National Park Service Wrangell-St. Elias U.S. Department of the Interior National Park and Preserve AN ETHNOHISTORY OF THE CHISANA RIVER BASIN Norman Alexander Easton As the nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has responsibility for most of our nationally owned public lands and natural and cultural resources. Tis includes fostering the wisest use of our land and water resources, protecting our fsh and wildlife, preserving the environmental and cultural values of our national parks and historical places, and providing for enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. Te Cultural Resource Programs of the National Park Service have responsibilities that include stewardship of historic buildings, museum collections, archeological sites, cultural landscapes, oral and written histories, and ethnographic resources. Our mission is to identify, evaluate and preserve the cultural resources of the park areas and to bring an understanding of these resources to the public. Congress has mandated that we preserve these resources because they are important components of our national and personal identity. Published by the United States Department of the Interior through the Government Printing Ofce. Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve Copper Center, Alaska Any opinions, fndings, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily refect the views of the Department of the Interior. All errors are attributable to the author. Design/layout by Francis Broderick, Archgraphics. An Ethnohistory of the Chisana River Basin Norman Alexander Easton 2021 Front cover photographs (top to bottom): Chisana Natives at Quartz Creek, Alaska, n.d. (circa 1902). Photograph by F.C. Schrader, U.S. Geological Survey. Chindadn biface from the Little John Site. Photograph by N. A. Easton. Aerial view of Teetsa Niign – Lower Chisana River Valley to the West, from Cheejiil Niign – Mirror Creek. Photograph by N. A. Easton. Te production of this document cost $33,285 including costs for editing, photo acquisition, mapmaking, and publication. AN ETHNOHISTORY OF THE CHISANA RIVER BASIN Norman Alexander Easton YukonU Research Centre, Yukon University Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada 2021 Indian and White, both live here on this earth. We got to share with you this place here, for all people, Africans, Chinese, White, and Indian. We all work together for a good life here. My grandchildren go to White school, learn to read, math, and I tell them my life and then together we gonna make this world a beautiful, beautiful place.... Then I can go on my trail to heaven. —Bessie John Title page photograph: Chisana Valley from Cooper Pass. Photograph by F.C. Schrader, U.S. Geological Survey. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures .............................................................................................................................................................. v List of Tables ...............................................................................................................................................................vi Editor’s Preface ........................................................................................................................................................vii Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................................. viii THE WORLD THAT RAVEN MADE ......................................................................................................1 A STORY OF THE CREATION OF THE WORLD .............................................................................................. 3 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING .................................................................................................................7 PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE ENVIRONMENTAL ECOLOGY ......................................................................7 CONTEMPORARY ENVIRONMENTAL ECOLOGY ....................................................................................... 11 CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE YUKON-ALASKA BORDERLANDS AS REVEALED BY ARCHAEOLOGY ................................................................................................... 13 TRADITIONAL CULTURE .................................................................................................................... 16 LANGUAGE .......................................................................................................................................................... 19 KINSHIP RELATIONS ........................................................................................................................................ 20 Matrilineal Descent .................................................................................................................................. 23 Clans, Phratries, and Moieties ............................................................................................................... 24 Kinship and the Domestic Household and Political Economies ................................................... 25 POTLATCH, RECIPROCITY, AND LEADERSHIP .......................................................................................... 27 CLAN MIGRATION AND SETTLEMENT ....................................................................................................... 28 PLACES ..................................................................................................................................................... 30 NAMING THE LANDSCAPE – "WISDOM SITS IN PLACES" .............................................................................30 TRAILS .................................................................................................................................................................................30 TRADITIONAL VILLAGES OF THE CHISANA RIVER BASIN ..........................................................................31 DWELLINGS .......................................................................................................................................................................34 SUBSISTENCE – A LIFE OF RHYTHMS ............................................................................................ 41 SUBSISTENCE AND TRAPPING SEASONAL ROUNDS ......................................................................................41 TRAVEL ................................................................................................................................................................................42 HUNTING ............................................................................................................................................................................45 Hunting in the Chisana River Basin ................................................................................................................48 FISHING ...............................................................................................................................................................................49 COLLECTING .....................................................................................................................................................................52 iv An Ethnohistory of the Chisana River Basin HISTORY .....................................................................................................................................................53 ABORIGINAL DEMOGRAPHY AND HISTORICAL EPIDEMICS .........................................................................54 THE EARLY PERIOD OF EUROPEAN TRADE ..........................................................................................................57 EARLY EUROPEAN EXPLORERS ...................................................................................................................................59 THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY COMMISSION SURVEY IN UPPER TANANA LAND .......................60 First Attempts to Establish the 141st Meridian ...........................................................................................62 ..........................................63 Oral History Accounts of the Border Survey .................................................................................................65 OfficialMrs. Bessie Accounts John’s of theAccount International of the Border Boundary Survey Commission ............................................................................65 Survey Mr. Andy Frank’s Account of the Border Survey ..............................................................................66 PROSPECTORS AND THE CHISANA GOLD RUSH ..................................................................................................67 MINERS, MISSIONARIES, TRADERS, AND THE STATE IN THE CHISANA RIVER BASIN AFTER THE GOLD RUSH .................................................................................................................................................71 Traders and Trappers in the Chisana Basin ..................................................................................................72 The Nabesna Gold Mine .........................................................................................................................................80 Missionaries