northern light
Published monthly by the Unalakleet
Eskimo School }£•
Unalakleet Alaska
K.K.Van Ness.Editor
Samuel Anaruk...Business Manager
One Dollar per year
EDITORIAL AND COMMENT
Tn our last issue we made mention
of a report sent us by Asst. Supt.
Walter Johnson The report ir a com
plete account of a Reindeer fair, or
exhibit held near Mary’s igloo.
Discussion.s were made by the na
tives on all the important questions
coiceraing the reindeer industry.
Such as the proper manner to kill a
deer; the proper way to dress the
deer for market that it might be
inviting to the purchaser.
In a rifle shooting contest okok
Thomas of Dee ring wo tie 50 vd.
p-:ze Jack Kowmok of igloo wont 1 c
100 yd. prize, hi a two deer burden
race of five miles Kagazeak of Deerii g
won first prize in 16 min 21 sec. with
a load of 25olbs Abloow dook of igloo
won first prize in the lassoii gcontest.
Driving wild deer was perhaps the
most exciting of all events.
“One of the Teller men lassoed
perhaps the largest and wildest bi ll
in the whole herd and he found him
self unable to drive this deer at all,
so he threw him aluug-side his sled;
which he tipped on edge, and rolled
Mr. Bull in and tied him down and
started up the river pulling the sled,
while the spectators shrieked with
laughter. ’ ’The following from an ad
dress by Allakeak of Shishmaref is
to the point"when you work with
deer nuke your work countjif you
wish a good living from your deer
you should think and plan how to take
care of them,if you don’t do that the
herd will decrease and if you don’t
keep a good watch some will s t r a y
away and they will stay in p 1 a c e s
where the moss is not good and get
poorer and poorer.
We reindeer men make our living
from the deer and there is nothing
that we can do so well as to take care
of our deer. * * * Many of the
deer me 1 lose deer becar.se they do
not tend to business; the deer get lost,
or killed, or take; by people.if you
wish to be a deer man you should
always tend to btisi: ess.”
The Third Annual Reindeer Fair at
Akiak.Kuskokwim River,was held
during the first week i . January and
was witnessed by over three hundred
people including fifty deer-men. All
ti e herds were well represented and
the nciglil oring white settlements
we e represented by! !elegations! ear
i,.g mottoes suitable to the occasion.
The i te est ia the rates was increas
ed by the cheering of the spec tators.
Competition in all the events showed
the interest of those taking part;
the speed racing was good. One man
having made thirty miles in two hours
and five minutes. Each year the
character of sled deer and other
equipment of the herders has
been improving but the greatest good
resulting from the Fairs comes from
the discussion of matters pertaing to
the reindeer industry. As events of
tl is kind become common the so-call
ed “pot latch” of the natives will
disappear.
Mr. K.E. Van Ness of Utialakleet
and Misha Ivanoff of Shaktoolik have
been instructed to submit plains for a
Fair to be h e 1 d at Shaktoolik
during the first week in January 1916