not be so constructed as to de
prive any person of any valid
right possessed under the treaty
for the cession of the Russian
possessions in North America '<>
the United States, concluded at
Washington on the thirtieth
day of March, 1867, or acquired
under any Act of Congress re
lating to the Territory of Alas
la.”
35 Stat. L.2226, Feb 16,1006
This clause reserves the rights
of these Auk Indian claimants
to the use and occupation of
these village lands, cemeterifs
and gardens, until such time as
‘future legislation by Congress’
is enacted to complete their
titles to their lands so in their
t:se and occupation on the dates
of the Acts of Congress afore
mentioned. No such “future le
gislation by Congress” has yet
been enacted, and neither the
forest Service nor any other
person has any power or right to
dispose of these lands by lease
or otherwise until such “future
legislation by Congress has been
enacted.”
The letter and petition of
of these Auk Indians are re
spectfully filed with the Secre
tary of Agriculture, as head of
the Forest Service, and he is re -
quested to have a careful and
full examination of the facts
made, and that an order be
made directing the Forest Ser
vice officials in Juneau, Alaska,
to permit the Auk natives to
continue in the use and occupa -
tion of their village and ceme
teries, gardens and other lands
so in their use and occupation
on the respective dates men
tioned, when said Acts of Con
gress reserving their rights were
enacted by Congress.
Copies of these papers in this
matter are being filed with the
Honorable Secretary of the In
terior, lor hie information with
a request for his favorable ac
tion in this matter.
Very truly yours,
James Wickersham,
Delegate from Alaska.
-x
CAUSE OF THE LETTER
-x
Juneau has something like 50
miles of highway, and land to
te had for the taking—enough
to take care of a city with a
population ten times that of the
capital city. Along this high
way are some 70 odd acres of
land, the old Auk village site.
Now, since the Auk Indians have
made effort to adopt white
man way,” they have moved in
to Juneau to be closer to work
and other advantages and dis -
advantages of city life. The old
houses were tom down by troll -
ers, picnickers and campers
Forest officials have assumed
the site abandoned. However, a
few of the wiser members of
the clan continued using the
the ground for summer camping
grounds where they put up their
supply of winter food and also
they cultivated gardens. This
the forest officials deny. But
their denials lack the ring of
honesty.
Several years ago. the Forest
officials set this area apart for
a park for the people of Juneau
and put in bath houses and a
few tables and whatnot for pic
nickers. The Indians continued
in their use and occupation of
the lands. This year the offi
cials ordered the Indian claim
ants off and told them they were
trespassers, but they refused to
abandon their lands. Forest of
ficials then went into court and
asked an injunction restraining
the Indians from their lawful
possession of their lands. Jas.
E. Murphy and others took up
the matter with the General
Land Commissioner and request
ed Delegate Wickersham to pre
sent the matter for them with
the above result.
In the last election much ado
was made about the proposed
suit of Alaska Indians for lands
dispossessed without due process
of law. George Grigsby, Demo
cratic candidate for Delegate to
Congress declared this proposi
tion to be a lot of bunk and a
bit of political strategy. In the
action before the court, George
Grigsby along with Mr. Frank
H. Foster defended the Indians
and made effort to show the in
junction should not hold.
This subject of Indians lands
has been and is a vexatios prob
lem and will grow to greater
proportions unless settled soon
Other lands are in dispute and
it is doing the territory no good
nor u~ie people.
'h the one hand, politicians
declare the Indians citizen- and
not entitled to any claim for
any rights or privileges under
the treaty with Russia or inher
ent property rights; on the oth
er Land they declare the In
.lians “wards” of the g jvevn -
ment and not entitled to rights
of citizenship.
* he law of 1924 which confer
red citizenship upon all Indians
within the territorial jurisdic
tion of the United States de
clares:
“Be it enacted by the Senate
and the House of Representa
tives of the United States of
America, in Congress assembled,
“That all non-citizen Indians
within the Territorial jurisdic
tion of the United States, be and
they are hereby declared to be
citizens of the United States;
PROVIDED, That the granting
of such citizenship shall not im
pair or otherwise affect Hie
right of any Indian to TRIBAL
OR OTHER property.”