Bear Quest - Alaska

My Quest to See a Bear:


The first two years I lived in Hooper Bay next to the Bering Sea there were no bears around there and hardly any other type of animals that were not connected to the sea in one way or another.  Hooper Bay was to far south for Polar Bears, but someone claimed they had seen tracks a year or so ago -probably a village legend. .

The third year I was located in Pitka’s Point along the Yukon River and the students would tell me stories about bear encounters.  I had to take the trash to the dump one afternoon in the school truck and noticed that there were a bunch of dead fish lying out on a platform.  I figured that if there were bears in the area they would smell the fish and eat a tasty meal.  I discussed the plan with my principal and was given permission to use the truck that evening.  The locals had told me that the bears come out just at sun set, so 10 PM would be a good time to be at the dump.  I arrived about 9:30, got into a position to see the fish fairly well and I waited, and waited, and waited some more. It got pitch dark, around 11:30 but still no bears.  I decided I had waited long enough.  I turned over the ignition on the truck, and nothing.  I tried again, and nothing. It would have been an easy mile and half walk back to Pitka’s Point but I thought if I started walking in the middle of night it would be my luck to come upon a bear with only my clothing to protect me and not a truck cab.  I tried one more time to start the truck and the engine cranked over to my great relief.  I never purposely went looking for a bear again and in fact avoided those places where I thought one might be. I was almost successful.  But that is another story.

Church Incident-Buckland, Alaska

Church Incident - Buckland


                  The last six weeks of my stay in Alaska I was transferred to Buckland to fill the slot of a teacher who had to leave for medical reasons.  I had no TV so I had to fill my evenings with watching movies at school or just about anything to keep from going crazy.  The teachers that were there had already established their relationships and for some reason did not seem to bother trying to welcome a stranger.  I found this little church that had Wednesday and of course Sunday meetings so I started attending.  The congregation was non denominational as far as I could tell and consisted mainly of people giving testimonies.  I learned a lot about the wages of sin and forgiveness in this little Eskimo Village. 

One evening towards the end of the service a lady came in and said we all had to stay in side because Sally was shooting at Freddy again.  I had no idea who Sally and Freddy were but everyone else just looked at each other with knowing sad nods and sat down.  After about 30 minutes a lady stood up, instructed all of us to get into a circle and hold hands.  She then commenced a prayer  asking God if it was OK for us to go home now.  I didn’t hear a reply but she said,  “Ok, everything is alright we can leave now.”  I got back to my abode alright so she must have had a better communication link than I.    As an aside, the next day I saw an Alaskan Trooper in town.  He said he had just flown in to see what was happening between Sally and Freddy this time.  He said it wasn’t any big deal he guessed.  “She is always shooting at him but always missed.

Caribou-Alaska

Caribou Hind Quarter– Noatak.

One day in the early fall a knock came to the door.  My roommate, Eric, answered it and it was Michael.  A local Eskimo man in his very early twenties.  He asked if he could borrow $20 from each of us for gasoline to put in his four wheeler because the caribou were crossing down stream on the Noatak River.  He needed to get there.  I had loaned money before to villagers and seldom had it returned so I wasn’t to hep on the idea.  Eric on the other had, being just a little older than Michael, said he thought we would get the money back.  I came up with a better idea.  Since we had not bought any meat yet from Kotzebue (large village to the south right on the Arctic Circle) I said why don’t we take some caribou meat in exchange.  I thought we might be more likely to get some meat than cash.  How much meat Eric and I decided would be left up to Michael.  Two days went buy and no Michael, meat, or money.  I was already to chalk up another lesson learned.  Two more days passed.  Eric and I came back to our apartment at about the same time after school and there, leaning against our door was a hind quarter of a caribou.  The whole hind quarter.  I asked Eric how we went about skinning and cutting the meat from the bone and he was as lost as I was.  We did not have the right sort of knives and it seemed like it took hours de-boning the quarter section.  I am sure we left a lot on the bone.   We borrowed a meat grinder form the school to ground what we had cut into one pound bundles, and put all in the freezer feeling pretty smug about having enough meat to last the winter (along with some salmon given us.)   The only problem was that  I found out that I did not like caribou meat.  I had to mix many spices and seasonings before cooking and douse it a lot with catsup and other condiments to make it palatable. 

Deutschland Diary 6

Monday 17

The "war" has been delayed for 24 hours because of the mud.  It is raining and cold.  It would be very pleasant if we were normal tourist, dry, worm, and able to eat normal food.  It is a very boring experience so far.  The anxiety is gone and now it is a matter of marking time. 

In Ellensberg there is a flax tower close to us.  That is where they sat up anti aircraft guns during WW II.  Now it has been converted to a water tower.

I miss you all and the U.S. more than I did anyway.  I'll be glad when this is over.

Wed 19

Yesterday was dull.  I only pulled my 12 hour shift and then went to bed.  This morning I got a ride into town with Oliver, one of the Polizie who accompanies us so we don't screw up traffic.  I went to the rest room and a small grocery store.  Mailed some cards, called home.  It was nice to talk to you all, wish Darren and Meghan had been awake.  I will call again Saturday.

We move again tonight some place north.

I have met many people here but I am not really friends with any of them.  I have made what I think are close friends with the two German Polizie  Oliver and Roth.  Roth is a heavy set blond guy who has a crooked nose.  Oliver is then and has a beard.  He has an extra long finger nail on his little fingers and wares a earring while not on duty.  Both of them have eyes on the black female troops.

While waiting for the phone the other day I met another German couple who new some English.  They are eager to talk to us.  I am beginning to feel like I am in Germany finally.  love you all.

Noatak, Alaska

This picture was taken in 1917 near Noatak, Alaska.   I lived in Noatak for over a year.

Hooper Bay, Alaska

Winter Pantry- Alaska

            In late spring, early summer or the very early fall , Eskimo families pack their camping gear and head toward their historic family camps.  In later summer or very early fall they go to the Berry Camp.  In the spring or summer they all head towards Fish Camp.   There never seems to be an exact date each year, someone would know when was the best time to go and then they would go.  There was never an exact amount of time they would stay either.  It was all determined by how many berries or fish they thought they needed for the rest of the year.  The women and children would forage all over their specific locals gathering black, blue, and salmon berries.  The more enterprising of the villagers would pick and pack more than they needed and upon return try to sell them to the Teachers.  I think the going price was $20 a quart.  I liked the black berries, the blue berries were OK, and the salmon berries were just a little too gritty tasting.  The berries they did not sell to the Teachers were frozen and brought out now and then through out the year for special treats and occasions.

            The fish, usually Salmon from the streams inundating the tundra, but caught via nets by the men and cleaned on an assembly line basis by the women and not of age children, were hung out to dry on fish racks.  Fish racks are very interesting structures but I lack the writing skill to describe them very well.  The best description I can come up with is that they resembled those small wooden things that people use to dry small articles of washables on in the house.  However most of the fish racks were huge, some over six feet tall, stretching 20 to 30 feet in a serpentine manner, and had several layers of rods connecting the sections.  These were permanent structures and left out on the Tundra year after year with no one bothering them nor using one that was not theirs.   As you might imagine living near the water, be it an ocean or river, fish is a staple, a big stable.  The people who I lived around really fished all year round one way or another and they would dry their fish either on fish racks that they had near their dwellings or on clothes lines .  Some times the laundry would share the same line.