AN ETHNOHISTORY OF THE CHISANA RIVER BASIN View of Theetsa Niign - Lower Chisana River Valley to the West, from Cheejiil Niign - Mirror Creek (N. A. Easton) Prepared By N. A. Easton Consulting Anthropologist Northern Research Institute Yukon College Whitehorse, Yukon Territory Canada [email protected] Easton – Chisana Ethnohistory - Page ii Easton – Chisana Ethnohistory - Page iii Table of Contents Summary______________________________________________________________ ix Acknowledgements____________________________________________________ xvii ORIGINS _____________________________________________________________ 1 INTRODUCTION __________________________________________________________ 1 ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING_______________________________________________ 2 Introduction _____________________________________________________________________ 2 Geological Formation _____________________________________________________________ 4 Pleistocene and Holocene Environmental Ecology _______________________________________ 5 Contemporary Environmental Ecology _______________________________________________ 10 THE WORLD THAT RAVEN MADE ________________________________________ 13 Overview ______________________________________________________________________ 13 The Story of the Creation of the World _______________________________________________ 16 Tales of Ts’awusha – The One Who Set the World Straight _______________________________ 19 Introduction__________________________________________________________________ 19 Ts'awusha Teaches the Animals How to Dance to Please Moose_________________________ 20 Ts'awusha Straightens Out Eagle _________________________________________________ 21 Ts'awusha Fixes Wolverine _____________________________________________________ 22 Ts'awusha and Bear____________________________________________________________ 24 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE PAST ___________________________________________ 27 Introduction ____________________________________________________________________ 27 The Northwestern Canadian (Southwest Yukon) Archaeological Sequence ___________________ 29 Northern Cordilleran Tradition ___________________________________________________ 30 Little Arm Phase or Northwest Microblade Tradition__________________________________ 30 Annie Lake Complex __________________________________________________________ 32 Taye Lake Phase or Northern Archaic Tradition or Middle Prehistoric Period ______________ 33 Aishihik Phase - Late Prehistoric Period____________________________________________ 34 Bennett Lake Phase - Late Prehistoric _____________________________________________ 35 Discussion of Southwest Yukon Sequence __________________________________________ 36 The Archaeological Sequence of Eastern Beringia (Central Alaska and Northwest Yukon) ______ 38 Introduction__________________________________________________________________ 38 Nenana Complex or Chindadn Complex____________________________________________ 38 Denali Complex (American Palaeoarctic Tradition / Beringian Tradition) _________________ 40 Northern Archaic Tradition______________________________________________________ 42 Late Denali Complex __________________________________________________________ 42 Athapaskan Tradition __________________________________________________________ 42 Euroamerican Tradition_________________________________________________________ 42 Comparative Discussion of the Interior Southeastern Beringian Archaeological Sequence _______ 43 Archaeological Sites within the Chisana Basin Study Area Related to Aboriginal Occupation ____ 45 LANGUAGE______________________________________________________________ 48 Introduction ____________________________________________________________________ 48 Inferences of the Past from Historical Linguistics_______________________________________ 50 Linguistic Features_______________________________________________________________ 56 Upper Tanana Phonemes________________________________________________________ 56 Upper Tanana Tones ___________________________________________________________ 56 Additional Phonetic Features in Upper Tanana_______________________________________ 57 Dineh Speech Characteristics ____________________________________________________ 57 Easton – Chisana Ethnohistory - Page iv Language Preservation and Publications ______________________________________________ 58 ABORIGINAL DEMOGRAPHY AND HISTORICAL EPIDEMICS_______________ 60 CLAN MIGRATION AND SETTLEMENT____________________________________ 66 PLACES _____________________________________________________________ 68 INTRODUCTION _________________________________________________________ 68 TRAILS__________________________________________________________________ 70 VILLAGES_______________________________________________________________ 76 Introduction ____________________________________________________________________ 76 Distribution of Documented Upper Tanana Villages_____________________________________ 77 Traditional Villages of the Upper Chisana River Basin___________________________________ 79 Traditional Upper Tanana Villages of the Lower Chisana River Basin_______________________ 80 NAMING THE LANDSCAPE - "WISDOM SITS IN PLACES"___________________ 84 CULTURE ___________________________________________________________ 86 INTRODUCTION _________________________________________________________ 86 SUBSISTENCE – A LIFE OF RYTHMS ______________________________________ 90 Introduction ____________________________________________________________________ 90 Subsistence and Trapping Seasonal Rounds ___________________________________________ 93 TRAVEL_________________________________________________________________ 95 HUNTING________________________________________________________________ 98 Hunting The Dineh Way __________________________________________________________ 98 Hunting in the Chisana River Basin_________________________________________________ 101 FISHING________________________________________________________________ 104 COLLECTING___________________________________________________________ 108 DWELLINGS____________________________________________________________ 110 KINSHIP RELATIONS ___________________________________________________ 117 Introduction ___________________________________________________________________ 117 Matrilineal Descent _____________________________________________________________ 119 Clans, Phratries, and Moieties _____________________________________________________ 119 Kinship and the Domestic Household and Political Economies ___________________________ 121 POTLATCH, RECIPROCITY, AND LEADERSHIP ___________________________ 125 HISTORY ___________________________________________________________ 128 INTRODUCTION ________________________________________________________ 128 THE EARLY PERIOD OF EUROPEAN TRADE______________________________ 130 EARLY EUROPEAN EXPLORERS_________________________________________ 134 Introduction ___________________________________________________________________ 134 An Account of Harper and Bate's Tanana River Exploration _____________________________ 135 Henry Allen's Exploration of the Upper Copper and Tanana Valleys - 1885 _________________ 136 Section I - General Notes on Native Inhabitants _____________________________________ 136 Section II - Narrative of Allen's Journey ___________________________________________ 139 Alfred Brooks 1898 Geological Survey______________________________________________ 145 Moffit and Knopf's 1908 Geological Survey __________________________________________ 146 Easton – Chisana Ethnohistory - Page v THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY COMMISSION SURVEY IN UPPER TANANA LAND __________________________________________________________________ 148 Introduction ___________________________________________________________________ 148 First Attempts to Establish the 141st Meridian ________________________________________ 149 Official Accounts of the International Boundary Commission Survey ______________________ 150 Oral History Accounts of the Border Survey__________________________________________ 155 Mrs. Bessie Johns’ Account of the Border Survey ___________________________________ 155 Mr. Andy Frank’s Account of the Border Survey____________________________________ 159 The Story of Bill Rupe ________________________________________________________ 160 Prospectors and the Chisana Gold Rush ______________________________________ 166 Prospectors Prior to the Chisana Gold Rush __________________________________________ 166 The Chisana Gold Rush __________________________________________________________ 167 The Nabesna Gold Mine _________________________________________________________ 173 MISSIONARIES, TRADERS, AND THE STATE IN THE CHISANA RIVER BASIN AFTER THE GOLD RUSH ________________________________________________ 176 Introduction ___________________________________________________________________ 176 Traders and Trappers in the Chisana Basin ___________________________________________ 179 Missionaries___________________________________________________________________ 191 The State And The Dineh Of The Chisana Basin Between The Wars_______________________ 195 Introduction_________________________________________________________________ 195 The Bureau of Education_______________________________________________________ 198 Land and Political Organization _________________________________________________ 204 Conclusion _________________________________________________________________ 205 THE ALASKA HIGHWAY AND THE CHISANA RIVER