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Travel: A weekend in Metlakatla Indian Community of Alaska
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Filed Under: National

"Traveling in Southeast Alaska in spring is always an adventure, with no guarantees of on-time departure or arrival. This is particularly true when the journey involves a bumpy crossing in a small WWII-era de Havilland Beaver floatplane. Fortunately, one windswept March evening, an experienced Promech Air pilot delivered the mail, a load of printer cartridges and three weather-delayed passengers to Metlakatla. I wobbled off the plane as daylight faded behind the wall of snow-saturated clouds.

Located 15 miles south of Ketchikan on the southern end of the Alexander Archipelago, Metlakatla is a Tsimshian village on the western coast of Annette Island. Peeking out at the empty streets from the inside of the air company's van, I tried to picture how the island must have looked to the original founders.

In 1887, a group of Tsimshians led by Anglican missionary William Duncan arrived here by canoe. Problems with the church authorities in British Columbia forced him and his mission to seek refuge elsewhere. About 823 Tsimshian people eventually left their homeland to form a new village in the U.S. territory of Alaska. Each year, the town still celebrates Founder's Day on August 7.

In 1891, the U.S. Congress officially recognized Metlakatla by creating the Annette Islands Reserve, a federal Indian reservation that later included the surrounding waters. Today, the Annette Islands Reserve is the only remaining federal reservation in Alaska. The official name of the tribe is the Metlakatla Indian Community (MIC), and it is governed by an elected 12-member tribal council, mayor, secretary, and treasurer.

"As a reservation, MIC is a sovereign nation, so the council chamber interacts with federal and state authorities on a government-to-government basis," explained Karl Cook, a member of the tribal council and currently the acting mayor."

Get the Story:
A weekend in Metlakatla (The Capital City Weekly 3/23)

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