Converging Empires: Citizens and Subjects in the North Pacific Borderlands, 1867–1945

369 Pages·2022·34.705 MB·English

by  Andrea Geiger

Converging Empires
The David J. Weber Series in the New Borderlands History
Andrew R. Graybill and Benjamin H. Johnson, editors
Editorial Board
Juliana Barr
Sarah Car ter
Maurice Crandall
Kelly Lytle Hernández
Cynthia Radding
Samuel Truett
The study of borderlands—places where dif er ent peoples meet and no one polity
reigns supreme— is undergoing a re nais sance. The David J. Weber Series in the
New Borderlands History publishes works from both established and emerging
scholars that examine borderlands from the precontact era to the pre sent. The
series explores contested bound aries and the intercultural dynamics surrounding
them and includes proj ects covering a wide range of time and space within North
Amer i ca and beyond, including both Atlantic and Pacific worlds.
Published with support provided by the William P. Clements Center for
Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
andrea geiger
Converging Empires
Citizens and Subjects in the
North Pacific Borderlands, 1867–1945
The University of North Carolina Press C hapel Hill
© 2022 Andrea Geiger
All rights reserved
Set in Arno Pro by Westchester Publishing Services
Manufactured in the United States of Amer i ca
The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the
Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Geiger, Andrea A. E., author.
Title: Converging empires : citizens and subjects in the north Pacific borderlands,
1867-1945 / Andrea Geiger.
Other titles: David J. Weber series in the new borderlands history.
Description: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2022] | Series: The David J.
Weber series in the new borderlands history | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021054799 | ISBN 9781469659275 (cloth ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469641140
(paperback ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469667843 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Alaska Natives—Legal status, laws, etc. | Indigenous peoples—Legal status,
laws, etc.—Canada. | Foreign workers, Japanese—Legal status, laws, etc.—Canadian-
American Border Region. | Alaska—History—1867-1959. | Canadian-American Border
Region—History—19th century. | Canadian-American Border Region—History—
20th century. | Canadian-American Border Region—Race relations. | British Columbia—
History. | United States—Foreign relations. | Japan—Colonies—Boundaries.
Classification: LCC F908 .G45 2021 | DDC 979.8/03—dc23/eng/20211206
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021054799
Cover illustration: Detail of a photo of Mount St. Elias, Alaska, from the south, with men and
sled, 1906 (U.S. Geological Survey, Professional Paper 45, Library ID ric00539).
For Lawrence Roland Fast
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Contents
Acknowl edgments xi
Note on Terminology x v
Introduction 1
chapter one
The Shifting Borderlands of the North Pacific Coast 17
chapter two
Immigrant and Indigene 55
chapter three
Encounters with Law and Lawless Encounters 88
chapter four
Borders at Sea 1 20
chapter five
The Pacific Borderlands in War time 162
Afterword 217
Notes 221
Index 323
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Illustrations and Maps
illustrations
Historical Japa nese map of the Amer i cas 18
A Hän family near the 41st parallel 49
Metlakatla, Alaska 59
Ainu visitors in St. Louis 78
Jujiro Wada with his dog team 83
Atlin vigilantes 90
Telegraph Jack 105
Chief Taku Jack with a visitor 106
A cannery worker on the Skeena River 129
The Atagi Boatworks 133
Arichika Ikeda with his family 147
Catching halibut at Ikeda Bay 155
Japa nese cartoon of Uncle Sam 171
Shoki Kayamori with dogs 175
Seized Japa nese fishing vessels 181
George Moto and family 193
Japa nese shrine on Kiska Island 206
maps
The North Pacific Ocean and borderlands 2
Indigenous territories along the north Pacific coast 12
The north Pacific coast 92
Barred zones in North Amer i ca 188