Ganienkeh: Haudenosaunee Labor-Culture and Conflict Resolution

Controversy has surrounded the Mohawk community of Ganienkeh in upstate New York since its inception and, to this day, passionate opinions accompany any consideration of Ganienkeh. 1 For the last dozen years, many have argued that Ganienkeh is merely a legal shelter for profiteering endeavors (such as Indian gaming or trafficking tobacco and alcohol) and the warrior society often associated with them. Others suggest that such endeavors do not fully represent the Ganienkeh community, and that, to whatever extent they are part of recent life at Ganienkeh, they are necessary adjustments to changing economic, political, and legal conditions and not signs of wholesale corruption. Far from academic, this disagreement has been at the root of violent tensions within Haudenosaunee government and society. 2 Unfortunately the intensity and complexity of recent developments and debates obscures a different story of Ganienkeh. Ganienkeh's founding was a rare case of Indigenous people reclaiming land from the United States. What motivated the Ganienkeh Mohawks to move so boldly, what sustained them during the years of conflict resulting from their action, and what can be learned from the Ganienkeh conflict and its resolution? Contemporary perceptions and understandings of Ganienkeh are too charged to provide sufficient context to answer questions about Ganienkeh's origins or its broader significance to Haudenosaunee-American interaction and other conflicts arising from that interaction. Therefore, without denying their significance, this article will set aside more recent controversies associated with Ganienkeh and ground an analysis of the conflict in sources generated during the conflict itself. When the Ganienkeh conflict is viewed outside the controversies of today, Haudenosaunee labor-culture stands out as a motivating and sustaining force within the Ganienkeh community as it sought to re-establish its claim on Haudenosaunee land and a Haudenosaunee way of life. Two aspects of the Ganienkeh conflict are the focus of this paper: the public discourse pertaining to the dispute and the negotiation process between the [End Page 1] state of New York and the Ganienkeh Mohawks which sought to end it. 3 I will begin by presenting historical and scholarly background on the Ganienkeh conflict. Then I will primarily attempt to show that differences between Haudenosaunee and American labor-cultures strongly contributed to the cause and continuation of the dispute while also providing a common focal point for public and official communication between otherwise disparate parties. In the process I hope this discussion of the Ganienkeh conflict connotes the possibility that labor concerns should figure prominently in discourse about other conflicts and Indigenous life in general. The Beginning of the Ganienkeh Conflict May is a precious "between time" in the Adirondack mountains of New York State when the snow is finally melting, the whine of recreational snowmobiles is fading, and stampedes of summer residents and tourists have not yet doubled or tripled a town's population. The small communities of Moose Lake and Eagle Bay probably spent 13 May 1974, like most days in May, subtly shifting the conversation from complaints about snow to complaints about mud and generally enjoying the "month between." The dawn of 14 May, however, found early arrivals for the summer season of 1974. Under cover of darkness a well-armed group of Mohawks had traveled down from reservations along the Canadian-U.S. border and occupied some six hundred acres of nearby state land, which encompassed a closed girl's camp and a body of water called Moss Lake. As a standoff developed between local residents, the New York State Police, and the Mohawks, the obscure mountain communities near Moss Lake quickly became national news. It was soon clear that, unlike tourists, the Mohawks were not leaving after the fall foliage passed. Over a year later, on 6 July 1975, The New York Times ran an article by Richard Severo describing the ongoing conflict. 4 Severo recounted that in 1797 Joseph Brandt, a Mohawk of disputed status, signed away nine million acres of Mohawk land to New York State for fifteen...

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