One well-meaning, though somewhat misguided, attempt to do so was the Native Allotment Act of 1906. Each Native head of household was allowed to select a 160-acre homestead on nonmineral-bearing ground. The key problem with the act was that 160-acre homesteads might be fine for farmers, but they were hardly conducive to a traditional hunter-gatherer culture. Why should anyone be confined to 160 acres when for generations his ancestors had been using all of the land? Besides, even if Alaska Natives had been inclined toward farming, the homestead process was not very successful in Alaska even
...more
