A Victim of Nature and Bureaucracy: The Short, Sad History of Old Kasaan National Monument

Norris, Frank

This report discusses the history of Old Kasaan and the movement to make it a National Monument or Park. In late June 1913 a Pacific Coast Steamship Company steamer, the S.S. Spokane, headed north on an excursion cruise. Soon after entering Alaskan waters, it veered into Skowl Arm, just west of Ketchikan, and visited the abandoned Haida village of Old Kasaan. The company’s chief lecturer, Mary Hart, was also the president of the Alaska Cruise Club, and both she and 23 other club members were so impressed by the village’s community houses, totem poles, and grave houses that they decided that the site needed to be preserved. The touring group, about half of whom hailed from California, recognized an interest in preserving "the traditions, architecture, customs, habits and records" of Alaska’s "Native Clans." But they were dismayed to see that the "ancient village" was "rapidly falling into decay," so they cobbled together a petition asking that "steps be taken to form a National Monument or Park which shall include Old Kasaan, Alaska, so that in the years to come … not only the American people but tourists and genealogical students from all over the world may have an opportunity to visit and study the relics, records and history of the life of a people who originally inhabited and dominated Alaska."

A Victim of Nature and Bureaucracy: The Short, Sad History of Old Kasaan National Monument

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