EARLYDAYSOF
ALASKATOLDOF
BY PILOT KEEN
Survivors of the party which ac
companied Secretary of State William
H. Seward to Alaska in 1868, the year
following the purchase from Russia
by the United States, are few in num
•
ber.
Captain James W. Keen, of Seattle,
is one of these and perhaps the only
one. He does not know of any other.
Though that expedition was made a
full half century ago, it was not Cap
tain Keene’s first visit to Alaska; his
knowledge of Alaskan waters had
been gained years before and the con
fidence of the Alaskan Indians which
he possessed proved of great assist
ance to the distinguished' emissary
from the government at Washington.
Gathered about the council fire onei
evening, with Keen acting as an in
terpreter, Secretary Seward under
took to address the Indians, follow
ing the customary court style of ut
tering a single sentence and then
waiting for Keen to repeat it to the
Indians.
“This won’t do at all,” said Keen
to Mr. Seward. “The Indians don’t
talk that way. You must tell me
what you want to say to them and
then I will put it into their language.
If you want me to tell them that you
bought their country for |7,000,000
and will knock the stuffin’ out of
them if they don’t behave, say so and
I’ll tell them that.”
“All right,” replied Mr. Seward,
“that suits me.” And he proceeded to
tell Keen all he wished to convey to
the Indians.
Saves Barrels of Money.
Keen knew that seven millions
would mean nothing to the Indians.
It was beyond their comprehension.
So he told them that the United
States had paid Russia seven barrels
of gold for their country. The chief
replied that Seward had paid too
much, that Russia didn’t own their
country, anyway, and that the In
dians would have sold it to .the Unit
ed States for one barrel of gold.
Keen—keen of mind as well as in
name-—admits that he took a little
advantage of the Indians on that oc
casion. Secretary Seward and his
party, which, Including uninvited
members, numbered nearly 200 peo
ple, had come to Alaska not only to
sec the country, but to see the total
eclipse of the sun, which occurred on
August 7 of that year and was not so
plainly visible anywhere in the
United States. An observatory—
far different from the observatories
of these days—had been prepared at
Kukwan, 25 miles up the Chilcat river.
Keen, who while in the employ of the
Hudson Bay .Company, had visited
Alaska frequently in previous years,
trading with the natives for furs,
had, of course, known of the antici
pated eclipse and seeijig an oppor
tunity to impress the Indians with
his occult powers, had foretold the
darkening of the sun at midday.
Familiar with the tricks of the Indian
medicine men he had told them that
some day he would make medicine
and the sun would disappear and the
stars shine. They did not believe
him, though he had several times re
peated his promise and on previous
occasions, taking advantage of their
simple minds, had foretold events
which he knew were certain.
Makes Good as Medicine Man.
Keen had not started North with
the Seward party, but when the
Active, bearing Seward and his im
mediate party, had failed to make
Chilcat and had encountered Keene’s
vessel at sea, on his way North, Keen
was taken on as pilot and remained
with the party.
As the hour of the eclipse ap
iii.I ...
proached. Keen went apart from the
others and in the presence of the In
dians commenced to .make jflgfcb and
moan and cry, in mimicry of the
fncdlcine men. As the shadow began
to cover the sun, Keen’s wild gesticu
lations increased and the Indians
stood in abject terror of him. They
did not flee, but stood as statues,
gazing heavenward at the appari
tion. Fortune favored Keen and
the darkness actually became so in
tense that some stars were visible.
•When the Indians asked Keen why he
had done this he replied that It was
to prove to them the great power of
the country which now owned Alaska
and he added that if they offended
that power most terrible results would
follow.
From that day Keen was known to
the Indians as Sacatekeyish, which,
literally translated, means “beaver’s
father,” or “father of the beavers.”
The Indians all regard the beaver as
the wisest of animals and the father
of the beavers was therefore the
wisest of the wise. Keen, when not
interfered with by others, had no dif
ficulty with the Indians after that
visit. He was their friend and they
his friends.
Home Filled With Relics.
In his comfortable home on Kngle
wood avenue are scores of relics of
Captain Keen’s life on Pacific waters
and in Alaska, many of them gifts of
the Indians. He has several totem
poles, “Bibles in the rough,” as he
calls them; some remarkably fine
wood, shell and metal carvings, a
miniature war canoe, a dozen or more
pictures which would be highly prized
in any Alaskan collection, and other
smaller articles. Though he will be
77 years old on April 1 next, he is
remarkably well preserved. He reads
large print without glasses and until
he took seriously ill last fall, was
almost as active as twenty years ago.
His story of Alaska would take a
week in the telling, and, spurred by
his daughter, Mrs. John L. Sparger,
of Seattle, he is now engaged in re
cording his recollections of the most
important events of his life.
Captain Keen is of Scotch ancestry
and as his progenitors have been
noted for their longevity he feels no
urgency in completing these memoirs.
He is confident of living for at least a'
score of years. One of his uncles lived
to be 115 years old, he says.
Captain Keen was born at sea and
the sea claimed him early in life.
When at 14 years of age his parents
thought he should wait a year or two
yet before going on a voyagd, b* ran
away. He had planned a trip Circum
navigating the globe, but as he was
compelled to submit his own destiny
to the plans of the captain of the
vessel on which he shipped, in the
few months following he had experi
ences which he had not contemplated
and from which he still prefers to
leave the veil undrawn.
Captain on a Slave Trader.
Arriving at Rio Janeiro, he signed
with a Portuguese trader going to
Africa for a load of negro slaves. On
the ship’s return the'craft was cap
tured by a British man of War and
taken to St. Helena. Keen was ad
vised by his mate of the fate which
might await them and advlBed that
he' shodld insist he was a Portuguese
and pretend that he did not know the
EngllBh language. When Keen was
called before his questioners for ex
amination the captain of the vessel
said said that the boy was his son.
"He don’t look like a Portuguese to
me; his Skin is too light,” replied one
of the British officers. But the cap
tain insisted that the boy was his son,
by a Dutch mother, and when Keen
was questioned he pretended abso
lute incomprehension of the language
spoken. This subterfuge did not
avail him and he was forced to other
means to escape return to Great
Britain in irons. How he did it, ex
cept that he was in the water for
three hours, Captain Keen prefers not
to recall.
After his return home his parents
accepted the inevitable, and much
to his joy, apprenticed him to the
Hudson Bay Company for five years.
He sailed through the Straits of Wf.a.
gellan on a company boat, and in
1858 arrived on Vancouver island. His
first trip to Alaska was in 1863.
Turns Scales in Boundary Dispute.
At a crucial point in the negoti
ations between the United States and
Canada for settlement of the Alaska'n
boundary question, Keen’s affidavit
turned the scales for America and
the immensely valuable district, in
cluding Juneau and Skagway, which
Canada claimed, was saved for the
United States. The Hudson Bay
Company maintained that years be
fore it had raised the British colors
at Pyramid at the mouth of the Chil
cat river. Keen made affidavit that
while the Hudson Bay Company’s
boats had frequently visited Pyramid
harbor, no white man had dared to go
n a Vi nro n a m anv nf iVio Tn^innn nrom
hostile and that all trading had been
done on the ship’s deck. Other tes
timony on the subject was so evenly
balanced and the arbitrators’ faith in
Keen so thoroughly established, that
what he said proved the determin
ing factor and the boundary line was
established where it now is, leaving
the disputed territory under the Stars
and Stripes.l
Keen, known as the pioneer pilot on
Puget sound, after he had completed
his service with the Hudson Bay Com
pany secured an interest in the Red
Rover and for several years traded
on his own account. In 1869 he ent
ered the United States revenue cutter
service as a pilot, taking the Corwin
on its first trip north. Incidentally,
he was also on the Corwin when it
made its last trip to Alaska. After
ten years continuous service with the
government he again embarked in
business for himself, but remained
subject to call by the government
and for considerable periods was on
the pay roll of the United States
treasury department. In March, 1915,
he retired as master mate on coast
guard service.
Rescues Survivor from Pacific.
It was while he was pilot on the
revenue cutter Walcott, in 1875, that
he rescued one of the two survivors
of the 370 men, women and children,
most of them Alaska miners, who hq.d
started North on the steamer Pacific.
Off Cape Flattery -the Pacific had been
run info and sunk by the steamer Or
phdus, the captain of which, not rea
lizing in the heavy fog that the other
boat had been fatallv ininroH hn/i
proceeded 09 his way until the Or
pheus had itself run onto the beach.
Neil Henley, for a long period a
warden on McNeil island, then but 22
years old, was the man Keen took off
the wreckage of the Pacific. Henley
had been clinging desperately to the
wreckage for seventy-s7x hours when
Keen reached him. The only other
survivor of the Pacific was a Canadi
an named Jelly, who was picked up
by a merchantman. Many of the
bodies of those lost were cast on the
shores of Vancouver island and that
of a young woman had'’been cast up
by the sea within a few yards of her
own home at Victoria. When the cap
tain of the Walcott proposed to take
the rescued captain of the Orpheus to
Victoria the latter objected. He re
alized how keen must be the feeling
against him and he preferred to be
taken to Port Angeles or some point
in the United States.
Marten Skin Standard of Exchange.
Captain Keen’s stories of his ex
periences in trading with the Indians
are delightful. The standard of value
was a marten’s hide. Three mink
skins were equal to one marten. For
a man’s blanket the Indians gave
eight martensi for a woman's blanket
seven martens and for a colored
blanket ten martens. The equivalent
of a yard and a half of calico, meas
ured by stretched arms—and the
buyer. Keen admits, was none too par
ticular of the length of his stretch-f
was one marten, while for a yard of
heavy blanket material the Indians
gave twelve martens. In the Van
couver market a marten skin was
worth $6. The profit to the buyer
was considerable. Soap, molded in
tho English bar form about two and
one-half inches square and of various
lengths, was in great demand by the
squaws. There is no evidence that
the bucks used soap at all. For a
slice of soap the length of a finger
joint, the Indians gave one mil* skin,
for a piece the length of the finger, or
three joints, three mink skins or one
marten.
Guns brought fabulous prices. For
a short gun, of the kind made especi
ally for the Indian trade, a single
barreled muzzle-loader, fired with a
percussion cap, which cost Keen $4 in
Vancouver, he got thirty marten skins,
and for a long gun, costing him $6,
he got forty'marten skins, worth $240
in Vancouver. These prices prevailed
until the Indians began to visit Van
couver, when dissatisfaction among
them became evident and the stand
ard of exchange was altered.
Captain Keen talks both Klinkat
and Chinook like a native and is justly
proud of the fact that he possesses
the only harbor pilot’s license ever
issued at Sitka. It dates from 1868.
A copy of the Alaska Times, issued
at Sitka, November 13, 1869, is one of
his most valued possessions. It re
cords the death of President Franklin
Pierce and says, ‘‘Captain Keen is in
the harbor with the schooner Sweep
stakes and will take parties who de
sire to go prospecting for gold which
Indians recently brought from around
Frederick’s sound.”—P.-I.
ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS
TO BE DEMOLISHED
PARIS, Feb. 11 (b/ Associated
Press.)-—The question of the demoli
tion of the ring of antiquated fortifi
cations which surrounds Paris will be
brought up before the Municipal
Council during the course of the next
few months. This is not as a result
of the armistice or because of a league
of nations which is expected to put an
end to wars forever, or because of the
fact that- with modern artillery the
fortifications would be useless. The
matter has already been brought up
before the council. It dates tack
from 1884. The plan, however, would
have to be referred to parliament by
the Municipal Council after Its adop
tion.
Louis Dausset, an alderman of the
ctiy of Paris, is sponsor for the pro
ject. He argues that the benefits to
bo derived are closer, easier contact
with the Paris suburbs, elimination of
the necessity of entering or leaving
Paris through the various gates and
the freeing of valuable land for build
ing purposes.
-»
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nor expense to give Cordova a continuous
WATER SUPPLY. To do this the Company
must have your co-operation to stop the waste
that occurs from letting the water run to avoid
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ALASKA PUBLIC UTILITIES
First Street Phone 13
FOR SALE V
llilkiiiiiimiilllllMlllllIlllimill
New Boat Hulls
Pish and Clam Power Boat
Hulls now ready at shop on Sec
ond street, next to jail building.
E. D. LACY
DIMON NICKOLOFF
Shoe Repairing
RED CABIN OCEAN DOCK
j:|: YOUR FURS MADE TO ORDER
a*
Best work guaranteed. Low- g;
$: est prices. Over 2,000 Alaska
customers.
R. W. Drew
Tacoma's Expert Furreir
11th and B’dw’y, Tacoma, Wash.
Alaskan Grill
FRANK A. DOUGLAS, Proprietor
“The Home of Quality and Attention”
The Popular Restaurant of Cordova. Everything First-Class
8peclal Attention Given to Parties
One Visit to the Alaska Grill Will Make You a
Regular Patron
1 NORTHERN MEAT MARKET I
| Wholesale and Retail Dealers in %
| Fresh Beef, Pork, Veal, Mutton j§
§ and Provisions
| Particular Attention and Prompt Service Given to Orders from
Mining Camps, Roadhouses and Interior Points
| Halibut and Other Fresh Fish of All Kinds Will Be Kept j|
in Stock When Available |
SMITH & GLASSBRENNER, Props. |
Copper River
and Northwestern Ry.
Trains leave Cordova for Chitina every other day
and return from Chitina to Cordova on the following
-day. Trains between Chitina and Kennecott run every
other day, making connection with trains between Chit
ina and Cordova.
The above schedule subject to change without no
tice.
Dining Oar in Connection with all Regular
Passenger Trains between Cordova and Chitina.
Freight received and delivered at Cordova
Wharf from 9 a. m. to 5 p- m., except Sundays.
Tickets on sale at Second Street Depot office
"ii« hour before departure of grains.
CALEB OORSER Superintendent
D. L. LSATON, Ticket Agent