ASL-MS-0107-38-001
Fairbanks, Alaska, July 5th, 1915.
PROCEEDINGS OF A COUNCIL
Held in the library room at Fairbanks, Alaska, on July 5th,
1915, between the Chiefs and headmen of the bands of Indians
living along the Tanana River and Delegate James Wickersham,
Thomas Riggs, Jr., Member Alaskan Engineering Commission,
and C. W. Richie and H. J. Atwell, Acting Register and
Re-
ceiver of the United States Land Office, at Fairbanks, Alaska.
The following Indians were present at the said council:
Na-da-tuts, or Chief Joe, of Salchakat,
Thla-den-no-duch, or Chief John, of Chena,
Be-yats, or Chief Thomas, of Nenana,
Do-no-hra-da-da, or Julius Pilot, of Nenana
Yo-kah, or Chief Charley, or Minto,
Sits-tsu-dau-tuna, or Chief Alexander, of Tolovana,
Klewk-doo-aw, or Titus Alexander, of Tolovana,
Kruz-ah, or Chief Ivan of Crossjacket,
Yit-su-dad-a-kwot, or Alexander Williams, of Ft Gibbon,
Sut-nal-nich, or William, of Fort Gibbon,
Nan-no-juk-thlit-lu-kwah, or Albert, of Ft Gibbon,
Ba-cha-ta-naw-da-talth, or Jacob Starr, of Ft Gibbon,
Johnny Folger of Ft Gibbon, and
Paul Williams, of Fort Gibbon, Interpreter.
There were also present;
James Wickersham, Delegate to Congress,
Thomas Riggs, Jr., Member Alaskan Engineering Commission,
C. W. Richie and H. J. Atwell, Acting Register and
Receiver of the United States Land Office, at Fairbanks,
Guy H. Madara, Episcopal Minister, and
G. F. Cramer, Special Disbursing Agent, Alaskan Engineering
Commission.
Rev Guy H. Madara first addressed those assembled, saying that the
Chiefs and headmen of the Indians present represented the Indians from
Salchakat down the Tanana River to Fort Gibbon, probably 1200 to 1500
Indians. He said these men had come to Fairbanks to discuss some
matters of interest to their people and that he desired that they be
given a hearing.
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Delegate Wickersham then told the Indian Chiefs that Secretary
of the Interior, Lane, in Washington, had charge of all matters connected
with Indians and Indian lands in Alaska, that he knew Mr. Lane and that
the Secretary was a good friend of Indian people and wished to protect
them in all their rights. He asked the Indians to state fully what they
wanted the Secretary to know and promised their words should go to
Washington.
Some of the Indians then wished to talk and Paul Williams, from
Fort Gibbon, a fluent speaker in both the Indian and English tongues,
acted as interpreter at the request of the Indians.
Chief Ivan, of Crossjacket, through Paul Williams, Interpreter,
says: That he is sick and hard of hearing. He was a young man when the
United States officials or to appeal to the Government for help, and
that this is the first time he can come to the officials to talk.
Chief Thomas, of Nenana, through Paul Williams, Interpreter,
says: Long time since the United States for control of Alaska, but he
now wishes to consult with the United States officials and that his main
object in talking is to get better education for the Indians.
Here Delegate Wickersham arose and asked the Indians, through
Paul Williams, Interpreter: “What do you want the United States to do
for the Indians? What do they need the most to make them comfortable in
their homes?”
Chief Charley, of Tolvana, through Paul Williams, Interpreter,
says: That he wants advice from the United States. What can the United
States do for us? We want many things but what can er get if we want it?
When we know that we talk. Alaska is our home, we do nor know where our
people came from, but we are the first people here – the while people
came after is, and we want the white people to protect and help us.
Chief Jacob Starr, of Fort Gibbon, through Paul Williams,
Interpreter, said: We came up here today to talk to Delegate Wickersham
because he talked to Chief Alexander at Tolvana, and we want to under-
stand what he meant by that talk. What you told Alexander the natives
did not believe and came here to find out. After we learn that we will
talk.
Chief Alexander, of Tolvana, through Paul Williams, Interpreter,
said: That he told the Indians what Mr. Wickersham told him, but the
Indians did not believe him, thought he did not understand. Hopes Mr.
Wickersham will tell the natives so they will believe Chief Alexander.
Delegate Wickersham: Oh, Alexander told you the truth. I
talked to him and told him about the homesteads and reservations just as he
told you I did. He told you the truth.
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Delegate Wickersham said to the Indians, through Paul
Williams, Interpreter, ”I am glad to see the Indian Chiefs here
from Salchaket, Chena, Nenana, Crossjacket, Tolovana, Fort Gibbon,
all up and down the river. I have been elected by the people of
Alaska, to go to Congress in Washington, to represent all the people
of Alaska, including the Indian people. I can say, as your friend,
that I want to do everything I can to help you. It is my duty to
help make laws for the Government of the people of Alaska. Mr.
Riggs, here, is your friend, too. Mr. Riggs is the Commissioner in
charge of building the Government Railroad from the Coast to the
Tanana River. He is a friend of Secretary Lane of the Department of
the Interior. Secretary Lane has appointed Mr. Riggs
to have charge of the building of the railroad in Alaska. Mr. Riggs
and Mr. Lane are friends and Mr. Riggs is your friend. Mr. Richie,
here, is the Land Agent here is Fairbanks. He knows all about the
land laws. Mr. Richie was appointed to his office by Mr. Lane, or he
was appointed under Me. Lane’s general jurisdiction. Mr. Richie is
your friend and wants to help you. Now we three men know Mr. Lane
very well. Mr. Lane lived out on the Pacific Coast in the State of
California and in Washington State. He knows the Indian people and
knows what they want, and he is a food friend of the Indian people.
he wants to hear you just as we do.
“Some time ago I was down at Tolovana and I had a long
talk with Alexander. I told Alexander that the white people were
building railroads in this country now. White men are coming out
and taking up the land; they are staking homesteads, cultivating the
land, raising potatoes and all kinds of crops. Oh, there are many,
many white men in the United States, as many as there are trees on
the hills here, and in a few years many of them are coming to Alaska,
and they are going to take up land. Mr. Richie and the men employed
in the Land Office are surveying the land and they are going to
survey all the good land, they are running lines so that they can
tell where the good land is, and so they can tell how much 350 acres
are, on the ground. And the white men coming from the United States
are going to keep taking up the land until all the good land is
gone and the Indian people are going to have to move over. The
white men are going to take all this good land, and when all the good.
land is gone, the white men are going to keep on taking more land.
After while the Indian will have no land at all. He cannot live in
the water and he will have nothing to so, and this is what we want
to talk about. I told Alexander that Indian men can take land. I
told Alexander that the Indians were the first people here. I told
Alexander that the Government did not want to have the Indians pushed
off; that the Indians are good men -- I notice many of you have a
cross, that you belong to the white men’s church, -- wear the white
man’s clothes; that you are learning to talk like white men and are
sending your children to school the learn, and that you are learning
the law of the white men.
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“We want you to have a home, we want your people to take
land, we want you to take good land, and we do not want you to be
just pushed aside. We are talking to you so you can understand, and
we want you to do something before it’s too late. Now, I told
Alexander that there were two things you can do: First, you can take
a homestead of 160 acres; you can pick out that land and stake on
it, and live there forever with your children. You can always have
your home there. The white man can come looking for land and you can
tell him to go on, this is your land, he cannot take your land away
from you. And you would be just equal to the white man. This is
one thing you can do. Then I told Alexander that there is another
thing you can do: You could ask the Government to give you an Indian
reservation. The President of the United States and Mr. Lane, the
Secretary of the Interior, can stake a big reservation for all the
Indians to have together. The President or Mr. Lane could make that
reservation at Salchaket, or at Nenana, or at Tolovana, or at Kantishna,
or at Crossjacket, or at Fort Gibbon, anywhere in Alaska where the Indian
people want it. If the president makes a big reservation, all the
Indians can liver there. You and your people could build an Indian
town there. You could have a church, and school and an Indian Agent, an
official agent of the President who would show you how to plow land
and raise potatoes and other crops. And I told Alexander to talk with
the Indian people and tell them these thing and ask them what they
want to do. And Alexander did that, and now you people are here to
talk to us about it. Now, what we want to know is what you Indian
people want. Do you wish to take homesteads of 160 acres apiece, or
do you want a big reservation where all the people can come together.
If you don’t do something the white man will rake all the best land
for theirs. You can take land just like a white man, and you are just
as good in the eyes of the law as a white man. You have just the same
right under the law as a white man to take land. If you do not know the
law you want to learn it. Now we are trying to tell you the law
trying to make you understand that you must take land so the white men
won't get all the best of it, and if you want a homestead of 160
acres for each one of you and for every Indian man over 21
years of age
you can get it. Every Indian man in the Tanana Country over 21 years
of age can take a homestead. You can take up homesteads side by side.
Now, you ought to do something. You ought to either take homesteads
or ask the government to make you a big reservation. If you don’t do
this the white men will get the best of it. Now you can get the best
of it. When the white men come into the country the land will all be
taken up quickly, so we want to help you now. If any of you men, or
any Indian man in the Tanana Valley, wants to take up a homestead, come
to see Mr. Richie. Mr. Richie is the Land Officer and his office is
in the Court House here in Fairbanks. He is your friend and wants to
help you and he will tell you what to do. I will help you and will do
anything I can to help you, and Mr. Riggs will help you too. We want
you men to get your land before it is all gone, that is all.”
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Rev. Guy H. Madara: “Mr. Wickersham, what you say is all
true. It has been dome with the Indians Outside and it will be the
same here. Forced back and back until there is no place to go. I am
sure that the Indian chiefs have no idea of reservation. They may say
a great deal about it. There is no use in my saying it. There is one
objection to the present allotment that I want to speak before they
start to talk, and that is this: In my opinion, is does not fill the bill.
It proposes that the Indian leave his tribal relations and live alone.
I have had several allotments which were staked by the Indians and which
are now in the process of being given to them. The Indians live along the
Rivers and when they come to Fairbanks it takes much time and expense.
They cannot leave and go to town at any time because they must catch
their fish, hunt, trap and otherwise make their living. Thomas, at Wood
River, has staked an allotment. There are possibly a dozen more who have
staked allotments and when the Land Office investigates the claim they
look to see if a cabin has been built and they look to see if a garden
has been made, and is they find no permanent improvements they believe
that the Indians do not occupy it permanently. The Indians
cannot do this because they have not the capital necessary to start. I
think that most of the things I have said will be said by the Indians
themselves with better grace, so I will wait until they have spoken, and
then will possibly have more to say.
Paul Williams: If you gentlemen will kindly allow me to say
a few words, I have been in the service among the Indians for the last
fourteen years. I have worked as an Indian interpreter for the last
fourteen years. And I have has a little knowledge from the civilized
people, and lately have studied greatly the affairs of our people, and as
I have listened, so far was very much pleased with the statements made by
Mr. Madara, for the statements he has just made are what my people wish
to say also. Now, about this homestead, there is, perhaps, this one
objection that I think makes it rather impossible. If any Indian wants
to take up a homestead and live there continually with his family and
take himself away from his own people, there is only one thing I would
suggest to you government people. They do not have the money to build a
cabin on the homestead and they cannot stay there continually for they
depend for a living upon their fishing, hunting and trapping, and they
have to travel far to do this. So if they should take up homesteads it
would be rather impossible to have them live there on it permanently.
Then, if they should make a big reservation, the Indians would have
to move from their tribal relations, and not live where they have been
used to and in the places which are their homes.
Delegate Wickersham: Suppose several smaller reservations
could be made, say one at Salchacket, one at Nenana, one at Tolovana,
and one at Fort Gibbon, and let them go on the reservations which are
nearest where they have always lived.
Paul Williams: That would be about the same. It would take
them away from the old homes and habits where they have been used to
living, which is the same therefore as their native towns.
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Chief Ivan, of Crossjacket, through Paul Williams,
Interpreter, says; "I remember ever since the ground was bought
from Russia by the United States government when we used the stone
axe and the flint match, when I was a small boy. We have never
had a chance to see the Government Officials and tell them what we
wanted. I have heard that the United States Government was supposed
to be a good government and according to reports that I have heard
they even protect the dogs in the street. And if the Government
is able to protect the dogs in the street it should be able to
look out for us. I am the son of Old Ivan, and when he died long
years ago, I took his place, and have represented the people ever
since. I am an old man now and sick, and likely to pass away at any
time, so it makes no difference to me, but I am a friend of
people and I want to look out for their interests, and this will be
the last time I will consult with the Government Officials."
Paul Williams, Interpreter: "I think it would, be wise,
as you have suggested, to talk over this thing you suggest, as to
whether we wait to take up homesteads or weather we want one big
reservation. I will tell them of this and we will wait until
afternoon to answer, and decide among ourselves.”
Delegate Wickersham: I suggest that Mr. Richie explain
to them how to secure a homestead claim"'
C. W. Ritchie, said to the Indians, through Paul Williams,
Interpreter; "The homestead allotment law, as approved by Congress,
gives every Indian who is 2l years of age or the head of a family
160 acres of non-mineral, unreserved land. In order to secure his
entry, he should also stake the corners of his land, which should be as
nearly square as possible. The homestead may be taken up anywhere
in the rolling lands, or facing up a river, but if it is facing on
a river like the Yukon there must be a strip of land one quarter mile
wide between each homestead. After he stakes the land he may come to
the Land Office with two witnesses. If the Indians and his two
witnesses will come to the Land Office we will make out all the
papers necessary which will cost you nothing. We find our where you
want your land and get the correct description and protect you in
every way we can. There is no expense attached to anything the
Government does for you in the Land Office, everything is free. The
two witnesses you bring should know the same of the land as you know
yourself. And if you have used or claimed the land for a period.
of years, the witnesses want to testify to that. The witnesses want
to know and should know that you are twenty one years of age or the
head of a family, and that you are an Indian of the District of Alaska
This is all that the witnesses need know. Then when you come to the
Land Office a paper the same as this (showing a blank application —
Form 4-021 G. L. O. series) is made out and filed with the Land Office
It is then sent to Secretary Lane, your friend, and the land will be
reserved for all time for your use and for all time fro the family
that follows after you. The law provides that an allotment or a
homestead shall be occupied by the Indian. He need not live on it all
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the time but it should be his home the same as the white man makes
a homestead his home. He may go fishing and hunting and visit his
neighbors and go to potlatches, but he should have this place as his
own home. It is desirable that is, the Government would like to
have him cultivate the land of his homestead, but he is not supposed
to work himself to death doing it.” (Applause).
Thomas Riggs, Jr., told the Indians, through Paul Williams,
Interpreter: "Secretary Lane is a, great friend of all the Indians
and he has charge of all the Indians in Alaska and in the United
States, and, there are many, many thousands of them. In one of the
tribes in the United States they made him a chief they thought so
much of him. And he is trying to help the Indians all the time to
better their conditions in education and property. Secretary Lane
cannot make laws or change them but be can interpret the laws to the
best advantage of the Indian. If the laws are not suited to the Indians
of Alaska then new laws must be tried to be made although that may be
impossible, and that is where Judge Wickersham would try to help you.
The delegate has explained to you the two systems by which Indiana can
take up property in Alaska, and the Indians can take some action and
do it very soon, because after the railroad which we are building comes
into this country, it will be overrun with white people. They will
kill off your game, your moose, your caribou and your sheep. They
will run all of them out of the country and they will have so many fish
wheels on the river that the Indian will not get as many fish, so I
say the Indian must protect himself by one of the methods which has
been outlined under existing laws. If you ask Secretary Lane to put
aside reservations for you he will set aside large bodies of land for
your use and no white man would be allowed on them and the Indian would.
hold them for all times. If the Indian, on the other hand, takes up
his homestead he must for a certain amount of work on it, but nobody
will be able to take his land from him, but you have got to make up
your mind what you want to do before Judge Wickersham or Secretary
Lane can take any action. And so you must get together and talk this
matter over and submit to either Secretary Lane or Judge Wickersham,
just what your opinion is and what you want done. When present con-
ditions are changed, the Indian’s livelihood will be taken away from
him by the killing off of the game and fish, but when you have land
either in reservation or homestead you will have something of value,
something that you can live on, something on which you can always make
a living by work, which need not be too hard.”
Delegate Wickersham, to the Indians, through Paul Williams,
Interpreter: “Now, we will meet you men here again at 4 o’clock.
In the meantime you can talk it over among yourselves and tell us just
what you want to do. I have told Alexander just what you should do,
and told him that we are all your friends and that we want to help
you, and not take your lands away, and Alexander can tell you what I
said.”
Paul Williams, Interpreter: "Alexander says that he believes
all you told him, and he will tell his people.”
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The meeting adjourned, and at 2 o’clock, the Indian Chiefs
and Judge Wickersham, Thomas Riggs, Jr., C. W. Richie, Rev. Guy H.
Madara and G. F. Cramer met at Johnson’s Studio and had a picture
taken of the group, the Indians dressing in their native clothes.
At 4 o’clock, the above mentioned men met the Indian Chiefs
at the Public Library, to talk over the matter further. The Indian
chiefs gave a dance on the porch of the library, which
was very much enjoyed.
The Council was then assembled in the Public Library.
Delegate Wickersham, to the Indians, through Paul Williams,
Interpreter: “If these chiefs have talked this matter over and they
want to say anything tell them to fo ahead and tell us. This young
man will take it all down just as it is said and then write it all
out and it will go to Washington. Tell them to be careful what they
say and say what they mean.”
Chief Ivan, of Crossjacket through Paul Williams, Inter-
preter: : "I wish to state that I remember my conversation this
morning. I may say some things that I should not say, but you must
remember and excuse me if I do not make such a break, but you people have
a mind and have something to depend on, like books, which we do not
have. We are ignorant, but we try to do the best we can. We don't
want to go on a reservation but wish to say perfectly free, just as
we are now, and go about just the same as now, and believe that a
reservation will not be a benefit to us. We feel as if we always had
gone as we pleased, and the way they all feel is the same. We don’t
want to be put on a reservation. Now what we wish you to do is -
as you are here as Government officials and we know that you are the
Government’s representatives -- now we wish you to give your word.
You tell us that you will be our friends, and it is for your people
to promise us, so that we will have your words in mind when we leave
Fairbanks. The only news we hear are generally some rumors, which
we hear from some young one, not from the old middle aged
because they cannot speak the English language. But these rumors we
wish you to give us in writing so that we will know ourselves what
you people are going to do for us."
(Here some of the natives objected to the public place
where the talk was being held, so all doors were closed.)
Chief Ivan, through the interpreter, then continues: “You
must remember that I am making this statement in the name of the
natives, all the natives that are in this district here. I am making
this statement because I consider that all these natives that I
represent I am sure do not want to be put on a reservation. They
don't want to have one and therefore I am making this statement for
the natives I am here to represent,"
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H. J. Atwell, to Paul Williams, Interpreter: "Can you tell
us what tribes Chief Ivan represents?"
Paul Williams, Interpreter: “He represents Crossjacket, Tanana,
Hot Springs, Kokrines. They have no Chiefs here.''
Thomas Riggs, Jr.: “Is he the spokesman for all these
tribes?”
Paul Williams, Interpreter: “No, he is the first one to speak,
but these other chiefs present will talk after he does, in turn.”
Chief Thomas, of Nenana and Wood River, through Paul Williams,
Interpreter: “I won’t say very much now because there are other people
to say something too, so I won’t have a composition here now, but, I am
going to suggest, of course, on one point, and that is that all of us
Alaska natives and other Indians will agree with us, that we don't want
to be put on a reservation. That one thing, that you people of the
Government, Delegate Wickersham, Mr. Riggs, and Mr. Richie, you people
don't go around enough to learn the way that the Indians earn
living, so
we want to talk with you to explain our living to you, for we are anxious
to show your people. I wish to especially state that when I talk to you
now, I wish to show you that you are touching my heart and at the same
time I wish to touch your heart. Of course, we want to feel perfectly
free when talking to you, and you must understand that anything we say
if wrong, is meant the right way, and we want to feel that you are going
to allow us to have just what we are asking for. We have perfect confid-
ence in you and feel that you will be able to give us that we wish for.''
Chief Alexander Williams of Fort Gibbon, through Paul Williams,
Interpreter: "This man that makes the speeches has just said what I want
to say myself, so I don't want to say much more, but I am very thankful
to you for paying so much attention to us in this manner. When the
United States purchased Alaska from Russia, we heard that we were in
somebody’s hands that was to do as good. About the reservation business,
I feel pretty strong against it myself. When the United States was purchased
the land this Government left us live by ourselves and did not interfere
and I hope that the Government will not do anything to hurt us as we are
the natives of the country. They left us alone before and we hope they
will do so now. This will do for the present.”
Chief William, of Tanana, through Paul Williams, Interpreter,
said: “Us natives are an ignorant people as to the Legislature that is
making laws for the natives, but now we feel that we have been awakened
by you people and that is what we are here for. There are times when we
cannot reach you people, the Government of this United States, and there
is no way we can learn what laws have been make for is and what changes
have been made regarding the lands of the natives. We ought to be notified
in writing about these things. True, we cannot read it ourselves, but
our young folks who are going to school can read it. We want to keep
posted on such matters and wish that we should be able to be kept posted
on the many matters going on. We are very glad that we have the oppor-
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tunity to speak to your people, for we cannot reach your Capitol, but
we now have the opportunity to speak to you, as you have come here,
and we know that what we want shall be heard. Then you say to the
people here that the Government feels like sending the doctor here."
Delegate Wickersham "Who does he mean by "the doctor”?"
Paul Williams, Interpreter "A Government doctor to be sent
here".
Chief Williams, continuing: "We come here of course to get
help from your people and we expect to get it. We want you to give us
any advisement you can as to how to deal with this question, and all
advisements we will take at any time.”
Chief Jacob Starr, of Tanana, through Paul Williams,
Interpreter "The reason we came up was to find out about these rumors
we have been hearing, but what we heard was mostly rumor. Coming up
here at our own expense means a lot to us and we want to find out about
these rumors, some may he true and some not true, and we come here for
your advisement. You people must remember that now you are representing
up here all the Government. For years past we have been wishing to get
into the Capitol, to have a native represent us, but that we have been
unable to do. We have had no opportunity to speak for ourselves. We
know you people can go there and suggest anything you wish, and now we
are talking just as if Secretary Lane or the President was up here. Do
it for us and write it down clearly, so we can see what is being done,
and not have only rumors. We are ignorant of the law. The only law we
know, and the majority of us abide by it, in the Missionary. We listen
to our Missionary. By that you can see for yourself we are trying to
live up to some rulings, and if we could be posted on the laws, and the
United States will see that we try to live up to them like we do to the
Missionary’s rulings. You gentlemen must remember that we have been
trying to go out and learn these things, but we had no way to
enable us
to do it. Now we ask you to do your best for us. We come to you people
and we are appealing to you people.”
Chief Charley, of Minto, through Paul Williams, Interpreter,
said: What the people had suggested is my wish so I won’t say much
about it now. You, Judge, are the elder brother and we native are
your younger brothers, and we come to you for help. We have no strength
and we feel that you older brothers are strong and overpower us. You
are able to handle this, and we expect you to handle it for us. I wish
you to understand that what all my people have said and I agree with. We
prefer to have homesteads and we do not want a reservation. Some of us
have already begun to take up land some time ago, and we want to get
these claims approved. Missionaries are trying to help us and the
Missionaries have asked us to keep our places or homes in neatness, and
we are beginning to keep them so, and in order, and if the white people
are coming in here like the slush ice to cover all the villages, we
expect your people to protect us from them."
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Chief Alexander, of Tolvana, through Paul Williams, Inter-
preter, said: “ When I saw you down at Tolvana, you remember how much
I thanked you for being able to see you there. Others have made the
suggestion and I want you to understand that we all appreciate your
being present. You told me that you were our people’s friend, and you
did not like to see us get into any kind of mischief. You stated to
me that anything we want we shall talk to you about now. Therefore,
the people now being present, I say that I feel the same way as I felt
at that time, and I tell you that we are people that are always on the
go, and I believe that if we was put in one place we would die off like
rabbits, and I told you also that if you wanted to so anything good
for us here, you must select somebody for us who was truthful and not
untruthful. I ask you not to let the white people come near us. Let
us live our own lives in the customs we know. If we were on government
ground we could not keep the white people away. One more thing, from
now on, I wish you would leave written instructions here with us, so
we may know these things. This is all I want to say at the present
time. I have more to say about some other things, but not at the present
present time.”
Here Chief Joe, of Salchacket, was requested to speak, but
he could not understand the native language spoken by Paul Williams,
the Interpreter. He understands Wood River and Nenana dialect, but
not Tanana. He was interpreted by two different Indians. He said:
"I am very thankful for being here. This is the first time
I have been here and not mush acquainted. I never have talked to the
Government people before. This is the first time in my life I ever had
the chance. Fortunately, I am able to speak to you on this celebration
day of the U.S. Government, on what is supposed to be one of the
biggest holidays in the United States. We people are depressed. Every
one of us here are just like one man, and I feel as they all do. We
are suggesting to you just one thing, that we want to be left alone.
As the whole Continent was made for you, God made Alaska for the Indian
people, and all we hope is to be able to live here all the time. And
we wish to ask you to give us written instructions on our matters.”
Chief John, of Chena, through Paul Williams, Interpreter,
said: “Quite a while ago we sent for white people. At that time we
felt that we would be able to have better living. I have heard that
there is a Government which is ruling us, and I feel that I belong to
some kind of a Government, but we want to know what this Government
is. We wish that we could know just what it means. I have been in
Fairbanks only this one time, and I have never been able to talk to
any of these Government officials, but today on account of you people,
who have listened to the talk of the Chiefs, we have been able to
consult with the Government. For quite a while we have been expecting
the Government to so something for us. There are times when we feel
that we should have some assistance from the Government. Of course,
[page break]
-12-
some day we may get help from the United States Government, but we do
not see any written instructions from the Government ourselves. Way
back in the early days there was no such thing as a Chief, but lately
there are some, and we feel if the natives must have a chief, then the
white people surely must have something bigger than a Chief to rule.”
Julius Pilot, of Nenana, through Paul Williams, Interpreter,
said: “This certainly is a good day for us to meet here, when all the
celebration is going on, and we wish you to know that we are pleased
to be here. We did not see the person who made this world, the man
who makes the sun shine on this ground. Perhaps this man that we have
heard so much about is God. We are the people that were put here by
God, the Person who made the world, so now it is just the same as if
we were talking to the Creator through the President of the United
States. Some day, we will expect that something will be accomplished
by this meeting here today. If it is accomplished, we want one thing,
and that is that the Chiefs be notified. That means the same as inform-
ing all the Indians.”
Titus Alexander, of Tolvana, through Paul Williams,
Interpreter, said: "I have nothing extra to say, but what the people
here and the Chiefs have said, I agree to. I will be very pleased
if the people will grant us the suggestions these chiefs have made,
and will feel that you people have accomplished, what the natives have
asked for in the name of God. I have been wishing to know who these
gentlemen were we were coming here to see, and just as soon as we
landed here this gentleman welcomed us with very generous words. We all
feel very pleased to see that you are all just as kind, and wish to
tell you so.”
Alexander Williams, of Fort Gibbon, through Paul Williams,
Interpreter, said: “Every one of us had a chance to say something,
now, we all must thank you for allowing us to make suggestions. I
wish to thank you for allowing us to be talking all this time, now that
we are here.”
Delegate Wickersham: ''It is now up to Paul Williams, the
Interpreter, to make his own statement.”
Paul Williams said: "I made my suggestions this morning,
and I don’t know as I care to say anything more regarding these affairs.
Judge Wickersham, Mr. Riggs, Mr. Richie and Mr. Atwell, as I said this
morning, I have had a chance to work among my people, my own people, for
the past 14 years, and I also stated this morning that I was glad to say
that I was able to know more about their living than you do, and I always
feel that at any time I should advise you Government officials or our
Missionaries, and that my advisements would mean a great deal because of
the experience I have had with the native people. Therefore, I wish
you to take this in mine, that about this reservation, I think is a
fake.
[page break]
-13-
"It is along this line that I will mention. For this one
reason, Alaska is a cold country and I don’t think it would ever do
for a reservation. In the states your Government reserves for
the Indians and gives them a good start. First, the Government pur-
chase their ground for them and puts it in good condition for raising
vegetables and making farms and raising cattle. That is different
from here. Of course, the Government could raise cattle here and grow
vegetables for the people to live on, but we natives of Alaska are
different from that. We feel that just as soon as you take us from
the wild country and put us on reservations that we would soon all die
off like rabbits, just as the chief has said. We live like the wild
animals, -- in long times ago out people did not wear cotton clothes
and clothes like the white men wear, but we wore skins make from the
caribou. We lived on fish, the wild game, moose and caribou, and ate
blueberries and roots. That is what we are made to live on, -- not
vegetables, cattle, and things like the white people eat. As soon as
we are made to leave our customs and wild life, we will all get sick
and soon die. We have moved into cabins. There is no such thing now
as the underground living, and as soon as we have done this the natives
begin to catch cold. You used to never hear anything of consumption
or tuberculosis . The majority of people say that whiskey brings
tuberculosis to the Indians, but this is not true. It its because we
have changed our mode of living, and are trying to live like the white
men do. I feel that the natives are entitled to their own land, and
should not be put on a reservation. If the homestead is allowed, I
think that the natives should be permitted to take up their own home-
steads, but I think these people have told you just what they want.
There is one more subject that I want to talk on which I will hold until
you people answer what we have to say. There is on here we have not
heard from. Our missionary, Mr. Madera, may suggest something.”
Reverend Guy H. Madera, Missionary, said: "I cannot say much
more than I said this morning. The question is a hard one to settle.
We don’t want a reservation, but will be glad to have allotments. In a
very few isolated cases we can take up allotments. The majority of the
Indians cannot do this. There is in the Indian life one very sweet
feature -- that is, their mutual helpfulness. There is no such thing
in an Indian village as one person having plenty and other being hungry.
If one person has luck and gets a black fox and sells it, he has plenty
of grub. He stores it in a tent or cabin and everybody goes in and eats.
If one man kills a moose, this moose belongs to the whole village. That
is what we call community life. It would be too bad if that were taken
away, which it certainly would be if they had to all live on separate
allotments. The reservation would result in the Indian soon perishing
for they could not live in one place. Today the Indians are self-
supporting and independent. They do not bother anybody to give them
grub. They do not ask the Government for anything. They keep the law,
unless they are given whiskey. They are wards of the Government, and
this is the same as children of the Government. They have many traits
that I would like to see perpetuated. Between the reservation and the
allotments, Delegate Wickersham prefers the reservation. The Tanana
[page break]
-14-
River runs all the
way down this valley and about 35 miles on each side
are the foothills of
the Alaskan Range and about 40 miles on the other
side of the Tanana
Hills. All that country is hunted by the Indians.
To give them a
reservation big enough for them to live on like they do
at present, would
mean several hundred miles and I don’t think the Gov-
ernment can afford
to give them that much ground. A smaller reservation
would help them, if
there could also be a hunting reservation made,
extending to the
foot hills. This would help then and not interfere
with development. I
think it best to set off a large tract of land
where only Indians
could hunt and trap.”
Chief Alexander, of Tanana, through Paul Williams, Interpreter,
said: “I am very
thankful to Mr. Madara for giving an address like that.”
Delegate Wickersham: "Mr. Riggs, do you want to make some
more
observations for
their benefit?"
Thomas Riggs, Jr., to the Indians, through Paul Williams,
Interpreter, “As for as I can make out, from what the chiefs
have said
the Indians want
certain things, and I want to know if I have understood
it rightly. They
want to keep their present villages free from encroach-
ment by the white
man. They want freedom to
come and go as they want to,
fishing and hunting,
and if they take up their allotments, they don’t want
to have to live on
them perhaps all the time that the law demands, but if
they do take up
allotments they will built cabins and call them their homes.
Is that the opinion
of the assembled chiefs?”
Unanimous answers
from the Indians: “Yes”.
Paul Williams, Interpreter: “I think, gentlemen, that as far
as these natives
taking up homesteads, they want to do this at present,
but they also want
to maintain their villages. Would it make any
difference to the
natives if they did take up allotments – could they
still hold their
villages?”
Thomas Riggs, Jr.:
“I think that is a question for Mr. Richie
of the Land Office
to answer”.
Paul Williams, Interpreter: "At present they have their
native villages.
What we want to know is if we are entitled to take up
homesteads, could we
still maintain our villages and take up homesteads
at the same
time?”
C. W. Richie: “As
the law is at present, a native does not
have to take up an
allotment, that is simply a privilege the Government
gives him if he
wishes to take a certain piece of ground, it will be held
to him and from all
white men. If he wishes to live in a village or
if he wishes to live
on his homestead he can do so. He does not have
to take his
allotment, it is simply an offer the Government makes. The
law also provides,
and Mr. Atwell and myself and all Government men in
our service, are
instructed to see that the Indian villages are not
encroached upon. Any
village or homestead cannot be encroached upon
by the white
man."
[page break]
-15-
Thomas Riggs, Jr.:
“Can an Indian live in his village and
have an allotment at
the same time?”
C. W. Rickie: "This
has not been decided by the Department.
If an Indian has an
old fishing site he cannot live in his village
all the time and
still keep his fishing site. The allotment proposi-
tion implies use and
occupy in order to hold it, and you must use
and occupy it. If
you do not, you cannot hold it.”
Delegate Wickersham: "I want to talk to them about reserva-
tions. The Chiefs
say they want to hold their village sites. Under
the law the
Secretary of the Interior or the President can mark out
a big tract of land
around one of their village sites, maybe ten miles
square, or may be a
hundred miles square, or one mile square. Any amount
that the Secretary
of the Interior of the President thinks is necessary
for their use. If he
did that, there would be a reservation, but they
would continue in
that case to live in their own homes and villages.
Of course, the
President may make a large reservation and ask all of
them to move to one
place, but I do not think he would do that now
that you have all
expressed opposition to it. The Secretary of the
Interior would want
to do the best thing for them, and he might think
it was necessary to
mark out a reservation, one or more of them. If
he did that he would
make all reservation at Tolvana, say, two miles
square, that would
be around Chief Alexander’s house, and Chief
Alexander and his
people would continue to live there. They would be
just as free as they
are now. They could go fishing whenever they
pleased and could go
hunting whenever they pleased. They could go south
and hunt and they
could go up the Tolvana and they could go to Fairbanks
and they could go
anywhere they pleased. A reservation is not a prison.
A reservation is
more for the purpose of helping the Indians. It is
made to help them,
and if a reservation is made at any place, the
Government would
appoint an agent there to help the Indians. They
would start a school
for the children and would build a church, and the
Indians would be
just as free as they are now. I want to say again
that a reservation
is not a prison.. A reservation would not be made
for the purposes of
limiting the people, but to help them. On the other
hand, the people can
take up homesteads and go fishing from their
homesteads, and they
may go to the Kantishna or up the Tolvana, just
as they do now. A
homestead is not a prison either. Both the home-
stead and the
reservation would be simply a piece of land set aside by
the Government for
their use. The only difference is that in the case
of a homestead, each
man has his piece of land, but if it is a reserva-
tion they all have
an interest in it. But after a while the Government
might survey the
reservation and deed each one of them a part. Now, I
lived, long ago,
down at Puyallup. For twenty years there was an
Indian reservation
there, and the Indians were my friends and I was their
attorney. I helped
them many times. They had a big reservation there.
A great many of them
lived on this reservation, and a great many of them
had homesteads on
this reservation. Some time ago the Government surveyed
[page break]
-16-
the reservation and
gave each one of them 160 acres of land, some 80
and some 160. The
Government had a big school there, and churches.
These Indians were
perfectly happy and perfectly free, and went hunting.
They were good
people and now they own their reservation. Some of
the land has been
sold. I don’t agree with the people here. They
think that a
reservation is a bad thing. I think that a reservation is
excellent and the
best thing that can be done for the Indians, but we
want you people here
to say what you want, and we take it down in this
book and we are
going to have it all written out and send it to the
President and to the
Secretary of the Interior, and when they consider
about you they will
read that and will understand what you people say.
Now, I cannot make a
reservation, I cannot give you a homestead. These
other gentlemen
cannot make a reservation, or give you a homestead.
None of us can make
you do anything. Nobody can force you to do any-
thing but the
President of the United States, and the President of the
United States can
make you move on. Now, we are going to tell him just
what you are saying,
and we don’t know what he will do. We are going to
try and get him to
help you. I am going to be your representative in
Congress for two
years, and I will help to make laws, but we don’t have
to make laws about
reservations and homesteads. But I am going to live
here for many years
and I want you men to know that I am your friend and
if I can be of any
service to you I am going to do it, and don't you
believe that the
Government wants to do anything to hurt you. The
President and the
Secretary want to try to help you.
They want you to
have homesteads.
They want you to have homesteads where they can keep
bad people away from
you. If it is on a homestead or a reservation,
they will keep the
white people away, and they will protect you
help you in either
place, but all this talk today I hope you will take to
your hearts, because
Mr. Riggs here is going to build a railroad and
these gentlemen are
going to continue to survey these lands, and when
Mr. Riggs’ railroad
is built, the white people are going to come in here
in great numbers and
push, and push until the Indians are clear off the
best land and you
people must do something. If you don’t you won't
have any homesteads,
for the white people will get all the best lands.
This is what I want
you to see. And you must not put it off too long.
You must not put it
off until it is too late. Of course, there will
be plenty of land in
this country one hundred years from now, but it
will not be the best
hunting and fishing grounds. All the land on the
river will be gone.
Then where will you live? The white man know
just as much about
taking good land as you do and he is going down to
the Land Office and
take this land, so we want you people to beat him
there and get your
homesteads. The Government will protect you either
on a homestead or on
a reservation. Let me tell you again, I want you
to do something and
do it soon. The white man has already been taking
the best places. You
have got to do something soon or there won’t be
anything left. You
don’t want to be left out. What I am trying to do
is to make these
Indian Chiefs see that there is going to be a change
and I want them to
get homesteads before they are too late.” <![endif]>
[page break]
-17-
Chief Ivan, of Crossjacket, through Paul Williams, Inter-
preter: "I have
misunderstood you and would like to say something
now. I have a
village of about 12 cabins, 14 or 15 families there
A very important
place for the natives. It is where the road goes
onto the Kantishna,
into Fort Gibbon and up to Fairbanks. We live
there during the
winter and during the summer and in the woods hunting
and and fishing.
Now, what I wish to know is what should we do to hold
that
ground?”
<![endif]>
Delegate Wickersham, through Paul Williams, Interpreter:
"'Well, that would
depend upon how good this place is. If you wanted
to you could have a
large reservation taking in your village and the
country around it.
Under the law, the white man when he takes a home-
stead must live on
it as his home. He must live on it under the white
man’s law. Where you
have your 12 cabins owned by Indians no white man
has a right to go
into those cabins. No white man has the right to live
on that ground. That
ground and the cabins and everything around them
belong to the
Indians, and if a white man goes there and the Indians
will come up here
and tell the Land Office men they will see that the
white man is put off
the land. There is nothing about a reservation to
be scared of. A
reservation is a good thing for the people, for all
your people and all
your families. I think it would be a good thing to
make a reservation
five miles square and keep the white men off. Long
time ago, there was
some of your people and they want over on the head-
waters of the
Fraser. They kept on traveling for away, on and on, and on,
till they got to
Mexico. They talk the same language you do. They are
descendants of the
same people as you are. They are three thousand
miles away but they
talk your language just the same, and all these
people are your
people. They have horses and cattle and sheep and farms
and all kinds of
implements to work with. There are reservations of
your people in
Oregon. They live on reservations all through the
country. It is a
mistake to be afraid of reservations. Your villages
are reservations
now, and the Government will make them for you and
villages and protect
them from the white man. And if you want homesteads
and schools and
churches, the Government will make them for you and
protect them. They
are your friends and are trying to help you and not
to hurt you."
H. J. Antwell,
through Paul Williams, Interpreter, said to the
Indians: “Two years
ago there were reservations five miles square
proposed around
certain villages on the lower Yukon, that is, below the
mouth of the Tanana.
The recommendation was that the Indian be kept on
the reservation and
the white man be kept from coming there. The recom-
mendation was sent
up here to us to make a report on, as to whether it
would be good or bad
for the Indians. We reported that such a reservation
would be bad for the
Indians. We reported that the Indians were used to
roaming over the
country, hunting and fishing everywhere and that they
would go a long way
up and down the river to do this. The proposed res-
ervations have not
been made.
After a vote of
thanks from the Indians for allowing them to
express their wishes
to the officials of the Government, and with the
statement that they
knew everybody was tired, the meeting was closed and
[page break]
-18-
the Indians were
advised by Delegate Wickersham to talk the matter
over thoroughly
among themselves and let him know just what they wanted.
On July 6th, at 4:00
o'clock P. M., at the Public Library,
in Fairbanks,
Alaska, the Council reassembles, the same persons being
present
Paul Williams, Interpreter: "Well, I guess we are through
with this
reservation business. We have decided about that".
Delegate Wickersham: “You don’t want a reservation?”
<![endif]>
Paul Williams: “We
don’t want a reservation.”
Delegate Wickersham: “How would you like a withdrawal of
the land around your
villages for the use of your Indians?”
Paul Williams: “What
do you mean, a line around the villages?"
Delegate Wickersham: “No, a withdrawal of the land
several
square miles around
the villages for the exclusive use of the Indians?”
Paul Williams:
"Couldn’t they do that themselves by allotments?”
Delegate Wickersham: “They could take homesteads.”
Paul Williams: “Yes,
they could take homesteads, and another
thing I am going to
ask: If the natives take up homesteads or allotments
do they have to have
a quarter of a mile strip around their ground between
the homesteads or
can they have homesteads right close up to each other?”
C. W. Richie: "Only
where the land is near a river, like the
Yukon or Tanana, a
river that is traveled by boats and launches, they
have to take strips
between the homesteads; where the allotments are
taken up back from
the river they can be up close against each other with
no space between the
allotments.”
Paul Williams:
"Then, if we had these homesteads where the
town is, could we
claim that if somebody had it for a homestead, one
chief’s homestead,
like one big family and all live there like we do
now? Could we hold
it that way?"
C. W. Richie: "No. The patent would issue to the man
or
chief who took up
the homestead and it would belong to him.”
Paul Williams: “Then
in such a place as Crossjacket, where
we have claims for
two miles square which haven’t been recorded there.
We could take as a
homestead in the name of Chief Ivan Henry –
suppose Chief Ivan
takes that as a homestead, couldn’t the natives come
back and use that
village just as they do now?”
C. W. Richie: "They
could if Chief Ivan Henry would let them,
and if he agreed to
it, yes, but the Government would finally issue
title of the
homestead to Chief Ivan alone, and he would then be
the owner of the
ground, but if he wished the other natives to come there
[page break]
-19-
they could come, but
the chief's homestead couldn’t be two miles
square, it could
only bee 160 acres, or half a mile square.”
Paul Williams: “But
right back of Chief Ivan couldn’t
somebody else take
up a homestead, and on each side of him. enough
to cover the two
miles square?''
C. W. Richie: Where
the village is on the river those home-
steads would have to
have a quarter of a mile strips between them.
That would cut the
two miles of shoreline into four claims with strips
between the
homesteads.
Paul Williams: "And
these strips between, some white man
could come in there
are start a store or something on those strips?”
C. W. Richie: “The
strips between the homestead are
reserved by the
Government. Nobody could take the strips that are
reserved.”
Paul Williams: "This
place the, Crossjacket, -- I am refer-
ring to Crossjacket,
because it is held by natives alone and the white
people have been
trying to get in there for so long – if we threw it
open for homesteads,
and took up the two miles square in homesteads,
cut up by the strips
between, won’t the white people get in there, on
those strips, and
start a store, and live on the quarter mile strips?”
C. W. Richie:
“Nobody could live on the quarter mile strips.
The Government
reserves these strips. And even now no white man can
take the Indian
villages. They are now reserved and are safe. Nobody
can take the Indian
villages away from you. But this protection is
only for just what
the villages cover, and what is actually needed for
the villages. It
doesn’t give the Indian any right to the timber that
he will need for his
firewood in the years to come, or any hunting
ground, but the
villages themselves nobody can encroach upon.
Paul Williams: “That is what I wanted to
find out. I am
especially referring
to Crossjacket because it has been marked for two
or three years and
has always been held by the natives and the white
people kept
out.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Who marked it – you say that it has
been
marked?”
Paul Williams: "The
natives themselves marked it, but it has
never been recorded,
but the village has been there from generation
to
generation.”
Delegate Wickersham: "Well, for further advice on this you
can always see Mr.
Richie, and I think it is best that you consult
with him about
this.”
C. W. Richie: "Paul,
you can tell your people that at any time
they want to know
anything about taking up the homesteads or allotments,
[page break]
-20-
or any time they
want advice about their land matters, if they will
come to me, I will
be very glad to tell them what they want to know
and to advise them
the very best that I can."
Paul
Williams: "Then, you people will
understand that we
natives have decided
to keep off the reservation, and do not wish to
go on a reservation
at all. But our next suggestion, that we wanted
and of course which
we shall wish the Delegate to bring up for us and
see what he can do for us about it, after we
have discussed the matter
among ourselves we
have decided that we are going to ask the Government
to see what it could
do for us. It has been so long ago now since
the Mission came, in
fact the Missionaries have been with us longer
than this Government
has, and they have always done all they could for
the natives, but
somehow or other they have always been pretty short
on workers or on
money so that they couldn’t very well accomplish what
the natives have
needed on account of being so short of funds or of
workers; so now, we
have decided that we all wish to ask the Government
if they couldn't get
us some industrial schools. If they wish to help
the Indians, the
natives, that is the best thing the Government could
do for us, and I
think it is about time for the Government to look
after us. So I think
the best thing we can ask for is an industrial
school."
Delegate Wickersham: ''You want to learn trades?"
Paul
Williams: "Yes. As you told the
Chiefs here yesterday,
you said this
country would be all crowded with people coming in and
of course, I know that is going to happen too, in my
own knowledge, and
the game will be
short, the fishing will be short, the fur will be
short, and
everything will be short that the natives are using now, and
in time it is going
to take money for the natives to live, and we all
realize that, so I
think it is time for the Government to give assistance
to the Indians,
either by themselves, or through the Missionaries who
have been with us so
long but cannot do so much for us because they are
short of funds and
workers. So far as we know the Government has done
nothing toward
assisting the natives’ education. Of course, the Bureau
of Education has got
schools here and there, but they are public schools
and the natives
practically live from hand to mouth and are out rustling
for their living
mostly. They have villages, of course, but they only
live there for a
week or to weeks and then go on a fishing or hunting
trip, and take the
children with then, and so they cannot go to these
schools the Bureau
of Education has established and live with their people."
Delegate
Wickersham: “How are you going
to make these native
children go to
school then if the Government builds as industrial school?"
Paul
Williams: "If they put up an
industrial school, with a
boarding school or
anything, then they can keep the native children there.
That would be
different from public schools for the children would stay
there and would not
be with the older natives fishing and hinting so much.
Of course, if you
think I am bringing up something impossible, it is for
you to say so."
[page break]
-21-
Delegate Wickersham: “It isn't impossible. It is quite
possible. If the Government builds an industrial school here these
native children could go and learn trades. Paul, do all these
natives here want such an industrial school?"
Paul Williams: “They say that is the way they all see it,
and that they all want it.”
Rev. Guy H. Madara, Missionary: “Five years ago, the Mission
sent a half breed boy out to educate him, Arthur Wright, who has been
at North Herman Mission. He came in last summer, and he has the
ability and enthusiasm necessary to do good work. At the present
time, the Mission has the logs up at Nenana for an industrial school
building, which they expect to finish this fall. That is the present
plan. The great trouble we have found is that the only way to get
the children in school and keep them there is to take them and board
them and keep them. With their people, the children do not live in
one place long enough to go to school, and when they do Indian customs
are such that the life of the Mission, being orderly, is not in line
with the life of the native villages, and it is hard for the children
to come. For instance, I don’t think there is an Indian at the village
— I don't think there is an Indian in the Tanana Valley — who goes
to bed three nights in succession at the same time. Now, school
children have to do that if they are going to get any good out of
school. Some of these men have children at Nenana, now, others have
not. But there are some present, who will send their children this
fall to begin learning this industrial work. Our capacity, at Nenana,
is at the most about thirty five or forty children, girls and boys
together. Unless there be a boarding school, there is no use attempt-
ing any industrial work. There are a great many more children in this
section of the country, that want to come to school, that we cannot
take care of. We want to take care of all we can, but sometimes it is
quite a strain on our resources to take care of them, and I think it
might be a good plan to ask the Government to establish a school at
Tanana, or possibly at Crossjacket, either by aiding the Mission
financially and letting them so it or by doing it themselves, through
the Bureau of Education, but without a boarding school in connection,
there is no use of attempting it. The natives have to follow the
game and the fish already. He couldn’t stay in one place and live.
So the only thing to do is to establish a boarding school, probably at
Crossjacket.”
Upon Paul Williams interpreting to the Indians what Reverend
Madara said, there was unanimous approval, and Paul Williams said:
“They say ‘Really, what we wish very much’.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Let me ask you some questions, Mr.
Madara. What arrangement has been make for doing anything for the
Indians at Salchaket, by the Mission?”
[page break]
-22-
Mr. Madara: "We have at Salchaket two workers. They
belong to the Episcopal Mission. One is a trained nurse and the other
one has charge – both ladies. They have day school for the children
and at present they have two children living in the house with them
and when the boys are home from hunting they have night school for the
boys.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Who build the school building?”
Mr. Madara: “The Mission”.
Delegate Wickersham: “What did it cost, approximately?”
Mr. Madara: "I couldn’t tell you now”.
Delegate Wickersham: “About how much per annum does it cost
for the maintenance of the school at Salchaket?”
Mr. Madara: "It cost us last year in the neighborhood of
$5500.00, paid for entirely through the Episcopal Mission by money gotten
from people in the East, with absolutely no help from other sources.”
Delegate Wickersham: “No National or Territorial aid given it?”
Mr. Madara: “No.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Where is the next mission?”
Mr. Madara: “Chena village, fifteen miles from Salchaket.
We have no workers there at present, although we hope to have one this
summer.”
Delegate Wickersham: “What is being done there for the
Indians?”
Mr. Madara: “The only think I am able to do now is to give
them Sunday services and sometimes occasional services during the week.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Where do you live, Mr. Madara?”
Mr. Madara: “At Chena, proper. Three miles above the Indian
village. You understand that my work is the supervision of all the
whole Tanana Valley Missions.”
Delegate Wickersham: “What other effort is being made
by any other persons or churches to help and to educate the Indians?”
Mr. Madara: “None”.
Delegate Wickersham: “Below Chena Village, where is the next
mission?”
Mr. Madara: “The Nenana Mission”
[page break]
-23-
Delegate Wickersham: “That is the point where the
Government Railroad is supposed to cross the Tanana River, isn’t
it?”
Mr. Madara: “Yes”.
Delegate Wickersham: “How far from where the railroad
work will be carried on is your mission established?”
Mr. Madara: “Adjoining it.”
Delegate Wickersham: “What have you there?”
Mr. Madara: “We have a large two story hall, a two story
hospital, a large school room, and an industrial building in the
process of erection, a two story cache, stables, outbuildings, and
also two cabins.”
Delegate Wickersham: “How many teachers or other employees
do you have there?”
Mr. Madara: “Seven.”
Delegate Wickersham: “By whom are they maintained?”
Mr. Madara: “The Episcopal church.”
Delegate Wickersham: “And they fet no assistance from the
Government or Territory?”
Mr. Madara: “None.”
Delegate Wickersham: “What was the expense of maintaining
this plant last year?”
Mr. Madara: “Between $11,000.00 and $11,500.00.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Where did you get the money?”
Mr. Madara: “From voluntary gifts and from grants from
the
Board of Missions.”
Delegate Wickersham: “How many Indians, children and adults,
are given assistance there, either by way of education or in any
other ways?”
Mr. Madara: “In the neighborhood of three hundred.”
Delegate Wickersham: “And what bands or tribes do they belong
to, mostly?”
[page break]
-24-
Mr. Madara: “Wood River, Nenana, Minto, Tolvana. In
addition to which we have children from all along the Tanana and the
Yukon Rivers in the schools conducted there.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Where is the next place below that
where you have a mission?”
Mr. Madara: “There is nothing between there and Tanana.”
Delegate Wickersham: “What is there at Crossjacket?”
Mr. Madara: “An Indian village.”
Delegate Wickersham: “No school or mission of any kind
there?”
Mr. Madara: “No. Crossjacket has been a growing village
for several years, gradually growing larger through the coming of the
Indians from Tanana to Crossjacket. It has now reached proportions
where it is necessary to do something, and it is the intention of the
Mission to establish a mission there as soon as it can possibly do it.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Where is the next mission?”
Mr. Madara: “At Tanana. There is a large hospital and it
is just in process of erection. There are two resident workers there
with a resident priest coming in this summer, which will make three.
At the Indian mission, we have in addition to the hospital, a school
and a shop.”
Delegate Wickersham: “What kind of shop?”
Mr. Madara: “A carpenter shop and a sawmill plant.”
Delegate Wickersham: “To whom does the sawmill belong?”
Mr. Madara: “To the mission.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Is there a Government building there?”
Mr. Madara: “The Government has a public school building
there, right across from the Mission, which was erected by the Government
through the Bureau of Education.”
Delegate Wickersham: “How many children are there at that
place, either in the Mission schools or at the Government school?”
Mr. Madara: “Altogether there must be about thirty or forty
children going to the two schools.”
[page break]
-25-
Delegate Wickersham: “How long has that Mission been there?”
Mr. Madara: “Since 1900”.
Delegate Wickersham, to Paul Williams, Interpreter: “Where
were your born, Paul?”
Paul Williams “At Mike Hess Creek, above Rampart.”
Delegate Wickersham: “How far from Gibbon?”
Paul Williams: “About a hundred miles.”
Delegate Wickersham to Mr. Madara: “Has the Bureau of
Education any school of any kind in the Tanana country?”
Mr. Madara: “Nothing at all. They built the school building
at Nenana and for one or two years supported a teacher there, but the
Mission, about five years ago, took this over from the Government and
has ever since supported the work there.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Why did the mission take it over rather
than lat the Bureau of Education maintain it?”
Mr. Madara: “Largely through friction between the teachers
and the mission employees.”
Delegate Wickersham: “And it was turned over so that it would
be under one head?”
Mr. Madara: "Yes”.
Delegate Wickersham: “Are there any more missions in that
country?”
Mr. Madara: “In addition to these there is a mission at
Tanana crossing which of course will not be affected by anything we
do here, but which is a part of the work being done by the Church in
the Tanana Valley.”
Delegate Wickersham: “How many Indians people are there in
the valley above Salchaket?”
Mr. Madara: “There are about 400 who center at Tanana Crossing
and there are tribes up on the Nebesna and Shushana which I have never
even seen and know nothing of. It is impossible to carry the mission
work to them. It is almost impossible to take the work to Tanana
Crossing.”
[page break]
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Mr. Riggs: “Is the work between the Bureau of
Education and the Mission, as a rule, harmonious?”
Mr. Madara: “I would rather not answer that, because I have
had no personal experience with the Government school teachers.”
Delegate Wickersham, to Paul Williams, Interpreter: “Ask
these Chiefs is they would presser to have the industrial school
located at Crossjacket or at Tanana, or at Salchaket, or any other
place on the river.”
Chief Alexander Williams, of Fort Gibbon, through Paul
Williams said: “We expect the Government to establish the school
where is will be the center for the Tanana Valley and the Yukon River
and the Koyukuk river and down river.”
Chief Jacob Starr, of Fort Gibbon, through Paul Williams
Interpreter, says he thinks it is right that it should be in the
center.
Delegate Wickersham: “They want the school centrally
located. Now, will they all support the school and send their children
there if there is one established by the Government?”
Chief Alexander Williams, of Fort Gibbon, through Paul
Williams, Interpreter, said that if any of his people objected to
sending their children to the school when it was established that he
would make them come.
Chief Alexander or Tolvana, through Paul Williams, Inter-
preter, says that he has his child now in care of the Mission school
and that you can see for yourself that he is anxious to get his
children educated and if there is an industrial school put up, he
will be willing to put his child there, and see that his people send
their children there.
Delegate Wickersham: “Ask them, Paul, if there is any one
of them here who will object to sending their children to school if
an industrial school is established, either by aiding the Mission or
by establishing an independent Government school.”
Paul Williams, Interpreter: “Chief Jacob Starr says he is
willing, and Chief Alexander, and Chief Thomas says he won’t agree
because he has got one of his own children now in the Mission at
Nenana.”
Delegate Wickersham: “He wants to send his children to the
mission school at Nenana?”
Paul Williams, Interpreter: “He says that as long as the
school is there so close he would prefer to send the children there.”
[page break]
-27-
Delegate Wickersham: “But they all favor the establishment
of a centrally located industrial school?”
Paul Williams, Interpreter: “Yes.”
Chief Ivan, of Crossjacket, through the interpreter, said:
“I am willing. I haven’t got a child of my own of course but that
cuts no figure with me, I am the head of the other natives, and of
course if a school is established he is going to see it supported.
I want the school and any time I get any advice from the Government
or the mission I will see that the children do go to the schools.
It is for the benefit of my people and I wish it would be established.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Well, do they all feel that way about
it?”
Chief Julius Pilot, of Nenana, through the interpreter, said:
That he agrees to it. That an industrial school ought to be established
by the mission or the Government. He says the railroad is coming
through to Nenana and they don’t know whether they mission ground is
liable to be taken away by the Government and if so the mission would
have to remove its buildings and take their schools to some place where
they could stay and it would be wasting time, and for that reason he
prefers to see the school some other place.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Paul, how many Indians, men, women and
children, old and young, are there at Tanana, and from there up to
Salchaket, altogether?”
Paul Williams: “I don’t know anything about the people up at
Salchaket. Mr. Madara would know.”
Mr. Madara: “Over two hundred Indians.”
Delegate Wickersham: “How many at Crossjacket?”
Mr. Madara: “About sixty.”
Delegate Wickersham to Chief Charley, of Minto, through Paul,
the interpreter: “Chief Charley, how many Indian people, old, young,
and middle aged are there at Minto?”
Chief Charley, through Paul, interpreter, said that he had
never taken a census and did not know.
Delegate Wickersham: “Mr. Madara, how many Indian people are
there at Salchaket, altogether?”
Mr. Madara: “About sixty.”
[page break]
-28-
Delegate Wickersham: “How many at Chena?”
Mr. Madara: “Forty.”
Delegate Wickersham: “At Minto?”
Mr. Madara: “The total of Nenana, Minto and Tolcana, is
about three hundred and fifty.”
Delegate Wickersham: “How many do you think there are
altogether, between Salchaket and Tanana, counting bother these places?”
Mr. Madara: “The population is somewhat floating, but I
would say about seven hundred to eight hundred, and possible more.”
Delegate Wickersham: “And about how many are children now
over twenty years of age – from babies up to twenty one?”
Mr. Madara: “A rough estimate, well, I think there would
be about 40%.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Then, Paul, the short of it is that
the Indians all want an industrial school for the young Indian people
to be located at some central point and to be controlled either by
the mission or by the Government, or by both. All of them are in favor
of that, aren’t they? Tell them if they are to hold up their hands.”
Unanimous approval, all of them holding up hands.
Delegate Wickersham: “You tell, the Indian people, Paul,
that I went to school when I was young and Mr. Riggs went to school
and got a good education, and Mr. Richie and Mr. Madara and Mr.
Atwell all want to school, and we all favor school. We can’t estab-
lish the school you want, but we will do what we can to help you to
get schools. We will send this paper in which you have all said that
you want schools to the Secretary of the Interior and ask him to help
you. The Secretary of the Interior is a good man. He is strongly in
favor of schools for the Indians, and we are sure that he will do
something to help them, but we don’t know what.”
Paul Williams, Interpreter: “They want to talk about some
labor now. Some labor that they want the Government to allow them
to do.”
Chief Alexander Williams says: “Us natives are self-supporting
people, of course, and in order to support ourselves we have to work
for a living. Therefore, although we got the land, they wish the
Government to allow them to work whenever they have anything to do. That
would be a help to them just as much as the schools would. There are
quite a few things that they are able to do that other people do.”
[page break]
-29-
Delegate Wickersham: “The Indians want a school and
they also want a chance to work, is that is?”
Paul: “They all feel that way. They don’t want to get
up and talk about it because it takes so long, to I asked them if
they all felt that way and they all said they did.”
Delegate Wickersham: “How do you mean that they want to
work?”
Paul: “I might explain that. The army has posts in
different places. Each telegraph station lets out contracts for
wood. Each telegraph station lets out contracts for fish each year.
This would mean quite a bit of money for the natives if they could
get the contracts, but they never are able to get the contracts.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Why, Paul?”
Paul: “The white men get the contracts because they can
read and write and the white man gets it before the Indians know
that there is a contract to be let.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Can the natives cut the wood as
cheaply as the white men?”
Paul: “They could and would if they knew anything about
them wanting the wood cut.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Can the natives cut the wood as
cheaply if they had the chance?”
Paul: “Yes.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Can the natives put up the fish as
cheaply and as well as the white men do, if they has the chance?”
Paul: “The native puts up a better fish then the white men
do, because that is his native food and he has to put it up the very
best way he can.
There are so many white people here, and the natives
altogether depended on their trapping, hunting and fishing, but the
game laws are enforced now and they are not supposed to sell meat or
fish or anything, and so they must have some way to get money, and they
think it is time to ask for labor. Now on the railroad, they could
go on the line just as well as the white people with a pick and shovel
but they never have an opportunity, but even so, I believe that natives
could do just as well as the white people on the railroad work.”
Delegate Wickersham: “But if they were given work would they
stick to it, or would they want to go hunting and fishing?”
[page break]
-30-
Chief Alexander Williams, of Fort Gibbon, through Paul
Williams, Interpreter, said: “Any time the natives get a job that
they are able to handle they will handle it. I am an Indian and
I had a job from the white people for 34 years.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Doing what?”
Chief Alexander Williams: “Piloting boats.”
Delegate Wickersham: “On what boats?”
Chief Alexander Williams: “Mostly all the company boats.
The A. C. Company, and the N. A. T. T. and the N. N. boats, on the
Yukon river.”
Delegate Wickersham: “For how many years?”
Chief Alexander Williams: “Thirty four.”
Delegate Wickersham: “”Have any of these other men worked
as pilots?”
Paul Williams: “Julius Pilot did.”
Delegate Wickersham: “For how long?”
Paul Williams: “Seven years.”
Paul Williams: “You see when there is any market or any
demand for meat, the Indian has got meat and the white men for meat,
the white man’s meat is bought first always, and if the Indian got
a fish to sell and the white man got a fish to sell, always the white
man’s fish is bought.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Why?”
Paul Williams: “I don’t know. The white people patronize
each other, but are always down on the natives, that is what it is.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Don’t you think, Paul, that the reason
is because the Indians have never gone to school and don’t understand
things?”
Paul: “Yes, that is why we want the school to learn these
things.”
Chief Alexander Williams, of Fort Gibbon, through Paul
Williams, Interpreter, said: “If there is an industrial school started
for the Indians, will you have a doctor there?”
[page break]
-31-
Delegate Wickersham: “Do they need a doctor there?”
Paul: “Chief
Alexander Williams says little as they get
it they need a
doctor just as bad as they need the schools.”
Delegate Wickersham: “When their people get sick where do
they go for help?”
Paul interpreting
for Chief Alexander Williams: “Down at
Gibbon there is a
Government doctor, the army doctor, and they
depend on him, but
other places they go to the mission for medicine
but there are places
where there is no mission or Government doctor
and anyway it is
only those who have money who can go to the doctor.”
Delegate Wickersham: “What do they do when they have no
money and are sick?”
Paul: "Then they are
helpless and can’t do anything.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Are there many who need doctors and
can’t get them?”
Paul: “Yes, lots of
them.” All the Indians answered that
question promptly in
the affirmative.
Chief Ivan, of
Crossjacket, through the interpreter, says:
“I was pretty sick
this winter and they took me down to the army
doctor at Fort
Gibbon and the doctor said he was to gar gone and there
was no hope for him.
But anyway the doctor gave him some medicine
and he paid him
$2.50 but the doctor said he couldn’t do anything for
him. He says the
medicine froze in the bottle and that it was mostly
water.”
Delegate Wickersham: “But he got well.”
Paul: “No, he never
was affected at all by the medicine.
He says this is the
last time he will talk now so he is going to talk
away. He wants you
to understand that he thinks it is very simple
for the Government
to do anything when it want to, because the Gov-
ernment has a good
people and citizens to support it but the chiefs
have people who
cannot support them if they want to accomplish anything
so they cannot do
these things, but the Government can. So they came
all the way up here
at their own expense to show you how anxious they
are to have the
Government help them.”
Paul: “They are very
anxious to have three things, school,
a doctor and some
labor.”
[page break]
-32-
Thomas Riggs, Jr,:
“About the labor on the railroad we will
have to wait and see
what we can do. When the railroad starts next
year, if the Indians
want to work and will work earnestly and
steadily, I will
give them a show, but as a rule the natives have not
been very reliable
about working. I landed, once at an Indian village
and it happened that
I had about a hundred tons of supplies and the
Indians were sitting
around there in the village. I tried to hire
them, paying them
big wages to put that stuff in a warehouse, and I
couldn't get any of
them to work. That was at Rampart House.
So any
Indians that want to
work would have to understand that it would have
to be in earnest and
that they would have to stay with it. But we
will give them a
trial next year, if they want to work. If they will
work good the
Indians can got work next year when the railroad con-
struction starts.
All we are doing now is surveying.”
Chief Jacob Starr,
of Fort Gibbon, through Paul Williams,
Interpreter, said:
“We are not asking for labor for ourselves. We
are asking it for
the whole of our people.”
Paul Williams: “Now
all these Indian Chiefs have come all
the way up the river
in order to interview you gentlemen here and they will
hope very much that
you will be able to accomplish something for them so
that when they go
back they will be able to say it paid them to make
the trip to
Fairbanks, and so that the people will see that it meant
a great deal to send
their chiefs up here.”
Delegate Wickersham: “Paul, you tell them I say I think
it
has done a great
deal of good. We have seen them now and know them
and are acquainted
with them, and have written down all they said and
will send it to the
Secretary of the Interior, and a copy of their
pictures too, so
that the Secretary of the Interior will look at their
picture and look
into their faces and see what kind of looking men
they are, and he
will read here about what they want, about them wanting
schools and work and
that they want to make homes and want to become
like white people
and want to learn to talk the white man’s language,
and to work like the
white men. The Secretary of the Interior has
charge of all these
matters you have brought up. He has charge of the
railroad and of the
lands and I think he will feel very friendly to
you. But you tell
then, Paul, that it all depends finally upon the
Indians themselves.
If they work good they will be employed. If they
work bad they won’t
be employed. So it all lies with the Secretary of
the Interior and the
Indians.”
Paul Williams: “The
Indians say that next time you run for
a Delegate you want
to be sure and notify us and be sure you accomplish
this before you run
again for Delegate.”
Mr. Madara: “If they
ever get to vote there will be enough
of them to settle
the delegate question all right.”
[page break]
-33-
in who shall be
elected Delegate from Alaska. It sounds good to me.
You tell them that
as soon as they have established homes and live
like the white men
and assume the habits of civilization, they can
have a
vote.”
Rev. Guy H. Madara:
“A suggestion in regard to the doctor.
We have has so many
Government officials in this country who don’t
officiate, that I
would like to make this statement right at the
start. We have had
Government officials here who were supposed to
work, who were
supposed to look after the preservation of game and
of fur, and who
stayed in Fairbanks. We do not need that kind of a
doctor. If there
could be a doctor appointed to look after the
health and
sanitation among these Indians it would be a great thing,
but he would have to
have an expense account large enough to allow him
to make regular
visits up and down along the river, so that he could
go up and down the
river and keep on moving at regular intervals from
place to place, and
not just have an office in Fairbanks and expect
the Indians to come,
because they can’t so it.”
Unanimous approval
from the Indians.
After the meeting,
the Indians formed in two lives and shook
hands with the white
men present, expressing their gratitude at being
allowed to state
their case.
http://library.alaska.gov/hist/fulltext/ASL-MS-0107-38-001.htm