White Man s Ways (ail Deeper Into
Kin*; Islanders' Lives and Customs
Editor’s Note: In years gone
by the Eskimos of far off King
Island were content to fish, hunt,
carve ivory and if you wanted
to snap their picture, fine. To
day, they’d rather go to school
and work in town. The remain
ing carvers work for the tourist
market and if you want their
picture, be prepared to pay.
By Ward Sims
Associated Press Staff Writer
UKIVOK, Alaska (tft—1The rocky
cliffs of King Island, which once
harbored a hardy breed of native
hunters, are growing increasingly
silent as the white man’s ways cut
deeper into Eskimo life and cus
tom.
King Island’s Eskimos still hold
together as a proud, independent
band, but now they live much of
the > ear in a crowded tangle of j
tumble down huts on the outskirts I
of Nome.
They still depend on the gun j
and the fishline for most of their1
food and thev still carve intricate j
likenesses of Arctic wildlife from j
walrus ivory, but there the simi- !
lardy with their old life ends. !
King Island, a barren outcrop
ping of rock, lies windswept and :
cold in the northern Boring Sea,
90 miles northwest of Nome and i
85 miles from Russian Siberia.
The island is approximately a
mile wide and three miles long, j
The Kin 1 Island village, Ukivok. |
is on the south side. The houses are '
built on stilts and hug the sides
of a steep cliff.
Isolated from the World
For hundreds of years King
Island’s Eskimos lived isolated j
UNALAKLEET
LODGE
1
and !
RESTAURANT
Open the year ’round
Dale and Theckla Friemiring
HOME COOKED FOOD
RATES REASONABLE
from the world, except for occa
sional visits to the mainland. They
wrested their living from the sea.
They fished for crabs and small
fish. They hunted for polar bear,
walrus, seals and that staple of the
Arctic, oogruk, which is actually
a bearded seal.
"They lived almost exclusively
off of the sea,” Father George Car
roll, a long-time Catholic mission- i
ary on the island said.
“They were hunting and fish- j
ing practically all of the time. You *
would see them setting off before |
daylight and returning late in the J
evening.” Then they would carve \
walrus ivory in what they called j
their clubhouses.
"The men simply came home j
to i at and sleep.”
Fathir Carroll, who has since |
moved to Nome to be with the |
main body of Kina Islanders, said i
the modern Kins, Islander feels life
on the island is too rugged, al- 1
though four remain on the island j
the year around.
They used to stay at King Island i
the year around, with brief trips!
to Nome to sell their ivory carv- !
ings and to buy supplies.
But, as Paul Tiulanu, one of
the leaders of the King Island J
group, explains it. the Nome visits '
became more frequent and more;
prolonged.
Slaying In Nome
In recent years, the King Island- 1
in's have been staying in Nome ;
from early spring to late fall and :
they an thinking of establishing I
a new permanent home at Cape |
Wooley, 40 miles northwest of j
Nome.
“My people hear men say the
hunting at Cape Wooley is good
all of the year around,” Tiulana
said.
“Maybe we would be able to
have a good school there, too.
"I am not an educated person
myself and when I look for a
steady job, I am even more aware
af that.”
The Bureau of Indian Affairs
maintained a small elementary
school on King Island until several
t-ears ago, then closed it because
af the danger of falling rocks from
:he cliffs above.
"Some of the boys went down
BRANCHES IN KOTZEBUE and BARROW
"THE FRIENDLY BANK”
Full Ranking Services to N.W. Alaska Since 1904
Astronauts
(Continued from Page 1>
butions to the engineering designs,
to the development of future space
craft. to tiie monitoring of flights
and to the development ol ad
vanced flight simulators.”
Glenn Is Oldest
Average age of the original seven
is 38. John Glenn Jr., first Amer
ican to orbit the earth and eldest
of the first seven, is 41.
The Mercury astronauts are still
very much on the flying list de
spite their age, space officials said
They explained the amount of time
a man can remain on flying status
is an individual matter, depend
ing solely on his physical and men
tal condition.
Walter Sehirra, scheduled to
make a six-orbit flight in a Mer
cury capsule Sept. 28, is 39.
The new astronauts will
prime candidates for the Gem:.,;
project to put two men into orbit
in a single capsule. Ex peri
spacemen probably will he :■
with the new astronauts to * ■ k
advantage of thing- learned :
Mercury pr<;gr.im, NASA spokes
men sank
The Apollo project is design; d
to place two men on the lunar u> -
t -ce. G.-mitn will give the astro
"au; - ; 'notice in ■ . *kin.- a space
rendezvous, required by present I
Apollo plan. .
Nine mure . -t; r. at.- are
poet n to b( named about
t im the Apollo flights 1> . in.
ex
^cvieis : ouch un Another
UPPSALA, Sweden .? — The!
Soviet Union exploded a la-mega- i
ton nuclear bom!.' at No'-a,ya Zem- I
l.va Saturday morning. t ;e Uppsala !
Seismolugical Institute announced, j
The announcement said the ex- i
plosion was the second biggest in
the Russian test series which start
ed on Aug. 5 with a 40-megaton
blast.
to Mt. Edgeeumbe near Sitka and
over to St. Mary’s and got better
education and now they are em
ployed all year around,” Tiulana,
the father of seven, said.
“That’s pretty good. It’s better
than carving ivory.”
In Nome, some of the men find
work in the rapidly dwindling
gold mining operations around the
city. Others find work as part
time longshoremen. But, for most,
ivory carving brings in their only
money.
“Unfortunately, now, with their
contact with whites, they are get
somewhat commercialized,” Father
Carroll said.
Ask to Be Paid
Some of the King Islanders, for
instance, now ask to be paid by
tourists taking pictures.
“Four or five years ago you
wouldn’t have found that at all,”
Father Carroll said. “They would
have been very happy to have you
there, taking pictures. You would
have been welcome and they
would treat you very well.”
During the winter months it is
common to see a lone hunter,
dragging a small sled, trudging out
over the ice to hunt marine animals
beyond the huge pressure ridges
of ice which build up offshore.
But, for most of the King Is
landers, Nome means long hours
spent in the carving house.
In the days gone by, the King
Island Eskimos carved ivory of
necessity. They made fish hooks,
spearheads and harpoon tips from
walrus ivory.
Now it is a dying art. They
carve small polar bears, sea birds,
seals and walrus for sale to tour
ists or for shipment to curio shops
around the world.
How much docs a carving bring
the artist?
“It takes a good carver about
six hours to make a three-inch
polar bear,” Tiulana said, “and he
will receive $8 to $10 for it.
“It isn’t much, but if he can
catch a few tomcod and crabs and
hunting is good to him, he can j
make a living.”
GOP Platform . .
(Continued from Page 1*
volved in trade between Russia
and Communist Cuba.
Anothet resolution adopted by
the convention urged the U.S. State ;
Department once more to •'declare
and assert the waters of the B< ring
Sea as inland waters of the United
States and not a part of th<• in
ternational waters of the Pacific
Oceans’
The resolution said Japane se and
Russian fishing fleets, without re
gard to conservation measures,
were endangering the fisheries of
the Bering Sea.
The United States, as long ago
as the Bering Sea convention of
1893, took the position that the
waters of the Bering Sea \vc re in
■ae.'i water's ot the United States,
the resolution said.
X ida cimfined tire bulk of ;
beech to national and intern,!
d ma! i: ues, but r.e did take no!e
f the fact that the Democrat’'*
in: ■ ".Minn of Gov \Vm. E ■•to ,
i.ad announced on Saturday mom
my that the state’s general fund
had balance in excess of AM mil
la a as of last Jura 3a.
"Toe only way A! - .a is in
to keei a surilus in t :e sUtte
tra r.-ury,” Nad wdy said, "n ; y
: looting Mike Sieynviod as tin: iicr. .
gnverner of Alaska."
Nada-iv oictumd ’he adirni --
'ration o Preside nt John Kenned;,
as a "credit ear'd gov rnment " .
" i iie Ki nr.--; 1;■ ami.inisy-a'; :
pialosoj., iy." Nadasdy said, "d
let the xt generation pav for toe .
things wc need and obtain today."
Na iasd;. also accused the Ken
nedy administration of ignoring ,
individual freedom and initiative. .
Tire only answi r the Democrat,
can give for any probl m, Nadu.-dy
said, is “let the federal govern- ,
ment do it."
Daylight Saving Ends Sept. 30
OLYMPIA .•? — Sept. 30 at 2
a.m. signals the end of five months
of Daylight Saving Time in Wash
ington.
All clocks in the state will have
to be turned back one hour.
Anchorage Hunter
Survives Bad Mauling
By Grizzly Bear
ANCHORAGE ,P An Anchor
being tr< at
lef' wrist and
wounds and
body and ex
ult of the bear
age monst hinder who wa> at
tacked by a gri/zlv bear and then
walked two miles for help is in
.-erious condition today at
Valle;/ Presbyterian Hospital
Palmer.
Harold Tuttle, 45.
■d for a fra tured
multiple puncture
lacerations on hi
re;nities as the n s
na tiling.
Some 250 stitches
o close Tuttle
iospital official described as being
'prett;. much oil eve r" by entire
jody.
Tuttle htifi become -e> arated
rom other member.- >«f hi.- hunt
n:: party near Mile 90 on the
hu ay. whi
sear about
were
ounds
: t paired
s. hi eh a
Pen:: Hi
ei’.d Phe
irdav.
no enmun
■■ a on Sat
the grizzly’s
still' to fire < r
lowing he wt
'lee from t <• e
'i’■ n nTe-i ■\:
>n tec’ is b
* ’ a k . ; : i ‘ -
■ .ded the
uld be un
• . god ani
i" a- much
il e urn
Aft i
’util;
wu !
is p
r the
is rep
dies t
in’ing past;
:: car which
Palmer hus:
bear k
>rH d to
• rejoin
of
ilk.
Half a centuiy ago y< any girls
hum in it unfaPnknable to have
u t; . ■;kej theii
smpk'xsn fair by avoiding the
un and anointing then- face- with
■esowater and table cn m.
NOME SANITARY
SERVICE
Dial 267!
P.O. Box 460
Guaranteed ZIEGLER
Dependable
Fuel Service
LP Gas
and Appliances
Office: Dial 2561 Res: Dial 2417
DEAL WITH CONFIDENCE AT
Green’s City Fuel and Transfer
and
QUAKER
STOVE PARTS
AND REPAIRS
OIL HEATERS
July
Aug.
Sept.
. . . It’s that time again!
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