I UNIVERSITY’S ROLE IN DEVELOPMENT—William R. Wood, left,
president of the University of Alaska, outlined the university’s role
in economic development at a special banquet February 21 spon
sored by the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce. Left to right, from
President Wood: Robert L. Jenks, of the Fairbanks Chamber of Com
merce; Mrs. William R. Wood; E. R. Fryer, assistant commissioner of
the BIA; and Mrs. William J. Gordon. —Tundra Times Photo
The Eskimo Ordered
A Moil Order Bride
By Howard Rock
Times Editor
I- The following story was told many
Scars ago. The passing of time has
Ijbbed the story of names and its
recise setting so far as this writer
i concerned, but, perhaps, there
ire some people who remember the
wo men involved and where they
ived. It is believed this incident
mppened somewhere around the
sToorvik area.
It is a well-known fact that among
the Eskimos of the past and present,
there were, and are, some avid prac
tical jokers.
There was one young man who
Hasn’t Heart to
Take Away Cubs
By Howard Rock
Times Editor
, "I did not. have the heart to take
the cubs away from their mother.
I took them back where I had
ticked them up," said James F.
food, recalling the incident that
lappened many years ago when he
lunted for a living.
Jim Hood and his fellow hunter
•nd friend, Ernie Johnson, famous
guide for the late Bob, Marshal,
•uthor of the book, Arctic Village,
Went out one day in search of a
grizzly bear’s den where they knew
were three little cubs they wanted
to sell.
This incident happened in the
country between John River and
Alatna River, 90 miles northwest
Of Bettels, on what is called Mitten
fcerg Creek, a tributary to Koyu
Jcuk River.
, The men located the bear’s den.
It was early in spring around the
middle of April. The mother grizzly
was still in hibernation when Hood
entered, flashlight in hand and a
six-shooter on the ready. The cubs
were cowering against their uncon
scious mother.
Hood picked up the squealing
cubs and started out of the den but
stopped at the entrance and looked
at them and then at his friend who
had been waiting. Hood turned
right around and reentered the
cave, still carrying the cubs, and
laid them down by the hibernating
mother.
When Hood emerged out of the
den without the cubs, Ernie John
son said, “Well Jim, you just lost
$150.''
“I noticed that Ernie wasn’t pro
testing too strenuously and 1 think
he kind of felt the same way 1 did
about the cubs. I just didn’t have
the heart to take .them away from
their helpless mother.
“The way 1 looked at it was, what
would the mother have done upon
waking?
“I gained a lot from that exper
ience,” Hood concluded.
practised this dubious art of a con
vincing degree 40 or 50 years ago.
This particular person took advant
age of the bewilderment that, at
times, overcame the Eskimos of a
generation ago when the white man
began to bring some showy items of
new world civilization.
In those days items like mail or
der catalogs were objects of curi
osity. Although some people, like
the bright young man, comprehend
ed the purpose of such items some
Eskimos did not.
One such person was a bachelor
somewhere around 40 years old and
the bright young man picked him
out as an unsuspecting victim.
The two men had been leafing
through a mail order catalog and
the younger man began to linger
through the pages where it showed
a glittering array of beautifully at
tired women who were also beau
tiful.
The young man talked glibly, as
well as convincingly, and soon had
the older man eating out of his
hand.
“Now. take this one for instance.
Isn't this one beautiful?” The older
man smiled with something more
than approval.
“The price is cheap too. only
$11.75!” the young man pointed out.
“All you have to do is to go out
hunting and get yourself a fox and
trade it for cash and send for that
one.”
“Let’s see,” the young man con
tinued, “That one should get here
in about 7 months. I tell you what
you can do. Why don’t you go down
to Kotzebue sometime before the
ship comes from outside next sum
mer.”
The bachelor did go out to hunt
and got himself a fox and promptly
traded it for cash and summoned
his young friend to make out the
necessary order.
Months passed and the bachelor
became progressively anxious. Fin
ally. summer arrived and he pro
ceeded to make the trip down the
river to Kotzebue.
When the ship came and anchored
15 miles to the south of Kotzebue
the bachelor began to have pangs
of nervousness. People from the
ship came ashore and the man fur
tively watched them and looked for
someone who might look familiar.
He recognized no one and silently
and slowly went back to wherever
he was stopping.
After some time he traveled back
to his home village privately nurs
ing his keen disappointment.
Upon arrival he entered his little
igloo and on a bench was a package.
He opened it and there was a beau
tiful dress exactly like the one the
woman had worn in the catalog.
It is not known whether the bach
elor ever contemplated revenge on
his young tormentor, but if he did,
no one would have blamed him.
BARTLETTS SPEND TIME WINNING
FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING PEOPLE
Bob L oves Roses, Hates Traffic;
Vide Loves Travel, Hates Cooking
By Thomas A. Snapp
Times Staff Writer
(This is the concluding part of a
three-part series)
In a three-story, seven-room
house on 49th Street in Washing
ton, D. C. lives a couple from Alas
ka. The husband collects knives,
adores roses, and thinks a moose
steak is a little bit of heaven. The
wife likes to travel, enjoys garden
ing, but hates to cook.
Both the husband and wife spend
the greater part of their time try
ing to win friends and influence
people.
The couple: Alaska’s senior sena
tor, Bob Bartlett, and his wife,
Vide.
The Bartletts have been in Wash
ington for 19 years, but it was four
years ago that they moved from
one side of capital hill to the other.
Prior to statehood, Bob Bartlett
was a delegate to Congress with all
the privileges and responsibilities
except that of voting. With state
hood, he became a full-fledged
senator.
Recently, Mrs. Bartlett describ
ed her and her husband's lives in
Washington in an exclusive inter
view with Tundra Times.
Rewarding Life
“The life of a politician is very
rewarding because it is a life of
continually winning friends,” Mrs.
Bartlett pointed out.
“That is not only what a politi
cian does during campaigns but
also when he goes to the legislature
or Congress. Tn Washington, Bob is
continually trying to understand
other members of Congress and to
get them to see things his way.”
According to Mrs. Bartlett, their
best friends have just naturally
turned out to be the other senators
on Bob’s important committee’s and,
of course, their wives.
“That’s a lot of junk you read
about Congressmen's lives tied up
with cocktail parties,” she remark
ed.
“Cocktail parties don’t got you
any mileage. It's the personal asso
ciations with people that help you
make friends.”
The Bnrtletts entertain with small
dinner parties at their home.
Eight’s Enough
“We usually have eight. That’s
about the right number for the size
of our table and eight is about
my capacity for cooking,” she said.
“I guess the reason I love to tra
vel is because I hate to cook,” she
added.
Mrs. Bartlett said that a politi
cian’s life was also a hard one. He
has to be in the office all day tak
ing care of business and then has
many official functions at night.
“A senator can’t very well go
home and crawl in a cave. He has
to be fairly well available all the
time.”
Hates Traffic
“Bob leaves home early in the
morning for his office, hoping to
find the right time between seven
and eight when there is not very
much traffic. Many times it is late
when he returns in the evening,
particularly if Congress is in ses
sion.
"We usually have dinner about
8 o’clock after Bob has had a chance
to unwind,” she said.
Blueberry Pie
“Bob’s favorite food is moose
steak and blueberry pie. We’ve
carted moose and blueberries back
to Washington dozens of times.”
“My favorite foods are fruits —
oranges, apples and bananas. I guess
it is a carryover from my childhood
when an apple cost 50 cents," said
Mrs. Bartlett.
Quite Funny
“Bob thinks it is hilariously funny
when he gets requests at the of
fice for my recipes,” Mrs. Bartlett
said, “because he knows I hate to
cook;”
“A society editor of the Washing
ton Evening Star took a picture of
me in front of my new fancy stove
with all kinds of buttons on it and
showed me with my favorite dish,
king crab.”
“I sent Bob the picture and story
and I heard he commented, “My
land, how much did they have to
pay Vide to get in the kitchen for
that picture!”
Fake Crab
“What he didn’t know was that
the crab in the picture was a fake
anyway,” Mrs. Bartlett laughed.
The Bartletts have two daughters,
Miss Sue Bartlett, now in her fifth
year of nursing at John Hopkins
Hospital, Baltimore, and Mrs. Doris
Ann (Burke) Riley of Juneau. The
Bartletts have four grandchildren,
ages 5 years to 1 month, the chil
dren of the Rileys.
Mrs. Bartlett came to Juneau for
the birth of the most recent child.
Over the years, when the Bartletts
two daughters were in school, they
went to school half year in Wash
ington and half year in Alaska.
“We would drive back and forth.
There's nothing I like better than
driving to Alaska,” Mrs. Bartlett
commented.
Warehouse Fire
One of the biggest calamities to
the Bartletts came a few years
when a warehouse in Washington
burned. In the warehouse was
stored in trunks and boxes much of
the Bartletts’ personal effects.
‘ There were pictures, old news
papers, letters, childhood dolls, and j
so forth, not only of our family but
also our parents.”
There was no insurance; but of
course, insurance couldn’t replace
the personal things.
“Everything was lost and I was
horrified and crushed because it
was the stuff of a lifetime.”
“Bob thought I was a little his
torical about it and he had a hard
time simmering me down.”
Balloon Busted
A year or so later, hewever, Mrs.
Bartlett said Bob was crushed when
he found out his pride and ioy. a
pair of gold scales from his mining
days on Independence Creek, had
also been destroyed in the fire.
“He really busted the balloon!"
she exclaimed.
Mrs. Bartlett said that it was us
ually that way with her and her
husband, that it was she that usual
ly got the last laugh.
Bartlett Burglary
To illustrate she cited the burg
lary of their home last year in
Washington.
Shortly after Bob came home one
night he had a delivery and asked
Mrs. Bartlett for a dollar to tip the
delivery boy.
“He looked in my purse and said,
‘You don’t even have a dollar’,”
“Well, I knew I had $44 in my
purse and I told him I had been
robbed. But Bob thought I had
been absent-minded and we didn’t
call the police until the next day."
The police discovered that the
burglar had broken a lock on our
front door, stolen the money and
gone out through another door.
Grain Of Salt
“Of course, I was just wild but
Bob took it with a grain of salt and
I was covered with insurance and
got my money back.”
“I told the neighbors that since
the burglar had broken into our
house that he might also break into
theirs and sure enough, about a
week later, one of the neighbors
saw somebody working on their
door and called the police.”
Crime Solved
“He was caught red-handed with
an armful of furs and confessed also
to the crime at our house.”
He said he had taken only the
$44 of Mrs. Bartlett but also a hunt
ing knife from a display on the
wall.
“Well, was Bob ever wild when
he heard about that," Mrs. Bartlett
laughed, “but the knife was re
turned.”
Mrs. Bartlett said that she and
her husband had friends all over
I Alaska and often they came in
handy. As an example, she men
tioned Glenn Franklin ,a miner in
the 40-mile country near Fairbanks.
Back when she was a teacher,
Mrs. Bartlett said that Franklin
was one of her greatest disciplinary
problems.
Flakes Of Gold
Later, when Bob was a delegate
she said he entertained a great
many people and she would make
place cards for their dinners. I
would draw either a gold pan or a
forget-me-not and in the center of
the gold pan or the forget-me-not
put in a few flakes of gold dust,
maybe 50 cents worth.
“When Glenn Franklin visited us
! one time, he saw me making the
cards and furnished me with enough
gold dust to last me a year. So in
his older years he made up for all
the mischief when he was a boy,”
i she said.
Roses Won
According to Mrs. Bartlett, her
husband has always been particu
; larl.y fond of roses — red roses,
| white roses, lavender roses, any
I kind of roses.
“He always wears a rose bud in
I his lapel and used to go out to our
neighbors’ gardens to pick them.
Last year a nurseryman in Cali
fornia sent two dozen rose bushes
as a gift to Senator Clair Engle.
When Engle received them, he
exclaimed, “Why did they send
them to me? They should have sent
them to Bartlett; he’s the roses
man.” And Senator Engle turned
the roses over to his friend, Bart
lett.
“Bartlett, however, is a picker,
not a planter of roses. I planted
them.”
Solid Bloom
“i\/rv roses were in solid bloom
from May until the middle of Octo
ber. I even airmailed some rose
buds to him uo here in Alaska so
he co"!d wear them in his lapel.”
‘‘Although I didn’t start out in
life to be a rose gardener. I became
a rose gardener because my hus
band doesn't know there are any
other flowers,” she commented.
Letter to Editor
Alaska Native Health Field Office
Mt. Edgecumbe, Alaska
February 11, 1963
Dear Editor:
On behalf of the patients and the
staff of this hospital, we wish to
thank you and your publishers for
the gift of fourteen copies of your
bi-weekly, "Tundra Times.” We
think your paper is a splendid con
tribution.
Patients find the news items very
interesting. It helps them to keep
in closer contact with home and
community.
Thank you again for your con
sideration. We hope for your con
tinued interest in the patients of
this hospital.
Very truly yours,
Robert L. Hampton. M. D.
Acting Medical Officer in
Charge