1913, AK: Suggests a Rabbit as Alaska’s State Seal
Chinook Jargon was already identified with the Settler/colonizer version of Alaska “oldtimers” by 1913.
In much of the territory, it was gold rushers who were the first non-Indigenous pioneers.
Image credit: Youtube
Many of those folks, in an echo of the 1858 Fraser River gold rush in BC, optimistically brought Chinuk Wawa north with them knowing they would have to try communicating with Native people in order to survive.
Here, due recognition is also given to the native rabbits of Alaska, in an untranslated Jargon homage that I’m sad to tell you never did become part of the state seal:
SUGGESTS A RABBIT AS
ALASKA’S STATE SEALInstead of using the eagle, the lion,
the buffalo, the Indian, or any of the
starry constellations as emblematic
of Alaska, the Ketchikan Morning Mail
would adopt the timid rabbit, and gives
the following reasons for its choice:“In the years to come when Alaska
becomes a State and we people be-
come civilized and know how to gov-
ern ourselves, etc., we suggest as a
motto on our great Alaska State seal:
Kwit-shad-ie E-la-han kopa Till Ya-
kwah-tin. Only the sourdough who
has mushed over the trail in years
past know[s] how often the little rabbit
has proven the only source of food ob-
tainable in the interior regions. We
have it from the best of authority that
at the new gold strike of Chisana [Tsetsaan’ Na in Ahtna Athabaskan] the
question of food would indeed be a
grave question but for the abundance
of these little animals in that locality.
— from the Juneau (AK) Empire of November 26, 1913, page 1, column 3
To briefly translate, Kwit-shad-ie E-la-han kopa Till Ya-kwah-tin means “Rabbits Help the Tired Stomach”!
Bonus fact:
For more proposed state seals & mottoes in Chinook Jargon, just follow this link!
