There are marked differences between the Chilkats and the Sticks. The Chilkats spend most of their time on the streams and use canoes almost exclusively. They do very little tramping. They are a fine race, hardy and well formed. The Sticks never use canoes. Some of them have little dug-outs in the streams in their own country, but when they come down to the coast, as they come occasionally now, they are quite lost. The Stick Indians are centered around the streams of Alaska, and have to keep pretty near to the main stream in order to get their food. Until very recently they have never dared to come down below the Chilkat Pass, so completely were they terrorized by the Chilkat Indians. The Chilkats have had absolute control of the country along the coast, so much so that they were able to collect toll from the miners who first went through the Chilkoot Pass. When the Russians were in possession of Chilkoot the Chilkats were a kind of middlemen between the Russian traders and the Indians of the interior. Indeed, these peculiar relations seem to have had a great deal to do with the drawing of the boundary line between British America and Russian America. The idea of Russia was to continue the line of demarkation between the trading settlements of the coast and the Indian settlements of the interior, so that this line is really not a geographical line, but is intended rather to mark the extent of the control of the Indians of the coast; that is, to the summit of the mountain ranges extending from Portland Canal north to Mount St. Elias, beyond which the Sticks never dared to come. CHAPTER XIII. LAWS GOVERNING THE LOCATION It is important to know something about the laws of the United States and of Canada which govern the patenting of mineral lands and which must be observed in locating claims. The public land laws of the United States do not apply to Alaska, and neither do the coal land regulations, which are distinct from the mineral regulations. The Territory of Alaska is expressly ex cluded from the operations of the public land and coal land laws by provisions of the laws themselves. Mineral lands have been patented in Alaska since 1884. Hon. Binger Hermann, Commissioner of the United States General Land Office, has authorized the statement that the following laws are applicable to the Territory' First-The mineral land laws of the United States. Second-Town-site laws, which provide for the incorporation of town sites and acquirement of title thereto from the United States Government by the town-site trustees. Third-The laws providing for trade and manufactures, giving each qualified person 160 acres of land in a square and compact form. The act approved May 17, 1884, providing a civil government for Alaska, has this language as to mines and mining privileges: "The laws of the United States relating to mining claims and rights incidental thereto shall, on and after the passage of this act, be in full force and effect in said district of Alaska, subject to such regulations as may be made by the Secretary of the Interior and approved by the President." "Parties who have located mines or mining privileges therein, under the United States laws applicable to the public domain, or have occupied or improved or exercised acts of ownership over such claims, shall not be disturbed therein, but shall be allowed to perfect title by payment so provided for." There is still more general authority. Without the special authority, the act of July 4, 1866, says: "All valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and purchase, and lands in which these are found to occupation and purchase by citizens of the United States and by those who have declared an intention to become such, under the rules prescribed by law and according to local customs or rules of miners in the several mining districts, so far as the same are applicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the United States." Under United States laws only those who are citizens or who have declared intention to become citizens may locate or buy claims. There are no "free miners." The government cannot give the right to mine except in public lands, and these must contain valuable mineral deposits. A claim may not exceed beyond 1500 feet along a vein or 300 feet on each side of the middle of the vein. A person may locate a claim through an agent; $100 worth of work must be done each year. Local government prevails in the various mining districts of the United States, each district being free to manage its own affairs so long as it does not do anything inconsistent with the national laws. Mining operations on the Klondike on the British side of the boundary are subject, not to the regulations of the Province of British Columbia, but to the general mining laws of the Dominion of Canada. As soon as the mounted police force has been raised to 100 men from the 20 men now keeping order in the country, it will be considered safe to promulgate the new regulations for placer gold mining. These provide that every alternate claim is to be reserved by the crown for the public benefit, and that the royalty to the crown is to be 10 per cent. on the yield up to $500 a month and 20 per cent. over $500 a month. A difficulty with respect to the alternate claims is that the placer territory is already |