Postscript: Huntresses
CHRISTINE WOZNEY

The town of Kitmat, five hundred miles north of Vancouver on the B.C. coast, lies in an
area rich in history. The first white missionary, Susan Lawrence, arrived in 1873, intent
on converting as many Indians as possible to Christianity. Her success led to the
establishment of a permanent Methodist Mission in the Indian village, called Kitamaat.
A magazine called NaNaKwa, or “Dawn on the Northwest Coast”, was published
quarterly from 1889 to 1907 by the head of the Mission, Dr. Raley. NaNaKwa contains
a lot of interesting information, including three short references to Indian women who
were active as “huntresses”.
The first excerpt, in July, 1901 issue, is entitled “The Annual Bear Hunt”:
The Kitamaat Hunt commences in May, as soon as
the hibernates come out from their winter quarters.
The past season lasting about three weeks has been
successful; …Joseph Wilson …[killed] twelve bears.
Sarah Legaeah the huntress killed six…
The July, 1902 issue reports:
Moodseithlimie is a famous huntress. Her hunting
grounds are at Kildalah, where she goes quite alone
to hunt bear, seal, mink, marten and wolverine with
most surprising valor.
And the May, 1907 issue states:
The huntress Sarah Legaic and Agnes Robinson on
the morning of July 24th saw on the surface an
unusual commotion. Taking a skiff 8 feet long they
paddled to the middle of the inlet and found two seals
in deadly combat…. They were fighting for the
possession of a baby seal.
Besides this written information, an oral tradition exists that has been briefly
explored by the Kitimat Museum. In August of 1975, the Custodian, Ms. Mendel,
obtained information from Jeffrey Legaic about his aunt Sarah, who was mentioned in
NaNaKwa.
These examples are not enough to completely overturn the conclusions reached
by previous scholarship. However, they are enough to indicate that scholars have been
missing something. Undoubtedly, women who have been active in many ways within
Indian society have not always been given the recognition they deserve. More research
is essential to reveal the work of all Native women and especially those in nontraditional
fields so that a vital part of our history will not be lost.