Territory of Alaska v. Annette Island Packing Co.

The territory of Alaska brought an action to collect certain sums of money alleged to be owing it as occupation licenses and income taxes from the Annette Island Packing Company, a corporation of the state of Washington engaged in catching and packing salmon on the Annette Islands in the territory of Alaska. The Secretary of the Interior intervened for and on behalf of the Indians residing on said Islands. The cause was submitted to the court below on the pleadings and an agreed statement of facts. Judgment was entered dismissing the complaint.

The Indians on the Annette Islands were formerly inhabitants of British Columbia. In the year 1887, they were encouraged by officers of the government of the United States to emigrate to Alaska, and from 800 to 1,200 Metlakahtla Indians emigrated from British Columbia and settled upon Annette Island. Their action was sanctioned by Congress in the Act of March 3, 1891, 26 Stat. 1101 . That act provided that the Annette Islands be set apart as a reservation for the use of the Metlakahtla Indians and such other Alaskan natives as might join them, to be held and used by them in common “under such rules and regulations, and subject to such…