The Tlingit Map of 1869

A Masterwork of Indigenous Cartography By John Cloud

n july 1869, george davidson of the US Coast Survey and a small party of men climbed into several large cedar boats on the shore of Sitka, Alaska. The fleet was com- manded by the celebrated Tlingit clan leader Kohklux; they were bound for his village of Klukwan, the capital of the Tlingit Indians of the Chilkat River valley at the head Iof the Lynn Canal. The travelers paddled as rapidly as pos- sible, for they had a great cosmic appointment: on August 8, a total eclipse of the sun would sweep across the mountains and glaciers of the Chilkat valley. Davidson was to observe that eclipse, whatever it took to get there. As it happened, what it took was the friendship that developed between Davidson and Kohklux and his two wives, who were sisters from the Stikine River Tlingits. After the eclipse, these four people made a great exchange between themselves, to honor their experience. It came to pass that, 141 years later, a surrogate from that exchange finally returned to Klukwan. In August of 2010, Marsha Hotch, a Tlingit of Klukwan and a professor Above, Marsha in the Native Languages Program at the University of Alaska Hotch (left) and Southeast, and her linguist colleague Alice Taff, viewed a digi- Alice Taff examine a replica copy of tal image of the remarkable map of the Chilkat Tlingit world the Kohklux map at drawn by Kohklux and his wives for George Davidson. the home of Kathy To give context to this story for Expedition readers, it and Bill Ruddy, near Juneau, Alaska. Left, should be noted that the Tlingit leader who George Davidson Klukwan is located knew as Kohklux had many names. Another name, the one near Haines in most familiar to contemporary people, was Shotridge. When southeast Alaska. George Davidson returned to Klukwan in the early 1890s, his friend Kohklux/Shotridge was dead, but Kohklux’s descen- dants carried on his name. In Davidson’s photograph of the John Cloud (top), Lauren Liedel (map)

10 volume 54, number 2 expedition Above, George Davidson’s photograph of the Whale House, ca. 1893, shows George Shotridge at center, with his young son Louis at his side. Right, when George Davidson first traveled to Klukwan in 1869, he made color pencil sketches of the famous carved roof pillars seen in the Whale House photograph above. Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley

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— the website atpenn.museum/collections/shotridge/index.html. #140236. SeetheShotridgeDigital ArchiveonthePennMuseum helmet similartotheoneoncover ofthisissue.UPMImage this portraittakenatthePennMuseum, ca.1919.Hewearsabear Louis ShotridgeorStuwukáa(1882–1937)dressedinclanregaliafor great the the stories of continuetell to and publishedarticles art,Tlingit photographs, letters, ethnographic fieldnotes, Shotridge’s world-renowned collections extraordinary of in favor UScitizenship. of to eradicate AmericanIndianandlaskan native practices and culture from arepressive Americangovernment striving Philadelphia. A the Museumin to and shippedhundreds back objects of organized four collecting expeditions between 1913and1932 fieldwork amonghis to maketwo decades ethnographic collections andconduct ambitious Stuwukáa, alsoknown asLouis Shotridge,talented and a Penn Museum’s andonlyindigenous curator first was and thePennMuseum Louis Shotridge Collections, AmericanSection, Penn Museum Lucy Fowler Williams, Ph.D volume 54,number2 expedition lingit point of view. of point Tlingit lingit families the meaningsof Tlingit and lingit native Alaska.Tlingit Southeast of Employed for t the time,the t hisefforts safeguarded lingit clansmeninAlaska,Tlingit Shotridge T oday, acentury later, Louis . Sabloff SeniorKeeper of lingit art from art Tlingit lingit art art Tlingit the coastalterminusofanancient tradingtrailand Alaska wasonSitka,Baranof Island).Klukwanwas America (theRussianandlater Americancapitalof first encounterwiththeAlaskanmainlandonNorth first steppedontheriverbankatKlukwan,itwashis focus wasskyward.Atthesametime,whenDavidson path oftotalityacrossNorthAmerica.Theircommon Survey partiesdeployedtodifferentpartsoftheeclipse science. HissolarexpeditionwasoneoffourCoast ments ofwhattodaywecallmacro-andmicro- names onthelandscape. was unusuallysensitivetotheimportanceofIndian part bynamingtheirfeatures.AndtheCoastSurvey there. Thepeoplemadethelandandwaterstheirsin and Frenchtrappers,ahostofotherpeopleliving Nor wasitunknowntotheRussiancolonists,British Alaska certainlywasnotsotoitsmanynativepeoples. terra incognitaorunknownlandtotheCoastSurvey, to theArcticOcean.Andsignificantly,whileitwas in anarcfromthePacificOceantoBeringSea great rivers,withcoastsandislandsbathedbywaters bilities toexploreandmapavastterritorydrainedby called Alaska,theCoastSurveyacquiredresponsi- when theUnitedStatesboughtRussianAmerica,now navigation forshipsinAmericanwaters.And1867, map the coasts of the United States and prepare aids to Survey hadtoexamineandunderstandinorder were allpartofthearrayearthlyphenomena and flowofthetidesearth’smagneticfield Administration, orNOAA.Solareclipsesandtheebb now calledtheNationalOceanicandAtmospheric in thefederalgovernmentandcontinuestoday, Jefferson in1807,istheoldestscientificagency The CoastSurvey,initiatedunderPresidentThomas Davidson was a seniorscientist in the Coast Survey. valuable tohim?Theanswerbothquestionsisthat the mapmadebyKohklux/Shotridgeandhiswivesso to observetheeclipseinfirstplace?Andwhywas Museum. rapher associatedwiththeUniversityofPennsylvania Louis Shotridge,whobecameaprominentethnog- George Shotridge.Standingbesidehimishisson, that visit,thetallmanincenterisShotridge’sson, interior ofthefamousWhaleHousetakenduring Davidson’s journeytoKlukwancombinedele- Why didGeorgeDavidsonmakesuchaneffort

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NOAA Central Library (top), Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley (bottom) in crispink.Thentherewas another roundofinked of themap,andthen“pickup” thelinesandforms Coast Surveytranslucenttracing-cloth overlayontop times blurred. Davidson asked permission to lay a with pencils.Thelinesareratherfaintandsome- was alsothefirstexperienceofKohkluxandhiswives the sounds. Indian languages,usingEnglishlanguagespellingfor over onehundredIndianplacenamesinatleastthree collaboration with the sisters, Davidsonwrotedown ners, traders,andwarriorsofthePacificNorthwest.In language thathadevolvedintheconvergenceofmari- great Jargon,theChinookandHaidaJargonmeta- functioning adultsinthatera,theywerefluentthe Stikine River could converse at length, because as fully of discussion.Davidsonandthetwowivesfrom details representedonthemapwereaconstantsource took Kohkluxandhiswivestodrawit,thefeatures British strongholdofFortSelkirk. the main channel of the mighty Yukon River, to the coastal mountainranges,downtributaryriversto the Pacific Ocean, up andoverthe great glacier-clad to 500 miles north and west from the Lynn Canal on Chilkat Tlingit.Theareasonthemapextendfor400 raphy ofthemainancienttraderoutesusedby map forDavidson,presentingthecomplexgeog- cially preparedtelescope. and itscorona,ashehadseenitattotalityinhisspe- Davidson madeapaintingoncedarplankofthesun when Davidson said it would.In the days afterwards, were impressedthatthecosmiceventoccurredright it wasratherdisconcertingfortheTlingit.Butall digmatic 19thcenturystateofthesublime;however, and hisparty,theeclipsebroughtthemtothatpara- shores oftheChilkatRiverin1869.ForDavidson tual potlatch(ceremonialexchangeofgifts)onthe and inlandpeoples. interacting overthegreatexchangebetweencoastal and alsothelegacyofthousandsyearscultures names alongthewaywerebothaidstotraveler, the vastinteriorbasinofYukonRiver.Theplace river travel system that arced overthe mountains to The mapwasamajorfeatofcartography,butit No map can explain itself. During the three days it In exchange,Kohkluxandhiswivesmadealarge The solareclipseledtoaremarkableintellec- www.penn.museum/expedition two wivesin1869. (Shotridge) andhis drawn byKohklux Kohklux mapwas 1869. Left,the annual reportfor in theCoastSurvey 8, 1869,appeared at Klukwan,August by GeorgeDavidson corona, asobserved the sunandsolar A lithographof 13 14 volume 54,number2 expedition and adjoiningterritory.” of thetribesAlaska indicate “thedistribution uses differentcolorsto map, publishedin1875, Yukon. Bottom,this for thejourneyto and thestartingpoint map showsKlukwan tracing-cloth Kohklux Middle, aportionofthe National ArchivesII. Archives Collection, Survey Libraryand Coast andGeodetic T-2268, iskeptinthe map, alsoknownas version oftheKohklux Left, thetracingcloth mapped—by Kohkluxandhis wives! from Klukwan to the main Yukon River were clearly no information. However, the routes and languages the areasofmapwhereheandDavidsonpossessed cific familiesoflanguageswerespoken.Dallleftblank areas ofAlaska’svastnesswherelanguagesfromspe- at Klukwan.Beautifulchromo-lithographicinkstint porated theAlaskangeographyDavidsonacquired tion mapofAlaska,finishedin1869,whichincor- base mapusedwastheCoastSurvey’ssecondedi- by Dall, with assistance from George Davidson. The in Alaskaandadjoiningterritories,whichwaswritten lished amonographandmaponthelanguagesspoken explorer andethnographerJohnWesleyPowellpub- invention ofwhatwenowcallanthropology,thegreat Dall’s Sheeparenamedforhim).In1875,aspartofthe with theSmithsonianInstitution(Dall’sPorpoiseand joining theSurveyin1871.Dalllaterlifeworked vast areas of the lower Yukon River in the 1860s before Coast SurveyscientistWilliamDall,whohadexplored other endoftheKohkluxmaps.Nordidhisfellow Davidson’s arrival. Yukon alreadyinuseforthousandsofyearsbefore and landledtotradingrendezvoussitesonthe journey toYukon.”Fromthatpoint,routesbywater English, suchasthesignificant“StartingPointfor here andthereDavidsonwrotebriefexplanationsin described byKohkluxandhiswives.Inaddition, Tutchone, andotherAthabascanfamilylanguages and accents,oftheTlingitnames,thoseinHan, best approximation,usingEnglishlanguageletters mountains lookasseenfromtheadjacentrivervalleys. lating sidesofthemountainsshowingway ridges between valleys,with the shapeof undu- lakes, anddarkenedformsrepresentmountainrange and tributaries,circlesotherroundedshapesare used by Kohklux and hiswives.Linesrepresentrivers cloth mapshowsthesystemofTlingitcartography discussed. they hadmadeerrorsinsomeofthenameswhenfirst first map,asthesistersexplainedthat,uponreflection, version. Someoftheplacenameschangedfrom place nameswrittenbyDavidsononthetracing-cloth Davidson himselfneverwenttothelandson All placenameswerewrittenbyDavidsoninhis Examination of a small portion of the great tracing-

NOAA Central Library, Coast Survey Archives (bottom) Karen Mauch dagger intheMuseumJournal1920.object#NA8488.UPM Image#151891. to The daggercalled“TheGhostofCourageousAdventurer”isaTlingit war knifethatdates — throughbeen passeddown generations of the meaningsbehinditscreation, but the ways and has inwhichitshistory abalone shell. Louis Shotridge’s efforts itself,the dagger preserved only not the journey,the ancestors whomade andembeddedwithblueiridescent walrusThe pommelismadeof ivory, shapedasahumanskullto represent covered withwoventhe mountain goat, furof alsoencounteredthe journey. on event itself. art,Tlingit the dagger’s designand materials memorialize andcelebratethe to honorandrememberthe strength andcouragetheir men. of Like most commemoratethe journey. Kaa.ushti presentedthe Shangukeidito hisgift wasThe dagger madeby Kaa.ushti, Shotridge’s oneof own ancestors,to the story. mensurviveda handfulof tell andreturnedto Klukwanto tribes anddiscovered new resources iron, of walrus ivory, andcopper. Only trading establishednew relationshipsas it then unknown interior with the waythe Copperand all to River. Yetthe excursion alsohaditsbenefits rivers, mountain passes, ice fields, andglacialcrevices the to Pacific coast saw extraordinary hardship, starvation, life andlossof the mencrossed as investigatetribes. neighboring EliasMountain Saint rugged R treacherousa journey onfoot from Klukwanthe Chilkat on River overthe led by aShangukeidi mannamedE Adventurer”the strength honors andresolve agroup of 20 of threethe MuseumJournal years in story later. Courageous of “The Ghost fromthe dagger collected aleading Klukwan. of north throughan epicjourneythelandscapejust Shotridge Courageous Adventurer” isa dagger Kohkluxthat map andhiswives drew for outsidersin1869. of “The Ghost the indigenous knowledge recordedcollected embodiessomeof the on Shotridgeto understanditsmeaning. view enablesus of point Oneobject holds art Tlingit T he Ghosthe ofCourageousAdventurer ca. 1830andwascollectedin1917.LouisShotridgepublishedanessay about the Collections, AmericanSection, Penn Museum Lucy Fowler Williams, Ph.D he blade is made of the newly discovered The bladeismadeof iron ore,the gripis and lingit histories and,Tlingit asLouis Shotridge insisted,the native . Sabloff SeniorKeeper of ange to the Copperto ange River, andbackagain,to The expeditiontook several months and agle Head, wholongago embarked on lingit elderin1917andpublishedits Tlingit lingit warTlingit knife records whosestory lingit clan members at Klukwan. clanmembersat Tlingit lingit men,Tlingit www.penn.museum/expedition 15 8, 2010,wasmadeinaKlukwanworkshop fortraditionalcrafts. 2010. Bottom,thenewcedarboat at Klukwan,photographedSeptember Middle, theChilkatRiveratKlukwan wasphotographedonSeptember9, 16 volume 54,number2 expedition a greatstory. ence ofamasterpieceindigenous cartography,andalso isters. AssoonasIsawT-2268, Iknewwasinthepres- Alaska, knowing themonlybytheirnumbersinoldreg- Park, Maryland.Iwaslookingforearlyt-sheetsfrom Survey mapsnowintheNationalArchivesIICollege tal scansofhistoric—andrelativelyinaccessible—Coast the CoastSurvey,Iorganizedaprojecttoacquiredigi- In 2007,whileworkingasaNOAAhistorianstudying raphy) asT-2268.Itlayforgottenforthenext137years. it wasenteredintotheregisteroft-sheets(“t”fortopog- sent toCoastSurveyheadquartersinWashingtonwhere the YukonTerritory.ThetracingclothKohkluxmapwas covered inthe1980sbyLindaJohnson,Archivistof University ofCaliforniaatBerkeley,whereitwasre-dis- Davidson PapersCollectionattheBancroftLibrary Davidson fortherestofhislife,andisnowin tography fromaphotogrammetriccamera. of thevillage“Klookwan,”wasmadeusingstereopho- the ChilkatRivervalley,showingrowsofclanhouses other means of cartography. The Survey’s 1899 map of mapping theChilkatRivervalleywithalargeparty,using the ChilkatRiver.TheCoastSurveyitselfcertainlydid, Louis Shotridgeinthe1890s,Davidsonneverreturnedto The firstKohkluxpencilmapstayedwithGeorge Apart fromhisbriefvisittoKlukwanandGeorge to “Klookwan.” indicated bysmallsquaresadjacent includes clanhousesalongtheriver, River ValleyPhoto-topoMap— 1899 mapT-2371—theChilkat The CoastandGeodeticSurvey’s

NOAA Central Library (top), John Cloud (middle and bottom) In 2010, Cheryl Oliver and her staff of the NOAA Preserve America Initiative Internal Funding Program (PAIIF) provided the funding and support to allow me to go to Alaska and the Yukon to take digital versions of hundreds of historic Coast Survey maps and charts “back home” to the people there. In September, I arrived in what is now Chilkat Indian Village. The sawtooth mountains fringing the great Chilkat River looked just as Kohklux and his wives had drawn them in 1869. In a sense, the Kohklux map was now being repatri- ated to the Tlingit, just as many of the historic Tlingit col- lections made by Louis Shotridge for the Penn Museum have been or will be returned to the descendants of the people who made them. Marsha Hotch’s interest in the map is to determine precisely what roles it might play in the survival and renewal of Tlingit culture. So the map is now of a piece, for example, with the revivals of tradi- tional Tlingit arts and technologies, such as the magnifi- cent cedar boat newly made in the Klukwan workshop for traditional crafts. One of my objectives in visiting Klukwan was to find out what happened to George Davidson’s painting of the eclipse, which is after all a major artifact of historic Coast Survey art and culture to NOAA. It had gone missing, and remains missing, but I was surprised and delighted by certain news, when I visited the staff and authorities of the Sheldon Museum down the Chilkat River in Haines, Alaska. Lee Heinmiller, an adopted Tlingit and Director of Alaska Indian Arts, Inc., told me that the cedar plank George Davidson had used was in fact the blank back side of a Tlingit Chilkat Indian blanket pattern board, used to design the legendary Tlingit woven wool blankets. That pattern board was a medium as specific and important to the Tlingit as was the Coast Survey’s high quality rag- fiber drawing paper used by Kohklux/Shotridge and his wives. Thus the exchange of the maps and the eclipse painting was a potlatch on many levels. Now that the 19th century Kohklux map has returned home, it can be used to promote Indian cul- tural revival and renewal in the 21st century. Doug Hitch, a linguist with the Yukon Native Language Centre in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, suggested a trial appli- cation. He proposed we travel to the sites of some of Top, Lee Heinmiller of Alaska Indian Arts, Inc., holds the blank back side the 104 specific place names on the Kohklux map, to of a Chilkat Indian blanket pattern board. Middle, Doug Hitch, an Alaskan linguist, and the author stopped near Ts’al Cho An, on the Yukon River, in see what we would find there now. In one lovely 2010. Bottom, a portion of the tracing-cloth Kohklux map depicts an egg- example, Kohklux and his wives mapped a distinctly shaped mountain. John Cloud (top and middle), NOAA Central Library (bottom)

www.penn.museum/expedition 17 mountain drawnbyKohkluxandhis wives. Eagle’s NestBluff,orTs’alChoAn inTutchone,istheegg-shaped 18

side oftheriver. air below)andthemountainsonother mountain ontheleft(whichisseenfrom lies undertheYukon’swatersbetween Ts’al ChoAn,“TheDenoftheGiantFrog,” volume 54,number2 expedition Maryland. Survey, based at the NOAA Central Library, in Silver Spring, john cloudistheNOAAhistorianofCoast andGeodetic graphics tobring“backhome”whenIgo. And I have since discovered many more historic maps and return toAlaskaandtheYukonduringsummerof2012. find out.IhavejustreceivedanotherNOAAPAIIFgrant to name mean?ItwilltakeanothertriptotheYukonbegin to name translatesas“TheDenoftheGiantFrog.” taken fromthenearestroadtosite.Thesite’sTutchone through bythegreatYukoncanbeseeninphotograph across theriver.Thisdramaticcleftinmountainscut An, referstoboththemountainanditsimmediatecontext ily. Themountain’snameinNorthernTutchone,Ts’alCho certainly looksasKohkluxandhiswivesdrewit. great stonedomenowknowninEnglishasEagle’sNestBluff tified byDavidsonasamountain.Asseenfromtheair, egg-shaped mountainrightontheYukonRiver,clearlyiden- The DenoftheGiantFrog?Whatcouldsuchamarvelous Doug HitchisaspecialistintheAthabascanlanguagefam-

John Cloud (top), Yukon Native Language Centre, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada (bottom)