Ganienkeh
Ganienkeh (meaning Land of the Flint Mohawk), is a Mohawk community located on about 600 acres (2.4 km2) near Altona, New York in the far northeast corner of Upper New York State. Established by an occupation of militants in the late 1970s, it is a rare case in which an indigenous people reclaiming land from the United States "succeeded". Issues of sovereignty and governmental relations have not been settled.
In May 1974 traditionalist Mohawks "repossessed" land near Old Forge, New York, occupying Moss Lake, a girls' camp. They claimed the land under the concept that it had been part of their historic territory in the area, and that New York had made an illegal treaty in 1797 when purchasing land from their leader Joseph Brant.
These Mohawk had left the Akwesasne, Kahnawake, and other reservations to rebuild traditional lives. The land dispute (as Altona residents and government objected to the Mohawk claim of sovereignty) has not been fully settled. The action was related to rising Native American activism, and specific land claims being filed against New York State by separate nations of the Iroquois. As allies of the defeated British, they had been forced to cede their historic lands to the state after the American Revolution, but the US Senate had never ratified the treaty, making it invalid under the constitution. Some believe that the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua give the Iroquois nations continuing rights to land in the present-day state. The Oneida won a lands claim case, and others continued in negotiation in the late 20th century.
At the same time, the founding of Ganienkeh was related to Mohawk local issues, as some families wanted to leave the reservation environment. They found it had problems with alcohol and substance abuse, among other issues.
The three-year armed occupation of the camp ended in 1977 after nearly 200 negotiation sessions with New York state leaders. The Mohawk agreed to move to the territory at Miner Lake, which was offered by New York State through an intermediary trust. Unlike at the ten reservations within the borders of the state, in which federally recognized tribes have a relation with the federal government and the state has no authority over them, the jurisdictional relationships between the tribe and New York have not been defined at this territory. By 1990, the Mohawk still prohibited outsiders from entering the territory.
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