NATIVE CUSTOMS OF COURTING, CHOOSING
MATES VARY FROM PLACE TO PLACE
By George Jennings Gale
Mealy Fork, Alaski
Marty Eskimos have become fa
mous as artists, in fact they are too
numerous for me to mention on this
page. But the Hudson Bay District
seems the most famous for Eskimo
sculptors, the most noted of which
is Davidee and is being compared
with Epstein.
Davidee is a true Native. He
comes from Frebisher Bay, Baffin
Island in the far North of Canada.
He was born with a crippled foot
and later spent many years in hos
pitals with tuberculosis.
Despite this handicap, he had to
support a family and hunted and
fished while developing his hobby
The art critics became aware of
him as his work appeared in hobby
shops from Greenland to Alaska
end both Canada and the United
States have displayed his work.
The work in soap stone has pene
trated the mighty Soviet Union for
their sculptors are working it up
into many human and animal im
ages. Much of this stems from the
Eskimos around Hudson’s Bay in
Canada.
Along the border of the Barren
Islands and the Land of Little Sticks
in Canada, when I was a lad there,
were Hudson Bay posts where Es
kimos, Cree Indians and Athabas
can Indians camped. Each people
had their own camp at that time,
and feelings were bitter between
these three peoples. But like all
borderlands or frontiers, the best in
each tribe was developed. The in
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ticate design of the Cree moccasins,
coats, and legging were often a
work of art in bead work. The At
habascans did fine work with por
cupine quills while the Eskimos
performed works of art by sewing
together small pieces of skins of
various animals.
I could write page after page on
the customs of these people.
For instance, a band of pretty
Cree girls would walk along the
beach holding hands. Should a
young fellow want one of them he
will toss a pebble. Should he be a
poor shot with the pebble he keeps
on tossing until he does hit the
girl of his desire. Then the next
trip back down the beach, all the
Indian girls who have been hit
will return and the same process is
gone through until only one girl
walks back down the beach and she
and her lover take off. The other
girls spend the time up on either
end of the beach moving pebbles
around with their beaded moccasin
foes.
The Ojibwas have an entirely dif- 1
fcrent method of selecting mates.
For instance, the girl leaves the
camp, gets out of sight, then stands
in a little clearing. Any man with
bush knowledge enough to sneak
up to her without her hearing him
is allowed to come up from behind,
put his arm over her shoulder,
crossing arms in front of her and
taking hold of each of her hands.
Of course the girl often knows who
is courting her and in spite of some
noise allows him to capture her,
but the idea is that a man who can
not come upon a girl without being
heard will be no hunter of merit.
The Eskimos in the Hudson Bay
district had an interesting techni
que perhaps borrowed from Peter
Pond, an American trader, who had
traded among the Black Feet In
dians of Montana. Nevertheless the
Eskimo girl would dance wrapped
in a Hudson Bay blanket to the man
i
Canyon Village
Gets Teachers
“My wife and 1 have been want
ing to go to the bush and rough
it and I think we will have that
chance soon.” said William Hilliard
recently. Hillard and his wife, Mar
tha. will soon go to Canyon Village
by river barge to teach there.
They will teach all elementary
grades and plan to assist two high
school students who are taking cor
respondent courses. The Hilliards
are very enthusastic about their
new jobs and want to work along
“with the people there.”
They will be in Canyon Village
for at least a year.
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she desired and would toss the
blanket over his head. Thus they
would both be under the blanket
where no one could see the goings
on.
The Athabascans, perhaps, had the
best method. The girl would grab
a boys’ cap or handkerchief. Should
the young man follow her and re
trieve his property, he was as good
as married. If he should not, the
girl would wash the article and
hand it back to him, then take to
her heels.
The Ojibwas made the best moc
casins. The Athabascans knew the
best way to tie snowshoes on. The
Tsimpsians made the best snow
shoes. The Eskimos, of course, had
the best northern clothes in the
world.
The customs have largely dis
appeared from these communities.
Many useful traits are rapidly van
ishing. Civilization reaches its long
fingers into the far North in search
of minerals thus exposing all these
people to modernization.
Savoonga..;
(Continued from Page 3)
English dance, big game event for
young men. foot races, and many
other events.
Boat owners, either skin or wood
en boats, I guess it's safe to have
a life jacket on at all times when
you use the boat.
No Radio
The schol house here !s closed
after the teachers left Savoonga.
It is very hard to report when we
have a sick person to report to
doctors through radios. We cannot
use the BIA radios when such things
happen at Savoonga.
We just don't know why the
school house is closed for radio
traffic. We don’t have an air strip
when someone gets sick. The only
way we get a person out is by skin
boat to Gambell which has an air
field, but sometimes the weather
is very bad for boat travel.
The teacher left Savoonga not
long ago is Frederick A. Goran
son. Our minister left Savoonga
yesterday with the Cutter North
wind for the lower forty-eight. Ho
has lived at St. Lawrence Island for
six years. His wife and two daugh
ters went with him. He is Arthur
French.
I don't have anything more to
say. but I'll say that I'm very sorry
for not having the news sooner. I
have no time this month. Anyway.
I hope you will get more news
sometime not too long from now.
i U. S. Savings Bond buyers help
| defend freedom with their pur
j chases. Bonds are a safe investment
; —as safe as America itself.
™ UFF'T barbershop
1TxiTn CXl’B —
423 2nd Ave.
Fairbanks, Alaska
Cliff Cundy
Adler's Book Shop
Out-of-town orders solicited
and filled promptly
Box 1159, Fairbanks
CONSTRUCTION AND
GENERAL LABORERS
Local 942, AF of L
idmund N. Orbeck, President
Joel Wiegert
.Secretary-Treasurer
?C5 Noble St
Meetings Every 2nd Friday
7:30 P.M.
dal GL 6-4582
I Tears Groundless,’ Says Gruening
• Continued from Page 1)
! with natives, get their thoughts,
1 views, and desires.
“I want to tell them I consider
I their fears groundless because I
I think when the time comes, they
will be much better off,”
In the first place, he said none
of the villages were particularly
well equipped with community fa
cilities. If they are relocated and it
will be some years, they will be
j given the opportunity to move to
i locations of their own choosing
presumably on the borders of the
lake, he said.
"They do not have a good econ
omy now. They have a subsistence
economy, consisting of some trap
ping, some hunting and fishing;
some need relief,” he said.
"This would all change the min
ute Rampart Dam is authorized,”
he emphasized.
The timber would be cut from the
huge area, saw mills would be es
tablished. a road would be built
to the dam, the Alaska Railroad
would be extended to the area, and
a big community would be built up
at the dam site.
“In all this development we are
going to insist that local people be
given the best chance at employ
ment,” Gruening said.
“All can have jobs that want them
and when the lake is finished, the
people will have a much better
economy because there will be a
commercial as well as a sport fish
ery at the lake.”
More Fish
"The Fish and Game Department
can plant white fish and lake trout
in the lake as it is filling up and
there will be more fish in it than
go up the Yukon,” Gruening said.
Native Buys ...
(Continued from Page 31
haps 20 to 25 hours per week, break
ing them in as apprentices. Thus, he
is beginning to insure steady em
ployment for younger people.
Kalkins' total payroll was about
S30.000. contributing to the support
j of about 300 natives. With profits,
Kalkins will be able to pay off a
substantial portion of the cannery’s
cost and in addition will have left
operating capital for next year.
Future Plans
The new owner anticipates a work
force of at least 100 next season.
In the meanwhile, upon request
1 from the people he is constructing
a commissary at Pitka's Point.
That a native, with the right kind
I of assistance, can buy and operate
[ a cannery, that jobs can be gener
! ated. and that the economy of
| Alaska natives can be stimulated
i has been graphically proved in this
j story of Pitka's Point,
j Randy Kalkins. only 27. wtih can
! nery experience, the ability to ne
gotiate a language difference with
; Eskimos, and the drive to put in
20-hour days during the fish run.
is a typical example of what a
young, aggressive and intelligent
! native man can accomplish if given
only half a break!
New Teacher
For Pt, Hope
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hall. Bureau
of Indian Affairs teachers and their
young son. Keith, arrived in Point
Hope at 10:15 a.m., July 19. They
had been on vacation nearly two
months in South Carolina and Tex
as. Hall attended a teacher's work
shop in Nome the first week of
June.
New Teacher
Miss Ruth Abee. Charlotte. N. C .
will be the teacher for grades 6-P.
this year. She has many years of
experience and recently taught for
three years on the island of Oki
nawa.
Miss Abee is exepected soon after
August 1.
The lake will also provide recrea
tional opportunities and lake trans
portation. he pointed out.
"While people are apprehensive
about the unknown, we want to
make them feel we won't do any
thing that will in any way worsen
their situation but will improve it.”
The low cost power of the dam
will bring industries to Alaska and
furnish further employment, he
said.
Little Imagination
“Alarm raised by extreme con
servationists that nesting areas for
ducks will be destroyed shows little
imagination,” Gruening said, “be
cause as the water advances more
nesting areas can be created."
In the Northwest, he said water
is being let back into areas that
have dried up and great nesting
grounds for magratory birds are
being created. "The same thing can
and should be done here in Alaska."
“We don’t want Rampart Dam to
destroy our natural resources, we
want to conserve them and add to
those resources and aid our eco
nomic opportunities.”
The report of the studies of the
project are being completed this
| summer, he said, and as soon as re
ceived he would introduce a bill
j into Congress to authorize the pro
ject.
“But with a project of this size.
I suspect some committees of Con
gress will want to come up here and
look the situation over,” he said.
"It will take at least a year at
the soonest before the project can
be authorized.”
If authorized, he said it would
take a year to design the dam.
seven years to build it. and 18 years
for the lake to fill up.
The initial appropriation would be
used for design of the dam. plan
ning. the purchase of titled land and
improvements and for negotiating
land claims.
Blanket Claims
Regarding large blanket native
land claims. Gruening said the au
thorization of the dam would con
stitute “a taking” and the natives
would be able to present them to
the court of claims. He said it
might be possible for these claims
to be negotiated as a part of the
cost of the dam since the amount for
j claims settlement would be only a
j small fraction of the total cost of
■ the project.
Ho urged that native villages
I draw up their claims and have them
j ready to be presented upon author
ization of the project.
Training Program
To equip natives for the large
number of jobs that would be avail
able, Gruening said a training pro
! gram would be certainly be author
' ized.
Not Very Crash
j Asked to comment on the state
ment by some that the study being
| made was a “crash’ study, Gruen
j ing said, “I don’t think it is very
crash.”
“They’ve been studying for MS
years. Some people want to keep on
studying forever and don't reach
any conclusion.”
Navigation Imprived
Asked if the dam wouldn’t affect
the river and villages both above
and below the Dam site. Gruening
said, “Yes, but it will be very ben
! eficial: it will provide much better
! navigation than we have now.”
| The six villages visited were:
Circle. Fort Yukon. Venetie, Stevens
Village, Rampart, and Beaver. Ac
companving Senator Gurening
were: Colonel Kenneth T. Sawyer,
head of the Corps of Engineers. An
chorage: Harold Moats, head of the
civil works branch. Corps of En
gineers; State Rep. Robert Mc
Combe. D-Chicken; .Tens Forshaug,
Bureau of Indian Affairs, and
George Sundborg. the senator's ad
ministrative assistant.
The Anchorage Times quoted
Gruening as saying upon return
from the tour that opposition to the
proposed Rampart Dam is dwind
ling. -r