'V.
"HISTORICAL ALASKA"
(3y Capt. Walter W./on Gremp,7th Inf.)
Article 1:
Historians have been unable to find in Alaska any trace of
a people who inhabited the country before the races that we now know
as the Eskimos, Aleuts,and the Coast Indian tribes. It is to be presumed
that this land,so bleak and uninviting,and so difficult to subsist m,
was shunned by the original settlers of this continent#
The native peoples of Alaska are not of the same race, in the
North,the Eskimos inhabit the fringe of our continent from Bering Sea
to Greenland;-in the South,along the Aleutian Islands,and as far down
the coast as Prince Villian Sound are the Aleuts;-and aion; the coast
from Yakutat to Pu^et Sound are the Coast Tribes# In the Interior the re
are scattered tribes of more or less mongrel Indians,who have assumed
very little importance in the history of the country,among whom may be
mentioned the Tanana or Coppers,the Yukons,the Kuskokwims,the Suchitna,
the Echeatnu,the Telida,and the liinchuninas, all of whom are lumped
together as Athabaskans# Their traditions say that they came down the
rivers,and it is reported that they are related to the Apache of Arizona.
The northern peoples-the Eskimos-are of the Ugrian race#This
group inhabited the northern or arctic part of Central Asia,and were a
roving,nomadic race,continually pushing their herd of reindeer from
place* As they expanded, and gained confidence in the traversing of
strange territory,they fiially followed their herds into Eastern Siberia
and out on the Kamchatkan peninsula. There they lived for untold ages,
while part of the people strayed from the traditional occupation of
herdsmen, and followed the call of the 6ea#
In their frail boats these hardy hunters traversed the cold
waters of bering Strait, and found a great new and empty land. In the old
Ugrian families,the elders counseled their ambitious young men with a
paraphrase of Horace Greeley,saying to theta-"Go East,young man, :o East".
Along the Siberian coast there is today a people called the Chukchi.
This tribe is of the same race as the Eskimos that we know,and their
traditions say that ages ago whole families took advantage of an unusual
ly cold winter,during which the whole Bering Strait was frozen over,and,
driving their reindeer before them,they crossed into what must have been
to then their Promised Land,or the El Dorado of the Eskimo#
From the> west coast of Seward peninsula these people migrated
during ages past,always toward the East,until,within the period con
cerning which we have historical documents,they finally reached the is
land of Greenland*
( To be continued next week )
SKAGJAY ELKS INVITE POST TO POLLING 3ETUES:
The Ska^-vay L,P*0.E« ar-3 anxious to stack up against the
Alley Experts from Chilkoot Barracks,and tentative arrangements have
been made to accomodate them in a series that will commence in about
three weeks* Ihe matches will be rolled on the Elks' Alleys in Ska^way,
altho’ it is possible that the Elks team nay be able to meet us on our
own 'round for seme of the contests, "he Elks team has several veterans
of last year’s a^re^ation still with it, notably Alex Blanchard, Oscar
Seiner,and Cecil Cole,and expects to pick up some 'ood new material* The
hii'h hurlers of the Baracks will be chosen very shortly, and a close
series is looked for. rIhe Elks have promised every hospitality,and we
know they’ll keep their word*They’re f&ious for doin^ that,