Flood Victim:
I Saw the Dance Hall
Float Down Main Street’
By Claire Fejes
“I saw the dance hall float down
M ain Street."
This is how one of the women
evacuated to Fairbanks from the
village of Koyukuk last week de
scribed the flood that struck her
village.
The woman and about 12 other
mothers and 93 children were in an
American Red Cross shelter at Fair
banks’ Barnett School. On May 21.
flood waters rose 13 feet in the vil
lage and caused homes to be moved
around like match boxes.
“When we took off in the heli
copter we could see the log cabins
and outhouses floating in the river.”
said Mrs. Tecla Malemute, a grand
mother of Koyukuk.
“I put as many things as I could
on top of our house in boxes.”
Men in motor boats kept the
houses from floating too far by
now. The able bodied men and
some women remained at the vill
age to care for dogs and possessions.
Self Educated
According to Mrs. Eliza Jones,
health aid in charge of medicine
at the village, there are 135 people
with families averaging about 5
people at Koyukuk. Some have
eleven members in the family.
In her work Mrs. Jones keeps in
contact with the doctors at the
Alaska Native Service hospital at
Tanana by radio. Her responsibility
is to make sick calls, give out medi
cine. She also acts as midwife. Most
of the women can act as midwives
if necessary, she said.
.Mrs. Jones is a tiny woman.
Sparkling eyed, and a mother of 5
children. She is 25 years old and
self-educated. She started going to
school at Koyukuk and went 3
years. She has educated herself by
reading. “I read all the time,” she
said. She is hoping that the little
library they have at the village is
not ruined by the flood. Her hus
band, Benedict, is Chief of Koyu
kuk.
A number of people, first to be
evacuated, became worried about
the people left at their village but
heard rumors that flood waters had
dropped. Since then. 50 more people
have been evacuated and stayed
at the Hunter school Red Cross
shelter.
Caches Knocked Down
Before the flood, people of Koyu
kuk stored food and possessions in
caches on stilts and on rafts. They
were knocked down by large, cur
rent-driven chunks of icq. One
moose was seen scrambling desper
ately on moving ice.
Two Alaskans Attend Baha’i
Congress in London, England
Recently returned from the First
International Baha'i Congress in
London. England, are two Alas
kan Natives, Rita Blumenstein of
Nome and Jim Walton of .Sitka.
The meetings which they attend
ed at the Royal Albert Hall, com
memorated the 100th anniversary
of the Declaration of Baha-u-llah
— a declaration that He, Baha-u
llah, was the latest Manifestation
or Messenger of God to mankind.
Reports presented at the Congress
Stressed the rapid development of
v the Baha’i Faith during the past 100
years; expansion of the Faith from
representation in almost 260 coun
tries and dependencies: translation
of literature into over 200 languages:
erection of Baha’i temples on five
continents: and development of the
Faith from obscurity to world-wide
recognition as an independent re
ligion.
During this 100 year period. 56
National Spiritual Assemblies have
been established, which formed the
electorate for the International
House of Justice, the supreme gov
erning body for the Baha’is of the
world.
The Congress ended on a note
of optimism, bringing to mind the
words of Shoghi Effendi, late
Guardian of the Baha’i World Faith:
“Whatever may befall this infant
Faith of God in future decades or
in succeeding centuries, . . . how
ever great the reverses and setbacks
it may suffer, we who have been
privileged to apprehend, to the de
gree our finite minds can fathom,
the significance of these marvelous
phenomena associated with its rise
and establishment, can horbour no
doubt that what it has already
achieved in the first hundred years
of its life provides sufficient guar
antee that it will continue to forge
ahead, . . . until its glorious mis
sion. stretching into the dim ranges
of time that lie ahead, is totally
fulfilled.”
TIN'Y FLOOD VICTIM — An attentive nurse is shown feeding a
tiny refugee from the Koyukuk flood at the Red Cross shelter at
Barnette School in Fairbanks. The Red Cross took care of about
170 flood victims from Koyukuk at Barnette and Hunter school
shelters. —Tundra Times Photo
Mrs. Winifred Demoski. who was
expecting a baby in a few weeks,
said, “I saw the dance hall float
ing down the main street, also a
building where the women’s club
meets, sews, and has parties.”
Pausing briefly, she said, “We
sure appreciate what everyone is
doing for us in Fairbanks.”
She said she was a little girl in
Galena during the last flood in
1945. This year’s flood was worse
according to older people. The
water was higher and the ice did
a lot of damage. Mrs. Demoski re
called, “In the 1945 flood. I re
member my mother packing me on
her back paddling a canoe to safe
ty.”
Many Dialicts
Mrs. Kay Henry, another flood
victim, was resting on a cot with
her 14-day old baby. She has three
other children. She and her hus
band David have spent two years
in Koyukuk translating the Atha
bascan Ko-Yukon dialect with the
Wycliffe Foundation. There are
eight different dialects in the Atha
bascan language.
Mr. Kokrines Kriska, the oldest
man in Koyukuk said. “The Koyu
kuk language is the hardest of all
the Indian languages to speak. The
children laugh when I try to teach
them. They don’t even know how
to say “grandfather” in our lan
guage. Unless grandparents live
with the family, the children don’t
i hear Indian spoken anymore. The
| young married couples are now
i
speaking English. There fire only
four or five people over 50 years
old in the village. Pretty soon there
won’t be anything Indian left in
Koyukuk.”
Kriska is the father of Leo Kris
ka, one time sled dog racing cham
pion on the North American Sled
Dog Championship. Leo ruined his
race team rescuing a seriously ill
woman near Koyukuk this year.
Leo's wife died last year and Grand
father Kriska has been helping to
take care of his grandchildren while
his son workss. He stayed with
his other son. Ralph Perdue. Fair
banks jeweler, while he is in Fair
banks.
New Experiences
Many of the Koyukuk children
had their first plane rides when
they were taken to Fairbanks. Some
became sick. They enjoyed the no
velty of running water and plumb
ing for the first time. Some tasted
new foods like bananas. They had
fun playing with new toys.
The children were quiet and well
behaved even though there were
93 of them in one big room. They
seemed contented under the cir
cumstances.
Anita Seibel, in charge of the Red
Cross Shelter that cared for the
flood victims, said, “The teenagers
of the Koyukuk people were a great
help to us. They helped with all
the chores, peeling potatoes, doing
dishes, mopping floors, and doing
other things.
“The people of Fairbanks have
really gone all out for the villagers.
They contributed large amounts of
clothing, food and other supplies
needed. There was a lot of volun
teers that helped. One laundry own
er came down in person and col
lected all the clothes to be laun
dered and returned them clean and
dry,” she said.
Toil Ahead
All the village women of Koyu
kuk agree that there will be a lot
of work when they set back home.
“We don’t know if our things are
all right, if our meat is spoiled, if
our dogs are alive, or if our house
is still there,” one of the women
said.
Many wondered if all the food
was ruined and labels soaked off
iii Vernetti’s Trading Store. They
said they will have to take their
things and dry them. When the
land is dry enough, they will plant
their little gardens as soon as pos
sible because “We barely have
enough warm season to grow car
rots." Some said they’ll go to their
spring camps to fish for whitefish
and pike.
“We’ll manage somehow,” one
woman said.
QUESTIONS ANSWERED ABOUT
7^ tyieat Mattel
By Martha Teeluk
Formerly of Kwiguk, Alaska
The Tundra Times has been
receiving many letters from the
lower states asking questions
from the Fairbanks Chamber of
Commerce. Each letter is per
sonally answered by an Eskimo
or Indian, and some of the ques
tion and answers are chosen for
this column. Anyone who has a
question about Alaska is asked
to write: The Great Land, Ques
tion Box, Tundra Times, Box
1287, Fairbanks, Alaska. In to
day's columns questions are an
swered from school children in
White Plains, N.Y.
How cold and how warm does the
temperature get in Alaska? —
Charles Bare, 24 Hazelton Drive,.
The lowest temperature reported
was in Tanana on January, 188G, a
temperature of minus 78 degrees.
The highest temperature reported
was in Fort Yukon in June, 1951,
of plus 100 degrees.
Why did Alaska want to become
a state?—Robin Strachman, 10 Pa
tricia Lane.
Alaska wished to change from ter
ritorial status to that of a state
because its people believed it had
achieved the necessary maturity.
In other words, the people of Alas
ka wished to be on an equal basis
with the people in other states.
How cold does the water in Alas
ka get in the summer time?—Robert
Shwab. 6 Susan Court.
I do not know the exact tempera
ture but it is above freezing. Some
of the lakes are warm enough to
swim in, but I wouldn’t encourage
anyone to go swimming in the riv
ers.
Koyukuk Villagers Consider
Moving to Higher Ground
"We are thinking about moving
our village of Koyukuk nine miles
down the Yukon to higher ground."
said Mrs. Eliza Jones, wife of the
chief, shortly before her departure
from Fairbanks Friday.
“The move is not definite; there
are some for it and some against
it. The council will decide,” she
said.
Koyukuk was one of the villages
hit hardest in the recent floods.
Mrs. Jones went on to describe
the speed and drama of the flood.
On the 18th, she said the water
was 3 feet from the top of its banks
at the village and she was worried.
Everybody spent the day putting
things of value up high in case of
flood. “My husband and our chil
dren went to bed but I couldn’t
sleep.”
She said she got up and went out
side about 5 a.m. on the 19th and
found the water was a few' inches
from the top of the bank. She then
rushed to awaken her neighbors
and her children so they could move
to the school building.
In a very short time she said the
village was a beehive of activity.
Men built rafts and put their dogs
and valuables on them. Some put
their valuables in boats.
By a.m. the water was spilling
over its banks into the village and
some women who w'ere late had to
wade through water with their chil
dren to the school house.
She said her husband tried to get
through a message to Galena asking
for evacuation of the children but
was unsuccessful. He w'ent back
to move the dogs to the dance hall
roof.
Later she said a message wms got
KOYUKUK MOTHER AT BARNETTE — Mrs. Eliza Jones, wife of
Benedict Jones, chief of Koyukuk, is shown talking with a friend
at their temporary quarters at Barnette school in Fairbanks. Some
170 people were evacuated from Koyukuk at the height of the
flood, the worst in years. —1Tundra Times Photo
ten through but that Galena said
that there were no helicopters
available, that they had gone to
Nulato. By the time a helicopter
was sent, she said there was just
a little island where they could
land on the other end of the vil
lage from the school.
The women and children went
to the island in boats. The chopper
took one load of about ten and
while the others waited the water
filled with large chunks of ice
began to come up more.
Some became frightened and
went back to the school.
“A teenager was minding my little
3-year-old girl and without my
knowing it she went back to the
school. My six-year-old daughter
went back in another boat.”
“When the helicopters came and
we climbed inside, I found two of
my children missing,” Mrs. Jones
said. “I was worried until they
were brought out later.”
Evacuated to Fairbanks. Mrs.
Jones said that the people had been
able to communicate with the men
left in the village by ham radio
once or twice a day.
Many of the houses have been
moved and are now piled together.
“The Women’s Club building is
now on the edge of the river bank.
The dance hall is back in the
bushes, she said.
She said Civil Defense and Red
Cross officials were going to visit
the village and talk to the people
and the council.
They are going to send tractor to
help us, I understand, either to
straighten up our village or help us
move to the new location.
“Either way we have a lot of
work ahead of us,” she added.