Post returns from Fort Tongass, Alaska, circa 1868

[David D. Robertson]

Looking through a microfilm of these records from the construction of Fort
Tongass through the following couple of years, I find no explicit note of
Chinook Jargon used with local Tlingits.

But I'm kind of interested that we can piece together an idea of that
cultural contact situation:  Soon after these US soldiers arrived to
establish the fort, the labor force suddenly jumps by about a dozen Indians
(from a few presumably non-Indian laborers at the outset), then increases
with the engagement of even more Indians in perhaps a mad dash to complete
the fort before winter settled in.  From the completion of the fort onward,
no Indians are recorded as laborers -- and it's at this same time that we
read of the first Indian prisoners being taken!  What symmetry!

In any event, these post records may end up being one useful part of the
puzzle of reconstructing Jargon usage in Alaska.  I'll try to post any
discoveries to this list.

-- Dave