Tyonek Native history

To calm these anxieties, in 1851 the United States government held a conference with several local Indian tribes and established the Treaty of Fort Laramie.

In 1871 the government approved a critical law proclaiming that the United States would no longer treat Native American tribes as sovereign entities.

The Alaska Commercial Company had a major outpost in Tyonek by 1875.

In 1880, "Tyonok" station and village, believed to be two separate communities, had a total of 117 residents, including 109 Athabascans, 6 "creoles" and 2 whites.

In 1887, Congress approved the General Allotment Act, the most important element of the United States government’s assimilation program, which was created to “civilize” American Indians by teaching them to be farmers.

Many American Indian bands didn’t survive relocation, assimilation and military loss; by 1890 the Native American population was reduced to fewer than 250,000 people.

A saltery was established in 1896 at the mouth of the Chuitna River north of Tyonek.

In 1915, the Tyonek Reservation (also known as Moquawkie Indian Reservation) was established.

The devastating influenza epidemic of 1918-19 left few survivors among the Athabascans.

In 1965, the federal court ruled that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) had no right to lease Tyonek Indian land for oil development without permission of the Indians themselves.

The reservation status was revoked with the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971.

In 1973 and under the agreements set forth under ANCSA, Tyonek formed Tyonek Native Corporation and it then became a federally recognized Alaska Native Corporation.

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