Cuntjra Ctmtfi
Owned, controlled and edited by Tundra Times, Inc., a corporation of Alaska
natives. Published at Fairbanks, Alaska, twice monthly, on the first and third
Mondays.
Address all mail to Box 1287, Fairbanks, Alaska. Telephone GL 2-2244.
Entered at the Post Office at Fairbanks, Alaska, as second class matter under
the Act of March 3, 1879.
Tundra Times, Inc., publisher (Howard Rock, Martha Teeluk, and Alfred Ketzlerl;
HOWARD ROCK, editor; Thomas Snapp. assistant editor; Vivian P. Spurgin. office
manager; contributing editors, Guy Okakok, Martha Teeluk, and Alfred Ketzler.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
6 months $ 2.50
Regular Mail, Stale . 1 yew 5.00
Mailed to Other States .-. 6 months 3.00
1 year 6.00
Air Mail to States . 6 months 6.00
Less than 6 months, 36c per issue .. 1 year 12.00
Native Heritage
The Tundra Times in pointing out the customs and
traditions of the natives of Alaska fervently hopes for en
lightenment of the public, both non-native and native. If
we seem overemphatic in presenting the culture of the
north in our articles and editorials, we are not exactly sorry.
It may seem sometimes that we are trying to promote
the return of primitive culture. Let us assure you we are
trying to do no such thing. Our emphasis has been to pre
sent native culture to the public, believing that it should
be known to the fullest possible extent. We are doing this
with the idea that some of it may be preserved for poster
ity, especially fine traditions of the past.
We have found that among the younger generation of
native Alaskans there is a tendency to look upon the ways
and customs of their ancestors with an embarrassed atti
tude.
This is disturbing. We have reason to believe that this
attitude in large part, has been instilled by past instructions
in native schools by teachers who saw little or no value
in native cultures. Some learned people in science and edu
cation fields have recently expressed opinions instruction
on Alaska native culture should be included in the system
of education in Alaska.
To carry this idea further, the University of Alaska
in an extensive study of high school dropouts recommend
ed teachers in Alaska be required to have more knowledge
of native languages and native cultures of Alaska. This
recommendation is most refreshing and we of the Tundra
Times consider it as a fine step in the right direction. We
fervently hope that it will become a reality in the not too
distant future.
Guest Editorial
There is a saying in the Arctic that the best item of
survival gear you can carry in an aircraft is an Eskimo. Mr.
Paul Joseph Garon, pilot, of Quebec City, and Mr. A. F.
Flucke, Northern Affairs administrator at Fort Chimo, un
doubtedly agree.
Mr. Garon's account of the more than two weeks he,'
Mr. Flucke and six Eskimo passengers spent in the Ungava
wasteland after their aircraft was damaged in a forced
landing rather makes it sound as if it was all a piece of
cake. Obviously it was not: survival in the Arctic is an ele
mental thing to which comfort is entirely irrelevant. But
without the Eskimo it is very possible that by now the two
white men would be dead.
The Eskimos were three women, one of them 67, and
three children of ages from 12 to 17. But that made no
difference. In the Arctic the women work as hard as the
men, and with as much initiative. The children learn the
laws of survival from the cradle. They have to.
It was 40 below. In short order these people condi
tioned to one of the harshest environments on earth had
produced shelter—an igloo—and food—seal meat and fish
caught through the ice. When the weather moderated and
it became plain that air searchers were not going to find
the party, the pilot guided by the oldest boy (Eskimos are
born wih built-in compasses), set out on the 60-mile trek
to Chimo. Part-way they found an Eskimo settlement where
they procured a sled and dog team.
It appears, however, that the Eskimo is becoming con
ditioned to the white man's world as well as to his own.
The villagers collected $75 rent in advance-and not in
Hudson's Bay Company tokens.-Montreal Star, Montreal,
.Canada, January 31/ 1943.
NORTH STAR
AWARD
(In each Issue, the Tundra
Times will single out for a North
Star award one who has made an
outstanding accomplishment or
done a meritorious act.)
“The Eskimos were three women,
one of them 67, and three children
of ages from 12 to 17. But that made
no difference.” The Montreal Star
said in paying tribute to the six
Eskimos who were instrumental in
saving the lives of Mr. Paul Jo
seph Garon. pilot, of Quebec City,
and Northern Affairs administra
tor at Fort Chimo, Mr. A. F. Flucke.
The pilot had made a forced land
ing and the plane was damaged and
he and his 7 passengers were ma
rooned in the inhospitable Ungava
wasteland for more than two weeks.
The weather was cold—40 below.
The women and the children set
to work at once and made an emer
gency shelter—an igloo. Then they
went in search for food and found
it — seal meat and fish caught
through the ice.
When it became apparent that
rescue was not forthcoming, the
pilot, guided by the oldest boy, set
out for Fort Chimo 60 miles away.
The pilot and the boy reached their
destination and rescue was affected.
The Montreal Star said further,
“But without the Eskimos it is very
possible that by now the two white
men would be dead.”
And so to the six Eskimos of
Canadian Arctic, whose presence of
mind and calmness under deadly
circumstances in saving the lives
of their fellow passengers as well as
themselves, goes the Tundra Times
tenth North Star Award along with
our congratulations.
Indian Poem
Alaska
By Audrey Antoinette Kokrine
Athabascan Indian, Fairbanks
Alaska! My Alaska!
Land of the prideful race,
Beautiful, selfish woman.
How hard you've made our chase
By keeping your precious treasures
Locked within your bosom
terrain.
Keeping your precious metals
And your other worldly gain.
You separate your people;
Make each a different nation.
Separate the Tlingit of the South
With the North’s rail-belt
planation,
And the Eskimo of the Arctic,
Fisher of the Bering Sea,
And the Aleut of the Chain,
Fisher of the southern sea,
And the Athabascan Indian,
Son of the Yukon River.
We are all your children,
Your life-blood giver.
And yet, you turn on us
Cold winds of the North,
Rarely giving to us
Your mild Chinook of the South.
You are a cold woman; a proud
woman;
A selfish woman; an undeserving
woman
Of the love that you have created
In our hearts for you.
You make us prove our mettle
Before we’re fit to live with you.
And yet I do not mind;
Your challenge is my dare.
I’ll give my all for you, Alaska,
I do care for you
From your gloriously high pinnacle
To your lowest depth.
From your tremendous coastline
To your vast inland width.
And I'll protest your violaters
Who do not stay on to see
The beautiful, wild country
That my Alaska can only be. ,
The Language Problem
The type of instruction the younger generation has
been getting in the past has been such that they have
become over-awed by new world civilization. That, in
itself, is a key to forgetting some of the finest traditions of
ihe past in the Arctic world.
Instead of feeling embarrassed of the culture of their
ancestors, the younger generation should have a feeling
of pride. The culture of the Arctic was not established by
bumbling and bungling races of people, but rather by
races of people who solved some of the most formidable
obstacles the world has had to offer.
To lose sight of the fine traditions of the natives of
Alaska, in our opinion, is disastrous and unthinkable. Our
ancestors. Those who have such tendencies should re
people of unquestioned bravery, resourcefulness, fellow
ship—of pure unadulterated guts.
There should be no room to belittle people like our
ancest°rs. Those who have such tendencies should re
evaluate their rich heritage.
It has already been demonstrated that the natives of
Alaska are quick to adapt items of new world civilization
into their mode of living, not necessarily to change it but
to enhance it.
Take, for instance, the rifle. The natives adapted this
weapon to their great advantage when they found that it
was a better weapon than the ones they used in ancient
times.
And so it is with many other items of new world
civilization. The natives have come to like the conveniences
and will never abandon them, and we of the Tundra
Times are not about to advise them that they should. In
fact, we would encourage them to adapt themselves to
other fine things of new world civilization but not at the
expense of abandoning of our culture altogether.
One of the most disturbing situations in native schools
is regarding native languages. Quite a few years back di
rectives were apparently issued in native schools to dis
courage the use of native languages in order to make the
teaching of English easier. In the opinion of the Tundra
Times these directives indirectly have had the effect of
robbing people of their heritage.
■ It was the experience of this editor to find in a remote
villages where the parents of children were encouraged to
talk English in the home instead of the usual Eskimo lan
guage. The effect of this was disturbing when a member of
a family said with apparent pride, "These children can
hardly understand the Eskimo language anymore."
In the lower 48 states two or three foreign languages
are now being taught in many elementary schools. Are
the students there required to forget English in order to
learn foreign languages?
It has been pointed out that pupils are moie apt to
learn the English language much more thoroughly if they
study other languages along with it. Why shouldn t this
be true if native students are allowed to learn or know
both languages? ......
In view of what has been said in this editorial about
native languages, it seems imperative that the younger
generation of native Alaskans be made to realize that their
native languages are invaluable as keys through which
some of the richest facets of Arctic culture can be unfolded
for the benefit of ourselves as well as the rest of the world.
The vital nature of native languages becomes doubly
important as means of contributing and enhancing the
already known cultures on this earth. This value, in itself,
should point out that the languages should be kept alive.
Science is beginning to learn that the culture of the
Arctic is one of the most thoroughly established of cultures
in the history of man. As was said earlier, it was not devel
oped by races of bumbling and bungling people. It was
developed by people of keen minds, courage, and in
domitable spirit.
To have tendencies of discrediting our ancestors, or
to be emberrassed by their ways of -life, is to dishonor
them. Instead, we should be unreservedly proud of having
sprung from such great people who had the nerve and guts
to wrest out an existence, meeting great obstacles in one
of the most formidable areas of the world.
We natives should not nurture any doubts of our
courageous forefathers, but we should strive to pay tri
bute to them by preserving some of the fine .traditions we
are privileged to inherit. We should cherish them, without
doubts, in our hearts and in doing so, perpetuate them as
our contribution to the world and for the pleasure and edi
fication of future generations.