TV, Baseball, Price War oil Bread
Make Big Hit With Galena Village
By Thomas A. Snapp
Times Staff Writer
Television, baseball, and a com
petitive price war on breact have
made a big hit with the people of
Galena, according to Edgar “Paddy'’
Nollner, Jr., president of the Ga
lena village council.
Nollner, a delegate at the recent
Tanana Indian Conference, said his
people used to go to movies at the
nearby Air Force station, but said
Since the military started a televi
sion station that 18 TV sets have
been purchased by villagers.
"Now we stay home and every
body watches programs at night,”
.said Nollner.
Nollner went on to explain that
one set had been purchased by the
Vemetti’s at Koyukuk and that the
people there were able to receive
the television.
Besides television, Nollner said
baseball Had become very popular
with the people.
Baseball Circuit
The village has a team. Galena
Air Force Station has a team, and
Campion Air Force Station, about
Alaska Students
Busy at Santa Fe
Art Institute
Institute of Am. Indian Arts
Cerrillos Road
Santa Fe. New Mexico
Dear Editor,
I am a senior in high school.
Along with my Academic subjects,
I am taking oil painting and cera
mics. Institute of American Indian
Arts School has interested and im
proved my painting.
Some of the students from our
school were invited to go to the
University of Albuquerque, New
Mexico, to perform their dances.
Alaska, was represented by three
Eskimo girls, Irene Simon, Luzy
Mezena, and I and one boy, Ben
Snowball. It was so interesting to
see twenty-eight different dances
performed by different tribes of In
dians.
CLARA MARY SMART
Another exciting event is coming
on the fourth and fifth of May.
Students will represent their states
by cooking their own foods, and
doing different types of activities.
The Alaskan group plans to have
boiled, fried fish with boiled rice,
dried smoked fish, sea weeds and
Eskimo ice cream. We also are
going to dress up in our native
customs. Jerry Norton and I will
be responsible to see that every
thing is prepared for the dinner.
We all are happy to represent Alas
ka. I certainly hope that our ac
tivities will give enjoyment and
interest to the public.
I have enjoyed reading the Tun
dra Times. Keep up your inter
esting events. ,
Sincerely yours,
Clara Mary Smart
9 miles upriver from Galena, has a
team — all playing a schedule to
arrive at the championship.
“We usually play at the military
base because cur village is pretty
close to the river and the home
run hitters knock the ball over the
bank,” Nollner said.
Good Relationship
Nollner said the village had a
very good relationship with the
military bases and that the mili
tary had helped them a great deal.
He said they were particularly help
ful during the recent flood and
that the council was sending a spe
cial letter of appreciation to the
helicopter pilots.
The other most appealing develop
ment at Galena, acording to Noll
ner, was the recent starting of two
more stores and the resultant free
enterprise competition.
“When we had only one store,
bread was 75 cents a loaf. Then one
stot-e lowered the price to 65 cents
a loaf. Now one of the stores has
reduced it down to 45 cents a loaf."
“We are very happy with the
competition because it means low
er prices for us,” Nollner said.
Villa** Site Eroding
The greatest problem lacing the
village, according to Nollner, is the
chewing away of the village by the
Yukon River,
Galena, with a population of 200.
is located between the river and a
huge dike that has been construct
ed to protect Galena Air Force
Station. Each year houses must be
moved from the edge of the bank
as more and more of it caves in.
Since the ice went out this year
10 to 15 feet of the bank has erod
ed. Last_ year 50 to 60 feet caved
in. And since Galena was estab
lished in 1920 about 200 feet or
more of the bank has been nibbled
away.
Plans Ta Move
Nollner said the village had de
cided to move to one of three loca
tions, either right behind the Air
Force Station, a place near Low
ien about 10 miles upstream from
Galena, or to Beaver Creek, 6 miles
upstream from Galena.
“We hope to be able to move next
vear. We wanted to move this year
but there are many problems and it
isn’t so easy.”
Nollner pointed out that they
have a new school there, just
built three years ago. Last year
the state and BIA schools were
consolidated. Presently the schools
house grades one through ten.
Galena has two churches, a Ca
tholic Church and Church of God.
The population ot tne village has
increased each year. People have
moved there from Kaltag, Koyu
kuk, Ruby, and Fairbanks.
Critical Inemployment
Another problem faced by the vil
lage is unemployment. Formerly a
large number of men were employ
ed as longshoremen on the barges.
This year only about 4 or 5 men
are to be hired for these jobs, Noll
ner said.
The members of the Galena coun
cil, besides Nollner, are: Robert
Demoski, Jimmy Malemute, Peter
Webb Demoski, Vinson Yaska, and
Floyd Green.
Necessity is the mother of “tak
ing chances.”—Mark Twain
6Bookshelf9 Can
Help Villages to
Start Libraries
Mrs. Hal Pest
Noorvik Community Library
Noorvik. Alaska
May 20, 1963
Dear Mrs. Post:
We are about to write to Guy
Okakuk of the Tundra Times for
help in contacting areas in Alaska
(especially Eskimo and Indian com
munities) that could use our help
in starting, or replenishing, a li
brary. What a happy coinicidence
to find, in my May 6th issue of the
Times, your letter describing your
efforts to provide Noorvik with a
library.
Operation Bookshelf is a 100C.
volunteer service (please read the
enclosed folder) collecting and dis
tributing books to libraries or in
stitutions wishing to start libraries
— at no exepense whatsoever to
the recipient! We have a special
U. S. Post Office rate, and through
the generosity of interested indi
viduals and other organizations —
and an occasional benefit to raise
money — can handle our shipping
expenses. We have shipped thou
sands of volumes throughout the U.
S. and Possessions and many for
eign countries — but would prefer
to serve this country first. We know
there are areas needing our help —
the difficulty is in making contacts
from this distance!
We have hundreds of books to
choose from — exactly what the
recipient requests. Some books are
new (publishers’ surplus), most are
used but in good condition (from
estate libraries, individuals, school,
etc.).
If wc can help you, please send
us a list of your needs and the num
ber of books you have space for
and we will go to work "putting
the right book in the right place!"
Sincerely yours,
Mrs. Alfred S. Forsyth
OPERATION BOOKSHELF
A volunteer service
Scarsdale Woman’s Club
37 Drake Road
Scarsdale, N. Y.
Indians Losing
Land at Dot Lake
Indians at Dot Lake may lose their
land, acording to Ann Purdy, Daily
News-Miner Correspondent from
Chicken, Alaska.
Under the column “Chicken Pic
kin’s” in the June 17, 1963 issue,
Miss Purdy wrote:
"We are sorry to learn that sev
eral homesteaders at Dot Lake will
lose their land. Of course they
knew the requirements before filing
on the land. Twenty acres must be
cleared and planted in a growing
crop. This is too much. Elderly
couples living on $30 to $90 couldn't
clear the land or file again for five
acre homesite. Other homesteaders
have to work away from home to
make a living. The season is too
short to make a living and clear
the land at the same time.
‘‘I understand some Indians will
lose their homesteads too. This is
really funny. The land of Alaska
belongs to the Indians and Eskimos
anyway.”
I
Where You'll Always Feel an Easy
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NORDALE HOTEL
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517 2nd Dial 452-2105
<r
Annette Island
Metlokotla Progressing
Under Aggressive Mayor
Roland R. Booth
Metlakatla Correspondent
Greetings to all our readers of
the Tundra Times, from Metlakatla.
It is with great pleasure to meet
all of you through the medium of
this paper. And I’m certain that
most of our readers are concerned
about their respective community’s
interest and welfare as we are at
Metlakatla. the city and gateway
in air transportation in our great
state of Alaska.
It is my pleasure to present to
you our present Mayor of our com
munity, Mr. Charles A. Ryan.
Mr. Ryan has first come to Met
lakatla in the year of 1923, from
his native town of Port Simpson,
B. C. from which our forefathers
before him has also come with our
great missionary, Father William
Duncan, a great leader of the
Tshimshean Tribe.
In the same'year that Mr. Ryan
came here also marks a very im
portant event which marks the pre
sidential tour of Alaska by our late
U. S. President Warren G. Hard
ing, the presidential tour of Alas
ka made its first stop at Metlakat
la and then proceeded to Ketchi
kan our neighboring city. Ketchi
kan can keep its uncontested title
as the Salmon eapital of the world
but shou1 _ uiir geographic
location as the first city in Alaska
I Mr. Ryan's achievements while
here at Metlakatla, are; as member
of town's council for a number of
years, boat owner and fisherman,
and later as our present mayor. In.
his application for citizenship of his
adopted countr> the United States
of America, Mr. Ryan is probably
the only known person whereby
that special act of U. S. Congress,
granted him his full citizenship
papers.
Mr. Ryan, recently returned from
Fairbanks. Alaska, where most of
the community leaders have met to
discuss their immediate community
problems and how to lay the
ground work to solve them.
We are very certain that more fre
quent coordinated planning and con
ferences as these will greatly bene
fit the communities in the futura
and we would like to see more.
(Continued on Page 7)
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