Caribou Club
Promoting
Beauty Contest
The Caribou Club appeals to the
Tundra Times to help promote a
Miss Native Alaska girl to take part
in the Miss (Indian! America con
test being held in Sheridan Wyo
ming in August each year, either an
Indian or Eskimo or half thereof are
invited to take part and we think
that Alaska should surely be repre
sented.
Such pretty Native girls that the
Caribou Club has helped are Murial
Hagberp. Eleanor Moses, Ann Leak
anoff. Georgiann Harwood and no
finer bunch of girls could be found
anywhere. Each and everyone of
them would be an asset to any race
on earth.
The Caribou Club is sending an
entry blank which contains the
rules. This blank will be in the
hands of the Editor of the Tundra
Times.
Tit Editor of the Alaska Sports
man ha? promised cooperation as
has both .Alaska senators and the
Governor of Alaska.
Further information about the
Contest will appear in a later issue.
Advice
The ancient Eskimo advised: ;
“When in danger, do not panic —
think."
This advice has worked very well
through the ages In difficult situa
tions it has helped the Arctic peo- '
pie to survive, which they would :
not otherwise, if they had panicked.
Interior Indian Legend
Raven Ruses Bear, Rescues the Sun and the Moon
By Mrs. Charles Fhart
Tanana, Alaska
A long time ago, before the great
flood, all the animals could talk
to each other, they could even talk
I to people like you and me if they
wanted to. It was then that the
bear’s grandchildren decided they
wanted the sun and the moon to
I play with.
They would reach their hands up
in the air to try to catch them and
cry because they couldn't Grand
pa bear got tired of all the crying
and said he would get the sun and
the moon for them, which he did
one day. All over the land, for all
the other animals, it was dark. Only j
in the bear's house was there light.
, Tlie other animals asked the old
bear to put the sun and mcon back
into the sky, but he wouldn't and
Letter to Editor
White Mountain, Alaska
October 20. 1062
j Dear Editor:
I saw the first copy of your Tun
dra Times and find it very inter
esting and informative. I would like
to congratulate you on the very j
good and interesting paper.
I am enclosing a check for $2.50
to enter my subscription for 6
months. Please start with No. 1
issue if possible. Many thanks and
best wishes for success in your
newspaper venture.
Sincerely yours,
Dennis R. Hood
no one dared to argue with him.
One day, though, the raven who
lived with his grandmother sa.id to
her, “I'm going over to the bear's
cabin and try to get the sun and
the moon back,"
To The Rescue
His grandmother just laughed at
him and said. “Poor thing like you,
what can you do?”
The raven just went out the door
and started looking for his nephew,
the little hawk. You can imagine
ivhat a hard time he had finding
aim. because after all. there was no
ight. 1
When he finally found his friend,
i he hawk, they got a canoe and
paddled up to thc bear’s camp.
When they arrived at the landing,
the raven told the little hawk to
I stay right there in the canoe and
be ready to take off fast—that he
would probably have to leave in a
big hurry.
Instead of approaching the bear’s
camp from the landing, the raven
circled around it. Poor and lonely,
dressed only in old rabbit skin
pants and parka, the raven stum
bled toward the camp. Young bears
who were playing ball saw him
and took the raven to the cabin.
The bear gave him a little to
eat so the raven said he would dance
to repay him. So the raven danced
and danced and danced.
He danded for three days and
nights, straight through, without
stopping.
Danced and Danced
On the third day the bear got
so tired he fell asleep. The raven
then had to get the sun and moon
before the old bear woke up. It
wasn't going to be easy because
the bear had the sun and the moon
tied and hung above his bed. Also
hanging all around them were the j
unborn moose calf hoofs that had
been dried and hollowed out.
If someone moved them just a
little bit. they would make a loud
rattling noise, which is why the
bear put them there to wake him ]
up in case someone tried to take
back the sun and the moon.
The raven decided that it would
be best to take his chances at just
running over, grabbing the sun and
the moon and taking off fast, which
he did.
The bear woke up just as the
raven was running out the door and
he started after the raven. The ra
ven ran as fast as he could toward
his canoe and friend.
Gone To Sleep
Unfortunately, though, his friend,
the hawk, had gotten tired and had
pulled the canoe up on the bank,
turned it over, crawled under it,
and had gone to sleep. The raven
was angry when he saw that and
with one kick he turned the canoe
over and it landed in the water. He
grabbed his nephew by the feathers.
jumped in the canoe, and paddled
down the river as fast as he could.
When he got out in the river
quite a way the bear showed up on
the bank. The bear was angry and
started pulling up the trees and
brush and called out to the raven.
“If I had you, I would do this to
you!” And he pulled up the trees
and brush all the harder.
The raven, who was very proud
now,- paddled hard and fast, and
said. "If I had you, I would do this
to you!" And every time Jus paddle
plunged into the water, an island
came up.
So that is why to this day, bears
pull up trees and brush and why
there arc islands in rivers As vnn
can see, the raven put the sun and
the moon back in thc sky and
everyone was happy, except, of
course, the bear and his grand
children.
Sun. Moon Rescued
The raven went on down the
river to where his grandmother and
friends lived. When they saw him
coming, they all gathered around
by the river bank and were very
happy.
The raven saw all of them wait
ing for him and started bragging
by singing this song:
“You said it couldn't be done . . ,
Ha, ha, and I did it. What stopped
you from rescuing the sun and the
moon?
Arctic Survival
INACCURATE TEXTBOOKS CREATE IGLOO MYTH IN ALASKA
By Howard Rock
Times Editor
For great many years there has
been an erroneous image in con
nection w ith the snow igloo in Alas
ka. It persists because educators
have not bothered to correct certain
textbooks used in school in the
United States.
It is disconcerting, to say the
least, for an Eskimo pupil in Alaska
to read in his textbook that he
lives in snow igloos. The Eskimo
student has never seen a snow ig
loo. It is also likely that his par
ents or grandparents have never
' seen a snow igloo unless they have
traveled east to Canada.
It is no wonder that tourists from
the lower states are often dis
1 disappointed in finding out that the
Eskimos in Alaska have never liv
ed in snow igloos. The common re
mark has been, “But I read in my
geography book that you live in
snow igloos.”
i No Snow Igloos
' Although Alaskan Eskimos have '
'never lived in snow igloos, there :
are other Eskimos who do. These I
are Canadian Eskimos. They are I
'nomadic and out of necessity use
Know igloos. Their economy depends
‘on moving with the animals they
'bunt for subsistence. They use the
Bnow igloo as a temporary dwelling.
When a hunter or traveler in Al
aska is caught in a storm or cannot
make the distance home, he makes
temporary shelter for the night.
Wot knowing how to make a snow
igloo like his Canadian cousin, he
digs into a bank of snow.
Some Alaskan Eskimos who are
Close to the Canadian border do
know how to build snow igloos
because they have learned the art
of making them from Canadian
Eskimos.
Florida Igloo
When Paul Tiulana of King Island
Was asked by a tourist if he had
ever seen a snow igloo, he replied,
“Only once.”
‘‘Where was that?” the tourist
asked.
‘‘In Florida,” was Tiulana’s reply.
He had seen the igloo while on a
tourist promotional tour in one of
the warmest of the states.
The sod igloo is, and was, a per
manent type home in Alaska, per
manent homes and vilages were a
necessity. Villages were picked be
cause of their strategic economic
value.
There was no need to be no
madic. Animals were plentiful and
nature provided a succession of
animals, that is, when one specie
left a different specie migrated to
take its place and in turn was hunt
ed.
To take advantage of these ex
cellent hunting conditions the an- (
cient Eskimo in Alaska devised a
home that was ideal for the cli
mate of the Arctic—the sod igloo.
This is how he builds it.
Long before the igloo is to be
built, usually in late spring, the
family who wishes to build, cuts
sod in one-foot squares about
5 or 6 inches thick. As the squares
are cut out they are piled in tiers
so the wind and sun can dry them
out. The cutting and drying of these
sod squares may be done a year
earlier from the time the igloo is
to be built.
The reason: dry sod is necessary
for a warm igloo. When sod is put
on wet and fresh off the ground,
it freezes when cold weather comes
and the igloo is cold and hard to
heat.
Building Igloo
But even when it is applied fresh
off the ground, in time it dries out
thoroughly from the internal heat
of the igloo and by the sun and
wind on the exterior.
It then becomes a perfect con
ductor of heat and cold. A dry and
seasoned sod igloo is easy to heat
and slow to cool.
After the sod pieces have been
cut out and set to dry the flooring
and frame of the igloo is begun.
The man of the house takes drift
wood that has been washed ashore,
smoothes the sides flat with his
jade adze. After sufficient drift
wood pieces have been prepared,
the Eskimo is ready to erect the
igloo on his chosen site.
He digs into the ground a desired
foundation about 2 feet deep. He
then lays the flooring upon which
he builds the frame of the igloo.
The igloo, almost in all cases,
faces south.
The roof is built somewhat of a
dome shape with about a three foot
square skylight. A small ventilator
on the roof is built in.
When the frame of the main
room and the frame of the long
hallway or tunnel has been built,
it is ready for sod covering. All
around the base, sod is applied two
feet thick about three quarters of
the way up the walls. This is to
prevent the sod from falling off
the walls and to provide added
warmth to the igloo. The rest of the
wall is covered with a foot thick
nesses of sod.
Sod Slabs
The sod squares are applied in
bricklaying fashion so the sod will
adher more solidly to the walls.
When the sod has been applied
flush with the walls, a different
operation is begun to cover the
roof.
Sod slabs with fine grass surfaces
and strongly interwoven with fine
grass roots, and which are hard to
tear, are used to cover the roof.
These slabs are roughly two and a
half feet in diameter and about 3
inches thick. They are cut with a
hoe like tool that slices into the
grassy surface. The blade of this
tool is made out of a whale rib
that flares out at the blade end,
tapered flat and sharpened.
The sod slabs are put on the roof
with the grassy side next to the
wood. This is done until the whole
roof is covered.
For the final operation the same
sod slabs are applied with the
grassy side to the weather. Care is
taken that cracks or seams are
overlapped so rain and snow will
not leak through the roof.
The ancient igloos usually had
long, low hallways to warm the
frigid air somewhat before it en
tered the igloo.
Long Hallways
The ancient igloo had a novel en
trance which is no longer used
today.
It was a round hole, or trap en
trance, to the front edge of the
room. The hallway .or tunnel, dip
ped rather sharply to this entrance
to allow room for persons entering.
The reason for this type of en
trance was. again, to warm the air.
Frigid air. being heavier than warm
air. tends to stay, more or less, im
mobile and only limited cold air
enters the room.
The evidence of this principal
can be seen in very cold weather.
Steam forms at a trap entrance
where warm air comes in contact
with cold air. Cold air does not rush
in to cool the igloo.
When desired, the entrance was
covered to give added warmth.
The long hallway of the ancient
igloo had small chambers or rooms,
two usually, on each side. One was
for storage of meat for immediate
use and the other was the kitchen.
Here, the woman of the house cook
ed the meals for her family and
brought the meals into the house
when done.
The cooking chamber had simply
a small hole in the roof for smoke
to escape from an open fire over
which the woman of the house
cooked.
Prior to the whaling culture that
started some 2.000 or 2.500 years ago.
driftwood was apparently used for
hallway frames. Later, whale ribs,
jawbones, and shoulder blades were
used for hallways. Apparently, this
was done to conserve wood which
has always been scarce on the
Arctic coast.
There were two entrances into
the hallway of the ancient sod ig
loo: one, at the front end on the
ground level, usually a small door;
the other, on the roof of the outer
end of the hallway.
This roof entrance was about two
and a half feet square to which
led a short ladder for means of en
tering and leaving. x
This entrance was necessitated by
heavy blizzards that would some
times bury the ground level en
trance.
The Kalagee
There was another type of igloo
the ancient Eskimo did not do with
out. He needed it for social affairs.
This was a kalagee or recreation
hall. The kalagee was a huge igloo.
It accommodated many people.
It was used for Eskimo dancing,
games, feasts, performances of medi
cine men. and for story telling ses
sions.
A kalagee was built about the
same way the resident igloo was
built but many times larger. Sta
tionary benches were built all
around the floor surface. Some
times another bench above the other
was built to accommodate more
I people.
For heating and lighting of the. <
Kalagee. as well as the ordinary
igloo, whale oil lamps were used.
In the case of the kalagee several
of them were required, placed at
regular intervals.
Although few sod igloos are still
in use in Alaska, they are slowly
disappearing.
In places where few igloos are
still in use Eskimos are stubbornly
trying to keep them in existence
under pressure of civilization.
Sod igloos have been under sub
tle but relentless attack. One way
this was done was by instructors in
schools who expounded the supior
ity. in appearance, of the frame ig
loo.
Subtle Attack
It has been the experience of this
writer, while attending school, that
he was made to feel ashamed of
the sod igloo without really know
ing how it happened.
A conscientious construction en
gineer once expressed his feelings
while building frame dwellings for
Eskimo families who had been per
suaded to vacate their sod igloos.
He said he had been told to move
the Eskimos from their warm and
snug but crowded houses, to larger,
roomier, but colder ones, where
they would probably catch colds
and other diseases.
The sod igloo, while it may not
have been an eye-catching struc
ture, served its purpose extremely
well in the survival of the Eskimo
in the Arctic. It was easy to heat
where fuel was scarce. It stood up
extremely well under the rigors of
the Arctic climate and was com
fortable. It was carefully thought
out and built accordingly. Once fin
ished the sod igloo lasted for many,
many years.