The lands surrounding the head of Katlian Bay are magnificent in beauty and opportunity, and were historically the subject of a great many endeavors and claims.
Katlian Bay uplands
Tlingit Lifeways
In 1946, several statements as to the aboriginal territory of Tlingit in Katlian Bay were taken by Walter Goldschmidt and Theodore Haas:
George Lewis, 72 years old, testified,
There were smokehouses at Katlian Bay which belonged to the Kiks.ádi. Got humpies, dog salmon, mountain blueberries, salmonberries, and wild currents. The humpies were obtained from the Coxe River. We also gathered potato-like roots called tséit. We went up to the head of the river to get cohos because they taste better. We still go there to fish, but we bring them back here to smoke. (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1998, p. 64).
Thomas Sanders, 66 years old testified,
A Kiks.ádi woman married a white man, and they settled at the mouth of the stream on Katlian. Since her time, a dairy was established there, but it is now gone. We now get salmonberries there in June, hunt deer there in the mountains, and get fish out of the stream for our own use. We go there for dog salmon, cohos, and humpies. The cohos in that stream continue to run as late as Christmas time, and the people of Sitka like to go up there and get fish late in the season (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1998, p. 143).
Andrew Hope, 55 years old, testified,
Katlian Bay was used for drying halibut, getting seaweed and other food from the tidal flats. There are several families in Sitka who regularly go there for these purposes. They no longer have cabins there, but use tents whenever they go there (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1998, p. 139).
Subsequent to the purchase of Alaska by the United States from Russia, on a trip to “Katliansky” on July 5, 1888, U.S. Naval Lieutenant George T. Emmons wrote of an old man he met that claimed the locality as his hereditary rights. He apparently showed Emmons a petroglyph that marked the site of the former summer fishing village “Kla-yark, “Klayask, or “Katleansky Village.” Emmons described a carved boulder, about “three feet by three feet by two and one-half feet” just above high tide. “It was overgrown by beach growth and a decayed tree trunk and the grooves were shallow, smooth, and almost obliterated” (Emmons 1908). Emmons also noted that the summer fishing village, Katleansky Village, had belonged to Katlian. It was marked by a clearing and abundant bushes, grass and a potato garden; but the house sites in 1888 were at least 200 yards from the mouth of the main stream, which probably changed its course and once flowed by the houses (DeArmond n.d.). It is unclear whether Emmons was describing Katlian or Starrigavan Bay. To add more confusion to the location of precontact sites, on April 20, 1900, Historian Robert DeArmond reports that members of the Alaskan Society of Natural History and Ethnography visited the village site at the south end of Halleck Island. There they found the remains of 15 houses of what was called Katlean’s village and which was said to have been abandoned approximately 100 years earlier (DeArmond 2008).
Hay for the Troops!
In 1866, James Hollywood married a woman named Anna, whose given Tlingit name was Yon Te Ske. She was the granddaughter of Tlingit Kiks.ádi Chief Katlian, who led the Tlingit in the Battle of 1804 in Sitka (DeArmond 1995). The Hollywood’s were reported to have moved out to Katlian (Katleansky) Bay in the early 1870s (DeArmond, personal papers, n.d.). Anna acted as an interpreter for the first school for Native children opened by Alonzo Austin, Presbyterian predecessor to Sheldon Jackson, and run by his daughter Olinda Austin on April 5, 1880 (DeArmond 2008).
Hollywood and his partner Edward Doyle filed a settlement claim for 116 acres (46.9 hectares), where they cultivated hay and operated a dairy farm. Of the operation, in 1868, U.S. Naval Commander L.A. Beardslee reported that “the Katliansky plains had been broken up and sown with timothy (hay) by a pioneer named Doyle twelve years ago. Each year the plains were covered with a heavy crop of grass which 30 to 100 tons per season were cut” (DeArmond n.d.). Hollywood and Doyle were said to have produced hay for the U.S. Army stationed in Sitka after the Alaska Purchase.
Hollywood had a operated a dairy in Jamestown Bay and was said to have in the summer walked his cows up the Indian River Valley over the mountains to Katlian Bay to graze (DeArmond, personal papers, n.d.).
Testimony from Mark Jacobs, Tlingit Elder, reported in the Katlian Bay Watershed Report states,
They used to take their cows up here [to Katlian River flats] to eat out the grass. He used to start up Indian River and take the Indian River trail. And you’ll come to the forks after about 2 miles up and there’s a left hand trail that follows the left hand river. You keep following that until you get to the ridge, then you go over the top and then you go down into the creek [South Fork Katlian River]” (Sitka Ranger District and Sitka Tribe of Alaska 2003).
James Hollywood died 1894 prompting Anna to put the “Hollywood Ranch” up for sale. A February 12, 1895, notice includes “200 acres of a hay ranch and two framed houses” (DeArmond 2008). Before the ranch sold, Anna married Charles Fritz and the two lived and cultivated by Katlian Bay until 1911. In early 1913, Charles Fritz filed a claim under the Forest Homestead Act of June 11, 1906 requesting 160 acres (64.7 hectares). In a letter dated May 12, 1913 to the Agent of the Forest Reserve in Ketchikan, Anna Hollywood Fritz wrote her own claim to the property. It took the Forest Service until 1918 to survey the land, listing of 49.19 acres (19.9 hectares) on April 11, 1919, and giving Fritz priority to the claim. In the meantime, Anna Hollywood and Charles Fritz lost patience and burned the buildings down, abandoning the site in 1915 without filing a claim.
Letter to the Forest Service from Anna Hollywood Fritz, 1913 (Sitka Ranger District Files, Sitka, AK)
Pioneer Woman Mary Dean
Although floods have washed away most of the evidence, about a decade after Hollywood/Fritz, a progressive pioneering woman settled the flats of Katlian Bay. Mary Elmira Dean, a divorcee, solely ventured to Southeast Alaska in 1927, filed homestead entry claim No. 06824, and then began operating a small dairy and fur farm.
In his Sitka Chronology, historian Robert DeArmond notes that on February 5, 1926, “Mrs. Mary Elmira Dean leased the Sitka Dairy from Kalle Raatikainen and bought his livestock. She announced plans to move the operation to Katlian Bay with Tomas Wood as manager. A new Ford roadster had been ordered for delivering milk in town” (DeArmond 2008).
Mary Dean with a seal circa 1927-1930s (photo courtesy of Dixie McClintock)
Mary Dean among her cattle in Katlian Bay circa 1927-1930s (photo courtesy of Dixie McClintock)
Dean cabin circa 1927-1930s (photo courtesy of Dixie McClintock)
Shortly thereafter, Wood called for his nephew Gordon Barrett from Kansas. At age 17, Barrett arrived to work at the Katlian Bay dairy on August 1, 1928. In his memoirs, Barrett writes that, with the help of his horse Don, he cleared a garden spot and used a gravel wagon to gather fill for around the log house. “In digging the gravel fill, hundreds of salmon eggs and tiny salmon were dug up, which always amazed me” (Barrett, ca. 1980s).
Tomas Wood and Nephew Gordon Barrett, Mary Dean’s dairy help circa 1927-1930s (photo courtesy of Dixie McClintock)
Excerpt from Gordon Barrett’s written testimony circa 1980s (courtesy of Dixie McClintock)
Gordon Barrett also remembers the mink pens, noting,
One of my many jobs around the place was the care of the minks. The cleaning of the pens and the constant feeding involved quite a bit of time. Their diet consisted mainly of fish and bear meat, once in a while, that is, if Uncle Tom and I were lucky enough to get one in the sight of our guns. They were plentiful but presented quite a challenge to hunt down (Barrett ca. 1980s).
Mink pens on the Dean Homestead circa 1927-1930s (photo courtesy of Dixie McClintock)
Forest Service records note two Special Use Permits issued to Mary Dean, one issued on December 30, 1930 for the purpose of cultivation. This permit closed on June 14, 1939 and the permit was destroyed on September 1, 1953. The second permit was issued November 20, 1930 for grazing cattle and horses. The permit notes, “40 head of cattle. Folder mailed to BLM. Free under Forester’s authorization dated Nov. 8, 1928” (Sitka Ranger District n.d.). Dean’s 1928 application details her operation noting improvements and construction values and notes her log cabin dwelling.
The application also states,
The applicant grazed the grassland which supported her stock about 11 months, sufficient hay was left to cut and complete the years feeding, and additional hay was shipped in from Seattle at a cost of $50 per ton. Potatoes and other garden truck are grown for home consumption and any surplus can be sold in Sitka, Alaska. All improvements were constructed by Mrs. Dean. Sitka, where a ready market is found at the following prices: whole milk 25₵ per quart…tracks do not include or support a reservoir site for power, irrigation, or water supply…. (Sitka Ranger District n.d.)
Homestead Survey No. 228 (BLM, 2015)
Homestead Survey No. 228 close-up showing homestead operations (BLM, 2015)
Sometime in the late 1930s, Gordon left to work for the Civilian Conservation Corp which didn’t last long. He returned to Katlian Bay to find Mrs. Dean in failing health. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Dean decided to return to Los Angeles, California. Several years later, Gordon Barrett learned that upon her passing, Mary Dean left the Katlian Bay property homestead to him in her will. Barrett never worked the area of Katlian Bay again, but did visit there often. He noted, “Now I come and go, but my Katlian is still there. All the land marks have changed from what is now a ferry terminal into town, were just a few Indian huts and not a beautiful highway, but more or less a well-traveled deer and bear trail” (Barrett ca. 1980s).
The deed to Homestead No. 228 is now in the hands of Barrett’s daughter, a Sitka resident who has made the region her home since the 1960s. She has no plans to further develop the site and enjoys it as her father did in his later years as a special place of beauty and solace. Structural and fur pen remains are still identifiable and cow bones litter the beach of the bay head.
Cow bone (Pollnow, 2015)
Remains of mink pens recorded during the 2015 cultural resource investigation (Pollnow, 2015)
Palisade Foundation at the Dean Homestead (Pollnow, 2015)
Culturally Modified Trees
A total of 23 CMT scars on 19 trees (four trees have two scars) were documented during the investigation. The majority of CMTs identified were located in clusters according to scar type. Fourteen of the trees are yellow cedar trees with triangle bark scars, eight trees are spruce trees with a blaze mark, and one tree is an old stump. This stump was identified because of it severely decayed nature and was distinct from stumps cut during recent logging or other such modern activities.
Core samples were dated by counting the growth rings of the tree. The point at which scarring takes place, tree ring growth is minimized due to an up to 30 percent reduction of nutrients to the canopy from the extraction or damage. The percentage of loss is dependent on the scar size and type, but the limited growth rate can be identified within the growth rings (Pollnow, 2015). This technique is cross-referenced with the measurement of the lip of the scar.
Triangle bark-stripped on a Cedar culturally modified tree (Pollnow, 2015)
Triangle bark-stripped on a Cedar culturally modified tree (Pollnow, 2015)
Grove of triangle bark-stripped on Cedar culturally modified trees (Pollnow, 2015)
Three Sitka Spruce trees with blaze marks were recorded at the beginning of the proposed road alignment, two of which are shown below. These trees were cored and resulting in a modification of 200+ years ago. As oral history records note, could this trail maker coincide with the Kiks’ádi Survival March route of 1804 and/or the habitation sites in the Starrigavan Valley?
Blaze marked on a large Sitka Spruce culturally modified tree (Pollnow, 2015)
Blaze marked on a large Sitka Spruce culturally modified tree (Pollnow, 2015)
Resource Extraction of Cedar Trees
The coastal old-growth forests provided for all these subsistence patterns, and the western red cedar provided material for nearly every aspect of native life. In regards to fishing, timber provided the means to access, collect, and process fish; trees were a necessity for canoes, weirs, fish traps, smoke house construction, and smoke from fire to preserve fish.
Ethnography and the archaeological record provide an understanding of the most common methods and uses in traditional timber extraction and use. Depending on the anticipated use for the cedar, extraction methods differ, leaving different types of scars as evidence of this removal. Trees that show evidence of this human alteration are classified by anthropologists as culturally modified trees (CMTs). The CMTs may indicate an aboriginal, historic, or modern alteration, and may have been harvested for a number of purposes.
The triangular bark strip scar is a type of CMT scar that denotes the extraction of bark and cambium processed into finer fibers used to make baskets, rope, mats, clothing, blankets, and other items.
Basket making was one of the oldest and most important arts in the Tlingit economy. Woven basketry was fairly prominent in all coastal native groups from the Aleutian Chain to the Columbia River. Many baskets, mats, bags, and other basketry were sewn, coiled, twined, or plaited from a variety of materials. Tlingit basketry is based on twined weaving, and a few different variations have been developed. The most common of the styles was called close-together-work, known for its watertight weave, making it a very utilitarian style. Baskets were traditionally a vessel to carry goods, but in the late 1800s, baskets were made in abundance and sold to the tourist market. Tlingit history was exchanged and carried down through ancestry orally, through stories, songs, and dances. Several efforts have been undertaken since contact with foreign entities to write, photograph, and ethnographically document this aboriginal cultural of the Southeast Alaska region. Since Russian and Euro-American contact, diaries, journals, and recordings have provided a written recording of Tlingit way of life (Stewart 1984).
To learn more about culturally modified trees clink Culturally Modified Tree Handout
Blazed marked Sitka Spruce culturally modified tree (Pollnow, 2015)
Blazed marked Sitka Spruce culturally modified tree with ax marks (Pollnow, 2015)
Logging in Katlian Bay and Valley
In May of 1958, Forest Service officials began to lay out boundaries for a skidder and A-frame logging show for the Alaska Lumber and Pulp Company, which was later named the Alaska Pulp Company (DeArmond n.d.). In the early 1960s, 5,000 acres (2,023.4 hectares) of the Katlian Basin were logged, yielding some 200 million board feet (4,719 cubic meters) of timber. Over the period 1959 to 1964, logging became the exclusive and intensive use of the land in the area. Over 28 miles (45 km) of gravel-base logging roads, and several large timber bridges (Figure 4‑1) were constructed, as well as a large log dump facility, and rafting and storage operations in the bay head (R.W. Pavitt and Associates, Inc. and Homan-McDowell Associates 1976). Industrial scale logging and road construction began in the main valley in the early 1960s as part of the Alaska Pulp Corporation’s long-term contract managed by the Forest Service. Harvest was completed around 1964, with salvage logging continuing through 1965 (Sitka Ranger District and Sitka Tribe of Alaska 2003).
3-Span log stringer bridge (Sitka Ranger District and Sitka Tribe of Alaska 2003)
The Katlian Basin after logging in the early 1960s (Sitka Ranger District and Sitka Tribe of Alaska 2003)
Katlian logging camp circa 1960s (Sitka Ranger District and Sitka Tribe of Alaska 2003)
DeArmond (2008) reported that on October 25, 1960, the Forest Service let a contract to reseed 800 acres (323.7 hectares) in the Sitka area: “Temsco Helicopters of Ketchikan was to do the work at Katlian Bay and River and Nakwasina.”
Pursuant to the terms of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (Public Law 92-203), the Shee A’tiká Corporation and Sealaska Corporation have title to the above surface and below surface rights in Katlian Bay. This dual ownership by two corporations is not even remotely similar to the customary and traditional lifestyle of Tlingit Indians of past millennia. Corporate ownership is often driven by motives other than the subsistence lifestyle of old (DeArmond 2008).
Kaagwaantaan Tlingit Elder Herman Kitka, and the original chair of the Shee A’tiká Board, had this insight as to the selection of Katlian Bay by the Corporation, “Some of the valleys, its clear way back in there. Would have made a good ski resource. That was part of our plans for Katlian Bay.” Mr. Kitka also stated the land was “selected to go along with [the Shee A’tiká] hotel” (Sitka Ranger District and Sitka Tribe of Alaska 2003). He said that the idea was that people could be lured to stay in the hotel and go fishing on Katlian River. At that time, there was a relatively new logging road running up the river that would give access to guests. This road has fallen into disrepair since that time (Sitka Ranger District and Sitka Tribe of Alaska 2003).
In 1975, Shee Atika filed with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to transfer 3,163 acres from the National Forest to Shee Atika (R.W. Pavitt and Associates, Inc. and Homan-McDowell Associates 1976). Approximately 3,270 acres (1,323.3 hectares) were logged, primarily using clear-cut prescriptions. Harvest practices at the time did not require keeping trees along the stream banks (buffer zones). Not much attention was paid to salmon habitat protection.
Long-time Sitka resident (now passed) and logger Oliver “Porky” Bickar states in his interview regarding the logging operation,
Well when you go up the valley you didn’t worry [about stream buffer zones] as much. It’s when you’re right down next to the beach. We spent only a couple 3 days down next to the beach. Rest is all up in the valley, way up. Didn’t even know what a buffer zone was. Consequently, trees were removed along most of the lower reaches of Main Katlian River and South Katlian River and their tributaries in the lower portions of the valley (Sitka Ranger District and Sitka Tribe of Alaska 2003).
Wire rope from logging activity (Pollnow, 2015)
Remains of logging activity (Pollnow, 2015)
Harder or tracked shovel tracks left from logging activity (Pollnow, 2015)