WESTERN LEGAL HISTORY THE JOURNAL OF THE NINTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT HISTORICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 11, NUMBER 1 1998 Western Legal History is published semiannually, in spring and fall, by the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society, 125 S. Grand Avenue, Pasadena, California 91105, (626) 795-0266/fax (626) 5830-7018. The journal explores, analyzes, and presents the history of law, the legal profession, and the courts- particularly the federal courts-in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Western Legal History is sent to members of the NJCHS as well as members of affiliated legal historical societies in the Ninth Circuit. Membership is open to all. 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Copyright, @I998, Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society ISSN 0896-2189 The Editorial Board welcomes unsolicited manuscripts, books for review, and recommendations for the journal. Manuscripts (three copies, and one disk in Microsoft Word for Windows, if possible) should be sent to the Editor, Western Legal History, 125 S. Grand Avenue, Pasadena, California 91105. Texts, including quotations and endnotes, must be double-spaced. Notes must be numbered consecutively and appear in a separate section at the end of the text, Authors are requested to follow the style for citations used in this journal. Manuscripts that are no more than thirty pages in length, not counting notes, charts and tables, and photographs, are preferred. Also preferred are manuscripts not concurrently under consideration by another journal. Whether because of prejudice or custom, writers in earlier times often used language considered strange or offensive today. Because Western Legal History publishes articles that present the historical record as accurately as possible, it occasionally publishes quotations containing such language. The publication of such is not to be construed as representing the attitudes of either the authors or Western Legal History. Communication with the editor is encouraged before submission of any manuscript. At that time, other guidelines for the preparation and publication of an article may be discussed. Consultation upon punctuation, grammar, style, and the like is made with the author, although the editor and the Editorial Board are the final arbiters of the article's acceptance and appearance. Articles published in this journal are abstracted and indexed in America: History and Life; Historical Abstracts; the Index to Legal Periodicals;and the Legal Resources Index. NINTH JUDICIAL CIRcUIT HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS HON. JAMES R. BROWNING HON. EUGENE LYNCH Chairman Ross San Francisco EDWARD J. MCANIFF, ESQ. CHRISTINE W.S. BYRD, ESQ. Los Angeles President MICHAEL E. MCNICHOLS, ESQ. Los Angeles Lewiston FORREST A. PLANT, ESQ. HON. MARGARET M. MORROW Vice President Los Angeles Sacramento RONALD L. OLSON, ESQ. GERSHAM GOLDSTEIN, ESQ. Los Angeles Treasurer HON. DIARMUID F. O'SCANNLAIN Portland Portland CHET ORLOFF HON. MANUEL L. REAL Secretary Los Angeles Portland CHARLES B. RENFREW, ESQ. JAMES P. KLEINBERG, ESQ. San Francisco Immediate Past President HON. PAUL G. ROSENBLATT Palo Alto Phoenix H. JESSE ARNELLE, ESQ. GUY ROUNSAVILLE, JR., ESQ. San Francisco San Francisco LEROY J. BARKER, ESQ. HON. MARY M. SCHROEDER Anchorage Phoenix JEROME . BRAUN, ESQ. MARC M. SELTZER, ESQ. San Francisco Los Angeles HON. JAMES M. BURNS DONALD C, SMALTZ, ESQ. Portland Los Angeles DAVID A. CATHCART, ESQ. GERALD K. SMITH, ESQ. Los Angeles Phoenix BARBARA A. CAULFIELD, ESQ. HON. JOSEPH T. SNEED San Francisco San Francisco RICHARD R. CLIFTON, ESQ. HON. CHRISTINA A. SNYDER Honolulu Los Angeles JOHN L. COOPER, ESQ. WILLIAM E. TRAUTMAN, ESQ. San Francisco San Francisco GEORGE C. DALTHORP, ESQ. D. BURR UDALL, ESQ. Billings Tucson F BRUCE DODGE, ESQ. ROBERT S. WARREN, ESQ. San Francisco Los Angeles JEROME B. FALK, JR., ESQ. MICHAEL A. WHITE, ESQ. San Francisco Saipan MAX L. GILLAM, ESQ. Los Angeles BOARD MEMBERS EMERITI HON. ALFRED T. GOODWIN Pasadena JOSEPH A. BALL, ESQ. RONALD M. GOULD, ESQ. Long Beach Seattle SHIRLEY M. HUPSTEDLER, ESQ. HON. PROCTER HUG, JR. Los Angeles Reno LEONARD S. JANOFSKY, ESQ. J. STERLING HUTCHESON, ESQ, Santa Monica San Diego ELWOOD S. KENDRICK, ESQ. HON. SUSAN Y. ILLSTON Los Angeles San Francisco HON. SAMUEL P. KING CURTIS A. JENNINGS, ESQ. Honolulu Phoenix SHARP WHITMORE, ESQ. MICHAEL A. KAHN, ESQ, Fallbrook San Francisco FREDERICK K. KUNZEL, ESQ. BRADLEY B. WILLIAMS San Diego Director SHERMAN V. LOHN, ESQ. Missoula WESTERN LEGAL HISTORY BRADLEY B. WILLIAMS, EDITOR JUDITH ST. GEORGE, AssisTANT EDITOR EDITORIAL BOARD JUDITH AUSTIN MARI MATSUDA Idaho State Historical Society Law School Center, GORDON MORRIS BAKKEN Georgetown University California State University, R. JAMES MOONEY Fullerton University of Oregon Law MICHAL BELKNAP School California Western School of CLAUS-M. NASKE Law University of Alaska, HON. JAMES R. BROWNING Fairbanks Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of KENNETH O'REILLY Appeals for the Ninth Circuit University of Alaska, ELIZABETH J. CABRASER, ESQ. Anchorage San Francisco PAULA PETRIK ERIC A. CHIAPPINELLI University of Maine School of Law, Seattle PETER L. REICH University Whittier Law School LAWRENCE M. FRIEDMAN JOHN PHILLIP REID Stanford Law School New York University CHRISTIAN G. FRITZ School of Law University New Mexico HARRY N. SCHEIBER, PH.D. School of Law Boalt Hall, University of HON. ALFRED T. GOODWIN California Senior Circuit Judge, U.S. Court MOLLY SELVIN, PH.D. of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Santa Monica ROBERT W. GORDON CHARLES H. SHELDON Yale Law School Washington State University MICHAEL GRIFFITH CAROLINE STOEL Archivist, U.S. District Court, Portland State University Northern District of California STEPHEN L. WASBY JAMES W. HULSE State University of New York, University of Nevada, Reno Albany LOUISE LAMOTHE, ESQ. JOHN R. WUNDER Los Angeles University of Nebraska DAVID J. LANGUM Cumberland School of Law, Samford University WESTERN LEGAL HISTORY VOLUME 11, NUMBER 1 1998 WINTER/SPRING 1998 CONTENTS "A New Face": Implementing Law in the New State of Alaska, 1958-1960 Stephen Haycox and Claus-M. Naske 1 Calkins vs. Hanford: The Politics of the Appointment of Washington's First Federal District Judge Charles H. Sheldon 23 British Authority or "Mere Theory?" Colonial Law and Native People on Vancouver Island Jane Samson 39 Judge John Hemphill, the Homestead Exemption, and the "Taming" of the Texas Frontier Timothy S. Huebner U Book Reviews 87 Articles of Related Interest 109 Memberships, Contributions, & Grants 113 Cover Photograph:The British Royal Navy's role in enforcing colonial law on Vancouver Island is explored in author Jane Samson's article in this issue. (British Columbia Archives, #A00268) "A NEW FACE": IMPLEMENTING LAW IN THE NEW STATE OF ALASKA, 1958-1960 STEPHEN HAYCOX CLAUS-M. NASKE According to numerous writers, statehood for Alaska in 1959 represented a grand achievement, and at the same time, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For those who were already in the territory or who went there for that reason, it was a chance to take part in creating a completely new state government, using the best advice possible and, with all the benefit that hindsight can provide, doing it right. In regard to making a state, it was an experience few people have ever had, and which fewer still will likely have in the future.' Yet one can get the impression from reading about it, and from talking to people who were there, that while everyone appreciated the nature of the opportunity and the challenges it represented, no one was particularly overawed by it. People expressed respect for what they were doing, but they did not tarry in celebration or indecision. Rather, within days of the vote in Congress in the summer of 1958, they put on their work gloves, so to speak, and began the planning and organizing that would effect as orderly a transition to statehood as possible. At statehood in January 1959, the population of Alaska totaled about 215,000. Of these, 34,000 were military person- Stephen Haycox is past chair of the History Department at the University of Alaska Anchorage and current chair of the board of the Alaska Humanities Forum. Claus-M. Naske is a professor of history, specializing in circumpolar history, at the Univer- sity of Alaska Fairbanks. He is also executive director of the UA Press. Claus-M. Naske, An Interpretive History of Alaska Statehood (Anchorage, 1973); Gerald Bowkett, Reaching for a Star: The Final Campaign for Alaska Statehood (Fairbanks, 1989), 93-100. 2 WESTERN LECAL HISTORY VOL. 11, No. 1 nel, stationed primarily at Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson outside of Anchorage, at Ladd and Eielson Air