On 30 March 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. At present, the territory of Alaska holds 50 billion dollar in oil reserves alone. Outside of territorial grabs, buried resources, and global politics, the most neglected aspect of this baffling deal is the story of Alaskan residents who inhabited the land for millennia. Following the 1867 Treaty of Cession to the United States, it took another 100 years for the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act (1971) to pass in Congress. Still, it only transferred land title for roughly 13% of the land—another trivial amount considering how often those acres continue to require protection. The check is a symbol of the indifference to the struggle of Native people to control their governance, define their territory, and protect their relationship with the land.