OUR HISTORY
 As
provided under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act (ANCSA), and by a 1975 U.S. District Court ruling
in Washington DC, The 13th Regional Corporation was
formed under Alaska Law as a private for-profit entity
on December 19, 1975. Its creation hinged on how many
of the approximate 78,000 Alaska Native people eligible
to be enrolled under the federal law marked section
22 of the official enrollment form with a “yes”
vote. The section read “Do you elect to establish
and be enrolled in a 13th Region?” A ruling from
Judge Oliver Gasch overturned the Bureau of Indian Affairs
initial determination that an insufficient number of
enrollees voted for the creation of the 13th.
Prior to the ruling, the 4,537 persons who were later
to become 13th Regional Corporation shareholders were
all designated as shareholders in one of the other 12,
regional corporations. Many non-residents felt betrayed
and double-crossed by the “inside” corporations
who pushed for a no vote on the 13th formation issue.
The corporation began with 4,537 shareholders and currently
has approximately 5,500 shareholders.
Five individuals were named as incorporators of the
newly formed corporation to serve as directors until
the first annual meeting or until their successors were
elected. They were Sheila Aga of Myrtle Creek, Oregon;
Axel E. Anaruk of Federal Way, Washington; William S.
Jackson of Stanwood, Washington; Sam Walkoff of Highland,
Indiana and James S. Williams of Oakland, CA.
While ANCSA treated the Native Regional and village
corporations based within Alaska somewhat generously,
the 13th was limited to a one-time only chance at fiscal
survival. All corporations formed under the Act, except
the 13th, were eligible to select, and have selected
land in Alaska for transfer to their corporate ownership.
All these corporations share in revenue generated through
sales of minerals, timber and other valuable resources
from these selected lands through a revenue pooling
provision of ANCSA. All but the 13th continue to divide
millions of dollars from this source
How and Why Alaska Native Corporations Started
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
In 1867, the United States government purchased Alaska
from the Russia government. At that time Eskimos, Indians
and Aleuts had been living in Alaska for thousands of
years. It was agreed that Alaska Natives had land rights
to the lands they used. For over 100 years, however,
it was not clear which land Alaska Natives owned and
which land was owned by the United States government.
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was
passed into law December 18, 1971. The intent of the
law was to settle the one hundred year old question
about the aboriginal land rights of Alaska Natives.
ANCSA created thirteen regional corporations which
represent over 80,000 Alaska Native (Eskimos, Indians,
and Aleuts). The U.S. government paid $962.5 million
to the Alaska Natives through their corporations. Forty-three
million acres of land were also set aside for the regional
corporations, one of which is The 13th Regional Corporation.
We are the corporation that was created last, to represent
those Natives who do/did not reside in the State of
Alaska. We were not allowed to participate in the subsurface
mineral rights and our name was omitted from the rolls
of the land
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