26 Alaskan Science Conference 



Following the purchase, the principal sources of information 

 about the Indians are the annual and special reports of army, 

 navy and customs officers and of the men sent to gather data 

 about the new country. Between 1867 and 1884, when civil 

 government was established, was a period of tension and con- 

 fusion for Indians and non-Indians alike. Alaska was visited 

 by professional writers, scientists, reporters, adventurers, gov- 

 ernment officials and church representatives who published 

 their impressions, opinions and observations in books, news- 

 papers, magazines and official reports. Discovery of gold in the 

 Cassiar in 1869 started the influx of prospectors and miners 

 who contributed to unsettled economic and social conditions. 

 Indians far outnumbered white residents, especially at Sitka 

 and Wrangell, and the latter were certain that they would be 

 attacked. Petitions and pleas for protection poured into Wash- 

 ington official circles and were taken up by the press. Though 

 Indians did not undertake, or even plan, any mass attacks so 

 far as can be determined, they did attempt to protect their 

 lives and property according to their own concepts of justice. 

 A report to Congress in 1879 includes letters from whites living 

 in the territory, personal observations and opinions of travelers 

 and special investigators, and official letters of government per- 

 sonnel concerning the Indians living at Sitka and Wrangell, of 

 whom there were about five thousand in the winter. The report 

 also includes accounts of the Kake and Hootznahoo incidents 

 in which the two towns were shelled and burned for refusal to 

 hand over purported murderers of white men. In each case the 

 Indians contended that whites had first killed men of their 

 villages and that they were entitled to compensation, or lacking 

 that, to revenge. The documents reveal the conflict of ideas of 

 justice between Indians and whites. Characteristically, the 

 report includes very little information based on interviews with 

 Indians or statements by them (42). Another report was written 

 by an army lieutenant, Frederick Schwatka, sent to determine 

 the kind of military campaign that would be necessary to wipe 

 out Indian communities in the event that it was deemed ad- 

 visable to do so. He comments that the Indians were generally 



