94 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN, 1916. 
eastern Alaska, on the north side of Dixon’s entrance, be, and the same is hereby, 
set apart as a reservation for the use of the Metlakahtla Indians, and those people 
known as Metlakahtlans, who have recently emigrated from British Columbia to 
Alaska, and such other Alaskan natives as may join them, to be held and used by 
them in common, under such rules and regulations, and subject to such restrictions, 
as may be prescribed from time to time by the Secretary of the Interior,’’ and 
Whereas the Secretary of the Interior, with a view to assisting the Metlakahtlans 
to self-support, has decided to place in operation a cannery on Annette Island; and 
Whereas it is therefore necessary that the fishery in the waters contiguous to the 
hereinafter-described group comprising the Annette Islands be reserved for the 
purpose of supplying fish and other aquatic products for said cannery: 
Now, therefore, I, Wooprow Wizson, President of the United States of America, 
by virtue of the power in me vested by the laws of the United States, do hereby 
make known and proclaim that the waters within three thousand feet from the shore 
lines at mean low tide of Annette Island, Ham Island, Walker Island, Lewis Island, 
Spire Island, Hemlock Island, and adjacent rocks and islets, located within the 
area segregated by the broken line upon the diagram hereto attached and made a 
part of this proclamation, also the bays of said islands, rocks, and islets, are hereby 
reserved for the benefit of the Metlakahtlans and such other Alaskan natives as have 
joined them or may join them in residence on these islands, to be used by them under 
the general fisheries laws and regulations of the United States as administered by the 
Secretary of Commerce. 
Warning is hereby expressly given to all unauthorized persons not to fish in or use 
any of the waters herein described or mentioned. 
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United 
States to be affixed. ; 
Done at the City of Washington this 28th day of April, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand nine hundred and sixteen, and of the Independence of the United States the 
one hundred and fortieth. 
[SEAL. ] Wooprow WILSON. 
By the President: 
Rosert LANSING, 
Secretary of State. 
Under the terms of this proclamation it has been regarded that the 
rights of fishing within the reserved area were reserved to the native 
residents of the reservation. With a view to utilizing the fish thus 
taken from the waters of the reservation by the natives, the Depart- 
ment of the Interior entered into a lease on May 4, 1916, with P. E. 
Harris, of Seattle, to operate the cannery used formerly by the 
Metlakatla Industrial Co. This plant had not been in service for 
several seasons, and it was contemplated that extensive repairs would 
be made. Before the fishing season opened the building, while being 
repaired, was destroyed by fire May 17, and it was considered too 
late to rebuild in time to operate during the season of 1916. 
In the spring of 1916, just prior to the promulgation of the 
proclamation creating the Annette Island Fishery Reserve, the 
Alaska Pacific Fisheries began the construction of a pound net or fish 
trap near Cedar Point just off the western side of Annette Island. 
The Government felt that this undertaking was an unauthorized 
invasion of the reservation, and the company was accordingly 
