SITKA

NATIONAL HISTORICAL

PARK

S/TK

An Administrative History
--Cover

Sgt. John J. McLean, U.S. Signal Service (right)

Assistant Paymaster Edwin B. Webb, U.S. Navy, ca_

1885, on Indian River bridge. (Fickett Collection, University of Alaska Anchorage Archives)
ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY

OF

SITKA NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK

by

Joan M. Antonson

and

William S. Hanable

Prepared under contract by: PO Box 200608

IPH/JMA-Alaska Anchorage

William S. Hanable/Joan M. Antonson, Alaska 99520

Principal Investigators 907-345-6734/276-1946

April 1987

Published by:

Alaska Region

National Park Service

2525 Gambell Street

Anchorage, Alaska 99501

December 1987
Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2012 with funding from

LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation

http://archive.org/details/administrativehiOOanto
Preface

In 1985 Sitka National Historical Park celebrated 75 years as a national monument and national park, an anniversary predating

that of the National Park Service itself. Yet its history as a public park goes back even further to its designation by President Benjamin Harrison in 1890. The government's foresight in

preserving the historic site is manifest to anyone visiting this

gem of green at the mouth of Indian River where a battle was

fought and a land lost.

The Tlingit Indians have always called this land home. In a pitched battle in 1804 they withdrew from the Sitka area, leaving

it to the Russian fur-traders, who founded their New Archangel on

the nearby point, now downtown Sitka. Later, the Tlingit

returned to Sitka after agreements tacit and verbal, living somewhat in harmony with the intruders, with occasional outbursts.

Americans took over from the Russians in 1867, by which time Indian River had become a destination point for walks and reflection. By the 1880s, park-like developments had been introduced

at Indian River park and, after the turn-of-the-century , totem

poles were introduced as attractions to visitors.

As this report explains, these resources continue to be management issues: maintenance of a trail, of totem poles, and a memorial site for the Battle of Sitka. The interaction of the

community with the park and the Native groups is well detailed in

the report; including the 1930s-1950s debate on appropriate site

management." An Indian cultural center was established in the

park in 1966 to add a new dimension and to show the dynamic,

living culture of the Natives of Southeast Alaska.

Shifts in management of the park at Sitka have corresponded with

the changing views of historic preservation and park management

philosophy. In 1910, the park was a memorial site, but management allowed "development" in the form of hasty reconstructions

and displays unacceptable by today's standards. A change in

philosophy and a more direct involvement of the National Park

Service (which didn't have a ranger on site unti 1940) forced the

agency to ask questions about the management and even retention

of Sitka as a park unit. Archeological evidence relocating the

historic fort site and the efforts to involve Natives with the

interpretation of their art and culture highlighted the new ef-
fort to legitimize the park resources. This thrust as well as

international events brought about an expansion of the park and

the restoration of the Russian Bishop's House.

In 1972, Sitka National Monument was expanded and redesignated

Sitka National Historical Park, which included the Russian

Bishop's House. The Russian Bishop's House, the best remaining

example of Russian American architecture in the United States and

a symbol of the Russian culture's interaction with Native groups,

has been restored to its ca. 1854 appearance. The project has

been a long, difficult one and is discussed at length in the

report

.

This office believed that a history of the discussion of these

issues and the changing philosophy of 75 years of management

would help park managers understand past decisions and help anticipate future concerns. Direct stimulus for this report was

the need for information about the establishment of the national

monument, which would aid in the adjudication of water rights

issues at Indian River. Thus, the Alaska Region contracted with

historians William S. Hanable and Joan M. Antonson in 1986 to

prepare such a history. They have done an exceptional job. Their

history will help other park or historic site managers to see how

far preservation in Alaska has come.

Robert L. Spude

Regional Historian

Alaska Region
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance of, and thank, the

many current and former personnel of the National Park Service

and Sitkans who took time to help with this project. In particular, we are deeply indebted to Joe Ashby, Bill Brown, Gary

Candelaria, Nancy Yaw Davis, George Hall, Ellen Hope Hays, Ross

Kavanagh, Marilyn Knapp, Bob Spude, and Ernie Suazo. We are also

particularly grateful to Virginia Newton of the Alaska State Archives who found the 1890 report of the commissioners who first

recommended reservation of a public park on Indian River.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1

DESCRIPTION OF THE RESOURCE

Introduction

Overview 1

Geographic location 1

Physical environment 2

Cultural environment 3 Component Resources

Early component resources 3

Park-like use 6

Indian River protection 10

Component resources in 1910 11

Witch tree and recreation use 16

Supplements to original resources 16

Summary 22

CHAPTER 2

SITKA -- HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Overview 24

Tlingits 24

Social structure 26

Euro-Americans discover Sitka 28

The First Russians at Sitka 29

Sitka becomes Russian America capital 33

Americans take over 35

Sitka settles down 38

CHAPTER 3

SITKA NATIONAL MONUMENT, EARLY YEARS

Introduction

Overview 44

Monument Administration

Agencies vie for monument control 44

First report documents Sitka National Monument 45

Appropriations and visitation increase 48

Officials search for Sitka's first custodian 52

Administration in the 1920s 57

New administrators demonstrate interest 60
The park service proposes a full-time custodian 63

Resource Issues

Resource management problems 64

Blockhouse becomes monument resource 69

Steese proposes additional resources 72

New poles proposed for Sitka 7 3 Merrill plaque proposed 74

Territorial governor intiates totem pole project 75

CHAPTER 4

SITKA NATIONAL MONUMENT, MIDDLE YEARS

Introduction

Overview 78

The Context Changes 79

Monument Administration, 1940-1965

Investigation Comments 81

Sitka's First Trained Custodian 83

Initial National Monument Planning 85

Miller shapes custodian's duties 87

World War II 89

War's end brings a new custodian 91

Abandonment alternative 92

Sitka custodian takes up cemetery duties 93

Alaska Field Committee recommends Sitka development 94

Second segment of middle years 95

Planning continues 95

Boundaries and vistas 97

Superintendent ' s position moves to Juneau 97

Visitation and use 98

Park personnel changes 100

Resource Issues, 1940--1965

Development ideas 103

Totem pole preservation 105

Gravel operations 108

Gravel problems 112

Tlingit fort site and blockhouse replica 114

Preservation Professionalism and Sitka 117

CHAPTER 5

SITKA NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, 1966-1986

Introduction

Overview 119
The changing context 119

Monument/Park Administration

Expansion of the monument 120

Staff 123

Visitation 126

Administrative issues 126

Planning 128

Public involvement and reaction to the park 132

Resource Issues

Visitor center and fort site 132

Storm damage and erosion 135

Water rights 137

Totem pole restoration 140

Russian blockhouse 141

Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center 143

Russian Bishop's House 147

Russian Bishop's House administration 153

Conclusion 155

Bibliography

Appendices

Illustrations

Indian River before 1882 (preceding page 1)

2d Lt. Howard H. Gilman, USMC, at Sitka (between pp. 23-24)

Indian River bridge, ca. 1904 (between pp. 43-44)

Totem poles at Old Kasaan, 1908 (between pp. 43-44)

Lovers Lane, 1908 (between pp. 43-44)

The Witch Tree (between pp. 43-44)

Tlingit ceremonial festival (between pp. 43-44)

Naval Air Station, Sitka, 1944 (between pp. 43-44)

Lovers Lane, ca. 1935 (between pp. 77-78)

Indian River, date unknown (between pp. 77-78)

Totem Walk, Sitka National Monument, ca. 19 35

(between pp. 77-78

Aerial view of Sitka, July 9, 1965 (between pp. 118-119)

Russian Bishop's House (p. 155)

Visitor Center, Sitka National Historical Park, 1983

(between pp. 155-156)

SITKA

NATIONAL

HISTORICAL

PARK

To »lo«ko Stata ftrry ^%,

R.acMjti St Mclw*

f- (OM Sitka) 7M km
Indian River, before 1882. (H.H.

Brodeck photo, Sheldon Jackson Collection, #2115, Presbyterian Historical Society)
CHAPTER 1

DESCRIPTION OF THE RESOURCE

Introduction

Overview

This section describes the area now known as Sitka National

Historical Park. It discusses its geographic location, environment, component resources such as Indian River, the Indian fort

site, the battleground, the Russian sailors' memorial, the totem

poles, the cultural center, the Russian Bishop's House, the Russian blockhouse, recreational usage, and their values, and the

significance assigned to those values. It examines the intent of

executive and congressional actions taken in the 1890s and early

1900s to reserve the area.

Geographic location

Sitka National Historical Park lies adjacent to, and because of

"outholdings" such as the Russian Bishop's House and the Russian

blockhouse, actually in, the Southeastern Alaska fishing and lumber processing port of Sitka.

Sitka, with its population of approximately 8,000, is the

largest community on the west coast of 1 , 607-square-mile Baranof

Island. It is also the fourth largest community in Alaska. It

is 95 air miles southwest of Juneau, 185 air miles northwest of

Ketchikan, 590 air miles southeast of Anchorage, and almost 900

air miles north of Seattle.

1. Orth, Donald J., Dictionary of Alaska Place Names, Geological Survey

Professional Paper 567 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, 1967, rev. 1971): 880; Roppel, Pat, editor, Sitka and Its Ocean

World, Alaska Geographic 9 (2) (Anchorage: Alaska Geographic Society,

1982): 13ff.; Roppel, Pat, editor, Southeast—Alaska ' s Panhandle, Alaska

Geographic 5 (2) (Anchorage: Alaska Geographic Society, 1978): 103-117.
Physical environment

Although it lies on the eastern edge of the North Pacific

Ocean, Sitka is sheltered from the violence of those waters by

Sitka Sound. Around Sitka is the rainforest-like vegetation

typical of Southeastern Alaska. This dense growth of Sitka

spruce, western hemlock, and Alaska cedar rises to timberline on

the steep slopes of the Baranof Mountains. Various berry bushes,

devil's club, and other undergrowth form a dense cover for the

forest floor. Alpine tundra is found above treeline, typically

around 2,000 feet.

Moisture-laden clouds moving in from the ocean dump about 97

inches of precipitation, including 50 inches of snow, on Sitka

each year. This heavy, but sporadic, rain and snowfall is

complemented by strong south or southeasterly winds with average

annual speeds of eight to ten knots. Temperatures range from the

40s to the 60s in summer and from the teens to the low 40s in

winter

.

Natural wildlife found in the Sitka area includes bear, deer,

mink, and otter. Other wildlife that has been introduced by

human intervention includes mountain goats, martens, and squirrels. Sea mammals, such as sea otter, were once plentiful in the

Sitka vicinity but were hunted to near extinction in the

nineteenth century. Other sea mammals such as harbor seals, sea

lions, porpoises, and several species of whales have survived in

the waters near Sitka. Ocean fish indigenous to the Sitka area

include sockeye, chum, pink, and coho salmon and numerous types

of bottom fish. Fresh water fish in the area include steelhead,

rainbow, cutthroat trout, and Dolly Varden. Other sea life

nearby includes Dungeness, tanner, and king crab; clams, scallops, abalone, sea urchins, octopus, and sea cucumbers.

2. Roppel, 1982: 21-42
Cultural environment

The Sitka area is historically the location of a large Tlingit

Indian year-round village. That complex and rich culture was

supplemented and impacted by Western culture in the late

eighteenth century when Russian fur traders arrived both to trade

and later to occupy the area. The Battle of Sitka, commemorated

by the park, in fact resulted in the Kiksadi Tlingits leaving the

Sitka area for some twenty years. The Kiksadi eventually

returned to Sitka at the invitation of the Russians. The Russians themselves were later supplanted by Americans who arrived

in October of 1867 to occupy the Russian posts there and in other

areas of Alaska.

Thus Sitka's cultural environment is a mixture of Tlingit, Russian, and American cultures. That mixture is reflected in the

variety of resources that have been identified over the years in

what is now Sitka National Historical Park.

Component Resources

Early component resources

President Benjamin A. Harrison set aside much of the area now

known as Sitka National Historical Park by proclamation in 1890.

The area, of approximately 50 acres, was described as:

The tract of land bounded on the west by the line

established by the survey made for the Presbyterian

Mission, and along the shore line of the bay at low

tide to the mouth of Indian River, and across the

mouth of said river and along its right bank for an

average width of 500 feet, along said bank to the

point known as Indian River falls, and also on the

left bank of said river from said fall an average

of two hundred feet, from said falls to the eastern

line or boundary as shown on the mission plat, for

a public park.
The President designated the area as a public park, but did not

further specify the values to be protected. His proclamation

also, in its first paragraph, set aside nearby Navy Creek as a water source for naval and mercantile vessels and reserved the

whole of Japonski Island for naval and military purposes.

District of Alaska Governor Lyman E. Knapp initiated the chain

of events that led to the proclamation. In November of 1889,

Knapp advised Secretary of the Interior John W. Noble that it was

time to reserve lands that might be needed for coaling stations,

government wharves, public buildings, parade grounds, and barracks at Douglas Island, Juneau, Kodiak, Sitka, Unalaska, and

Wrangell. He cited the possibility that Congress would extend

the land laws of the United States to Alaska during its next session. Knapp reported that some individuals in Alaska had begun

to stake pre-emptive claims in anticipation of Congressional

action.

Early in the 1880s, three of the naval officers stationed at

Sitka had claimed homesteads extending from what later became the

location of Sheldon Jackson College to Jamestown Bay. In 1882,

the officers refused to relinquish their claims in favor of the

school but they never perfected them. Also in 1882, American

Civil War veteran Nicholas Haley filed a homestead claim "on Indian River N. bank, all above high tide. It shall be known as

the Sitka Park and Haley's Homestead." Haley, too, never perfected his title, but the claims clearly indicated that the

traditional park on Indian River was in danger of going into

private ownership.

3. Harrison, Benjamin A., "Proclamation," June 21, 1890.

4. Knapp, Lyman E., November 25, 1889, to John W. Noble, in Governors

Chronological File, Alaska Territorial Government Microfilm, Roll No. 1,

Call No. 80-12, in University of Alaska, Anchorage, Archives.

5. DeArmond, Robert, "Sitka's Past: Indian River Park Kept Free of

Private Enterprise," in The Daily Sitka Sentinel, March 24, 1987: 5.
The secretary responded to Knapp with the suggestion that he

empanel commissioners who would make recommendations regarding

lands in Alaska that should be set aside for public purposes.

Knapp then appointed commissioners in several communities. For

Sitka, he selected John G. Brady, missionary and merchant; Lt.

Cmdr. O.W. Farenholt, commanding officer of USS Pinta , the navy

vessel stationed at Sitka from 1884 to 1897; and Henry H. Haydon,

Surveyor General and ex-officio Secretary of Alaska. Knapp asked

the three to

serve jointly as commissioners to examine and

report as to what lands in and about Sitka should

be permanently reserved by the Government for its

uses for public buildings, barracks, parade

grounds, parks, wharves, coaling stations, or other

purposes

.

The commissioners made their recommendations in a March 31,

1890, report to Governor Knapp. Without explanation, they stated:

We would also recommend for reservation as a public

park all that plat of ground, bounded on the West

by the line as established by the survey made for

the Presbyterian Mission, as above referred to, and

along the shors [sic] line of the Bay at low tide

to the mouth of the Indian River, and across the

mouth of said River, along its right bank for an

average width of 500 feet along said bank, to the

point known as Indian River Falls: and also on the

left bank of said river from said falls, an average

width of 200 feet from said falls to the Eastern

line or boundry [sic] as shown on the Mission

plat. 7

6. Knapp, Lyman E. , February 1, 1890, to John G. Brady, O.W. Farenholt,

H.H. Haydon, in Governors Chronological File, Alaska Territorial Government, Roll No. 1, Call No. 80-12; Atwood, Evangeline and Robert N. DeArmond, Who's Who in Alaskan Politics (Portland, Oregon: Binford & Mort for

the Alaska Historical Commission, 1977): 42; DeArmond , Robert N. , personal

communication, September 30, 1986.
The commissioners' recommendations were summarized for Secretary

Noble in an April 2, 1890, letter from the governor. The

secretary, in turn, forwarded the recommendations to the President on June 9, 1890. The President responded with his proclamation, quoted in part above, and an endorsement appended to the

secretary's letter.

June 21st, 1890

In accordance with the recommendation of the

Secretary of the Interior, the above-described

tracts of land in the Territory of Alaska are

hereby reserved for the uses and purposes described

by the Secretary, until otherwise directed by Congress .

(signed

)

Benj Harrison

Park-like use

Park-like usage of the area on Indian River had begun prior to

American purchase of Alaska in 1867. That usage had continued

after the purchase and there were local efforts, publiclysponsored, to maintain its facilities and expand its attractions.

7. Henry E. Haydon, O.W. Farenholt U.S. Navy [sic], John G. Brady, Commissioners, March 31, 1890, report transmitted by letter of Henry E. Haydon,

April 1, 1890, in RG 101, Office of the District and Territorial Governors, Series 445, District Governors Letters Received, Box 44, in Alaska

State Archives.

8. Noble, John W. , Secretary of the Interior, June 9, 1890, to President

Benjamin A. Harrison, in RG 49, Records of the Bureau of Land Management

(Box 6), General Land Office, Division "K," Abandoned Military Reservations File, National Archives.
In the early 1860s, Russians used the trail through the woods

to Indian River for regular recreational walks. According to one

source, it was not used recreationally before that because the

Russians feared attacks by the Indians. Another visitor to

Sitka, this one just after the American purchase of Alaska in

1867, reported recreational use of the Indian River area by Russian families living in Sitka.

The Russians, who for months past had been greatly enjoying the few fine days we did have, made all the use they

could of this warm spell and on practically every bright

summer afternoon they went with their wives and children

out into the open country ... sometimes to the Indian River

which flows into the bay at its north-east end about a mile

away from the settlement -- as already stated, this walk to

the river was the only one along the sea-front.

These land excursions were often very animated and

cheerful. A shady spot was chosen on the bank of the limpid, rushing mountain stream and everyone set to work to

collect dry wood. Under the care of one skilled in such

matters a bright fire was soon burning and the inevitable

copper samovar boiling over it.

In the American period, reports and photographs that preceded

the proclamation cited the "lovers' lane" that ran through the

park, its vegetation, scenic vistas, and the river itself as worthy attractions. Indian River was an early recreation des9. Golovin, Pavel, Civil and Savage Encounters - The Worldly Travel Letters of an Imperial Russian Navy Officer 1860-1861, Basil Dmytryshyn and

E.A.P. Crownhart-Vaughn , trans, and eds. (Portland: The Press of the

Oregon Historical Society, 1983): 118.

10. Teichmann, Emil, A Journey to Alaska in the Year 1868: Being a Diary

of the Late Emil Teichmann (New York: Argosy - Antiquarian Ltd., 1963):

218.

11. Langille, W.A., "Report on agricultural settlement," December 19,

1908, in "Selected Documents Relating to Sitka National Monument,"

Microfilm by the National Archives and Records Administration, 1985

(referred to hereafter as RG 79 Selected Documents).
tination point for Sitkans out walking for pleasure. The river

itself, clear but shallow, and nearby vegetation were

1

2

attractions

.

Tourists, then known as excursionists, also began to visit

Sitka in the 1880s. The first steamship load arrived in 1882

aboard South Dakota . Vacationing in the Far North became

fashionable. The numbers of touring visitors increased as the

years passed: 1,650 in 1884; 2,753 in 1886, 3,889 in 1887, 5,432

TO

in 1889, and 5,007 in 1890. Most visitors seem to have included

Indian River in their visits to Sitka. The path through the

woods known as Lovers' Lane provided easy access to the river's

banks. According to a traveler's guide written in the early

1880s, the lovers' lane was an extension and improvement of a Russian-constructed walk along the beach and through the woods.

In 1884, 2d Lt. Howard H. Gilman, USMC, of f icer-in-charge of

the U.S. Marine Guard at Sitka, used a party of Marines and Indians to clear a new pathway from the beach to the river. His

crews constructed additional paths on either side of the stream

and bridged it twice. He had two other bridges built over

ravines on the river bank. Leaving the river banks, the Marinebuilt paths also explored the woods themselves

.

Both the 1884 traveler and an 1886 successor noted the skill

with which Gilman had laid out the paths to display natural features. They especially mentioned the crystal clear waters of

Indian River, gigantic trees, ferns, huge green leaves of the

12. Fitzgerald, Emily McCorkle, An Army Doctor's Wife on the Frontier (New

York: University of Nebraska Press, 1986): 136.

13. Cole, Douglas, Captured Heritage (Seattle and London: University of

Washington Press, 1985): 96; Hinckley, Ted C, The Americanization of

Alaska, 1867 - 1897 (Palo Alto, California: Pacific Books, Publishers,

1972): 150.

14. Scidmore, Eliza Ruhamah, Alaska and Its Southern Coast (Boston: D. Lothrop and Company, 1885): 185, 190.
"devil's club," mosses, grasses, and lichens. The off-shore

vista, "Every foot of island ... sketchable , and a picture in

itself;" also received recognition.

Another observer, a naval officer stationed in Pinta in 1888,

later recorded that "The Indian River... is beautiful and

1 5 celebrated in history and romance." Such comments were reinforced by most writers who visited Sitka in the late 1800s.

Improvement of the recreational values continued in the 1890s.

In 1895 a new trail was cut from "the Point to the Bridge" along

Indian River. Three years later the local newspaper noted that

"Everyone who comes to Sitka goes there [Indian River]." The

paper urged that the park be cleaned up and that new benches and

walkways be provided.

A revised, 1899, travel guide by the 1884 author elaborated

with the information that in 1844 Indian River had been so thick

1 ft with salmon that a canoe could not be forced through. By the

end of the century, trout predominated and salmon could be caught

i q only occasionally.

15. Coontz, Robert E., From the Mississippi to the Sea (Philadelphia:

Dorrance and Company, Inc., 1930): 120.

16. See Arctic Environmental Information and Data Center for the United

States Bureau of Land Management, A Study of the Historical Use and Physical Characteristics of Alaska's Inland Water Bodies, volume 10, Southeast

Alaska Region (Anchorage: Arctic Environmental Information and Data

Center/University of Alaska, 1979).

17. The [Sitka] Alaskan, August 10, 1895: 2; March 26, 1898: 3.

18. DeArmond, R.N. , ed., "Sir George Simpson, 1841-2," in Early Visitors

to Southeastern Alaska (Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Publishing Company,

1978): 153-193, reveals the source of this assertion about Simpson's 1844

visit to Sitka. Simpson, however, only describes "a little stream, which

is within a mile of the fort," p. 167. This may not have been Indian

River at all

.

19. Hallock, Charles, Our New Alaska or, the Seward Purchase Vindicated

(New York: Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 1886; 187-188; Scid-
Indian River protection

Indian River protection was increased in 1910. President William Howard Taft used the authority of the Antiquities Act of

1906 to declare the area on Indian River to be Sitka National

Monument. The monument came into being as a result of efforts by

William Alexander Langille, supervisor of Tongass National

Forest. The forest had come into being on July 1, 1908, when the

Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve that dated from 1902 and

Tongass National Forest that dated from 1907 were joined. The

combined forest area encompassed most of Southeast Alaska. Langille had first come to Alaska in 1897 as a part of the Klondike

gold rush. Guiding experience in the Oregon mountains had

brought him into contact with leaders in the national forestry

movement

.

Gifford Pinchot, head of forestry for President Theodore

Roosevelt, called Langille from Alaska to Washington in 1902 and

thereafter appointed him as a forestry expert. In 1905, Langille

became supervisor of the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve and

subsequently head of the larger Tongass National Forest. He had,

according to a historian of the U.S. Forest Service activity in

Alaska, "as many duties as Pooh-Bah of Gilbert and Sullivan's

Mikado.

20

In 1908, Sitka Post No. 6 of the Arctic Brotherhood desired

better protection for the area known as Indian River Park. It was

natural that they should turn to Langille for advice. Langille

recommended that the brotherhood petition the President of the

more, Eliza Ruhamah, Appleton's Guide-book to Alaska and the Northwest

Coast (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1899.)

20. Rakestraw, Lawrence W. , A History of the United States Forest Service

in Alaska, (Anchorage: The Alaska Historical Society for the Alaska Historical Commission and the Alaska Region, United States Forest Service,

1981): 17-23.

10
United States to declare the area a national monument. He offered to prepare a sketch map of the area and to see that the

petition and map went to the President. After review by District of Alaska Governor Walter A. Clark and United States Chief

Forester Gifford Pinchot, Secretary of Agriculture James S. Wilson submitted the petition with map and photographs to the

Secretary of the Interior. On March 23, 1910, a presidential

proclamation created Sitka National Monument.

Component resources in 1910

When Sitka National Monument was created in 1910, officials

identified several significant resources in the area now known as

Sitka National Historical Park. These included

the decisive battle ground of the Russian conquest

of Alaska in 1804, and also the site of the former

village of the Kik-Siti tribe [sic], the most warlike of the Alaskan Indians; and ... also. . .the

graves of a Russian midshipman and six sailors,

killed in the conflict, and numerous totem poles

constructed by the Indians, which record the

genealogical history of their several clans.

21. Langille, William A., November 10, 1908, to the Camp Sitka No. 6,

Arctic Brotherhood, in RG 79, National Park Service, Monuments, Sitka file

1910-1932, (Box 603), in the National Archives.

22. Secretary of Agriculture, March 5, 1910, to the Secretary of Interior;

Secretary of the Interior, March 19, 1910, to the President; Record Group

79, Records of the National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

23. Taft, William Howard, "A Proclamation," Executive Order No. 959, March

23, 1910.

11
"The decisive battle ground of the Russian conquest of Alaska

in 1804" referred to the beach area over which Russians assaulted

a fortified camp of the Kiksadi Tlingits in late September and

early October of 1804. The events leading up to the assault,

its conduct, and its consequences are discussed in subsequent

chapters

.

The battle site, or its immediate vicinity, may also have been

the scene of a second confrontation. According to one account,

in 1855 Indians destroyed a small Russian settlement in the

area. This is borne out to some extent by an 1852 map that

shows three buildings in the area now occupied by the western

half of Sitka National Historical Park, just south of where the

trail from Sitka ended at Indian River. The map also shows two

other buildings and cultivated ground on the east side of the

river. °

It is probable that rather than a "settlement" the buildings

marked simply provided shelter at an outlying garden or fishing

site. The "site of the former village of the Kik-Siti tribe

[sic]" was the location to which they had moved in 1804 from

their main village adjacent to and including the downtown Sitka

feature first known as Nu-Tlan and later as Castle Hill. The

move anticipated what became known as the Battle of Sitka.

Reportedly, the Indian River location was a summer fishing camp

of the Kiksadi Tlingit that had been fortified in anticipation

of a battle with the Russians. The 1880 census gave some indication, by reporting a population of 43 Tlingits at "Indian River,"

that Kiksadi use of the area as a summer fish camp may have been

resumed sometime in the nineteenth century.

24. Lisiansky, Urey, Voyage Round the World in the Years 1803, 1804, 1805,

and 1806, Bibliotheca Australiana #42 (New York: Da Capo Press, 1968):

154-164.

25. Golovin, 1983: 118.

26. Tebenkov, M.D., compiler, Atlas of the Northwest Coasts of America,

R.A. Pierce, trans, and ed., Materials for the Study of Alaska History No.

21 (Kingston, Ontario: The Limestone Press, 1981): Map 38.

12
The rhomboid-shaped walled fort, approximately 240 by 165 feet

in its lonqest dimensions, enclosed 14 structures. After the In28 dians abandoned the fort, the Russians burned it.

The Russian sailors' memorial location was known through Sitka

tradition long before establishment of the national monument.

The Arctic Brotherhood's petition to the President noted that the

memorial was the location of the grave of personnel from a Russian man-of-war who had been "killed and buried where they fell"

in the September 1804 battle. According to the brotherhood,

Alexander Baranov, in 1804 Chief Manager of the Russian American

Company's activities in Alaska, had caused a wooden monument to

be erected over their grave "which public-spirited citizens have

since kept more or less in repair."

The memorial site appears on Langille's 1908 sketch map as a small fenced area. An attached photograph shows a rectangular

picket fence enclosing a Roman cross. Langille's report "on a proposed national monument at Sitka, Alaska," describes the

memorial as "the burial place of a Russian midshipman and six

sailors killed by the Indians on the day following the decisive

engagement of 1804....

30

27. Hall, George A., personal communication, August 26, 1986; Petroff,

Ivan, "Report on the population, industries, and resources of Alaska,

1880," in Compilation of Narratives of Exploration in Alaska (Washington,

D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1900): 193.

28. Alternatives Study for Proposed Additions to Sitka National Monument,

May 1968, in National Park Service Harper's Ferry Center, Alaska Collection, Richard Stenmark File 84-34; Lisiansky, 1968: 162-163; Bancroft,

Hubert Howe, History of Alaska 1730-1885 (New York: Antiquarian Press

Ltd., 1959): 432.

29. Smith, Otis E., Camp Sitka No. 6, Arctic Brotherhood, November 16,

1908, to the President, in RG 79, National Park Service "Monuments, Sitka

1910-32," (Box 603), in the National Archives.

30. Langille, William A., November 10, 1908, and "Report on a proposed National Monument at Sitka, Alaska," undated, attached to "Report on Agricultural Settlement," December 19, 1908, in RG 79, National Park Service Central Files, in the National Archives.

13
Research in primary sources to date has not accounted for the

location of the memorial or the type and number of persons

reported to be buried there. None of the sources consulted mentions disposition of the bodies of casualties from the Battle of

Indian River. Details regarding the number and nature of

casualties vary.

Urey Lisiansky commanded the Russian warship that took part in

the battle. He states that two sailors were killed and a number

of sailors and officers wounded. A Russian American Company official reports the casualties as including two naval lieutenants

and three sailors. The fur trading company's official history

identifies one wounded naval officer, Povalishin, as a midshipman

and gives the number of sailors killed as three.

The Arctic Brotherhood's 1908 petition does mention that the

"Graeco-Russian Church" was heading a movement to erect a permanent monument at the memorial site. It is not known if anything resulted from this. In 1916, J. A. Moore, Special Agent for

the General Land Office, was recommending that the memorial be

marked. Ten years later, the Reverend A. P. Kashevaroff, curator

of the Territorial Library and Museum, was making the same

recommendation. This too may have come to naught, but the

31. Lisiansky, 1968: 158; Khlebnikov, K.T., Baranov — Chief Manager of

the Russian Colonies in America, Materials for the Study of Alaska History

No. 3 (Kingston: Ontario, 1973): 48; Tikhmenev, P. A., A History of the

Russian American Company, Richard A. Pierce, trans, and ed. (Seattle:

University of Washington Press, 1978): 74.

32. Smith, November 16, 1908.

33. Moore, J. A., August 26, 1916, to Commissioner, General Land Office, in

RG 79 Selected Documents; Kashevaroff, A. P., November 7, 1925, to Alaska

Road Commission, in "Russian Memorial" file, Sitka National Historical

Park.

14
memorial apparently was long a point of commemorative significance to Sitkans and eventually became another point of interest for visitors to Sitka.

The totem poles were from throughout Southeast Alaska. In 1901,

the U.S. Revenue Cutter Rush relocated a tall totem pole, four

house posts, and a war canoe given by Chief Saanaheit of Kasaan

to the park. In 1903, Alaska Governor John G. Brady collected

20 additional poles from Prince of Wales Island, about 125 miles

south of Sitka. The sources included the Tlingit villages of

Tuxekan and Klawock, and the Haida villages of Howkan, Klinkwan,

Sukkwan, Old Kasaan, and Koinglas. Brady gathered the poles with

the promise that they would go to the United States government.

Brady shipped the poles, house posts, and canoe to St. Louis

for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. After the exposition, some of the poles were sold. Others went to Portland,

Oregon, for display at the Lewis and Clark Exposition. After

their display at Portland, Brady is said to have had 14 of the 20

poles shown at the exposition placed in the public park at

Sitka. E.W. Merrill was engaged to arrange the poles

"artistically." Lanqille's 1908 map of the monument, however,

shows only 13 poles.

34. Wyatt, Victoria, "A Unique Attraction -- the Alaska Totem poles at St.

Louis Exposition of 1904," in The Alaska Journal 1986 (Anchorage: Alaska

Northwest Publishing Company, 1986): 23.

35. The [Sitka] Alaskan, January 13, 1906: 2; Brady, Hugh P., September

26, 1967, to Raymond Geerdes, in File 3330-3, Sitka National Historical

Park, AHRS Site-012, Office of History & Archaeology, Anchorage, and

"Early days in Sitka," talk at Sheldon Jackson College, October 18, 1965,

copy in files of IPH/JMA-Alaska , Anchorage; Roppel, 1982: 114; Steese,

James G., President, Alaska Road Commission, May 25, 1925, to Arno B. Cammerer, Acting Director, National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents, 1985; Knapp, Marilyn, Carved History, the Totems of Sitka National

Historical Park (Anchorage: Alaska Natural History Association and National Park Service, 1985), no pagination.

36. Langille, December 19, 1908.

15
Witch tree and recreation use

Without making distinctions regarding significance, documents

leading to the Presidential Executive Order cited above also mentioned the Sitka reserve's resources as including a "witch tree"

and noted that it had been "for generations ... a place of recreation for Sitka people."

Sitka tradition identified the witch tree as one to which a witch had been tied for a cleansing process. In a procedure

very similar to New England witch hunts, those identified by

Tlingits as witches were given a chance to admit their guilt

before being put to death. To some who saw it, the tree's appearance suggested sorcery. For many years photographs of the

tree could be purchased at the Photo Shop in Sitka. Barrett Willoughby, a travel and romance writer who had spent some of her

childhood in Sitka, reported in an account of an early 1900s

return to Sitka that the tree was also one under which the Indians held their important tribal councils. She also said that

the Indians recorded significant events by "driving plugs into

its soft gray bark." The huge hemlock "plushed with amber moss

and tufted with little green ferns" was washed away when the

TO

river flooded during World War II.

Supplements to original resources

The original list of component resources was supplemented as

the years passed. Various officials suggested adding resources

that were either not immediately, or were never, made a part of

the monument

.

37. "Report on a proposed national monument at Sitka, Alaska," undated, in

RG 79 Selected Documents.

38. Willoughby, Barrett, Sitka -- Portal to Romance (Boston and New York:

Houghton Mifflin Company, 1930): 197-199; Ashby, Joe, personal communication, August 26, 1986; Davis, Nancy, personal communication, July 1986;

Hall, George A., personal communication, 1986.

16
In 1916, for instance, General Land Office Special Agent J. A.

Moore recommended without result that Sheldon Jackson Museum,

nearby on the campus of the Sitka Training School, be acquired

for the monument.

Visual aesthetics within the monument were identified again as

monument values in the early 1920s. Alaska Road Commission and

National Park Service officials opposed wheeled vehicle traffic

inside the monument in order to preserve the attractiveness of

the area. The vista from the monument toward the sea also came

under consideration again. This occurred at least as early as

1923, when road commission and park service officials corresponded regarding the visual intrusion of a powerline that ran

along the monument boundary.

Wildlife resident in the monument had achieved recognition as

values by 1924, when the President of the Alaska Road Commission

notified National Park Service headquarters in Washington by

telegram that a hunter had been apprehended shooting at tame deer

and other wildlife in the park.

39. Moore, J. A., Special Agent, General Land Office, August 26, 1916, to

Commissioner, General Land Office, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

40. Mather, Stephen T., Director, National Park Service, December 18,

1923, to James G. Steese, President, Alaska Road Commission; James G.

Steese, December 27, 1923, to Eiler Hansen, secretary, Sitka Commercial

Club, both in RG 79 Selected Documents.

41. Cammerer, Arno B., Acting Director, National Park Service, February

17, 1923, to Federal Water Power Commission; Mather, Stephen T., Director,

National Park Service, February 18, 1924, to Federal Water Power Commission; Cammerer, Arno B., Acting Director, National Park Service, July 23,

1925, to James G. Steese, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

42. Steese, James G., June 5, 1925, to Director, National Park Service, in

RG 79 Selected Documents.

17
In 1926, Stephen T. Mather, director of the National Park Service, approved efforts of the Alaska Historical Society and the

Sitka Commercial Club to construct a replica of a Russian blockhouse in the park. This activity added another value to the

monument.

The following year, in 1927, territorial and park service officials considered retrieving additional totem poles from abandoned

Native villages in Southeast Alaska and relocating them in Sitka

National Monument. This idea had been raised as early as 1921

and would be considered again and again without action through

the 1970s. 44

In 1933, Park Service officials rejected a feature that Sitka

residents desired be added to the monument, a plaque commemorating Alaskan photographer E.W. Merrill. In 1938, Chief of

Forestry J. D. Coffman visited the monument. He reinforced the

idea of the park as a place of recreation for Sitkans, with a description of its city park-like usage.

Two years later, in 1940, the first park service employee stationed at the monument proposed acquisition of two properties

being disposed of by the Coast and Geodetic Survey. In doing so,

he noted their historical value. One site, where the Coast and

Geodetic Survey had quartered its employees, was the location of

the "Old Russian Tea Gardens." A no-longer-needed magnetic station and variation stand was cited as the site of an old

blockhouse. It is likely, however, that the proposed acquisi43. National Park Service, "Memorandum for the Press," May 11, 1926;

Kashevaroff, A. P., March 2, 1926, to Col. James G. Steese, President,

Alaska Road Commission; Parks, George A., Governor, Territory of Alaska,

April 13, 1926, to Stephen T. Mather, all in RG 79 Selected Documents.

44. RG 79 Selected Documents.

45. Cammerer, Arno B., April 10, 1933, to Eiler Hansen, in RG 79 Selected

Documents

.

46. Coffman, J.D., Chief of Forestry, "Observations relative to Sitka National Monument," September 20,1938, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

18
tion had more to do with the critical shortage of housing in

Sitka than with the historical value of the property involved.

Park service officials were in an acquisitive mood. That same

year, Mount McKinley Superintendent Frank T. Been recommended

that the service acquire Castle Hill and salvage the wreck of the

4ft Russian vessel Neva .

Also in 1940, navy efforts to extract gravel from the mouth of

Indian River stimulated consideration of the scenic values of the

4 9 monument areas adjacent to Indian River. This concern was expressed again the following year when National Park Service officials protested navy tree-cutting within the monument.

World War II activity also added a series of machine gun pits

to the monument. Remnants of these can be seen along the seaward

side of Lovers' Lane. This fulfills, in part, the suggestion of

an army officer with an unusual understanding of future concerns.

A Maj . Pomeroy (First Name Unknown), in charge of sea coast

defenses in the monument, took National Park Service personnel to

the site of a gun and ammunition position. He suggested that it

be left intact as after the war it would have historical value.

47. Miller, Ben C. , Custodian, Sitka National Monument, April 21, 1940, to

Superintendent Frank T. Been, Mount McKinley National Park, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

48. Been, Frank T., December 11, 1940, to Regional Director, National Park

Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

49. Miller, Ben C., March 22, 1940, to Frank T. Been, in RG 79 Selected

Documents

.

50. Been, Frank T., Superintendent, Mount McKinley National Park, June 17,

1941, to Custodian Ben C. Miller, Sitka National Monument, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

51. Been, Frank T. , "Field notes and interviews, inspection of Glacier Bay

National Monument and Sitka National Monument, August 12 to September 4,

1942," in RG 79 Selected Documents.

19
Private property adjacent to the western park boundary was

added to the monument on February 25, 1952. This increased the

52 total monument size to 54.33 acres.

One component park value was lost, and another created, in 1959

and 1960. In 1959, the replica Russian blockhouse constructed

within the park boundaries in 1926 was bulldozed and burned because it had become a hazard to visitors. Then the park service

began construction of still another replica blockhouse, this time

in downtown Sitka. This replica, located on federal land managed

5 3 by the Bureau of Land Management, was completed in 1961.

A major new component resource was added to monument values in

1965 when the visitor center was dedicated. It incorporated a cultural center for traditional Native arts and crafts and a history museum.

The Department of the Interior's Indian Arts and Crafts Board

had established a major retraining program for Alaska Native artisans at Sitka in 1962. When the new Sitka National Monument

visitor center opened, the retraining program was moved there.

The program included five related workshops: wood and ivory

carving, metalwork, lapidary, stone carving, and design and block

printing. Talented Natives were employed as demonstration aides

to develop new and upgraded craft products.

It took some time to define the nature of the resource that the

new cultural center represented. The National Park Service and

the Indian Arts and Crafts Board funded it jointly. The Indian

Arts and Crafts Board initially viewed it as a place where traditional arts and crafts from Native cultures throughout Alaska

might be preserved and taught. Sitka's Tlingit community viewed

it as a place most appropriate for preservation and teaching of

Tlingit, or at most Northwest Coast Indian, arts and crafts that

might be preserved and taught. The National Park Service viewed

it as a place where Native arts and crafts could be demonstrated

and interpreted, not as a training program.

52. Alternatives Study..., May 1968: 1.

53. Hall, George A., personal communication, 1986.

20
The National Park Service was in the middle until the regional

director recommended the Tlingit position to the national director. It was not until July of 1968 that the Indian Arts and

Crafts Board grudgingly accepted the resource definition put forward by Sitka's Tlingits. 54

The new visitor center also included a small history museum.

Artifacts for the display came from Sheldon Jackson Museum and

from a small collection that had been loaned or given to the

C IT monument itself by Sitka residents.

The Russian Bishop's House was the last major resource added to

Sitka National Historical Park. The National Park Service purchased it in 1972. This came a decade after the Secretary of the

Interior designated the building, then known as the Russian Mission Orphanage, as a National Historic Landmark.

Landmark status for the Russian Bishop's House was based on the

building's association with Ioann Veniaminov, then Bishop of Kamchatka, the Kuriles, and the Aleutian Islands (later Saint Innocent, Apostle to Alaska), most famous of the Russian Orthodox

clergy to work in Alaska. Additional justifications for the

building's landmark status included its role as the educational

and administrative headquarters of the Orthodox Church in Alaska,

and its importance as an example of period Russian

architecture.

54. "Sitka National Historical Park Visitor Center Dedication; File A44,

Cultural Center Correspondence 69-76," at Sitka National Historical Park.

55. Hall, George A., personal communication, August 26, 1986.

56. Cloyd, Paul C, E.I.T., Historic Structure Report - Russian Bishop's

House, Sitka National Historical Park (Denver: Denver Service Center, National Park Service, November 1982): 3, 11; Dippel, Elizabeth A., ed., The

National Register of Historic Places (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government

Printing Office, 1971): 13.

21
The Russian American Company built the structure in 1842-1843

to serve as the residence, administrative center, and private

chapel of Veniaminov. A school building, constructed in 1897;

and a small cottage known as House No. 105, built in 1887, are

c 7 satellites to the building.

In the early 1980s, traditional recreation values of walking

for pleasure, natural history observation, and so forth were

supplemented by a fitness trail constructed on the east side of

Indian River.

Summary

In summary, the component resources of Sitka National Historical Park include cultural, natural, and recreational resources.

The recreational resources were identified through customary

usage by the mid- nineteenth century. They included such usages

as walking for pleasure, picnicking and game-playing on the banks

of Indian River, observation of the river, fishing in the river,

enjoyment of the plants and animals that inhabit the area adjacent to the river, and appreciation of vistas to the seaward

from vantage points along the walk to the river. These usages

were formalized in the 1880s by civic action to enhance the

park's recreational facilities through such activities as

publicly-supported trail construction and in 1890 by the earliest

reservation of the area as a public park. Recognition of the

park's recreational values has since been continuous.

57. Blee, Catherine Holder, Archeological Investigations at the Russian

Bishop's House 1981 - Sitka National Historical Park, Sitka, Alaska

(Denver, Colorado: National Park Service, Denver Service Center, 1985):

8-12; Cloyd, Paul C. E.I.T., Historic Structure Reports for House 105 and

the Old School - Administrative, Physical History and Analysis Sections - Sitka National Historical Park, Sitka, (Denver, Colorado: National Park

Service, Denver Service Center, Alaska/Pacific Northwest/Western Team,

Branch of Cultural Resources: 1984): 1, 3.

22
The cultural resources were first recognized in the early 1800s

when Alexander Baranov had a monument erected to the sailors who

were killed in the 1804 Battle of Sitka. Although recreational

values predominated for many years, cultural resources began to

become more important in 1901. when the first totem poles were

placed in the park. The inventory of cultural resources was expanded and their recognition formalized in 1908 when the area was

proposed as a national monument. At that time, cultural

resources recognized included the 1804 battleground, the site of

the former village of the Kiksadi Tlingits, the memorial to Russians killed in the 1804 battle, and totem poles and house posts

relocated to the Sitka park. References to a "witch tree" are

found in documents leading up to the designation, but not in the

1910 proclamation actually making the designation.

Visual aesthetics, including the beauty of the river, the environment inside the park, and vistas from the park, were recognized as park resources at Sitka at least by the early 1880s.

Various species of wildlife were also recognized as park

resources about this same time.

In 1926, a replica blockhouse within the park boundaries was

added as a park resource. It remained one until 1959 when it was

demolished. Its role was subsequently filled by a replica blockhouse erected in downtown Sitka. Although the National Park

Service maintains the replica, it does not own the property on

which it sits.

In the mid-1960s, the visitor center and the cultural center it

houses became park resources. In 1972, the last major resource

to be added to date, the Russian Bishop's House and its satellite

structures, became a part of the park. A decade later, the

park's recreational resources were supplemented by construction

of a fitness trail.

23
Far left, 2d Lt. Howard H. Gilman, U.S. Marine Corps, with

his Marine detachment from USS Adams on parade ground at

Sitka. Gilman led the effort to construct recreational

trails at Indian River before he left Sitka in August 1884.

(Sheldon Jackson Collection, #500, Presbyterian Historical

Society)
CHAPTER 2

SITKA -- HISTORICAL OVERVIh.

Overview

This section briefly outlines the history of the community of

Sitka. It provides a context for understanding the evolution of

what is now Sitka National Historical Park. It includes a description of traditional Tlingit use of the area around Sitka

before the Russians established a fort in the area. The battles

of 1802 at Old Sitka and of 1804 at Indian River are detailed.

Understanding the different national approaches to fulfilling

government responsibilities in Alaska is necessary to understand

changes at Sitka from the Russian period to the American period.

Understanding the nature and remoteness of Sitka and Alaska is

also necessary to understanding the development of the park.

Tlingits

The Tlingits, the most northerly of the Northwest Coast Indians, occupied southeast Alaska possibly 10,000 years ago. Most

archeologists believe that the Tlingits moved from the interior

of today's Alaska and British Columbia to southeast Alaska. They

followed the Nass, Stikine, and Taku rivers to their mouths, then

fanned out to occupy the many islands. Although archeologists do

not know for certain that Tlingits occupied it, a site on Baranof

Island named Hidden Falls has been found. People lived there

8,000 years ago. When Tlingits first came to Sitka Sound is not

known, but the Kiksadi Tlingits' oral history indicates that they

had a permanent village there for a number of years before EuroAmericans arrived.

.Because the Coast Mountains come right to the water's edge on

Baranof Island, the large Tlingit winter village at Sitka stood

on the beach. Fish, shellfish, and land animals were abundant in

the area. This largess, combined with the moderate maritime

climate, allowed the people to hunt and gather food relatively

58. Clark, Gerald H., editor, Managing a Nonrenewable Resource, The Hidden

Falls Site, Auke Village, Archeology at Coffman Cove (Juneau: U.S. Forest

Service, 1980): 5-6.

24
easily year-round. In late March the people began sea fishing

for halibut and cod, and freshwater fishing for Dolly Varden. In

early April, they gathered herring. Later that month, sea mammals migrating north passed through southeast Alaska waters. The

Sitka Tlingits hunted sea otters, hair seal, fur seal, sea lion,

and porpoise. Although whales passed en route north, the Sitka

people did not hunt them.

Early in summer, most of the Sitka Tlingits moved to camps near

the mouths of freshwater streams to fish for salmon. Kiksadi

Tlingit families from the permanent village, Shee-Atika or "by

the sea," at Nu-Tlan or Castle Hill, used a summer fishing camp,

Gaj a-Heen or "water coming from way up" at the mouth of Starrigavan Creek and another at the mouth of Indian River. The

people most commonly trapped salmon in rock weirs or hooked them.

Other Sitka Tlingits embarked on trading and war voyages early

in summer. They might travel as far south as Prince of Wales and

the Queen Charlotte islands. The Tlingits were frequently at war

among themselves and with the Haida people to the south. They

fought to obtain slaves, new hunting and fishing territories, and

to increase their material possessions.

In late summer, families moved to hunting camps. There the

women and children gathered berries, roots, and grasses. The men

hunted deer, black bears, brown bears, mountain goats, and sheep.

With the approach of winter, the Sitka people returned to the

large village at Castle Hill. Year-round they could dig clams

and gather crabs from the nearby tidal flats.

The Sitka spruce forests that covered the lower elevations of

Baranof Island provided wood that was used to build houses and

provide heat. At their permanent village the Sitka people lived

in large, rectangular, gable-roofed plank houses. The houses

measured up to 30 by 40 feet. As many as 12 families and their

slaves lived in a house. The Sitka village had a number of

these houses. At their seasonal camps, the people had smaller

wood structures.

59. Khlebnikov, Kyrill T., Colonial Russian America (Portland: The Press

of the Oregon Historical Society, 1976): 29.

25
The people also used wood to make canoes. Although the coastal

waterways through southeast Alaska were dangerous, they provided

the best transportation routes through the region. The Tlingits

had travel, war, work, and hunting canoes. A canoe was made from

a single tree. Typically, the canoes were long, narrow, and

high-pointed at the bow and stern. For their larger war canoes

the Sitka Tlingits traded with the Haida people to the south who

lived on Prince of Wales and the Queen Charlotte islands where

western red cedar was available.

Social structure

Because of the mild climate and lush flora and fauna that made

subsistence relatively easy, the Tlingits had time to develop a complex social system and to pursue a high degree of aesthetic

creativity. The people based their beliefs on kinship and communication with all living things.

Tlingit territory encompassed most of today's southeast Alaska.

It was divided into 13 or 14 areas called kwans that each had

from one to six permanent villages. Three groups, the Sitka

kwan, Husnuwu kwan, and Kake kwan, claimed parts of Baranof Island. The west side of the island was the territory of the

Sitkans. 62

Within a kwan, there were clans based on kinship. Clans owned

salmon streams, hunting grounds, berry patches, sealing rocks,

house sites, family crests or emblems, and spirits. The head of

the clan guarded its properties and directed trading activities.

Clan chiefs had power, rank, and wealth. They belonged to the

nobility. The nobility spoke for a clan and preserved its honor.

The other people were commoners and slaves. Most Tlingits were

60. Gunther, Erna, Indian Life on the Northwest Coast of North America

(Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1975): 178.

61. Gunther, 1975: 178.

62. Krause, Aurel, The Tlingit Indians (Seattle and London: University of

Washington Press, 1979): map.

26
commoners who did the necessary day-to-day work. Slaves could be

captured or purchased. They performed the more onerous and dangerous tasks. Slaves were not members of the clans they

served. 3

Every Tlingit was a member of one of two social divisions in a village. One group was Raven. The other group was Eagle or

Wolf. Children had to marry a member of the opposite group.

Tlingits traced their descent matrilineally . Family members

lived together in a clan house. They shared canoes, slaves,

crests, songs, hunting, and ceremonial objects. The house

leader, usually the oldest brother of the family matriarch, led

fi 4 ceremonial activities.

For events such as marriages, births, deaths, or the dedication

of new crests or houses, the Tlingit people had elaborate

rituals. When possible, members of a house hosted a potlatch for

one of these events. Neighboring villagers were invited to come

and feast and dance. The people told stories. The ceremonies

involved giving and receiving gifts. Hosting a potlatch indicated wealth and social status.

The southeast Alaska Native people carved elaborate designs on

their ceremonial masks, rattles, dance paddles, and even everyday

utensils. Although some carved posts were inside houses and

some mortuary columns stood near the gravehouses on the ridge behind their village, totem poles were not part of the Sitka Tlingits* heritage until historic times. The Haida and Tlingit Indians to the south are better known for carving totem poles.

Such poles served several functions. Crest poles gave the ancestry of a particular family, history poles recorded the story

of a clan, legend poles related experiences real and imagined,

63. Gunther, Erna, Indian Life on the Northwest Coast of North America:

180; and Krause, 1979: 111-112.

64. Ellen Hope Hays, personal communication, February 13, 1987.

65. Andrews, C.L., Sitka The Chief Factory of the Russian American Company, 3rd edition (Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1945):

62-63.

27
and memorial poles commemorated an individual. All bore symbols

or crests that belonged to a particular lineage, house, or

family. Symbols used by the Tlingit Raven group included ravens,

hawks, puffins, sea gulls, land otter, mouse, moose, sea lion,

whale, salmon, and frog. Those of the Tlingit Wolf and Eagle

groups included wolf, eagle, brown bear, killer whale, dog fish,

ground shark, and halibut. Traditionally, the totem carver was a member of the clan opposite the person who commissioned it.

Euro-Americans discover Sitka

On July 15, 1741, Alexei Chirikov, commander of St . Paul , one

of the ships of the second Bering expedition, recorded sighting

what has been assumed to be Lisianski Inlet on the northwest

coast of Chichagof Island. He reported a broad harbor at 57 degrees 15 minutes north latitude. Ten armed men in a longboat

were sent ashore to explore the land. Days passed and the men

failed to return. A second boat set out, but it too disappeared.

Smoke from fires onshore could be seen, but three weeks passed

and nothing was seen of the missing men. Some Natives in two

small canoes paddled out from the bay where the boats had gone.

When Chirikov tried to entice the people in the canoes to come

aboard St. Paul, both canoes turned away. On July 27, Chirikov

and his officers decided to return to Kamchatka. St . Paul had no

small boats left and without them it was impossible to send

f\ 7 parties ashore to obtain critically-needed fresh water.

After the existence of land in the North Pacific was documented, navigators from several different European countries set

sail to explore the Northwest Coast. Possibly the next to see

Baranof Island was Don Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, a Spanish

navigator. In August 1775 he sailed his 36-foot schooner Sonora

into today's Krestof Bay, which he called Port Guadalupe. Quadra

wrote of a mountain "of the most regular and beautiful form I

have ever seen." He named the mountain San Jacinto.

66. Knapp, 1980: 1-2

67. Pethick, Derek, First Approaches to the Northwest Coast (Vancouver,

British Columbia: Douglas and Mclntyre, 1976): 25-26.

28
Three years later the famous British explorer, Capt . James

Cook, named the peak Mount Edgecumbe, the name that is used

today. The Russians called the mountain Saint Lazaria, assuming

the peak was the one seen by Chirikov and so named by him.

Cook's crew brought to the world's attention sea otter pelts

taken from animals found in the waters of the North Pacific. Because of its extraordinarily glossy sheen and its fluffiness, the

sea otter pelt was highly valued by the Chinese. The sea otter

brought the Tlingits on Baranof Island into contact with

6 9 Euro-Americans

.

The First Russians at Sitka

By 1799 Sitka Sound was a favored trading spot for EuroAmerican traders. The Russians considered the predominantly

British and American traders to be intruders in their domain.

After a visit to the Sitka Sound area in 1795, Alexander Baranov,

Chief Manager of the Shelikhov-Golikov Company, one of the companies organized into the Russian American Company in 1799,

determined to build a trading post at the site. On July 7, 1799,

Baranov returned to Sitka Sound with several other Russians and a number of Aleut hunters. Baranov negotiated with the local Tlingit chief for the right to occupy a tract of land at the mouth of

Starrigavan Creek, four miles north of the large permanent Sheeatika village at Castle Hill. Construction of Archangel Saint

Michael's Redoubt began immediately. The Russians built a large

warehouse, stockade, blockhouse, blacksmith shop, residence for

Baranov, quarters for the hunters, and a men's house. During the

winter the Tlingits unsuccessfully attacked the post several

times. Business called Baranov to Kodiak in 1800. Baranov

68. Gunther, Erna, Indian Life on the Northwest Coast of North America:

12-15; and Andrews, 1945: 24.

69. DeArmond, 1978: 12-15; and Andrews, 1945: 24.

70. Tikhmenev, P. A., History of the Russian American Company Volume II

Documents, Richard A. Pierce and Alton S. Donnelly, translators and

editors, Materials for the Study of Alaska History No. 13 (Kingston, Ontario: The Limestone Press, 1979): 111-114; and Khlebnikov, 1976: 3.

29
left written instructions for Vasilii G. Medvednikov, whom he

left in charge, discussing treatment of area Natives and construction of the fort. In the instructions, Baranov also pointed

out the need to strengthen the company's economic and political

position in southeast Alaska. It is clear from the instructions

that the Russians feared the local Tlingits. After Baranov 's

departure, 25 Russians and 55 Aleuts staffed the post. In spring

1802, the population of the post was 29 Russians, 3 British

71 deserters, 200 Aleuts, and some Kodiak women.

Materialistic and militant, the Tlingits were shrewd traders

and fierce enemies. The Russian traders had protested foreign

competition for furs to their government and had appealed to the

British, Spanish, French, and United States traders not to trade

guns and ammunition for furs. By the late 1790s the fur trade

competition in the North Pacific was keen, and few traders

cooperated with the request of the Russians.

The Sitka-area Tlingits were divided among themselves in their

feelings toward the Russian settlers. In June, 1802, a group of

hostile Tlingits from Indian River and nearby Crab Apple Island

led by a chief named Katlean attacked the redoubt. They looted

and burned the barracks, storehouses, and fur warehouses. They

more than 4,000 sea otter pelts and burned a ship being built.

Most of the Russian and Aleut workers were killed. The dead numbered 20 Russians and up to 130 Aleuts. A few Russians and

Aleuts who had been away from the post hunting or who fled into

the forest later reached British and American trading ships that

arrived in the harbor and relayed the news. Capt. James Barber

of the British ship Unicorn held a Tlingit chief and several

other Indians captive until the Russian and 18 Aleuts captured

during the attack were turned over to him. Barber delivered the

survivors and the news of the attack to Baranov at Kodiak on June

24. 72

71. Ramsay, Marina, translator, and Pierce, Richard A., editor, Documents

on the History of the Russian-American Company, Materials for the Study of

Alaskan History No. 7 (Kingston, Ontario: The Limestone Press, 1976):

114-127.

72. Khlebnikov, 1973: 37-39; Tikhmenev, 1979: 134-139.

30
In late September, 1804, Baranov returned to Sitka Sound with a large Russian and Aleut force to re-establish the redoubt. The

1,150 men were supported by four ships with cannon. One of the

ships, Neva , had recently arrived in Russian America. Its commander, Urey Lisiansky, later wrote an account of the battle that

ensued. The Sitkans ' permanent winter village was clustered

around Castle Hill. When the Russian ships sailed into sight,

the Tlingits abandoned the village in favor of a stronger fortification to the east by Indian River, Shish-Kee-Nu , or "Sapling

Fort." The Kiksadi Tlingits fortified the site in anticipation

of the Russians' return. Fourteen buildings enclosed by a thick

log wall stood at the site. The Tlingits reportedly numbered

750. The site provided fresh water and a potential route of escape. Further, the gravel shoals extending from the river's

7 3 mouth prevented close approach by large vessels.

On September 29, the Russians went ashore at the winter village. Lisiansky named the site New Archangel. That evening a Tlingit ambassador came from the Indian River fort. The Russians

asked that the chiefs come to visit. The ambassadors returned

several times. Baranov asked that the Russians be permitted to

occupy Castle Hill. When negotiations broke down, the Russians

advised the Tlingits that they planned to begin firing at the Indian River fort. The Russians returned to their ships, moved

them close to the fort, and began firing on October 1.

The Russians bombarded the Tlingit camp with 16 guns for

several days. Then a number of Russians went ashore and battle

ensued at Indian River. Baranov led the Russians. Chief Katlean

led the Kiksadi Tlingits. A few men were killed and some

wounded, including Baranov. The Russians were forced to return

to their ships. They renewed their bombardment. Because their

supply of gunpowder was exhausted and because they were afraid of

the treatment they would receive from the Russians if captured,

the Tlingits chose to abandon the fort and flee across the mountains to the north. After the Tlingits fled, the Russians burned

the fort. 74

73. Khlebnikov, 1973: 46-48

74. Lisiansky, 1968: 144-16!

31
The Russians were not sure where the Tlingits had gone. For a long time, all Russian hunting parties were on constant guard

against attack. A few days after the battle, eight Aleuts were

killed in Jamestown Bay and another was shot in the woods near

the Russians' new fort.

The Tlingits escaped by following Indian River to its head and

crossing the mountains to Katlean Bay. There they constructed

canoes and moved to "Olga Point" where they lived for a year

before moving to "Deadman's Reach" and finally to Sitkoh Bay on

Peril Straits. At Sitkoh Bay they built a new village called

Choch-Kanu, Halibut Fort. 76

The Russians built a new settlement, called Novo Archangelsk or

New Archangel although generally known as Sitka, at the site of

the Tlingit village at Castle Hill. The Russians named the hill

Castle Hill, because it was the site for the Russian American

Company governor's home. Although Baranov had his house on the

hill, the first structure known as Baranov 's Castle was built on

the site in 1837, long after the first governor's death.

Around the kekur or hill, the Russians built a high, wooden

stockade with three blockhouses, all armed with cannon and muskets. Almost a thousand trees were cut for the stockade. Inside

the stockade, warehouses, barracks, and workshops stood. By summer 1805, 8 buildings had been finished and 15 gardens had been

planted. As late as 1858, Tlingit warriors sporadically attacked

the town and groups who were away from the post.

75. Khlebnikov, 1973: 47.

76. Andrews, 1945: 36; and Hall, George A., "Sitka National Monument,

Alaska," manuscript, 1963. (Copy provided by author.)

77. Lisiansky, 1968: 218-244; Khlebnikov, 1976: 73-76; Golovin, 1983:

116.

32
Sitka becomes Russian America capital

In August 1808 New Archangel became the capital city of Russian

America and the administrative center for the Russian American

Company that had been chartered by the Russian government in 1799

to be its sole fur trader in North America. At that time, the

Russians claimed land in North America that stretched along the

coast from Norton Sound to California. Sitka became the cultural

and commercial center for the Russians in North America. Officers and employees of the Russian American Company brought

their families to Sitka. In 1833, 406 Russians lived at Sitka.

With them were 307 Creoles (of Russian fathers and Native Alaskan

7 ft mothers) and 134 Aleuts.

Ships from many European countries and America that came to the

North Pacific to trade for furs, hunt whales, or explore stopped

at Sitka. A shipyard had been established shortly after the town

was founded. Over the next fifty years many vessels were

repaired at the shipyard. Others were built there, including

several steam vessels including Nikolai I and Muir. The steam — —T9

engine for the latter was built at Sitka as well.

The community had brickyards, tanneries, and a foundry for

casting brass, copper, and iron. At two sawmills near Sitka,

Russians cut lumber for ships and buildings. Workers caught and

salted fish for food and sale at several sites near the community. In the 1840s and 1850s, the Russians cut and shipped ice

from the lakes at Sitka to California. For the ice industry they

created Swan Lake, known to them as Labaishia Lake, from a low

ft swamp. An 1809 map of Sitka identifies a well in the center of

78. Wrangell, F.P., Russian America Statistical and Ethnographic Information, Mary Sadouski, trans., Richard A. Pierce, ed., Materials for the

Study of Alaskan History No. 15 (Kingston, Ontario: The Limestone Press,

1980): 4-5.

79. Wrangell, 1980: 9; Tikhmenev, 1978: 209; and Fedorova, Svetlana G. , The Russian Population in Alaska and California Late 18th Century-1867 , Richard A. Pierce and Alton S. Donnelly, translators and editors,

Materials for the Study of Alaska History No. 4 (Kingston, Ontario: The

Limestone Press, 1973): 209.

33
town. An account in the 1840s identifies a cistern, thought to

be at the same site, for water that was hauled about half a mile

from a spring on a mountain-side.

As part of the company charter, the Russian government required

the Russian American Company to provide support for Russian Orthodox clergy in Russian America. In 1816, the Russians constructed the original Saint Michael's Russian Orthodox Church

close to the ocean. In 1848 they replaced the church with a cathedral that was built in the center of town. In 1842-1843 the

Russian-American Company built the Russian Bishop's House for the

church. It is believed that Finnish ship builders constructed

the two-story log building, which measured 63 feet long and 42

feet wide. Two frame additions, called galleries, were at the

east and west ends of the building for stairways, latrines, and

storage. They were to form an air space between the outdoors and

indoors. Each gallery was 42 by 14 feet. The building became the

center for the administration of the Russian Orthodox Church in

Alaska. 82

The Kiksadi Tlingits returned to Sitka in 1821 and settled outside of the stockade. The area where they lived was commonly

referred to as the ranche. The Tlingits and Russians never lived

completely in harmony. The Russians allowed the Tlingits inside

the stockade only during specified hours each day and locked the

80. Khlebnikov, 1976: 75-76

81. Fedorova, 1973: 356ff.; and Michael, Henry N., editor, Lieutenant

Zagoskin's Travels in Russian America, 1842-1844, The First Ethnographic

and Geographic Investigations in the Yukon and Kuskokwim Valleys of

Alaska, Arctic Institute of North America Translations from Russian

Sources No. 7 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press for the Arctic Institute of North America, 1967): 70.

82. National Park Service, Russian Bishop's House National Historic

Landmark nomination, March 17, 1983. Copy at Alaska Regional Office,

Anchorage .

34
gates at sundown. If a Native was selling fish or game to the

company, the transaction was conducted at a small window at the

gate by one of the blockhouses.

By 1825, the community also had a hospital, an observatory, a library, and a museum. For outdoor recreation Sitka residents

went boating, hunting, or on walks and picnics to the deep woods

near Indian River. A route known as the Governor's Walk went

from the wharf, through town, to Indian River. Cards,

masquerades, theatricals, and dinners were common indoor recreation activities. The officers of the company had a club that

Governor Adolf Etholin established in 1840. In general, the Russian settlement differed from most others in the New World in the

1700s and the 1800s because it was established by employees of a company who came to do a job instead of seeking religious freedom

Q A or to seek homes for themselves.

Americans take over

By the 1860s Russia's interest in North America was waning. It

had relinquished its claims to lands south of Prince of Wales Island in the 1840s. The sea otter were virtually extinct in

Alaska waters. Efforts to engage in whaling or in the land fur

trade had not been economically successful. Company profits had

declined. The settlements in Russian America had not become

self-sufficient. Their remote location would make them difficult

to defend. Russian and United States representatives signed a treaty to sell Russian America to the United States for $7.2 million on March 29, 1867. The U.S. Congress ratified the treaty on

June 20, 1867. The formal transfer ceremony took place on Castle

Hill at Sitka on October 18, 1867. Alexei Pestchouroff , commissioner of the tsar, formally transferred all of Russian American

to Maj . Gen. Lovell H. Rousseau, commissioner for the United

States

.

83. Khlebnikov, 1976: 101-104; and Golovin, 1983: 85

84. Golovin, 1983: 118.

35
After the formal transfer of ownership, many details had to be

attended to. Russian citizens in Alaska were given the option to

return to Russia or become American citizens. At least 537

people left Alaska for Russia on Russian American Company vessels

in 1867-1868. The Native people were expected to obey American

laws, but did not become citizens until 1924. The U.S. Government made no provision for a territorial government. The first

efforts to organize a civil government at Sitka in 1869 failed

for lack of interest and lack of laws and the government disbanded in 1873. 85

Instead, the American government assigned the U.S. Army to administer affairs in Alaska. An Alaska District was created, with

headquarters at Sitka. Brig. Gen. Jefferson C. Davis was the

first commanding officer. The five sub-posts established around

the territory at Tongass, Wrangell, Kodiak, Kenai, and the

Pribilof Islands in 1868 were closed in 1870 and the district was

merged with the Department of Oregon headquartered at Vancouver

Barracks, Washington.

A number of fortune seekers, traders, and adventurers, most

from the western United States, rushed to Sitka in 1867 and 1868.

The warehouses of the Russian American Company were emptied; much

of the stockpiled merchandise was carried to San Francisco. With

no organized government, drunkenness, crime, and prostitution

flourished. The soldiers stationed at Sitka were no better behaved than the civilians. After the initial activity, Sitka's

ft f) economy declined.

By 1870 when the U.S. Army conducted a census of the residents

at Sitka, the population totalled 391 Russians and Creoles, 49

Americans excluding military personnel, and an estimated 1,200

Natives. 87

85. Andrews, 1945: 91-92.

86. Teichmann, 1963: 188; and Andrews, 1945: 98-99.

87. Tidball, John C, Report on the Territory of Alaska, 1870, House Ex- ecutive Document No. 5, 42d Congress, 1st Session, 1871: 7.

36
The town had several stores, meat shops, a barber shop, a bakery, a sawmill, two breweries, and many saloons. Sitka

traders collected about $20,000 worth of pelts that year. The

other major economic activities were fishing and shipping. The

Tlingits continued to be allowed into the center of Sitka only

during the day. One of the army's activities at Sitka in 1869

was construction of a one and one-half mile corduroy road from

the town to Indian River to enable wagons to haul water and

wood. 88

The U.S. Army troops left Sitka in 1877. The remaining representatives of the U.S. Government were the customs collector and

deputy and the postmaster. The non-Native people at Sitka felt

that the military presence had guaranteed safety from attacks by

the Indians. A week after the troops departed, Sitka Tlingits

tore down a portion of the stockade. Tensions between Natives

and non-Natives at Sitka increased, until the non-Natives appealed first to the United States and then to the British for

protection. The British sent HMS Osprey from Esquimault, Vancouver Island, to Sitka. Osprey arrived before USS Alas" a . They

found all quiet at Sitka. Following the public outcry over this

incident, the U.S. Government assigned the navy to administer affairs in Alaska. The navy stationed Marines and a gunboat at

Sitka. Although the U.S. Government established a civil govern8 9 ment five years later, the navy remained at Sitka until 1912.

In 1884 Congress passed an Organic Act that provided for an appointed governor of Alaska and four commissioners. President

Chester A. Arthur appointed John H. Kinkead, Sitka's postmaster,

to be Alaska's first governor. The district headquarters for

these government officials was Sitka.

88. Cracroft, 1980: 51; Tidball, 1871: 3,

89. Andrews, 1945: 101-104, 111-112.

37
Sitka settles down

For a few years after the purchase of Alaska, Sitka continued

to be the center for the collection of furs in Alaska. In contrast to the Russian system, more than one fur trading company

operated in Alaska under the Americans. Sitka was not close to

the richest fur trading areas and increasingly was bypassed by

the fur traders and trading companies. Trade in furs, however,

continued to be a major local economic activity at Sitka. During

their heyday in the 1910s and 1920s, a few fur farms operated in

Sitka and on several of the islands nearby.

Among those who came to Sitka following the purchase were a number of prospectors. In 1870 gold was found at nearby Silver

Bay near the town. For many years miners worked a mine in the

upper Indian River valley. Ten years after the first discovery,

Joe Juneau and Richard Harris were grubstaked by Sitka resident

and miner George Pilz. They discovered placer gold in creeks

near today's Juneau. Following that discovery, many residents of

Sitka left for the booming mining towns of Juneau and Douglas.

Gold mining continued in the Sitka area, however, until World

War II. More than three-quarters of a million ounces of gold was

recovered from Sitka area mines. Gypsum, discovered in 1902, was

q i commercially mined in the Sitka mining district until 1923.

To reach some of the mining sites, a bridge was built over the

lower portion of Indian River in 1888. Funds to build the bridge

were raised by subscription. I.B. Hammond built the bridge at a cost of $142.50. The last mention of the structure was a call

for additional funds so that the structure could be painted.

90. Roppel, 1982: 74-75.

91. Hinckley, 1972: 133-134; and Roppel, 1982: 93, 96-100

92. The [Sitka] Alaskan, May 26, 1888: 3.
American missionaries also headed for Sitka during the 1870s.

The Reverend John G. Brady and Fannie E. Kellogg, of the Board of

Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church, opened a school for Native children in 1878. Later, the school became Sitka Industrial

Training School, and subsequently it was named to honor the

long-time Presbyterian missionary Sheldon Jackson. The Russian

Orthodox Church continued its mission at Sitka after the 1867

transfer. In 1897 Monk Anatolii Kamenskii, working at Sitka, requested funding from the church for a school building. The Russian Bishop's House, then used as an orphanage, was too crowded

Q A and in need of repair.

In a few short years, Juneau surpassed Sitka in population and

economic activity. When larger mining operations started at

Juneau and nearby Douglas and those boom towns became more stable

communities, people began to clamor to have the capital of the

district moved from Sitka to Juneau. In 1901 the decision was

made to move the capital. The actual move, however, was not completed until 1906.

The loss of the government payroll impacted Sitka and between

1900 and 1910 Sitka's population declined 25 percent. As the

fishing and fish processing industries grew between 1910 and

1920, the population grew by 13 percent. In 1878 the Cutter

Packing Company opened one of the first two salmon canneries in

Alaska at Starrigavan Bay near Sitka. Although it closed shortly

after the 1879 season, several other canneries opened in the

vicinity during the 1880s. A few salteries operated for several

years as well. A market developed for halibut, and a cold

storage plant opened at Sitka in the early 1900s. For a brief

time during the 1910s a shore-based whaling station operated at

nearby Sitkalidak Island. A herring fishery flourished during

the 1920s and 1930s. Over the years a number of fishermen and

cannery workers made Sitka their home.

93. Andrews, 1945: 104-105

94. Kamenskii, Archimandrite Anatolii, Tlingit Indians of Alaska, Sergei

Kan, translator, Rasmuson Library Historical Translation Series Vol. II

(Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1985): 139-140.

95. Roppel, 1982: 76-89.

39
Sitka's other major economic activity was tourism. In 1879,

John Muir made the first of five trips to Alaska. Upon his

return to California, he wrote several articles about southeast

Alaska. Others ventured north. Some, such as Eliza Ruhamah

Scidmore, wrote accounts of their trips that were subsequently

published. Beginning in the 1880s, increasing numbers of people

began to visit Alaska to see its scenic wonders, Native people,

and evidences of its Russian heritaqe. All of the steamships

stopped at Sitka. Many Russian buildings still stood in the

town. The Russian Orthodox Cathedral with its beautiful icons

was a major attraction. In the 1890s the town residents restored

Baranov's Castle, but the wooden structure burned in 1894. In

addition to viewing the buildings, visitors could purchase Native

artifacts such as baskets and wood carvings, and follow the

boardwalk from the wharf through town to the 1804 battle site and

97 Indian River.

The thousands of people who headed to the Klondike gold fields

in 1897 and 1898 bypassed Sitka. The community was not along the

Inside Passage route that took stampeders from San Francisco,

Portland, and Seattle to Dyea and Skagway. The increased attention paid to Alaska as a result of the gold discoveries in the

north impacted Sitka in other ways. An agricultural station

opened in 1898, and the station's chief made Sitka his headquarters. A magnetic observatory opened the same year. After

Tongass National Forest was created in 1902, the U.S. Forest

Service had a ranger at Sitka. When the submarine cable was completed in 1906, Sitka was connected to the rest of the world by

go telegraph. But for the most part, after the capital moved,

Sitka was a small, relatively isolated community during the early

1900s. Fishing, fish processing, and tourism were the mainstays

96. Andrews, 1945: 108-109.

97. Krause, Aurel, and Krause, Arthur, Journey to the Tlingits, Margot

Krause McCaffrey, trans. (Haines, Alaska: Haines Centennial Commission,

1981): 48.

98. Andrews, 1945: 116; and National Register of Historic Places nominations, on file at Office of History and Archaeology, Anchorage.

40
of the local economy. Several residents wrote that the major

event in town was the weekly arrival of the mail boat. Beginning

in the 1920s, a few float planes brought visitors and a little

freight to town. The population was around 1,200 people.

In 1913 Sitka was selected by the first Territorial Legislature

as the location for the first Pioneers' Home for indigent

prospectors who had spent many years in Alaska. In 1934 a large,

second building was added. Southeast Alaska Natives organized

the Alaska Native Brotherhood at Sitka in 1912. The group formed

to fight for citizenship rights and equal treatment. Camps soon

organized in other Southeast Alaskan communities, and a companion

group, the Alaska Native Sisterhood, also formed. By 1920 Sitka

had become a small, stable community that changed little until

World War II. About 1904 the Sitka Wharf and Power Company

tapped Indian River for a water-distribution system that served

the center of town. A water-wagon, filled at Indian River, served

outlying areas. As late as 1940 the U.S. Marshal had the people

in jail run the water wagon to Indian River. After the fivegallon cans were filled they were delivered to residents for

$5.00 a week. Around 1942 and 1943 additional water lines were

Q Q constructed to serve more parts of the town.

Just before World War II started, the U.S. Government began a military build-up that included establishing bases in Alaska. The

old naval reservation on Japonski Island was selected for a U.S.

Navy seaplane base. From there, PBY airplanes could patrol the

North Pacific. An army base opened at Sitka to guard the naval

station. In addition, a radio "beam" station was constructed on

Biorka Island, and gun emplacements were installed on Harbor Peak

and on several islands in Sitka Sound. The military personnel

and construction crews brought new life to Sitka.

After the war ended, the bases closed. The government transferred their buildings to the U.S. Department of the Interiors'

Alaska Native Service for use as a medical and education

facility. The hospital was one of the main centers for treatment

99. Andrews, 1945: 115; and Mair, A. Peter, II, and Bailey, Douglas L,

"Central Interceptor Project (Contract No. 5) for the City and Borough of

Sitka," Anchorage: Tryck, Nyman, & Hayes, Eng . , 1983): 26-27.

41
of tuberculosis during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was

transferred to the U.S. Public Health Service in 1955. In 1948,

the Bureau of Indian Affairs opened a secondary-level boarding

school, Mt. Edgecumbe High School, at the site. It served Native

children from throughout Alaska. In 1985 the State of Alaska

took over operation of the school. Sheldon Jackson Industrial

Training School evolved into a college offering two and four year

programs. After statehood in 1959, the State of Alaska opened a Public Safety Academy at Sitka, and a few years later the University of Alaska started a community college there. Sitka became a regional education center.

Several sawmills operated at Sitka throughout the 1900s. Lumber from Sitka had been important in building the gold rush boom

towns of Dyea and Skagway. Some lumbering occurred over the

years. After World War II, there was increased interest in leasing areas on Baranof Island for logging. A Japanese-owned pulp

mill at the mouth of Silver Bay began operating in 1959. Sitka's

population increased by 63 percent as approximately 500 people

found work at the mill. In 1977, the Coast Guard established an

air station on Japonski Island, in part to enforce the new 200-

mile offshore fishing limit.

The tourism industry flourished in the post-World War II era as

more people learned about Alaska. Until the mid-1950s steamship

companies offered passenger service and organized tours, particularly through southeast Alaska. As it had been before the

war, Sitka was a favorite tourist stop. The national monument,

availability of Native arts and crafts, and remaining structures

from the Russian period, most particularly St. Michael's

Cathedral, attracted people. In January 1966, the wooden

cathedral burned. Fortunately, measured drawings of the structure had been prepared by the U.S. Forest Service and completed

by the National Park Service in 1962. Sitka residents

spearheaded an effort to reconstruct the cathedral on its

original site, which by the 1960s was in the center of downtown

Sitka. For the Alaska Purchase Centennial in 1967, the State of

Alaska improved a commemorative park atop Castle Hill with cannon, interpretive markers, and flagstaffs. That same year, the

100. Roppel, 1982: 91-95

42
city opened its community Centennial Building and the Sitka Historical Society started a museum there. The Visitor Center at

Sitka National Monument, built in 1965, futher enhanced tourism.

The federal Board of Indian Arts and Crafts had started a program

at Sitka in 1962 and its Native artists moved to the new center.

About the same time the Sitka Summer Music Festival began.

During the 1960s transportation improvements brought more

visitors to Sitka. The State of Alaska began its Marine Highway

system in 1963. In 1967, jet air service to Sitka from Anchorage

and Seattle started.

In 1972 the national monument was redesignated a national historical park and its mission expanded to interpret the Russian

experience in Alaska. The Russian Bishop's House was added to

the park. There had been 150 buildings in Sitka in 1867. When

the house was added to the park, it was one of only four buildings surviving from 1867.

The 1980 census gave the population of Sitka as 7,803. Ten

percent of the people are Alaska Natives. 1

101. U.S. Census (Washington: GPO, 1982): 9

43
Indian River bridge, probably in 1904. (Photo courtesy of

Anchorage Museum of History and Art, #B63.19.3)
Totem poles at Old Kasaan, 1908. (Photo courtesy of the Alaska Historical Library, Case and

Draper Collection)

Lovers Lane, 1908. (Photo courtesy of Anchorage Museum of History and

Art, #B63.19.3)
The "Witch Tree," one of the early points of interest in

Sitka National Monument. (Photo courtesy of Sitka National

Historical Park)
> 1?

Tlingit ceremonial festival, Sitka, date unknown.

Anchorage Museum of History and Art, #B80.50.31)

Photo courtesy of

Naval Air Station, Sitka, on Japonski Island, 1944

Alaska Historical Library)

(Photo courtesy of

HEflWr'''. wnamft

***«*§L

*S*W
CHAPTER 3 SITKA NATIONAL MONUMENT, EARLY YEARS

Introduction

Overview

This section treats the years between 1910, when a presidential

proclamation designated the park as a historical monument, and

1940, when the first National Park Service employee arrived to

staff the park. The period encompassed General Land Office custody of the park between 1910 and 1916, National Park Service assumption of responsibility in 1916, and a variety of subsequent

management approaches. Significant additions to the park

resources during the period included donation of a replica Russian blockhouse by Sitka residents.

Monument Administration

Agencies vie for monument control

When Sitka National Monument was created in 1910, the National

Park Service had not yet come into being. It took some time to

determine which agency would take responsibility for national

monuments

.

Local interest in the park remained after the Sitka property

was assigned monument status. The District of Alaska government

also continued its concern for the park, begun when the seat of

government was at Sitka between 1884 and 1906. The Alaska Road

Commission, originally known as the Board of Road Commissioners

for Alaska, also tended to matters in the park. Congress had

created the commission within the War Department in 1905 to build

and maintain roads in Alaska. An army engineer officer appointed

by the Secretary of War and two other army officers drawn from

10 2 troops stationed in Alaska oversaw the commission's work.

102. Naske, Claus-M. , "Alaska Road Commission Historical Narrative Final

Report," contract study for the State of Alaska, Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, 1983: 24, in files of IPH/JMA-ALASKA,

Anchorage

.

44
Given Tongass National Forest Supervisor William A. Langille's

role in creating the monument, the Department of the Interior

might have asked the Forest Service for help in managing the new

monument at Sitka. But national-level rivalries between the

Departments of Aqriculture and Interior were reflected in an10 3 tagonistic relations between field divisions.

On September 16, 1912, the Secretary of the Interior decreed

that A. Christensen, chief of the General Land Office Field Division at Seattle, would superintend all national monuments in

Alaska. Christensen, in turn, directed that employees of his office -- located in Seattle -- whenever in the Sitka area, should

exercise such supervision as they could over the monument without

incurring additional expense. In particular, they were to act

"with the object of preventing unauthorized exploration or vandalism, or the removal of relics, and . . . be prepared to report

on... action in the matter."

First report documents Sitka National Monument

W.J. Lewis, Special Agent of the General Land Office at Juneau,

was the first Interior official to visit and report on the new

monument. He made two trips to the Sitka in 1912. His report,

issued in May of 1913, was both thorough and sensitive to issues

that were to remain significant in park management and is therefore quoted here extensively.

Landing from the ship one passes first through the

old Russian Custom House, with its walls built of

massive hewed logs still in a good state of preservation. Thence past the old log trading post now falling into decay and soon to become a pile of ruins.

On the sidewalks sit a number of native women, young

and old, with their baskets, their moccasins, and

various wares and trinkets spread out before them to

103. Rakestraw, 1981: 55-57.

104. Secretary of the Interior, September 12, 1912, to A. Christensen,

and Christensen, September 24, 1912, cited in Lewis, W.J., May 22, 1913,

to A. Christensen, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

45
catch the eye of the tourist souvenir hunter. The

handiwork of the Sitka natives is generally of superior quality, and the price of many of their wares is

lower than at other places in Alaska.

The walk to the Park leads through the main street

of the town, around the bay about a mile southerly

and past the Presbyterian Mission grounds and buildings. The road is firm and clean, about all the

mould or mud being washed away, exposing the natural

gravel that seems to come almost to the surface.

Entering the Park the road plunges at once into the

shadow of the timber. Except for a few little openings where the Totem Poles are planted, the roads and

trails all wind about in the timber. The trees are

mostly small spruce, not more than 18 inches in

diameter, but in among these larger trees is a dense

growth of smaller trees, brush, fallen timber, and

debris in all stages of decay. This is so dense that

one would make very slow progress in attempting to

pass through it. Consequently all travel is confined

to the roads and trails.

In the immediate vicinity of the water front (see

plat), the timber appears to be a reproduction. It

is evident that the land here was cleared at one time

from the fact that the ground is now free from debris

and well grassed among the trees.

At several points along the road one is greeted by

those interesting figures in wood, the Totem Poles.

Silently they stand, each telling its own story. To

understand the Totem it is necessary to be familiar

with the history of the family it represents, when it

will be seen that each fgure or emblem is designed

to immortalize some historic event or some noble deed

of a member of the family.

Lewis commented in detail on many of the monument's resources.

The totems were in good repair, set in concrete or cement in

the summer of 1911 after having originally been set in gravel.

Their backs were hollowed out, and he speculated that this had

been done to reduce their weight when they were shipped to St.

Louis for the 1904 exposition.

46
Lewis recommended that the poles be painted front and back to

help preserve them. He also suggested that "A good NATIVE

mechanic" should be employed to replace damaged or missing parts.

Figures on some of the poles were broken or missing, eyes and

ears were knocked off, and the eyes of some were filled with

birdshot

.

On the site of the "Native stockade of 1802" four small totems

had been set as corner posts in anticipation of a reconstruction

of a traditional community house and a giant totem had been located before the prospective door.

The site of the "grave" of the Russian midshipman and six

sailors required attention. Sitkans who counted Russians among

their forebears were making an effort to raise money to erect a permanent monument there. Only about $45 had been collected.

...the natural condition of the ground is in many

places most interesting and instructive to the

tourist. Along the winding trails near Indian River

are found vigorous shrubbery bearing a variety of

wild berries and wild currants. Then the portions of

the Park in their natural condition offer an exceptional opportunity for the visitor from the States to

study the native timber growth, the wild mosses, and

the small verdure.

The trails were in good condition, but guide boards needed to

be erected at each intersection. These would help visitors to

find their way out of the park.

Lewis also commented at length on the museum on the campus of

the Sheldon Jackson school. He had been unable to find out if it

was owned by the school or by "some historical or ethnological

society," but recommended that the federal government acquire its

collections

.

In my opinion the national Government should try to

purchase the collection of relics in the museum at

Sitka. The thousands of relics collected and lying

indiscriminately in the show cases in this museum

47
should be systematically catalogued, and a careful

historical sketch prepared, setting forth the use

made of each implement and the function it performed

in the social system of the people.

Lewis strongly asserted that serious effort to preserve to posterity the history of Alaska's Native people should not be left

to chance, or to the efforts of "some single patriotic individual

or patriotic society."

He then summarized his report by recommending that the totem

poles be repaired, guide boards be set up, a permanent stone

monument be placed at the Russian sailors' "grave," trails be

cleared and rehabilitated, and the Sheldon Jackson museum collection be purchased.

While the General Land Office of the Interior Department had

official responsibility for the Sitka monument, the War

Department's Board of Road Commissioners for Alaska was doing

some work in the monument. The board had previously spent $3,500

to build a bridge over Indian River, and it continued expenditures through the years to make repairs to the road through the

park. 107

Appropriations and visitation increase

The Sitka Camp of the Arctic Brotherhood was soon asking that

money be appropriated for monument maintenance. This was only

the first of a number of instances in which the Sitka camp took

an interest in the monument.

105. Lewis, W.J., "Report on Sitka National Monument," May 22: 1913, in

RG 79 Selected Documents.

106. Smith, E. Otis, Camp Sitka No. 6, Arctic Brotherhood, November 16,

1908, to the President in RG 79 Selected Documents.

107. Moore, J. A., Special Agent, General Land Office, August 26, 1916,

to Commissioner, General Land Office, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

48
The brotherhood, a male fraternal organization, was open to men

who had hiked the Chilkoot Trail to Lake Bennett. Like many such

organizations, the brotherhood shrouded itself in ceremony and

regalia including secret initiation rites, robes, and pins for

members. In addition to its social activities, the brotherhood

also sponsored community service projects. Its ten camps in communities around Alaska and the pioneer character of its members

made the brotherhood a significant political force in the newlycreated Territory of Alaska. 08

In January of 1913, James Wickersham, Alaska's voteless

delegate to Congress, forwarded the Arctic Brotherhood petition

to Washington.

About the same time, the Alaska Territorial Legislature forwarded a joint resolution to the Secretary of the Interior asking

that $5,000 be spent on Sitka National Monument. Concurrently, Wickersham renewed his efforts to encourage the Interior

Department to take action with regard to Sitka. He asked that

the department publish Lewis' report on Sitka and asked for an

annual appropriation of $5,000 for maintenance of the Sitka

monument.

The secretary's reply was not encouraging. Although Lewis'

report would be considered for publication "if conditions warrant

and funds are available for the purpose," the secretary advised

that it might be inadvisable to attempt to obtain appropriations

for individual monuments. Instead, the department had been

108. Antonson, Joan M. and William S. Hanable, Alaska's Heritage, Alaska

Historical Commission Studies in History No. 133 (Anchorage: The Alaska

Historical Society for the Alaska Historical Commission, 1986): 515.

109. Wickersham, James, January 16, 1913, to Secretary of the Interior

Walter L. Fisher, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

110. Lewis, May 22, 1913, to A. Christensen, in RG 79 Selected Documents .

111. Wickersham, James, July 24, 1913, to the Secretary of the Interior,

in RG 79 Selected Documents.

49
trying for several years to obtain "a small appropriation for

qeneral administrative purposes in connection with the National

112 Monuments, thus far without success."

Wickersham and other Alaskans kept up the pressure. In 1914

the Interior Department asked Congress to appropriate $1,500 for

maintenance of the Sitka monument.

No money was forthcoming. In 1914 Christensen advised the Commissioner of the General Land Office that none of his staff had

been able to visit Sitka since Lewis' 1912 visit. Christensen

noted that the Secretary of the Interior had appointed Arthur G.

Shoup, a Sitka attorney, to oversee the territorial home for

Alaskan pioneers at Sitka. Shoup, born in Challis, Oregon, in

1880, had come to Sitka with his parents in 1897. He studied

political science and law at the University of Washington for

three years, then served as Deputy United States Marshal at

Ketchikan and Sitka from 1902 to 1910. By 1910 he was practicing

law at Sitka, where he went on to serve three terms as mayor.

His father, James McCain Shoup, had been an Idaho state senator

before serving as U.S. Marshal at Sitka from 1897 to 1906 and at

Juneau from 1906 to 1909. 114

Special Agent Lewis recommended Shoup as the best man at Sitka

through whom the department might work. According to Lewis,

Shoup had worked with Langille to have the monument established.

Shoup was willing to assume charge of the monument and use his

best efforts to prevent vandalism. He estimated that $5,000 was

needed for repairs at the monument and recommended that an

archway be erected at the entrance.

112. Secretary of the Interior, July 31, 1913, to James Wickersham, in

RG 79 Selected Documents.

113. Wickersham, James, April 15, 1914, to the Secretary of the Interior; Miller, Adolph C, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior,

April 20, 1914, to James Wickersham, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

114. DeArmond and Atwood , 1977: 91.

115. Christensen, A., May 20, 1914, to Commissioner, General Land Office; Lewis, W.J., May 13, 1914, to A. Christensen; Shoup, Arthur G.

,

50
The situation had not changed by the following year. Christensen reported that his staff had still not visited Sitka. The

monument still needed repairs. The number of visitors, however,

had risen from an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 in Fiscal Year 1914

(July 1, 1913 - June 30, 1914) to 9,000 to 10,000 in Fiscal Year

1915 (July 1, 1914 to June 30, 1915). The visitor figures were

estimated by counting the number of steamers docking at Sitka and

assuming that about 100 passengers visited the monument during

each port call. In 1914, for instance, the steamers City of

Seattle , Dolphin , State of California , and Spokane made two trips

per month to Sitka with about 100 passengers each over a four1 i fi month tourist season.

Although the field division responsible for the monument, now

the Alaska Field Division headquartered at Anchorage, speculated

that visitation at Sitka might be up because of the war in

Europe, the count for Fiscal Year 1916 showed a decline. Some117 where between 6,000 and 7,000 visitors were estimated.

Some visitors were traveling through the park in two-horsedrawn vehicles. There was no objection to this traffic. The

vehicles were light and no damage was being done to the road. The

road was in good condition as the Alaska Road Commission had

spent approximately $1,500 making repairs and gravelling it. The

Indian River bridge was also in good condition, but trails on

both sides of the river needed work. About $500 was needed for

this rehabilitation, and an additional $750 was needed for totem

pole rehabilitation. Another $100 was needed for guide boards

and $500 to $1,500 could be used for a stone tablet at the

entrance to the park. Without some sort of identifying entrance

April 30, 1914, to A. Christensen, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

116. Lewis, May 13, 1914; Christensen, A., July 24, 1915, to Commissioner, General Land Office, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

117. Prasch, Martin W. , Acting Chief, Alaska Field Division, General

Land Office, June 2, 1916, to Commissioner, General Land Office, in RG

79 Selected Documents.

51
sign, "hundreds of tourists [were] passing through the park each

year without getting any information as to the monument itself,

and even knowing that the park is set aside as a National

Monument.

118

This situation began to change soon after Congress created the

National Park Service in 1916 to care for the nation's national

parks and monuments.

Officials search for Sitka ' s first custodian

Robert B. Marshall, general superintendent of the national

parks in Washington, wrote to Arthur Shoup in December of 1916

stating that it was possible to set aside about $300 for work at

the Sitka monument. He offered Shoup the position of custodian

of the monument at a token salary of $2 per month. Shoup replied

on January 5 that he would be glad to accept the appointment.

The $300 would be adequate for the cost of repairs to the "big

totem," which needed to be painted and supported with guy wires.

The other totems needed painting too. Also, nothing had been

done about brush in the park since federal prisoners had been

removed from Sitka about 1905. Work of that kind, wrote Shoup,

was badly needed.

This auspicious start quickly came to a halt. Within a month,

National Park Service officials advised Shoup that he could not

be appointed custodian since he was "admitted to practice as an

attorney before the Department of the Interior." Moreover, it

appeared desirable to defer work until the $300 could be supple120 mented with money from the next year's appropriation.

118. Moore, J. A., Special Agent, General Land Office, August 26, 1916,

to Commissioner, General Land Office, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

119. Marshall, R.B., Superintendent, National Park Service, December 22,

1916, to Arthur G. Shoup; Shoup, Arthur G., January 5, 1917, to R.B.

Marshall, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

120. Cotter, Jos. J., Acting Superintendent, National Park Service,

January 31, 1917, to Arthur G. Shoup, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

52
What followed was a series of attempts to arrange for management of the monument with Shoup maintaining a strong influence.

He replied to advice that he could not serve as monument custodian with a recommendation that Ross Reed of Sitka be appointed

at a rate of 62.5 cents per hour for repair work and token compensation otherwise. Shoup also commented cryptically that "the

other man" would not have time to give proper attention to the

park. 121

Horace M. Albright, acting director of the service, responded

that the desired appropriation was still pending. Appointment of

a custodian and improvement work at Sitka must wait until the

122

money was available.

Albright and the man for whom he was acting in 1917, Stephen T.

Mather, provided leadership for the National Park Service during

most of the early years of Sitka National Monument. Mather was

appointed director of the National Park Service in 1916 and he TOO

immediately selected Albright as his assistant. The two men

faced a tremendous job in making sense out of the many disparate

properties lumped together in the new organization. Immediate

pressures as well as personal proclivities appear to have

directed their attention to parks in the American west such as

Yellowstone and Yosemite. It is understandable that they had

little time for the 57-acre tract in far-away Alaska.

Records show no other action with respect to Sitka until the

summer of 1918. Then, Territorial Governor Thomas C. Riggs, Jr.,

suggested to park service director Mather that E.W. Merrill be

appointed as custodian. Riggs noted that he had "gone over the

matter" with Mr. Shoup. 1 Elbridge Warren Merrill was a Boston

121. Shoup, Arthur G. , May 25, 1917, telegram to Superintendent, National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

122. May 25, 1917, to Arthur G. Shoup, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

123. Foresta, Ronald A., America's National Parks and Their Keepers

(Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future, 1984): 9-12.

124. Riggs, Thomas C. Jr., July 20, 1918, to Stephen T. Mather, in RG 79

Selected documents.

53
engraver and news photographer who had come to Alaska in 1897.

He arrived in Sitka that year, is said to have gone on to the

Klondike, and returned to Sitka in 1899. After working at odd

jobs in Sitka, Merrill opened a curio store and photography

studio in 1905. His store was located in downtown Sitka in the

Mills Building, and his studio was on Jamestown Bay. At the time

it was accessible only by a footpath that wound along the beach

and through Indian River Park. In 1906, Governor Brady hired

Merrill for work at the park where he arranged the totem poles

earlier exhibited at St. Louis and Portland. Later Merrill supplied photographs supporting the petition for national monument

status for the Indian River Park and also for Lewis' 1913

report. 125

While waiting for the National Park Service to act on his

recommendation that it make Merrill official custodian of Sitka

National Monument, Riggs "on [his] own hook," authorized Merrill

to replace broken pieces on some of the totem poles and to cut

limbs of trees that were rubbing on poles. He also estimated that

$25,000 was needed for totem pole preservation.

On receiving this estimate, Mather advised Riggs that only

$10,000 was available for work on all the monuments for which the

park service was responsible. Of this amount, $1,000 had been

allocated for work at Sitka. The park service accepted the

recommendation of Merrill and would take steps necessary for his

12 7 appointment

.

What followed may have been an illustration of the incompatibility of Merrill's artistic temperment with bureaucratic requirements. The park service showered Merrill with forms and

12 8 guidelines, including the "Metric Manual for Soldiers." Merrill failed to respond.

125. Chamber, Scott, "Elbridge Warren Merrill," in The Alaska Journal 7 (3) Summer 1977: 139-145.

126. Riggs, July 20, 1918.

127. Mather, Stephen T., August 9, 1918, to Thomas C. Riggs, Jr., in RG

79 Selected Documents.

54
By April of 1919 Riggs was writing to Washington that Merrill

was "making no move" at Sitka. Could he authorize repair at the

monument and to what extent? Riggs also relayed a report from

Shoup that someone was trepassing on monument grounds and requested that the monument boundaries be resurveyed. Albright

replied for the National Park Service, authorizing expenditure of

up to $1,000 and asking if Shoup could not find someone else at

Sitka. He also arranged for a surveyor from the General Land Of1 ?o fice staff at Juneau to resurvey the monument boundaries. In

subsequent correspondence, F.C. Sheridan of Sitka was recommended

to do the necessary work at the monument. Since the 1919 appropriation had been diverted for pressing needs at two monuments

in Arizona, it was decided that he should not begin until after

July 1, 1919. 131

Merrill upset these tidy arrangements. On. June 11, Riggs advised Mather that Merrill already had the work at Sitka underway.

He had expended $400 but was willing to wait for reimbursement

until new appropriations were made. Riggs suggested allowing

Merrill to proceed, noting that the work should not be stopped.

Sitka's damp climate made June the most suitable time of year for

the required work.

128. Albright, Horace M. , September 5, 1919 and January 3, 1919, to E.W.

Merrill, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

129. Riggs, Thomas C. Jr., April 30, 1919, telegram to Director, National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

130. Albright, Horace M. , May 5, 1919, telegram to Thomas C. Riggs, Jr.;

Albright, Horace M. , May 5, 1919, to Clay Tallman, Commissioner, General

Land Office; in RG 79 Selected Documents.

131. Riggs, Thomas C. Jr., May 13, 1919, to Stephen T. Mather; Albright,

Horace M. , June 10, 1919, to Thomas C. Riggs Jr.; in RG 79 Selected

Documents

.

55
Mather's answer reflected the creativity of a skilled administrator. He understood that "Merrill does not care to

qualify as custodian." He was prepared to appoint a custodian

when a suitable candidate was found. In the meantime, he considered that Merrill was painting the poles under Sheridan's supervision with Shoup's advice. Up to $700 could be expended from

1919 funds and an additional $800 could be anticipated from 1920 TOO

funds that would become available after July 1, 1919. Working

under this "understanding," Merrill seems to have completed his

tasks by June 30, 1919. In early July he reported on his

project. The monument had 18 large totem poles, painted in six

colors. Of red cedar, the poles were badly cracked and had extremely rough surfaces. Merrill had built scaffolds around the

poles, chiseled out and replaced broken and decayed pieces, and

applied two coats of paint. Other work undertaken included placing benches at "Selected sightly spots with grandure [sic] as Indian River, the harbor, the islands, the ocean, Mt . Edgecumbe,

chain of other beauty spots." Dead limbs and small trees had

been removed. Accumulated dead moss, spruce needles, and cones

had been cleaned up. B. Hirst (painter), W.A. Alcorn (painter),

T. Berkland (teamster), Peter Kastromentinof f (carpenter and

painter), H.M. Woodruff (carpenter and woodsman), and J.H. Gilpatrick (expert painter) had worked with Merrill from May 14 to

June 30, 1919. The billed project cost was $688. 46. 133

Merrill's next association with the park came in the spring of

1920 when he advised Riggs that the monument bridge across Indian

River should either be repaired or closed to visitors. Although

Riggs corresponded with the National Park Service about the $450

needed to repair the bridge, nothing seems to have been done.

The park service still assumed that Merrill was interested in the

132

.

Mather, Stephen T. , no date, to Thomas C. Riggs Jr., in RG 79

Selected Documents.

133. Merrill, E.W., July 5, 1919, to National Park Service, in RG 79,

Selected Documents.

134. Merrill, E.W., May 20, 1920, to Thomas C. Riggs Jr.; Riggs, Thomas

C. Jr., July 14, 1920, telegram to Stephen T. Mather, in RG 79 Selected

Documents

.

56
custodian's position. Arno B. Cammerer, a member of Mather's

staff, requested that he "kindly execute" the papers sent on

August 30, 1918, by Riggs, so "that your entrance on duty under

your appointment of August 12, 1918 as custodian of the monument

may be noted.

135

Administration in the 1920s

Cammerer would play a significant role in the history of Sitka

National Monument during the coming years. Mather brought him

into the National Park Service in 1920, since both he and

Albright recognized Cammerer 's abilities as an administrator.

According to Albright, the new recruit had been in federal service since 1904. He had worked his way up from Treasury Department clerk to Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, then had become Assistant Secretary to the national Commission of Fine

-IOC

Arts. After serving in a variety of capacities in the National Park Service, he became its director in 1933. Perhaps because of his background, or perhaps because of Mather's and

Albright's focus on the large western parks, Cammerer 's name appeared frequently on correspondence related to Sitka.

Another person whose interest was important to the Sitka monument also appeared on the scene in 1920.

U.S. Army Col. James G. Steese became chairman of the Alaska

Road Commission at the end of World War I. Steese was a 1907

West Point graduate. After serving in Panama during the canal

construction, he taught at West Point, Fort Riley, and Fort

Leavenworth. During World War I he rose to the rank of brigadier

general in the Corps of Engineers and subsequently received a Congressional Distinguished Service medal for his war work.

After the war, reverting to colonel in the shrinking army, he was

135. Cammerer, Arno B., September 14, 1920, to E.W. Merrill, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

136. Albright, Horace M. , The Birth of the National Park Service (Salt

Lake City, Utah: Howe Brothers, 1985): 93.

57
appointed to the general staff and then as President of the

Alaska Road Commission in July 1920. Later in life, Steese became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of England.

A man of many interests, Steese' s support for the Sitka park

often seemed to be greater than that of National Park Service officials .

In March of 1924 Steese wrote to Mather with a proposal that

set the course of Sitka National Monument administration for the

next two decades. In his letter, Steese outlined previous work

accomplished by the road commission at Sitka, Katmai, and Mount

McKinley. In the summer of 1920 the commission had repaired the

footbridge across Indian River at Sitka and strengthened the

bulkheads along the river's bank. More than $1,000 in road commission funds had been spent on this work, together with $200

furnished by the National Park Service through the Alaska

governor's office. Steese closed his letter with an invitation

for suggestions relative to road work in connection with national

parks in Alaska and a wish to work closely with the park

service. Steese 's proposal led gradually to what would later

be characterized as an "informal agreement" in which the Alaska

Road Commission took over on-scene responsibility for Sitka National Monument administration. The relationship was probably

furthered by the fact that Steese, like many other early territorial officials for Alaska, spent much of each winter in

Washington attending to his agency's business.

The era of Alaska Road Commission administration began with a tripartite effort in which the National Park Service, the Territory of Alaska, and the road commission all provided small

amounts of funding for work at Sitka.

In January of 1922 Steese wrote to the National Park Service to

report that the past summer's work at Sitka had included putting

up a new bridge outside the monument boundaries.

137. DeArmond and Atwood, 1977: 95; Naske, 1983: 325.

138. Steese, James G., March 24, 1921, to Director, National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

58
Prior to erection of this new structure, wheel traffic had

crossed Indian River at a ford within the monument boundaries

just below the footbridge. But, said Steese, the roads and paths

in the monument were really foot paths. He was excluding wheel

traffic from the part of the monument west of Indian River where

the totem poles were located. The eastern part of the monument

was "unimproved" except for the road commission's wagon road. It

followed the line of the old army wagon wood road to Sawmill Bay.

Other 1921 work in the monument included $500 for the continuing effort to prevent erosion of the Indian River bank. Of this

amount, $200 had been provided by the National Park Service and

Steese had charged the balance off to road commission work to

protect the west abutment of "our suspension bridge."

Steese' s letter brought a reply from Cammerer. Prohibiting

wheeled traffic in the monument met with National Park Service

approval. He asked if Steese would put up "Wheel Traffic

Prohibited" signs at the ford and where the old road entered the

monument at Corner No. 2. Steese, who apparently was in

Washington for this exchange of correspondence, replied the following day that the signs would be erected, "using your letter as

authority.

140

Road commission willingness to share part of the burden at

Sitka seems to have been acceptable to the park service. In September of 1922 Cammerer advised Steese that the service had $150

available for work there. He asked if one of Steese 's men could

visit the park and report on what work needed to be done. Cammerer also noted that the service needed a custodian for Sitka.

The pay was only $12 per year, "but such appointments carry considerable prestige in other monuments." Could Steese recommend

someone? Steese replied that the road commission had done some

139. Steese, James G. , January 24, 1922, to Arno B. Cammerer, Assistant

Director, National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

140. Cammerer, Arno B., January 26, 1922, to James G. Steese; Steese,

James G. , January 27, 1922, to Arno B. Cammerer, in RG 79 Selected Documents .

59
minor work at the Sitka monument at its own expense during the

1922 field season. He recommended that the National Park Service

make $150 available for bridge repair in the spring of 1923 and

that Peter Trierschield , road commission foreman at Sitka, be appointed custodian for the monument.

Trierschield submitted a report on monument needs before the

end of the year. The Indian River bulkhead needed to be raised

above the suspension bridge and extended below Lovers Lane. The

footpath on the left side of the river needed to be graded and

graveled. It also needed several culverts. The 30-foot bridge

was rotted. Some totem poles needed to be painted and others

needed to be braced. The suspension bridge (apparently different

from the "30-foot bridge") needed two coats of preservative. If

money were available, two footpaths should be made through the

park and a number of small benches should be erected. By early

1923, National Park Service officials were addressing

Trierschield as "Custodian, Sitka National Monument." His

status was regularized by a June 1923 park service personnel action that defined his duties as "general supervision, care of

totem poles, and control of traffic."

New administrators demonstrate interest

Sitka Wharf and Power Company finally, in 1930, relocated the

powerline that had bothered Steese so much. Since the relocation

was entirely outside monument boundaries--to the seaward--the

park service had no grounds for objecting.

141. Steese, James G. , telegram September 29, 1922, to Arno B. Cammerer,

in RG 79 Selected Documents.

142. Trierschield, Peter, December 12, 1922, to James G. Steese; Cammerer, Arno B., January 25, 1923, to Peter Trierschield; Personnel Classification Board Form No. 1, June 9, 1923, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

143. Mather, Stephen T. , November 18, 1930, to Malcolm Elliott, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

60
George A. Parks, serving his last term as territorial governor;

John W. Troy, who followed Parks in 1933; and United States

Forest Service officials took over Steese's active interest in

the Sitka monument. The governors were the ones who wrote to

Washington to seek additional funds for repairs necessitated by

the wandering and occasionally flooding Indian River. Alaska

Region foresters C.H. Flory, M.L. Merritt, and Wellman Holbrook

not only suggested additional resources for the monument, as discussed below, but also communicated with Interior officials about

the condition of the monument and its routine maintenance.

While the foresters' concern for the monument developed, the

park service, temporarily known as the Office of National Parks,

Buildings, and Reservations, continued Peter Trierschield as custodian. Trierschield reached age 70 on September 3, 1933, but Ike

P. Taylor, then head of the road commission, reported that he

was in good condition. It was unlikely that anyone else would

render equivalent service for the compensation of $12 per

145

year.

As the park service expanded in the mid-1930s with the infusion

of depression-era relief funds, its bureaucracy grew and began to

pay more attention to Sitka.

In August of 1936 Washington officials inquired about

Trierschield ' s reply to a memo on the handling and sale of milk

in national monuments. They also noted that they had no reply to

the "Survey of Highway Auto Camps." The next year, they asked

144. Parks, George A., January 13, 1933, to Stephen T. Mather; Cammerer,

Arno B., February 6, 1934, to John W. Troy; Flory, C.H., Regional

Forester, Alaska, January 27, 1931, to the Forester; Merritt, M.L., Acting Regional Forester, Alaska, December 4, 1933, to the Forester;

Holbrook, Wellman, Acting Forester, Alaska, March 7, 1934, to M.L. Merritt, U.S. Forest Service, Washington, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

145. Maulding, J. Atwood, July 7, 1933, to Director, National Park Service; Taylor, Ike P., undated endorsement to Maulding letter, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

61
him to complete a personal history statement, including his first

name and middle initial. But on July 9, 1937, Trierschield died

at age 74. 14 Trierschield ' s death marked the beginning of a period in which the "informal agreement" instituted in 1922

gradually came to an end. Peter's son John had worked for his

father in the monument for a number of years and Taylor recommended him for the custodian position.

John Trierschield finished out the 1937 season as custodian at

Sitka and worked through 1938. Then J.D. Coffman, Chief of

Forestry for the National Park Service, visited Sitka. He

reported on conditions there at the end of the 1938 visitor

season. Coffman summarized the administrative situation at the

monument and made a number of resource-related comments.

Administrative problems included the cows of Mrs. Burkhart, an

adjacent property owner. The cows wandered into the area of

Lovers Lane and the totems, requiring the custodian to frequently

dung out that section of the monument. Toilet facilities were

needed. Signs were marred by bullet holes. Trierschield and a laborer, John G. Panamarkoff, kept the 18 totem poles in repair

by painting and by replacing damaged and decaying parts. Replacement parts were carved by them, then bolted into place.

Trierschield, Coffman said, was industrious and interested in

the monument, but "he does not have the education and personality that ordinarily characterize an administrative representative of the National Park Service." He recommended that Sitka

needed a full-time, qualified, custodian.

146. Jennings, R.O., Acting Associate Director, National Park Service,

August 7, 1936, to Peter Trierschield; Holmes, R.W. , Chief Clerk, National Park Service, January 25, 1937, to Peter Trierschield; Taylor,

Ike P., July 14, 1937, to Director, National Park Service, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

147. Taylor, July 14, 1937, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

62
Coffman concluded that "If the Sitka National Monument is to be

retained in the national park and monument system it should

receive the official attention, administration, and maintenance

compatible with that system; otherwise it should be turned over

14 8 to some other agency...."

The park service proposes a full-time custodian for Sitka

These recommendations resulted in a reassessment of the situation at Sitka. It was still possible to request funds for a full-time custodian at Sitka in the fiscal year 1940 budget.

Coffman' s report also triggered a recommendation that the Branch

of Plans and Design should develop a master plan for Sitka as

149

soon as practicable.

By November of 19 38 the Bureau of the Budget knew that the

park service wanted a full-time custodian at Sitka. The estimated cost was $2,360. That amount needed to be added to the

National Park Service estimate of $450,775 for national monuments

administration in fiscal year 1940. That fiscal year would begin

on July 1, 1939. The appropriation passed, and on August 30,

1939, the park service announced the availability of a RangerCustodian position at Sitka.

The new Ranger-Custodian would be responsible for patrolling

the monument area, keeping records and compiling all periodic and

special reports, and handling visitor contact and educational

148. Coffman, J.D., "Observations relative to Sitka National Monument,"

September 20, 1938, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

149. Tolson, Hillory A., Acting Associate Director, October 25, 1938, to

Director, National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

150. Acting Director, National Park Service, October 28, 1938, to E.K.

Burlew, First Assistant Secretary of the Interior and Budget Officer;

Burlew, E.K., November 3, 1938, to Mr. Demaray; Burlew, E.K., November

9, 1938, to Daniel K. Bell, Acting Director, Bureau of the Budget, in RG

79 Selected Documents.

63
work. 151 The National Park Service notified the Alaska Road Commission that when the position was filled, Trierschield would be

1 c 2 terminated

.

The Alaska Road Commission learned that a ranger-custodian had

been appointed when Taylor read about the appointment in the

Juneau Alaska Daily Empire of January 23, 1940. Miffed, Ike

Taylor forwarded the clipping to Washington. From it, he had

learned that on January 23 Ben C. Miller, former District Ranger

at Glacier National Park, had passed through Juneau to take up

duties at Sitka. Although the park service later apologized to

Taylor, it had unceremoniously ended the "informal agreement" between the National Park Service and the Alaska Road Commission

for administration of Sitka National Monument.

Resource Issues

Resource management problems

While attempting to find an on-site manager, the National Park

Service also began to deal with management problems in Sitka.

Late in 1918, Alaska's Delgate to Congress Charles A. Sulzer forwarded a claim from Sitkan Charles A. Haley regarding alienation

of his property by creation of the monument. Haley's property,

on the east bank of Indian River, lay outside the monument boundaries and the Park Service rejected his claim.

151. Holmes, R.M., Assistant Personnel Officer, National Park Service,

August 30, 1939, to Acting Regional Director, Region IV, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

152. Jennings, R.O., Acting Chief of Operations, National Park Service,

Septemebr 16, 1939, to Ike P. Taylor, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

153. Taylor, Ike P., January 25, 1940, to National Park Service, in RG

79, Selected Documents.

154. Mather, Stephen T., Director, National Park Service, January 14,

1919, to Hon. Charles A. Sulzer, Delegate from Alaska, in RG 79 Selected

Documents

.

64
Haley's unauthorized occupancy of the land in Tongass National

Forest had been noted earlier, in 1910, when the Secretary of

Agriculture forwarded the Arctic Brotherhood's petition for monument status to the Secretary of the Interior. In that correspondence, the agriculture secretary stated that the Nicholas Haley

family reportedly had been squatting on the land since June 1,

1882, and that Nicholas Haley had filed a claim for it on

February 19, 1883. 155

It was soon after this that a perennial problem began to be

documented in records about the monument. Riggs telegraphed

Mather on September 30, 1919, to ask for $200 to reinforce

bulkheads along Indian River. The bulkheads were needed to ice

prevent the river from further eroding its banks.

Correspondence about repairs to the monument continued through

1920. In May, Merrill advised the governor that the bridge

across Indian River had to be repaired or closed. Riggs

telegraphed Mather about the dilemma in July, estimating that

$450 was needed for the required work. Nothing happened until

October, when Arno B. Cammerer, acting for Mather, let Riggs know

that $200 had been authorized for reinforcement.

Correspondence over the next few years between Trierschield

,

Steese, and National Park Service officials -- primarily Cammerer

-- documents their efforts to maintain and improve the Sitka

monument. Money trickled from the park service to the Alaska

Road Commission, from the road commission's own coffers, and from

155. Secretary of Agriculture, March 5, 1910, to the Secretary of the

Interior, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

156. Riggs, Thomas C, Jr., September 30, 1919, to Stephen Mather, in RG

79 Selected Documents.

157. Merrill, E.W., May 29, 1920, to Governor Thomas Riggs; Riggs,

Thomas, telegram, July 14, 1920, to Stephen T. Mather, Director, National Park Service; Cammerer, Arno B., Acting Director, National Park

Service, telegram October 1, 1920, to Governor Thomas Riggs, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

65
the Territory of Alaska. Generally, road commission and territorial funds equaled or exceeded park service allotments to

Sitka.

A powerline running across the seaward boundary of the park was

among the first management issues dealt with by the new management team. Cammerer said that the powerline should be removed.

According to Cammerer, "It was the purpose of those who laid out

this road [Lovers Lane] to accord the visitors the benefit of the

fine views of Sitka Bay...." He believed that the powerline

seriously interfered with the seaward outlook from the monument.

Although the Federal Power Commission at first agreed to be

governed by Cammerer 's recommendation, Mather subsequently overruled his assistant. He concluded that if the powerline were put

entirely in Sitka Bay the obstruction of the seaward view would

be worse than the existing situation. If it were put through

heavy timber it would be even more of an eyesore. The park service director reached an agreement with the Federal Power Commission that the line could remain in place, if the power company

agreed to any later changes deemed necessary by the service.

Prohibition of wheeled vehicles in the park also became an

issue. C.F.M. Cole, editor of the Sitka newspaper, and Eiler

Hansen, secretary of the Sitka Commercial Club, visited the road

commission offices to complain. According to Hansen, the order

embarassed the people of Sitka. When the late President Warren

G. Harding and Mrs. Harding had visited the park it had been impossible to take them through it in a car without technically

violating the order. Cole, who was "much wrought up," claimed

that the prohibition hurt Sitka's tourist industry. Visitors

refused to disembark from visiting ships unless they could ride

in jitneys through the monument. He had a two-part solution. Replace the footbridge in the monument with a vehicle bridge and

put a loop road through the park. Cole said that the City of

Sitka would be willing to put up funds for road maintenance.

158. Cammerer, Arno B., September 11 and 17, 1923, to Executive

Secretary, Federal Power Commission; Merrill, O.C., Executive Secretary,

Federal Power Commission, September 18, 1923, to Director, National Park

Service; Mather, Stephen T., February 24, 1924, to Arno B. Cammerer, in

RG 79 Selected Documents.

66
When a memorandum recounting the Sitkans' woes found its way to

Mather, he dismissed the idea of wheeled traffic in the monument.

If the monument were opened to wheeled traffic, it would have to

be accessible to all except heavy commercial vehicles. There

was, in any case, no money for the increased expenses that would

be incurred. Vandalism would be less if vehicles continued to be

excluded. Finally, without vehicle traffic the area would remain

more scenically attractive for the traveling public.

Mather's comments probably pleased Steese. In relaying the

park service decision to the Sitka Commercial Club, Steese said

"I am deeply interested in the Sitka National Monument, as I consider it the most beautiful point in all Alaska." The road commission president also pointed out that the monument was only a couple of hundred yards wide. Tourists could leave their

vehicles at the west entrance and rejoin them where the highway

skirted the boundary on the east side of Indian River.

Steese 's decision to exclude wheeled vehicles from the monument,

endorsed by Mather, had far-reaching effects. Without it, the

character, esthetics, setting, and general development of Sitka

National Monument would have been far different.

Steese soon reinforced his efforts to maintain "the most

beautiful spot in all Alaska" with a ban on hunting and firearms

in the monument. After a hunter was apprehended shooting tame

deer and other wildlife within the boundaries, Steese had signs

posted forbidding firearms in the monument. Once the signs were

up, Steese telegraphed Washington to find out what authority the

Secretary of the Interior had to control the issue. A prompt

159. Hansen, Eiler, November 22, 1923, to James G. Steese; Agnew, P. A. (Alaska Road Commission), November 28, 1923, to James G. Steese, in RG

79 Selected Documents.

160. Mather, Stephen T. , December 18, 1923, to James G. Steese, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

161. Steese, James G. , December 27, 1923, to Eiler Hansen, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

67
reply advised that the secretary had in fact, under 1921 regulations, prohibited hunting in national monuments. Violators

should be taken to the nearest United States Commissioner for a hearing. 162

Another resource issue arose briefly in 1925 when Frank L.

Kuhn, an attorney, wrote to Mather on behalf of descendants of

Nicholas Haley. They asserted that a road that Haley built about

1881 lay within monument boundaries. The government should compensate them for the loss of this improvement. Attached affidavits described road construction and other improvements on

the property Haley had claimed. Cammerer, writing for Mather,

dismissed the case of Haley's descendants as being without merit.

General Land Office records did not show that Haley had perfected

his claim; therefore the descendants had no basis for a claim

against the government.

The powerline still nagged at Steese's vision of the monument.

In May of 1925 he sent six photographs of the "unsightly" power

line to Washington. In July he submitted the first of several

annual reports to the National Park Service. Afterward, he

queried Cammerer "Is there anything further we can do?"

Photographs attached to the annual report brought the unsightly

powerline to mind. In response, Cammerer summarized the accommodation reached with the power company.

The 1925 annual report also gave Steese an opportunity to

recapitulate Alaska Road Commission accomplishments in maintaining Sitka National Monument since 1922. Since the informal

agreement of April 1, 1922, authorizing that maintenance, a com162. Steese, James G. , telegram June 5, 1924, to Director, National Park

Service; Finney [no first name given], telegram June 6, 1924, to James

G. Steese, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

163. Kuhn, Frank L. , May 26, 1925, to Stephen T. Makler [sic]; Cammerer,

Arno B., June 9, 1925, to Frank L. Kuhn, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

164. Steese, James G., May 1, 1925, to Arno B. Cammerer; Steese, James

G. , July 10, 1925, to Arno B. Cammerer; Cammerer, Arno B., July 25,

1925, to James G. Steese, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

68
bination of National Park Service, Road Commission, and Territory

of Alaska funds had been spent on the monument. The park service

had contributed $342.37, the road commission $410.11, and the

territory $350. Steese detailed the work that had been accomplished since 1922. Custodian Trierschield ' s work included

not only routine maintenance, but construction of

two footpaths in the monument, erection of a totem pole that

had lain in three pieces for the past three years, and erection

of an ornamental gateway consisting of two totem poles and two

heavy concrete pillars connected by a heavy chain.

Trierschield also kept busy counting and recounting the totem

poles. In 1924 Cammerer asked how many there actually were. He

had encountered references to 16 and also to 18. The Sitka custodian replied on August 19, 1924, "I have checked. There are 18

totem poles in the monument." When Cammerer asked the same

question in the fall of 1925, Trierschield replied -- in February

of 1926 — that there were 16 poles. 167

Blockhouse becomes monument resource and erosion is checked

Not long after Trierschield ' s February totem pole count, Mather

made a decision about Sitka National Monument resources that

later caused his service a great deal of trouble. John

Panamarkoff, secretary of the Sitka Commercial Club, wrote to say

that citizens of Sitka wished to donate a replica of a Russian

blockhouse to the park. The Alaska Historical Association and

the Territorial Museum supported the proposal, as did Steese and

165. Steese, James G. , "Annual Report, Sitka National Monument, fiscal

year 1925," July 10, 1925, to Director, National Park Service, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

166. Cammerer, Arno B., July 21, 1924, to Peter Trierschield;

Trierschield, Peter, August 19, 1924, to Arno B. Cammerer; in RG 79

Selected Documents.

167. Cammerer, Arno B., November 7, 1925, to Peter Trierschield;

Trierschield, Peter, February 6, 1926, to Arno B. Cammerer, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

69
Territorial Governor George A. Parks. The Alaska Road Commission

would supervise the project. Mather replied that "I give my ap1 f\ ft proval to this proposal."

The Department of the Interior press release announcing the

blockhouse reconstruction incorporated the first National Park

Service statement concerning an interpretive theme for Sitka National Monument. The Battle of Sitka had paved the way for Russian supremacy in Alaska. "Had Russian supremacy failed early in

the nineteenth century England's effort to acquire the Territory

would have been successful."

Nineteen-hundred and twenty-six was otherwise a quiet year, but

early in 1927 Alaska's Delegate to Congress Donald Alexander

(Dan) Sutherland notified Mather that Indian River was undermining the witch tree at Sitka. Mather left the matter to Cammerer.

He in turn corresponded with Steese. The colonel already had the

matter in hand, having visited Sitka in December of 1926 to investigate. Temporary protection costing $100 had been instituted

then. Steese subsequently arranged for the stream to be cleared

of obstructions above the tree's location, reconstruction of 100

feet of road, and placing of a bulwark along the bank at the

tree's location. His telegram confidently advised Cammerer,

"Your share $250.

170

Steese also moved ahead with monument development. He often

advised the park service after the fact about what he regarded as

minor improvements and only sought Washington's approval for

major undertakings. In addition to a recitation of maintenance

168. Panamarkof f , John, February 26, 1926, to U.S. Park Service and

Alaska Road Commission; Steese, James G. , March 17, 1926, to Arno B.

Cammerer; Mather, Stephen T., April 14, to James G. Steese, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

169. Department of the Interior, May 11, 1926, Memorandum for the Press,

in RG 79 Selected Documents.

170. Mather, Stephen T., March 8, 1927, to Mr. Demaray; Cammerer, Arno

B., March 24, 1927, to James G. Steese; Steese, James G. , telegram April

6, 1927, to Arno B. Cammerer, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

70
work and expenditures in his 1927 annual report, Steese noted

that in the coming summer he planned to construct a new path following the boundary from the west entrance around the west and

northeast sides. This would allow the entire monument boundary

to be patrolled.

The July 1927 annual report also advised that the blockhouse

replica had been thrown up, using heavy cedar logs and hardware

from the original Blockhouse No. 2 (Blockhouse D). A Sitka

Commercial Club drive raised the $2,500 cost of blockhouse

reconstruction, with the Alaska Steamship Company being the

largest contributor. Titus Demidoff and W.R. Hanlon of Sitka

built the replica, using Blockhouse D as a model. Blockhouse D

had been a point, toward Swan Lake, on the wall separating the

Russian and Native settlements at Sitka. The United States Observatory crew at Sitka demolished the original blockhouse in

17? 1921 because its metal affected their instruments.

Mather's authorization for construction of the replica had come

in April of 1926, and by April of 1927 Steese was forwarding

photographs of the completed structure to Washington. The

photographs elicited a response from A.E. Demaray, acting assistant director of the service, that "it [the blockhouse] was certainly well done." 173

171. Steese, James G. , "Annual Report, Sitka National Monument, fiscal

year 1927," July 8, 1927, to Director, National Park Service, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

172. Spude, Robert L. , Regional Historian, Alaska Region, National Park

Service, undated, to Chief, Division of Cultural Resources, Alaska

Region, National Park Service, in files of the Alaska Regional Office,

National Park Service.

173. Demaray, A.E., April 1, 1927, to James G. Steese, in files of Sitka

National Historical Park.

71
Steese proposes additional resources

At the end of the 1927 season, Steese proposed to Mather that

abandoned totem poles at the site of the former Native village of

Howkan be relocated to the Sitka National Monument. A Haida

community on the northwest coast of Long Island in the Alexander

Archipelago, Howkan had gradually lost its population to the village of Kaigani and thence to Hydaburg. Howkan' s post office,

1 7 S established in 1882, was transferred to Hydaburg in 1917.

A flurry of correspondence ensued. It involved Steese, Mather,

Parks, officials of the Bureau of Education, and the Smithsonian

Institution. No government funds were available for a totem

pole retrieval project. When an appeal for private funds failed

the project was dropped. The exchange of letters, however,

revealed that Mather had visited Alaska in 1927. This event

was otherwise unrecorded in records relating to Sitka National

Monument

.

Steese' s retirement in 1928 marked the end of aggressive road

commission interest in Sitka National Monument. Although his

successors dutifully oversaw fulfilment of the "informal agreement" with the National Park Service, their correspondence and

annual reports noted few attempts to enhance the monument's

resources. Steese had been a fairly steady correspondent of

Mather and Cammerer. Maj . Malcom Elliott, the succeeding road

174. Steese, James G. , September 10, 1927, to Director, National Park

Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

175. Orth, 1967): 434.

176. Mather, Stephen T., September 16, 1927, to James G. Steese; Steese,

James G. , September 23, 1927, to Stephen T. Mather; Hawkesworth,

Charles, Alaska Division, Bureau of Education, November 1, 1927, to

George A. Parks; "A. B.C." [Arno B. Cammerer], December 22, 1927, to A.E.

Demaray; Demaray, A.E., February 24, 1928, to Dr. Frank B. Oastler;

Parks, George A., February 25, 1928, to Stephen T. Mather; Oastler,

Frank R., March 3, 1928, to A.E. Demaray, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

72
commission president, submitted brief annual reports and usually

wrote only when additional money was needed for such things as

emergency work on the Indian River bank.

New poles proposed for Sitka

The idea of adding resources to the monument came up once more

in 1931. C.H. Flory, Alaska Regional Forester for the U.S.

Forest Service, suggested retrieving abandoned totem poles from

the defunct national monument at Old Kasaan and relocating them

17 7

to Sitka. This was an old idea, suggested as early as 1914

and considered again throughout the years. Old Kasaan, a former

Haida village on Prince of Wales Island, had been abandoned in

the 1890s. The village, with its name derived from an Indian

word for "pretty town," was noted for its large number of ornate

17ft totem poles

.

Old Kasaan had been designated a national monument in 1916

after much documentation by the Forest Service and a campaign by

the Alaska Cruise Club. Much to everyone's consternation, the

designation came after a 1915 fire had destroyed many of the surviving traditional houses and damaged the totem poles at the

site. With many of its resources destroyed, the Prince of Wales

Island site was never actively managed as a national monument.

After Flory took over as District Forester in the South Tongass

National Forest in 1919, he recommended moving some of the surviving poles to Sitka National Monument. Flory became Alaska

Regional Forester before the executive reorganization of 1933

transferred administration of all national monuments to the National Park Service. In his new capacity, he again proposed

relocating the Old Kasaan totems, as well as totems at other

abandoned village sites within Tongass National Forest boundaries, to Sitka National Monument.

177. Flory, C.H., January 27, 1931, to the Forester, in RG 79 Selected

Documents

.

178. Orth, 1967: 720-721.

179. Rakestraw, 1981: 81, 98-99.

73
Flory resubmitted his proposal in 1934. M.L. Merritt of the

Forest Service visited with National Park Service officials to

follow up. He recommended retrieval of poles from Cat Island,

Howkan, Old Kasaan, Klinkwan, Tongass Island, and Tuxekan; also

salvage of enough good materials to reconstruct one traditional

18 Native dwelling. Like other such proposals for relocation of

abandoned poles to Sitka, however, Flory' s died without action.

Merrill plaque proposed

Sitka's citizens raised the idea of adding another resource to

the monument in 1933. Elbridge Warren Merrill, the first albeit

unofficial custodian of the monument, had become ill with influenza late in 1929. This turned into pneumonia which caused

Merrill's death on October 27, 1929. The Sitka post of the

American Legion raised money for a commemorative plaque which

read :

Elbridge W. Merrill who dedicated his life and artistic attainments towards picturing the scenic beauties

surrounding Sitka, Alaska, 1932. 81

According to Eiler Hansen, who wrote as adjutant of the Sitka

post to the National Park Service in 1933, the plaque was to be

mounted on a natural granite monolith about 14 feet in height.

Hansen asked permission to erect the plaque and its monolith

within the monument.

The answer was no. Cammerer replied for Albright: "Mr. Merrill never entered on duty as custodian of the monument ... I

regret that it would be against the policy of the National Park

Service to permit its erection within the Sitka National Monu180. Bryant, H.C., March 27, 1934, to Director, National Park Service,

in RG 79 Selected Documents.

181. Chambers, 1977: 145.

182. Hansen, Eiler, March 31, 1933, to Horace M. Albright, Director, National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

74
ment, even had he been officially connected with it." Cammerer

asked if the memorial plaque could be placed on the approach to

the monument outside it boundaries. It was placed outside the

boundaries, where it remained into the 1980s, although it was

removed temporarily during visitor center construction in

1964. 183

Territorial governor intiates totem pole project

Alaska's governor John W. Troy submitted the final proposal of

the late 1930s that affected the resources of Sitka National

Monument. He wrote to A.E. Demaray, a senior park service official, to suggest that it would be possible to get Civilian Conservation Corps help not only for landscaping at Sitka, but also

to rehabilitate the totem poles there. Such work would need a National Park Service technical advisor. It could begin as early

as October 1938. 184

Demaray responded that the park service was interested. It had

"no general plan of development for Sitka National Monument," and

would be glad to participate in the program. He regarded it as

essential that a technician be employed to see that the work was

properly planned and executed. Would the Alaska Civilian Conservation Corps (administered by the U.S. Forest Service) be able to

employ the technician? If arrangements could be made, Demaray

said, details would be worked out by the park service regional

office at San Francisco.

Alaska Regional Forester B. Frank Heintzleman, who may have

been behind Troy's original suggestion, followed it up in January

of 1939. The Forest Service had obtained Works Progress Administration funding for totem pole restoration. He telegraphed

183. Cammerer, Arno B., April 10, 1933, to Eiler Hansen, in RG 79

Selected Documents; Chambers, 1977: 145.

184. Troy, John W. , April 23, 1938, to A.E. Demaray, Acting Director,

National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

185. Demaray, A.E., May 13, 1938, to John W. Troy, in RG 79 Selected

Documents

.

75
Demaray with the news that funds were available. If the park

service could provide a qualified foreman, the project would

i of: begin. Cammerer, now Director of the National Park Service,

replied that no park service specialists were available to supervise the work. The service could pay for the services of an ethnologist or qualified graduate student in anthropology to give

initial supervision. He suggested looking for such an expert at

the University of Washington or the University of Alaska. If

such scientific assistance were not available, the project could

go ahead so long as before and after photographs were made and

1 R 7 "record card file" documentation of work was created.

By April of 1939 Heintzleman was able to write to Cammerer that

the totem pole work at Sitka was underway with WPA funds. He

enclosed a photographic record of the poles in place on February

18. The Forest Service would submit a final report when the work

was finished. 188

The Alaska Road Commission provided a dump truck for the

project. The Forest Service Wood Products Laboratory sent advice

on preservation treatment for the poles. John Maurstand served

as foreman for the project, with George Benson as chief carver

and nine Indian workers. The WPA funds were used up by March and

the Forest Service continued work with Civilian Conservation

Corps money. About half of the old poles, many of which were

badly deterioriated , were duplicated. Duplicates and repaired

poles were treated with Permatox B, painted with compounds carefully constructed to match original Native colors, and then

treated again with Pentra-Seal. 9

186. Heintzleman, B. Frank, telegram January 27/28, 1939, to Director,

National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

187. Cammerer, Arno B., January 31, 1939, to B. Frank Heintzleman, in RG

79 Selected Documents.

188. Heintzleman, B. Frank, April 4, 1939, to National Park Service, in

RG 79 Selected Documents.

189. Heintzleman, B. Frank, December 21, 1939, to Dr. Carl P. Russell,

National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

76
Most of the work at Sitka was completed by March of 1940. Although plans were discussed to build an open air shed in which to

store oriqinals of the duplicated poles, they were eventually

190 shunted aside to uncovered storage on skids.

While the totem pole work was beginning, the park service began

to reassess its treatment of Sitka National Monument's resources.

Mount McKinley National Park Superintendent Frank T. Been and

Earl A. Trager of the service's research and information bureau

1 Ql visited Sitka to look things over. Carl P. Russell, Supervisor of Research and Information for the service, suggested a special study of the area from "anthropological, historical and

museum standpoints."

The totem pole rehabilitation and duplication project marked a significant resource policy decision for Stika National Monument.

When the park service agreed to plans to duplicate entire poles

and then concluded that some of the originals were beyond preservation, it established a lasting ethic of resource management

that extended through the next 30 years of Sitka National Monument administration.

190. Rakestraw, 1981: 100-101.

191. Been, Frank T. , October 4, 1939, to Earl A. Trager; Trager, Earl

A., December 21, 1939, to Frank T. Been, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

192. Russell, C.P., November 21, 1939, to R.F. Lee, in RG 79 Selected

Documents

.

77
Lovers Lane at Sitka National Monument, ca. 1935. (Photo courtesy of

Anchorage Museum of History and Art, #B75 ."T34 . 61

)

Indian River, Sitka National Monument, date unknown. (Photo courtesy of

Anchorage Museum of History and Art, #B75.134.62)
Totem walk at Sitka National Monument, ca. 19 35

of Anchorage Museum of History and Art, #B80.50

(Photo courtesy

30)
CHAPTER 4

SITKA NATIONAL MONUMENT, MIDDLE YEARS

Introduction

Overview

This section treats pre-World War II management of the park including preparation of the first master plan for Sitka National

Monument, the Civilian Conservation Corps-U.S. Forest Service

project to restore or recarve totems at the park and from other

areas of Alaska, the war years when park service personnel had

only limited access to areas of the park being used by the U.S.

Army and and the U.S. Navy, and the post-war years through 1959.

The period included removal of inholders from the park boundaries, efforts to obtain government housing for park personnel,

war-related gravel dredging operations at the mouth of Indian

River, erection of coastal defense installations within the park,

navy efforts at river bank erosion control, and an expanded mandate for park personnel to investigate and document historic

properties throughout Sitka. The post-war period included

debates over integrity of the park, when it was contemplated

returning the area to local jurisdiction if the Indian fort site

could not be located by archeological examination, and possible

removal of the totem poles as exotic to the park location; archeological verification of the fort site in 1957; discussions

regarding treatment of the fort site, battlefield, river,

replication and rehabilitation of totem poles, and the vistas

from the park; and renewed consideration of establishing Sitka as

a "Williamsburg of the Sub Arctic."

Other events falling into this period include assumption of

maintenance of Sitka National Cemetery by park personnel, permission for operation of an asphalt hot plant on the east site of

Indian River and subsequent burial of asphalt within park boundaries and reforestation, renewed gravel dredging at the mouth of

Indian River, and razing of the Russian blockhouse replica

donated to the park in 1926.

78
The Context Changes

The Sitka that the National Park Service's first full-time custodian for Sitka National Monument came to in 1940 was changing

rapidly. Army and navy personnel were returning to Sitka in numbers after an absence of decades. Their presence and purpose affected Sitka, the custodian's role in the town, and operations of

Sitka National Monument.

Sitka had been the scene of an army garrison from 1867 to 1877.

After the army pulled out, a series of naval installations were

located in Sitka. Most of them were located on nearby Japonski

Island, which had been established as a naval reservation by the

1890 presidential proclamation that had also reserved the public

park on Indian River.

Sitka was an anchorage for a navy ship from 1879 to 1897, host

to a Marine Barracks from 1884 to 1912, locus for a naval hospital from 1904 to 1912, and home community to a naval radio station from 1907 to the early 1930s. For most of these years there

was a navy coal pile located on Japonski Island. In 1931, the

radio station was decommissioned and its buildings and those of

the coal pile were put in the custody of the commandant of the

Puget Sound Navy Yard.

Eiler Hansen, who had earlier corresponded with the National

Park Service about erecting the Merrill plaque, wrote a 1940 article in which he observed that "...the navy finally discovered

that it had a coal shed which had never housed any coal, a wharf

at which no ships ever docked, a radio station where no messages

were sent or received and a complement of men who were being paid

for raising gold fish and coots." Sitkans ' efforts to reestablish the navy at Sitka were, according to Hansen, to no

avail. But in 1935, in his words, "the Navy Board of

Strategy ... turned its myopic eye on Alaska." Adm. Ernest J. King

came to investigate and visited Sitka. The result of the visit

was, again according to Hansen, that the navy gouged out a hole

for an airplane ramp on Japonski Island, converted the old coal

shed there to a barracks, tied up converted destroyers at the

dock on the island, and transformed a house into a bachelor officers' quarters. Although Hansen attributed the navy's renewed

79
attention to "some dark and devious process unknown to the mind

of ordinary man," the decision to build at Sitka evolved from a rational process.

The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 had prohibited the navy

from building bases in Alaskan waters, but the navy conducted

many aerial and ship surveys in those waters during the 1920s and

19 30s. When Japan allowed the treaty to expire without renewal

in 1936, the navy commissioned Rear Adm. Arthur J. Hepburn, a former Director of Naval Intelligence, to head a board which

would study and report on its strategic needs. While the matter

was under study, the navy designated its old reservation on

Japonski Island as the Naval Seaplane Base, Sitka, in 1937, and

the Fleet Air Base, Sitka, in February 1938. These early activities resulted in only a few navy personnel being relocated to

Sitka, while half squadrons (six plane detachments) of patrol

seaplanes rotated through Sitka every six months.

The Hepburn Board submitted its report in December 19 38. Naval

air, destroyer, and submarine bases were recommended for Sitka

and also for Kodiak and Dutch Harbor. Congress appropriated some

of the necessary money, contracts were let to Siems Drake Puget

Sound, a joint venture construction company, and the first

workers arrived in the fall of 1939 to begin building the new

naval facilities.

In September of 1939, although only a few contractors' buildings were in place on Japonski Island, the navy designated its

Sitka facility as a Naval Air Station. Ultimately 65 percent of

155 separate projects at a total cost of 25 million dollars would

be completed in and around Sitka. The contractors brought in

nearly 1,700 workers (more than the total of Sitka's estimated

1939 population), navy personnel arrived to staff the facility,

and army troops assembled to guard the navy facilities. Scores

of buildings were erected and more than 13 miles of road were

laid out on Japonski Island and the smaller islets in Sitka Bay

that the contractors connected by causeways.

193. Hansen, Eiler, "Japonski," in Alaska Life, July 1940: 10-11

80
Sitka's population exploded, its resources such as Indian River

were tapped to provide fresh water for the new residents of

Japonski Island, prices for food and housing rose, and construc194 tion needs triggered a search for gravel sources.

Monument Administration, 1940-1965

Investigation Comments

A 1939 investigation of Sitka National Monument by Frank T.

Been, Superintendent of Mount McKinley National Park, followed

Coffman's 19 38 report. Been's comments, based on an August 19 39

visit to Sitka, were caustic. According to Been, "Sitka National

Monument may be considered antithetical to National Park Service

purposes and ideals."

Been noted that the totem poles were foreign to Sitka and

recommended their removal to a place approximating their original

location. Gravel dredging at the mouth of Indian River by

Sitka's Service Transfer Company jarred the scene. It might continue indefinitely unless taken over by the navy. The blockhouse

should either be removed or completed. If completed, the blockhouse should be explained to visitors. The Merrill plaque should

be removed

.

Future work at the monument should include improving the approach to the entrance, constructing toilet and possibly drinking

water facilities, building rustic benches, clearing vistas,

preparing an information pamphlet for the monument as a whole and

signs for each totem pole, erecting a fence to keep cattle out of

the grounds, and stabilizing the river bank. Been also recommended investigating the gravel removal, stabilizing the original

totem poles and carving duplicates. He criticized past efforts to

preserve the poles and commended the current joint Forest

194. Hanable, William S. and Vincent Ponko Jr., The Navy in Alaska, 1867

- 1941: an Historic Preservation Study (Anchorage: The Institute for

Public History, 1983): 242-260; "Siems Drake Puget Sound - the story of

Alaska's naval air bases in World War II," undated ms. (written for H.W.

McCurdy, a principal of Siems Drake Puget Sound), in files of the Sitka

Historical Society; Part 3, "Sitka."

81
Service-Civilian Conservation Corps totem pole project. Some

results of past totem pole preservation efforts, according to

Been, "have been almost hideous." Canvas had been tacked over

decaying portions of poles and painted. All the poles had inserts that had been carved like replaced sections and fitted in

to take the place of decayed wood.

Been also expressed concern over preservation of Sitka's historic scene. The scene was fast being despoiled by a salmon boom

that had caused more than 1,500 trawlers to headquarter there

over the past two years. The service should assist in preservation of Sitka's historical values in order to justify its standards and guardianship.

These recommendations were taken seriously in Washington. Col.

John R. White, then acting assistant director of the service,

noted in a memorandum on the subject "A good report. Apparently

we should either abandon the Sitka Monument or embody it as an

historic site and make something worthwhile of it." A few days

later Demaray commented that he saw no reason to abandon Sitka

National Monument. The emphasis at Sitka should be changed from

"totem poles" to the historic aspects of the area. He also noted

"but we have had no means to do anything and conditions drift

along." The Director of the National Park Service took a more

prosaic view: "What we need more than a dignified patrol ranger,

is a laborer with sense who will work around the monument, cut

the grass and weeds, and paint the poles." The Smithsonian Institution, asked to comment, was of the opinion that poles not

appropriate to Sitka should be relocated to Old Kasaan National

Monument. Moreover, there were sufficient data in the United

States National Museum to reconstruct the more important buildings from Sitka's Russian period.

195. Been, Frank T. , "Report on Inspection of Sitka National Monument,"

October 14, 1939, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

196. White, John R. , October 31, 1939, memorandum; Demaray, A.E., November 1, 1939, memorandum; Cammerer, Arno B., November 7, 1939, memorandum; Wetmore, A., Assistant Secretary, The Smithsonian Institution,

December 14, 1939, to the Director, National Park Service, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

82
Sitka' s First Trained Custodian

When Ben C. Miller arrived in Sitka in January of 1940 to take

up duties as custodian of Sitka National Monument, he faced

several challenges. The National Park Service was, for the first

time, giving proper attention to Sitka. A totem pole rehabilitation and recarving project, using Forest Service advice and

Civilian Conservation Corps workers, was underway. Master planning for the monument was required. Miller also needed to establish his role, and that of the park service personnel who would

follow him, in Sitka. Sitka itself was changing dramatically.

Been wrote at the time that the position at Sitka would require

more work than one person could do. It would involve totem pole

restoration, stream flow control, construction of buildings, and

improvement of the approach to the monument. He also recommended

that the position be salaried at $2,000 per year. This was the

1 9 7 minimum that had been established for Mount McKinley rangers.

Although Been had proposed two candidates for the Sitka position, one a corralman from Mount McKinley and the other the CCC

supervisor at Sitka, the position ultimately went to Miller, who

also earned Been's recommendation. At the time he applied,

Miller was "one of the best district rangers" at Glacier National

Park in Montana. He had nine years' experience as a ranger and

district ranger. The superintendent of Glacier National Park was

reluctant to let him go, but Miller was looking for a duty station that had a high school for his two children. Park service officials at Washington approved Miller's permanent change of

station from Glacier National Park, where he had been a District

197. Been, Frank T. , September 28, 1939, to Director, National Park

Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

198. Miller, Ben C, September 16, 1939, to Superintendent, Glacier National Park; Libbey, D.S., Superintendent, Glacier National Park, September 22, 1939, to Regional Director, Region IV, National Park Service;

Been, Frank T. , telegram, December 8, 1939, to Director, National Park

Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

83
Ranger, Grade 9, at an annual salary of $2,100, to Sitka, where

he would take the title of Custodian, at the same grade and

19 9 salary.

While Miller's appointment was being settled, overall administration of the monument was being reviewed. When Been

queried Washington as to whether or not he would be responsible

for supervision and funds of Sitka National Monument, Demaray,

Associate Director of the National Park Service, replied that administration of Sitka had been under the Alaska Road Commission.

He did not deem it advisable to make a change unless there was a valid reason.

Been ' s reply indicated that he was somewhat aggrieved. He

replied that he had been instructed by Washington to select a custodian for Sitka and therefore inquired if he would have continuing responsibility, possibly as "Coordinating

Superintendent." He had never thought of the Alaska Road Commission as having continuing responsibility for Sitka. The road

commission had no construction in Southeast Alaska and for it assignment of Sitka and Old Kasaan national monuments had "resulted

in an unwelcome responsibility." The fact that the road commission did not want the job was alone sufficient justification for

relieving it of administration of Sitka National Monument. Been

additionally suggested that those in Washington review the

"Report of Investigation of Sitka National Monument" dated October 14, 1939. His rejoinder was effective. He soon received

advice that he had responsibility for general administration of

Sitka National Monument. 201

199. Atwood, Maulding J. (Mrs.), Director of Personnel, National Park

Service, December 20, 1939, to Ben C. Miller, in RG 79 Selected Documents .

200. Been, Frank T., telegram, December 8, 1939, to Director, National

Park Service; Demaray, A.E., Associate Director, National Park Service,

December 15, 1939, to Frank T. Been, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

201. Been, Frank T. , January 6, 1940, to Director, National Park Service; Cammerer, Arno B., Director, National Park Service, telegram,

January 29, 1940, to Frank T. Been, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

84
Adequate housing for Sitka's new custodian was among the first

issues that Been addressed. Construction workers and military

personnel flooding into Sitka were occupying all previous

vacancies. What little housing that became available was exorbitant in price. Unfurnished houses rented for as much as $50

per month. The service needed to look into transfer of buildings

being vacated by the Coast and Geodetic Survey or new construction to house Miller and his family. Although park officials

pursued the transfer and the Coast and Geodetic Survey was agreeable, military priorities prevailed and the army eventually took

2f) 2

over the land and buildings.

Initial National Monument Planning

The housing problem was one of several indications that the

park service needed to plan for Sitka development. In March of

1940, Thomas C. Vint, the service's Chief of Planning, brought

Director Cammerer up to date on the planning he had instructed

Region IV headquarters in San Francisco to initiate for Sitka.

The region had replied that the only available data was a map accompanying the proclamation that had established Sitka National

Monument and Been's October 19 39 "Report of Inspection of Sitka

National Monument." J.D. Coffman, Chief of Forestry, Earl A.

Trager, Chief Naturalist, and Ronald F. Lee, Supervisor of Historic Sites, all reviewed the available documentation.

Lee's comments were the most vital and addressed issues of

long-term significance:

Since the totems at Sitka are without exception exotic [to the Sitka area], they can be located in

the park in accordance with landscape principles or

principles of good design. .. .The replica of the old

Russian blockhouse has no special historical value

since it is not on the original blockhouse site.

202. Been, Frank T. , telegram, January 30, 1940, to Director, National

Park Service; White, J.R., Chief of Operations, National Park Service,

January 30, 1940, to Commander O.W. Swainson, Coast and Geodetic Survey,

in RG 79 Selected Documents.

85
There is no need to continue work on this replica;

nor, on the other hand, should it be pulled down as

someone has proposed. It is an interesting feature

and may as well be retained as one of the features

of the park.

Lee also noted that the service might employ authority granted by

the Historic Sites Act of 1935 as a basis for cooperative agreements for preservation of Saint Michael's Cathedral and other old

on o Russian or early American structures at Sitka.

Vint summarized the comments of Coffman, Lee, and Trager in a memorandum that apparently constituted Sitka National Monument's

first master plan. Logical projects for Sitka included a new

entrance motif, replacing enameled signs with wood signs, replacing frame benches with benches of rustic design, continuing totem

pole restoration, constructing toilet facilities, controlling Indian River erosion, and establishing a custodian's residence and

garage, probably in Sitka proper.

Cammerer responded to the Sitka plan by noting that it showed

15 totem poles and there were actually 18. Two additional poles

were at the entrance to the park and another was adjacent to

Lovers Lane, just south of three poles in a clearing.

Although Vint later noted that he signed a master plan for

Sitka on August 30, 1940, and recommended it to the director,

there is no documentary evidence that Sitka's first master plan

ever evolved beyond the letter summarizing the recommendations of

the various branch chiefs. Its recommendations were to be

revived, the first time coming in 1946 when Miller again brought

up the idea of constructing an information center at the entrance

to the monument

.

205

203. Lee, Ronald F. , February 29, 1940, to Thomas C. Vint, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

204. Cammerer, Arno B., March 27, 1940, to Thomas C. Vint, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

205. Vint, Thomas C, Chief of Planning, National Park Service, March 9,

1940 to Director, National Park Service; August 31, 1940, to Regional

86
Miller shapes custodian' s duties

As the planning went on, Miller began to establish himself in

Sitka and his control over Sitka National Monument. After his

first full month, February 1940, on the job, he believed that the

monument required an additional staff member who could devote his

or her full time to researching totem poles and Alaska

history. In March of 1940 he plunged into the complex negotiations for acquisition of private property on the park's boundary and recommended acquisitions near the park entrance.

Miller also reported the first of many problems with gravel

dredging at the mouth of Indian River. Although Miller felt

that he had handled the matter badly because the structures for

storing accumulated gravel were on park land, Been advised his

superiors that Miller had done all that was possible in the

circumstances

.

In April of 1940 Miller and Deputy U.S. Marshal Henry Bardht

apprehended Sitkans Roy Corp and Eva Meinsenzhal for being drunk

and disorderly in the monument. Corp and Meinsenzhal were sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Director, Region IV, National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents;

"Values and objectives - a compendium of statements concerning areas in

the National Park System," 1946, in File D-18/52 at Sitka National Historical Park.

206. Been, Frank T., March 27, 1940, to Ben C. Miller, in RG 79 Selected

Documents

.

207. Miller, Ben C., March 23, 1940, to Superintendent Been, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

208. Miller, Ben C. , March 22, 1940, to Superintendent Been; Frank T. Been, April 4, 1940, to Regional Director, Region IV, National Park

Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

209. Monthly Narrative Report for Sitka National Monument (hereafter

MNR), April 2, 1940, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

87
Miller also began delving into the history of the monument's

resources. He soon felt expert enough to venture corrections for

Merle Colby's A Guide to Alaska —last American frontier

.

Where

Colby reported 16 totem poles, there were actually 18 and none

were Tlingit poles. Colby was misinformed regarding the blockhouse replica. It contained no logs from any of the original

blockhouses. 210

The new custodian's first few months at Sitka set the pattern

for his administrative activities over the next few years, although his administrative duties decreased rather than increased.

Miller was extremely active, documenting his monthly reports with

photographs that remain of interest. In addition to pictures of

monument resources such as the totem poles, discarded poles, the

lyre tree, and newly-constructed toilets, he recorded activities

such as a May 1941 Kiksadi picnic held "in honor of descendants

of warriors killed in battle of 1802 at Old Sitka," women and

children picnicking on the seashore, and sailors looking over the

grounds

.

The annual report for Sitka National Monument for the fiscal

year ending June 30, 1941, recorded that CCC workers had moved

several trees from the shoulders of the monument road, erected a large rustic sign at the monument entrance, widened the monument

road, and resurveyed the monument boundaries. Other projects had

not been started because wages paid at the navy construction site

limited CCC enrollees . A minor administrative problem was solved

when the Bureau of Public Roads agreed to maintain the road in

the monument for about $100 annually. Tourist ships were already

down to half the number that had visited Sitka in the previous

year, and when the army and navy took over large portions of the

monument after Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941,

visitation to the park dropped to nothing.

210. Colby, Merle, A Guide to Alaska—Last American Frontier (New York:

1939): 172-173; MNR, July 3, 1940 in RG 79 Selected Documents.

211. MNR, September 4, 1940, February 3, 1941, May 5, 1941, June 4,

1941, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

88
World War II

The army takeover came in late May of 1942. Reports of

Japanese attacks on the Aleutian Islands, which did not actually

occur until early June, prompted the military to pre-empt the

monument on the west side of Indian River from the second cross

footpath to the mouth of the river. Two pyramid tents were

erected by the army, although two aircraft observation posts that

had been established near the blockhouse just after Pearl Harbor

213

were dismantled.

A very helpful source of labor for the monument disappeared on

July 2, 1942, when the CCC program in Sitka terminated. With

much of the labor force on which the monument had depended for

several years gone and part of the monument grounds closed,

Miller turned outward, rather than becoming inactive. It was not

always easy. His monthly report for November 1941 complained, in

regard to a photo contest which drew no entrants, "This lack of

cooperation and indifference is what I have had to deal with ever

since I came here. Apparently one of the greatest obstacles to

overcome is the changing of the opinion of the local residents

regarding their indifference to tourists."

Miller persevered. He accepted an appointment to the local

board of U.S. Civil Service Examiners. He also served as a master sergeant in the Alaska Territorial Guard, a state militia

organized to substitute during the war years for the Alaska National Guard, which had been called to federal service in 1940.

Miller additionally served on Sitka's local draft board, worked

212. Sitka National Monument annual report for fiscal year ending June

30, 1941; Russell, Carl P., Supervisor of Research and Interpretation,

National Park Service, January 31, 1941, to Director, National Park

Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

213. MNR, June 3, 1942, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

214. MNR, August 4, 1942, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

215. MNR, November 3, 1941, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

89
regularly at Sheldon Jackson Museum, and was active in many other

community affairs. The Alaska Game Commission and the U.S.

Forest Service, neither of which had representatives in Sitka,

often called on Miller to accomplish tasks for them. These activities were only supplemental though, to his work in dealing

with protection and enhancement of Sitka National Monument's

resources

.

An important administrative change occurred in 1943 when Miller

received a note from Been saying that he was going into the army.

Grant H. Pearson became acting superintendent of Mount McKinley

National Park, but Miller was advised to report directly to

Region IV rather than through Pearson. Thereafter both Sitka and

Glacier Bay national monuments came under the general supervision

of the Regional Director, Region IV, National Park Service. This

diverted some of Miller's attention to Glacier Bay and he began

to perform winter patrols there. By 1943, when Region IV director Owen A. Tomlinson planned a visit to Sitka, he advised Miller

that he was "Confident you will continue to give your two

[emphasis added] areas the personal and intelligent attention you

have given in the past.

This dilution of attention to Sitka was followed by a 1944

director's decision that further development at Sitka should be

postponed. Archaeological, historical, and scientific values

needed to be studied. Until those studies were completed, damage

could be repaired but additional development would not begin.

Future alternatives might include turning the area over to other

21ft agencies such as the City of Sitka or the Territory of Alaska. °

216. Atwood, Maulding, J., December 5, 1941, to Paul E. Cole, Acting

District Manager, 11th United States Civil Service District; Been, Frank

T. , September 4, 1942, "Field notes and interviews - inspection of

Glacier Bay National Monument and Sitka National Monument, August 12 to

September 14, 1942," in RG 79 Selected Documents.

217. Been, Frank T., February 2, 1943, to Ben C. Miller; Drury, Newton

B., Director, National Park Service, Memorandum for the Director's Office and the Regional Directors, March 24, 1943; Tomlinson, O.A., March

30, 1943, to Custodian Miller, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

90
As the war wound down, Miller began to report more activity in

the monument. Important visitors to the monument in January of

1944 included Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, commander of the

Alaska Defense Command, actress Ingrid Bergman, and a party of

USO entertainers. About the same time, a problem was cleaned

up when the Presbyterian Board of Missions deeded one of the

small tracts of land at the monument entrance to the National

Park Service. The .4056-acre tract had been donated by a private

Native owner, Mrs. William Wells, to the board. This resolved

negotiations that began in 1940.

With the war over, Miller received the Selective Service System

medal for his work on the local draft board. He also began to

report more normal monument usage, although it still had a distinctly military flavor. In May of 1946, Sitka's third and

fourth grades held their annual picnic in the monument, the cub

scouts held a pack meeting there, and 52 soldiers passing through

on a steamer came ashore to visit.

War ' s end brings a new custodian

Miller left Sitka National Monument about this time. A vacation trip east was followed by unplanned lengthy hospitalization

in Vancouver, Washington. As a result, Grant H. Pearson, who had

been the acting superintendent of Mount McKinley National Park,

took up the Sitka post. Pearson arrived at Sitka after climbing

Mount McKinley with the New England Museums Expedition. He

218. Drury, Newton B., Director, National Park Service, January 29,

1944, to Regional Director, Region IV, National Park Service, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

219. MNR, February 3, 1944, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

220. MNR, January 3, 1944; Miller, Ben C. , March 23, 1940, to Superintendent Been, September 21, 1945, to Regional Director, Region IV, National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

221. MNR, June 4, 1946, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

91
reported his arrival for duty on July 1, 1947, and noted that the

monument was in good condition considering that it had been

without a custodian "since last September."

Pearson was a long-time Alaskan who had first come to the territory in 1925 when he worked for the Alaska Road Commission at

Cordova. After moving to Fairbanks, where he worked in the gold

mining industry, he was appointed as a park ranger at Mount

McKinley National Park. This began a National Park Service

career that took him in 19 39 from McKinley to Yosemite National

Park, where he remained until 1942 when he returned to McKinley.

After serving as superintendent at Sitka and Glacier Bay national

monuments from 1947 to 1949 he would return to McKinley as superintendent until his 1956 retirement. After retirement, Pearson

was elected to the first Alaska State Legislature and subsequently served several terms in both the house and senate. While

in the legislature he introduced bills that created a park and

recreation program in state government.

When Pearson was reassigned, Ben Miller returned to Sitka in

1947 as superintendent. He held the position until 1949 when

relieved by Henry G. Schmidt. Miller, who died in 1953 soon

after his reassignment from Sitka, is commemorated by Miller Peak

in Glacier Bay National Monument. Schmidt, who had been at Sequoia National Park in California, would leave Sitka in 1953 for

the superintendency at Big Bend National Park in Texas and then

the Northeast regional directorship.

Abandonment alternative

Park service planners gave renewed attention to Sitka during

the unexpected vacancy in the custodian's position. The often

repeated suggestions that Sitka should be abandoned were set

aside temporarily when a regional committee recommended its

retention. The committee suggested that the decision to retain

222. MNR, August 1, 1947, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

223. DeArmond and Atwood , 1977: 77; MNR, March 10, 1959, in "Routine

Reports .

92
or abandon Sitka National Monument should be postponed until such

time as a study could be made of the City of Sitka as a whole to

determine the historical values of the area.

Because of Sitka's position as the former capital

of Russian Alaska, it is believed that an opportunity may present itself in the future, whereby a series of cooperative agreements may be made to

preserve the historical values of that city under

the terms of the National Historic Sites Act of

1935. If such is done, the present Sitka National

Monument may well be one of the important units of

the Sitka National Historic Sites.

Sitka custodian takes up cemetery duties

A time-consuming chore was added to the Sitka custodian's administrative duties when the National Park Service agreed that

its Sitka representative would supervise the national cemetery at

Sitka. Army plans to abandon the cemetery had brought public

protest. Perhaps because of this, the army turned to the National Park Service for help. In November of 1948, the chief of

the army's Memorial Division asked if the service's caretaker at

Sitka could take over cemetery maintenance. Army officials in

Alaska had advised that the caretaker of the "Totem Pole National

Park" was willing to help if National Park Service headquarters

agreed. 225

224. Quoted as "Regional Committee's Report" in Tomlinson, O.A.,

Regional Director, Region IV, National Park Service, January 5, 1949, to

Director, National Park Service.

225. Miller, Ben C, April 25, 1945, to Regional Director, Region IV,

National Park Service; Gagne, H.F., Quartermaster Corps, Memorial Division, Office of the Quartermaster General, U.S. Army, November 9, 1948,

to Director, National Park Service; Oatley, C.W., Headquarters U.S. Army

Alaska, October 8, 1948, to Office of the Quartermaster General, U.S.

Army, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

93
The burial ground consisted of 1.19 acres on which there were

276 internments. Five burials had been made in fiscal year 1948.

There were about 100 burial sites remaining in the cemetery. The

army wanted someone to raise and lower the flag flying over the

cemetery, maintain the grounds, and arrange for opening and closing of graves. The Director of the National Park Service replied

that the custodian at Sitka could maintain the cemetery on a

2 2 6 reimbursable basis covering costs plus 10% overhead. Miller

reported to regional officials that he had taken over the

cemetery on June 1, 1949. In return, the park service received

the use of an army jeep and 500 gallons of gasoline left at

Sitka. 227 This responsibility lasted until 1956. 228

Alaska Field Committee recommends Sitka development

Administrative activities for Sitka National Monument for the

first segment of its middle years, 1940 to 1950, concluded with

positive recommendations for its future. The Alaska Field Committee, a federal interagency task force looking at Department of

the Interior development in the territory, suggested construction

of a new museum/headquarters building. The structure should include the superintendent's office, public comfort stations, work

and store rooms, and museum rooms "for display of the Sheldon

Jackson Collection of artifacts to be donated to the National

Park Service." Other work recommended for Sitka included a superintendent's residence and utility building and erosion control work on Indian River.

226. Drury, Newton B., December 6, 1948, to The Comptroller General,

Department of the Army, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

227. Drury, Newton B., Director, National Park Service, June 16, 1949,

to Regional Director, Region IV, National Park Service; MNR, July 5,

1949, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

228. Ashby, Joe, personal communication, 1987.

229. Alaska Field Committee, "A six year integrated program for the

Department of the Interior in Alaska, 1950-1955," July 1949, in National

Park Service's Harper's Ferry Center, Alaska Collection, Box 1.

94
The first step toward implementing these recommendations was

taken when Miller once again had to raise the issue of a housing

problem. By April of 1949 there was again a housing crunch at

Sitka. Also again, Miller suggested that the National Park Service obtain the Coast and Geodetic Survey property he had been

coveting in 1940. This met with service approval, and the Bureau

of Land Management transferred the 1.25 acre tract to the National Park Service. 230

Second segment of middle years

The second segment, 19 50 to 1965, of Sitka National Monument's

middle years began quietly. Visitation to the monument was down.

Steamers calling at Sitka arrived and departed in the night and

most tourists did not have a chance to see the Indian River

park. This situation was aggravated in 1954 when Alaska

Steamship ended passenger service to Alaska. The most exciting

developments were in looks to the future. Planning for the

monument's future continued, while perennial problems such as

erosion control and totem pole preservation continued.

Planning continues

A 1953 review of the situation at Sitka adopted and expanded

the 1949 recommendations of the Alaska Field Committee. The

review again called for a headquarters building and public comfort stations in the monument and for Indian River erosion control. It went beyond the 1949 plan to suggest a picnic area and

more interpretive markers. Also beyond the 1949 plan was an initiative that proposed Sitka as the National Park Service's center for interpreting all Indian and Russian history and archeology in Southeast Alaska. To do this, the service needed to build

O ~3 O a museum at and promote Sitka.

230. Miller, Ben C. , April 5, 1949, to Regional Director, Region IV, National Park Service; Tomlinson, O.A., May 9, 1949, to Superintendent,

Sitka; Director, Bureau of Land Management, January 15, 1949, to Director, National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

231. MNR, June 4, 1949, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

95
Plans for "Mission 66," a service-wide effort to renew the

nation's national parks and monuments in time for celebration of

the 50th anniversary of the founding of the National Park Service, followed the 1953 recommendations for Sitka. The Mission 66

program endorsed most of the 1953 plans and defined the monument.

"Sitka National Monument commemorates the bravery and culture of

Alaska's Indians. Visitors could "enjoy the rare experience of

reaching the heart of an unspoiled stand of towering Sitka Spruce

and Western Hemlock with dense undergrowth...."

The final planning effort of the 1950s, a 1959 master plan,

reversed a de-emphasis on Russian activities at Sitka. Regional

officials commented that the plan changed the approved description of values. "It was only a short time ago that upon direction of the Washington office, we rewrote the Sitka folder and

prepared the Mission 66 prospectus to minimize the Russian

story." The new plan gave principal emphasis to the Battle of

1804 and subsequent Russian-American history of Alaska rather

than to the Indian culture of Alaska and the effects of European

contact on it. The totem poles were treated as only incidental

to area interpretation.

232. Stanton, William J., Alaska Recreation Survey - Part One - Volume

One - Economic Aspects of Recreation in Alaska (National Park Service,

1953): 106.

233. "Mission 66 prospectus brief -- Sitka and Glacier Bay national

monuments" (National Park Service, April 20, 1956), found in "Master

plan narrative — Sitka," volumes I and III, 1964.

234. "Master plan narrative for Sitka National Monument," with transmittal letter from Mitchell, L.J., Superintendent, Sitka and Glacier Bay

National Monuments, October 26, 1959, to Regional Director, Region IV,

National Park Service; Merriam, Lawrence C., Regional Director, Region

IV, National Park Service, December 11, 1959, to Superintendent, Sitka

and Glacier Bay, in File D-18/52 at Sitka National Historical Park.

96
Boundaries and vistas

While the planning was underway, adjustments were made to the

western park boundaries as the private properties at the entrance

9 "3 c were acquired.

A major improvement to the seaward vista from the park occurred

in 1954, when Superintendent Henry G. Schmidt was able to advise

regional officials that the Sitka Utilities Board had funded

relocation of the transmission lines along the beach. New lines

would parallel the Sawmill Creek Road. JO

Superintendent ' s position moves to Juneau

As the 1950s had ended, the superintendent's position was relocated to Juneau, a situation that would remain in effect until

the early 1970s. Various reasons have been cited for this arrangement. The move may have been made because one of the superintendents liked the political hustle-bustle of the ter2 37 ritorial capital. . Or, the move may have been made simply because changing transportation patterns made Glacier Bay and Sitka

jointly more accessible from Juneau. A park historian was appointed to be in charge at Sitka. Seasonal historians assisted

there. A park ranger staffed Glacier Bay.

235. Truman, Harry S., "A proclamation (redefining the boundaries of the

Sitka National Monument, Alaska,)" February 25, 1952, Presidential

Proclamation No. 2965 (66 Stat c.22); "Alternatives study...," May

1968.

236. Maier, Hebert, Acting Regional Director, Region IV, National Park

Service, October 25, 1954, to Western Office, Division of Design and

Construction, National Park Service, in File D-18/52 at Sitka National

Historical Park.

237. Hall, George A., personal communication, 1986.

97
Visitation and use

The park historian at Sitka, George A. Hall, a graduate of

Drake University, had worked with the Public Health Service on

Japonski Island. In 1957 he transferred to Sitka National Monument, where he would remain until 196 3. After leaving Sitka, he

would go on to serve as assistant chief of the park service's National Memorials Branch in the National Capital Region in

Washington, D.C. He later returned to Alaska as superintendent of

2 ? ft Mount McKinley National Park and Katmai National Monument.

Hall observed that 1958 was the first year in which annual

visitation to the monument had reached the peak attained before

passenger steamer service to Sitka was ended in 1954. He attributed this to changing transportation patterns, with more

travelers going by air, to the transient population brought to

Sitka as a result of pulp mill construction, and to an increasing

habit of Sitka families to use the monument for recreational purposes. Tourists arrived between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., and transient

workers used the park in the evenings. Special events also increased park usage, with 1959 seeing Sitka conventions for the

Alaska Lions Club, Business and Professional Women, Protestant

Chaplains of Alaska, and the Southeastern Camporee of the Boy

Scouts of America. Most conventioneers visited the monument, and

the scouts camped on the grounds.

Noteworthy events in this period included the June 1958 appearance of Time and Life magazine staffers to photograph totem

poles for a forthcoming article and Lowell Thomas' visit to the

monument to film a portion of his "High Adventure" television

240 program.

238. Hall, George A., personal communication, 1986.

239. MNR, June 3, 1958, January 3, 1959, March 30, 1959, July 2, 1959;

in File "Routine Reports," at Sitka National Historical Park (hereafter

"Routine Reports").

240. MNR, June 3, 1958, July 5, 1958, in "Routine Reports."

98
The end of the 1950s also saw the Sitka Historical Society, established in 1955, hold a commemorative tea on April 5, 1959, to

O A 1 celebrate the establishment of Sitka National Monument. Hall

served as president of the historical society, a reflection of

strong park service involvement in community affairs. This continued the tradition begun by Ben C. Miller in the 1940s. Hall

was also active on the Sitka Historic Sites Restoration Committee, which was working on restoration of Saint Michael's

Cathedral. 242

A blight on the monument authorized by special use permit was

removed when the asphalt hot plant of the Morrison-Knudsen Company, installed on the east bank of Indian River to provide

material for the paving of Sitka's streets, was finally removed.

Surplus asphalt and debris from the plant were buried on the

O A O site, which was later reforested.

The stage was set for final acquisition of the last private

property on the east side of the road at the park entrance when

Esther Littlefield agreed to sell her house, which was one of the

three sitting on the hill at the entrance to the park. The service, however, did not take an option to purchase the property until March of 1963. 244

Planning for the monument continued as the draft of chapter 1

of volume 1 of a new master plan for Sitka went to the regional

office for review and comment in April of 1960. The plans at

this time incorporated Mission 66 recommendations for a visitor

center. Concurrent with master planning, park personnel initiated detailed exhibit planning and drew upon the assistance of

the service's Western Regional Office and Western Museum

Laboratory. 5

241. MNR, May 15, 1959, in "Routine Reports."

242. Hall, George A., personal communication, 1986.

243. MNR, July 8, 1958, in "Routine Reports;" Hall, George A., personal

communication, 1986.

244. MNR, March 3, 1959; April 11, 1963 in "Routine Reports."

99
Park personnel changes

Hall, who had been the first person in charge of Sitka National

Monument to be classified as an historian, left in 1963 for an

assignment in Washington, D.C. His initial replacement, Charles

W. Warner, reported for duty on July 1, 1963. He had previously

served at Colonial National Historical Park in Virginia. Warner

remained at Sitka only until October 2 of that year when he was

asked to resign. Romaine Hardcastle, a Sitkan who had been assisting at the park as a "gratuitous worker," took over as the

National Park Service representative in Sitka until a new park

historian could arrive.

While Hardcastle was serving in an acting capacity, arrangements were made to ship three of the poles at Sitka National

Monument to New York for display at the 1964 World's Fair. Two

of the poles were taken from where they stood at the entrance to

Lovers' Lane while a third pole ("No. 12") was taken from near

the end of the lane. The poles, which would be returned to Sitka

in 1966 and emplanted at the entrance to the park, were loaded on

? 47

a steamer on March 11,1963, and shipped to New York.

245. MNR, May 5, 1960; April 11, 1963; in "Routine Reports;" "Master

plan for preservation and use of Sitka National Monument," April 1960,

in File D-18/52 at Sitka National Historical Park; Ingersoll, William

T. , "Master plan of Sitka National Monument," September 15, 1964, in National Park Service's Harper's Ferry Center, Alaska Collection.

246. MNR, no date (for October 1963), in "Routine Reports."

247. MNR, November 29, 1963; March 27, 1964; April 25, 1966, in "Routine

Reports .

100
About the time the poles went off to the World's Fair, William

T. Ingersoll, an experienced park historian with a master's degree in history from Columbia University, arrived at Sitka to

begin duty as park historian. Hardcastle, who later received a cash incentive award for her outstanding work during the time the

monument was without a historian, continued in the service as a 24 8

museum aide and technician until 1967.

Park personnel in this period were busy preparing for the new

visitor center, which would soon be dedicated. Funding for the

center had been repeatedly requested in monument budgets, but

money was only obtained after a visit to Sitka by National Park

Service Associate Director Elvind T. Scoyen in 1961. Monument

officials briefed Scoyen on the need for a visitor center and the

possibility of cooperation with the Board of Indian Arts and

Crafts. After Scoyen returned to Washington a cooperative funding arrangement that would provide for a visitor center at Sitka

was worked out between the two agencies.

The Littlefield house, which stood near the entrance to the

monument and had been acquired on August 23, 196 3, was burned by

the Sitka Fire Department in June of 1964. Sitka personnel applied for and received financial assistance from the Mount McKinley National History Association for publication of a booklet

about Sitka National Monument that could be sold to visitors.

250

With the Littlefield house gone, the grounds overlooking the

new visitor center were spruced up. Chief Saanaheit's pole and

four house posts were emplanted at the monument entrance. The

latter were set on the elevated ground overlooking the entrance.

The interior of the center was enhanced by seven house posts and

a house front loaned by Sitkans to the National Park Service for

display. 251

248. MNR, March 27, 1964; June 24, 1964; July 2, 1967, in "Routine

Reports .

249. Hall, George A., personal communication, 1986.

250. MNR, August 20, 1963; June 24, 1964, in "Routine Reports."

101
The posts were in place just in time for ceremonies held in

connection with dedication of the visitor center on August 14,

1965. National Park Service Regional Director Edward A. Hummel

delivered the dedication address, which was attended by a large

number of Sitkans and visiting dignitaries that included Susan

Barrow, Curator of the Alaska Historical Library and Museum; Dr.

Frederick J. Dockstader, Director, Museum of the American Indian

and Chair of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board; Mathilda Gambel of

Angoon, joint lender with Sitka's Patrick Paul of the wolf house

posts installed in the lobby; and Robert G. Hart, general manager

of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board. 252

251. MNR, May 31, 1965, in "Routine Reports."

252. MNR, May 31, 1965; September 1, 1965, in "Routine Reports."

102
Resource Issues , 1940--1965

The period 1940 to 1965 began with bright promise, as the National Park Service devoted new attention to Sitka National

Monument's resources, and then became a frustrating time as

resource preservation had to be weighed in the balance with national defense needs.

Development ideas

Part of the bright promise came from desires to expand and

enhance the monument's resources. Miller, although not trained

as an historian, began a research program and turned up an

original transfer map (showing Sitka properties transferred from

the Russian to American governments in 1867) and a typewritten

inventory in records of the U.S. Commissioner at Sitka. He also

supplemented his monthly narrative reports with photographs of

resources in Sitka National Monument and historic sites in Sitka

proper.

Been, who said in 19 39 that the monument was "antithetical" to

National Park Service purposes, in 1940 endorsed Miller's recommendation that the service assume jurisdiction over Castle Hill.

He also suggested a project to salvage the wreck of Neva , a Russian American Company ship that foundered near Sitka in 1813. A

local diver with his own equipment was available in Sitka for

about $40 per hour and might be hired as a skilled workman by the

CCC. He also advised "There is probably no immediate responsibility of the Service toward historical values in Alaska of

greater importance than acquisition and protection of St.

Michael's Cathedral." A year later, Been again discussed acquisition of St. Michael's and added the old Russian cemetery to

his list of Sitka properties important to the park service. In

1942, Been concluded that the National Park Service should

preserve the Russian Orphanage.

253. MNR, August 3, 1940; Been, Frank T. , December 11, 1940 and December

27, 1940, to Regional Director, Region IV, National Park Service; Superintendent, Mount McKinley National Park, December 20, 1941, Memorandum

for the Director; and September 14, 1942, in RG 79 Selected Documents;

Pierce, Richard A., "Record of maritime disasters in Russian America,

103
Regional officials and national officials of the service, as

well, took a new interest in Sitka's historical significance and

encouraged their Alaskan representatives to identify and document

its physical manifestations. The Region IV historian outlined

areas of significance that Miller could investigate and Miller's

immediate supervisor, Been, encouraged him to prepare a historical development plan for Sitka.

The Washington-based Supervisor of Historic Sites commented

that the proposal to acquire Castle Hill had merit and suggested

that Miller should provide a map and explanatory data showing the

relationship of the hill to Sitka National Monument and also show

any other historic sites in the vicinity. Miller even arranged

for Lynn A. Forest, at the time a U.S. Forest Service architect

at Juneau, to come to Sitka and take measurements and photographs

necessary to make documentary drawings of Saint Michael's

Cathedral. 254

A tangible sign of the renewed interest came in April of 1940

when construction began on two pit toilets, the first sanitary

facilities in Sitka National Monument. Construction and purchase

of a building for an office and modern toilets at the entrance to

o c c the monument was approved somewhat later.

part two: 1800-1867," in Proceedings of the Alaskan Marine Archaeology

Workshop, Alaska Sea Grant Report 83-9 (Fairbanks: University of

Alaska, 1983): 62.

254. Hagen, Olaf T. , Regional Historian, Region IV, National Park Service, May 13, 1940, to Regional Director; Superintendent, Mount McKinley

National Park, June 10, 1940, to Custodian Miller; Lee, Ronald F., Supervisor of Historic Sites, National Park Service, December 11, 1940, to

Superintendent, Mount McKinley National Park; MNR, April 2, 1942, in RG

79 Selected Documents.

255. MNR, May 2, 1940; Drury, Newton B., Director, National Park Service, January 9, 1942, to Superintendent, Mount McKinley National Park,

in RG 79 Selected Documents.

104
There was also interest in acquiring houses on the east side of

the road that passed by the monument entrance. Three of the

houses sat on the elevated area that later overlooked the visitor

center built in the 1960s, while two others lined the road to the

north. 256

Totem pole preservation

Concurrent with the expanded interest was a feeling that the

totem pole preservation problem had finally been brought under

control. Early in 1940, B. Frank Heintzleman, Regional Forester

for the U.S. Forest Service, was able to advise the National Park

Service that the Sitka totem pole work begun in 19 39 was almost

done. All "sixteen" poles had been restored, treated with preservative, and reset in their former locations. As required in

the National Park Service approval to go ahead with the work

using CCC crews, a photo record had been made of all poles before

? R 7 work was begun.

Successful completion of the CCC totem pole project left the

originals of newly recarved poles lying on the monument grounds

exposed to the weather. When Mrs. Robbins (first name unknown),

the wife of an officer assigned to Sitka Naval Air Station, suggested that the discarded originals might be protected there,

protracted correspondence ensued. She thought the poles could be

housed in the station's recreation building. Comdr. J.R. Tate,

commanding officer of the station, followed up her spoken comments with a letter to Been. He offered to house the poles in

O C Q the corners of the navy gymnasium.

256. Ashby, Joe, personal communication, December 11, 1986.

257. Heintzleman, B. Frank, Alaska Regional Forester, U.S. Forest Service, February 17, 1940, to A.E. Demaray, Acting Director, National Park

Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

258. Miller, Ben C, November 19, 1941, to Director, National Park Service; Tate, J.R., November 19, 1941, to Frank T. Been, in File 11/460-8,

"Totem poles, SNM, preservation up to 1945," at Sitka National Historical Park.

105
Pole preservation remained a continuing problem. Pressure

treatment, which appeared to be the most effective means of

preservation, was difficult with such large objects in any case

and almost impossible in a remote location such as Sitka. One

alternative, suggested by a park service engineer, was to cut the

poles into manageable lengths so that they could be treated at

Sitka. This would eliminate the necessity of shipping them intact to the West Coast where it was possible to treat them in

their original size.

Been agreed that moving the original poles to Japonski Island

was a good idea. Demaray, temporarily acting Director of the National Park Service, responded that the poles "have no proper

place at Sitka National Monument...." He preferred, however,

that they be offered to the Territorial Museum at Juneau. When

the museum declined to accept the discarded originals, Demaray

approved their relocation to the naval air station.

Although he finally had approval to move the discarded

originals, Miller foresaw difficulties. He requested permission

to destroy poles that he believed too rotten to preserve. He

would salvage those figures from the poles that could be restored. Been endorsed Miller's request, but it provoked a quick

refusal from Washington. "Original specimens always have scientific value which duplicates ... could not possess .... they are not

to be destroyed as surplus." After this, the discarded original

poles were moved. When Been reported on his next visit to Sitka,

made on an inspection trip to Glacier Bay and Sitka between

August 12 and September 4, 1942, he was able to record that the

poles "have been nicely utilized by the navy." Restored sections

259. Pierce, E.T., Senior Engineer, National Park Service, March 18,

1942, to Branch of Historic Sites, National Park Service, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

260. Been, Frank T., December 15, 1951, to J.R. Tate; Demaray, A..E.,

December 24, 1941, to Regional Director, Region IV, National Park Service; Demaray, A.E., May 9, 1942, to Superintendent, Mount McKinley National Park, in File 11/460-8; Tomlinson, O.A., Regional Director,

Region IV, National Park Service, January 13, 1942, to Director, National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

106
of the poles stood at entrances to the air station's administration and recreation buildings. Several sections had also been

placed inside the recreation building.

Discarded original poles came up again in 1947, when Grant H.

Pearson had succeeded Miller as the custodian at Sitka. By that

time the navy had turned its Japonski Island facilities over to

the Alaska Native Service (ANS). ANS operated them as Mount

Edgecumbe boarding school for Alaska Native children. One of the

school's staff, George W. Fedoroff, advised Pearson that a former

navy building would be converted to a museum. He suggested that

discarded original poles not moved in 1942 could be housed in the

museum. This received National Park Service approval and on

November 21-22, 1947, Mount Edgecumbe officials took delivery of

the remaining old poles from Sitka National Monument. After

this, as Mount Edgecumbe officials came and went, some parts of

the old poles were taken for souvenirs and other parts were discarded and burned in Sitka's dump. George Hall retrieved the

last full pole in 1961 and placed it at Sheldon Jackson

Museum. 263

Other than routine maintenance, no new major projects were

taken in connection with Sitka National Monument's totem poles

until the 1970s.

261. Miller, Ben C, June 1, 1942, to Superintendent, Mount McKinley National Park; Been, Frank T., July 21, 1942, to Director, National Park

Service; Tolson, Hillory A., August 3, 1942, to Superintendent, Mount

McKinley National Park, in File 11/460-8; Been, Frank T. , "Notes and

interviews, inspection of Glacier Bay National Monument and Sitka National Monument," August 12 to September 4, 1942, in RG 79 Selected

Documents.

262. Pearson, Grant H. , July 31, 1947, to Regional Director, Region IV,

National Park Service; Tomlinson, O.A., Regional Director, Region IV,

National Park Service, August 7, 1947, to Custodian, Sitka; Pearson,

Grant H. , December 2, 1947, to Regional Director, Region IV, National

Park Service, in File 11/460-8 at Sitka National Historical Park.

263. Hall, George A., personal communication, 1986.

107
Gravel operations

The private gravel operations at the mouth of Indian River became a major problem when Navy contractors took over the former

Sitka Transfer company operations. The boundary was not clearly

defined and the contractors built gravel bunkers on what turned

out to be National Park Service land to the east of Indian River.

Navy plans to build a flume were dropped when Miller told them

park service permission would be required. Miller optimistically

concluded this first report by commenting that the dredging

should benefit the park by preventing further erosion of the west

bank of Indian River. 264

The contractors soon wanted more gravel than the outwash at the

mouth of the river could supply. The service's immediate

response was cautious. It stood ready to aid national defense,

but the navy could take Indian River gravel only after showing

that no other source was available. No monument land was to be

transferred to the navy. Gravel was to be taken only from the

river bed, an island at the mouth of the river was to be left intact, removal was to be conducted in such a manner that no harm

would result to the natural beauty of the monument, and after the

supply of gravel was exhausted the retaining wall along the river

bank was to be repaired. No other source was available, and

navy gravel removal continued throughout the year.

On the ground activities took a different turn, and as early as

June of 1941 Miller had to stop the navy contractors from cutting

the trees on the island in the mouth of Indian River. After an

October 1941 flood destroyed a strip of river bank about 600 feet

long and 6 to 40 feet wide, Miller blamed the destruction on the

264. Miller, Ben C. , March 14, 1940, to Superintendent Been, in RG 79

Selected Documents.

265. Demaray, A.E., April 26, 1941, to Custodian, Sitka National Monument; December 3, 1941, to Superintendent, Mount McKinley National Park,

in RG 79 Selected Documents.

266. Sitka National Monument annual report for fiscal year ending June

30, 1941, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

108
dredging. It had resulted in a pit at the river mouth 800 feet

long, 30 to 200 feet wide, and 4 to 30 feet deep. This, in

Miller's opinion, had caused the material in the river bed to

wash into the pit during the flood. As a result, the river bank

slid into the water, carrying its cribbing with it. He believed

that further erosion would occur so long as the navy was perf\ 7 mitted to mine for gravel in Indian River.

Park service sensibilities about the monument's values took a back seat to the war effort after December 7, 1941. Officials

authorized the navy to take gravel from the wooded island at the

mouth of Indian River as well as from the river bed. The expanded operations, they believed, would detract from the charm

of the monument's footpath, but not be destructive to the main

V ftPi portion of the monument.

The gravel operations turned out to be plagued with problems

and destructive of park values. On September 18 and 19, 1942, a flood rampaged down Indian River. Gravel removal that steepened

Indian River's gradient in its lower reaches may have increased

the flood's intensity. The torrent tore out both Indian River

bridges. It also washed away 200 feet of road, 250 feet of

trail, and 10 to 50 feet of river bank on either side. Two army

men, whose first names are unknown, Sgt. Riley and Pvt. Westfall,

who had been on the footbridge when it washed away, were

drowned. They were part of the army detail guarding the navy

gravel operation. A sailor, Frank Smith, was also washed off

the bridge but survived by clinging to one of the downed bridge's

cables. The waters swept away a totem pole that stood near the

footbridge, but the navy later recovered it in the bay and

267. Been, Frank T. , radiogram, June 17, 1941, to Custodian Miller;

Miller, Ben C, November 5, 1941, to Superintendent Been, Mount McKinley

National Park, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

268. Miller, Ben C. , March 5, 1942, to Lieutenant W.J. Stribling,

Residence Officer in Charge, Sitka Naval Air Station; Been, Frank T.,

March 10, 1942, to Director, National Park Service, in RG 79 Selected

Documents

.

109
returned it to the monument. At the same time, it destroyed a portion of the pipeline that took water from Indian River to the

269

navy and city water reservoir.

The navy contractors threw a temporary bridge across Indian

River, but fire followed the flood. On November 11, 1942, an

army guard attempting to light a lantern started a fire that

destroyed an office building and repair shop at the gravel

bunkers. Some progress was made because a new road, to replace

the old one being destroyed by dredging, was almost completed in

the same month.

In March of 1943 sailors from a naval construction battalion

(Seabees) took over operation of the Indian River gravel

plant. 271

At one point, this encroachment was seen to benefit the park.

The dredging would form a small lagoon that might add to park

values and, as a quid pro quo, the navy agreed to widen the

entrance to the monument. This would provide adequate space for

2 7 2 parking and turnaround.

Construction on Japonski Island was almost completed by 1944

and the need for Indian River gravel diminished. The army

cooperatively restored its area of the monument to as natural a state as possible.

Miller began negotiating with the navy for its share of the

restoration work. V.S. Carrier, Resident Officer in Charge, at

the Naval Air Station, Sitka, submitted a report to the Navy's

Bureau of Yards and Docks detailing the damage that had been done

269. MNR, October 5, 1942, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

270. MNR, December 3, 1942, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

271. MNR, April 3, 1943, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

272. Cahalane, Victor, "In Charge," National Park Wildlife, Fish and

Wildlife Service, January 23, 1943, to Director, National Park Service,

in RG 79 Selected Documents.

110
by the gravel operation. He proposed measures that might be instituted to partially rectify it. Photographs made by Miller in

1941 documented the report. Carrier concluded that dredging deep

holes at the mouth of the river had caused an increased stream

velocity. This gradually cut back the river bed. The change in

the river bed in turn had cut back the river banks, which had

caused a reverse curvature in the river. Cutting action in the

vicinity of the footbridge resulted, causing the bridge to collapse.

Carrier recommended that the navy remove its bunkers and related buildings, allowing the City of Sitka to salvage the lumber. The river channel should be restored to its original

course. Gravel acquired in the course of changing the course of

the river should be used to prevent the river from redirecting

itself into its old channel. Logs and stumps which could not be

burned on site should be placed in one of the dredging holes and

covered with gravel. Additional gravel and debris accumulated on

site should be leveled out. The north bank of Indian River

should be dressed to prevent under wash. While log cribbing

should be built to prevent further bank erosion, Carrier recommended that the navy not replace the suspension bridge washed out

in the 1942 flood. 2 ' 3

Carrier's letter brought Rear Adm. Carl A. Trexel, Director of

the Alaska Division, Bureau of Yards and Docks, to Sitka National

Monument in March of 1945. He agreed to Carrier's recommendations. Park service concurrence followed, with a commendation

for Miller and Carrier for their cooperative work. By April of

1945 the navy had razed its gravel bunkers and all but one of the

shacks used in dredging operations. Work was also begun on

erosion-control cribbing along the banks of Indian River. More

than 600 feet of log cribbing was in place by August of 1945,

only to be washed out in a September flood. This left the

problem, which was to continue, but active dredging was not to

resume for several years.

273. Carrier, V.S., Resident Officer in Charge, Naval Air Station,

Sitka, February 25, 1945, to Bureau of Yards and Docks, in files of

Sitka National Historical Park.

Ill
Gravel problems

Gravel removal at the mouth of Indian River resumed and continued intermittently through the 1950s. An unknown amount was

removed by a private party in 1951, the Bureau of Land Management

sold an additional 20,000 cubic yards of gravel in 1957, the

Public Health Service removed 40,000 cubic yards in 1958; and,

after the State of Alaska assumed jurisdiction over tidelands in

1959, its Department of Public Works removed 100,000 yards of

gravel and 20,000 more cubic yards were sold to private parties.

The continued sales undermined many of the monument's values and

its superintendent recommended no further investment at Sitka until the National Park Service controlled the tidelands adjacent

2 7 5 to the monument

A peripherally related gravel issue arose in 1958 when the

Alaska Lumber and Pulp Company obtained permission to divert Indian River water to wash gravel needed for pulp mill construction. Monument officials objected to this withdrawal as it could

dry up Indian River and Fish and Wildlife Service officials consented only if diversion operations would be suspended in times

of low water. 276

274. Miller, Ben C. , March 3, 1945, to Regional Director, Region IV, National Park Service; Tomlinson, O.A., Regional Director, Region IV, National Park Service, March 9, 1945, to Custodian, Sitka National Monument; Tolson, Hillory A., Acting Director, National Park Service, March

28, 1945, to Regional Director, Region IV; MNR, April 3, 1945; Sitka National Monument annual report for fiscal year ended June 30, 1946, July

8, 1946, in RG 79 Selected Documents.

275. Summary from File D3219, "Grounds/Shoreline Erosion & Watershed

Control - Indian River Erosion Problem 1971 - 1979," at Sitka National

Historical Park; MNR, March 10, 1959, in "Routine Reports."

276. Hall, George A., Acting Superintendent, Sitka and Glacier Bay National Monuments, March 14, 1958, to Regional Director, Region IV, National Park Service; Gharett, John T. , Regional Director, April 11,

1958, to J. A. Hutchinson, Resident Engineer, Alaska Lumber & Pulp Co.,

Inc., in File D3219/1930-1970 at Sitka National Historical Park.

112
State officials aggravated the gravel situation in 1960 when

they issued permits for removal of 140,000 cubic yards of

material adjacent to the mouth of Indian River. The National

Park Service, although the adjacent upland owner, was not consulted about the permits which were valid until 1969. The

state subsequently decided that it would issue no new permits for

removal of gravel at the mouth of Indian River. Several state

permits remained in effect, as did a few old permits issued by

the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. There was continuing pressure for new leases.

The gravel situation at Sitka became critical in 1964 when the

State of Alaska received federal funding to construct an airport

on Japonski Island. Engineers estimated that the construction

would require one million cubic yards of gravel. The tidelands

off Sitka National Monument were the most likely source of such

material. Although the National Park Service had been trying to

obtain control of the tidelands for several years, it had been

unable to do so. There was no funding for the cadastral survey

required before the federal government could lease the tidelands,

which had passed to the state and in part to the City of Sitka

under provisions of the Alaska Statehood Act. The situation was

aggravated because the City of Sitka, a primary user of the

2 7 9 gravel, now controlled some of the tidelands.

Almost 10 years passed after the 1945 floods washed out the

navy's contribution to Indian River erosion control before a new

major project was undertaken. A major flood in 1960, as violent

as those of the early 1940s, caused monument personnel to fear

that future floods might do irreparable damage. It also

277. MNR, June 14, 1960, in "Routine Reports."

278. MNR, October 12, 1959; December 23, I960; December 2, 1962; April

11, 1963; July 24, 1964; in "Routine Reports."

279. MNR, June 24, 1964; October 26, 1964, in "Routine Reports."

280. "Project Construction Proposal Form," January 23, 1957; Park Historian, Sitka National Monument, September 9, 1960, to Superintendent,

Sitka and Glacier Bay National Monuments, in File D-3219 at Sitka National Historical Park.

113
seemed timely to try some flood control work because the State

of Alaska had finally agreed to discontinue gravel operations at

the mouth of Indian River.

The new plan to prevent Indian River from washing away Sitka

National Monument involved digging a channel approximately 800

feet long from the river mouth to mid-monument, diverting the

river from its then existing course to the new channel with rock

rip-rap, and rebuilding eroded banks with the gravel obtained in

the course of digging the new channel. The plan was implemented

in July of 1961 after approval of the Alaska Department of Fish

and Game had been obtained. A long spell of dry weather

facilitated implementation by causing the river level to be extremely low.

When the dry weather ended on August 11, 1961, Sitka had 9 1/2

inches of rain in 36 hours. This caused Indian River to rise

about five feet and to divert itself into the new channel. The

new channeling and rip-rap protected the monument from what could

have been an even more serious erosion problem, although several

feet of the lower end of the rip-rap fell into the channel and

had to be replaced after the waters subsided.

This early 1960s effort to control Indian River erosion ended

with recognition that an additional 20 to 40 feet of gravel fill

would need to be placed behind the rip-rap if it were to

? ft l survive.

Tlingit fort site and blockhouse replica

Two other resource issues overshadowed the gravel issue in the

late 1950s. These issues were the archeological verification of

the Tlingit fort site and the razing of the blockhouse replica

constructed in the park in 1927.

Archaeological investigation of the fort site came in 1958

after service officials concluded that unless the site could be

archeologically verified, retention of Sitka National Monument in

281. Hall, George A., September 1, 1961, untitled summary in File D-3219

at Sitka National Historical Park.

114
the national park system could not be justified. University of

Alaska archeologist Frederick Hadleigh West arrived and conducted

test excavations but could not find any remains. Then Alex

Andrews, a Sitka Tlingit, was consulted and pointed out the site.

Once oriented, West was able to interpret surface features that

included house pits and outlines of the palisade that had encircled the fort. Artifacts recovered were removed to the

University of Alaska at Fairbanks for study before being returned

to the National Park Service. While in Sitka, West also excavated at the Russian sailors' memorial, and found no evidence

of burials there. 282

Razing of the blockhouse created a storm of protest. In the

view of park officials, the blockhouse had become an attractive

nuisance. Left open, it was vandalized by graffiti and sometimes

used as a convenient substitute for the toilets at the park

entrance. Sealed up, it invited forcible entry. Somewhat

deteriorated, it was also a potential hazard to visitors. Visiting National Park Service officials made a habit of objecting to

its presence on monument grounds.

On July 21, 1959, when Hall saw a tractor working across Indian

River, he arranged for the operator of the tractor to pull down

the blockhouse after receiving telephone approval from his superior at Juneau. Remains of the collapsed structure were then

bulldozed further onto the beach and burned.

While, given what later proved to be Sitkans' affection for the

old blockhouse, its destruction would have become a cause for

controversy in any case, coincidence directed immediate public

attention to the matter. Passing students observed the burning

pile of debris on the beach, interpreted the octagonal framework

rising above the pile to be remnants of a helicopter, and alerted

the Sitka fire department.

The upshot of the coincidence was that a large segment of Sitka's

282. U.S. Department of the Interior, Information Service, "Exact site

of Alaskan fort where Sitka Indians last fought Russians discovered

after 154 years," November 20, 1958, press release in personal files of

George A. Hall, Anchorage, Alaska.

115
population, the fire department, and a photographer for the local newspaper arrived for the end of the replica blockhouse which

had been erected through community efforts in the 1920s. Sitka

erupted with protests that reached the Secretary of the Interior,

28 3 but satisfactory amends were not made until the 1960s.

The blockhouse controversy continued throughout 1959 and into

1960. In February of 1960, Dr. John Hussey, San Francisco-based

historian for the National Park Service's Western Region (the old

Region IV), and Sitka and Glacier Bay National Monument Superintendent Leone J. Mitchell met with the Sitka Chamber of Commerce

on the subject. This followed a January 29 session at which

chamber members blistered Hall for his role in the destruction of

the blockhouse. 284

Sitka's ire over the blockhouse issue was ultimately calmed by

a National Park Service promise to construct a new replica blockhouse. Known as the Blockhouse C reconstruction, the replica was

built in downtown Sitka in the old Russian cemetery between Kogwonton and Marine streets. Plans for the replica were prepared

using records available at Sitka and a contract was let. On September 19, 1961, National Park Service architect Robert Gann aro o c rived to supervise the construction.

The blockhouse issue continued to cause problems after completion of the replica. The new replica was of octagonal shape,

like the 1926 replica of blockhouse D which it was designed to

replace. It was located within a few feet of the spot on which

Russian blockhouse C had once stood, but blockhouse C had been

square in design. The new replica would later be criticized as

being of the wrong design for its location. Its situation was

further complicated because the blockhouse sat on land managed by

the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. All of the difficulties

283. Hall, George A., personal communication, 1986.

284. MNR, February 9, I960; Hall, George A., personal communication,

1986.

285. MNR, September 23, 1961, in "Routine Reports."

116
would continue to make the blockhouse a complex problem as

Sitka National Monument evolved through the 1960s, 1970s, and

into the 1980s.

Preservation Professionalism and Sitka

National Park Service efforts to deal with the blockhouse

issues at Sitka, and indeed with other archeological and historical issues at Sitka reflected the growth of preservation expertise in the service as a whole.

It was only in 19 31 that the service was able to add its first

professional historian to the staff despite the personal interest

of leaders such as Albright and Mather in history and historic

sites. This came in the midst of efforts to transfer cultural

parks managed by other federal agencies to the National Park

Service and only four years after restoration efforts began at

O ft £ what was to become Colonial Williamsburg. On the heels of

these essentially internal developments came the infusion of expertise provided by park service administration Civilian Conservation Corps work forces that preserved and developed historic

sites and of the Historic American Buildings Survey.

This increasing staff expertise about historic sites probably

influenced Frank T. Been's 1939 comments on Sitka's

"antithetical" relationship to National Park Service purposes.

It certainly made it possible for Ben C. Miller to seek advice

from regional historians about the historical studies he was encouraged to undertake and resulted in recognition by senior service officials such as Ronald F. Lee and O.A. Tomlinson of the

historical values in Sitka that lay outside monument boundaries.

The results of this evolution of events at Sitka National Monu286. Albright, Horace M. , Origins of National Park Service Administration of Historic Sites (Phildelphia: Eastern National Park & Monument

Association, 1971): 13, 16.

287. Mackintosh, Barry, The Historic Sites Survey and National Historic

Landmarks Program - A History (Washington, D.C.: History Division, National Park Service, Department of the Interior, 1985): 4.

117
ment were reflected in efforts to systematically define Sitka's

interpretive focus, the injunction from Washington to preserve

the original totem poles for which replicas were being created,

the appointment of historians to the staff at Sitka, and increased use of contractors and regional office professionals in

solving monument problems.

The blockhouse reconstruction and later events demonstrated the

difficulty, however, of adequately controlling such projects from

afar

.

118
Aerial view of Sitka, July 9, 1965. Sitka National Monument is at the

top of the photograph. (Photo courtesy of the Office of History and Archaeology, Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation)
CHAPTER 5

SITKA NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, 1966-1986

Introduction

Overview

This section treats events of the last twenty years, from 1966

to 1986. It includes a discussion of the creation of Sitka National Historical Park in 1972 that incorporated the monument

property and added the Russian Bishop's House. Following completion of the visitor center, park staff began interpretation

programs that included the Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural

Center, an outgrowth of a Native arts program at Sitka sponsored

by the Board of Indian Arts and Crafts, U.S. Department of the

Interior. The addition of the Russian Bishop's House expanded

the values that the park commemorated to include the Russians in

North America.

The changing context

In January 1966, Sitka's Saint Michael's Cathedral, one of few

remaining structures built by the Russians in North America,

burned. This disaster jolted Alaskans to recognize how few

properties remained from the area's colonial past. At the same

time, Alaskans were planning celebrations to commemorate the centennial of the purchase of Alaska by the United States from Russia. A few years later, in 1969, Atlantic Richfield Company discovered a rich oil field at Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska.

People recognized that Alaska would change rapidly.

Simultaneously, the National Park Service was becoming more involved with historic and urban parks. Residents of the United

States were undertaking projects to celebrate the nation's bicentennial. Increased attention was focused on the past and

preserving evidences of it. In 1966, Congress passed the National Historic Preservation Act. The act expanded the National

Register of Historic Places and provided grant funds and later

tax credits to encourage preservation, restoration, and adaptive

re-use of historic structures.

119
In 1971, Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement

Act. Section 17(d)(2) of this act directed the Secretary of the

Interior to study Alaska's federally-managed lands for possible

designation as national parks, monuments, forests, wild and

scenic rivers, and wildlife refuges. Nine years later, in 1980,

Congress used the studies as the basis for the Alaska National

Interest Lands Conservation Act. This act classified more than

100 million acres of Alaska lands in 36 federal areas as parks,

refuges, and other national conservation system units. About

forty percent of the land became part of the national park system. The National Park Service operations in Alaska expanded to

fifteen administrative units that included scenic, scientific,

cultural, and recreational areas and properties. As units

statewide and staffs at the units grew, the Alaska Area Office

at Anchorage became the Alaska Regional Office.

Monument /Park Administration

Expansion of the monument

Sitka residents became interested in preserving its historic

buildings and interpreting the community's history early in the

1960s. They hoped to increase tourism to their town, and began

elaborate preparations to celebrate the Alaska purchase centennial in 1967. A major waterfront redevelopment program was

carried out in 1964. After the January 2, 1966, fire that

destroyed the Russian Orthodox cathedral and three other historic

structures in downtown Sitka, community members and city officials began to work with the National Park Service to plan for

preservation and perhaps, reconstruction, of buildings to commemorate Sitka's long, rich history. The San Francisco Service

Center conducted a field study at Sitka in 1967. In October of

that year, George B. Hartzog, Jr., Director of the National Park

Service, and the assistant and regional directors met with

Alaska's Governor Walter J. Hickel and discussed the service's

interests in the state. The possible expansion of Sitka National

Monument was one of the topics discussed.

288. Merrill J. Mattes, San Francisco Service Center, Reed W. Jarvis,

Historian, San Francisco, Bailey Breedlove, Alaska Field Office, Robert

Howe, Superintendent, Glacier Bay and Sitka National Monuments, Sitka

New Area Study, April 1971.

120
Theodosius , the Russian Orthodox Bishop of Sitka, met with representatives of the National Park Service in San Francisco in

February 1968. At that meeting he expressed the need for assistance from the National Park Service to preserve the historic

sites and buildings in church ownership at Sitka. That spring,

groups such as the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce were approached to support the idea.

The same year the National Park Service published Sitka Alternatives Study. The report considered three possible courses of

action regarding Sitka National Monument. The first was no new

acquisitions; the park service would cooperate with other

managers of historic properties at Sitka. The second was to acquire the Russian Mission, as the Russian Bishop's House was then

called. The final alternative was to acquire the Russian Mission

and the reconstructed blockhouse in downtown Sitka. At the

blockhouse site, the plan called for construction of a complex of

buildings that recreated a part of Russian Sitka. Proposed

structures at the site included a section of the palisade, the

blockhouse, the Native Russian Orthodox Chapel, and Native cultural structures including a small log school and community

house. The study team recommended the third alternative. It

also supported redesignating the monument, which was created by

presidential proclamation, a national historical park, a category

created by Congress.

The study argued for acquisition of the Russian Bishop's House

because it was the most important remaining Russian-built structure at Sitka. The owner, the Russian Orthodox Church, was not

financially able to provide the desperately needed stabilization

work. The State of Alaska did not appear to be in a position to

preserve the building. If it did not become public property, the

authors of the study argued, the building would probably be

destroyed

.

A city-sponsored plan, Sitka Historical Sites--A Plan for

Redevelopment, was adopted in 1969. It endorsed the alternatives

study prepared by the National Park Service. The city's plan

also recommended that the National Park Service manage Castle

Hill and Old Sitka historic sites, properties at that time part

of the Alaska State Park system. 289

121
These two plans were presented to Alaska's congressional

delegation. In 1971, Senator Ted Stevens introduced S1497 concerning additions to Sitka National Monument. Representative

Nick Begich introduced a similar bill in the house, HR5803. The

bills proposed acquiring the Russian Bishop's House. The blockhouse acquisition was not part of the introduced legislation. The

City of Sitka, Sitka Historical Society, and the Alaska Historical Society expressed strong support for the bills. Sitka National Monument Superintendent Daniel R. Kuehn traveled to

Washington, D.C., where he testified at Congressional hearings on

the proposed legislation.

Public Law 92-501 was signed by President Richard M. Nixon on

Alaska Day, October 18, 1972. Sitka National Monument was

redesignated Sitka National Historical Park. The law also enlarged the fort site unit to include the city and state tidelands

and a strip of land along Sawmill Creek Road, although the park

did not own the lands. Finally, Congress appropriated funds for

the National Park Service to purchase the Russian Bishop's House.

The act stated that acquisition of the house was for the purpose

of "commemorating czarist Russia's exploration and colonization

2 91 of Alaska. . .

. "*^ x Transfer of ownership was finalized in 1973

289. Sitka Committee for Development of Historic Sites, Sitka Historical

Sites - A Plan for Redevelopment, Sitka: City of Sitka, 1969.

290. Kuehn, Daniel, Superintendent, Santa Monica Mountains National

Recreation Area, memorandum, November 4, 1987, to Bill Hanable, in files

of Alaska Region, National Park Service.

291. PL92-501, October 18, 1972. See also "Land Protection Plan, Sitka

National Historical Park, Alaska," April 15, 1985, in files at Sitka National Historical Park.

122
after satisfactory resolution of a civil suit brought against the

Orthodox Church in America concerning two feet of land on the

o q 2 west end of the property. The park service paid $106,000 for

the land and buildings at the site.

The National Park Service acquired the lot, the house, and two

small structures, a school built in 1897 and a residence built in

1887. Several years later, in 1976, the Diocese of Sitka and

Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America signed an agreement

providing for donation or permanent loan to the National Park

Service of church objects in the buildings. For its part, the

National Park Service agreed to care for and store the loaned

items and to permit the Church to use the chapel in the Russian

Bishop's House on certain liturgical occasions.

The reconstructed blockhouse in downtown Sitka was not mentioned in the law. Efforts to transfer management responsibility

to the State of Alaska failed, as did attempts to get ownership

of land transferred to the park service from the U.S. Bureau of

Land Management. The park service continued to have the responsibility for maintaining the site. Its officials continued to

recommend that the site be transferred to state ownership.

The 1972 legislation was important not only for the property

and money it added to the Sitka facility, but also because it

gave Congressional sanction to a park system unit created by

presidential proclamation.

Staff

Park historian William T. Ingersoll left Sitka in the fall of

1966. Another historian, Raymond Geerdes , succeeded him and

stayed until 1968. With the appointment of Daniel R. Kuehn in

1969 the park was soon to again have a superintendent. Appointed

to oversee Sitka as an historian, Kuehn was designated superintendent when Regional Director John A. Rutter split the management of Glacier Bay and Sitka National Monuments.

292. Bohannon, Charles F., National Park Service, July 16, 1973, to Ken

Tapman, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, in files at Sitka National Historical Park.

123
During Kuehn' s tenure a number of significant artifacts were

added to Sitka National Historical Park's collections. These included the Herring Rock Robe, a collection of 136 spruce root

baskets, 200 of E.W. Merrill's glass plate negatives, and

Katlean's hammer. Kuehn also obtained the permanent loan of a number of Coho Clan artifacts including a 12-foot totem, a Chilkat robe and suit, and a large carved frog.

Like his predecessors and successors, Kuehn was active in the

Sitka community. He helped to found the Sitka Ninth Infantry,

which paraded in authentic uniforms made by the Harpers Ferry

Center. The group was a popular feature of historical ceremonies

such as those held annually on Alaska Day, October 18. Adopted

into the Kiksadi Clan, Kuehn also held leadership posts in the

Alaska Native Brotherhood, the Chamber of Commerce, the Sierra

n n "3 Club, the Sitka Historical Society, and the Sitka Rotary Club. ^ J

Geerdes had hired Ellen Hope Lang (later Hays), a Sitka resident and Tlingit, to work at the park. Lang was an employee at

the park for almost 10 years. After a brief interlude in 1973

when Vernon Ruesch served as superintendent, Lang became the park

superintendent. She held that position until 1978 when she accepted a position in the Alaska Regional Office of the National

Park Service at Anchorage as Native liaison, from which she has

since retired. In addition to her park duties, Lang was active

in community and statewide historical and cultural groups. On

April 17, 1967, she became the first woman member of the Alaska

Native Brotherhood, a southeast Alaska Native organization

founded in 1912. From 1975 to 1981 she was a member of the State

Historic Sites Advisory Committee for historic preservation, and

from 1972 to 1978 a member and president of the Alaska Humanities

Forum state committee. Her other community activities included

the Board of Trustees for Sheldon Jackson College and the Central

Council, Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. After retiring from the National Park Service, Hays continued her involvement with Sitka National Historical Park by assuming a leadership

role with the Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center.

Susan Edelstein followed Lang as superintendent from 1978 to

1980. During Edelstein' s tenure, Gary J. Candelaria accepted

the position of Chief Interpreter and Park Ranger. Formally

293. Kuehn, November 4, 1987

124
trained as a forester at Oregon State University, Candelaria

started working for the National Park Service in 1975 at Saratoga

National Historical Park in New York. In 1977 he transfered to

Ozark National Scenic Riverways Park in Missouri. There he

decided that he wanted to work at a historic site and at a small

park. The Sitka opening appealed to him, he applied, and in

March 1979 started working at the park. He has been active in

several of the historical groups at Sitka; serving on the board

and as president of Sitka Historical Society, as branch manager

of the Alaska Natural History Association, and most recently, as

part of the group to plan activities at Sitka to commemorate the

bicentennial of the signing and ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

The present superintendent, Ernest J. Suazo, came to Sitka National Historical Park in October 1980. Prior to working at

Sitka, Suazo had been in the National Park Service's management

training program in Washington, D.C. There he carried out

several special assignments. Earlier, Suazo worked as an administrative officer at Dinosaur National Monument and Chamizal

National Memorial. The stability of the staff during the recent

years of the park's history has been important for the park,

especially for providing continuity in the Russian Bishop's House

restoration project.

In contrast, there has been frequent turnover of project supervisors for the Russian Bishop's House restoration project. Staff

from Denver Service Center, the Alaska Regional Office, and Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park at Skagway have had

leadership responsibilities for phases of the Russian Bishop's

House restoration and leadership responsibilities have shifted as

well. One individual, Gene Ervine, initially worked on the

project as a laborer. He became involved with the Russian

Bishop's House again as part of the Park Service's Harpers Ferry

Center where the interpretive exhibits are being designed and

built.

Throughout the contemporary period, the park participated in a variety of intern programs with the local schools to provide

training for students and to obtain workers at the park. In addition, the park staff accepted a number of people given Alterna125
tive Sentencing by local courts. In 1982, for example, these

programs involved 54 people who performed 1.93 work years of

labor at the park.

visitation

Seventy to eighty percent of 1960s visitors to Sitka National

Monument/Historical Park came on cruise ships between May and

2 9 4 October. In 1967 the first jet airline service direct from

Sitka to Anchorage and Seattle became available. The superintendent noted in his monthly report for June 1967 that the airline

service increased park visitation. (That year was also the

Alaska purchase centennial and tourism figures were higher

throughout the state.) About the same time, the state started

its Marine Highway ferry system. During the past twenty years,

visitation at the park as well as to Alaska has boomed. In 1985 a record 121,067 people visited the park. 96

Most park visitors were on half-day tours of Sitka and their

visit to the park was 25 to 30 minutes. The visitor center became the focus of most people's visit to the park. Few actually

got out into the park.

Administrative issues

Under terms of the statehood act tidelands, except within city

boundaries, became the property of the State of Alaska. Part of

the visitors center had been built on property not owned by the

National Park Service. Some of the land belonged to the City of

294. Addendum to final interpretive plan, 1969.

295. Howe, Robert E., July 26, 1967, to Regional Director, in Monthly

Report files at Sitka National Historical Park.

296. Suazo, Ernest J., Sitka National Historical Park, January 24, 1985,

and March 5, 1986, to Regional Director, Alaska Region, in

Superintendent's Annual Reports files at Alaska Regional Office.

297. "Sitka National Historical Park Resources Management Plan," 1985:

10.

126
Sitka. The other part belonged to the state. Park service personnel sought long-term leases to the tidelands and definition of

its water rights to Indian River to protect the park's resources.

In the 1972 legislation, Congress defined these areas as within

the park. The law expressly prohibited the park from purchasing

public property. The land could be donated to the federal

government, however.

The City of Sitka granted the park a 55-year lease at minimal

cost, $1.00 per year, to the 1.61 acres of tidelands it managed

that were adjacent to the park on July 29, 1964. The lease was

amended on December 1, 1964, to correct the termination date of

the lease to August 1, 2019, instead of 2119. A new lease was

signed on March 28, 1972, to conform to new boundaries. It encompassed and slightly enlarged the first lease. The revised

55-year lease was for 69,943 square feet of tidelands and will

terminate on March 28, 2027. 298

In 1964 the park staff approached state officials about transferring ownership of Lots 5 and 6, USS 3695 on the east boundary

of the park that belonged to the state. No action on the request

has been taken. Most of the land was within the Sawmill Creek

Road right-of-way and development of the strip is extremely

doubtful. At the same time the park applied the the state for

a long-term lease to the tidelands adjacent to the park. In 1967

the park service arranged for a cadastral survey of the tidelands

in question, required before the lease could be processed. The

purpose of the lease was "to prevent further change in the salmon

spawning habitat, to protect the Monument from any stream course

change that would result in extensive erosion, and to preserve

the historic scene commemorated there." The lease of the

state tidelands adjacent to the park was finalized on December

10, 1971, shortly after the state received title to the land.

The park received a 55-year lease at $1.00 per year to 47.915

298. Lease, City and Borough of Sitka, March 28, 1972, in files at Sitka

National Historical Park.

299. Howe, Robert E., Superintendent, Sitka and Glacier Bay National

Monuments, June 1, 1967, to Howard W. Pollock, House of Representatives,

in files at Sitka National Historical Park.

127
acres of tidelands adjacent to Sitka National Monument as

described on Alaska Tidelands Survey 649, approved September 24,

1971. At that time the purpose of the lease was said to be to

provide tidelands adjoining the park for recreational use and

preservation of a historic site. This lease was revised on

March 22, 1973, when the National Park Service applied to construct a breakwater along the beach. The state had no objection.

This lease will expire on March 21, 2028.

Planning

In addition to coping with the day-to-day pragmatic administrative issues, planning for the park's future also demanded the

Sitka park service staff's attention. As described above, the

National Park Service conducted several studies of the monument

and other historic resources in Sitka during the late 1960s and

early 1970s. These studies led to the park service acquisition

of the Russian Bishop's House and redesignation of the monument

as a historical park in 1972.

Shortly after acquisition of the Russian Bishop's House, a National Park Service planning team began developing a general interpretive plan for the Sitka park. Members of the planning team

included Ellen Hope Lang (later Hays), Superintendent, and Ken

Adkisson, Park Ranger, at Sitka; Tom Ritter, Interpretive

Specialist from the Alaska Regional Office; James T. "Rocky"

Richardson, Regional Chief of Interpretation, Pacific Northwest

Regional Office; Donn Follows, Interpretive Planner, and Jean

Swearingen, Interpretive Planner, from Denver Service Center.

The final plan was approved and printed in October 1976.

The park's resource preservation management objective, as

stated in the plan, was "To preserve the decisive battleground

site of the Russian conquest of Alaska in 1804 and of the cultural resources, historic objects, and artifacts of the native

Tlingit-Kiksadi Indians as well as the Russian colonization."

300. Lease ADL 32157, Alaska Tidelands, December 10, 1971; and Keenan,

F.J., Director, Alaska Division of Lands, September 17, 1971, to George

B. Hartzog Jr., Director, National Park Service, in files at Sitka National Historical Park.

128
Exhibits and programs at the park were to interpret Tlingit culture, European culture and interest in Alaska that led to the

1804 battle, the battle, and the results of the battle. The Russian Bishop's House was to be restored. Its role in the park's

interpretation was poorly defined because restoration work was

just beginning.

Because the Russian Bishop's House was not incorporated into

the 1976 study, an addendum to the plan was prepared in 1979. A

cooperative team that included several members of the earlier

planning effort participated. The members of the 1979 team included Susan Edelstein, Superintendent, Sitka National Historical

Park; Jean Swearingen, Denver Service Center; Cliff Soubier, Harpers Ferry Center; James T. "Rocky" Richardson, Pacific Northwest

Regional Office; and Robert Foster, Alaska Regional Office. As a result of their meeting at the park, the team issued an addendum

to the 1976 plan.

The 1979 plan stated that the historic fabric of the Russian

Bishop's House would not be compromised. The integrity of the

building to the period of restoration, 1843-1853, would be maintained. The addendum recommended that the visitor center house

Tlingit interpretive exhibits and the Southeast Alaska Indian

Cultural Center. The European period materials would be moved to

the Russian Bishop's House. The plan also recommended interpretive signs for the trail through the park and a wayside exhibit

shelter that, ideally, would be near the city dock and the Russian Bishop's House.

The park service managers felt that the two planning efforts

needed to be integrated to achieve a cohesive park-wide interpretive program. A planning team of specialists from Harpers Ferry

Center, key staff of the Sitka park, and an interpretive

specialist from the Alaska Regional office met at Sitka in June

1981. By this time restoration work on the Russian Bishop's

House had progressed far enough that it was time to address the

interpretive exhibits in the house and to begin to plan to

rehabilitate the exhibits in the visitor center.

301. Final Interpretive Plan, October 1976: 2

129
As a result of the June meeting, Harpers Ferry Center issued an

interpretive prospectus for the Sitka park in October 1981. This

report resolved several issues concerning adaptive re-use of the

Russian Bishop's House. It also blended the programs of the

visitor center and the Russian Bishop's House. The park's expanded theme was to explore the relationship of Russian and Tlingit cultures with the natural environment of Sitka. Five areas

would be developed: Tlingit culture, Russian exploration and

colonization, the Russian Orthodox Church, the clash of cultures,

and the perpetuation of Tlingit culture and art. The plan

detailed the interpretive program for the Russian Bishop's

House. The constraints of the building size, anticipated traffic

pattern, and preservation requirements dictated a limited interpretive program. The exterior and second floor of the Russian Bishop's House would be restored and furnished to the 1853-

1867 period. The dates of interpretation were changed to associate the building with Ivan Veniaminov (later Saint Innocent)

who was not associated with the earlier period. The first floor

interpretation would have text, graphics, and artifacts. The

report stressed that the structure was an artifact itself and

should be treated as such. New exhibits would be designed for

the visitors center. The auditorium would be where all films,

o n -J slide shows, and public programs would be held.

In 1982 the Sitka park staff began preparing a land protection

plan that was mandated for each unit of the National Park Service

that had private or non-federal land or interest in land within

its authorized boundary. The Sitka park's land protection plan

was formally approved on April 15, 1985. The plan defined four

resource management and visitor use objectives. The first was to

preserve and protect natural and cultural resources in the park.

The second was to preserve and maintain a safe, clean, accessible, and interesting park for visitors. The third and fourth

were to promote understanding of the history and culture of the

Tlingits (including the contemporary people) and the Russians.

The plan's first land protection priority was for acquisition of

302. Harpers Ferry Center, Sitka National Historical Park Revised Interpretive Prospectus (October 1981 ) : 1-3 , 11.

303. Revised Interpretive Prospectus, 1981: 4.

130
the private property adjacent to the Russian Bishop's House to

prevent development that would intrude upon and detract from the

site. The second priority was acquisition of Lots 5 and 6 owned

by the State of Alaska on the northeast boundary of the park.

The park was prohibited by Public Law 92-501, the 1972 law that

expanded the park, from acquiring state or municipal land except

through donation. Although not a land protection issue, the plan

recommended that the blockhouse site be transfered to the State

of Alaska. 304

Recently, a draft Resource Management Plan for the park has

been developed. The purpose of this planning effort was to

provide guidelines, directions, and rationales for preservation

and management actions at the park. Eleven park issues were

identified and discussed in the draft plan. In priority listing

of importance, the issues were: (1) preservation of the 1804 fort

site, (2) Indian River water allocation, (3) preservation of the

park's totem poles, (4) historic collections, (5) preservation of

the 1804 battle site, (6) acquisition of artifacts and archival

materials, (7) preservation of House 105, (8) preservation of Old

School, (9) erosion control adjacent to the visitor center, (10)

controlling the spruce aphids, and (11) the Russian blockhouse.

Alaska Regional Office notes indicated that the first issue, bank

erosion threatening the 1804 fort site, had been resolved and

should be eliminated from the final version of the plan.

Ideally, this series of plans addressing interpretation

programs, land protection, and long-range issues should guide the

park in the coming years. For the first time, the park has

defined, in writing, its goals, objectives, and prioritized

issues

.

304. Superintendent, Sitka National Historical Park, "Land Protection

Plan, Sitka National Historical Park, Alaska," April 15, 1985: 17, in

files at Sitka National Historical Park.

305. "Sitka National Historical Park Resources Management Plan," 1985,

and Chief, Division of Cultural Resources, Alaska Region, September 6,

1985, to Superintendent, Sitka National Historical Park, in files at

Alaska Regional Office.

131
Public involvement and reaction to the park

Sitka residents have mixed feelings toward the national park.

They are and have been interested in attracting tourists and consider the park and its programs excellent visitor attractions.

When the blockhouse at the park was torn down Sitkans protested

to the park service for reconstruction of another blockhouse.

Residents, community groups, and the city government supported

enlarging the park in the early 1970s. After the park acquired

the Russian Bishop's House, however, the city denied park service

applications to close Monastery Street and provide easements.

Later, when city residents saw the galleries on the house redone

to correct the unacceptable shrinkage of wood, some complained

about how their tax dollars were being spent. Yet they are

pleased that the building has been saved and is being restored.

Many toured the building during the special Alaska Day festivities held at the house the past several years. Few Sitka

residents have taken sides on the Indian River water rights

issue.

Resource Issues

Visitor center and fort site

Shortly after the visitor center opened in 1965, permanent interpretive exhibits relating to the Tlingits, Russians, and the

battle that the park commemorates, were placed in one wing of the

building. Reginald Butcher from the Western Museum Laboratory and

Edward Pilley from the Western Regional Office spent two weeks in

March 1966 installing the exhibits. Sheldon Jackson Museum

loaned the park 25 Tlingit pieces that were used in the display.

These pieces will be returned to the museum when the new exhibits

are installed in the visitor center. The park service staff

hosted a preview of the exhibits for local Tlingits who provided

information. A total of 842 people, most of whom were Sitka

residents, attended the open house at the park the weekend after

the exhibits were installed. °° Shortly after she began working

at the park in 1969, Ellen Hope Lang arranged for three local

306. Superintendent's Monthly Narrative Report, March 1966, in Monthly

Report Files at Sitka National Historical Park.

132
Tlingit clans to indefinitely but conditionally loan the park

seven houseposts, a totem pole, a carved frog totem, dance robes,

and other ceremonial clothing and objects. These pieces were

placed on exhibit in the visitor center. After Sheldon Jackson

Museum became the property of the State of Alaska in 1985, the

museum loaned all of the Russian pieces in its collection to the

park. A few are currently on display; others will become part of

the Russian Bishop's House exhibits.

As the Alaska Native people became more politically active following passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971

and as people became more sensitive to objective interpretations

of history, particularly with respect to ethnic minorities in the

United States, the Sitka visitor center exhibits were revised.

In 1978 the exhibit titled "The Massacre at Old Sitka—1802" was

changed to "The Destruction of Old Sitka--1802" to be less

o a n one-sided. In 1979 the park contracted with Andrew Hope, a Sitka Tlingit, to write a manuscript about the totem poles at the

park. Marilyn R. Knapp used the material compiled by Hope to

write Carved History, the Totem Poles & House Posts of Sitka National Historical Park that was published by the Alaska Natural

History Association for the park in 1983. Harpers Ferry Center

designed new exhibits for the visitor center that will be installed in 1988.

In 1979 the park staff, with counsel from Denver Service Center

and Harpers Ferry Center, established the park's policy regarding

collections of artifacts and manuscripts. Although not actively

collecting, the park had acquired a collection of artifacts and

archival materials. There were 492 pieces for the Tlingit fort

site and Redoubt St. Michael (Old Sitka) site. The latter site

was excavated during the 1930s. Objects recovered included iron

nails and spikes, tools and pieces of tools, ceramic fragments,

bricks, and charcoal. The park also had a collection of 136 Indian baskets.

307. Memorandum to Associate Manager, Denver Service Center from Superintendent, Sitka National Historical Park, March 2, 1978, copy in files

at Alaska Regional Office.

133
The collections policy stated that the park would conserve Native and Russian objects as opposed to restoring them. Major additions to the collection were not necessary. The park would accept donations, and on occasion, long term loan of items relating

directly to the 1804 battle, items of Tlingit or Russian culture

not represented in the park's collection, and items relating to

the 1867 transfer of Alaska and the influence of American occupation on the Tlingits and the Russians. The policy statement suggested that the artifacts from the archeological sites (including

excavations at the Russian Bishop's House) not selected for display be placed in storage or, in the case of the materials from

Redoubt St. Michael, be turned over to the State of Alaska.

During 1984, 1985, and 1986 the park received funding to work on

the collections. More than 1,000 artifacts were cataloged and

their condition assessed.

An addition to the visitor center for storage and exhibit of 12

totem poles was proposed by the park staff in 1979. The room was

to hold 11 of the park's original totem poles and one totem

carved as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps project during

the 1930s. In the proposal the staff argued that a climatecontrolled environment was needed to preserve the poles. Funds

for the addition were not forthcoming. Instead, a storage shed

behind the visitor center was constructed. A maintenance building was built behind the visitor center in 1978. It had a shop

and garage on the first floor, and storage and museum office on

the second floor.

The wooden footbridge over Indian River had been destroyed by

the river in 1961. Responding to "numerous complaints," a new

footbridge was designed by Romaine Hardcastle and built by the

Neighborhood Youth Corps. On August 9, ten days after the

footbridge was completed, a log jam broke in the river above the

bridge and tore the bridge out. The present park footbridge,

308. Cook, John E. , Director, Alaska Region, undated, to Regional Director, PNW.

309. Hardcastle, Romaine, Museum Technician, July 30 and August 27,

1966, to Superintendent, Sitka and Glacier Bay National Monuments, in

Monthly Reports file at Sitka National Historical Park.

134
built of wood and concrete, that spans Indian River was constructed in 1968. In 1980 a new trail, called the "Battleground

Trail," was added in the park. It went around the edge of the

1804 battle site. Employees hired under the Comprehensive

Employment and Training Act (CETA) "loaned" to the park service

from the U.S. Forest Service built the trail. Alaska Lumber and

Pulp Company at Sitka donated the wood chips for the trail. To

emphasize their importance to the park, the Tlingit fort site and

the battle site were landscaped that same year. The fort site

area was scarred from the trenches dug in 1970 for the totem pole

treatment program. Park staff coordinated with the State Historic Preservation Officer who concurred with the park service's

determination that the landscaping would not adversely impact the

site. Also in 1980, the park had a physical fitness trail installed on the north side trail.

Storm damage and erosion

Over the last twenty years, several storms have damaged the

park's trails. An usually fierce storm on Thanksgiving Day,

1984, cause an estimated $8,000 damage to the trails. Most

recently, a storm early in 1987 damaged the trail and knocked

down a number of trees in the park.

Erosion continued to threaten several of the park's resources.

Offshore gravel-dredging operations in Sitka Sound, described in

the preceding chapters, continued intermittently until 1978. In

1979 the owner of a trailer court just north of the park illegally put fill into Indian River to enlarge the size of his

property. In 1980 he sought a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers for the action. Park service personnel objected to issuing the permit and argued that the action had accelerated erosion of the bank where the fort site was located. In 1981 the

Corps of Engineers ordered the fill removed because the permitting process was not followed. The trailer court owner ignored

the order. The results of all these actions was that the river

310. Edelstein, Sue, Superintendent, Sitka National Historical Park,

December 12, 1979, to Area Director, Alaska, in files at Sitka National

Historical Park.

135
established a meander that intensified erosion of the bank adjacent to the Kiksadi fort site. The rate of erosion was two to

eight feet annually. The park service's objections did prevent

the several proposed gravel and sand operations for tideland

311

areas near the park from receiving permits.

The Sitka Native community wrote to the park superintendent

about the erosion threat to the fort site in 1980 and again in

1982. In his 1982 letter, Frank 0. Williams, Jr., President of

the Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center Board of Directors,

expressed the opinion that the original purpose of the park, to

commemorate the 1804 battle, was being ignored. He acknowledged

that the money for the Russian Bishop's House was needed to

prevent the loss of the structure and that the park service had

new parks to administer at the same time that the erosion problem

became acute. Nevertheless, he appealed for action to preserve

312 the fort site. Sitka park service personnel asked for assistance. In 1982 Denver Service Center staff conducted an erosion

control study. Various alternatives to control the problem were

considered

.

The alternative preferred by the National Park Service, protective rip-rap placed 50 percent in the river and 50 percent on the

river bank aroused objections by the Alaska Department of Fish

and Game. That department wanted all rip-rap placed on the river

bank. Its preferred stabilization method however, was the use of

vertical steel sheet piling. Park service officials opposed

the piling on the grounds that it would be unsightly, that bank

soils could not adequately support it, and that it would provide

only marginal and essentially unmeasurable benefit to spawning

salmon, the vast majority of which spawned upstream of the

311. Denver Service Center, Environmental Assessment Indian River Erosion Control, June 1983: 2. See also Water Matters File, Sitka National

Historical Park.

312. Williams, Frank 0., Jr., Chairman, Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural

Center Board of Directors, April 14, 1982, to Ernest Suazo, Sitka National Historical Park Superintendent, in files at Sitka National Historical Park.

136
proposed rip-rap. In the end, Coastal Zone Management staff in

the Office of Governor ruled in favor of the alternative

preferred by the National Park Service.

In June 1985 contractors installed 4,600 cubic yards of toed-in

armor shot-rock rip-rap and backfill along the river bank for

stabilization. In his annual report for that year Superintendent

Suazo wrote that the rip-rap replacement represented the

"culmination of over 42 years of effort to properly stabilize the

banks of the Indian River." The next year 1,300 cubic yards

of stones were scattered along the river bank for stabilization.

Water rights

Erosion proved to be less complicated than a Federal Reserved

water rights issue challenging the park staff. In 1967 the park

formally applied to the State of Alaska for a certificate of appropriation for Indian River instream flows on the basis of

recreational use for that portion of the river that flows through

the monument. The application asked for enough water for successful salmon spawning runs and aesthetic purposes. The park

claimed a priority date of 1890.

No action was taken by the state on the park's application because a specific quantity of water was not requested and the

stated use was in actuality a non-use, according to the 1966

State of Alaska Water Use Act. The park did not want water

rights to divert, impound, or withdraw water, just a guaranteed

instream flow. A minimum instream flow estimate of 35 cubic feet

per second was proposed by the Alaska Department of Fish and

Game, and the park service concurred with the figure.

In 1971 the superintendent wrote that the park's amended application had been denied. "The purpose was to assure an adequate water supply to preserve the aesthetics, the historic

scene, and the salmon activity, which the river provides. Our

application was denied because these are "non-consumptive uses.'

313. Suazo, Ernest J., Superintendent, Sitka National Historical Park,

March 5, 1986, to Regional Director, Alaska Region, in Superintendent's

Annual Reports files at Alaska Regional Office.

137
The City of Sitka uses Indian River for a water supply and Sheldon Jackson College uses it for emergency power generation.

There is real danger that their maximum use of the water for

these purposes could result in no water flow through the

park.

3 -U

The City and Borough of Sitka received a certificate of appropriation to 3.9 cubic feet per second of water from Indian

River. The city's priority date, when it began taking Indian

River water, was claimed to be 1914. In 1980, the State of

Alaska denied the City and Borough of Sitka's request to increase

its allocation of water from Indian River from 2,500,000 gallons

(3.9 cubic feet per second) per day to 6,000,000 gallons per day.

The reason given was that Indian River did not maintain adequate

flow throughout the year to meet currently allocated water

rights. Between 1982 and 1985 the City and Borough of Sitka constructed a new primary water line from Blue Lake. Indian River

was relegated to a back-up source for the city's water.

Sheldon Jackson College received a certificate of appropriation

to use 32,315,800 gallons (50 cubic feet per second) of water

from Indian River per day for hydroelectric generation. The

college's use of Indian River water for this purpose went back to

1914. In the early 1980s Sheldon Jackson College increased its

use of Indian River water, although it did not exceed its state

allocation. The college upgraded its dam and hydropower and

hatchery intakes on the river. It was not the major upgrade contemplated in 1982, but did require more water. At that time, the

college applied to the state for rights to 5 cubic feet per

second of Indian River water for the salmon hatchery that had

been in operation since 1975. The National Park Service objected,

and argued that the college could legally dry up the lower river

during certain periods of the year, adversely affecting the

natural salmon spawning habitat of the lower river and the

recreational and interpretive values of the park. The park service also argued that the college had never been issued a state

certificate of appropriation for any water use associated with

314. Superintendent, Sitka National Monument, June 9, 1971, to General

Superintendent, Alaska Group, in Sitka National Monument Proposed Additions file at Sitka National Historical Park.

138
aquaculture. Its third argument was that the college planned to

raise chinook salmon, a species foreign to Indian River and one

whose successful rearing would require a large quantity of yearround raceway water. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game also

objected to the college's application, and it was not acted upon.

The park service appealed the state's 1971 decision not to approve its Federal Reserved water right application after amendments to the State Water Use Act were passed in 1980. Those

amendments defined instream use of water as a beneficial use,

clearing the way for certificates of appropriation to be issued

for the purpose of instream flows of water. The park service

argued that the park predated the other users of Indian River

water. Its use dated to 1890. The college's hydroelectric system that was constructed in 1929 did not meet the college's current demands for electricity. The park added that the college's

one

aquaculture program only began in 1975.

In 1985 park officials contracted with the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service to prepare a fishery instream flow quantification study that would be used in the adjudication process to

determine water rights to Indian River. They also arranged with

the Pacific Northwest Region of the National Park Service to

prepare a complementary recreation and interpretation instream

flow quantification study. The studies will document fishery,

recreational, and interpretive values and impacts in the park,

with reduced instream flows of Indian River water. However, in

1986 the water rights issue remained unresolved.

315. Hardy, Dave, Biologist, Alaska Department of Fish and Game,

February 27, 1981, to Rick Reed, Habitat Protection, Alaska Department

of Fish and Game, in L54-Water Matters file at Sitka National Historical

Park.

316. Suazo, Ernest J., Superintendent, Sitka National Historical Park,

April 15, 1985, to Jerry L. Madden, Alaska Department of Fish and Game,

in files at Sitka National Historical Park.

139
Totem pole restoration

The Alaska State Museum, U.S. Forest Service, and Sitka National Monument cooperated in a major totem pole restoration

project in 1971. A specialist, Joe W. Clark, from the Forest

Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, recommended techniques

"317

to arrest decay of the totem poles. At the park, the totems

were taken down and treated. They were soaked in a preservative

solution. To save money, monument officials allowed treatment

pools to be dug on the former Indian fort site.

A program to copy the remaining seven original poles at the

park and one of the Civilian Conservation Corps poles began in

1978. The National Park Service's cultural resources cyclic

maintenance program provided funding to carve new poles. Carving

the first pole cost $4,000; the last $22,000. The totems were

carved by Alaska Natives at the park, and the carvers were asked

to converse with visitors. The carvers were also required to use

hand tools and traditional organic paints. Two poles were carved

in 1978, one in 1979, one in 1980, two in 1984, and two in 1986.

After the original poles were copied, the staff proposed to dry,

treat, and if possible, display them. Facilities to display the

original poles were not available, and a proposal to build a suitable area was not funded by the park service. Instead, the

poles were placed in storage. At present, nine of the original

poles are under partial shelter and one original pole is under

full shelter.

In 1979 the park staff decided that they would not have third

generation poles carved. They felt that the historic integrity

would be lost if copies of copies were carved. They would continue to regularly treat the poles displayed at the park with

preservative--a mixture of varnish, paraffin wax, and mineral

spirits. As discussed above, the staff requested a controlled

environment addition to the visitor center for storage, display,

interpretation, and periodic curatorial treatment of the Bradycollected poles.

317. Rakestraw, 1981: 170

140
An entirely new pole, the Bicentennial Pole, was added to the

park during this recent period. Duane Pasco carved the 27-foot

high pole in 1976. It depicts 200 years of Pacific Northwest

coast Indian history. The design is in keeping with traditional

form and style of Pacific Northwest Coast totemic art. The pole

was placed in front of the visitor center.

Russian blockhouse

The reconstructed blockhouse in downtown Sitka continued to be

an unresolved resource issue for the park service. At the time

it was built in 1960, park service officials recommended that the

building be transfered to the State of Alaska or be incorporated

into the national monument as a detached unit. In 1964 the

Bureau of Land Management gave the state a twenty-year lease to

the property. Instead of accepting management, the state

proposed that the park service consider expanding in Sitka and

take the state's two historic sites there, Old Sitka Site and

Castle Hill. The blockhouse was part of the plan proposed by the

park service in the late 1960s to create a Blockhouse Hill unit

of the park that would encompass 3.28 acres in downtown Sitka and

include reconstructions of a portion of the stockade wall, second

blockhouse, Native church, and several Tlingit community houses

that had stood at Sitka in the 1860s. The blockhouse unit,

however, was not included in the 1972 legislation that created

the park and added the Russian Bishop's House.

318. "Totem Preservation Plan," 1979, in files at Sitka National Historical Park. Gary J., Also Candelaria, Gary J., personal communication, February 11, 1987.

319. Knapp, 1980: 6.

320. Hall, George A., Historic Structures Report, Part I, October 1970,

in files of Sitka National Historical Park.

321. Sitka Committee for Development of Historic Sites, "A Plan for

Redevelopment, Sitka Historical Sites," 1969, in files at Sitka National

Historical Park.

141
In 1970 the state relinquished the lease to the blockhouse

land. Park service officials thought that if they maintained the

blockhouse they should own the land. The best agreement that

could be reached was a memorandum of understanding with the

Bureau of Land Management that took effect on July 28, 1970,

providing for park service management of the site. In 1976 the

park service offered the blockhouse to the Alaska Division of

Parks. The state agreed to the suggestion and applied to the

Bureau of Land Management for a 25-year lease of the land. Staff

of the Bureau of Land Management did not process the state application, however, and in 1981 the state notified the park service that because of declining budgets it would be unable to accept administration of the blockhouse and withdrew its lease application.

Still operating under the 1970 memorandum of understanding, the

park service had a Youth Conservation Corps team clean up the

blockhouse grounds and adjacent Russian graves and construct a trail at the site in 1983. The site is a law enforcement

problem, exacerbated by its distance from the park. Sitka park

staff continue to maintain the site at an estimated cost of

$1,500 per year. 322

Questions about the blockhouse's historical integrity were

raised. Nomination of the site to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 was tabled by the State Historic Sites Advisory Committee. The structure was a reconstruction, and not an

accurate one for the site. It does, however, fit that part of

the Sitka park's mission to interpret Tlingit-Russian relations

in southeast Alaska.

Although not a replica of the blockhouse that stood on the

site, the residents of Sitka consider the blockhouse a local

landmark and tourist attraction. They had pressured the park

service for a replica blockhouse when the 1926 one that stood in

the park was demolished in 1959. The Sitka Committee for

322. Suazo, Ernest J., Park Superintendent, February 14, 1984, to

Director, Alaska Region, in Superintendent's Annual Report files at

Alaska Regional Office.

142
Development of Historic Sites was unhappy when the plan for

reconstruction of historic structures on the rock outcropping

where the blockhouse stands was dropped. Because of community

feelinqs, the National Park Service has not proposed demolition

323 of the structure as a management option.

Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center

The Board of Indian Arts and Crafts, U.S. Department of the Interior, established an experimental Native arts program at Sitka

in 1962. The board had been created by law in 1935 to promote

the development of Indian arts and crafts. At Sitka, they hired

talented Natives to demonstrate their arts and crafts and to

develop new and upgraded craft products. When the National Park

Service began planning a visitor center for Sitka National Monument in 1963, they agreed to have a wing of the center for the

Indian arts and crafts program. The craftspeople moved in July

1965 to the visitor center.

On February 24, 1968, the Board of Indian Arts and Crafts met

at Sitka. At the time, the board operated programs at Sitka, at

Nome, and at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. Board members present included Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. (with American

Heritage in New York), Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Wilder (Amon Carter

Museum, Fort Worth, Texas), Mr. and Mrs. Royal Haserich (Lone

Star Ranch, Colorado), and Lloyd L. New (Institute of American

Indian Art, New Mexico) . Others present included Robert G. Hart

(general manager of the board, Washington, D.C. ) , George Fedoroff

(Alaska manager for the board, Anchorage), Peter Seeganna

(employee of the board, Sitka), Robert E. Howe (Superintendent of

Sitka and Glacier Bay National Monuments), Raymond Geerdes (Park

Historian, Sitka), and nine Tlingit community leaders--one from

Hoonah, one from Juneau, seven from Sitka--including Ellen Hope

Lang and Charles Olson who were employees of the National Park

Service.

323. Spude, Robert L. , Regional Historian, undated memorandum, to Associate Regional Director, Planning and Cultural Resources, Alaska

Region, in files at Alaska Regional Office.

324. "Sitka Demonstration Workshop," Smoke Signals (1966): 6.

143
The Tlingit people presented their ideas to the board. They

proposed to develop a program that would help the park interpret

Tlingit culture and the Tlingit people preserve their traditional

art. They asked the board to remove the Eskimo art program from

the Sitka center's program. Most appealing to the board members

and the park service staff was that Tlingit people would be interpreting their heritage. The Board of Indian Arts and Crafts

asked the National Monument staff and representatives of the

Tlingits to develop a plan. The board would serve in an advisory

capacity, and provide funding to set up the program. It was assumed that the park service would take over funding the program

after the transition.

The Alaska Native Brotherhood, Sitka Camp No. 1, Raymond Nielson, President, submitted its proposal to Park Superintendent

Howe on April 16, 1968. The proposal revised the agreement between the National Park Service and Board of Indian Arts and

Crafts for use of the building to "use by Thlinget cultures for

perpetuation of such art forms appropriate to historic cultures

1 7 6 of Southeast Alaska." Approval from the park service and

Board of Indian Arts and Crafts followed.

In 1969 the Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center opened in

the visitor center. The Sitka Alaska Native Brotherhood Camp

provided teachers to demonstrate traditional southeast Native

arts such as woodcarving, costume making, and silverworking to

students and visitors. A. P. Johnson was the center's director

from 1969 to 1971 and also an instructor. The park provided

craft shop facilities and equipment. The Board of Indian Arts

and Crafts allocated $40,000 to the center over a three-year

period.

325. Howe, Robert E., Superintendent, Sitka and Glacier Bay National

Monuments, February 27, 1968, to Regional Director, Western Region, in

files at Sitka National Historical Park.

326. Kuehn, Dan R. , Superintendent, Sitka National Monument, July 14,

1971, to Robert G. Hart, General Manager, Indian Arts and Crafts Board,

in File A44/Cultural Center at Sitka National Historical Park.

144
Each participating organization viewed the center differently.

To the Tlingits it was a place to teach and learn about their

heritage; to the park service it provided Native arts and crafts

demonstrations for visitors; and to the Board of Indian Arts and

Crafts it was a living demonstration center.

The major obstacle to the program's success the first years was

not the differing philosophies but lack of funds. The program

expenses in 1971 were $40,850, in 1972 were approximately

$20,000, and in 1973 were $34,947. The teachers/demonstrators

were paid $3.00/hour, well below the wages of a seasonal laborer

3 27 at the park who received $4.62/hour.

From the start the program was well received by the southeast

Natives, the park service, and the public. The Tlingit people

planned and conducted the program successfully and took great

pride in the center. Many took classes which brought them to the

park. The greater Sitka community supported the program. In

1971, the Sitka Borough School District contracted with the center to provide a cross-cultural studies program in the elementary

schools. In 1972, the Sheldon Jackson College Native Studies

program allowed students to take classes at the cultural center

and receive college credit for them. This arrangement continued

until 1985. The National Park Service got credit from the Tlingit community, the Board of Indian Arts and Crafts, and the

public for making the cultural center project happen.

The center's program included a permanent demonstration and

teaching staff of two or three instructors annually, and visiting

artists. Woodworking, silversmithing, and costume making were

the major areas of concentration. Courses were also offered in

spruce root basket weaving, skin and beadwork, Native foods,

Tlingit dancing, and anthropology. Esther Littlefield was the

instructor/demonstrator in the costume department from the opening of the Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center until her

retirement in 1983. When Secretary of the Interior James Watt

327. Kuehn, Dan, Superintendent, Sitka National Monument, May 6, 1971,

to Director, Pacific Northwest Region, in File A44/Cultural Center,

Sitka National Historical Park.

145
visited the park on August 25, 1983, he presented Littlefield

with a plaque on behalf of the National Park Service for her

dedication and service. Over the years, the cultural center

sponsored a number of special, short-term workshops. Probably

the best known instructor was Nathan Jackson, wood carver, who

carved several of the park's totem poles. The cultural center

and park staff closely cooperated on carving of a Bicentennial

pole in 1976. Items made at the center with materials provided

by the center became the cultural center's property. Students

were required to make two objects. One belonged to the student,

the other to the center. Because of these arrangements, the center amassed a Tlingit art and craft collection.

In 1972 the National Park Service started funding the cultural

center. That year a contract for $41,000 was made with Alaska

Native Brotherhood, Sitka Camp No. 1. The brotherhood appointed

an Arts and Crafts Committee to supervise the program. The committee evolved into a five-member Cultural Center Board of Directors chosen by the brotherhood at their annual election of officers in October. Two park service employees, Ellen Hope Lang

and then superintendent Daniel R. Kuehn served as voting members

of the center's board of directors for several years. What later

was viewed as conflict-of-interest, at the time was critical for

the program's success.

The contract called for a minimum of 100 hours per week of cultural demonstration. A provision in the contract allowed for

sale of items produced at the center. Proceeds from such sales

would be returned to the center for the purchase of supplies, to

pay visiting artists, or to send center staff members to outside

cultural events. Later contracts were for up to $80,800, and the

center operated year-round. Recent cuts in the park's operating

budget forced the park staff to reduce the contracts to $40,000

for a four-month summer program.

328. Suazo, Ernest, Superintendent, Sitka National Historical Park,

February 14, 1984, to Director, Alaska Region, in Superintendent's Annual Reports file at Alaska Regional Office.

329. Candelaria, Gary J., personal communication, February 10, 1987.

146
The contracts, initially for three years and more recently for

one year, issued by the National Park Service required a demonstration and interpretation program. The Alaska Native

Brotherhood, Sitka Camp No. 1, viewed the center as a teaching

center, with interpretation and demonstration to visitors as a secondary function. Over the years the different philosophies became more pronounced. The Board of Directors of the cultural center sought to change the name in 1981 from Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center to A.N.B. Cultural Center. The change was

not made. At that time the Sitka park service staff asked itself

and staff at the Alaska Regional Office whether or not the objectives of the park and cultural center were complimentary.

Another concern was over issuing a sole source contract to the

Alaska Native Brotherhood. Sitka staff held discussions with

Alaska Regional Office staff and with the cultural center board.

The issues remained unresolved. The cultural center board has

been considering the possibility of acquiring land, building a center, and discontinuing its contract with the National Park

Service. oou

In 1986 the cultural center operated from June 1 to September

30. The Alaska Native Brotherhood, Sitka Camp No. 1, and the National Park Service signed a cooperative agreement allowing Tlingit craftspeople to use the space in the visitor center during

the non-contract period. The Alaska Native Brotherhood, Sitka

Camp No. 1, succesfully competed in bidding for a contract for

1987.

Russian Bishop' s House

At the same time that the park service undertook the Southeast

Alaska Indian Cultural Center program, they had started working

on plans to expand the park's program to include interpreting the

Russian period of Alaska's history. Plans included acquisition

of the Russian Bishop's House and reconstructing structures

around the Russian blockhouse.

After the January 2, 1966, fire that destroyed the Russian Orthodox cathedral, the congregation met for services in the Russian Bishop's House chapel. The building was in very poor shape,

and the Diocese of Sitka and Alaska did not have the money needed

to preserve the structure. The congregation elected to

330. Hays, Ellen Hope, personal communication, February 13, 1987; Candelaria, Gary J., personal communication, February 10, 1987.

147
reconstruct the cathedral instead of preserving the Russian

Bishop's House. In 1968 the bishop approached the National Park

Service about purchasing and restoring the house. In 1969,

Bishop Theodosius moved from the house into a new residence.

Congress appropriated funds to purchase the Russian Bishop's

House in 1972. The land and building acquisition cost $106,000.

In addition to the Russian Bishop's House, the park acquired two

related buildings on the property, House 105 and the Old School.

House 105 built in 1887 and moved to the lot in the late 1950s or

early 1960s, had been rental housing for priests and their

families who could not be accomodated in the Russian Bishop's

House. The school was built in 1897 to alleviate lack of space

in the Bishop's House. 331

Restoration work on the Russian Bishop's House began immediately after acquisition. In 1973 staff from Denver Service

Center started background research and prepared measured drawings

of the building. Because of the accelarating deterioration of

the building, Congress appropriated $50,000 in a Construction Appropriation Act in 1974 to the National Park Service for historical, archeological , and architectural advance planning studies

for the house. At that time, park planners estimated that

reconstruction costs would total $1,244,000. The money appropriated, along with some unspent funds from other projects,

was used to get the Russian Bishop's House restoration

underway.

During 1974 and 1975 staff at the Alaska Area Office completed two Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act

compliance actions. The first was for acquisition and stabi331. Cloyd, Paul C. Historic Structure Reports for House 105 and the

Old School: Administrative, Physical History and Analysis Sections

(Denver: National Park Service, Denver Service Center, 1984): 3-4.

332. Acting Region Director, Pacific Northwest Region, April 14, 1976,

to Director, National Park Service, in files at Sitka National Historical Park.

148
lization of the Russian Bishop's House; the second was for archeological excavations at the site. Both actions were deter3 3 3 mined to have no adverse affect.

In June 1975 archeologists from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks conducted excavations on the Russian Bishop's House

property to determine if any of the foundations or building lines

of the original galleries remained. In addition, artifacts

recovered would help in interpretation of Russian Alaska. The

ground was too disturbed to provide information about earlier

foundations. Although the majority of artifacts recovered were

construction items, a surprising number of kitchen pieces were

found. Anne Shinkwin, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, author of

the contract report, suggested that these pieces had been

deposited with fill material after the original construction. 3

Also in 1975, Joe Clark, the wood products pathologist who had

worked on the totem pole restoration project at the park, studied

the attic, foundation and crawl space, and the exterior walls.

Following this preliminary work, staff at the park began talking with city officials in 1976 about closing Monastery Street,

adjacent to the house, and about easements. The most critical

easement was for the purpose of regrading the site to improve

drainage. Other easements were sought to preserve a visual corridor around the site. To date, none of the easements has been

granted. 335

Early in 1976 a study team met at the park and developed a multi-year stabilization and restoration plan for the Russian

Bishop's House. It was agreed that restoration work would

progress concurrently with background research studies. The team

333. Wall, Glennie, Denver Service Center, February 20, 1976, to Bill

Brown, Alaska Regional Office, in files at Sitka National Historical

Park.

334. Shinkwin, Anne, "Archeological Excavations at the Russian Mission,

Sitka, Alaska, 1975," in files at Sitka National Historical Park.

335. Brown, Bill, April 1, 1976, to files, in files at Sitka National

Historical Park.

149
members included Hank Judd , Chief Historical Architect for the

National Park Service; Ellen Hope Lang, Sitka National Historical

Park; Gary Higgins, Clement Dressner, and Anthony Donald, Denver

Service Center; and the Regional and Deputy Regional directors.

The team anticipated that the project would be completed in Fiscal Year 1982.

The next year Zorro Bradley, archeologist with the National

Park Service in Alaska, began archeological salvage on the insulation barriers in the ceilings of the first and and second

floors. The purpose was to determine if any architectural features from earlier years could be found. None was found. A

variety of artifacts were recovered, however, including several

Russian coins from ca. 1840-1850. Other archeological work

preceded ground disturbance at the site for new utility lines or

building foundations. In 1978 Dick Ping Hsu conducted archeological investigations along the north and south walls of the

house. Craig Davis did some testing during 1982 in the proposed

utility corridors at the site. He found a Russian period trash

pit. Catherine Holder Blee conducted excavations under the Old

School in 1983.

The artifacts and books were removed from the house in 1976

after agreement was reached between the park and the Orthodox

Church in America. Three paintings that had been damaged by

water leaking through the roof were sent to Harpers Ferry Center

for immediate treatment. The rest of the artifacts were placed

at Arrowhead Transfer and Storage in Sitka. The transfer company

agreed to temperature and humidity controls in the storage area.

The artifacts had been inventoried by Harpers Ferry Division of

Museum Services personnel in 1974 and the library in 1975, but

removal awaited conclusion of the loan/gift arrangement. Under

terms of the agreement, the church took several items, among them

a paper holding Russian soil and a small metal box that holds the

relics of a saint. These items will be returned to the chapel

when it is once again used for religious purposes. Later, textiles and other paintings removed from the house were sent to

Harpers Ferry Center.

336. Allen, Arthur C, Chief, Division of Museum Services, Harper's

Ferry Center, February 20, 1976, to Regional Director, Pacif icrthwest

Region, in files at Sitka National Historical Park; and Candelaria, Gary

150
Preliminary research, restoration and stabilization work on

the house began in 1976. The floor planks on the first floor

were removed, and where possible salvaged. The first floor partitions, of no historical significance to the restoration period,

were removed. The roofing was replaced with temporary roll roofing and the chimneys were enclosed in plywood. One of the first

activities was to install a fire alarm system in the house. The

next year, workers removed the west gallery stairs and put plastic sheeting over the windows. Late in the year, workers began

dismantling and recording the chimneys.

Beginning in 1977 and finishing in 1979, historical architects

worked to document the interior wall and ceiling finishes. After

documenting, the twentieth century finishes were removed. The

nineteenth century paint colors and wallpaper finishes were

studied to be authentically duplicated, and most of the finishes

were removed.

During the summer of 1978 a scaffolding system for the major

exterior restoration work was installed. The rotted, lower portions of the north and south wood walls were removed. The insulation layer beneath the chapel was also removed. Historical

architect and project supervisor Randall A. Conrad from Denver

Service Center directed the installation of a reinforced concrete

foundation in 1979. The north and south walls were

rehabilitated in 1980. The galleries were reconstructed and a metal roof added in 1981. Mechanical and electrical design followed .

James Mote, a historian with Denver Service Center, prepared

three studies for the house. These were published as one document in August 1981. The reports included a historic resource

study, historical data section of a historic structure report,

and historic furnishings report. The studies provided background

information to help the National Park Service plan for the use

and interpretation of the Russian Bishop's House. The historic

resource study provided information about the Russian-American

Company, its establishment in Sitka and relations with the NaJ., personal communication, February 11, 1987

151
tives, and history of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sitka. The

historic structure report provided information about the Russian

Bishop's House specifically, its inhabitants and physical changes

over the years. The final report was on furnishings. Specifically, the studies were to help the park carry out the programs

defined in the park Interpretive Plan approved in October of

1976. In an addendum to the plan released in July 1979, the National Park Service said that "the integrity of the building to

the period of restoration will be maintained above all other

considerations." The planning team recommended that the exhibits in the Russian Bishop's House not require an interpreter

to be present.

In March 1982 Denver Service Center released the "Historic

Structure Report, Administrative Data Section, Architectural Data

Section" prepared by Paul C. Cloyd based on a March 1977 report

by Anthony S. "Tony" Donald. This report provided data on the

physical attributes and condition of the Russian Bishop's House.

The earlier report recommended that the Russian Bishop's House be

restored to its 1867 appearance. Donald argued that more

photographic, documentary, and physical information was available

for this period than for earlier periods. It also involved less

loss of building fabric than alternatives to restore the building

to earlier periods. A great deal of additional documentary and

physical information was obtained between 1977 and 1982. The

later report recommended that the interior and exterior of the

house be restored to their 1843-1853 appearance. The plan called

for the first floor interior to be adaptively restored to its

historic appearance in 1843-1853 and be used for exhibits. The

second floor would be restored to the same period and furnished

appropriately. At an August 1980 meeting, National Park Service

personnel from the Alaska Regional Office, Sitka National Historical Park, and Denver Service Center judged that an 1843-1853

restoration was more suitable to the interpretive themes of the

park.

337. Bishop's House & Old School - addendum to final interpretive plan,

in files at Sitka National Historical Park: 3.

152
The planners decided that the Old School and House 105, both

built later than the period to be interpreted by the Russian

Bishop's House, would not be torn down. Instead, they would

screen the house from adjacent more contemporary structures and

would be used for support operations of the house. House 105

would be used for a shop area and storage. This was later

revised to provide for offices and storage.

Throughout the years of construction, the National Park Service

provided tours to the public. On Alaska Day, October 18, 1983,

the park held a one-day open house. More than 900 people visited

the site that day. In spring 1984 the park selected Rosemary Wagy

to fill a less-than-full-time position to staff the Russian

Bishop's House and open the building to visitors on a scheduled

basis. That year approximately 20,000 visitors were guided

through the building. As part of Sitka's Fourth of July and

Alaska Day festivities in 1984 teas were hosted at the Russian

Bishop's House. A living history program, an interview with

Princess Maksoutov, wife of the last governor of Russian America,

was developed. When Wagy resigned in 1985, however, the position

was not refilled. 38

Russian Bishop' s House administration

Denver Service Center took the lead in the restoration of the

Russian Bishop's House. Its staff included historical architects, archeologists , and historians. None had much experience with large, historic log structures. Although the log

construction, detailing, and finishing of the house were typical

of Russian wooden building techniques of the 1800s, they were

unique on this continent. Another significant problem for Denver

Service Center staff was preparation of planning reports at the

same time stabilizaton and restoration work was underway.

The Sitka National Historical Park staff continued to staff the

visitor center, maintain the totems and walkways, and oversee the

cultural center. Additionally, they were involved in planning

338. Suazo, Ernest J., Superintendent, Sitka National Historical Park,

January 24, 1985, to Regional Director, Alaska Region, in

Superintendent's Annual Reports file, Alaska Regional Office.

153
for the restoration and interpretation of the Russian Bishop's

House and called upon to assist Denver Service Center staff working on the project.

The Alaska Regional Office had the responsibility for the Section 106 compliance with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The Denver Service Center, however, would provide the

recommendations for future actions to mitigate destruction of archeological and historical materials. Alaska Regional Office

staff also participated in the Sitka park's planning.

The Harpers Ferry interpretation unit of the National Park

Service was to design the exhibits for the first floor of the

Russian Bishop's House and conserve many of the items in the

Sitka park's collection. The wallpaper and installation of exhibits in the building is to occur in 1987. The completion of

the restoration of the Russian Bishop's House was changed from

1982 to August 1, 1988.

With the different groups involved in the restoration project,

conflicts were inevitable. In March 1981 the roles and authority

of the parties involved in the project were clarified. It was

agreed that Denver Service Center, with the approval or disapproval of the park and regional office staffs, would make design

recommendations. The historical architect at the Alaska Regional

Office would oversee day labor work and advise the park staff on

design and construction control. Finally, all contacts between

the government and the contractors would be through the appointed

project supervisor only. Not unexpectedly, there have been

problems with this arrangement, but for the most part the difficulties were resolved by the 1981 meeting.

339. Conrad, Randall R. and Robert L. Carper, Denver Service Center,

Trip Report, March 16, 1981, in files at Alaska Regional Office.

154
When completed, restoration of the Russian Bishop's House is

expected to have cost five million dollars, more than three million dollars more than initially estimated. The costs to date

have totalled $3,346,000.

Conclusion

Sitka National Historical Park changed a great deal in the last

twenty years. What is regarded as a definitive solution to the

Indian River erosion control problem was completed. More people

annually visited the park. The park offered more programs for

visitors: interpretive exhibits and slide and film programs in

the visitor center that was new at the start of this period, the

Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center, and improved trails

through the park. The park expanded its purpose to interpret the

Russian period of Alaska's history, and within the next year it

should complete the fifteen-year long Russian Bishop's House restoration project. The park staff increased in numbers during

this recent period, although today it is smaller than it was

three years ago. A superintendent is permanently stationed at

the park. With completion of the Russian Bishop's House restoration, the question "what's next" begs for an answer.

155
Visitor Center, Sitka National Historical Park,

Park Service photo)

1983. (National
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Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix A - Chronology of Significant Documents/Key Legislation

APPENDIX A

CHRONOLOGY OF SIGNIFICANT DOCUMENTS/KEY LEGISLATION

Documents and/or

Legislation

Commissioners

Recommendations

Date

04/01/1890

Purpose

set aside

public

park

Result

recommendation

Governor 's/Secretary

of Interior 's Recommendations 06/09/1890

set aside

public

park

proclamation

Presidential Proclamation

(unnumbered) by Benjamin

A. Harrison 06/21/1890

set aside

public

park

Indian River

Park

Presidential Proclamation

No. 959 by William H.

Taft

(36 Stat. 2601) 03/23/1910

establish

Sitka NatMonument

Sitka National

Monument

Presidential Proclamation

No. 2965 by Harry S.Truman

(66 Stat c22) 02/25/1952

add inholdings

to monument

additions

An act to authorize

certain additions to

the Sitka National

Monument in the State

of Alaska and for

other purposes

PL 92-501

(86 Stat. 904)

add Russian

Bishop '

s

House, re- designate

as national

historical

park

Sitka

National

Historical

Park

10/18/1972

APPENDIX B COPIES OF SIGNIFICANT DOCUMENTS/KEY LEGISLATION

(see A for list of documents/legislation)
HBfiRY E. HAYDOri,

Clerk,

Bx-Offioio Searotory (and Treasurer. ^strict of Alasj^

p

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(copy) *?

Hon* Lyman E.Knapp*

Govsmor of Alaska*

Sir;-

The Commissioners appointed by you on February 1st*

1890 "to examine dnd report as to what lands in and about

Sitka Al aska, should be permanently reserved by the Government

for its uses,for public buildings, barracks,parade grounds,,

p arks,viharves, coaling stations or other purposes defining and

describing the same and indicating the purposes for which

they should be reserved, 'have the honor to make the following

rep o rt*

We were confronted at the outset with one difficulty* There

is, at this time no land surveyor in Sitka, and we anticipated

some trouble in locating such property as we might wish to

designate for reservation, but it was agreed between us, at

our first meeting, that the 'map of the settl ement at New

Archangel Sitka accompanying a letter from General Lovell H*

Rousseau dated December Sth* 1867 with inventories,published

in House Executive Document No 125,40th* Congress 2d* Session,

signed by Alexis Pestchouroff Russian Commissioner, and Lovell

H* Rousseau, United States Commissioner, copies of whieh documentSfCertified by Honorable F. F* Bayard Secretary of State on Jwv

17th* 1887, and in the custody of the Clerk of the United

States District Court here, should be used by us in making

reservations and designating the same, and their limits, as far

as it was possibl e t,o do so* With the aid of these documents we have been able to locate and designate definitly,all

of the public buildings, and much of the land described by us

in this report* as desirable for reservation*

It is recsommendedby the Commissioners that the property

designated on the Certified Map and inventories as a 'Wharf,

together with the Wharehouse Marked Nol , being on the approach

to the said Wharf, be reserved to the Government for its uses,

and for the ligitimate uses and privilages of the residents

of Sitka generally*

It is recommended by the Commissioners that the buildings

designated on the Map and inventories as No 3 and No 15 be

reserved for the following purposes viz;No 3 as a $oal Shed

for Naval Vessel s:-Nol5 as a Store house for Naval supplies

during such time as it may be neccessary for said Buildings

to be so used.

It is also recommended by the Commissioners that all the

landpovered and included in the following description be reserved for a Custom House or such other purpose as m&f be

deemed neccessary for the public service vix:

Commencing at a point thirty feet from the North West

Corner of Building designated on Map rand inventories as No 6

$
2

\9^

thence along Lincoln Street to low water mark in the Bay:

thence following the shore line at low water mark in a South

Easterly direction to a point outside of a rocky point running

into the Bay: thence in a North Easterly direction to a point

at right angles from the place of begining: thence in a North

Westerly direction to the place of hegining on Lincoln Street*

Meaning to include with other I and, all of these lots designated on the Map by Numbers 2, 3, and 5 and part of lot No* 4*

It is recommended by the Commissioners that the plot of

ground marked No* 20 on the map but more particularly described

as follows: -commencing at the Northern corner of thmt plat

of ground which we hearafted ask shall be reserved as a public

Common, and now Imown as the 'parade ground, "near the Presbyterian Church and runnina North 33° East 64,68 feet thence

West 35° North 59,73 feet, thence North 3$ East 67,79 feet, to

a road 26,40feet wide erossina this and continuing the line

(N 3& E. )59,40 feet:£hence East 39' South/04,28 feet, thence

South 30^ West 46,20£to a road 26,40 feev wide , thence on Soujh

side of said road East 3Cf South a6,o4 feet, h ,ncj Sou.-h 29*

W33 l.<.-/54 fej- , njnce Wesj 4*Noruh lo0,4O feeu .>q poin^

uf S:,a.- j ying,f§r c. Ml. me j M.l y b„. -..cks and garden*

Provided however, that within three years from the date of

this report :a building shall be erected at the expenee of

the United States upon saiikHand for the occupation of said

Marine or Military force, and if not erected within that time

then this reservation if made, to be abondon&d and the land

to become part of the public domain, subject to entry and

purchase as may be provided by any Land Laws then in force

in theis district*

It is also recommended by the Commissioners that all of

that plat of ground bounded on the North West side of Lincoln

Street from Wharehouse designated No*l on Map and inventories

and along Lincoln Street and the shore line to the Southern

Corner of the fence enclosing House designated No 24 on the

Mgp and inventories, thence along the walk in a North Westerly

direction fronting Lot No20,and Government School No2,to the

North West Corner of PI at designated on the Map and inventor

ies Nol 8, thence in a South Westerly direction to Water front,

most of which is now known as the parade ground is hereafter

set apart and reserved as a public common*

It is also recommended by the Commissioners that all that

plat of ground designated on Map and inventories as No 103

now occupied in part by United States Government School No 1

be reserved for School purposes* Also for like purpose*

that pi at of ground described as foil ows:-begining at the

South East corner of Lot designated on Map and inventories

as No 18 in a North East direction to the North West Comef

of plat marked W I

9 #72 lap and Xnv mttrt et.thfn** in * So&vh
3?

East direction to the South West Corner of Said plat marked

*I W, thence in a South Westerly direction to line of the land

asked herein J;o be reserved as a public common upon which is

United StaUpgtffl&S+Sehool No 2.

It is also recommended by the Commissioners that the

Block House marked W C on Map and inventories be reserved for

public services including a space of ground One hundred feet

square surr&^nding the same*

Also the Block House marked 9 D* on said Map and inventories including a space of land described as follows: begining

at a point on the North West corner of the street running

East and West from the House now occupied by the Governor

and the road leading North from said street to the Russian

Cemetery.thence North 50° West 660 feet West 36° South 363

feet, to be reserved for public buildings for the civil service

It is also recommended by the Commissioners that the

land upon which were situated the buildings designat ed on

the Map as Not* 116,117 and IIS and more particularly described

as fol lows: to wit: Commencing at a point 28 feet from the

North West Corner of the nain building situated on American

St. now occupied by Rueben Albertson as a Hotel and running

thence in a Northernly direction 123 feet to the line of a c a

street or road, thence along said street or road 224 feet in

an Easterly direction to certain fence posts, thence South

Easterly 109 feet to the line of an old fence ,thence in a

Westerly direction 197 feet to the place of beginning, to be

reserved for a Governors House or such other occupancy as

may be deevied best by the genera 1 Government*

Also ten acres of land including that now designated on

the plat of land as surveyed and claimed by Rev* Sheldon

Jackson for the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions as the

same appears of record in the office of the Recorder Ex

Officio for this district ,and marked 'Military Cemetery9

, and more particularly described as follows: to wit: beginning

at Corner mark Nojet on said plat, running North Westerly 660

feet, thence North Easterly 660 feet containing ten acres

more or I ess, to be reserved for a Military and Naval Cemetery

In connection with this reservation we would recomme7&

that the road leading to said cemetery from Lincoln Street

be made straight at a continuous width of 50 feet from the

pksMX fence forming the Western line of the lands enclosed

by the Presbyterian Mission*

We would also recommend for reservation as a public

park all that plat of ground, bounded on the West by the line

as established by the suPVey made for the Presbyterian

Mission, as above referredto,and along the shors line'-^f the

Bay at low tide to the mouth of the Indian River, and across

the mouth of said River, along its right bank for an average

width of 500 feet along said bank , to the point known as

Indian River Fall $: and also on the left bank of said river
^

from s

r id falls, an average width of 200 feet from said falls

to the Eastern line or boundrp as shown on the Mission plat*

Also all of that sirream of waterrunning into Jamestown

Bay on the South sid? thereof, on Baranoff Island now used

for watering -purposes by the United States Navy, and Mercantile

Vessel s:~and that 250 feet on each side of said stream be

reserved for a ioharf,and such other purposes as may be necesr.

ary for the Naval and Marine of the United States, and that

this reservation be so made that the water/of said streom,nor

any part thereof shall be directed from its original channel

for any private enterprise*

We would also recommend that all of that Island situated

directly opposite the town of Sitka,known as 'Japonsky"

Island be reserved for Naval and Military purposes. This

Island on account of its I o cat ion, the depth of water surround

ing it, and its other natural advantages, is peculiarly adapted

for Government usesm

In connection with this re commendation, we would suggest,

that any party who now has permanent improvements upon the

Isi and, be remunerated for any loss sustained by reason of

its being reserved and occupied for the purpose above set

foJ*th*such remuneration to be estimated upon the apparent

value of such iinprovements as the some may appear at the

date of this report* Your Commissioners believe that o,t

this tim$ the maximumpalue of such improvements do not exceed

One thousand Dollars*

We have the honor to be with graet respect

Your ebt* servants

Henry E* Haydon,

0* W. Farenhol t U* S* Navy*

John G* Brady.

Commissioners*

Sitka Alaska

March 31*1890*
40-/

DE^AiWMENT OF THE INYI-T.IOR. j.b.'m'cN.

V/a&.UNOTCN,

"' ^

Tho Presidont,

Sir:

I havo the honor to transmit herewith a communication from the Governor of Alaska, dated April 2,1890, enclosing the several reports of commissi oners appointed by him to

examine and report as to what lands in and about Sitka, Juneau,

Douglas Island, and Fort Wrangel should be porrmnontly reserved by tho ^ovemmont for its uses i*or public buildin/rs,

barracks, parade grounds, parks, wharves, coaling stations,

etc. ,. • ir.d recommending that the reservations therein reporced

upon be made. These reports were made in accordance with

the suggestion from this Department, that it be ascertained

what tracts are needed by tho ^ovenrment and for what purposes, and that the Governor communicate his views to *the head

of the department having control of the matters for which the

proposed recervation is to be made, in view of the possibility that Congress may at the present session extend the public

land laws ov»r Alaska. > » . ,

•• \) 'J . i J

w ?.•-• .

APPENDIX B - Significant Documents/Key Legislation ... \

Cgyprpor's/Secretarv of Interior's Recommendation __ .__....«_.. ... —
-2-

I approve of tho recommondutions of the Governor with

three exceptions. He recommends that Lots 1,2,3,7 and 8 in

Block 7, Juneau, and all of Block "C" in said town, be set

aside for garrison purposes; but it is stated by the commissioners that theoe tracts were declared by the district court

for the district of Alaska, to have been reserved for garrison purposes by the Navy Department* If this be true it will

not be necessary to declare a further reservation of these

tracts. But it appears that there are certain settlers on

these tracts, and the commissioners recommend that they be

paid for their improvements placed thereon in good faith.

In this connection I call attention to the "Act providing a

civil government for Alaska," (25 Stats. ,24) which provides

in section eight that Indians or other persons in said Territory "shall not be disturbed in the possession of any lands

actually in their use or occupation or now claimed by them

but the terms under vfaich such persons may acquire title to

such lands is reserved for future legislation by Congress."

This enactment would seem to debar the Executive from taking
/V-/V

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Qny action onloulutod to dinturb any ouch sottloro, and, if

the traot8 had not boon reserved for naval purposes, would

furnish sufficient reason for disapproving this recommendation of the Governor.

The Governor recommends that Lots 7 and 8, in Block 9,

as per plat of G.C.Hanus, Juneau, be reserved for courthouse

and Jail purposes, and that a certain unnumbered block on the

north side of Douglas City be reserved for like purposes.

As it appears these tracts are in possession of settlers

the recommendation is disapproved. He recommends that certain' tracts in Sitka be reserved for a marine or military

barracks, on condition that the United States shall erect certain buildings thereon. This reservation I suggest be made

without condition. The reservation for a military cemetery,

as recommended by the Governor, seems to be "olaimed" for the

Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, The nature of the claim

is not stated. However as Congress has provided in said

act of May 17,1884, s up ra , that land in said Territory occupied as a missionary station shall be continued in such occupanoy, to the extent of ICO acres for each such station,

until further action by Congress,! am of opinion this reser-
nc^y - Aj>rcf

-4-

vation should be declared .subject to the rights of said Board

of Home Missions therein. \j

I therefore recommend that the following described tract:

of land be reserved from settlement and disposal and set

apart for the purposes hereinafter mentioned;

\Juneau and Douglas City.

.-- -000000— r —----

In the town of Juneau, all that tract or block numbered

23, as per plat of said town mado by G.C.Hanus, except Lota

5 and 6, for public school purposes; the island, called

Juneau'Island, situated in Gastineaux Channel, opposite the

town of Douglas City, as a coaling station and government

wharf; the unnumbered block on the north side of the town

of Douglas City, upon which is situated the public school

building, for public school purposes.

' Fort Wrangel.

In the town of Fort V/rangel, a tract of land, containing

obout four acres, upon which are the buildings now occupied
-5-

by the oivil government, and embraced in the following description: Beginning on the south side of Main street, at

the northwest oorner of the warehouse occupied by Sylvester

and Reid; thence in a northwesterly direction by lands occupied by Rufus Sylvester, two hundred and ten feet to a post

in picket fence; thence in a northeasterly direction along

said picket fence, old Stockade Block House and lands occupied by Rufus Sylvester, two hundred and fourteen feet to a

post; thence in a northwesterly direction at a right angle

with aforesaid line by lands of the United States, two hundred

and forty feet to a post; thence in a southwesterly direction and parallel with the northwest wall of the old Fort

and forty feet distant from said wall by lands of the United

States, five hundred and fifty feet to low tide water-mark;

thenco along low tide water-mark in a southeasterly/direotion

by the uoa, four hundred and fifty foot, to tho uouth tiido

of Main street; thenoe along south side of Main street to

place of beginning.
i ,' ~y*s^ fa Hi " 45^

-6-

Sitka.

The following tracts in the town of Sitka, designated

by numbers hereinafter referred to as they appear on the map

of the settlement at New Archangel, Sitka, accompanying

a letter from General Lovell H.Rousseau, Commissioner for

the United States, and Alexis Pestchouroff , Commissioner for

Russia, publ i shed in House Executive Document No. 125,40th

Cong. ,2nd Session, to wit:

The property designated as a "Wharf," together with

the Y/arehouso marked No.l, situated on the approach to said

wharf, for the legitimate uses and purposes of the public.

Also that tract -of land described as follows: Commencing

at a point thirty feet from the northwest corner of Building

designated on map and inventories as No. 6, thence along

Lincoln street to low water-mark in the Bay; thence following

the shore line up low water-mark in a southeasterly direction

to a point outside of a rocky point running into the Bay;

thence in a northeasterly direction to a point at right

angles from the place of beginning! thence in a northwosterly
'L 46-7

-7-

direction to the place of beginning on Lincoln street, meaning

to include with other land all of those lots designated on

the map by numbers 2,3, and 5, and part of lot numbor 4, for

a custom house, and other uses in the collection of customs.

Also the plot of ground marked No. 20 on the map but more

particularly described as follows: Commencing at the northern

comer of that plat of ground which we hereafter ask shall be

reserved as a public common, and now known as the "parade

ground, "near the Presbyterian Church, and running North 33*

East 64.68 feet, thence west 35* north 59.73 feet, thence

north 39* east 87.79 feet, to a road 26.40 feet wide, crossing

this and continuing the line (north 39* east) 59.40 feet';

thence east 39* south 104.28 feet, thence south 30* west 46.

20 feet to a road 26.40 feet wide, thence on south side of

said road east 30* south 86.46 feet, thence south 29* west

111.54 feet thence west 4* north 150.40 feet to point of

starting, for a marine or military barracks and garden.

Also all of that plot of ground bounded on the northwest side by Lincoln street from Warehouse designated No. 1 on

map and inventories and along Lincoln street and the shore

line to the southern corner of the fence enclosing House

designated No. 24 on the map and inventories; thence along th<
u- 47

r<f>

-8-

walk in a northwesterly direction fronting Lot No. 20, and

Government school No. 2, to the northwest corner of plot designated on map and inventories No. 18; thence in a southwesterly

direction to Water front, most of which is now known as the

parade ground, for a public common .

Also that plot of ground designated on said map as

number 103, now occupied in part by government school number

1, and the plot of ground described as follows: beginning at

the southeast corner of Lot designated on map and inventories

as No. 18, in a northeast direction to the northwest corner

of plot marked "I" on map and inventories ; thence in a southeast direction to the southwest corner of said plot marked

"I"; thence in a southwesterly direction to line of the land

herein to be reserved as a public common, for school purposes.

Also the Block House marked "C" on map and inventories,

for public services, including a space of ground one hundred

feet square surrounding the same.

Also the Block House marked "D" on said map and inventories, including a space of land described as follows:

beginning at a point on tho northwest cornor of the stroot
-9- 7

running oust and west from the House now occupied by the Governor and the road loading north from said street to the Russian Cemetery; thence north 50* west 660 feet west 36* south

3G3 feet, south 50* east 660 feet, east 36* north 363 feet,

for public buildings for the civil service.

Also the land upon which were situated the buildings

designated on the map as Nos. 116,117, and 118, and more particularly described as follows, to wit: Commencing at a point

twenty-eight feet from the northwest corner of the main building, situated on American street, now occupied by Rueben Aloertstone as a Hotel, and running thence in a northerly direction one hundred and twonty-three feet to the line of a

street or*road; thence along said street or road two hundred

and twenty-four feet in an easterly direction to certain fence

posts; thence southeasterly one hundred and nine feet to the

line of an old fence; thence in a westerly direction one hundred

and ninety-seven feet to the place of beginning, for a

Governor's House, or such other occupancy as may be deemed

best by the general government.
I 49-/0

-10-

Alao ton aoros of land, including that now designated

on the plut of land as surveyed and claimed by Rev. Sheldon

Jackson Tor the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, as the

same appears of record in the office of the Recorder ex officio, for this district, and marked "Military Cemetery," and

more particularly described as follows, to wit: Beginning at

corner mark No. VIII on said plat, running northwesterly six

hundred and tixty feet; thence at right angles southwesterly

660 feet, thence southeasterly 660 feet, thence northeasterly

six hundred and sixty feet, containing ten acres more or

less, for a military and naval cemetery, subject to any

rights which said Board of Homo Missions may have.

Also two hundred and fifty feet of land on each side

of the stream of water running into Jamestown Bay on the south

side thereof on Baranoff Island now used for watering purposes by the United States navy and mercantile vessels, for

a wharf, and such other purposes as may be necessary for the

uses of the United States navy and mercantile marine; also

all of that island situated directly opposite the town of

Sitka known as Japonsky Island for naval and military purposes.
-fru* // so-//

-11-

Th c trnqt of land bounded on the west by the line as

est'nb 1 ished by the survey made for the Presbyterian Mission,

and alonr; tho shoro line of the Kay at low tide to the mouth

of Indian River, and across the mouth of said river and along

its rirht bank> for an average width of 500 feet, along said

bonk to the point known as Indian River Falls, an. also on

the, left bank of said river from said Tails, an average -width

of 200 feet, from said Falls to the eastern line or boundary

as shown on the Mission plat, for a public park*

Herewith I encloso a copy of the opinion of the Assist-i

aiit Attorney-General for this Department touching the legal

points involved, which moots with my approval.

Very respectfully,

r/ I

Secretary.

June?^" 1890.

In accordance with tho recommendation of the Secretary of

tho Interior, the above-described tracts 'of public l^r.d in the

Territory of Alaska arc hereby reserved for the uses and

purposes indicated by tho Secretary, until otherwise directed

by Congress.
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix B - Significant Documents/Copies of Key Legislation

Presidential Proclamation (unnumbered)

by Benajmin A. Harrison, 06/21/1890

(see bottom of previous page)
*

R Significant Documents/Key Legislation

Appendix B - Signup

Presidential Proclamation No. 959

70. Sitka National Monument

Pa«e

E»tablishmeru: Proclamation (No. 959) or March 23, I9t0 299

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

[No. 959—Mar. 23, 1910—56 Scat. 2601]

Whereas, within the limits of the public park created by proclamation

June 21, 1890, near Sitka, Alaska, is located the decisive battle ground

of the Russian conquest of Alaska in 1804, and also the site of the former

village of the Kik-Siti tribe, the most warlike of the Alaskan Indians; and

that here also are the graves of a Russian midshipman and six sailors, killed

in the conflict, and numerous totem poles constructed by the Indians, which

record the genealogical history of their several clans, and

Whereas, under the general laws of Alaska it has been found difficult to prevent vandalism within the reserved area, Now, therefore, I, William H. Taft, President of the United States

of America, by virtue of the power vested in me by Section two of the Act

of Congress approved June 8, 1906, entitled, "An Act for the Preservation

of American Antiquities", do hereby set aside, subject to any vested right,

as the Sitka National Monument, a tract of land near Sitka, Alaska, situated within, or chiefly within, the public park which embraces the mouth of Indian River and adjacent territory, created by proclamation of June 21,

1890, the same being more definitely located and described as follows: Beginning at corner No. 2 of the Presbyterian Mission site on the easterly

side thereof; thence north twenty-four degrees, fifty-four minutes east, along

the line of said mission tract, crossing Indian River, to a point seven chains

and fifty-eight links from the right bank of said river; thence south fortytwo degrees east, thirty-three chains and eighty-five links, to a point north

fifty-one degrees, thirty minutes east, ninety-one links from a post on high

tide line designated "Haley's Initial Post" ; thence south fifty-one degrees,

thirty minutes west, crossing the mouth of Indian River to a pine tree on

Indian Point; thence following the meanders of the high tide line of Sitka

Bay southwesterly and northwesterly to the place of beginning; embracing

approximateiy fifty-seven acres of land, as shown upon the diagram hereto

attached and made a part of this proclamation.

Warning is hereby expressly given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate, injure or destroy any feature of this National Monument, or to locate or settle upon any of the lands reserved by this proclamation. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of

the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this 23rd day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and ten. and of the Inde-

[seal] pendence of the United States the one hundred and thirty-fourth.

Wm. H. Taft.

Bv the President:

P. C. Knox,

Secretary of State. 652315*— 47 — 20
SITKA NATIONAL MONUMENT

ALASKA

Embracing a tract of/andwhich inc/udes the

moat/? of/na/a/? ft/verand adjacent territory

nearS/tAa, containing a6ouf f/fty seven acres.

\maleyshouse.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

GENERAL LAND OFFICE

Fred Dennett, Commissioner
C22 PROCLAMATIONS—FEB. 25, 1952 lot; Sta Redefining the Boundaries of the Sitka National Monumen

Alaska ' ' T

February 25, i»S2 [No. 2965) BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS errors have been discovered in the description of the area now constituting the Sitka National Monument, Alaska as contained in Proclamation No. 959 of March 23, 1910 (36 Stat. 2601)

establishing the said monument; and

WHEREAS a certain tract of land adjoining the said monument

has been donated to the United States to provide a suitable entrance

to the monument, and a certain tract of public land near the monu- ment is needed for the administration thereof fand

WHEREAS certain privately-owned lands adjoining the said

monument are needed for the administration and protection thereof

and the United States desires to acquire such lands for such purposes'

and

WHEREAS it appears that it would be in the public interest to redefine the boundaries of the Sitka National Monument (1) to correct the above-mentioned errors of description, (2) to add to the monument

the said tract donated to the United States and the said tract of public land, and (3) to include within the boundaries of the monument

the said privately-owned lands, with a view to making such lands

parts of the monument upon acquisition of title thereto by the United

States: Mtn'umen^

1 ' " 31 NOW, THEREFORE, I, HARRY S. TRUMAN, President

Boundaries. of the United States of America, under and by virtue of the authority

vested in me by section 2 of the act of Congress approved June S, 1906, 34 Stat. 225 (16 U. S. C. 431), do proclaim that, subject to valid

existing rights, (1) the lands now owned by the United States within

the exterior boundaries of the following-described tracts of land

shown on the diagram attached hereto and hereby made a part

hereof shall constitute the Sitka National Monument, and (2) the

privately-owned lands within such boundaries shall become parts

of the monument upon acquisition of title thereto by the United

States: Tract No. 1 Beginning at corner No. 1, M. C, of U. S. Survey No. 1258, which is corner No. 2 of U. S. Survey No. 407, Tract B, on the west shore of Baranof

Island on Sitka Bav, Alaska, at mean high tide, in latitude 57° 02' 45" N

T

., longitude 135° 19' 56" W., from which U. S. R. L. M. No. 1 bears N. 79°

08' 10" W., 3,965.61 ft. distant. From the initial point,

With U. S. Survey No. 407, Tract B, meanders of Sitka Bay,

S.72°42' W., 236.28 ft., N'.60° 18' W., 153.78 ft., S. 73° 34' W., 39.38 ft. to east line of Kelly Street, as delineated on Mission

Plat Addition to Town of Sitka dated June 14-21, 1923, produced southerly:

Thence with street lines as delineated on said Mission Plat Addition to Town of Sitka, and, as enumerated hereinafter,

Along east line of Kelly Street, produced southerly, N. 20° 21' E., 51.41 ft. to south line of Lincoln Street, Along south line of Lincoln Street,

S. 80° 44' E. ,97.12 ft., S. 89° 58' E., 140.09 ft. to east line of Metlakahtla Street, Along east line of Metlakahtla Street, N. 23° 46' E., 528.47 ft. to south line of a road leading to Indian River,

Along sou th line of said road,

N.7P06' E., 190.66 ft., more or less;
06 Stat.] PROCLAMATIONS—FEK. 25, 1952 C23

Thence leaving the said road, with northeast line of Lot 1, Block IV of aforementioned plat,

S. 28° 49' E., 22.85 ft., more or less, to a point in the west line of U. S. Survey No. 1258 and east line of U. S. Survey No. 407, Tract B: Thence with the exterior boundaries of U. S. Survey No. 1258 to the

hereinafter enumerated corners, N. 25° 18' E., 513.34 ft., crossing Indian River to corner No. 6, S. 42c 00' E., 1,805. 10 ft. to corner No. 7, S. 30° 00' E., 673.86 ft. to corner No. 8, M. C, at mean high tide of Sitka Bay;

Thence with the meanders of Sitka Bav,

N.65°38' W., 123.42ft.. N. 10° 00' W., 142.56 ft., N.76°54' W., 66.00 ft., S. 9° 21' W., 88.44ft.,

N.52°08' W., 224.40 ft., S.71°50' W., 234.96 ft., S. 12° 45' W., 85.80 ft., S.39°28' E., 169.62ft.. S.9° 13' E., 62.04 ft., S. 59° 51' W.,204.60 ft, N.82°45' W., 328.68 ft., S. 59° 49' W., 364.32 ft.

,

N.67°35'W., 67.98 ft., N. 37° 35' W., 359.04 ft., N.24 17' W ,448.14 ft., N 15° 25' W 292 38 ft N. 30° 54' W., 284.46 ft. to corner No. 1, M. C, the place of beginning.

The tract as described contains 53.454 acres, more or less. Tract No. 2 Beginning at corner No. 6 of U. S. Survev No. 2545, which is corner No 9

of U. S. Survey No. 407, Tract B, corner No. 2 of U. S. Survey No. 1473, corner No. 4 of U. S. Survev No. 1804, and corner No. 1 of U S. Survey No.

1558, from which U. S. It. L. M. No. 1 bears S. 66° 28' 53" W., 3,170.64 ft. distant, and corner No. 1, M. C, of U. S. Survey No. 1258 bears S. 26" 08' 06"

E., 2,241.36 ft. distant. From the initial point with south line of U. S. Survey No. 2545 and north

line of U. S. Survey No. 1804, this line being north line of Observatory Road,

so-called, N. 15° 45' W., 35.74 ft., more or less, to the true point of beginning, thence N.60°22' W., 260.00 ft.; Thence leaving south line of U. S. Survey No. 2545 and continuing along

north line of said road,

N.32°38' W., 105.00 ft., Thence leaving the said road. N. 70° 22' E.. 213.60 ft. to a point in the west line of U. S. Survey No. 1558; Thence with the west line of U. S. Survev No. 1558,

S. 15° 45' E., 300.01 ft. to the true point of beginning.

The tract as described contains 0.880 acres, more or less. 36 Stat., 1M. The p. 2601. said Proclamation No. 959 of March 23, 1910, is amended

accordingly.

Executive Order No. 8854 of August 16, 1941, reserving the lands S^

F^9^3 Cum- comprising the said Tract No. 2 and other lands for the use of the

U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Department of Commerce, as a magnetic and seismological observatory site, is hereby revoked as to the lands comprising the said Tract No. 2. The Director of the National Park Service, under the direction of J^^nt. "

an<1 the Secretary of the Interior, shall have the supervision, management,

and control of this monument, as provided in the act of August 25,

1916, ch. 408, 39 Stat. 535 (16 U. S. C. 1-3), and acts supplementary

thereto or amendatory thereof. Warning is hereby expressly given to all unauthorized persons not

to appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove any feature of this monument and not to locate or settle upon any of the lands thereof.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and

caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed. DONE at the City of Washington this 25th day of February i n the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-two, and

[seal] of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy-sixth.

HARRY S TRUMAN

By the President:

James E. Webb

Acting Secretary of State.
October 18. 1972

[S. 1497]

Sitka National Monument,

Alaska.

Additional

lands; name

change.

Administration.

Appropriation.

Public Law 92-501

AN ACT

To authorize certain additions to the Sitka National Monument

in the State of Alaska, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the

United States of America in Congress assembled, That, in order to preserve in public ownership for the benefit and inspiration of present

and future generations of Americans an area which illustrates a part

of the early history of the United States by commemorating czarist

Russia's exploration and colonization of Alaska, the Secretary of the

Interior (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary") is authorized to acquire by donation, purchase, or exchange, for addition to the Sitka

National Monument, the lands and interests therein, and improvements thereon, including the Russian mission, as generally depicted on

the map entitled "'Proposed Additions, Sitka National Monument,

Sitka. Alaska"' numbered 314—20,010-A, in two sheets, and dated September 1971, which shall be on file and available for public inspection in the offices of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

Lands and interests in lands within such area owned by the State of

Alaska or any political subdivision thereof may be acquired only by

donation. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary

may erect permanent improvements on lands acquired by him from the

State of Alaska for the purposes of this Act.

Sec. 2. The Sitka National Monument is hereby redesignated as the

Sitka National Historical Park, and it shall be administered, protected,

and maintained by the Secretary in accordance with the provisions of

the Act of August 25, 1916 (39 Stat. 535 ; 16 U.S.C. 1,2-4), as amended

and supplemented, and the Act of August 21, 1935 (49 Stat. 666; 16

U.S.C. 461 et seq.).

Sec. 3. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated not to exceed

$140,000 for land acquisition and $691,000 (June 1971 prices) for

development, plus or minus such amounts, if any, as may Tbe justified

by reason of ordinary fluctuations in construction costs as indicated

by engineering cost indexes applicable to the types of construction

involved herein.

Approved October 18, 1972.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE. SITKA

N-lS'iS W19S S6' NATIONAL MONUMENT <"

ALASKA

Map attached to and forming

parf of Proclamation

Dated

Land Planning Division Drawn bvyHLGF£bl6 1951 NM7003

U*>\ SITKA NATIONAL *$**\*

so'** \ MONUMENT ^.?*V>.

\

TRACT-I %?^^\

II* II W 44M1

STI-50W 2S4 9C^\V

39*20't 169 6tN

v NtS*3BWlii4?* *

N SJ'JS w ;59M

N CT'JS'W. ci se»X .^ N 0!'*S W 3 \.^ 3- 53*49'W 3C4 3C

/'i5S*SlW£0440

c22a
APPENDIX C

BOUNDARY AND OTHER MAPS

Map

Indian River Park

Proposed Sitka

National Monument

Sitka National Monument

Sitka National Monument

Restoration Plan

Sitka National Monument

Additions

Sitka National Monument

Excavation plan

Sitka National Monument

Proposed and existing

gravel operations

Sitka National Monument

Erosion Control Project

Sitka National Monument

Additions

Date

1892

11/12/1908

03/23/1910

07/05/1945

02/25/1952

1958

05/04/1960

09/26/1961

10/18/1972
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park Appendix C - Boundary and Other Maps

» ''7*^' *«>*->_- "v^rte -The Twins

SSl^s* „3 • 13 7

Kata L , 2i 25 10 U 15 Rockv ?P»tcrf6

Hty9 " 3.

i PUBLIC PARK AT INDIAN RIVER

(Extract of U.S. Coast & Geodetic

Survey Chart No. 8245, dated 1892)
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix C - Boundary and Other Maps

\

1

Vj \

S

*

J *

* <o £ ^

s

* £ N * S

L V

k * i S

io J

In * a s

sj n

10-

**
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix C • Boundary and Other Maps

SITKA NATIONAL MONUMENT

ALASKA

Embracing street of /and which includes the

mouth of/naianftiver and adjacent territory

nearSitAa, containing a6ouf fifty seven acres.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

GENERAL LAND OFFICE

Fred Dennett, Commissioner

1910
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix C - Boundary and Other Maps -J

^<D

Sitka Not. M( r, EXCAVATION

958

i i r

~

Zoo

rLtr
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix C - Boundary and Other Maps

itif%

>r *

r. S* _

a iff

u

Y" t

» i .> (-«•« v* o /

7 ~ ?

.^gfti-'- •..=«*'•

f

3/ opoie d Grovel Excayvtoo

/n: Jamestown 8jy

A'* . a ,*/7< rtQul h of the 1' "131 P

5 •*<*, ALASKA

fl«y FKLQ PlhSON Co.
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix C - Boundary and Other Maps
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix C - Boundary and Other Maps rJ
( /

Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix C - Boundary and Other Maps

//

(

/

/

EROSION CONTROL PROJECT

SITKA NATIONAL MONUMENT

1961

/

/
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix C - Boundary and Other Maps

- si*

LAND OWNERSHIP

f W 9 T k

<r«ti in ritr

NATIONAL MONUMENT

SITKA ALASKA

RUSSIAN MISSION

PROPOSED ADDITION

'ROrOSED f.AS*Mf.NT ttzm Sh(|[ 2 Of 7
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix C - Boundary and Other Maps

PROPOSED ADDITIONS

SITKA NATIONAL MONUMENT

SITKA • ALASKA

MONUMENT BDRY IPROPOSEDl

FORMER MONUMENT BOR 1

PROPOSED ADDITIONS

TRAILS

BRIDGE

BUREAU OF

LAND MANAGEMENT

AW- IS* » ".) -t

t*3r#3L

w, /%IV *'^TT.*:<i» v7CI*aBlr.'

* ,W it Ml

SITKA

LAND OWNERSHIP

Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix D - Key On-Site Managing Personnel, 1910 to 1940

APPENDIX D

KEY ON-SITE MANAGING PERSONNEL 1910 - 1940

Person Inclusive Dates Title

Merrill, Elbridge Warren * Custodian

Trierschield, Peter 11/10/22-07/09/37 Custodian

Trierschield, John 08/23/37-01/23/40 Custodian

*Merrill was offered an appointment as custodian in 1918 and apparently

did some work at the monument for which he received payment, but never

returned the necessary appointment forms and thus was never officially on Park Service rolls.
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix E - Key NFS Personnel, 1940 to Present

APPENDIX E

KEY NPS PERSONNEL, 1940 TO PRESENT

Person

Miller, Ben C.

Pearson, Grant H.

Miller, Ben C.

Schmidt, Henry B.

Hall, George A.

Warner, Charles W.

Ingersoll, William T,

Geerdes, Raymond

Kuehn, Daniel

Ruesch, Vernon

Lang, Ellen H.

Edelstein, Susan

Suazo, Ernest

Inclusive Dates

1940-1947

1947-1949

1949-1953

1953-1957

1959-1963

1963

1964-1966

1966-1968

1969-1973

1973

1974-1978

1978-1980

1980-present

Title

Custodian

Custodian

Superintendent

Superintendent

Park Historian

Park Historian

Park Historian

Park Historian

Superintendent

Superintendent

Superintendent

Superintendent

Superintendent
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix F - Visitor Statistics

APPENDIX F

VISITOR STATISTICS

(in thousands)

1913

1914

1915

1916

1917

1918

1919

1920

1921

1922

1923

1924

1925

1926

1927

1928

1929

1930

10.0

12.0

10.0

10.0

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

2.5

3.0

3.0

3.5

3.0

1931

1932

1933

1934

1935

1936

1937

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946

1947

8.0

6.5

1.4

5.0

7.0

6.7

4.5

5.0

5.0

5.0

9.6

8.8

4.3

4.6

4.1

2.6

2.7
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix F - Visitor Statistics

1948

1949

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

9.3

6.5

6.7

7.0

4.8

10.9

11.1

9.4

10.4

11.3

12.8

15.7

15.5

15.6

13.6

18.8

21.5

25.8

38.6

44.8

23.8

1969

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

39.5

61.9

45.0

38.0

48.0

64.0

77.0

81.6

87.2

86.1

72.1

75.6

90.5

90.8

88.3
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix F - Visitor Statistics

1984 112.2

1985 121.1

1986 114.6

NA = Not Available

Source: Humphrey, Donald W. , Acting Chief, Division of Long Range

Planning, National Park Service,

January 18, 1973, to Project

Leader, Alaska Task Force, National Park Service; File H2621,

"Superintendents Annual Reports,"

at Sitka National Historical Park.

Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix G - Itemization of Management Plans

APPENDIX G

ITEMIZATION OF MANAGEMENT PLANS

Alaska Field Committee

1949 "A six year integrated program for the Department of the

Interior in Alaska," July 1949, in Alaska Collection,

Harper's Ferry Center, National Park Service.

Hall, George A.

1959 "Sitka National Historical Park Draft Handbook," in alphabetical reference files, Sitka National Historical Park.

1961 "Interpretive prospectus for Sitka National Monument, Alaska,"

August 1961, in Alaska Collection, at Harper's Ferry

Center, National Park Service.

Ingersoll, William T.

1964 "Master plan of Sitka National Monument," September 15, 1964,

in Alaska Collection, at Harper's Ferry Center, National

Park Service.

Mitchell, Leone T.

1965 "Master plan brief for Sitka National Monument," December 3,

1965, in Alaska Collection, Harper's Ferry Center, National Park Service.

National Park Service

1956 "Mission 66 prospectus brief," April 20, 1956, in "Master plan

narrative - Sitka," Vols. I and III, 1964, in Alaska

Collection, Harper's Ferry Center, National Park Service .
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix G - Itemization of Management Plans

1957 "Mission 66 prospectus brief - Sitka and Glacier Bay National

Monuments," February 1, 1957, in "Master plan narrative

- Sitka," Vols. I and III, 1964, in Alaska Collection,

Harper's Ferry Center, National Park Service.

1959 "Master plan narrative for Sitka National Monument," October

26, 1959, in File D18, Planning program and master plan

1956 - 1960, numerical/subject files, Sitka National

Historical Park.

1961 "Interpretive prospectus [Sitka]," August 1961, microfiche D — 2, Denver Service Center, National Park Service.

1964 "Master plan narrative for Sitka National Monument, Chapter 2,

Objectives," September 23, 1964, in File D18, Planning

program and master plan 1956 - 1960, numerical/subject

files, Sitka National Historical Park.

1964 "Master plan of Sitka National Monument, Chapter 3, Management

Program Narratives," December 4, 1964, in File D18,

Planning program and master plan 1956 - 1960,

numerical/subject file, Sitka National Historical Park.

1964 "Master plan narrative - Sitka," Vols. I and III, 1964, in

Alaska Collection, Harper's Ferry Center, National Park

Service

.

1968 "Alternatives study for proposed additions to Sitka National

Historical Park," May 1968, in Richard Stenmark File,

Alaska Collection, Harper's Ferry Center, National Park

Service

.

1972 "Interpretive prospectus [Sitka]," October 1972, microfiche

D1102A, Denver Service Center, National Park Service.

1976 "Outline of planning requirements [Sitka]," May 5, 1976,

microfiche D 10, Denver Service Center, National Park

Service

.
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix G - Itemization of Management Plans

1976 "Interpretive prospectus [Sitka]," October 1976, microfiche

D1102, Denver Service Center, National Park Service.

1976 "Statement for management [Sitka]," October 26, 1976,

microfiche D 9, Denver Service Center, National Park

Service

.

1981 "Interpretive prospectus [Sitka]," December 4, 1981,

microfiche D1102B, Denver Service Center, National Park

Service

.

1982 "Resource management plan — Sitka National Historical Park,"

in numerical/subject files, D18, Sitka National Historical Park.

1983 "Statement for Management [Sitka]," February 18, 1983,

microfiche D 9A, Denver Service Center, National Park

Service

.

Stanton, William J.

1953 "Alaska recreation survey," Part I -Volume I, "Economic

aspects of recreation in Alaska," in Alaska Collection,

Harper's Ferry Center, National Park Service.

Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix H - Operating Budgets Since 1938

APPENDIX H

OPERATING BUDGETS SINCE 1938 BY FISCAL YEAR

(in thousands)

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

.62

.70

2.90

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

NA = Not Available

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

90.0

325.1

NA

432.5

514.9

Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix I - Dates, Locations, Acreages of Boundary Changes

APPENDIX I DATES, LOCATIONS, ACREAGES

OF

BOUNDARY CHANGES

Event

Designation as public

park

Designation as national monument

monument

Date Acreage Location

6/21/1890

3/23/1910

Unknown

53.45

Withdrawal for

administrative

headquarters

site 2/25/1952

boundary

.88

Purchase 6/02/1953 1.10

Purchase 5/20/1954 .19

Hobson

purchase 2/09/1955 .19

Bailey

purchase 8/03/1955 .12

Zuboff

purchase 5/28/1956 .12

Littlef ield

purchase 8/20/1963 .172

1 mi. n. monument

west boundary

west boundary

entrance area

entrance area

entrance area

entrance
Administrative History of Sitka National Historical Park

Appendix I - Dates, Locations, Acreages of Boundary Changes

Designation

as national

historical

park with

additions 10/18/1972 1.369 Lincoln Street

Source: "Master plan for preservation and use of Sitka National

Monument," February 15, 1962, Volume III, in files of

Sitka National Monument; "Sitka National Historical

Park," (summary of reservation history), April 24, 1986,

in File A2623, Sitka National Historical Park.

GPO 592-447/80057