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Chief Shakes Island and Tribal House

Chief Shakes Island & Tribal House		 Chief Shakes Island is in the middle of Wrangell Harbor is accessed by a pile supported walkway. Chief Shakes Island, the site of Chief Shakes Tribal House, is on the National Register as an historic monument. The Tribal House was rehabilitated in 1939 under a Civilian Conservation Corps program. The Island is open at all times for walking and experiencing the peaceful setting, and to view the intricately carved totems surrounding the hand hewn Community House. The Community House is opened to the public at designated times scheduled each summer or for prearranged groups. The Wrangell Cooperative Association (the local native IRA Council) is custodian of the land.

The title of "Shakes," or as it is originally known, "We Shakes," was originally conferred upon Chief Gushklin of the Stikine Nan-yan-yi Tlingit settlement near present day Wrangell after a victory in war against the Niska Indians of British Columbia.


A Tlingit elder inside Chief Shakes
Tribal House

The Niska Chief We-Shakes, rather than submit to the degradation of being a slave to the victorious Tlingit Chief removed his "killer whale" hat and placed it on Gushklin's head, giving him his own name "We-Shakes." For reasons unknown, the name has since been shortened to "Shakes." The distinguished title has been handed down through the generations from Chief Shakes I to Chief Shakes VI.

The original Nan-yan-yi "Shakes" or Shakes I was succeeded, according to custom, by his eldest nephew. His reign was short since he died soon after of smallpox and was succeeded by his brother, "Ka-shishk."

The reign of Ka-shishk is remembered beyond that of all others because of his benevolence and consideration of his people. He is said to have gone about at times in disguise so that he might better know what was thought of him. It was in this way that he learned that the people were secretly complaining of the hardships brought upon them by the wars of their chiefs. His long reign ended when, aged and blind, he was killed by a falling tree while returning from the Stikine River after a trading trip. Tradition tells of his great funeral when many slaves were sacrificed to serve him in the next world.

His nephew, "Shawt-shugo-ish" (short woman's father) succeeded him as Shakes IV. He is distinguished principally for having been the first of the Nan-yan-yi chieftains to see a white man. The man, a trader by the name of Captain Haines, is said to be the same man who was later killed near the town that bears his name. He reported Kotslitan (old Wrangell) to be a town of several thousand inhabitants at that time. Lieutenant Zarembo, on the orders of Baron von Wrangell, arrived in 1833 and established himself at the present site of Wrangell in an effort to halt the Hudson's Bay Company in this area on which they were encroaching via the Stikine River. His redoubt, better known as Fort St. Dionysius was finished in 1834. Chief Shakes saw the advantage of friendship with this new power and shortly led his people to a new home within the shadow (and protection) of the Russian stockade. When he died his ashes were placed in a receptacle in the back of a grizzly-bear totem pole similar to the one recently replaced on the island. Forty slaves are said to have been killed at his funeral.

Kow-ish-te, his nephew, succeeded to the chieftainship, becoming Shakes V. During his reign Fort Dionysius was transferred to the Hudson's Bay Company on lease. In 1840, it was re-named "Fort Stikine" and flew the British ensign until the American purchase in the year of 1867. "Kow-ish-te" is the "Shakes" of historical note who figured in the various incidents which took place during the Russian, British and finally American occupation of Wrangell.His remains rest in the only typical Indian grave of this period remaining intact in Wrangell. The plot is enclosed by a turned-wood fence of Russian design and surmounted by two killer whales now almost beyond repair. Looking northeasterly, one may see it plainly from Shakes Island, across a narrow stretch of the inner harbor.

From the time that Shakes IV led his people from Kotslitan to the present site of Wrangell, the history of the Nan-yan-yi is closely intermingled with that of the other Stikine septs and the white settlers who were attracted by promise of rich fur trade, then gold, then trade and finally, fishing. Gush-klin II succeeded Kow-ish-te, becoming Shakes VI.

Excerpts from a pamphlet first printed in 1940 by the Wrangell Sentinel and written by E.L. Keithahn.

Chief Shakes Tribal House is a replica of the original Shakes Tribal House and the impressive architecture of a house of high caste among the Tlingit natives. The doorway shows a figure with many faces. Natives believed that each part of the body could act independent of another, so eyes were placed at joints to depict the power and spirit allowing independent action. Carved replicas of the Shakes Clan houseposts adorn the interior of the structure. The original houseposts, over 200 years old, can be viewed in the Museum, on loan from the Wrangell Cooperative Association. The replica Tribal House was built in 1939.
A carved corner post of Chief Shakes Tribal House




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