Inupiat Paitot Dona Nona Honash
“People's Heritage” “The Land Speaks”
TUNDRA TIMES
“The Eskimo-Irtdian All-Alaska Newspaper”
Owned, controlled and edited by Tundra Times. Inc., a corporation of Alaska
natives. Published at Fairbanks, Alaska, twice monthly.
Address all mail to: Box 970, c o Jessen's Weekly, Fairbanks, Alaska.
Tundra Times, Inc., publisher i Howard Hock. Martha Teeluk. and Alfred Ket/lcn ;
HOWARD ROCK, editor; Thomas Snapp. assistant editor; Lois Jensen, office man
ager; contributing editors, Guy Okakok, Martha Teeluk. and Alfred Ketzler.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
6 months $ 2.50
Regular Mall, State . 1 ye»r
Mailed to Other States . ® months .1.00
I year 6.00
Air Mail to States . 6 months 6.00
Less than 6 months, 36c per issue . 1 year 12.00
(Continued From Pg. 1)
The Eskimo dance is but one example. There are other
facets that would fall in the same category - whaling,
ancient celebrations, foods, hunting and fishing, and dog
teams.
Eskimos, having been exposed to civilization for some
80 years, which is very short time as history goes, have
learned to like good things of civilization.
In liking them they have blended them into their cul
ture and made them work harmoniously. But in the
process, problems have arisen. These can be solved, the
Eskimos believe, by mutual assistance between their cul
ture and that of civilization.
Semi cash economy has come to be one ot the prob
lems. Jet-age acceleration of civilization has by-passed
many natives of Alaska and left them with little means of
keeping up with the pace.
Educational standards in native areas have likewise
been by-passed by the rush of civilization. Roads have
been by-passed by airplanes.
These things need not have happened if any of the
Appropriations Committees in Washington, D.C. had
tended to their own backyard, instead of furnishing graft
money to Viet Nam, Yugoslavia, and other such countries.
In getting back to the merging of the two cultures in
northern Alaska and the problems created by them, it is
the opinion of the Tundra Times that studies be made of
this unuausl problem, studies that would probe the com
patability of the two cultures.
The studies should be made at high level and by un
biased participants.
Perhaps, the results of Such a study may lead to a
solution that may create a happy blending of the two cul
tures, and alleviate the pressure for the citizens of the
north.
Distorted View
(Editor's Note: The following editorial is not meant
to cast unfavorable reflection on missionaries in Alaska.
Many, many misiionaries are extremely dedicated per
sons giving their whole-hearted, inestimable assistance
to the natives of Alaska.)
In the October 26 issue of the Anchorage Daily Times
an article was reprinted from the Jacksonville, N.C. Daily
News. The article is also reprinted in this issue of the
Tundra Times.
It is with some reluctance that we publish it because
we believe it contains many untruths and half-truths. Our
sole purpose in bringing it to you is to illustrate how peo
ple in the lower states are getting a distorted view of
Alaska.
"The natives are an inferior, simple, filthy people
with many superstitions. Most of them live in poverty
with no knowledge of the outside world."
It is hard to understand how such a vicious untruth
could be found in an article based on an interview with a
missionary, who has apparently lived four years in Alaska.
But the fact the vicious untruth was printed makes it easy
to understand how much better Alaska natives know the
lower states than the lower states know Alaska natives.
According to the article, murder in Alaska is an every
day occurrence with husbands killing wives; wives killing
husbands,- and children killing parents. Is this really true
in Alaska—in your village or in the population centers of
Fairbanks and Anchorage? Of course not. But undoubtedly
many people in Jacksonville, North Carolina now think so.
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.)
This summer the village of Vene
tie, with the assistance of the BIA
School Principal Richard P. Bir
chell. raised a bumper crop of vege
tables, a notable achievement.
While working with the whole
community on raising vegetables,
he was also doing outstanding work
in connection with the BIA Science
Research Associates Reading Pro
ject.
The education branch of the Bu
reau of Indian Affairs has been
concerned with the low rending
achievement of many of the pupil*
in the isolated1 day schools.
Birchell used S.R.A. reading ma
terial and made critical evaluations
of its usefulness in Bureau schools.
He administered special treading
tests to determine the reading pro
gress for each student, keeping de
tailed individual progress reports.
His interest, dedication and hard
work has inspired other teacher to
do special work to raise the read
ing skills of children in other Alas
kan villages.
For his outstanding accomplish
ment, he was recently presented a
$200 Award by the Bureau of In
dian Affairs.
And so to Richard Birchell, for
his work with the community of
Venetie and his outstanding work
in the reading research project goes
the Tundra Times fourth North
Star award, along with our con
gratulations.
Arctic’s Day
Of Thanks
By HOWARD WEYAHOK
The daily occupations of hunters
persevere
Stalking the bear, the seal, the
caribou.
They plod the icy ridges of the sea,
the windy hills.
Harvesting food for the special day.
Their women busy their pliant
hands,
With sure and practiced precision,
Fashioning mukluks and parkas
Trimming them intricately with
design.
They strive to out-do their
neighbor's handiwork
In friendly competition for the
special day.
At last the day comes upon the
village.
The hunters stay to pause
In their relentless search of game.
Their women bring forth handicraft.
Their men. their offspring wear.
Their fine regalia for this special
day.
The day’s festivities begin.
They flock, in fine adornment.
Into their House of Worship,
To voice their thanks and honor.
To Giver of all life's good things.
When evening hours of day begin
Each household bring into the hall
Tasty morsels for the feast
In honor of the special day.
When feasting slowly draws to close,
The men with drums come to fore.
The chant arises and the dance
unfolds
In rhythmic, happy dancing.
To thank the Giver of good things
in life
In their own special way.
Thus, a village in the Arctic world
Pays homage on this special day.
I
Polar Bear Hunting <
Eskimos of the Arctic are greatly disturbed by what
they consider a clear-cut infringement upon their right to
hunt polar bear as they have for centuries. Eskimos from
Barrow, Kotzebue, Point Hope, and many other villages
are quite concerned that well-to-do sports hunters are de
priving them of this right to food and upsetting their
economy.
The taking of the polar bear to the Eskimo has always
been a great challenge. The ancient Eskimo stalked and
| killed the huge animal with a spear. The Eskimo today kills
the polar bear with a 30-30 rifle. The Eskimo hunts the
polar bear for food and to sell its skin as a part of his semi
cash economy.
Within the last five years or more, a new brand of
hunter has appeared on the Arctic scene. The non-Native
hunter, armed with .300 magnum rifle, is equipped with
a plane to locate polar bears at great distances on the
it* pack.
This great lumbering animal cannot run too fast. An
Eskimo with expanded effort can chase and stalk it on foot.
Many non-Native hunters in planes chase the animals until
the bears drop from exhaustion and are unable to move to
defend themselves, then get their "guaranteed kills" by
pumping bullets into the exhausted animals.
More often than not, the sportsman takes only the
head and skin and leaves the meat from 25 to 100 miles
out on the ice. Sometimes a sportsman will bring token
pieces of the much liked and wanted food back to villagers.
For years Eskimo villages on the coast killed a number
of polar bears. In a good year, many villages have gotten
over fifty of them. But since sport polar bear hunting in
planes has started, the village "take" has correspondingly
decreased. This year some villages did not get a single
polar bear.
This is how sport polar bear hunting has increased at
one village, Point Hope, in the last three years. Three years
ago 3 pilot guides started flying sport hunters from Point
Hope and guaranteed kills at about $2,500 each; year be
fore last the number of planes flying fro mthe village in
creased to 10 and per hunter charge dropped to about
$1,500; last year the number of planes increased to 17
and the "guaranteed" kill price dropped to about $500.
For as long as Pt. Hope people could remember, they had
annually gotten several polar bears. Last year they got
none at all.
Even if a few polar bears, not trophy size, approach
villages, they are scared away by planes taking off and
landing at village airstrips. The pilots fly right out over
the ice from the village and return the same way.
Villages have complained about this situation and
have asked sport hunters to take altitude right away after
taking off and go down the coast for a few miles before
turning out over the ice. But as one Eskimo puts it, "They
quit for a day or two and then start flying back over the
ice from the village again."
Polar bear hunters spend money quite lavishly at vil
lages and a few who profit do not want to lose this reve
nue. But most Eskimos are beginning to realize that the
profit they make from the hunters does not match the loss
of the animals they once were able to take themselves.
The present sales price of polar bear skin is $16 per
foot up to ten feet and $20 a foot thereafter. If a village
today were able to get 50 ten-foot animals, the village
economy would be boosted to $8,000, to say nothing of
the food that would be obtained.
What sense does it make to have on the books a law
that promises to protect the rights of natives and at the
same time laws allowing polar bear hunting by plane, laws
that destroy the polar bear hunting of natives, severely
cripple their economy, and "chip off" another part of their
way of life that they hold dear.
We believe studies should be made of the polar bear.
Comparison studies should be made of the Eskimo polar
bear hunter and the plane sports hunter. And a review
should be made of the law which Congress passed to pro
tect the historic rights of natives. A just settlement should
be made.
Is it right for non-Native hunters, using modern
planes, to take polar bear for fun at the expense of Eski
mos who must take them in order to live?