1867 Treaty of Cession guaranteeing the Aleuts full rights of U.S. citizenship.
American government did not recognize them as citizens until 1924. Full rights
did not come until 1966.
1870 The Alaska Commercial Company awarded exclusive private lease of the fur seal
industry on the Pribilof Islands.
1890 The North American Commercial Company awarded exclusive private lease of
the fur seal industry on the Pribilof Islands.
1910 Fur Seal Act ended the private lease system and the Department of Commerce
and Labor became solely responsible for the Pribilof program.
1911 International Fur Seal Treaty signed between Canada, Russia, Japan, and U.S. Killing of seals on high seas stopped. Management of harvest with careful controls in breeding grounds on American and Russian islands begun. Canadians and Japanese agreed to stop killing the seals in return for fifteen percent of American and Russian harvests.
Pribilof students begin attending Chemawa Indian School in Oregon.
Government suspended fur seal killing on the Pribilof Islands for a five-year period, except for subsistence hunting by Aleuts.
1914 Aleuts granted legal right to residence on the Pribilof Islands and to be sole
harvesters of the seals.
1916 Aleuts petitioned the Commissioner of Fisheries in Washington, D.C. demanding
"the freedom to speak Aleut when they desired; the hiring of Aleut men from the
Aleutian chain instead of 'white people' for assisting in the future seal harvests;
the freedom to re-open the church school; and that the agent also refrain from the
drinking of intoxicating liquors if it must be prohibited to the Aleuts."
1924 Indian Citizen Act passed by Congress conferring citizenship on all Natives in the United States. Had no bearing in the Pribilofs.
1934 Indian Reorganization Act enacted to help raise the standard of living for Native Americans. As a result, the community of St. Paul adopted a constitution and elected a council, formalizing for the first time leadership of St. Paul.
1936 Aleut community of St. Paul was organized. Gabe Stepetin was its first president.
1941 On June 16, 1941, a military transport, the U.S.S. Delaroff, arrived unannounced
at St. Paul, where the residents were told they were being evacuated. Transported
to Funter Bay on Admiralty Island.
1942 Japanese bombed Dutch Harbor and Unalaska and landed on Kista and Attu.
1943 In summer of 1943, a crew of Aleuts returned to St. Paul for the seal harvest, as
seal oil was needed to make TNT and other explosives.
1944 The Pribilof people return to Pribilof Islands from Funter Bay.
1948 Pribilofs became a voting precinct (Johnson 1978:21).
Joined the Alaska Native Brotherhood, a coalition of natives organized in 1912 by Tlingits of Southeast Alaska.
1949 Government task force sent to evaluate "living conditions and human problems"
of Bering Sea native communities, recommended an annual wage be paid all
workers in the Pribilof Islands seal harvest.
1950 Given cash wages with civil service benefits instead of store rations and small annual bonuses. Given disability insurance, annual vacation, sick leave and retirement benefits.
1951 Aleut communities of St. George and St. Paul filed claim against U.S. for maltreatment between 1870 and 1946. Was not settled until 1978.
1955 Public Health Service assumed responsibility for health care in the Pribilof Islands.
1962 State began operation of the Pribilof Islands schools.
Aleut workers begin being paid by the federal civil service wage scale.
1964 Campaign begun by the Tundra Times to expose to the public the fact that the "Aleuts of the Pribilof Islands are today living in servitude to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."
1965 Resolution adopted by a Democratic-controlled Alaska House of Representatives on February 11, 1965 asking an investigation by the Department of the Interior into conditions of servitude on the islands, and it requested Federal legislation to guarantee the civil rights of Pribilof Aleuts.
On February 25, 1965, the Alaska Senate unanimously approved the Pribilof servitude resolution.
In March of 1965, William Bowman, Executive Director State Commission for Human Rights, visited St. Paul Island to review conditions on the island and investigate the allegations of servitude. He recommended a full review of the charges by a Pribilof commission to begin no later than May 1965
May of 1965, a special commission was appointed to review the Pribilof servitude charges. The commission visited the islands during June 9 to 15.
1966 Fur Seal Act. In June of 1965, Alaska Senator E.L. "Bob" Bartlett introduced the
Fur Seal Bill in the U.S. Senate. Allowed for reforms in the government
administration of the Pribilof Islands and called for private ownership by the Pribilof Aleuts of land, houses, and property on the islands. Pribilof Aleuts who worked in the seal industry prior to 1950, before wages were paid to Aleut employees, would receive credit toward civil service retirement. Allowed a town site to be established and a municipality to be created under Alaska law. The Pribilof Aleuts were extended full rights, duties, benefits, and responsibilities a citizens of the united States and Alaska.
1970 Authority to manage the seal harvest was granted to the Department of Commerce, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries.
1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) gave legal recognition of land ownership by Alaska Natives and provided monetary compensation for lands taken away. The people of St. Paul incorporated the Tanadgusix (TDX) Corporation and the people of St. George incorporated the Tanaq Corporation.
1972 The regional corporation for the Aleuts, including those living in the Pribilofs, was organized and called the Aleut Corporation. The Aleut League, a non-profit organization which worked with the Aleut Corporation, was organized at the same time.
1973 In July the TDX Corporation of St. Paul held its first meeting. The people of St. Paul elected a Board of Directors and Agafon Krukoff, Jr. became the first president. A year later, Mike Zacharof was elected President; and Victor Merculief became the land planner for the Corporation. Larry Merculieff returned to become their business manager.
1978 U.S. Indian Claims Commission decided in favor of the Pribilof Aleuts and against the government in the 1951 law suit filed against the U.S. government for maltreatment. The Aleuts were awarded an $11.2 million settlement but settled for $8.6 million.
1979 Leaders of St. Paul and St. George begin to work with the National Marine Fisheries Service to plan a ten year phase-out of the federal government's presence in the Pribilofs.
1980 Animal protectionists began an organized lobbying effort in the halls of Congress to cut the Pribilof budget entirely and terminate the International Fur Seal Treaty (Torrey 1983:169).
1981 The Alaska Congressional Delegation contacted the Pribilof leaders to inform them that there were only 8 Senators in support of the renewal of the Pribilof budget out of 17 on the committee. Larry Merculief, president of the Tanadgusix Corporation, and the corporation attorney and chief lobbyist, Tony Smith, traveled to Washington to try and save the treaty. Senate voted to ratify the interim convention for another four years, through 1984.
House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee voted to cut the Pribilof budget 100%. Five million dollars in the President's budget, originally set to go towards changing the name of Mt. McKinley to Mt. Denali, was reallocated to the Pribilof Islands Program through the efforts of Larry Merculieff,
1984 Federal government ended its commercial sealing operation on St. Paul. A trust fund was set up to help the Pribilof Aleuts' economic transition from a wholly government-subsidized industry to a private development .