USA > Alaska > Alaska and the Klondike > Part 14
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may have stood in his name without anything being done to develop any of them.
Now, the law intended that every claimant should do at least $100 worth of development work on his claim every year ; but even where there is some pretence of com- pliance, there is often no practical result. Labour, figured at $10 a day, with time spent in going to and returning from the claim, may result in moving a few shovelfuls of dirt, but it means nothing in the development of the country.
But it may be asked, Why do men take claims if not to work them and get something out of them? In order to take advantage of the labour of somebody else, gen- erally. These 19,500 claims that Judge Dubose referred to are held generally by people who are waiting for some- body else to do something that shall establish their value. The result is that the country is nearly all staked and filed on where there is any prospect of finding gold, and the late-comer has no show, no matter how willing he may be to go ahead and develop what he stakes.
Another handicap to the development of the country is the fact that the claim markings are not permanent but are easily obliterated, and in addition to that the system of describing and recording claims is so indefinite and un- systematic that there is no way to tell certainly, when a claim is filed, whether the same ground has ever been filed on before or not. This leads to endless litigation and, in fact, invites it when a claim proves to be valuable. One valuable mine was visited at Nome to which the present
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owners had bought six different titles. That is to say, six different claimants were able to make it appear, through the looseness of the system of describing and recording, that they had claims which they were disposed to contest in the courts. The door is opened wide to unlimited ex- tortion by unscrupulous men, and those who would be glad to put money into the development and operation of mines are afraid to do so. It would mean millions of development and output to the Nome district every year if this dog-in-the-manger business could be stopped.
Perhaps I have referred often enough to the better methods they have adopted in Yukon territory on the Canadian side, but when studying conditions at Nome I could not avoid contrasting the miserable tangle in which the titles to mining property are involved there with the well-devised system at Dawson, where in the gold com- missioner's office it is possible at any time to find the exact legal status of any piece of property in the Klondike. Descriptions are definite, double filing on the same piece of property practically impossible, the claimant is pro- tected in the title to his property so long as the books show a clear record, powers of attorney are not recognised in taking mining claims, no claimant may file on more than one claim on the same creek, and failure to keep up development or assessment work forfeits title, and, as I recall it, it may not be renewed by the same claimant. I know there is complaint by Americans of favouritism and corruption in the Klondike; but, conceding a good deal of both, the system in vogue there is much more
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business-like and satisfactory than the methods pursued on the Alaska side of the boundary. An illustration of the manner in which the interests of Alaska are neglected, which any one can appreciate, is afforded by the fact that nowhere in that whole district is there such an officer as the gold commissioner of Yukon territory, to whom the investor or prospector can go for information about a mining enterprise or a new strike.
I have taken the space to note only a few of the faults of the mining laws, as seen from the standpoint of a lay- man. The senatorial committee was so much impressed by the necessity of radical revision of the laws as applied to Alaska that they asked the bar of Nome to formulate a practically new code and send it to them at Washington for their guidance in legislation on this subject.
Our last stopping-place was Sitka. Meanwhile the McCulloch has passed through Peril Straits, named be- cause of the hazards of navigation there, to Juneau, to which city, visited on our upward voyage to Skagway, the committee returned in accordance with a promise to come back and give the business men there a chance to be heard on the needs of Alaska. With her prow cutting the quiet waters of the inside channel, we are now bound for Seattle and home.
XIII INDIANS OF ALASKA
A MORE striking illustration of the operation of the cruel law of the "survival of the fittest " is seldom found than is afforded by the condition of the Indians and Eskimos of Alaska since the white man learned there was gold in their country. The Indian is falling back everywhere before the advance of the white man, but nowhere has his retreat been converted into such an almost complete rout as in Alaska. The years 1898 and 1899 witnessed the great rush to the gold fields of Alaska, and it is estimated that the Indian and Eskimo population has been reduced by death fully 40 per cent. during the past six years. I question these appalling fig- ures, but the estimate is hazarded by more than one who has had opportunity to observe the condition of these un- happy people.
But, granting all that ought to be allowed for exaggera- tion, it is not difficult for any one who has travelled ex- tensively through that country to see that there has been a frightful decimation of the native population, and to understand some of the reasons for it. The deserted vil- lages and the wretched condition of nearly all that retain a remnant of their former population tell a sad and pitiful story. When the Russian came he brought with him vices
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Eskimo Woman Cooking Her Supper on the Sandspit at Nome
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and diseases which wrought havoc, and in the frequent clashes at arms the natives suffered heavy losses. But the Russian was merciful compared to the American. The Russian had use for the native, and after a time the trade relation was so well established that the native derived something of profit from it.
When the American came the fur trade had declined, and the contact of the two races meant little to the weaker one except further demoralisation and ruin through vice and disease. I do not mean to say that the original con- dition of the natives of Alaska had been free from the consequences of immorality and ignorance, but their con- dition was such as to cause them to fall an easy prey to all the demoralising influences which usually attend the first wave of the white man's civilisation. We have seen the same thing within our own borders. Our " century of dishonour " has written its record of injustice and wrong done to the Indians here in our own country in lines of ineffaceable disgrace, but the hand illumination, so to speak, has been put in since Alaska became ours.
And yet no people ever deserved better of their con- querors. Long before the American invasion in search of gold commenced, the tribal organisation, so far as it had existed, had been pretty well broken up, and the native population presented an unresisting front. Not only so, but there is among them a natural disposition to hospitality and generosity which should have insured them kindness and consideration in return, but which has often only encouraged imposition and wrong. Our Government
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has not been entirely insensible of its obligations in this connection. It has tried to do something for the education of the Indian, and a law was enacted at one time prohibit- ing the sale of liquor to any one in Alaska, with such results as might have been expected. Enforcement of the law was so utterly impossible under the circumstances that it was repealed, but not till the Indians had been taught the art of manufacturing extensively the vilest and most dangerous concoctions, which they consumed in practically unrestricted quantities. I do not mean to assume that they would not have obtained liquor under a license system, or would not have learned to manufacture the demonising substitutes, but the prohibitory law, with its utter imprac- ticability on that far frontier, furnishes an illustration of the failure of the Government to protect these people of the North from the almost certain consequences of their ignorance and childish helplessness in the presence of many of the representatives of a superior race, who forgot to take their consciences with them when they went to meet the native and exploit him for their own benefit.
Some of the ways in which the white man debauches the native Alaskans cannot be particularised in this place, but the consequences are in evidence in distressing frequency there. Nor are the native Alaskans falling like leaves of the forest before the ills incident to immorality alone, for it will never be known what frightful fatalities followed an epidemic of measles which swept over Alaska three years ago. Gaining a foothold in one place, it was quickly carried from village to village and from barabarra to
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igloo. Unacquainted with the nature of the malady, and ignorant of any remedy other than the incantations and tricks of the shaman, the fatalities were numbered by the thousands.
When the Indians of Alaska had their country to them- selves they subsisted upon the fish and game and wild fruits which the country produced, and, though never numerous, were thrifty and strong in numbers compared to their present decadent state. Dried and smoked salmon dipped in rancid seal oil is still a delicacy as well as a staple, but to their menu of game and fish and wild berries they have added flour and tea and coffee and sugar and bacon. Their appliances and methods of cooking seem not to be as well adapted to these articles as to their native foods; at all events, they do not seem to nourish them well, either from lack of quantity or lack of intelli- gent preparation. I do not know just why it is, but it is the general verdict that the " Boston man's " food, to say nothing of the " Boston man's " drinks, has not been to the native's advantage. When he was the sole occupant of the country he clothed himself in skins and was com- fortable in the long and severe winters, but since the white man has come in such numbers he has begun to imitate him in dress. He has discarded his furs and shivers and contracts pneumonia and consumption in the white man's clothing, of which he gets only the poorest quality and not enough of it. The ravages of pulmonary diseases have been heavy, and these disorders are so prevalent as to prevent white parents from allowing their children to go
Fourth of July at Metlakahtla
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to the same schools with the native children, even when there are no other schools available.
Industry and forehandedness are lessons which they, in common with other natives of America, have never learned, but they are more indolent and careless of the future from their disposition to do as the white man does. They pitch their tents in summer near the white man's towns, and hang around the streets, sometimes selling a few trinkets and often cheated out of the trifling sums they get for them through their propensity for gambling. They see the streets of the mining towns like Nome full of idle men, and seeing that these men apparently live without work, seem to think they can and ought to do so, too.
For these people the Government of the United States has done practically nothing, while legislation conceived in the interest of white men has pretty nearly destroyed their most productive source of revenue. The game laws have operated disastrously to their declining trade in furs by making it unlawful to kill some of the most important fur-bearing animals when their pelts are at their best, and prohibiting the white traders to deal in them or send them to market. It is charged also that these game laws are taken advantage of by some unscrupulous dealers to beat down the prices paid the Indians for such as are bought, on the ground that the traffic is dangerous and that there- fore the dealer cannot afford to take the risk unless he gets his goods at very low figures. From both standpoints the operation of the law bears hardest upon the native.
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This is a sample of legislation enacted at Washington by a body of men few of whom have ever taken the pains to visit the country personally and see enough of it and its needs to make laws intelligently for its government.
There are four different families or groups of the natives of Alaska. Ethnologically they are an interesting study, but there is no room here to consider them from that standpoint. The native of northern and northwestern Alaska is an Eskimo, and often exhibits. strong resem- blances to some of the people of Asia, particularly the Japs. An illustration of a dance in the kazhim or village council-house, on St. Michael Island, shows the prom- inence of the Japanese features. The inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands are another group, and those of the far interior are known by the various names of Innuits or Tinnehs or Athabaskans. On the south coast and on the islands of the archipelago are a number of small groups known under the general name of Thlinkets. Among these are the Chilkats, the Haidahs, and the Tsimsheans. The more remote the more friendly and hospitable they appear to be, while those nearest bear more resemblance to the warlike tribes of our western frontier.
While we have not hesitated to drive back the Indians within the boundaries of the United States from one place to another as white settlement has advanced across the continent from east to west, we have made some pretence of recognising the rights of the original possessors of the land. We have purchased lands and made treaties, and have established reservations and rendered so-called
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equivalents in the way of rations and clothing. The Indian of the States has become a ward of the nation, with a bureau in one of the departments at Washington and agents on the reservations to see that he gets what we have conceded he is entitled to.
Of all these things not one, so far as I have been able to learn, has ever been done for the Alaskans. The land was theirs before the Russians claimed it in the name of the Emperor, but no rights of possession * were ever recognised, except in the one instance where Baranof, for policy's sake, offered to purchase ground enough from the Sitkans on which to erect his buildings for a Russian trading-post, though at the same time assuring the chief that his master, the Emperor of Russia, claimed all the country and was well disposed toward his subjects, the natives of Alaska. When Alaska came into possession of the United States we were all such imperialists that nobody thought to consult the wishes of the natives in the matter. But surely the assumption of sovereignty im- plied some responsibilities and obligations to the natives of the country. The only evidence that the Government acknowledges any obligations to them is the small amount of money expended for Indian schools.
The educational work done by the Government in Alaska, outside of the incorporated towns, is carried on mainly in connection with the several mission stations of
*Judge James Wickersham of the central judicial division has decided that Russian half- breeds and native Eskimos are citizens. The chief benefit will be to clothe them with power to take mining claims, acquire title to other real property, take out licenses as pilots and shipmasters, and the like.
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the various religious denominations. This involves the ap- propriation of public funds to the support of sectarian schools, but as all denominations share according to their school attendance there is no ground for complaint by any of them, although the collaboration of the church and state in matters of education is generally recognised as dangerous. However, it is the only way in which the work of educating the children of the natives could be accomplished. Men and women inspired by religious zeal will incur hardships and make sacrifices in this work which would not be endured by teachers influenced chiefly by financial considerations. The Government, however, exer- cises a degree of supervision over all these schools, and encourages education not only in the common branches of the ordinary rural school, but in such simple arts as are likely to be most useful to the pupil. These schools are not always entirely Indian schools. It often happens that children of white parents and Russian creoles are attendants with the Indian children. Notable among the schools where industrial training is given are Holy Cross Mission at Koserefsky, on the Yukon, and in the Sitka Industrial School. These institutions teach the boys the use of tools, the raising of crops, and the rudiments of several trades, while the girls are taught sewing and house- keeping. The opportunities for making use of this indus- trial training are not as many as could be desired for either boys or girls, but the boys have more chances to apply their knowledge in gainful occupations than girls. The fate of the educated Indian girl is often one that cannot
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Eskimo Woman and Child
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be contemplated with satisfaction, and this is true not only in Alaska, but among the Indians in the States. Incor- porated towns maintain public schools of the usual plan and scope. Outside of these towns there are thirty-three of these so-called public schools, although connected in nearly every instance with some church mission, and having an enrollment of 2,100 pupils.
And yet it is not fair to conclude that the Indians of Alaska cannot be taught to be useful and self-supporting. Reference was made in the first chapter of this story of the tour of the senatorial committee to the unique settle- ment known as Metlakahtla, on Annette Island, one of the most southerly in the American portion of the south- west archipelago. Here the Indian problem has been worked out with the most satisfactory results, and the successful experiment is valuable as evidence of what the Alaska Indian is capable of.
William Duncan came to Port Simpson as a lay mission- ary in 1857, when the port was an important Hudson Bay Company's trading-post. He found there a com- munity of Indians of the lowest character. They were cannibals on occasion. He began by learning the language of these Tsimsheans. Then he commenced to teach them not only religion but industry. More unpromising material out of which to make civilised, Christianised, and prac- tical men and women, supporting themselves by the arts of civilised life, could not be found on the American con- tinent. The Aleuts and Eskimos and Tinnehs of the more northern latitudes are refined and cultivated by compari-
Metlakahtla
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son with these savage Tsimsheans when Father Duncan began his patient and persistent work among them.
Unhappily, too, he had to contend, not only with the ignorance and superstition and cannibalism of the Indians themselves, but with a narrow ecclesiasticism which finally drove him and his Indians from old Metlakahtla on the British side to the new Metlakahtla on the American side, to which they removed seventeen years ago. William Duncan was a layman, and he had always conducted his religious services according to the simplest forms, thus proving that the spectacular in religion is not necessary to reach the Indian.
A high-church priest sent to oversee his work under- took to introduce forms and ceremonies and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which Father Duncan, for sufficient and not very obscure reasons, had thought best not to inaugurate just yet among these savages so shortly re- claimed from cannibalism. He opposed the innovations of the new priest, and the Indians, who had come to regard him with love and veneration, supported him. The early result was a division and a new church, with Father Duncan at the head and nearly all the Indians in it. Out of this finally grew a controversy about their property rights in their church and their homes. When the Indians found that they could get no title to either, and arrange- ments had been made by Father Duncan with the United States Government by which they could have Annette Island as the property of their community, they left old Metlakahtla, where they had built houses and a church
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and had established several simple industries. They took with them only their personal belongings and set out in their canoes to commence all over again-and yet not where they started under Father Duncan's guid- ance, for they could not be robbed of their religion or the advancement they had made in civilisation.
It is a pathetic story which recounts the sacri- fices they made for their religious and communal lib- erty. The Pilgrim fathers in their migration to a new world for conscience' sake were scarcely more heroic in spirit than these pilgrims of Metlakahtla. The work of thirty years of toilsome and patient struggle up the long and weary pathway which they had climbed from a state of savagery to the condi- tion of an orderly, law- Father Duncan abiding, and self-governing Christian community-all they had achieved as represented in a neat and well-built village, which compelled the admiration of travellers
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from Europe and America-was left behind to begin again in the wilderness.
This migration took place in 1887, and no people have been more deeply interested and none so vitally concerned in the result of the controversy over the Alaskan bound- ary, which might have left them in British territory and raised again the question of their title to their homes, and their church and schools and factories.
Father Duncan's theory of elevation of the Indian was not to teach him religion alone, but to instruct him in crafts and occupations which should make him a self-sup- porting and self-respecting man. This was undertaken long before the migration of 1887. In 1870 Father Duncan went back to England to acquire a knowledge of several simple trades that he might instruct his people, and to purchase such tools and machinery as his well-con- ceived plans required. At Yarmouth he learned rope- making and twine-spinning, at another place blacksmith- ing and brush-making; he learned how to build and operate a sawmill, and with a breadth of view which ex- plains in part his wonderful success, he learned "the gamut on each of twenty band instruments."
New Metlakahtla, which we visited on the upward passage from Seattle to Skagway, is to-day a village of 800 inhabitants. The most conspicuous object is the church, a fine-looking frame structure capable of seating practically the whole village. This house was built entirely by the Indians. It would compare favourably both in in- terior and exterior finish with the average church building
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Residence and Totem of Chief Tlah-Go-Glass
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in western towns of 2,000 people. There are a school- house, a girls' boarding-school, a town hall, several stores, a sawmill run by water power, a system of water-works, a cannery where 20,000 cases of salmon can be packed in one season, two steam vessels, dock and warehouses, side- walks, and comfortable-looking cottages of one or two stories with small flower and vegetable gardens.
About this sawmill Father Duncan tells an interesting story. When he told his people that he was going to make water saw wood, they were very sceptical, notwithstanding their great faith in him. One old man who had survived the days of cannibalism said he would never believe it. " Wait," said Father Duncan, " and you will see." When the mill had been completed, and the water brought down in a pipe from a neighbouring hill and turned on the wheel, and the saw had cut its way through the log from one end to the other, the old chief, who sat and watched the operation in silence, nodded his head solemnly and said: " I have seen water saw wood; now I die." " Why do you want to die? " he was asked. " I have seen water saw wood; now I die and take the news to the chiefs who have died but have never seen water saw wood."
This community has an organisation comprising a council of thirty members, with a presiding officer. Twenty constables constitute the police department, but their services are seldom needed. Village taxes are levied for public improvements and for the maintenance of the schools and hospital. The land belongs to the community, but individuals may acquire title from the community to
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land on which to build their houses. Business is done on a business basis. The cannery and the sawmill belong to companies in which individual Indians have stock on which they receive dividends, and the employés are paid regular wages of from $1.50 to $2 a day. The people are well clothed, and the general appearance of things is that of comfort and content.
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