Batzulnetas

Allen wanted to find a route that out lead him from the Copper to the Tanana River.  The expedition was now nearing the head of the Copper River.  The upper Copper River is the homeland of the Upper Ahtna, Tatl'ahwt'aenn, the Headwaters People.  In 1885 there were at least 3 main settlements in the region, all connected to salmon fishing sites: Mentasta, Suslota, and Batzulnetas.  In this post the expedition reaches Batzulnetas and then heads over Suslota Pass.  Near the mouth of the Gakona River Allen had picked up a crippled Ahtna who turned out to be an excellent guide and was leading the expedition up river to Batzulnetas. They had passed the mouth of the Slana River.

At this point the Ahtna guide shifted direction, following the course of the main river, which headed east northeast, while the direction of the Slana River was almost due north.  Here the river braids into several channels that they began to cross. The current made it necessary for the party to join hands while crossing some of the channels.  They joined a well-worn trail that was headed north east, passing a collection of snowshoes and sledges that had been cached in the branches of several trees.  The guide went on ahead to announce the arrival of the party to Batzulnetas.  As usual there was a salute of gunshots and the party was met by a group of 31 men, 10 women, and 15 children.  A number of people had come over from the Tanana River to fish for salmon.  There was one house, where the headman Batzulnetas lived while everyone else lived in shelters made from spruce bough houses.

In the Ahtna language the place Allen called Batzulnetas is named Nataełde or ‘roasted salmon place.’  Batzulnetas is actually the name of a kaskae or “rich man” whose name was Bets’ulnii Ta’, ‘Father of Someone Respects Him’.  Allen spelled his name Batzulnetas and called the village by the same name, and it has been known by this name ever sense.  Locally, the place name is said Banzaneta.  Batzulnetas is located near the confluence of Tanada Creek and the Copper River.  It is the premier salmon fishing site on the upper Copper River and was located at the intersection of several major trails that led to the Tanana River via Mentasta Pass and Suslota Pass, and to the Nabesna River.  The main trail up the Copper River also intersected these other routes here.

Although generally considered one place, the site really encompasses three locations: Nataełde (‘Roasted Salmon Place’), C’ecenn’gha (‘by the stumps’), and C’ecaegge (‘river mouth’), which located on the Copper River just below the mouth of Tanada Creek.  Apparently C’ecenn’gha is the oldest of the three sites with indications of habitation that predate the Christian era.   C’ecenn’gha is also the home of the fabled ‘tailed men,’ and the site of a massacre of Russian explorers at the hands of the Ahtna. 

Nataełde is where Allen and his party stopped on their way to the Tanana Valley.  It is also the home of Batzulnetas Billy and Sanford Charley and the natal village of Sanford Charley’s daughter Katie John who fought the State of Alaska for her right to harvest salmon in Tanada Creek.  As such, Katie John and Batzulnetas have become symbolic of the rights of all Alaska Native people to maintain a traditional subsistence way of life. 

In the book Tatl’ahwt’aenn Nenn’ The Headwaters People’s Country (Kari 1987:115-121) Katie John tells her mother’s story of Allen’s arrival.  At the time Katie’s mother was a young woman and she remembered the American’s red hair.  She also said that when the soldiers first arrived people were afraid of them.

There was a rumor that the soldiers might try and kill the children.  In case something should happen Bets’ulnii Ta’ sent for the chief of Sasluugu’, whose name was Ggaan’ Ggets Ta’ or ‘father of twisted arm’ (Allen mentions that Ggaan’ Ggets Ta’ arrived with eight men).  In the story about the killing of the Russians at Slana in 1848 Katie John says that Bets’ulnii Ta’ and his family were at Slana.  It is no wonder Bets’ulnii Ta’ was worried that Allen might have come for revenge.  But the Americans proved friendly and were feasted on dried salmon, which Katie notes was fish from the previous year.  When Allen got ready to leave Katie’s mother’s uncle was sent to guide him to the Tanana River Valley.

Bets’ulnii Ta was 6 feet 4 inches tall, “clad in a blouse of scarlet flannel, obtained from a trading station on the Yukon River, and a pair of native trousers which included the foot gear.  His shirt was cotton cloth, and black woolen hat with strips of red flannel, completed his costume.  His hair hung down his back in a tangled roll 3 feet long, showing no signs of ever having had any attention.  As a shaman, Bets’ulnii Ta could neither have it cut nor combed his hair.  Over each ear hung two small braids, secured at the ends by beads and sinew.”  Allen thought Batzulnetas may have become chief or Tyone because he was a medicine man and because of his height.  He was the largest Native Allen encountered on his journey. 

Here Allen learned from a Tanana River Native that the Tanana River people went over to the Upper Yukon River to trade with American traders. 

On arriving at the village the party was given food but after that food was scarce and the Natives were waiting for the arrival of the salmon that they expected at any moment.  During the afternoon of June 3 eight men from the nearby village of Suslota appeared and that evening the Natives had what Allen called a “grand orgy.”

Allen learned that passage over the mountains would take about 7 days and he was able to secure several guides.  He remarked that while the Ahtna from Batzulnetas were similar to those at Taral, their language was not readily intelligible.

Just before they left to continue their journey the first salmon arrived, a rather small one which was placed in a conspicuous place on one of the spruce bough houses and was visited with great satisfaction and singing.

From Batzulnetas the party made their way to Lake Suslota and the village of Sasluugu  (‘small sockeye salmon’).  The ground was boggy and flat.  At Suslota they found one house and 3 or 4 families, consisting of 8 men, 6 women and 9 children.  They were eating dried fish. At the time, the village was located on the lake but in 1906 it was moved downstream to the mouth of Suslota Creek. 

From Sasluugu Allen is led across Suslota Pass, moving from the Copper to Tanana River drainages.  He remarks that the fact that the Copper and Tanana have their beginnings so close to one another was truly amazing.  From Batzulentas the Copper continues into the Wrangell Mountains terminating at several glaciers flowing off of Mt. Wrangell.  The Tanana has its origins in 2 glaciers that flow out of the Wrangells.  The Chisana glacier marks the beginning of the Chisana River while Nabesna Glacier is the beginning of the Nabesna River, both these rivers join to for the Tanana,

Allen thinks this pass will be the communication link between the two drainages but the road eventually goes through Mentasta Pass.  Natives from both sides of the pass had visited the Yukon, which settled the question of whether Native people from the Copper River ever visited the Yukon.  Allen apparently discussed this with traders Ladue and McQuesten, who told him that they had seen Copper River people on the Yukon in 1883. 

Left Suslota village on June 5th, the upper end of Suslota Lake was still covered with ice.  From a hill on the upper end of the lake they could see the entire upper Copper River.  Further into the mountains they ran across a small stream flowing into Suslota where salmon were struggling upstream.  (On the map there is no streams flowing into the upper end of Lake Suslota. The streams on the map all flow down into the Slana River so the salmon Allen saw probably came up the Slana and were headed to small lakes to spawn or there has been a shift in the local terrain). 

Crossed over into the Tanana drainage.  Allen seems amazed that he can do this, probably because he had been told it would be impossible or difficult.  Allen describes how his inclination is to follow a tributary of the little Tok River down to the Tok River and hence to the Tanana, but the Natives persuade him not to because they would starve. Instead the party heads almost due east eventually reaching a divide that Allen estimates is 4,500 feet.  The view is spectacular with the Tanana valley in front of them and a good view of the low hills that divide the Tanana from the Yukon.  “On this pass, with both white and yellow buttercups around me and snow within a few feet, I sat proud of the grand sight which no visitor save an Atnatana or Tananatana had ever seen.” 

The Anthropologists Holly Reckord writes that Katie John could describe the trail from Suslota over the pass.  The trail led directly north over the 3,000 foot Suslota Pass to the Little Tok River valley.  A second trail went around the north shore of the lake through the Bear Valley, over the Slana River to the village of Mentasta and Mentasta Pass.  Another trail went down Suslota Creek to its confluence with the Slana River and then on to Slana Village at the mouth of the Slana River. 

Note on Photos:  Allen took pictures but all of the negatives are lost so there are no early photos of Batzulnetas.  

Mentasta Lake

The village of Mentasta, circa 1899.  In the lower left had corner is the fish weir  used to harvest salmon and whitefish.  Salmon can be seen drying in the background.  Note the large houses. 

C’ecaegge (‘river mouth’).  The main Copper River is to the far right and  the mouth of Tanada Creek can be seen in the middle of the photo. 

The Fur Trade, Part II

Russians on the Copper River: 1794-1848

The Russians first learned about the Ahtna in 1783 when Leontii Nagaev briefly explored the Copper River Delta.  Beginning in 1794 the Russians launched several expeditions to explore the Copper River.  The Ahtna destroyed two of these expeditions.  Ahtna oral tradition says that the Russians came twice to the upper Copper River and both times all members of the expeditions were killed by Ahtna.  The first incident took place at Batzulnetas or Nataełde, probably in the winter of 1794-95, and may have involved the Samoilov expedition; although there is some controversy as to whether this was the case. 

Despite Samoilov’s death the Russians continued to send expeditions into the Copper River Basin.  Demitrii Tarkhanov was the first Russian explorer to visit the Ahtna and survive the trip.  He provides the earliest first hand account of the Copper River and the Ahtna.  In April of 1797 Tarkhanov reached the Ahtna village of Takekat or Hwt’aaC’aa’e located at the mouth of Fox Creek and visited two other villages in the vicinity.

In 1799 the Russian American Company received it first imperial charter granting it a monopoly over all of Alaska and in 1821 established Mednovskaia Odinochka, its only trading post in the Copper Basin.  The company also sponsored several expeditions to the Copper River.  In 1819 an expedition led by Afanasii Il’ich Klimovskii reached the Copper Basin provided the first accurate sketch o the country.

The final Russian expedition into the Copper Basin occurred in 1847-48 and was led by Ruf Serebrennikov, a Creole or person of mixed descent.  Like Allen, Serebrennikov had been sent to the Copper River to find a link between the upper Copper and upper Tanana rivers.  Serebrennikov’s expedition was the second to be wiped out by the Ahtna.

The story of Serebrennikov’s expedition is interesting because of the various interpretations about the incident.  In addition to the published extract of what has come down to us as Serebrennikov’s journal we have Petr Doroshin’s detailed description and interpretation of events leading up the killings.  Doroshin was at Nuchek in July of 1848 when the Ahtna who had accompanied the expedition arrived at the post with news of Serebrennikov’s death and his journal.  The journal provides an account of the expedition’s movements up to June 6, 1848.  After that the journal is silent.  Subsequent information comes from the Ahtna headman Teinatkhel, (who is the Bacile met by Allen in 1885) and the Eyak who accompanied the expedition.  A third source of information is Ahtna oral tradition as told by Ahtna elders Fred and Katie John to the linguist James Kari. 

Many reasons have been provided for why Serebrennikov was killed.  Russian commentators believe the upper Ahtna were protecting their economic interests.  They did not want the Russians to find a route to the Tanana nor establish a post in their area because it would undermine their position as middlemen in the fur trade.   However, Ahtna accounts attribute the killings to Ahtna fear of Russian reprisals and to a hex placed on one of the expedition members by an Ahtna woman.

In September of 1847 Serebrennikov and his party arrived at Mednovskaia Odinochka and stayed the winter.  They departed for the upper Copper River in May of the following year.  The expedition included at least on Russian, several creoles, an Eyak, and Teinatkhel.  On May 24 1848 expedition members explored the Tazlina River and on June 6 re-assembled at the mouth of the Tazlina.  Here the written evidence ends.  What follows is evidence provided by Teinatkhel and the Eyak at Nuchek.  According to Teinatkhel the expedition was attacked at Chistlai-kaekak, the first village of the Upper Ahtna.  The location of this village is uncertain, but it may have been located near the mouth of the Chistochina River.  A single, unexplained astronomical reading of 62 48’ 43’’ found in Serebrennikov’s journal shows the expedition may have reached a point just west of the Glenn Highway between 3 and 4 miles south of Mentasta Pass.  The story as told by Teinatkhel and others, who survived the fight because they were out of the village at the time, was that Serebrennikov had insulted the Ahtna chief at the village of Chistlai-kaekak and was killed along with other members of the expedition.

But another explanation, suggested by Doroshin, is that both the Upper and Lower Ahtna wanted to stop the Russians from proceeding inland and establishing direct ties with Athabascans living on the upper Tanana River.  According to Doroshin, the Upper Ahtna understood that a Russian presence on the upper Copper River would have undermined their middleman position and caused them to “lose easily-gotten profits.”

Both the Upper and Lower Ahtna were intermediaries in a complex trade network that linked them with Han Athabascans from the upper Yukon River, Upper Tanana Athabascans and Tutchone Athabascans living in what is now south eastern Yukon Territory.  The Tutchone and Upper Tanana traded with Chilkat Tlingit traders from village of Klukwan.  The Tlingit brought trade goods from American trading ships operating in Southeast Alaska.  By 1848 both English and American trade goods were filtering south to Athabascans living on Cook Inlet and into the sphere of Russian influence.  Ferdinand von Wrangell, the governor of Russian America, wrote that Upper Ahtna from Nutatlgat or Batzulnetas traveled west to the upper Susitna River to trade English flints and “copper money and coral” (probably dentalium shells from Southeast Alaska) to Dena’ina Athabascans from Cool Inlet.  

While Teinatkhel believed the expedition was attacked at Chistlai-kaekak, Ahtna elders Fred and Katie John believe the killing of Serebrennikov took place at Stl’aa Caegge or ‘Rear River Mouth’ at the confluence of the Slana and Copper Rivers.  This location would make sense of the astronomical reading Serebrennikov’s journal.  According to the Johns, the killings occurred because the Ahtna at Stl’aa Caegge were afraid of Russian reprisals for the earlier killings at Nataełde.  But another reason for the problems faced by the expedition was that one member was married to a lower Ahtna woman, and she had put a hex on her husband.  According to the John’s this woman knew a “forbidden (medicine) language” and she made a song to hex her husband.  The song went like this and was repeated 3 times:

Upriver you should become the chief of excrement

Ho-heyaa

May weapons here go into Bae Ninaexi’s mouth.

Fear of revenge permeates the John’s versions of events.  They state that the chief of Rear River Mouth, a man called Eł C’alnes Ta’ or‘ Father of wrapped in cloth’, knew about the Russians who had been killed at Nataełde years before.  In fact the Johns note that Bets’ulnii Ta’ (“Father of Someone Respects Him’), the chief of Nataełde who would meet Lt Allen in 1885, was at Rear River Mouth when the Russians arrived.  As soon at the Russians arrived, Eł C’alnes Ta’ summoned another chief named Takol’ixx Ta’.  This chief was part white, being the offspring of an Ahtna woman and Russian who had come upriver earlier and probably been killed at Nataełde.  Takol’ixx Ta’ had several wives, all from different clans and his children, because they were from different clans, were considered especially aggressive and fierce.  Rather than blaming Russian conduct for the killings, the John’s point out that the Ahtna chiefs debated whether to kill the Russians and that the decision was made only after Takol’ixx Ta’ goaded others into it. After the killing the Ahtna burned the bodies.  The John’s version of the story notes the complexity of events, citing the hex, fear of revenge, and the fact that the Upper Ahtna did not want the Russians in their territory.  The destruction of this expedition was felt throughout Russian America and may have been one reason the Russians abandoned Mednovskaia Odinochka in 1850 and withdrawing from the Copper River.  In 1867 the Russians sold Alaska to the United States. 

The Fur Trade, Part I

Allen was ordered to explore the interior of Alaska and report on the Natives and their capacity to wage war.  To this end he was expected to gather information about the Natives: their mode of life, means of communication, relationship to each other, and their attitude toward Russia and the United States.  One of Allen’s objectives was to find out whether there was an easy route connecting the Copper and Tanana rivers.

What was known about the interior came from the reports of Russian explorers, White traders, and Native people. The primary objective of these reports was to provide information about the fur trade.  Before gold and oil fur was the major export of Alaska.  Alaska Natives began trapping furs for export probably in the 14^th or 15^th centuries.  Eventually the fur trade spread across Alaska and by the end of the 19th century trapping fur had become a “tradition” and well integrated into local economies.

The trade in furs was an important business that had a profound effect on Alaska Native people.  Through the fur trade Alaska Natives became involved in the world economy. Ahtna living on the Copper River traded furs for beads, cloth, and guns manufactured in countries half way around the world.  Trade goods became status symbols; people measured their wealth in terms of beads that were used to decorate their clothing or hung on strings around the body.  Native groups living closest to the source of goods became middlemen or intermediaries by trading goods to other Natives living in more remote areas.  These positions were often very lucrative and jealously guarded. 

In east central Alaska all Native groups participated in the trade.  Native trade networks linked the Chilkat Tlingit who lived in southeast Alaska with Tutchone Athabaskans in the southern Yukon Territory.  The Tutchone traded with Upper Tanana/Tanacross people and with Ahtna living in Alaska.  The Tutchone also traded with Han on the upper Yukon River who also traded with Upper Tanana/Tanacross people.  As the fur trade developed these networks became stronger and more important to the local economy.

Throughout his trip Allen comments on the amount of trade goods in the possession of Native people.  At the village of Last Tetlin, which he called Nandell’s, Allen noticed a variety of trade goods including an axe with a Montreal brand, a pair of sailor’s trousers and a “Thlinkit blanket,” both of which Allen thought came from “Chilcat Inlet.”  He also notes that many of the boys knew something of the alphabet that then learned from V.C. Simms, an Anglican missionary on the Yukon River.

When the Russians arrived in Alaska in the mid 18^th century the fur trade was already well developed.  Trade networks crisscrossed the territory.  Furs trapped by Athabaskan people living in the interior flowed along these networks toward the coast and eventually across Bering Straight to Siberia.  The Russian task was not to start the trade but redirect it to their advantage so that furs moved through their trading posts instead of through Native middlemen.  Initially the Russians concentrated their efforts along the coast.  Sea otters pelts made up a majority of this trade, but as sea otter populations declined the Russians redirected their efforts toward the interior and launched expeditions up the Yukon and Copper Rivers. 

While the Russians were busy establishing themselves along the coast of southern Alaska the English Hudson’s Bay Company was expanding across Canada into the Yukon Territory and eastern Alaska.  In the 1840s employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company established trading two posts on the upper Yukon River called Fort Selkirk and Fort Yukon.  Not long after it was built, the Chilkat Tlingit burned down Fort Selkirk to protect their position as middlemen between interior Athabaskans and American and British traders who operated in Southeast Alaska and traded with the Tlingit.  Fort Yukon thrived and continued to operate as an Hudson’s Bay post between 1848, when it opened, and 1867, when Russian sold Alaska to the United States and the Company was forced to move its operations to Canada. 

To the Russians, the presence of the English trading company posed a serious threat.  Furs were an important part of the Russian balance sheet and with the decline in sea otters the Russians looked to interior Alaska.  But the center of Alaska was largely unknown.  To improve their knowledge the Russians launched several expeditions to assess the trade and explore routes between the coast and the interior.  The Copper River was thought to be one route that would lead to the interior.