglas Island location is also possible.
Pilz's accounts credit Kawa/ée with persistence and perhaps with bringing the best samples to Sitka, but written records are vague and often contradictory. To some extent, Kawa/ée represents other Indians of southeastern Alaska who assisted the first prospectors. The elder Kawa/ée could have brought samples collected by other members of the Auk group. Harris and Juneau seem to have been directly assisted by at least three Indians from the Sitka area. Harris also states that Auk villagers supported his and Joe Juneau's prospecting efforts in the expeditions of mid-summer and October of 1880.
Kawa/ée served as an Indian policeman during the days of Navy rule and an early photograph depicts him in his uniform and policeman's star. He was highly regarded by the Juneau miners and residents, and was referred to as Chief Kowee on his obituary. After the establishment of Juneau, Kawa/ée lived in the new Auk village near downtown Juneau, where traditionally a summer fish camp was located. Kawa/ée died February 27, 1892 and was cremated four days later at the mouth of Gold Creek (previously named Dzantik'I Heeni meaning the place where flounder gather).