Harriet Rossiter

“ The first native photographer in Alaska, unassisted, he acquired a knowledge of photography that for a time opened up to him an interesting field of work. But six years ago unkind Fate dealt him a cruel blow. Born blind in one eye, an accident made him almost blind in the other eye. While chopping wood a chip struck the eyeball, hopelessly injuring it.
Still the urge to create is strong within him. With amazing perfection of detail and color he paints pictures and carves the totem poles which portray so vividly the history and legends of the Alaskan Indians. ”

“ So a stranger in an Indian village may enter any lodge before which stands a totem surmounted by the crest of his family. He is given food and shelter and may take freely that which he needs.
“In the days when slaves were as plentiful as the salmon berries that grow by the running water an Indian chief would free all his prisoners whose crest was the crest of his clan, even if their tongue was unknown to him and sounded hostile in his ears. ”

“ Even our Abraham Lincoln totem is crumbling away.
“In these days when men fly like birds and the voice travels swifter than an arrow to its mark, surely Alaska is no longer [23] thought a shak-nah-ahm (foreign) country, and our white chief in Washington will listen and grant the wish of his children that this island with the first statue ever erected to Abraham Lincoln be cared for so we may bring our children’s children to look upon it.” ”

“ But the Red Man forgets not. The Tongass Indians were grateful to their white brothers. They listened when Chief Sewrard visited them and told them of the great white chief who loved the Red Man.
“ ‘We are thankful,’ they said. ‘Our hearts salute him. No longer need we fear lest we be made slaves and buried beneath the totem poles of our enemies.’
“One day Chief Ebbetts summoned his sub-chief Tsa-kad and said, ‘I am weary. Soon I shall sleep the long sleep of the old. But my heart turns to my brother, the great white chief Abraham Lincoln, for what he has done for my people. ”

“ The stranger was angry, and, pulling out one of the branches of a tree, put Cowoh in the hole, saying, “Here you shall stay as long as the world shall last. People shall always hear you crying in the wind.” ”

“ Always Left-Handed and his brothers lost until Chief Yee-khoo and his men had won everything they possessed except one small club made of bone.
Left-Handed took this and said, “This is the only thing we have left. It is worth many blankets, for with it we can kill our enemies. We shall gamble for this and this time we may be lucky and win.” ”

“ There must be no more fighting.
“Now,” said the Store Teller proudly, “my people live like their white brothers. Our children go to school. We have fine big fishing boats. Our lodges are like the white men’s lodges.
“There,” pointing to where half a mile away a long pier extended far out from the little village of Saxman, “I hope some day to see an Indian village like the white men’s villages, where [21] my people will be able to do all that my white brothers do. ”

“ Only a few remain and they are very old. The youths and maidens listen not to the tales of their ancestors, and soon there shall be no one to keep alive the traditions of their [5] people who journeyed long ago to the cold land of the North.
So we have set down some of the legends told by the Red Men to their children in the Land of the Midnight Sun, where sometimes in the heavens are seen long, gorgeous-hued fingers of light flashing here and there—“Spirits of departed warriors returned to dance once more their war dances.” ”

“ Then the Thlingets hated the Tsimpseans with a fierce hatred because one of their maidens had brought this evil upon them. In those days the Indian believed in an eye for an eye, a life for a life. So they fell upon the Tsimpseans and slew one of the sons of their chief. Then for many, many moons they made war upon each other.
“The Thlingets made a big camp at Ketch-kah. They built three great log forts. One was where Chief Johnson’s lodge now stands. [19] ”

“ They made raids at night and the maidens and young braves taken prisoners were treated as slaves. Every time a chief became sick or died, a totem pole was raised, or a potlatch given, some of these slaves were killed and their bodies thrown on the beach to be eaten by the crows. The number of holes in the ears of a chief told how many potlatches he had given.
“One day the Hydahs looked and saw that the water was black with canoes. The Tsimpseans were coming to make war upon them. Twenty young Hydah braves got into two big canoes and went to meet them. They offered to make peace with them. ”

“ She was a blood relation of Chief Skowel, he who was greatest of all the Hydah chiefs.”
The rain had begun to fall, so we landed and as we cooked our breakfast over the campfire he told me the story.
“You must know that some of my people came from far to the southward and settled near the Stikine River many, many moons ago. There the Hydahs came seeking safety from their enemies, the Tsimpseans. The streams were full of fish. There were deer in the forest and game was plentiful. They settled there and became rich and had many elaidi (slaves) . [15] ”

“ F. J. Hunt “The Thlingets built a fort where Chief Johnson’s lodge now stands”
[20]
“The Thlingets called the Tsimpseans Klah-neets (sand fleas) because they would pop up and shoot at them, then disappear in the sand and underbrush, or would steal into their camp and carry off their young men and maidens and make slaves of them. They came noiselessly and were gone, leaving no footprints. ”