. tEuntira Cunts >ec
Indian --- | O
Pena Nena Henash The Land Speaks
. _ Tiingie
I I Ut kah ncek Informing and Rcvorlinj
Unungang Tnonooktakuks The Aleuts Speak
Vol 2, No. 1_ Monday, Oct. 7, 1963 Fairbanks, Alaska
ARCTIC DISASTER
INTERNATIONAL RADIO TOWER—This Is the 200 foot tall Wien Alaska Airlines International radio
tower at Barrow- that guided' planes over the North Pole between Europe and Alaska. The tower
toppled Thursday, but Wien repairmen jury rigged antennacs, and transpolar flights were resumed
Friday evening. The tower, in the middle of Barrow village was toppled when two floating houses
struck its guide wires. —Photo by Ed Parsons, Wien Alaska Airlines
i
Furrier School
For Natives Is
Proposed to BIA
Martin Victor, prominent Fair
banks furrier, has proposed that a
full scale school to train Natives
in the handling and processing of
fur products be set up in Alaska.
Victor is asking the Bureau of In
dian Affairs to pay the tuition and
living costs of a select group of In- j
dians and Eskimos so they can at- !
tend the school.
He has volunteered the space,
equipment and time to make the
school a reality.
Natural Industry
“The handling of furs from a raw
material to a finished product
would be a natural industry for a
great number of Native Alaskans,”
Victor told the Tundra Times.
“And we don't need a million dol
lar facility to begin with,” he em
phasized.
Victor basically proposes that the
school be set up in six sections,
with about eight weeks required
to learn each section.
He plans on sending the graduates
of his school back to their respec
tive villages, with adequate mater
ials, so they can teach their newly
(Continued on Page 8)
Linguist in Urgent Project
To Save 'Eyakr Language
Dean Olson
Special To Tundra Times
Future scholars will be indebted
to Dr. Michael Krauss, University
of Alaska linguistics professor, for
research he is conducting on a near
ly extinct language.
Krauss, 29. has been working j
with the survivors of the Eyak In- j
dian tribe, which is the smallest and
least known in Alaska with fewer
than 10 members left who can speak
the Eyak language, and they are
elderly. Only three are fluent.
Dr. Krauss started his research
in 1961 and immediately recognized
the urgency of his task. Only three
months before he arrived in south
central Alaska, where the Eyaks
have lived probably for 3000 years,
the last cf those who spoke the
language eloquently died in Cor
dova. She was “Grandma” Minnie
Stevens.
But thanks largely to Mrs. Stev
ens, there are a few left with a good
knowledge of Eyak. He has been
working primarily with the three
natives who speak fluently: Mrs.
Stevens’ daughter Maria Smith;
Lena Nacktan and Anna Nelson
Harry.
Mrs. Stevens, who wished to pre
serve her native tongue, taught the
language. Mrs. Nacktan communi
cated regularly with Mrs. Stevens in
Eyak and owes much of her know
ledge of the language to her.
Qualified Researcher
Krauss. who came to Alaska as a
Carnegie visiting professor, holds
degrees from Harvard, Columbia,
the Sorbonne, Chicago University.
Western Reserve University and
i the University of Iceland. He is
among the few scholars familiar
with Eyak who is qualified to ana
lyze, transcribe and devise an
alphabet from the very complex
sounds of the language.
Krauss joined the University oi
Alaska staff in 1960 and currently
I heads the Department of Linguistics
and Foreign Language. In 1961 the
S National Science Foundation award
! ed Krauss a grant to chart the
languages of Alaska, giving priority
to those near extinction.
Two main language groups are
represented in Alaska: Eskirno
Aleut and "Na-Dene.” Eskimo is
(Continued on Page 6)
- V
Storm Loss
Estimated at
$1 Million
BARROW. Oct. 7 fSoeciali— Fed
I era], state, local and private agencies
j are working nearly around the clock
to assess the more than SI million
| damages done to this area by last
| Thursday's sudden and vicious Arc
! tic storm.
More than 30 buildings, four air
I planes, a large quantity of precious
petroleum fuel. food, personal ef
fects. and government property were
See more stories of the storm
on page 7.
i lost when winds reaching 80 miles
1 per hour, and 15 toot waves,
slammed into the area from the
I west.
I There were no deaths, and mi*
| raculously there was only one in
I jury. A man knocked unconscious
by flying sheet metal. He was treat
ed and released.
First Relief
First relief arrived in Barrow on
Saturday, when an Air Force car
go plane brought blankets for sev
eral homeless families. All but
three of the families that lost their
homes were taken in by relatives
and friends. The three families are
now housed in a church.
The first plane to reach Barrow
after the storm was a single engine
craft piloted by Ed Parsons, who
was called north from Fairbanks to
get needed Wien Alaska Airlines
communications operable. He came
in on Friday.
Wien is the contact for all trans
polar flights between North Ameri
ca and Europe while enroute. These
flights were restored Friday eve
ning.
(Continued on Page 7)
New Yorkers W ire
Congratulations
To Tundra Times
One of the most pleasant congra
tulatory messages the Tundra Times
received from New Yo"k last week
was the following:
“Birthday congratulations Tun
dra Times. In place of roses we
pledge one dozen gift subscrip
tions list and check under sepa
rate cover. Hope others will
choose this way to say keep up
the good work."
Professor and Mrs. Geoffrey
Hendricks