Status of Alaska Natives

(2)

THE TREATY CESSION OF RUSSIA, PROCLAIMED BY THE UNITED STATES JUNE 20,1867
article 3, READS, THE INHABITANTS OF THE CEDED TERRITORY, ACCORDING TO
THEIR CHOICE,RESERVING THEIR NATURAL ALLEGANCE, MAY RETURN TO RUSSIA WITHIN
THREE YEARS; BUT IF THEY SHOULD PREFER TO REMAIN IN THE CEDED TERRITORY
THEY, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF UNCIVIZED NATIVE TRIBES, SHALL BE ADMITTED TO
THE ENJOYMENT OF ALL RIGHTS, ADVANTAGES, AND IMMUNITIES OF CITIZENS OF THE
UNITED STATES, AND SHALL BE MAINTAINED AND PROTECTED IN THE FREE ENJOYMENT
OF THEIR LIBERTY, PROPERTY, AND RELIGION. THE UNCIVLIZED TRIBES WILL BE
SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS AND REGULATIONS AS THE UNITED STATES MAY, FROM TIME TO
TIME ADOPT IN REGARD TO ABORIGINAL TRIBES OF THAT COUNTRY.

FINALLY, THE REGIONAL AND VILLAGE CORPORTATIONS ORGANIZED UNDE THE ALASKA
NATIVE CLAIMES SETTLEMENT ACT HAS DIVIDED OUR NATIVE TRIBES IN ALASKA.
WE RECOGNIZE THAT THE REGIONAL AND VILLAGE CORPORATIONS ARE DOING THEIR
BEST AS BUSSINESS CORPORATIONS SET UP UNDER THE STATE CORPORATION LAWS.
HOWEVER, VERY FEW OF OUR NATIVE PEOPLE ARE WORKING IN OUR CORPORATIONS
OR IT SUBSIDARIES. WE WILL BE FURTHER DIVIDED AFTER 1991 WHEN STOCKS CAN
BE SOLD TO NON-NATIVES.

THE LIFE OF OUR CORPORATIONS WILL BE AS LONG AS IT PRODUCES.

LAND, PROPERTY AND SHAREHOLDERS EXISTANCE WILL END SOMEWHERE. BUT TRIBES
WILL CONTINUE TO EXIST AND OUR CHILDREN WILL BECOME MEMBERS UPON BIRTH AS
ALWAYS, THEREFORE, CHILKAT INDIAN VILLAGE I.R.A. COUNCIL ON BEHALF OF
CHILKAT TRIBE REQUESTS, THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, TO HEAL
THE INJURIES IMPOSED ON THE ALASKA NATIVE STATUS BY THE STATEHOOD ACT AND
THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT, BY RESTORING TRIBAL RECOGNITION.
TO ALL TRADITIONAL COUNCILS AND I.R.A. TRIBAL COUNCILS.

THE VOICES OF REGIONAL AND VILLAGE CORPORATIONS ARE HEARD IN WASHINGTON D.C
BUT THE VOICES OF CONCERNED TRADITIONAL AND I.R.A. COUNCILS ARE DIMLY
HEARD AT THE PRESENT TIME BOTH BY THE STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS.
CHILKAT INDIAN VILLAGE IS FORTUNATE TO HAVE JOINED THE ALASKA NATIVE
COALITION THROUGH WHOM OUR VOICE IS REPRESENTED, PARTICULARLY BY JOHN
BORBRIDGE JR. AND EDWARD WARREN. OUR APPRECIATION ALSO GOES TO THE NATIVE
AMERICAN RIGHTS FUND STAFF IN ALASKA FOR THEIR ASSISTANCE .

IN CLOSING, THE AMERICAN INDIANS AND ALASKA NATIVES APPRECIATE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIR, BEING AN IMPORTANT ARM OF CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, BECAUSE, YOUR DECISIONS RELATIONG TO US AS ALASKA NATIVES AND ALASKA TRIBES IS VERY IMPORTANT TO OUR GOVERNMENT TO GOVERNMENT RELATIONSHIP AND SURVIVAL.

MAY GOD, BLESS YOU ALL ON THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS AS
YOU DELIBERATE ON ISSUES RELATING TO THE AMERICAN INDIANS AND ALASKA
NATIVES WHO APPRECIATE AND ENJOY AND EXERCISE SELF GOVERNMENT
THANK YOU ON BEHALF OF THE CHILKAT TRIBE.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PEACE TREATY OF 1867

2.6 MAP

1946 TESTIMONIES

FISHERMANS LICENSE

POLICE APPOINTMENT

1897 AGREEMENT

RESOLUTION

EXPLANATION MAP

REPORT OF SECRETARY OF INTERIOR--1867

INDIAN COUNTRY RESOLUTION

AMERICAN INDIAN LAW REVIEW--"Aboriginal Title"

STATE CONSTITUTION, Article 12, Section 12

PUBLIC LAW 93-638, Section 2 (A) 2

TREATY CESSION, Article 3, A-76

Klukwan Buys Back Treaty

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) Villagers from Klukwan have paid an art dealer in New Mexico an undisclosed sum for what is believed to be a 112-year-old peace treaty between the Stikeen and Chilkat Indians.

The treaty ended 12 years of warfare and bloodshed between the tribes.

The documents was signed, perhaps in blood, at Fort Wrangell in January 1876 by Chief Shakes of the Stikeen Indians and Chief Se-gua-sha of the Chilkat Indians.

The treaty which apparently ended the fighting wound up in the collection of a Santa Fe, N.M., art dealer David Kramer. Villagers from Klukwan bought the document from him earlier this month.

Klukwan, where descendants of the Chilkats still live, is the oldest Tlingit settlement in southeastern Alaska. It is located in the Chilkat Bald Eagle Reserve, about 22 miles north of Haines. The Chilkat and Stikeen tribal groups were part of the Tlingit nation.

After the treaty is authenticated, it will be put on display at the planned Klukwan Eagle Observatory and Cultural Heritage Center. Construction of the center should be completed in three years, said Klukwan Heritge Foundation President Janice Clayton Hill.

The treaty includes a pair of red wax seals with narrow ribbons next to the chiefs' marks, and a blue seal indicating it arrived at Fort Sitka on Feb. 3, 1876.

It reads:

To whom it may concern:...

Know that (the) Stickeens and Chilcat tribes of Alaska Indians, desiring a renewal of the peace and friendship heretofore existing between their people, have amicably adjusted all matters of difference that during the past twelve years have led to frequent acts of Retaliation and War. And we, their authorized representatives, do hereby pledge the good faith of the people of our respective tribes to the maintenance of the compact of peace,"

Kramer said he has had the treaty for about 10 years. He said he bought it from the estate of an Indian artifact collector, who picked it up in Seattle from a Mr. Greene in the early 1970s.

"The story attached to it is that a woman from the Northwest went around buying a great many prominent objects in the '40s, hoping to open a museum. Her collection was liquidated by Mr. Greene," Kramer said.

After being contacted by an associate of Kramer, Hill said she and Village Council President Joe Hotch questioned elders and dug up old records to verify there were battles between the Chilkats and Stikeens in that time period, and apparently a treaty.

"We got enough information to make us realize the historical importance of this to us," she said.

Hill said that with the Cultural Heritage Center now being planned, the foundation has been trying to get various artifacts returned to Klukwan.

Declining to discuss the price he

paid, or the sale price, Kramer said "It's not so much the money, but that it wound up with the proper parties."

Kramer said variations in coloration in the document's text indicates it may have been written and signed in blood. "It appears to be blood, but it would take a test to confirm it," he said.

One of the names on the document, Chief Shakes, is an honorary title passed from generation to generation. The current title holder is Fred Paul, a Tlingit lawyer living in Seattle.

Paul said he was suprised at the existence of a handwritten treaty in English. Typically, a peace agreement would feature speeches and a big potlatch rather than a written treaty, he said.

"Sounds like it might have been something imposed by the white man," he said.

The treaty reads ar

follows the blank Spaces Constate pron decipherable writing From The authors of the Document.