For safeguarding and advancing a dependent Indian people
resident on islands belonging to the United States in the Territory
of Alaska, Congress has power to reserve for their use, until
otherwise provided by law, not only the upland of the islands, but
also the adjacent
Page 248 U. S. 79
submerged land and deep waters supplying fisheries essential to
the Indians' welfare. P.
248 U. S.
87.
An act of Congress set aside, "until otherwise provided by law,
the body of land known as Annette Island," in Alaska, for the use
of the Metlakahtla Indian (recently emigrated from British Columbia
and settled on the islands with the encouragement of executive and
administrative officer), and such other Alaskan natives as might
join them, to be held and used by them in common under regulations
of the Secretary of the Interior. The islands were a well defined
group, uninhabited before the coming of the Indians, who were
peculiarly dependent on the adjacent fisheries.
Held, in
view of the circumstance at time of the enactment and it subsequent
construction, that the reservation included adjacent deep water,
and that a fish net constructed therein by defendant 600 feet
beyond high tide line, and whose operation might materially reduce
the supply of fish accessible to the Indians, was subject to
abatement at the suit of the United States. P.
248 U. S.
89.
240 F. 274 affirmed.
The case is stated in the opinion.
Page 248 U. S. 86
MR. JUSTICE VAN DEVANTER delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is a suit by the United States to enjoin the Alaska Pacific
Fisheries, a California corporation, from maintaining, and to
compel it to remove, an extensive fish trap erected by it in
navigable waters at the Annette Islands in Alaska. The objections
urged Against the trap are, first, that it is within a reservation
lawfully established for the use of the Metlakahtla and other
Indians, and second, that it is an unauthorized obstruction to the
navigable capacity of waters of the United States. A decree was
entered granting the relief sought, and this was affirmed by the
circuit court of appeals. 240 F. 274.
The Annette Islands are a group of small islands in southeastern
Alaska. During the summer of 1887, some 800 Metlakahtla Indians
emigrated from British Columbia and settled on one of these
islands. The emigration and settlement were not only acquiesced in,
but encouraged, by executive and administrative officers of the
United States, [
Footnote 1] and
subsequently were sanctioned by Congress through the enactment of ยง
15 of the Act of March 3, 1891, c. 561, 26 Stat. 1101. That section
reads as follows:
"That, until otherwise provided by law, the body of lands known
as Annette Islands, situated in Alexander Archipelago in
southeastern Alaska, on the north side of Dixon's Entrance, be, and
the same is hereby, set apart as a reservation for the use of the
Metlakahtla Indians and those people known as Metlakahtlans who
have recently emigrated from British Columbia to Alaska, and
such
Page 248 U. S. 87
other Alaskan natives as may join them, to be held and used by
them in common, under such rules and regulations, and subject to
such restrictions, as may [be] prescribed from time to time by the
Secretary of the Interior."
The fish trap was erected in 1916, without the consent of the
Indians or the Secretary of the Interior. It is a formidable
structure consisting of heavy piling and wire webbing, is located
in water of considerable depth approximately 600 feet from the high
tide line of the island on which the Indians settled, is intended
to catch about 600,000 salmon in a single season, and its operation
will tend materially to reduce the natural supply of fish
accessible to the Indians.
The principal question for decision is whether the reservation
created by the Act of 1891 embraces only the upland of the islands
or includes as well the adjacent waters and submerged land. The
question is one of construction -- of determining what Congress
intended by the words "the body of lands known as Annette
Islands."
As an appreciation of the circumstances in which words are used
usually is conducive, and at times is essential, to a right
understanding of them, it is important, in approaching a solution
of the question stated, to have in mind the circumstances in which
the reservation was created -- the power of Congress in the
premises, the location and character of the islands, the situation
and needs of the Indians, and the object to be attained.
That Congress had power to make the reservation inclusive of the
adjacent waters and submerged land as well as the upland needs
little more than statement. All were the property of the United
States and within a district where the entire dominion and
sovereignty rested in the United States and over which Congress had
complete legislative authority.
National Bank v. County of
Yankton, 101 U. S. 129,
101 U. S. 133;
Shively v.
Bowlby, 152
Page 248 U. S. 88
U.S. 1,
152 U. S. 47-48,
152 U. S. 58;
United States v. Winans, 198 U. S. 371,
198 U. S. 383.
The reservation was not in the nature of a private grant, but
simply a setting apart, "until otherwise provided by law," of
designated public property for a recognized public purpose -- that
of safeguarding and advancing a dependent Indian people dwelling
within the United States.
See United States v. Kagama,
118 U. S. 375,
118 U. S. 379
et seq.; United States v. Rickert, 188 U.
S. 432,
188 U. S.
437.
The islands are in the interior of the Alexander Archipelago,
and separated from other islands by well known bodies of water.
Before the Metlakahtla settlement, they were wild and uninhabited.
While bearing a fair supply of timber, only a small portion of the
upland is arable, more than three-fourths consisting of mountains
and rocks. Salmon and other fish in large numbers frequent and pass
through the waters adjacent to the shore, and the opportunity thus
afforded for securing fish for local consumption and for salting,
curing, canning and sale gives to the islands a value for
settlement and inhabitance which otherwise they would not have.
The purpose of the Metlakahtlans in going to the islands was to
establish an Indian colony which would be self-sustaining and
reasonably free from the obstacles which attend the advancement of
a primitive people. They were largely fishermen and hunters,
accustomed to live from the returns of those vocations, and looked
upon the islands as a suitable location for their colony, because
the fishery adjacent to the shore would afford a primary means of
subsistence and a promising opportunity for industrial and
commercial development.
After their settlement and before the reservation was created,
the Indians, under the guidance of a noted missionary, adopted a
form of self-government suited to their needs, established for
themselves a village with substantial dwellings, schoolhouses, and
the like, and
Page 248 U. S. 89
constructed and installed an extensive establishment where they
canned salmon for the market. [
Footnote 2]
The purpose of creating the reservation was to encourage,
assist, and protect the Indians in their effort to train themselves
to habits of industry, become self-sustaining, and advance to the
ways of civilized life. True, the Metlakahtlans were foreign born,
but the action of Congress has made that immaterial here.
The circumstances which we have recited shed much light on what
Congress intended by "the body of lands known as Annette Islands."
The Indians could not sustain themselves from the use of the upland
alone. The use of the adjacent fishing grounds was equally
essential. Without this, the colony could not prosper in that
location. The Indians naturally looked on the fishing grounds as
part of the islands, and proceeded on that theory in soliciting the
reservation. They had done much for themselves, and were striving
to do more. Evidently Congress intended to conform its action to
their situation and needs. It did not reserve merely the site of
their village or the island on which they were dwelling, but the
whole of what is known as Annette Islands, and referred to it as a
single body of lands. This, as we think, shows that the
geographical name was used, as is sometimes done, in a sense
embracing the intervening and surrounding waters as well as the
upland -- in other words, as descriptive of the area comprising the
islands.
This conclusion has support in the general rule that statutes
passed for the benefit of dependent Indian tribes or communities
are to be liberally construed, doubtful expressions being resolved
in favor of the Indians.
Choate v. Trapp, 224 U.
S. 665,
224 U. S. 675,
and cases cited. And it has further support in the facts that, save
for the defendant's
Page 248 U. S. 90
conduct in 1916, the statute from the time of its enactment has
been treated, as stated in the opinion of the Alaska court, by the
Indians and the public as reserving the adjacent fishing grounds as
well as the upland, and that, in regulations prescribed by the
Secretary of the Interior on February 9, 1915, the Indians are
recognized prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior on issued
for erecting salmon traps at these islands.
These views are decisive of the suit and sustain the decree
below.
Decree affirmed.
[
Footnote 1]
House Ex. Docs. 50th Cong. 1st Sess. vol. 10, p. 64, vol. 13, p.
34; Sen.Mis.Doc. No. 144, 53d Cong.2d Sess.; Sen.Doc. No. 275, 55th
Cong.2d Sess.
[
Footnote 2]
House Ex.Docs. 50th Cong.2d Sess. vol. 10, p. cii; House
Mis.Docs. 52d Cong. 1st Sess. vol. 50, part 9, pp. 27-29, 188.