Sitka is beautifully located at the foot of the mountains and commands a fine view seaward. The streets are not regularly laid out. Everyone appears to have chosen the site that pleased him best, regardless of his neighbors. Many of the buildings are old. At every turn one is made aware of Russian architecture. Several blocks from the and directly in the middle of the street stands the Russian orthodox church of St. Michaels. The interior is richly decorated. Many rich paintings the walls. A handsome chandelier hangs from the ceiling. Massive brass candlesticks stand on either side of the door. The interior is finished in white and gold, and the inner where women may not enter is separated from the church proper by fine bronze doors.
The Sitka Mission and Industrial School was established by the Presbyterian board in 1878.[104] There are now sixty-four boys and forty-six girls. School continues nine months of the year. The boys and girls occupy separate buildings. The forenoon the pupils spend in the school rooms and the afternoons the girls spend in the sewing room and the boys in the shops. The called a bright boy about twelve years of age and asked him if he could show me about the grounds and through the workshops while he conducted a larger party in a different direction. “Yes sir,” and with a touch of his cap to me, led the way to the carpenter shop. Two young men busy at work at a long bench touched their caps and a “Good afternoon, madam,” greeted me. “Yes madam, I am a carpenter,” proudly replied one of the young men to my question. He was about eighteen years old, while his companion was only sixteen. In this shop the pupils make tables, chairs and all sorts of furniture. I was next conducted to the tin shop, where besides pots and pans, stoves are made out of sheet iron and of any old thing that is left over. All of the stoves in the school buildings are made in this way. My young Indian guide next conducted me to the shoe shop.
The schools are having vacation now, so the[105] shops are not running a full number of pupils. The conductor and two pupils were at work, the former on fine shoes and the latter on heavy Klondike boots. Each boy has his own cobbler’s bench and a full set of tools. A third boy was sauntering about the room making himself familiar with his surroundings. The conductor of the shop told me that this lad had chosen the shoe maker’s trade and was to begin work on the following morning.
The boys all greeted me with a smile of welcome when I entered and bade me good-by when I departed. My guide said that the paint shop was closed, but he explained to me the object of the shop and the work done there. When I asked him if he had chosen his trade he politely explained that he had only been in the school a year and that he had not what he would like. The pupils enter for five years, the parents or signing a contract to that effect. My guide conducted me to the gate, where I thanked him for his kindness. He touched his cap and said: “Good-by madam, I was glad to show you about.”
All of the dormitories, play rooms and school rooms are models of neatness. In the[106] girls’ building the bread was just being taken out of the bake oven. Thirty loaves was the day’s baking. The boys make the bread and put it to rise. The girls mould it out and bake it. The Indians are very proud of the school and come of their own accord seeking admission for their children. This school is making these Indians self-supporting and consequently prosperous. One sees many bright faces among them and the younger people are happy and , with nothing in their dress or manner to distinguish them from young white Americans of the same age. In an old blockhouse located on a rocky overlooking the sea some of the boys of the school spend the evening hours in band practice. They played until eleven o’clock on the parade ground without a light, reading their music by . The selections were choice and well rendered. They played “Star Spangled Banner” as an opening piece. Sitka is rightfully proud of her Indian band. The Indian is given his chance in this land of the midnight sun and he is making the most of his opportunities.
Opposite the Mission on the bank of the Indian River is a large square rock called the[107] Blarney-stone, which dowers the kisser with a magic tongue, but never a four leafed shamrock in all the merry dell with which to weave a magic spell.
The Sitkans, like all native races have a legend as to their origin.
Two brothers, twins, lived in paradise. One of them ate a sea cucumber. It was the one forbidden fruit. The paradise became a . The brothers were starving when a band of roving Stickines came that way one day and pitying them left them wives to care for them.
From one of these pairs sprang all the Kaksatti, the Crow . From the other all the Kokwantons, the Wolf clan.
The legends of these Indians as well as all other tribes in this country, contain a full account of the landing of Columbus. The news was carried overland from post to post and tribe to tribe by runners. The history of the tribe at Sitka runs back five hundred years. Beyond that period they have no record and say that they have no account of their origin.
Their , their industry, their faith in the shaman, their belief in transmigration of[108] souls, all point to Asiatic origin. Their word for water is agua, much like the Latin aqua.
The Mission and Training schools have transformed these , whose ancestors murdered the Muscovites, into frontier fishermen, boatmen and loggers.
An Indian never willingly consents to have his photograph taken, because, when you have a picture of him, he firmly believes that you have power over his soul. The educated Indian, however, is fearless of the camera.
The Kletwantans and the Klukwahuttes, two branches of the Frog clan, are at over the erection of a totem pole and have gone into court to settle the matter. The Klukwahuttes are the true of Indian society in Sitka. The Kletwantons are the wealthy members of the real Indian four hundred, but having made their money in fish and oil, are considered upstarts by their more aristocratic brothers. The Kletwantons decided to build a new home for the chief and to set up an elaborately carved and decorated totem pole. The eyes of the frog which was to this wonderful pole were to be twenty-dollar gold pieces. A grand potlatch was to be held when the pole was ready to set up. All of the Indians up and down the[109] coast, from Juneau, Killisnoo, Skagway, Ft. Wrangel and Bella Bella, were invited, but the aristocratic Klukwahuttes were left out. Did they sit down and quietly ignore this insult? No indeed. They told their wealthy brothers in true American style what they thought of such conduct, and the matter would, no doubt, have been dropped here had not the wealthy fish oil denied that the Klukwahuttes belonged to the Frog clan at all. Upon this things grew so warm that the appealed to the district attorney to aid him in making the Indians keep the peace. Then the disgusted Klukwahuttes went to him asking for an injunction to keep the pretended Frogs from holding the potlatch and setting up the pole. He replied to them that he would take the case upon them paying him ............