s
Ylmsjtærn Right
Volume i
Unalakleet. Alaska, M»y-J une, 19)4
Number lo
NATIVE PROSPECTS
BY
THOMAS A.POWERS
The Industrial exhibit given by the
pupils was complmentary to the in
telligence of the pupils and the skill
and patience of the teachers. This
tends to prove that the educationsl
lines; pastoral, industrial and ag
ricultural, followed by the 11. of K.
is the correct method of evolving the
native from the hunter into the self
supporting producer.
The writer distinctly remembers the
condition of the native i loj g the Yu
kon and also the coast,before educa
tion had made its i ifh e r e felt.
The comparison of the unsanitary
iglco surrounded by the iefv;e of
years with the present with its Hike
garden is pleasing and ei coun ting.
Then he worked long ni.d pat it; tiy
making a knife of an old file. Now
we see him with his 1 it of tools
capable of cloii g work much as a
white man does. Then he con
structed his little kill . New 1 e d< ts
the s;me and in addition builds ar.d
sr.i.s mai y of the northern schooners.
In that day tire women patiently
plied the needle, now .*-1 e cl ai ls a
lulled y as she treads a“Singer.”
It is indeed wonderful the progress
they h ive made from the stone age
of a few years ago to the present ad
vanced condition, a progress that the
white race unaided required centuries
to attain. The future of Lite native,no
adverse influence k.tervemi g,is pi cm
ising. The generation of our day is
in irke Uy superior in intelligence and
knowledge, to the generation of
yesterday.
With a better mechanical knowledge
than he now has-and it is coming-lie
will be able to enter the field of labor
and work shoulder to shoulder with
me :h iriics of another race. This me
chanical education will benefit him
personally and will at the same time
add to the wealth of Alaska.
With canneries upon our small
streams worked on the co-operative
plan the native could supply the
local demand,at least, of choice fish.
In the near future the greatest
source of wealth to the natives of
Alaska is the leindeer industry. At
the present time more than thirty
tho isand deer are owned dy the na
ti es. Three fourths of a million dol
lars. These herds are doubling every
three years. The local demand is not
equal to the number that could be
slaughtered. But in a few years at
the present rate of increase there
will be enough to make it a paying
proposition to have a cold storage
vessel plying these waters, stopping
at the principal reindeer camps along
the coast where the deer could
be hilled, cooled, and shipped out
side at a a figure favorable to all con
cerned. It is only a matter of time
when the skins, hair, horns and
milk will be utali/.ed in a more pay
ing way than at present.