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Pena Nena Henash The Land Sneak* I ^^F
Aleut Ut kah neek Informing and Rcvortinj
Unungang Toonooktakuks The Aleuts Speak
Vol. 1, No. 21--- Monday, Ao9. 5, 1963 Fairbanks, Alaska •
Prime Minister, High Court Uphold Canadian Natives' Riaht to Duties I
Lester Pearson, the prime minister
of Canada, has pledged on the floor
of the Canadian Parliament that his
government will uphold the right of
Canadian Indians and Eskimos to
take ducks needed for food anytime
of year.
And Senator Ernest Gruening of
Alaska has pressed the U. S. Com
missioner of Fish and Wildlife to
make the same assurance to Alaska
Eskimos and Indians.
Pearson made the pledge to Ca
nadian natives after a heated con
troversy and court case in Ontario
in which an Indian was charged
with illegally taking a duck in vio
lation of the game laws.
Shortly afterward the Ontario
Supreme Court ruled in favor of
the Indian and against the crown.
According to Senator Gruening.
the decision sets a precedent which
should carry weight in Alaska as
well as Canada.
The Ontario case is the second
native duck controversy to plague
Canada within a year. And in late
May of 1961, a heated controversy
over the enforcement of the Migra
tory Bird Treaty took place in
Alaska.
When two Barrow men were ar
rested by Fish and Wildlife ward
ens. 138 Barrow men each carrying
a duck turned themselves in to the
wardens in protest and asked to be
arrested too.
Gruening in Fairbanks recently
said he had always upheld right
of Alaska natives to take ducks any
time of year when other food was
not available and felt the sudden
1961 crack-down by fish and wild
life agents was uncalled for.
‘From time immemorial, Alaska
Indians and Eskimos have taken
ducks and geese for food,” he said.
“And for 45 years the treaty was I
not enforced, then they started ar
resting Eskimos.”
Gruening criticized the policy of
Clarence Pautzke commissioner of
the L .S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
and said he had recently drafted a
ordinance for him to put out saying
that natives who took ducks and
geese for food would not be prose
cuted.
Word has been quietly passed to
game wardens to turn their heads
and not arrest natives taking ducks
and geese, Gruening said, but that
the word has not been made public
and natives are told they will be ar- I
rested.
I he Fish and Wildlife Service is f
carrying on a policy of intimidating
the Eskimos and Indians," Gruening
said.
"I have written Ray Christensen
that it will be all right for natives I
to take ducks when they need them
for food and no other food is avail- j
able. Gruening said. "Just so long |
as they don’t abuse the privilege or ;
take them for sale.”
"If any native is arrested.” Gruen
„ -,
ing said, “I will come to Alaska
and stand by his side in court and
add my words to his defense.”
“Canada and Mexico are not en
forcing the treaty against natives
and there is no reason whatsoever
why it should be enforced against
Alaska Eskimos and Indians,”
Gruening said.
Because of Prime Minister Lester
Pearson’s strong remarks the de
fense in the case of Michael Sikyea,
of Yellowknife. N.W.T., has asked,
lhat the crown drop its appeal. The
Supreme Court of the Northwest
Territories is scheduled to hear that
controversial case on October 22,
his year.
Oliver La Farge,
Friend of Indian,
Dies Suddenly
“Thirty,” the traditional end sign
of writers, was written today for
Oliver La Farge, one of the great
est friends the American Eskimo
and Indian have ever known.
Funeral services for Mr. La Farge,
61. were held today at his home in
Sante Fe, N. M.
The nationally known writer and
president of the Asociation on Am
erican Indian Affairs was an ardent
and vociferous fighter for the cause
of the Indian.
He died Friday from what his
physician termed “final heart fail
ure.”
In addition to being a writer, he
was a historian and anthropologist.
In 1929 he won the Pulitzer Prize
for “Laughing Boy.” a story of the
Navajo Indian life.
Born in New York City in 1901,
(Continued on Page 8)
Gruening Claims
Rampart Dam
Fears Groundless
Senator Ernest Gruening recently
toured six Interior Indian villages
in the area of the proposed Rampart
Dam urging fears of the gigantic
project are groundless.
He went on to stress if Rampart
Dam is authorized, it would provide
the greatest employment opportun
ities the state has ever seen and na
tives in the area would be “infinite
ly better off economically than they
are now.”
He brushed aside as trivial stated
objections to the project, and said
the advantages and resources gained
would far outweigh the disadvant
ages and resources lost.
In an exclusive interview before
departing on the tour. Senator
Gruening said he wanted to talk
(Continued on Page 5)
DAY BEFORE TRAGEDY—The famous humorist. Will Rogers, left,
and Wiley Post, famous flyer, right, pose in Fairbanks on August
14, 1935—the day before they met death in a plane accident about 13
miles from Barrow7. Claire Okpeaha, now living at Barrow, talked
with the two men shortly before they crashed. Tundra Times Bar
row correspondent, Guy Okakok, was one of the men who recovered
their bodies from the 'wreckage.
—Wien Alaska Airlines Photo by Noel Wien
Tragic Accident
Will Rogers, Wiley Post
Met Death W^Years Ago
By liuy ukskok
Barrow Correspondent
Big excitement came to Barrow
just nineteen years ago this month
when two famous flyers. Will Rog
ers and Wiley Post, met their death
in a tragic accident near here.
On August 15, 1935, a resident of
Barrow, Claire Okpeaha. a full
blooded Eskimo, and his wife were
camping and hunting 13 miles from
town.
Okpeaha and his wife were eat
ing—sitting around the table after
he had come back from hunting. All
or a sudden they heard the roaring
of a plane motor.
“I wonder whose plane this could
be. flying in this kind of weather,"
Okpeaha said to his wife.
The rain was pouring hard and
there was a strong wind too from
northeast.
Plane Landed
Without saying another word.
Okpeaha went out and saw a plane
circling above. He began to watch
the plane and wonder and while
he was wondering, this plane cir
(Continued on Page 8)
BLM Prepares to Open
16-Million Acre Region
To Oil and Gas Leasing
By Thomas Snapp
Times Staff Writer
The Fairbanks Land Office of
the Bureau of Land Management is
. getting set for a real bonanza —
the opening up of the 16 million
acre Umiat region for oil and gas
leasing.
The entire area, north of the
Brooks Range with the exception
of Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4.
may be opened up.
Daniel Jones, manager of the Fair
banks Land office, announced today
that protraction diagrams of the
giant Umiat meridian will soon be
! made available to the general pub
; lie.
But Jones warns that oil and gas
lease applications can only be filed
when a notice so directing is pub
lished in the federal register by
Secretary of Interior Stewart L.
Udall.
Protraction sheets have been sent
to the BLM here in order that the
land office may set up its records
preparatory to the opening. It will
take about 60 days to set up this
machinery.
Governor’s Notice
In an opening of this kind in or
der for the state to have the first
chance at selecting the area, the
Governor is given 00 days notice
prior to the notice appearing in the
federal l'egister.
Since the BLM has been alerted
to set up their records, this may
mean Governor Egan has already
been put on notice by Secretary
Udall of his intention to open the
area. Or it may mean that Udall
(Continued on Page 7)
Editorial
Native Assertions
Natives will not always get voluntary help to assist
them make proper documents, for instance, on the proper
drafting of claim papers. They have to look for such help
and ask many people if they have to. Since many of us
are not too well educated, we have to do it that way.
When claim documents are made up and ready to be
sent, natives have to know exactly where to send them.
That is very important. If they don't send them to the pro
per department, it is possible that they may never be for
warded to the Department of Interior, Washington, D.C.
We understand that some villages in the proposed
Rampart Dam area have been sending their cla m docu
ments to the U.S. Corps of Engineers. While this is desir
able, it is more proper to send them to Daniel Jones, Man
ager of Fairbanks Land Office, Bureau of Land Manage
ment, Fairbanks, Alaska. A copy of the document should
then be sent to U.S. Corps of Engineers, Box 7002, An
chorage, Alaska. The village claimants must have a copy
(Continued on Page 2)