1906 Native Allotments

Square roots Area Multiply Divide

Under the 1906 Native Allotment Act, before ANILCA, Native people could claim 40, 80,120, or 160 acres in sites traditionally used for subsistence. While ANILCA put an end to those claims, almost every Alaskan Native family inherits land passed down from the elders of those days. People know where the family claims are, but very few people know how big and acre is, and how to measure an allotment.

Most 1906 Native allotments are 40 acres.

Area= length x width

If the allotment is square then L=W.

Anita wanted to find out the boundaries of her grandma's allotment. The smokehouse was in the middle of the front of the square parcel.

If L=W
and A= L x W
Then A= L x L
or A=L²

The square root of 40 is 6.324
The 40 acre parcel is 6.324 acres on a side.

An acre is 206' on a side, so the length of one side of a 40 acre allotment is ______

Anita didn't have a tape measure long enough to effectively measure her grandma's allotment. She knew the length of one of her steps on pavement was 2.5' but when she measured, it was only 2' on the soft tundra.

How many steps will it take to pace off the length of one side of the allotment?

If she starts at the smokehouse, which is in the middle, how many steps to each side of the smokehouse will she need to take to find the corner of the allotment?

How many steps deep is the allotment?

If the allotment is made of 2 ea. 40 acre parcels, how many steps deep is the allotment?

How long is your step on a hard surface?

On the tundra?

How many of your paces on tundra would equal one side of a 40 acre parcel?

Anita wanted to check her measurements. She thought of using the odometer on her snowmachine. It measures in 10ths of a mile. How many feet wide is her grandma's allotment? How many tenths of a mile is that?

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