Student Rebuts
Condemning Story
University of Alaska
College, Alaska
November 26, 1962
Editor
Jacksonville Daily News
Jacksonville, North Carolina
Dear Sir:
I am fullblooded Eskimo attend
ing the University of Alaska. I have
just finished reading an article
about Alaska put out by your paper
which was reprinted in the Anchor
age Daily Times. This article was
also reprinted in the Tundra Times,
a paper put out by Alaska Natives.
In my opinion, the article contains
too many untruths and half-thruths.
The article was based on an inter
view with the wife of Free Will
Baptist missionary. Reverend Wha
ley.
It rather amazes me to find out
that people could be gullible enough
to believe such a story. The first
point I want to bring out is that
Anchorage. Alaska is like any other
modern city in the United States
proper. One is able to obtain fresh
meats, fruits, and vegetables at the
local supermarkets. You may find
the prices high according to your
standards down South but we have
a high wage scale to compensate for
the high prices.
Reasoning will lead to the con
clusion that people in Alaska, and
especially those that reside in the
larger cities, are like any other peo
ple that live, for example, in Jack
sonville, North Carolina.
The people in Anchorage and
other cities in Alaska come from
all over the United States and from
highly varied backgrounds. The
statement about “gory sin. common
people, alcoholism, fast money, and
fast living." could apply to any other
big city in the United States. I say
that from empirical observation be
cause I have traveled all over the
United States, and have resided for
a period of one year down in the
heart of the South—Alabama. Ten
nessee. Mississippi, and Florida. |
Another point I would like to
bring out is the statement saying,
“The children are unable to play
for months at a time because of the I
severe cold." The coldest it ever
i STUDENT REBl'TS ARTICLE—Miss Nancy Piotts, student of the
! University of Alaska, sent a letter to the Jacksonville, North Caro
| |ina Daily News, replying to a condemning article on the State of
Alaska reprinted in the preceding issue of the Tundra Times.
gels in Anchorage is twenty-five to
thirty degrees below zero. Having
resided in Anchorage, the tempera
ture does not feel as cold as the
humid temperature that I exper
ienced in Mississippi during the
winter.
There is another point that cries
for immediate correction. It states '
that "The natives are inferior, sim- ,
: pie. filthy people with many super
stitions. Most of them live in pov
erty with no knowledge of the out
side world.”
I You are speaking about my peo
ple. You could well say that of the
lowest social class of any culture— j
like the slums found in any big city !
in the United States or abroad. The i
“natives” or the Eskimos and In- I
dians of Alaska comprise 1 6th of
the total population of Alaska, or
about 35.000.
I am an Eskimo and I am proud i
of it. I will not be made to feel j
I
ashamed of my people or my cul
ture. It deeply disturbs me to read
something like this because I feel
that it comes from ignorance or un
founded bias. Most of my people
have a greater knowledge of the
outside world than the outside
world have of us.
It has been my experience down
South to give lectures about Alaska
and in some small measure help to
erase some of the erroneous miscon
ceptions about my home and my
people. I have also dealt with tour
ists from all over the United States
and abroad, and also have given
educational programs about Alaska.
So it is not with anger that I am
replying in reference to your article j
but to clarify for the people of i
Jacksonville. North Carolina a few
facts about Alaska.
Enclosed you will find a compli
mentary copy of the Tundra Times.
Very sincerely yours,
Nancy A. Plotts
Letters Typify Feeling
About Missionary Article
University of Alaska
McIntosh Hall,
November 29, 1962
Mrs. D. L. Whaley
C/o Free Will Baptist Church
International Airport Road,
Anchorage, Alaska
Mrs. Whaley:
It Is written in Ezekiel, 33rd
chapter, that “we Christians are to
warn our fellowmen to turn from
their wicked ways and to urge them
to accept Jesus Christ as their
savior. It says also, that if we,
knowingly, do not warn our brc
tliern to turn from their wicked
way. God will blame us and will
condemn us to eternal punishment.
Since I am a professing Christian,
Mrs. Whaley, I am indebted to God
and feel that I should give you ad
vice to repent of the things you
have allowed the paper to print.
I am not trying to preach to you.
Mrs. Whaley,, because you are a
minister’s wife. You have done a
statewide damage to the morale of
our citizens—citizens who would be
willing to attest a statement which
would convict you to apologize to
the natives of our large State of
Alaska.
I don’t know what you mean by
‘‘filthy people," but I do know a
filthy mind is worse than "physical
filth" because you cannot erase it
until you have confessed before
God.
I am glad from the bottom of my
heart that Jesus Christ came to
save both the hypocrite and the
poor people of the world. If Jesus
came to save only the rightious
"we" and many “others" would not
be saved.
Sincerely yours,
Emily I. Brown.
Alaska State Legislature
House of Representatives
Teller, Alaska
Nov. 24. 1962
Editor
Daily News
Jacksonville. North Carolina
Dear Editor:
An article was printed in your
paper which was reprinted in the
Oct. 26, 62 issue of the Anchorage
Daily Times and again in the Tun
dra Times of Fairbanks, Alaska
dated Nov. 19, 1962. I am more than
merely indignant about this article
Reverend and Mrs. D. L. Whaley
are, as Harry S. Truman would
surely put it: "A bunch of d..
liars,” typical of the rank and file
missionary that has invaded Alaska
of recent years, obviously as syn
thetic as a World War ft tire.
These hell fire and damnation
Bible thumping chiselers come into
our cities, towns and villages with
nothing more than their hat in their
hand. And before a year is out they
have the best boat on the river or
ill the lake, the best outboard motor,
the best home in the community
and generally an airplane.
Then they suddenly go ‘’Outside”
• The Lower 43 States) on "Fur
lough" for the winter.
They preach: “It is more blessed
to give than to receive." But they
are always on the receiving end.
Our- really dedicated missionairfcj
do not shoot off their mouths the
Whaley way and we do have gen
uine, bonafide, registered, certifi
cated. vaccinated, welded and four
times rivetted missionairies here in
Alaska. Thank God! Father Segundo
Llorente of Allakanuk who is the
First Catholic priest ever to serve
in a State Legislature is such a
Genuine Missionary. His people
Elected him to the Second State
Legislature on a Write In Vote.
Other genuine missionaries are:
Rev. Roland Armstrong. President
of Sheldon Jackson Jr. College, Sit
ka, Alaska (Presbyterian>: Right
Rev. William J. Gordon. Bishop of
Alaska for the Protestant Episcopal
Church and many others.
The Whaleys say:- ‘The natives
are inferior, simple, filthy people
with many superstitions. Most of
them live in poverty with no know
ledge of the outside world.”
Such lies! iMy people are in every
walk of life; i.e., attorneys, nurses,
business men; insurance men; bank
ers; carpenters; hunters; commercial
fishermen: big game guides; college
instructors: legislators; truck driv
ers; airline captains — Americans
ALL.
(Continued on Page 6>
Arctic Survival
MURRES, 'PENGUINS' OF THE ARCTIC, PREFER ANCIENT CLIFFS
| By Howard Rock
Times Editor
The murre, the bird that lays
unique cone-shaped eggs, in recent
years has touched off one of the
most heated arguments in Alaska.
And the argument stemmed over
the fact that the black and white
bird, a counterpart to the Antarctic's ,
lamous penguin, will only lay and '
batch its eggs on ancient cliffs.
From time immemorial, the yearly
migration of the murres to Alaska
occurs during May. Hundreds of
thousands of them come to nest on
the cliffs of Cape Lisburne and
Cape Thompson in northwest
Alaska.
The two capes are located near
the villages of Point Hope and Kiv
alina. Cape Lisburne is 40 miles
northeast of Point Hope; Cape
Thompson is 30 miles southeast of
this village. 40 miles to the south
east of Cape Thompson is Kivalina.
Caused Controversy
Since 1958 Cape Thompson has
been the subject of controversy with
the natives of the area, some scien
tists and conservationists on one
side, and the Atomic Energy Com
mission, on the other.
The AEC started plans to detonate
nuclear devices for experimental
excavation on the eastern edge of
the bird cliffs at Cape Thompson.
Soon the question arose; if Project
Chariot were triggered, would it
destroy the egg cliffs by shock and
seismic action of the detonation?
Some scientists believed the im
pact ct the explosion would cause
the face of the cliffs, where murres
and other sea birds lay and hatch
their eggs, to collapse.
Similar to Penguins
Though the murre is similar in
many respects to the famous pen
guin of the South Pole region, par- 1
ticularly in markings, it is unlike |
the penguin in that it is a switt and
.strong flyer. When resting on the
cliffs, the stance of the murre is up
right and straight-backed, much
HKe that of the penguin.
Early in May in great V forma
tions the murres flock to the Capes.
They skim low over the ice hum
mocks or over the open sea. Occa
sionally they rise high into the air
only to skim low over vhe surface.
It is not uncommon to see them in
formations with eider ducks that
migrate at the same time. There
seems to be a kinship between these
two species of marine birds.
The great migration of the murres
is, of course, to propagate their
species on the ancient nesting areas
at Cape Lisburne and Cape Thomp
son, two of the few known nesting
sites.
Nesting Sites
The others are at the Chamisso
Islands, Little Diomede and Big
Diomede Islands. Big Diomede is
located on the Russian side of the
International Date Line three miles
from the Little Diomede. The nest
ing sites on these islands are rela
tively small colonies compared with
those at the cape rookeries. In Cape
Thompson the murres that use this
site have been estimated to number
about 220,000.
The murres apparently follow a
strong instinctive pattern, an an
cient natural law, in nesting the
aforementioned areas. They ignore
other cliffs that would seem to be
ideal for expansion of their propa
gation habits.
New cliffs
One of these cliffs is Eezhrinyik
or Cape Lewis. As scientists have
observed Cape Lewis is a relatively
new cliff, believed to have been
formed by earthquake action. It
would seem that murres would ex
pand their colonies to this cliff but
for some strange reason they have
not done so.
This behavorial pattern raised a
question among scientists who made
environmental studies for the
Atomic Energy Commission in con
nection with Project Chariot,
whether the great colonies of murres
at Cape Thompson would establish
new nesting places if the face of
the ancient cliff were demolished.
Would they abandon the cliffs of
Cape Thompson because of their
seeming dislike of newly formed
cliffs? If this phenomenon took
place, where would they go?
Economic Value
At any rate, in view of the strange
behavorial pattern of the murres,
the conservation of these birds be
came foremost in the opinion of
many scientists in raising the ques
tion at the same time remembering i
the economic value of these birds
to the Eskimos who use them for
food and who are fond of the eggs
they lay.
The meat of the murre, although
eaten quite extensively by the peo
ple of the capes areas, is not con
sidered as favorite food by them.
But the eggs of the murre is a great •
delicacy. j
There are two species of murres,
the common murre and the thick
billed murre.
No Nests
Murres do not build nests. The
common murre simply lays its eggs
on long ledges on the face of the
cliff. The thick-billed murre lays
its eggs on shorter or discontinuous
ledges.
The size of the murre egg is about
twice that of a large chicken egg,
with a very unique shape. The side
view of the egg gives it the appear
ance of a wedge of pie rounded on
the large base and on the small end.
The natural reason for the unique
shape of the egg is to prevent it
from falling off the rocky ledge.
When it rolls, it rolls in a small arc
and stops with the large end down
the incline.
The shell is thick which would
seem reasonable because it is laid on
the rock surface.
Beautiful Egga
The color of the egg is usually a
beautiful light blue-green, mottled
with brown flecks all over it. Few
are buff color to almost milk-white,
mottled with brown flecks.
When the murre eggs are freshly
laid, the people of Point Hope ready
their umiaks for egg-gathering trips,
either to Cape Lisburne or Cape
Thompson. Kivalina to the south
travels to Cape Thompson.
Several days provisions are taken
along for camping near the cliffs
Dry weather is chosen for egg
gathering. In scaling the cliffs dry
footing is needed. When the cliff*
are wet or damp, they become slip
pery from leavings of the murre*
on the ledges; therefore, extreme
care has to be taken by the picker
to keep from falling off the cliffs
The picker also has to overcome
another distracting and disquieting
obstacle. The laying murres swoop
down at great speed and just miss
the head of the picker.
There is a great temptation by
the picker to throw up his hands to
scare the murre away. To do this,
however, would mean disaster for
if he should lose his hold on the
cliff, the picker would fall to almost
certain death.
And so, the tradition of gather
ing murre eggs prevails to the pres
ent time in the Arctic. This age-old
custom of food getting is a way of
getting welcome change in diet. It
was, and is, a pleasant diversion,
though somewhat dangerous, and
must be classed as one that has con
tributed to the survival of man in
the Arctic.