USA > Alaska > History of Alaska : 1730-1885 > Part 69
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74
720
ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.
commissioners of United States circuit courts, to- gether with those conferred on justices of the peace under the laws of Oregon. They were also to have jurisdiction, subject to the supervision of the district judge, in all testamentary and probate matters, and for this purpose their courts were to be opened at stated terms as courts of record.5 The general laws of Ore- gon, as they were then in force, were to be the law of the district, so far as they were applicable, and did not conflict with the provisions of the act or with the laws of the United States. But the district court was to have exclusive jurisdiction in all equity suits, in all capital criminal cases, and in those involving questions of title to land or mining rights. In civil cases, issues of fact might be determined by a jury at the request of either party, and appeal lay from the decision of the commissioners to the district court, in cases where the amount involved was $200 or more, and in criminal cases where the sentence was imprisonment,6 or a fine exceeding $100.
Alaska was created a land district, with a United States land-office, to be located at Sitka. The com- missioner residing at that point, the clerk, and the marshal were to hold office respectively as registrar, receiver of public moneys, and surveyor-general of the district. The laws of the United States relating to mining claims, and the rights incident thereto, were to be in full force, subject to such regulations as might be made by the secretary for the interior.7 Nothing
" They had power to grant writs of habeas corpus, the writs being return- able before the district judge, and like proceedings could be taken thereon as though they had been granted by said judge. They had, moreover, the powers of notaries public, and must keep a record of all deeds and other in- struments acknowledged before them, relating to the title to or transfer of property within their district, this record to be open to public inspection. They must also keep a list of all fines and forfeitures received by them, paying over the amount quarterly to the clerk of the district court.
6 The jail in the town of Sitka was to be repaired and made suitable for a penitentiary. For this purpose $1,000 was appropriated. U. S. Stat., 48th Cong. 1st Sess., 179.
7 Provided that persons then in possession should not be disturbed in the use or occupation of their lands, though the terms under which they might acquire title were reserved for future legislation. Persons who had located
721
PROVISIONS OF THE ORGANIC ACT.
contained in the act, however, was to be so construed as to put in force within the district the general land laws of the United States.
The governor, judge, district attorney, clerk, mar- shal, and commissioners were to be appointed by the president, and to hold office for four years, or until their successors were appointed. The salaries of the governor and judge were to be each $3,000 a year, and of the district attorney, clerk, and marshal each $2,500 a year. The commissioners were to receive the fees usually pertaining to their office, and to justices of the peace in Oregon, together with such fees for record- ing instruments as are allowed by that state, and, in addition, a fixed salary of $1,000 a year.8 The deputy marshals were to receive salaries of $750 a year, be- sides the usual fees of constables in Oregon.
The attorney-general was directed at once to com- pile and cause to be printed, in pamphlet form, so much of the laws of the United States as was appli- cable to the duties of the several officials.9 The secre- tary for the interior was ordered to select two of the officials to be appointed under the act, who, with the governor, should constitute a commission "to examine into and report upon the condition of the Indians re- siding in said territory, what lands, if any, should be reserved for their use, what provision shall be made for their education, what rights of occupation by set- tlers should be recognized," and other matters that might enable congress to determine the limitations and conditions to be imposed when the land laws of the United States should be extended to the district. He was also required to make temporary provision for the
mines or mineral privileges under the laws of the U. S., or who had occupied, improved, or exercised rights of ownership over such lands, were to be al- lowed to perfect their titles. Lands occupied as missionary stations, not exceeding 640 acres to each station, with the improvements thereon, were also to be continued in the occupancy of the societies holding them.
8 Each of the commissioners was required to file a bond in the penal sum of $3,000, and the clerk in the sum of $10,000.
9 The sum of $500 was afterward appropriated for the purpose of printing 200 copies of the compiled laws, to be distributed among the officials. U. S. Stat., 48th Cong. 1st Sess., 223.
HIST. ALASKA. 46
722
ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.
education of all children of school age without regard to race, until a permanent school system should be established, and for this purpose the sum of $25,000 was appropriated. Finally the manufacture, impor- tation, and sale of intoxicating liquors, except for medicinal, mechanical, and scientific purposes, were forbidden, under the penalties provided in the revised statutes of the United States.1º
As a land purchase, Alaska had thus far proved a pay- ing investment,11 though still undeveloped; and yet it was but a phantom of a government which congress now somewhat reluctantly bestowed upon it, a government without representative institutions, or the privilege of sending a delegate to congress. Meanwhile Rus- sians, creoles, and Americans, who, year by year, had become more dissatisfied with the shadow of repub- lican administration, expressed their contempt in no measured phrase for the dilatory action of the national legislature. Thankful for small mercies, however, they still waited and hoped, believing that south-eastern Alaska would, even in their generation, contain set- tlers enough to warrant the erection of a territory, though phantom rule might yet prevail in the unpeo- pled solitudes of the north. At least one step was gained, now that the drear interregnum of military occupation or revenue-cutter rule, in the land which the attorney-general declared to be Indian territory, had given place to the semblance of civil law.
As to the condition, training, and proposed reserva- tions for Indians mentioned somewhat neatly in the text of the act, it is probable that the natives would be only too glad to be left alone as severely in the fu- ture as they have been in the past. Considering that they received no portion of the purchase money of their native soil, and, as yet, have reaped no benefit from that
10 Section 1955. For text of the act providing a civil government for Alaska, see U. S. Stat., 48th Cong. 1st Sess., 24-8; Ścidmore's Alaska, 323-33. 11 The interest on $7,200,000 invested in U. S. four-per-cent bonds at $1.23 would be about $235,000. The Alaska Commercial Company pays for its lease and royalty about $317,000 a year.
723
INDIAN AFFAIRS.
purchase, save the art of manufacturing hootchenoo, it would appear that this favor might at least be con- ceded. After the close of the military occupation, Indian outbreaks were of rare occurrence, as I have already mentioned, and in almost every instance were provoked by the misconduct of the white population.12 What will be the result should they be placed on reservations, and under such treatment as seems in store for them, is a question that the future may solve. At present they are the most contented of all the native tribes under American domination. 13
12 See pp. 618-24, this vol. The latest instance of any serious trouble with the natives occurred in October 1882. On the 23d of that month the super- intendent of a fishing station at Killisnoo, belonging to the Northwest Trad- ing Company, arrived at Sitka and requested protection from Capt. Merri- man, the commander of the U. S. steamer Adams. He reported that on the previous night, while the company's whaling-boat was fishing at Hootsnoo (Kootzenoo) lagoon, a bomb, shot from the boat at a whale, accidentally killed one of the native crew, who happened to be a shaman. For this the Indians demanded 200 blankets, and at the same time seized the boat, nets, whaling gear, and steam-launch belonging to the company, overpowering the two white men in the boat, whom they held as prisoners. The tribe of Hoodsi- noos, to which the shaman belonged, then threatened, if payment was not made, to burn the company's store and buildings, destroy all their boats, and put to death their captives. As the Adams was too large for such service, the Corwin was despatched to the scene of the disturbance with Merriman on board; whereupon the prisoners and property were at once surrendered and some of the ringleaders captured. But in addition, Merriman demanded 400 blankets as a punishment, and also as a guarantee for future good be- havior. This being refused, their canoes were destroyed; and the tribe being still refractory, their summer camp at Killisnoo was burned. The cutter then steamed out of the Kootzenoo lagoon, and a few hours later shelled their main village, a party of marines landing under cover of the guns and setting fire to the houses, excepting those of friendly Indians. Reports of Lieut M. A. Healy, commanding the Corwin, and Collector Wm C. Morris, in House Ex. Doc., 9, parts 2-4, 47th Cong. 2d Sess., 9. With this exception, I find no men- tion of any serious Indian disturbance during recent years. In the spring of 1885 a party of 30 mining prospectors, bound for some point on the Yukon, was stopped by the Chilkats, who demanded toll for admission into their country. S. F. Chronicle, May 30, 1885. But no trouble arose out of this matter.
18 "They are very cheerful and fond of dancing,' remarks J. C. Glidden, who in the winter of 1870-1 was in charge of a vessel bound for Kadiak and Afognak, 'especially when they have plenty of kvass. More than half a century has elapsed without a murder being committed on these islands, and when one was committed, the inhabitants were horrified at the deed. A visit to some of our cities would cause them to regard such deeds with the equa- nimity of civilized communities.'
In a Tripto Alaska, by J. C. Glidden, MS., I have been supplied with a very interesting manuscript, though one which I cannot use to advantage in this volume, as the subject-inatter refers mainly to topics of which I have treated in my Native Races. During his visit the author attended divine service at the chapel at St Paul, Kadiak, built, as the reader will remember, about the year 1795, and the first in Russian America. His observations are worthy of
724
ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.
In considering the other provisions of the Harrison bill, it must be admitted that in one respect they were most liberal. For the salaries of the government offi- cials of Alaska, with its handful of white inhabitants, there was appropriated, in 1884, the sum of $20,500, while for each of the territories of Washington, Wy- oming, Idaho, Montana, and New Mexico the appro- priation for the same purpose was less than $14,000.14 Moreover, there were appointed, ostensibly for the pro- tection of the seal fisheries of Alaska, four government agents, whose joint salaries and expenses amounted for this year to $13,350, the chief agent receiving a larger stipend than fell to the share of the governor;15 and to enable the secretary of the treasury to use revenue steamers "for the protection of the interests of government," was voted a further sum of $15,000. But outside of the seal islands the government had no interests to protect, for, as we have seen, apart from the rent and royalty paid for these islands, the income derived from the entire district was altogether inap- preciable.
Thus we have, as the expenses of the so-called government of this district, an appropriation for the year of 1884 of about $50,000, or nearly four times the amount voted for any territory in the union, and this for the salaries and allowances of less than a score of officials, four of whom receive the lion's share for keeping watch over the Prybilof Islands, and whose operations have as yet resulted merely in the
note. 'It is built of hewn timber,' he says, 'the interstices being filled with moss. The interior was well but plainly finished. There were no seats, all the audience standing during the services, which were conducted in Russian by a priest whom we termed "the second mate of the church." The utmost decorum prevailed. Each individual, upon entering, went down on the hands and knees, putting the top of the head on the floor. This was repeated a number of times. Upon rising and during service they crossed themselves frequently. All were dressed in their best apparel, that of the young children being elaborately ornamented with glass beads. Near the close of the services the priest placed a large book upon a desk, on the cover of which was a metallic cross. All the worshippers reverently kissed the sacred symbol as they filed past it in line; those who were not tall enough to reach it being lifted to the requisite height by their parents or friends.
14 U. S. Stat., 48th Cong. 1st Sess., 178-9.
15 Three thousand six hundred and fifty dollars. Id., 206.
725
OFFICIALS AND SCHOOLS.
finding of one slight discrepancy in the tale of skins, and that due to the mistake of one of the agents.16 After all, it is a far-away country, and government could well enough afford to be liberal. Nevertheless, why it is that the services of four highly paid agents and of a revenue-cutter should be at all needed in counting the tale of skins has never yet been explained. It would appear that such surveillance is wasted on a company which has paid within the past fifteen years about the sum of $5,000,000 into the United States treasury, and that, too, when it is directly against the interests of the company to slaughter more than the prescribed number of fur-seals. Con- cerning the duties of these agents, however, the statute is singularly reticent. Alaska has been usu- ally regarded by government servants as a place in which to save money, wear out old clothes, and as there were no amusements, no newspapers, and but a single monthly mail,17 to study fortitude in the endurance of their high honors, and to show themselves indeed patriots on small pay.
The appropriation of $25,000 for educational pur- poses has thus far been of no practical benefit, for, as with the one of double that amount made some years before, it seemed no one's business to administer it. No public schools were established as contemplated by the provisions of the act, and up to the close of 1884 neither reports nor suggestions had been made as to the disposition of the fund. In July 1884 a further sum of $15,000 was appropriated by congress
16 See p. 631, this vol.
17 In an act making appropriations for the postal service, approved July 5, 1884, it is provided that for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1885, the post- master-general inay contract under a miscellaneous advertisement for the mail service of Alaska, as no newspapers are published in that territory. U. S. Stat., 48th Cong. 1st Sess., 157. By act of Aug. 7, 1882, postal routes were estab- lished from Willard to Juneau, from Hoonyah to Juneau, from Jackson to Wrangell, from Haines to Juneau, from Boyd to Juneau, and from Jackson via Roberts to Wrangell. Id., 47th Cong. 1st Sess., 351. In 1881 there were only three post-offices in Alaska, and those of the fourth class. In 1880 the total number of letters mailed was 6,812, and the total number of pieces of mail matter of all descriptions 7,592. Postmaster-General's Rept., in House Ex. Doc., 1, pt 4, 47th Cong. 1st Sess., pp. 80-1, 88.
726
ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.
for the support and education of Indian children of both sexes at industrial schools. In this matter ac- tion was at length taken, though of a somewhat neg- ative character. Through Mr Kendall, the presby- terian board of missions at Sitka applied for a portion of the fund. On the recommendation of the com- missioner for Indian affairs, the application was granted,18 and a contract was made with the society to provide for and educate one hundred children at the rate of $120 a year per capita, such contract to be annulled at two months' notice. 19
Within less than a decade more has been done by this society to advance the cause of education in Alaska than was otherwise accomplished during all the years of American domination. 20 Were it not
18 In his letter, the commissioner states that in consequence of the total neglect of government to provide for the education of the Alaska Indians, they have been solely indebted for such schools as exist to religious societies, and for most of them to the society represented by Mr Kendall. For the establishment and support of its schools, that society had expended during the past year over $20,000, and for mission work $5,000. It had, therefore, the first claim to assistance from the appropriation. Scidmore's Alaska, 234.
19 Id., 235. It was the original intention to establish a government in- dustrial school after the model of the institution at Carlisle, Pa.
20 In his letter to the commissioner, dated New York, Dec. 31, 1882, Shel- don Jackson states that there were seven good English schools in the Alex- ander Archipelago, six of which were maintained at the expense of the board, three of them having boarding and industrial departments. At Haines, in the Chilkat country, near the head of the Lynn canal, a school was estab- lished in 1880, a boarding department being added two years later, when the total attendance was about 75. At Willard, 30 miles up the Chilkat River, a branch school was opened with native teachers, and an average attendance of 60. Among the Hoonid tribe, a school was opened in 1881, at a station named Boyd, 100 miles south of Haines. Among the Auks, at the northern portion of Admiralty Island, and at Tseknuksanky, on the mainland near by, schools were opened between 1880 and 1882. At Jackson, in the southern part of Prince of Wales Island, a school was opened in the spring of 1882, with an attendance of 60 to 90. The institution established at Fort Wrangell in 1877, as already mentioned, had in 1882 from 75 to 90 pupils, of whom 50 were young girls provided for at the expense of the mission, and thus res- cued from a life of prostitution, into which they would otherwise have been sold by their parents. The Sitka school, opened in 1878, had, in 1880, 130 pupils. In July of this year the school was moved to the old hospital build- ing. In November some of the pupils applied to the teacher for permission to live at the school-house, for at home, they said, there was so much carous- ing and disturbance that they could not study. The teacher answered that there was neither food, bedding, nor accommodation for them. Still they persisted, and leave being granted, seven Indian boys, about 13 or 14 years of age, bringing each his blanket, took up their quarters in a vacant room provided for them. This was the origin of the boarding-school at Sitka. In February 1881 Capt. Glass established a rule making attendance at the day-
727
GOVERNOR KINKEAD.
for the efforts of the board of missions, there would probably have been no efficient school, and perhaps no school of any kind, in the territory, apart from those maintained by the Alaska Commercial Company.
It is claimed that the natives are quick to learn and eager to be taught, not from any moral sense, for, ex- cepting perhaps the Chinese, there is no living nation in which the moral idea is so utterly dormant, but because they appreciate the practical benefit of an education. At the school maintained by the Alaska Commercial Company at St Paul Island,21 one of the pupils displayed such zeal and ability that he was sent at the expense of the company to complete his educa- tion at the state normal academy in Massachusetts, and after completing his five years' course with credit, was placed in charge of the schools at the Seal Islands.
In the autumn of 1884 the officials who had been appointed by the president reached their several sta- tions. John H. Kinkead, ex-governor of Nevada, who had formerly resided at Sitka as merchant and postmaster, was chief magistrate;22 Ward McAllis-
school compulsory. Forcing the natives to cleanse, drain, whitewash, and number the dwellings in their village, he took an accurate census of the in- mates. He then caused a tin label to be tied round the neck of each child, on which were two numbers, one of the house where he lived, and the other of the child. If a pupil was found on the streets during school hours, the numbers on his tag were reported to the teacher by a native policeman, ap- pointed for the purpose; and unless his absence was satisfactorily explained, the parent, or chief Indian of that house, was fined. In a few weeks the attendance ran up to 250.
21 In 1881, 45 pupils were enrolled at this school, with an average attend- ance of 42. Schools were also maintained by the company at Unalaska and Kadiak. House Ex. Doc., 1, pt 5, 47th Cong. 2d Sess., pp. 278, 282.
22 John Henry Kinkead, a native of Fayette co., Penn., where he was born in 1826, crossed the plains from St Louis to Salt Lake City in 1849, and there engaged in business for several years, proceeding to California in 1854, after which date he had occasion to travel extensively over the Pacific coast. In 1860 we find him in Carson City, on the eve of the admission of Nevada as a territory. Of the part that he played in connection with the political annals of that state mention is made in its place. In 1867 Kinkead was a member of the expedition which sailed for Sitka on board the John L. Stephens a few weeks after the purchase. My description of the transfer, after the arrival of the Ossipee, though written previous to my interview with Gov. Kinkead, coincides with the account he gave me. In 1871 he returned to Nevada, residing at Unionville, Humboldt co., until 1878, when he was elected governor of the state.
In Kinkead's Nevada and Alaska, MS., the author has furnished me with
728
ALASKA AS A CIVIL AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT.
ter,23 district judge; E. W. Haskell, district attorney ; Andrew T. Lewis, clerk of court; M. C. Hillyer,24 marshal; and as commissioners, John G. Brady at Sitka, Henry States at Juneau, George P. Ihrie at Wrangell, and Chester Seeber at Unalaska.
On the 1st of October, 1884, some three weeks after his arrival, Governor Kinkead made his report to the president.25 On the 15th of September the commander of the United States naval forces 26 relin-
a manuscript which, when compared with other sources of information, varies so little that his statements cannot but be accepted as trne. Among other topics, he touches on education, mining, agriculture, and the present condition of the native tribes in Alaska. 'The Indians appeared to have a very good idea of business,' he remarks. 'The women were in a better con- dition and better treated than those of any other tribes of the United States that I have seen, the men generally carrying the children and other burdens, and apparently affectionate to their wives and children, the women mostly doing the trading with the whites.' As to the future of Alaska, he is of opinion that the south-eastern portion of the territory is better adapted to the support of a moderate white population than Norway or Sweden.
During the period of the occupation of Sitka by U. S. troops, all the wood supplied the garrison was cut and delivered by Indian labor.
23 Formerly assistant U. S. attorney, a resident of San Francisco, and a relative of Hall McAllister, one of the most prominent and highly respected attorneys in that city.
24 Munson C. Hillyer, a native of Granville, Ohio, was brother of Curtis J. Hillyer and Edgar W. Hillyer, the former an eminent lawyer, and the latter, at the time of his death, U. S. judge in Nevada. Munson came to Cal. in early times and became a flour merchant, and later a mining superin- tendent-a man of broad experience, warm heart, and having many friends.
25 The report was presented at Washington on the 17th of Dec. S. F. Bul- letin, Dec. 18, 1884.
26 Lieut H. E. Nichols, commanding the U. S. steamer Pinta, her comple- ment consisting of 7 officers, 40 seamen, and 30 marines for shore duty at Sitka. Nichols had for several years done good service in the southern part of the Alexander Archipelago, while in command of the Hassler, his surveys having been made the basis for several of the new charts published in the Alaska Coast Pilot of 1883, and compiled by William H. Dall. The Pinta is somewhat famous in the annals of the U. S. navy, though her fame is a little unsavory. One of fifteen despatch-boats built during the war, she was sta- tioned for several years at the Brooklyn navy-yard. In 1882, after an uncon- scionable sum had been spent in repairing her at Norfolk, a board of officers condemned the work, and pronounced the boat unseaworthy. A second sur- vey was then called, and a trial trip being ordered, it was found that she could make but four knots an hour. Soon afterward the Pinta was sent to Boston, where she distinguished herself by running down the brig Tally-Ho, her officers being in consequence brought before a board of inquiry. Finally a man was found daring enough to peril his life by taking her round Cape Horn, her armament being sent ashore until she reached California. Arriv- ing at the Mare Island navy-yard after a six months' voyage, she was again repaired, and her guns being mounted, this much-tinkered vessel was ordered to Sitka. Among the naval officers in command at Sitka before the appoint- ment of Nichols may be mentioned Captain Beardslee, who, in charge of the Jamestown, cruised in all parts of the Alexander Archipelago, kept the Indians
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.