BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mills, Levi A.
1988 Interview regarding Native historical use of the Cape Espenberg area, Kot-
zebue, May 26, 1988, with Brian Hoffman and David Slaley, Jonas Ramos
translator. Anchorage: ANCSA Office, U.S. Bureau of Indian A ffairs.

Morgan, Lewis Henry
1985 [1877] Ancient Society. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

Mozee, Ben B.
1933 The Reindeer Problem in Alaska. Nome: Mozee.

Murray, Keith A.
1988 Reindeer and Gold. Bellingham: Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, West-
ern Washington University.
Nash, Philleo
1988 Twentieth-Century United States Government Agencies. Jn Handbook of
North American Indians, Vol. 4, History of Indian-White Relations. W. Wash-
burn, ed. Pp. 264-275. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Nelson, Edward W.
1971 [1899] The Eskimo about Bering Strait. New York: Johnson Reprint Corpora-
tion.

Nelson, Richard K,
1980 Shadow of the Hunter. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
1983 Make Prayers to the Raven: A Koyukon View of the Northern Forest. Chi-
cago: The University of Chicago Press.

Nelson, Richard K., K. Mautner, and G.R. Bane
1982 Tracks in the Wildland: A Portrayal of Koyukon and Nunamiut Subsistence.
Fairbanks: Cooperative Park Studies Unit, University of Alaska.

Olson, Dean F.
1969a Alaska Reindeer Herdsmen: A Study of Native Management in Transition.
Fairbanks: Institute of Social, Economic and Government Research, Univer-
sity of Alaska, Fairbanks,
1969b Reindeer Ownership in Alaska. The Polar Record 14(92):629-635.
1970 Cooperative Ownership Experiences of Alaskan Eskimo Reindeer Herders.
Human Organization 29(1):57-62.

218 FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

dressed himself in festive clothing and
asked his mother to give him a substan-
tial meal, Later, mother and son retired
to rest, but during the night the son
thrust a knife into his heart and killed
himself—out of anger at his father’s
reproach.

Next moming his mother saw the
blood on the platform; she lifted the
caribou skins and saw her son lying
dead. This caused her deep grief, but as
she wanted her husband himself to find
his son dead, she dried up the blood and
covered the body again with the sleep-
ing-skins.

That evening the father came home.
He inquired after his son and was again
angry at his sleeping so long; and when
he had eaten the food his wife had
prepared, he went to waken him. He
flung the skin aside-and found the boy
lying dead on the platform. His grief was
great, and the mother made it greater,
for she cried: “It is your own fault; you
killed him yourself with your reproach-
es!”

Autumn came, and the father trav-
eled to some people living near and
urged young men to accompany him;
he wanted them to help him kill long-
homed caribou bulls.

So they killed long-horned caribou
bulls, many of them, and the father then
had them build two large vaults of cari-
bou antlers laid criss-crossed, and then
these were covered with skins; and in
one of them the father laid his dead son.

Then he mounted to the top of the
other and spoke thus-wise to the young
men standing around him:

“Let this, the land of the tame cari-
bou become your land; do not sell them
and do not kill them off, but let them
become more and more. Use them; kill
of them what you require in order to live
without sorrow and anxiety, but never
more than that!”

Having said this, he divided his herd
among the young men who had helped

him to build the vaults; then he stabbed
himself with his knife as his son had
done, and was buried in the other vault
of caribou antlers.

Thus, says the tale, died the first
man to tame caribou; from him descend
all the other herds.

The two burial chambers are still
shown as a monument over the first
people to live on tame caribou. [Barr
1991; this story was also told to Knud
Rasmussen by Atamaq of Wales in 1924]

Later in his life, the moral of this
story was to be significant in Thomas’s advo-
cation of “close herding.”

In the same year as the reindeer drive,
Thomas saw more White people than he
thought existed in the world. Gold-seeking
prospectors and miners crossed the Seward
Peninsula in a wave that was to deluge the
lfiupiat. Thomas heard stories of the growth
of large White villages south of Wales near
Ayasayuk (Cape Nome), and in the vicinity
of Point Clarence at a new settlement called
“Teller Station.” Thomas was puzzled about
what all these changes meant to his and his
relatives’ way of life.

In 1899 Thomas and his brother Gil-
bert built a house at Nuiqtat (“rocking mo-
tions”), located about eight miles west of the
tip of Cape Espenberg on the Chukchi Sea.
The place acquired its name from Ifiupiaq
oral history, which described Cape Espe-
nberg as having once been a floating land
mass—similar in nature to the way the world
was when it was first created by “Father
Raven.”

The following year there were con-
current epidemics of measles and influenza,
which took a heavy toll on the Ifupiat of
the Seward Peninsula. While the White
immigrants to the area appeared relatively

48

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

1939 the Office of Indian Affairs, Reindeer
Service, forbade the transport of any reindeer
hides owned by non-Natives on either of the
government’s ships U.S.S. Boxer or U.S.S.
North Star. Finally, by 1940 the Lomens

and all others who were not Native were

out of the reindeer business (Lomen 1954:
295). Carl Lomen concluded in the 1950s
that “even though we were finally forced

out of the reindeer business by government
officialdom, [it] was a rich and often thrilling
experience” (Lomen 1954:xii).

The Native reindeer cooperatives or
associations had failed or were failing. They
had found it difficult to employ herders paid
in reindeer or stock in the company, in part
due to falling value of the animals. Overgraz-
ing and wolf predation were perceived by
the federal government to be major problems
with Ifiupiaq herding (USBOE 1929, 1932,
1944). Whatever the causes, the cessation of
close herding, overgrazing, wolf predation,
and mixture of reindeer with roaming caribou
herds left the industry with few animals. It is
estimated that between 1931 and 1940, the
number of reindeer dropped from 640,000 to
250,000 (Olson 1969a: 14-15).

By 1940 the federal government,
through their circulars to owners, teachers,
and unit managers, began to encourage as-
sociations with falling reindeer numbers to
transfer reindeer to men who were interested
in herding and had knowledge about how to
carry it off successfully (USBOE 1944). In
Circular No. 72, April 14, 1944, J. Sidney
Rood, General Reindeer Supervisor, wrote:

To convey the reindeer to herders
would create a class of stockmen, such
as raise livestock in the States. It would
create a class of herder-owners on each
range, such as raises reindeer in Lapland.

Such men, of course, make money rais-
ing and selling animals: this is necessary
and just. But they, also, benefit everyone
by producing meat, hides, and other
essential animal products which people
need. They keep the valuable livestock
alive, and raise crops every year.
Herders will be encouraged to take
good care of reindeer if they own the
reindeer, because they will be plan-
ning and working for themselves. The
better they manage the reindeer, the
more money they will make. If they
neglect the herd, they will suffer loss
of their reindeer business. They will
try their best to make the herd produce
good crops every year, to make the deer
tame and fat, and to save reindeer moss
(lichens) from being destroyed, because
they will make more money that way.
[USBOE 1944]

However, despite this new federal
policy shift to reinstate private ownership of
reindeer herds, reindeer numbers continued
to decline, reaching a low of 25,000 in 1950
(Olson 1969a:15). In 1941 Shishmaref herd-
ers were unable to find a single reindeer on
their range. Similarly, when Deering owners
decided to return to individual ownership in
1944, they were unable to find even a tenth
of their recorded herds (Williss n.d.:106). By
1951 there were only 6,570 reindeer on the
Seward Peninsula (Stern et al. 1980:101).

In the 1940s the policy under the
Alaska Native Service, as stated by Rood,
was to create an industry similar to that of
the Samis with herds not exceeding 3,000.
Rood thought that competition, entrepre-
neurial motivation, and the success of some
and failure of other owners was the proper
road to success in the industry (USBOE
1934-1945). The mechanism by which Rood
hoped to create his class of stockman was a
policy of lending a potential herder 500 to

112

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

e Sinuk (Singak, Sinrock, Synrock) lo-
cated on the southeastern bank of the
Sinuk River. It is the site where the
first Ifiupiaq reindeer herder, Char-
lie Antisarlook, established his herd
(Ray 1983:197);

e many small camps located between
the Sinuk and Snake Rivers, primar-
ily occupied as summer fishing sites
or used as small year-round settle-
ments (Ray 1983:197);

e Sitnasuak, a village located on the
Snake River before the founding of
the community of Nome in 1898
after gold was “discovered” on Anvil
Creek (Ray 1983:196);

e Situk and Ayasayuk (Kebethluk), two
villages located at Cape Nome (Ray
1983:195).

The Sociocultural Context

The indigenous peoples of the study area
collectively refer to themselves as Ifiupiat
when asserting their distinctiveness from
other “Eskimo” peoples, such as the Inuit or
Inuvialuit of the Mackenzie River Delta of
Northwest Canada, the mainland or central
Yup’ik of SouthWestern Alaska, or the Sibe-
rian Yup’ik of St. Lawrence Island and the
Chukotsk Peninsula of the Russian Far East.
Tfupiat (singular Ifiupiaq) is derived from the
term ifiuk meaning “person.”

[The] notion of Ifupiat, has broad
linguistic, cultural, and geographic con-
notations. It does not refer to a specific
tribe, society, or other social entity.
{Burch 1975:1]

The language spoken by the Ifupiat
of Alaska, used in an area beginning roughly
in the middle of Norton Sound, along the
coast and some miles inland along major
river systems, and throughout the Northwest
and Northern Arctic to the Canadian border,
is termed “Iftupiaq” by the people themselves
and scholars alike. Linguists have deter-
mined that Alaska Ifupiaq, which is distinct
from the dialectical continuum that stretches
from Alaska across arctic Canada into Labra-
dor and Greenland, has four principal dia-
lects that are paired into two groups (Wood-
bury 1984:56). Bering Strait and Qawiaraq
comprise the Seward Peninsula group, and
Malimiut and North Slope the North Alaska
group. Bering Strait Ifiupiat also has three
subdialects: one spoken at Wales and Shish-
maref, one originally at the two Diomede
Islands, and one at King Island.

The Qawiaraq dialect was transported
by Kuzitrin River people to eastern Norton
Sound in the second half of the 1800s. The
Malimiut dialect has a southern subdialect
that was carried from the north into eastern
Norton Sound in the 1800s.

The Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska
were organized into a number of distinct
sociopolitical units before contact, and main-
tained them, in part, throughout the historical
period in various and frequently changing
forms. Drawing on the research of Burch
(1975) in Northwest Alaska, we have used
the term “‘society” to refer to these named
sociopolitical entities.

Using elements of Burch’s (1975) and
Ray’s (1975:105-107, 1983: 173-226) dis-
cussions of societal (in Ray’s case “tribal’’)
boundaries and membership measures for
Northwest Alaska, and those of Fienup-
Riordan (1984), Pratt (1984), and Shinkwin

14

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

These included the contract missionary/
teachers; later, government educators; rein-
deer superintendents; federal judges (after
the gold rush); and the officers of the Marine
Revenue Service, whose mission was to
enforce federal law, including the prohibition
on the sale of alcohol and modern firearms
and ammunition to Alaska Natives. Even

the Samis and, “morally depraved” White
traders/store owners were viewed as superior
to the Ifiupiat.

Simultaneously, clergy and teachers,
in the role of interpreters of spiritual matters
and dispensers of knowledge, were offered as
being the White counterparts of the spiritual
leaders—shamans or angatkuut. They were
aided in this pursuit by the widespread de-
mise of Ifiupiat from epidemics in the latter
1800s and the early 1900s. Teachers and Ma-
rine Revenue Service cutter captains, recog-
nized by the Ifiupiat as umialiit or umialiqput
(“wealthy men” and “big boat captains”),
were known for their authority, power, and
control of stored goods.

The sanctioning of Ifupiaq marriages
that had been arranged by parents, elders,
umialiit, and shamans, was often com-
mandeered by White counterparts after the
coming of the missionaries. Polygyny and
the rarely occurring polyandry, comarriages,
arranged marriages, and cross cousin unions
were overtly condemned and discouraged
by Christian clergy and governmental teach-
ers alike. Such social arrangements were
not only considered “sinful,” but counter to
the elevation of the lfiupiat in the scheme of
social evolution. Similarly, indigenous adop-
tions were intercepted by missionaries, who
wanted to keep orphaned children personally
or place them into western child care board-
ing facilities in order for Christian Whites to

gain uncompromised control over the matu-
ration of such youngsters outside of the influ-
ence of parents, other kin, and village elders.
Partnerships were jeopardized, by their very
nature, in the name of western entrepreneur-
ship and capitalistic ventures in the form of
trading facilities. The principles behind Ifiu-
piaq naming were perceived by Whites to be
“superstitious” and “uncivilized.” Attempts
were made, in part successfully, to introduce
western, Christian naming patterns—both
proper first names and surnames—most often
in association with formal conversion and
school attendance.

Because of the subordinate status of
women in White middle American society of
the late 1800s, Ifiupiaq women were of little
consequence to white men. The same pow-
erless attributes associated with Victorian
women were projected onto Native females.
That is, comarriage was described as “wife
swapping,” with women being treated like
chattel, and having no rights or role in this
process. Similarly, Jackson graphically used
what he portrayed to be the wholesale abuse
of Native women by White men of ill repute
to garner the support of Christian women’s
associations. Ifupiaq males were seen at least
to have some value as the acquirers of game
and fish, and as potential reindeer herders,
while women were perceived to be merely
inadequate domestics needing schooling in
hygiene, etiquette, child rearing, and civi-
lized cooking.

Umialiit of Deer

Hunting, trapping, fishing, and gathering
remained the foundation of the Ifiupiaq eco-

From Hunters to Herders

143


THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

CHAPTER 6

“(pyL Bau) sdiAsas yJeg }eUOIJeN Pue UYyeYIJWSy

pueyrty jo Asaynod ‘€7H} edJ19 ‘UYeYIeY Psempy Aq OJ0U “J9a) OF SBM DOIN UP JO YISUd] BBesaAR SY] “SUNS SNUTEM ayeW UeY}
SJBDS PUL Sa}OY JAMA} SALY ABY] SP a]QJISOP DIOW JOM SULS S]LWd) ‘WI SY} JBAOD 0} SULYS SMUJeM ayeWaJ 1NOJ pasinbos
yeog sly "Sa! JO} OyS Sulpunod 9y} Jeay PyNod auo ‘wed seM PULM 94} J] “AWeIJ 94] PUB UD{S 94} UBEMjJaq WO Pa]deI}xa
dq P}No> pues pue 7p Os Uys dy} UO puNod P}Nom ,,Ja}eaq JeOq,, paduatiadxa ue ‘payreaq sem bolwin ay} UayM *}Z 030d

From Hunters to Herders

138


U BLA

UBLASAUN, “crack of dawn," IS AN OLD,
SEA MAMMAL HUNTING SITE WEST OF
= CAPE ESPENBERG ALONG THE COAST-
REINDEER —*quagia” LINE OF THE CHUKCHI SEA. DURING
THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY
WHEN REINDEER "qunnig," WERE INTRO-
DUCED INTO THE AREA, A PERMANENT
WINTER CAMP WAS ESTABLISHED AT

THIS LOCATION.
Gilbert Sublag Barr
Rosie Umisaaq Barr
Children: Lillian, Edward, Adrian (Edwin) Barr
Isaiah, and Jessie Walter Barr
; Moses Qiluq
| yrnian i James Kivetoruk Mose:
Aguviuna

sea IDS eet Rares
SORA SEIAANGNAS
LOY BAO’ s:



CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

killed during the interim to provide meat

and hides (Hadwen and Palmer 1922:69). In
1922 the ownership of herds in Alaska fell
into three groups: that of Ifiupiaq, non-Native
men married to Ifiupiaq women, and non-
Natives (Whites including Samis) (Hadwen
and Palmer 1922:10). Both the missions and
the Samis, former owners of relatively large
reindeer herds, had ceased participation in
herding by the beginning of the 1920s.

In 1917, the Bureau of Education
reported the Eskimo ownership [of
85,000 to 90,000 deer] to be distributed
among 1,568 natives... The ownership of
reindeer among natives is not uniform.
There are numerous small owners, each
with a few head, often only 2 or 3, and
a few Eskimos are large owners, with
several hundred to a thousand animals.
Among the whites, aside from the Lapps,
and those married to native women, who
for these purposes are classed as natives,
ownership is as yet limited, being largely
confined to the relatively few who have
been able to buy the herds that had been
acquired by the Lapps and the missions.

Up to within a few years, the Alaska
reindeer industry had been largely a na-
tive enterprise and development has been
entirely under the supervision of the
Bureau of Education. The Eskimos were
taught herding and given ownership in
reindeer through a system of progressive
apprenticeship under instruction of the
Lapps...The reindeer were originally
imported for the Eskimo, and the policy
of the Government was to limit owner-
ship as much as possible to the natives,
Largely through the recent purchases
of herds from these latter owners [the
Lapps and missions], white men have
been able to become owners and to enter
the industry... white ownership of herds
is now needed to assure the desirable
economic development of the industry.
[Hadwen and Palmer 1922:10-11]

This interpretation of the history of reindeer
herding in Alaska illustrates the manner in
which the government’s goals and objec-
tives in importing these animals were neither
accurately nor analytically retold, but rather
construed to support current federal policies.
Hadwen’s and Palmer’s (1922:28)
promotion of open, as opposed to closed, for-
mal, more privatized grazing allotments was
based on a model of handling range cattle
in the “Western States.” They attributed
overgrazing to the close herding method of
handling reindeer (Hadwen and Palmer 1922:
30)the European system that had been
encouraged in Alaska even though it was
disruptive of Ifiupiat participation in other
activities and ignored the more inclement
weather conditions in the territory. Andrews
critiqued the Bureau of Biological Survey’s
promotion of open herding as yet another
way for the Lomens to take advantage of
reindeer owned by Natives:

Then a system of what was called
open herding was introduced, advocated
by the corporation [Lomens] and sup-
ported by the U.S. Biological Survey
[government]. This lets one owner’s
deer run over into the next herd, which
had not hitherto been permitted. Soon
this degenerated into going over into
the next herd and driving the deer of all
marks down to the corral, and marking
all unmarked deer into the mark of the
one who drove them down. This went
on for years, despite the protests of the
field force [local government reindeer
superintendents]. The natives protested
and were unheard. As a matter of course,
the native was getting the worst of it
all the time. The natives owning deer
in the corporation herd got no sale. The
corporation [Lomens] sold continuously
and made almost no reports of whose
deer it butehered. It charged the native

108

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

of the town; white children attended a differ-
ent school. Most of Deering’s 75 people were
Ifupiat. While Deering had become some-
what less of a roaring frontier town by 1926,
it had retained the flavor of an early twentieth
century mining community with a roadhouse
that served as a saloon and dance hall. Since
many of the White miners had already aban-
doned the Seward Peninsula, Ifiupiaq men
were seasonally employed in mining, mostly
handling the hydraulic nozzles that cut away
at the tundra to expose the gold bearing soils
beneath. Ifiupiaq women were busy catching
and processing salmon for their families’ use.
Most of the Ifiupiat were living in one room
frame cabins abandoned by White prospec-
tors and miners. For example, Gilbert and his
family—he and his wife, seven children, and
his wife’s father and mother—resided in a
one room frame cabin with a loft.

The second move took place at the
Barr’s summer camp at Cape Espenberg in
1927. The family moved from old Espen-
berg to a new house located about one mile
from the mouth of the Espenberg River.
As recalled by Gideon in 1984, although
the family was wintering in Deering, Es-
penberg remained their home from early
May, throughout the summer, and until the
first part of September when school started.
Gideon recalled:

Mostly I was raised out in the coun-
try around Cape Espenberg area where
there is hardly any people. There is some
people, but, not a village. It’s just the
family people that took care of the rein-
deer herd mostly. [Barr 1984a]

At the new site at Cape Espenberg,
Gilbert and his family lived next door to
Thomas’s family. Moses Quiliq and his ad-

opted son James lived five or six miles away
on the west side of the Espenberg River,

as did Thomas’s eldest, deceased brother’s
(Ahvalook’s) three sons, Arthur, Adrian, and
Walter. While the children were growing up,
Emily’s stepfather and mother lived with
them. Thomas’s parents had died long before.

In 1927 the government succeeded in
changing the reindeer program from indi-
vidual owners and ear marks to cooperative
herds. The lfiupiaq owners of the Lane River
(Stanley Kivyearzruk) and the Espenberg
herds formally organized into a company on
July 17, 1929, which they decided to call the
Nuglunguktuk (also recorded as Nuglinuk-
tuk, Nuglunuktuk, Niqlanaqtuug, Nugnuga-
luktuk, Niglinuktuk, Neglunuktuk, Negli-
nuktuk, Nugglugnuktuk) Reindeer Company
named for the river that drained the range.
The Nuglunguktuk Reindeer Company had
its roots in a less formally organized Cape
Espenberg reindeer cooperative established
in 1927 in association with the shift in gov-
ernment policy and, more practically, the
mixing of animals from the two herds. Since
there was no school at Cape Espenberg and
no teacher to act as local reindeer superin-
tendent, Deering became the headquarters
for the Nuglunguktuk Reindeer Company.
The reindeer owners from the area, including
Thomas, explicitly did not want to join with
the Shishmaref herd. Although some owners
previously had signed to be part of the Shish-
maref herd at the request of government offi-
cials, they had changed their collective minds
and returned to Cape Espenberg.

Thomas and the other herders agreed
that the Nuglunguktuk Reindeer Company
was to have a five-member board of direc-
tors, four of whom were to be elected by
stockholders and the sixth being the local

From Hunters to Herders

57


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Smith, Kathleen Lopp
1984 A Pioneer Family in Alaska: Ellen Kittredge Lopp’s Letters, 1892 to 1902.
Unpublished manuscript.

Sobelman, Sandra S.
1985 The Economics of Wild Resource Use in Shishmaref, Alaska. Technical Re-

port No, 112. Fairbanks: Division of Subsistence, Alaska Department of Fish
and Game.

Sonnenfeld, Joseph

1959 An Arctic Reindeer Industry: Growth and Decline. Geographical Review
49(1):76-94.

Spencer, Herbert
1967 [1876] The Evolution of Society: Selections from Herbert Spencer’s Prin-
ciples of Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Spencer, Robert F.
1959 The North Alaskan Eskimo: A Study in Ecology and Society. Bureau of Amer-
ican Ethnology Bulletin 171. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
1984 North Alaska Eskimo: Introduction. /n Handbook of North American Indians,
Vol. 5, Arctic. D. Damas, ed. Pp. 278-284, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian
Institution.

Spiess, Arthur E.
1979 Reindeer and Caribou Hunters: An Archaeological Study. New York: Academ-
ic Press.

Stern, Richard O.

1977 A Selected Annotated Bibliography of Sources on Reindeer Herding in Alas-
ka. Occasional Papers on Northern Life, No. 2, Institute of Arctic Biology.
Fairbanks: Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

1978 Alaskan Eskimo Reindeer Herding and Value Systems. Jn The Subsistence
Lifestyle in Alaska: Now and in the Future. M. Murray, ed. Pp. 149-160. Fair-
banks: School of Agriculture and Land Resources Management, University of
Alaska, Fairbanks.

1980 “T Used to Have Lots of Reindeer:” The Ethnohistory and Cultural Ecology
of Reindeer Herding in Northwest Alaska. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation.
Department of Anthropology, State University of New York at Binghamton,
Binghamton, New York.

FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS 223


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

Photo 23. Grace Azrgiaq Davis Tocktoo is wearing a white
reindeer fur parka. She had made the parka herself with
instruction from her mother, Amelia Aktuina Azrgiyiaq
Davis. Photo by Edward Keithahn, circa 1923, courtesy of
Richard Keithahn and National Park Service (neg. 111).

mos for food and clothing. Rather it
was a powerful instrument for creat-
ing a new civilization among them,
a civilization which would loosen
the shackles of their communalistic
culture, foster the growth of private
ownership of property, and thereby
develop those traditional traits of
America’s great pioneers, individual
initiative, individual responsibility,
and in a few [emphasis ours] superior
natives the spirit of leadership. [Jen-
ness 1962:18 citing USBOE 1910]

The quotations above il-
lustrate that the missionary and
reindeer herding movements into
Alaska Native society were at-
tempts at bringing about a dis-
tinctly new social order, suitable to
facilitate the integration of Ifiupiat
and other indigenous peoples into
the hierarchical order of western
society. The western social order
was not egalitarian, and the level
into which Alaska Natives were
to be integrated initially was not
defined explicitly by the internal
colonialists. In the atmosphere
of the late 1800s, neither ethnic
or “racial” minorities nor women
were on an equal plane with
middle American White males in
the American social order of the
time.

While the subordinate
status of Alaska Natives was obvi-
ous to Jackson and his followers,
echoing the intellectual philosophy
of his era, this lowly position in

[The reindeer enterprise] was far the social order was not perceived as such by

more to him [Jackson] than a straight for-
ward economic project designed solely
to satisfy the matcrial needs of the Eski-

the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska, Missionar-
ies and governmental representatives were

From Hunters to Herders

141


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

source data on the topics of both education
and reindeer herding in Alaska see Jackson
(1893, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898a, 1898b,
1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906,
and 1908) and the U.S. Bureau of Education
(1908, 1909-1944, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913,
1915, 1923-1944, 1934-1945, 1936-1971,
and 1953-1955).

The history of missionary educa-
tion and reindeer herding in Alaska cannot
be discussed or analyzed without consider-
ing the evangelical policies, strategies, and
philosophies originating in the contiguous
United States and its territories in the 1800s.
Since the formation of the colontes in the
United States, missionaries were perceived
by the government to be an effective means
of dealing with the “problem” of indigenous
peoples.

In the United States, specifically
under the Jefferson presidential administra-
tion in the early 1800s, the governors of the
territories were directed to act as superinten-
dents of Indian affairs under the Office of
Indian Affairs in the War Department (Ber-
throng 1988:255-257). Specially appointed
agents were hired to civilize American
Indians “by teaching them agriculture and
the domestic arts” (Berthrong 1988:255). The
office became the Bureau of Indian A ffairs
in 1824 and, a few months later, resumed
as the Office of Indian Affairs again in the
War Department (Berthrong 1988:256; Nash
1988:266; Szasz and Ryan 1988:289). By
1849 the office was transferred to the Interior
Department, renamed the Bureau of Indian
Affairs, and became “the principal govern-
ment agency for the management of Indian-
White relations” (Berthrong 1988:257; Nash
1988:266).

The policy of temoving Indians from

their land in deference to White settlers
began in the early 1800s as pioneers pushed
west, with most removal being involuntary.
This led to the 1830 Removal Act, Andrew
Jackson’s presidential policy of using force
to remove Indians from their lands (Ber-
throng 1988:258). The jurisdiction of Indian
agencies continued to expand westward, also.

Until well after the Civil War, Indian
agents throughout the West dealt with
placating their charges using food and
goods, or trying to mitigate the ravages
of war upon the Indian people. [Ber-
throng 1988:259]

The reservation period began after
the Civil War, when Indian wars became
less common. President Grant turned from
nominating military personnel to selecting
religious missionaries as Indian agents (Ber-
throng 1988:259).

Each denomination that accepted
responsibilities within the Indian service
appointed an executive committee on
Indian affairs to approve all nomina-
tions for Indian agents and other agency
personnel. [Berthrong 1988:259]

The use of missionaries in dealing
with American Indians involved the objec-
tives of wholesale cultural change and as-
similation into American society—principal-
ly through formal education commencing in
1871 (Berthrong 1988:262). The rationale for
this ultimately disruptive approach was that
it was to the benefit of indigenous peoples
to be elevated from the “primitive” state to
a level allowing integration into mainstream
society (Szasz and Ryan 1988:294). In real-
ity, these goals were rarely, if ever, achieved:

68

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

frontier entrepreneurs.

However, the story of Ublasaun,
if based solely on these sources, would be
fragmentary. Therefore, we have merged the
discontinuous components of this tale into
a literary whole using ethnographic “glue”
derived from years of personal fieldwork in
Northwest Alaska and accounts by fellow
anthropologists of closely related peoples.
While we have not distorted the facts as
presented in the record, we have embel-
lished upon them in reconstructing the story
of Thomas Makaiqtaq Barr and his family
and associates so that the story, while being
representative, may not be precise in each
and every detail.

The analysis of Ifiupiaq socioeco-
nomic and ideological response to the intro-
duction of reindeer required extensive oral
history, archival, and ethnographic research.
We identified core aspects of the worldviews
and social and economic organizations of
both the Ifupiat of Northwest Alaska, as can
be reconstructed with a reasonable degree of
confidence for the early years of Euro-Amer-
ican contact, and those of White colonists
and agents of planned assimilative cultural
change. These outsiders most commonly
viewed the indigenous peoples of the study
area as stereotypes mandating particular
“corrective” actions. We have tried to explain
the historical manifestations of Euro-Ameri-
can influence on Ifiupiaq culture as products
of the interaction of distinct worldviews,
social organization, and associated behaviors,
in some cases leading to forms of both covert
and overt cultural conservatism on the part of
the Ifupiat and, in others, of selective socio-
cultural change, conflict, and synthesis (cf.,
Fienup-Riordan 1990 on the Yup’ik of the
Kuskokwim Delta).

Lastly, we have assumed that nei-
ther the liiupiat nor the White immigrants
of Northwest Alaska acted independently of
the larger world of which they were a part.
The people in this narrative were inextrica-
bly linked to the prevailing attitudes, para-
digms, and associated events that transpired
in Washington, D.C.; Saint Petersburg; and,
later, Moscow, and other centers of national
political and economic affairs at the end of
the 1800s and the first half of the 1900s.

The Quest for Data

The period explored in the context of this re-
search, beginning in the 1870s and extending
to the end of the 1940s, began before exten-
sive and unbiased documentation of Ifiupiaq
life and perspectives. Therefore, fieldwork
was necessary, as it was impossible to answer
the questions posed in this research by using
only previously conducted anthropological
studies. The fieldwork for the ethnohistorical
component of the Shared Beringian Heritage
Program provided the contextual setting
and the opportunity for obtaining a minimal
number of interviews. Additionally, our cu-
mulative six decades of field research among
the liupiat of Northwest Alaska provided a
corpus of previously gathered data. These
data provided a context for the interpretation
of this brief, albeit specific, field experience
to accomplish the goals of the research, using
mechanisms akin to ethnographic analogy.
Lastly, essential Ifiupiaq place name and ge-
nealogical data were collected and corrected
by Burch and the authors during and after the
field period.

Field data gathered by archaeologists
and depictions of the structures at the site
drawn by historical architects, both complet-

From Hunters to Herders


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Oquilluk, William A.
1973 People of Kauwerak: Legends of the Northern Eskimo. Anchorage: Alaska
Methodist University.

Orth, Donald J.
1971 [1967] Dictionary of Alaska Place Names. Geological Survey Professional
Paper No. 567. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

Ostermann, H.
1952 The Alaskan Eskimos: As Described in the Posthumous Notes of Dr. Knud
Rasmussen, Report of the Fifth Thule Expedition 1921-24. K. Rasmussen,
Vol. X, No. 3. Copenhagen: Glydendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag.

Oswalt, Wendell H.

1963a Mission of Change in Alaska: Eskimos and Moravians on the Kuskokwim.
San Marino: The Huntington Library.

1963b Napaskiak: An Alaskan Eskimo Community. Tucson: University of Arizona
Press.

1967 Alaskan Eskimos. Scranton: Chandler Publishing Company.

1979 Eskimos and Explorers. Novato: Chandler & Sharp Publishers, Inc.

1990 Bashful No Longer: An Alaskan Eskimo Ethnohistory, 1778-1988. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press.

Palmer, L.J.
1927 Progress of Reindeer Grazing Investigations in Alaska. U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Department Bulletin No. 1423. Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office.
Pelto, Pertti J.

1987 [1973] The Snowmobile Revolution: Technology and Social Change in the
Arctic. Prospect Heights: Waveland Press, Inc.

Peterson, Nicholas

199 la Cash, Commoditisation and Authenticity: When Do Aboriginal People Stop
Being Hunter-Gatherers? Jn Cash, Commoditisation and Changing Foragers.
N. Peterson and T. Matsuyama, ed. Pp. 67-90. Osaka: National Museum of
Ethnology.

1991b Introduction: Cash, Commoditisation and Changing Foragers. Jn Cash, Com-
moditisation and Changing Foragers. N. Peterson and T. Matsuyama, ed. Pp.
1-16. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.

FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS 219


CHAPTER 8: CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE

drew on oral histories, archaeological data,
and years of ethnographic knowledge along
with more commonplace “historic” sources
to make certain that different points of view
were represented in this monograph and that
new levels of comprehension were achieved.
Lastly, as Wolf articulately pointed out

not only in the preface, but throughout his
monograph, events and cultures do not occur
in isolation but must be placed in a global
perspective. To this end, we have attempted
to situate this event in the larger world order
by expanding the geographic, intellectual,
and temporal parameters well beyond those
normally addressed within the context of
discussing the introduction of reindeer to
Alaska.

Wolf’s comments in the quotation
above certainly have significant validity in
the larger arena of worldwide sociocultural
research. However, with notable exceptions,
his insights are poignantly relevant to the
vast majority of such analyses that have been
undertaken on the topic of Alaska Native-
Euro-American contact in general, and to
the case of the introduction of reindeer to the
“Eskimos” much more specifically.

Numerous sources and scholars have
concluded at various periods of time that the
initial importation of reindeer to Alaska for
the well-being and advancement of the Es-
kimos, as well as the hopes for the develop-
ment of a “reindeer industry,” ended in basic
failure during the final years of the 1940s.
For example, a dietary survey of rural Native
communities described the status of reindeer
herding in Alaska in 1961 as essentially non-
existent:

At one tiine reindeer herds were
locally owned and operated, serving not
only as an important source of meat but

also furnishing skins for clothing and
sleeping bags. These herds no longer
exist locally, but variable quantities

of reindeer meat are shipped in from
Teller. During the study year the total
shipped.in amounted to no more than
1000 pounds, (Heller and Scott n.d.:21]

A Bureau of Indian Affairs report,
also from the early 1960s, attributed the
seeming failure of the importation of rein-
deer to Alaska to a variety of factors:

1. The Alaskan herds in 1930 were
too large for the Alaskan market to
absorb...When livestock prices tumbled
in the depression, Alaskan reindeer could
not be sold in the States...

2. Beginning in the late 1920’s
wolves migrated sufficiently far west to
begin preying on reindeer herds...

3. The barring of “nonnative” own-
ership in 1937 served to eliminate from
the industry those parties who had dem-
onstrated the greatest skills and interest
in the organization of herding, process-
ing and marketing of reindeer...

4, Range management was not prac-
ticed, and the result was overgrazing,

5. The number of deer during the
peak years (1930-1934) exceeded the
capability of the land to sustain them.
[Little 1963:14-24]

In more recent years, Olson’s (1969a)
principally economic analysis of the intro-
duction of reindeer herding included the fol-
lowing conclusion, both about the influence
of this attempt at social engineering on the
Eskimo and its viability as an Alaska indus-

try:

Reindeer as a Native resource, and
the Native herdsmen as managers of
that resource, have not been and in all
probability never will be instruments of
social and economic change among Ber-

186

From Hunters to Herders


sheefish were hooked through the ice.

The fourth new moon, April, was
called “Ting mat Tut Kat,” meaning “the
geese have come, and different species of
water fowls [sic] are also beginning to come”
(Wells 1974:29). With the days longer and
warmer, hunters took ptarmigan using nets
constructed of green cut wiJlows. Hiding
from the birds, the hunter scared a large flock
of ptarmigan into the net with a hawk wing.
Muskrat also were either trapped through ice
holes or, when possible, shot in open water
with bows and arrows. Summer fish camps
were established at sites different from the
winter village, having either caribou skin
tents or framed moss and grass houses as
forms of shelter. This was a very important
month for hunting bear and caribou, particu-
larly fawns, as they provided the hides neces-
sary for children’s clothing.

The fifth new moon, May, was known
as “Si Qucik Vik” (sukloavik), meaning “the
ice has gone out” (Wells 1974:35). Geese
and ducks were an abundant source of fresh
meat. Ptarmigan, seagulls, ducks, and geese
laid eggs, anxiously awaited by the Ifiupiat,
who had been without this food much of the
winter. People also hunted muskrat from
kayaks using bows and arrows or spears.
This activity persisted until the pelts were no
longer prime. Braided sinew dip nets were
used for taking freshwater fish in the rivers.

June, referred to as “Ig nyi Vik”
(ignivik), or the time when “geese and ducks
and other birds are now laying their eggs,” is
the most important period for egg gathering.
This was the season during which families
diversified their harvest activities. That is,
families with skinboats went to Kotzebue
Sound for seal and beluga hunting via Se-
lawik Lake, whereas others stayed behind

CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

to hunt for waterfowl, continue fishing, and
pick willow and sour dock greens.

Those who went to the Kotzebue
Sound camped at Sisualik on Cape Krusen-
stern, where other Jfiupiat from the Noatak
and Kobuk Rivers and, in later years, Kotze-
bue, were gathered for seal and beluga hunt-
ing (Wells 1974:42-43). Seals were stalked
on the ice by hunters, using seal claws tied
onto a stick to scratch the surface, thereby
“putting the seals to sleep” or making hu-
mans appear to be other seals. Beluga were
driven into shallow water by 15 to 20 hunt-
ers in kayaks and speared. This cooperative
endeavor was led by a “captain of the big
drive” (Wells 1974:44). Additionally, bears
were speared by hunters, who confronted the
animals as they stood erect. Furthermore,
bears were snared with strong ugruk (bearded
seal) hide ropes placed along paths leading
to creeks. Those families that took belugas
and seals stored the flesh from these animals
in large quantities in sealskin pokes, using
excess meat, hides, and fat as trade items.

July, “Ting ee Vik,” or the moon
when “the geese and ducks and other water-
fowl are not flying” involved large drives of
molting migratory waterfowl (Wells 1974:
49), Moreover, salmonberries, blackberries,
blueberries, cranberries, and, in some areas,
wild strawberries were gathered and stored in
sealskin pokes, sometimes mixed with sour
dock. Berries also were stored in birchbark
containers sewn together with willow roots.
Caribou hair and hides were prime during
this time of the year. Three or four hunters
went out together with pack dogs, bows and
arrows, and spears to the head of the Noatak
River, where there were many caribou during
the summer:

From Hunters to Herders

117


such as the nuclear family, domiciled in
framed houses rather than semisubterranean,
extended family dwellings.

In the process of establishing contract
mission schools while he served as General
Agent for Education in Alaska in the mid-
1880s, Jackson effectively carved up the ter-
ritory into ecumenical dominions, each asso-
ciated with one or another church or denomi-
nation. The center of each dominion was the
mission/school/reindeer station, surrounded
by ranges allocated in association with
herding. The indigenous populations were
absorbed in each of these dominions as were
other features of the terrain—the missionar-
ies acquiring herds of reindeer and flocks
of parishioners. Even after the cessation of
formal missionary contract schools, govern-
ment teachers applied the same paternalistic
and colonial model to indigenous peoples for
whom they maintained “responsibility.” In
these ecumenical dominions, reindeer herd-
ers were allocated specific ranges on which
their animals grazed. With the passage of
time and an expanded number of reindeer,
range allocation became increasingly more
formalized, involving the issuance of codi-
fied permits with strictly defined geographic
parameters and conditions. Permits were
allocated to missions, Native and non-Na-
tive owners, and eventually Native corporate
herds:

For instance, the Government may
give a Native reindeer owner clear and
exclusive rights to use a certain portion
of the public domain for grazing his
reindeer. These rights, where issued, are
contained in a regular contract between
the Government and the owner or own-
ers. We call this a grazing lease, [US-
BOE 1945]

CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

However, this range permitting pro-
cess meant more to federal and local govern-
ment officials than it did to either the herders
or the reindeer. In part, as a consequence of
the philosophy of the post-Jacksonian era of
getting reindeer into Native hands and the
government’s advocation of “open herding”
in the early 1920s, the insignificantly few pri-
vately owned animals and larger and viable
Native owned herds had become mixed up
and pragmatically inseparable. The govern-
ment’s solution to this problem—-reorganiz-
ing herding along a Western corporate model
in which the Ifupiat owned shares rather than
animals—was incompatible with indigenous
cultures. By the early 1930s there were thou-
sands of Native stockholders in 78 reindeer
associations or cooperatives (Olson 1969a:
58), Wild West range wars, and associated
behaviors such as poaching and rustling,
were more the norm than the exception.

Hunting Territories, Mobility, and Herding:
Attempts at Alienation and Commoditiza-
tion

Despite Jackson’s and his proponents’ claims
of a depleted subsistence base and the alter-
native allegedly provided by reindeer, out

of both choice and necessity the Ifiupiat of
Northwest Alaska continued to rely primar-
ily on resources acquired by the activities of
hunting, fishing, trapping, and gathering as
opposed to herding. Initially, the Ifupiat were
given no access to reindeer for consumption,
except for apprentices who were able to eat
only what superintendents deemed accept-
able. Furthermore, Jackson and his follow-
ers aggressively sought negative sanctions

From Hunters to Herders

123


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

Pigs,” “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” and oth-
ers. In these tales and associated ideologies,
wolves were portrayed as being the creatures
and servants of evil. These conceptualiza-
tions of wolves pragmatically were linked
with Europeans having domestic animals
preyed upon by wolves. As God gave “man”
dominion over animals, wolves interfered
with that authority by taking livestock. Addi-
tionally, in European ideology, animals (e.g.,
ravens, black cats, wolves), that exhibited
human-like traits and capacities—such as
intelligence, social organization, capacity for
communication, and successful predation,—
were believed to have acquired such traits by
being in league with the devil through de-
monic possession or association.

Jackson portrayed the work dogs
of the Ifiupiat as being closely akin to evil
wolves. He and most of his associates in
charge of herding insisted that indigenous
dogs were not only poor modes of transport
but, more importantly, mortally dangerous to
grazing reindeer. These clerics ordered the
destruction of any domestic dogs that at-
tacked, injured, or killed reindeer (cf., Brevig
as cited in Jackson 1898b:71). Jackson’s
long-term disdain for indigenous work dogs
was Clear in 1900, when the epidemic had
killed so many Natives that, assumedly, the
Ifiupiaq dogs had no one to feed them:

The large number of Eskimo fami-
lies that have died during the prevalence
of the epidemic have freed from all
ownership and control a large number of
dogs. This has been particularly the case
in the neighborhood of Teller Station,
where half the native population died,
and the herders were so weakencd that
they could not properly watch the herd.
The dogs with no one to feed them had
to forage for themselves. Accustomed

in former days to hunt the caribou they
naturally attacked the reindeer herd on
evcry occasion, resulting in the shooting
of many dogs. [Jackson 1898b:71]

The missionaries’ negative rheto-
ric about Inupiaq dogs—-as opposed to the
valued Sami stock dogs and sled deer—was
not founded in fact. To the contrary, virtually
all missionaries relied upon sled dogs as the
only viable means of transport in the arctic
environment. Furthermore, Ifiupiaq work
dogs, while used to assist people in hunt-
ing, packing, and traveling, generally were
restrained at settlements, fed fish and sea
mammals, and not allowed to hunt caribou.

Lastly, Murray (1988:10) noted that
“the Lapps had to change the whole philoso-
phy of the Eskimo from a killer to that of a
protector of animals.” According to him, one
Sami said:

Men do not take care of deer, but
deer take care of men... Your job is to
follow the deer, then, and not try to make
them follow you. Can’t you see why
this is so? They are more important than
you. They can live without you, but you
cannot live without them. With all your
game killed off by these new rifles, what
will you live on next winter if you do not
keep your deer? See? You do not know
what you will live on. [Murray citing
Miller, The Great Trek: 16]

This citation suggests that the Samis
were brought not only to teach the Ifiupiat
the mechanics of herding but also to dis-
seminate their ideology, which promoted the
protection of animals over predation.

178

From Hunters to Herders


the ends where strong rawhide is tied. One
end was used as a stake and the other tied

to a collar, so that the wolf pups did not get
tangled up. They were fed well to make their
pelts prime and so that they would not be-
come vicious. After their coats got long and
thick, some were killed for their pelts and
others were traded.

Comparative interpretive insights
into the relationships between hunters and
gatherers and their prey were provided by
Ingold (1987) for the Ainu of Hokkaido
Island in what is now northern Japan. In his
discussions of hunting, sacrifice, and animal
domestication, Ingold commented on the
practice of the Ainu raising bear cubs for
slaughter. Ingold (1987:260) interpreted the
rearing of cubs on the part of the Ainu as “an
attempt to prolong a beneficial visit from the
spirit world beyond the narrow time interval
between the slaughter of the beast and its
consumption.” While one could look upon
the raising of bear cubs and wolf pups as a
type of domestication, both cases were rather
examples of special visitations of spiritu-
ally potent beings who could benefit or harm
humankind. As such, it was a type of domes-
tication that did not typify human relation-
ships to “domestic chattel such as dogs or
reindeer, whose reproduction is under human
control” (Ingold 1987:260). Rather the bear
in the Ainu case and the wolves in the case
described by Wells (1974) were temporary
residents of human households, lodged as
emissaries from the spirit world and hon-
ored guests, as opposed to “‘slaves” to be
commanded and disposed of at the will of
a human owner (Ingold 1987:260). Human
hosts offered the best of food and the finest
treatment to these honored guests, thereby
establishing and/or reinforcing communica-
tion between the spirit world and the human

CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

community. Their dispatch at the end of the
visit was ceremonial and involved the inclu-
sion of food for the trip of the bear or wolf to
the spirit world—an act of sharing to facili-
tate reciprocation on the part of the masters
of these animal spirits.

In the case of the Ifupiat of the Bar-
row area, wolves were treated in much the
same way as foxes. However, wolves were
spiritually more dangerous than foxes. As
in the case of foxes, wolves were taken with
traps, but only five were set at a time. Songs
were sung over the traps at the time they
were baited. When a wolf was taken, it was
treated like the fox, with offerings of needles
and thimbles if female and knives if male.
Taking a wolf resulted in the practice of food
taboos by local people.

Finally, early explorers and mission-
aries noted manifestations of the relation-
ships between wolves (plus foxes and wol-
verines) in personal adornment of Inupiaq
men and children in Alaska, For example, in
1791 members of the Billings expedition re-
ported Ifiupiaq men in the Bering Strait area
wearing wolf and foxtails on their waistbands
(Bockstoce 1977a), Ray (1975:18) indicated
that the custom was documented as far back
as 1711 and persisted throughout the 1800s.
She said that these particular animal tails
were worn “partly as decoration [and] partly
to enable the wearer to acquire the swift and
clever characteristics of these animals” (Ray
1975:18). In the late 1890s, Wales teacher
Thornton (1931:35) described the custom
of young men and children wearing the tails
of gray wolf or wolverine attached to their
belts. These Ifiupiat wore the tails on their
backside from the waistband of their pants,
mimicking the position of tails on wolves.
Thornton attributed alleged Siberian percep-

From Hunters to Herders

167


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

tration of the Nuglunguktuk herd was trans-
ferred from Deering to Shishmaref because
most of the active members of the company
were residing the greater part of each year at
Cape Espenberg or Shishmaref rather than at
Deering.

In 1940 the Nuglunguktuk Rein-
deer Company was not doing well. Thomas
owned only 30 reindeer valued at $100.
Harry Kigrook was the president of the com-
pany, while Gideon acted as secretary. The
Deering cooperative lost

His hopes for his family’s future in reindeer
herding seemed doubtful as had those of
some of his relatives and competitors, such
as Lloyd Koonuk and William Allockeok.
Gideon’s involvement in the company had
ended, and he began working at the mine

in Candle. Adrian, who had been the chief
herder of the Nuglunguktuk Reindeer Com-
pany, sold his house at Espenberg and moved
to Teller with his wife Louise and their
children.

many reindeer that year,
as the dispute between
the Nuglunguktuk and
Shishmaref reindeer
companies concerning
the handling in 1931
was resolved. Nine
years after the conflict
started, the Nuglunguk-
tuk Reindeer Company
was pressured to provide
the Shishmaref Rein-
deer Company with 725
reindeer to compensate
for the marking fiasco
of 1931. The same year
Thomas and Emily, and me

—

a

Gideon and Katherine
moved back to Deering
from Singiq and Shish-
maref, respectively.
Thomas still had six
children living at home. Shortly thereafter,
in 1941, Thomas’s first living grandchild
Christina was born to Gideon and Katherine.
Gideon resigned as secretary of the Nuglun-
guktuk Reindeer Company, being replaced
by his paternal cousin Adrian Barr.

In 1942, Thomas was 73 years old.

Photo 15. Louise Tunmaaq Tocktoo Barr is seen here holding an
unidentified child. Louise sang solos in the church both in English and
in Inupiaq. Photo by Edward Keithahn, circa 1923, courtesy of Richard
Keithahn and National Park Service (neg. 110).

In the same year, Sam S. Kendrick,
Bering Unit Manager of the Alaska Reindeer
Service at Teller, wrote a letter to J. Sidney
Rood regarding, among other things, the
“poor” condition of the Espenberg herd. He
stated:

From Hunters to Herders

63


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

those Ifupiat who were principally coastal
sea mammal hunters and those whose focus
was on caribou—what he terms the “inland,”
or “caribou,” and the “maritime,” or “sea
mammal,” hunting foci. As with large marine
mammal hunting by skinboat crews, system-
atic caribou hunting and caribou dependency
required forms of complex social organiza-
tion necessary for the construction, main-
tenance, and use of caribou fences, corrals,
and snares (Spiess 1979:245). The fences
were made as aids in driving the caribou

into lakes, where they were dispatched from
kayaks. Spencer (1984:282), in his later
work, surmised that his dichotomy was one
of variability, rather than one of “firm lines
of distinction.”

Despite Dall’s (1970) conclusion that
caribou had left the Seward Peninsula by
1868, Ray (1975:174) argued that the Kauw-
eramiut continued to live in the interior of the
Seward Peninsula in a village of five houses
and one qazgi, suggesting that caribou were
still on the peninsula at that time. Field data
corroborate Ray’s conclusion about the
availability of caribou even in the southern
Kotzebue Sound and Cape Espenberg areas
minimally into the 1880s.

The third economic adaptation of
interest in this context has been referred to
as “small sea mammal hunting and fishing”
(Ray 1975:104). Although the emphasis
on a particular species varied by area, this
pattern was common during the 1800s and
early 1900s at Cape Espenberg, Shishmaref,
Port Clarence, and northern and northeastern
Norton Sound, comprising basically all of the
coastal people without the geographic and as-
sociated technological, social organizational,
and ideological access to bowhead whales or
Pacific walrus (Ray 1975:104). This subsis-

tence pattem involved a reliance on small
marine mammals: such as spotted, ringed,
ribbon and bearded seals; beluga whales; fish
such as salmon, whitefish, and blackfish; and,
when and where available, caribou.

Indigenous trade networks were of
central economic importance to the Ifiupiat of
the study area. This trade included intercon-
tinental activities that were fully functional
before and after Euro-American contact
(Oswalt 1990:65; Ray 1975:38; Smith 1984:
49). Trade for Siberian reindeer skins and
wolf pelts in exchange for Alaska beaver and
land otter hides was dominated by Bering
Strait societies (Oswalt 1990:65; Smith 1984:
49). The spotted skins of reindeer from the
Siberian side were much more highly valued
than the skins of caribou for making clothing
(Brower 1942:120).

Major trade centers were at Wales,
the Kotzebue area at the tip of the Baldwin
Peninsula, Sisualik on Cape Krusenstern,
Port Clarence, the northern mouth of the
Yukon River, the Utukok River, the mouth
of the Colville River at Nigalik, and Barter
Island in Alaska; and at East Cape (Naukan,
Nevugaq), Anadyrsk, Uelen, Chaplino (Indi-
an Point or Unjaziq), and Anyuy, a tributary
of the Kolyma River in Siberia (cf., Brower
1942:40; Burch 1984:304-306, 1988; Hall
1984:342; Krupnik 1993:40, 67-69; Oster-
mann 1952:51; Oswalt 1967:132; Ray 1975,
1983:55-66; Schweitzer and Golovko 1994).

For example, in 1924 Knud Rasmus-
sen, on the Fifth Thule Expedition, reported
that more than 1,000 Ifiupiat and Chukchi
were gathered at Kotzebue in the summer
for purposes of trade. The site was virtually
a city of “Eskimo tents” (Ostermann 1952:
51). During the 1850-1854 voyages in search
of the missing Franklin expedition, a large

From Hunters to Herders

21


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Guemple, Lee D.
1986 Men and Women, Husbands and Wives: The Role of Gender in Traditional
Inuit Society. Etudes/Inuit/Studies 10(1-2):9-24.

Guenther, Conrad
1994 Personal communication. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage.

Guenther, Mathias
1988 Animals in Bushman Thought, Myth and Art. Jn Hunters and Gatherers 2:

Property, Power and Ideology. T. Ingold, D. Riches, and J. Woodbum, ed. Pp.
192-211. Oxford: Berg.

Hadwen, Seymour, and Lawrence J. Palmer
1922 Reindeer in Alaska. Washington: Government Printing Office.

Hall, Jr., Edwin S.
1984 Interior North Alaska Eskimo. Jn Handbook of North American Indians, Vol.

5, Arctic. D. Damas, ed. Pp. 338-346. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institu-
tion.

Hawkes, Emest W.

1913 Transforming the Eskimo into a Herder: An Account of the Reindeer Industry
in Alaska. Anthropos Ephemeris 8:359-362.

Heinrich, Albert C.
1972 Divorce as an Alliance Mechanism among Eskimos. /n Alliance in Eskimo So-
ciety: Proceedings of the American Ethnological Society, 1971, Supplement.
L. Guemple, ed. Pp. 79-88. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Heller, Christine A., and Edward M. Scott

n.d. The Alaska Dietary Survey, 1956-1961. Anchorage: U.S. Arctic Health Re-
search Center.

Hinckley, Theodore C., Jr.
1961 The Alaska Labors of Sheldon Jackson, 1877-1890. Unpublished Ph.D. disser-
tation. Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Hooper, C. L.
1964 [1881] Report of the Cruise of the U.S. Revenue-Steamer Corwin in the Arctic

Ocean. November 1, 1880. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing
Office.

FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS 213


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

Siberia, under the direction of Bertholf, also
occurred in 1901 (Jackson 1902:20-22, 142-
166).

In the decade after the importation
of reindeer, the Ifupiat, for whom the rein-
deer had been introduced to “save them from
starving,” remained unable to use the rein-
deer as a resource. In 1901 Brevig assisted
the U.S. Marshal Evans from Teller in the
arrest and conviction of six Ifiupiat who had
killed and consumed 12 reindeer. The men
were sentenced to serve one to two months in
prison, the “purpose of which was to frighten
them rather than to punish them” (Johnshoy
1944:195). According to Brevig’s interpreta-
tion of this event, the Ifiupiat knew they were
guilty of a “crime” and “appreciated” Brevig
and the Marshal’s efforts to put them in jail
(Johnshoy 1944:194).

The final importation of Siberian
reindeer occurred on the U.S.S. Bear in 1902
(Jackson 1904:111), after which time the
Russian Imperial Government made any
further sale of live reindeer illegal (Jackson
1904:143; Lomen 1954:48; Ray 1965:72).
Jackson had reached an agreement with the
Northwest Commercial Company of Nome
for this firm to act as a concession for ob-
taining and transporting exported reindeer
into Alaska through the North Eastern Si-
berian Company (Limited) for the Native
missions until this activity was outlawed
by the Russians (Jackson 1904:165). By
1902 the Wales herd had more than 1,000
reindeer. Ootenna, Keok, and Kivyearzruk
were Lopp’s three most experienced, self-
supporting herders, owning 192, 175, and
166 reindeer, respectively (Jackson 1903:4).
There was a total of 5,148 reindeer, 2,609 of
which belonged to 44 Eskimo herders (Jack-
son 1903:11, 17). Lopp, who had served such

an important role in the reindeer industry in
Northwest Alaska, resigned as school teacher
at Wales and relocated to Seattle, although he
soon became the head of the Alaska Reindeer
Service (Smith 1984:441).

In 1902 Jackson continued to argue
for the importance of keeping reindeer at
mission stations, despite the governmen-
tal policy that was contrary to his position.
Jackson’s arguments were multiple. His logic
was that if a mission has reindeer, Natives
will not leave home for much of the year in
search of food (Jackson 1903:24)—this de-
spite the fact that Jackson had been encour-
aging a continuation of Native diets rather
than use of reindeer or other imported foods
in previous reports. Jackson argued that the
presence of reindeer at missions would keep
Natives from congregating in “mines, where
they live by begging and immorality, and
soon disappear from the face of the earth”
(Jackson 1903:24). Having reindeer gave
missionaries a means of “rewarding” families
that became and lived as Christians, therefore
becoming “civilized.” Ownership of reindeer
relieved the missions of revenue shortage
problems and provided missionaries with a
source of meat. Lastly, the reindeer afforded
missionaries with a source of transportation
so that they could proselytize over a more
expansive area (Jackson 1903:24).

In 1903 the reindeer population in
Alaska had reached 6,505 animals (Jackson
1904:17). There were 68 Eskimo herders
(mostly Ifiupiag, but some Yup’ik) and ap-
prentices who owned a total of 2,841 animals
or 44 percent of all reindeer (Jackson 1904:
9). The Eskimos had an average herd size of
42, ranging from less than 10 to more than
300 (Jackson 1904:17). The missions held
title to 2,176 or 33 percent of the animals,

92

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

relates to what Revenue Service Captain
Michael Healy, Sheldon Jackson, and others
concluded was the starvation of the “Es-
kimos” of northwest coastal Alaska. This
alleged “starvation” resulted initially from
the depletion of bowhead whales and, later,
of Pacific walrus taken commercially for
ivory, as well as the large amount of caribou
harvested to meet the demand of feeding the
many non-Native whalers who were present
or ended up spending time in Alaska waters
or onshore.

Second, but not less significantly,
was the role of commercial whaling crews
as carriers of diseases, such as the influenza
epidemic of 1900 that was exacerbated by
measles introduced from Siberia the same
year (Wolfe 1982). This, and numerous other
diseases of epidemic proportions, contributed
to demographic and settlement pattern shifts,
influencing the way in which the introduction
of reindeer herding into Alaska, to be dis-
cussed below, transpired.

Third, the whalers, and fur traders,
who pretended to be whalers, provided ac-
cess to a regular commerce in trade goods,
particularly when whaling profits began to
decline (Bockstoce 1986:184; Ray 1975:
191). Such goods included firearms and ma-
terials associated with their use (e.g., rifles,
shotguns, cartridges, reloading implements,
gun powder, and lead shot); commercially
made fabrics and tailored “White” clothing;
food goods (e.g., sugar, tea, baking pow-
der, dried applies, rice, molasses, and hard
breads); liquor and tobacco; and a diverse
variety of tools (e.g., metal knives, files,
drills and drill bits, whaling shoulder-bombs,
compasses, and so on) (Ray 1975:139). For
the study area, however, access to trade
goods from the Hudson’s Bay Company to

the east down the Kobuk and Noatak Riv-
ers cannot be underestimated as a source of
Western commodities during the last half of
the 1800s.

Jackson and his followers attributed
the moral and physical decline of the “Eski-
mos,” beyond that of starvation, directly to
commercial whalers and traders, and later, to
the non-Native prospectors and gold min-
ers who came to Alaska in the late 1890s
and early 1900s (Smith 1984). Commercial
whalers (officers and crew), the traders who
accompanied them or followed, and prospec-
tors and miners provided the Ifiupiat with
alcohol and taught them methods for the
production and use of “spirits.” These trad-
ing practices and the employment of Ifiu-
piat subsistence whalers in the commercial
endeavor also influenced seasonal rounds and
settlement locations and strategies, patterns
of leadership, social stratification, and other
Ifiupiaq socioeconomic and sociocultural
phenomena affecting the outcome of the
introduction of reindeer.

There is little question that minimally
20,000 bowhead whales and 150,000 Pacific
walrus were harvested by commercial whal-
ers (Bockstoce 1986:15, 72). However, the
magnitude of food depletion and resultant
Ifiupiaq starvation — and causative factors,
in the case of caribou shortage — are the
subject of varying assessments (as discussed
below and by Bockstoce 1986:15, 72, 136-
142; Burch 1975:27, 90; Foote 1964; Lomen
1954; Ray 1975; and others).

For the two decades after the U.S.
purchase of Alaska in 1867, there was little
federal government presence in the territory.
It is worth noting that the operation of the
revenue marine cutters initially was sporadic.
In subsequent years, more regular annual

28

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 7
THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

[Reindeer herder Allockeok is telling teacher Keithahn about his understanding of Christian-
ity.] Bible say long, long ago God he make world. Six days he finish. Gee whiz! Pretty fast work
God! Pretty soon He make man. He name Adam. Adam plenty sorry he got no wife. God see that,
so he say, “All right, Adam. I make ‘em wife you fellows.” Adam sleep, God take rib, make Eve.
Gee whiz! Funny! Make man mud, women all same bone. No ‘stan that me. Adam wake up, see
Eve. He like it. Plenty happy now. He marry it.

God show first people all kinds trees. “All kinds fruit eat; only apples never touch it,” God
say.

Devil, he plenty jealous God. Him like to be boss, too. Pretty soon he make himself snake,
all same big worm. Snake tell it Eve, “Go ahead, eat it! Apples fine taste!” Eve, she think about it.
Maybe he speak right. She try. Gee whiz! plenty fine taste! Eve give to Adam, he try, too. Him like
it,

Pretty soon Adam and Eve plenty sorry. He remembered it God said “Nothing doing, apples”!
Plenty sorry Adam and Eve. Plenty red face.

God hear about that, him plenty mad. He chase it out of garden Adam and Eve. Can’t feed it
anymore bad people. Adam go to work now hunting, fishing. Eve she make clothes, raise children,
plenty cook.

God all a time plenty mad, He tell it Adam and Eve, “You listened to me, you happy all time.
Never die, children never die. Now, you listen to Devil. All right, you die some day. All your chil-
dren die sometime. Everybody die some time. Plenty hard work, plenty sick, plenty trouble.

Well, missionary say we all children of Adam and Eve because they first people. God still
curse people because their father and mother long time ago bad. Gee, plenty tough, God. Man
make mistake, not right punish him children. I kill it somebody, not right punish my boy. I know
that!

Now people in Shishmaref plenty go to church. Plenty pray because he hear about it, any kind
you want, you pray, him come, all right. I think that mistake. All church people plenty poor: igloo
empty, bad looks clothes, children all time no grub. All time pray, whatsamatter, never get?

People think about it, Allockeok him pretty tough man. Never go to church, Rich man, him
no good ‘tall. Some kind missionary, same way talk. Well, I say no! Allockeok him good man. I
never go church because I can’t like it all time long face, all-a-time pray. I work hard, plenty save
because I got plenty children, Maybe some day I die. Gee whiz! empty house, plenty sorry my
family. I never yet see God help hungry Eskimo. I think about it, better help self. Maybe God too
busy. [Keithahn 1963:96-97]

Introduction tion of reindeer herding to the Ifiupiat of

Northwest Alaska, it is essential to explore
To comprehend the social, economic, politi- indigenous (“traditional’’) ideologies, as
cal, and symbolic significance of the introduc- _ gleaned primarily from documented oral

From Hunters to Herders 153


THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

CHAPTER 3

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53

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 8: CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE

concluded that the only way Natives overall
were to benefit from reindeer was to re-insti-
tutionalize the concept of private ownership.
To that end, governmental officials openly
embraced the concept of having a limited
number of Native owners possessing large
and viable herds. Furthermore, the federal
government assumed the role of assisting
herders, rather than directing them.

Interestingly, by 1962, in contrast to
1941, the importance of reindeer, for ex-
ample in the overall economy of Shishmaref,
had changed dramatically. The return to
individual herd ownership and the absence of
the government in a role of authority seems
to have contributed to the viability of herding
for a small number of private owners. No use
of reindeer meat was recorded in 1941, but
in 1962 reindeer supplied 15,600 pounds of
meat to the community, although ugruk and
other seals remained the mainstay of the diet
of Shishmaref people (USBOE 1962).

In this new environment, the Ifiupiat
had incorporated reindeer as a component of
their larger socioeconomic system and had
done so without evolving from hunters to
herders. Reindeer were integrated into the
social, cultural, and ideological systems of
the Ifiupiat along the lines of umialiq-ships
without significant disruption. One measure
of the level of integration of a new economic
activity into the overall economy ofa given
group is reflected in the ordering of social
relations and institutions in support of such
an enterprise (Ingold 1987:11). The Ifiu-
piaq societies initially and predominantly
involved in the reindeer herding industry
in Alaska were primarily those involved in
large marine mammal or cooperative cari-
bou hunting and trading. These societies,
characterized by stratification and leadership
vested in individuals controlling the means

of production (i.e., large skinboats or caribou
surrounds) were better equipped socially
and intellectually to integrate reindeer herd-
ing than were small marine mammal hunters
and fishers (Spiess 1979). Additionally, large
marine mammal hunters of the Bering Strait,
such as those at Cape Prince of Wales, had

a vested interest in retaining their monopoly
for trade of reindeer skins and the hierarchi-
cal sociopolitical organization necessary for
organizing, implementing, and maintain-

ing kin-based, wealth producing economic
activities.

The integration of reindeer along the
lines of umialiq-ships avoided intraterritorial
and interterritorial disputes. Reindeer umi-
aliit attempted to confine their herding activi-
ties, within the limitations of governmental
intervention, to those areas to which they had
internally recognized or affinal access, subse-
quently externally validated by the issuance
of reindeer permits.

Had a semi-domesticated form of
reindeer/caribou been available to the Ifiu-
piat outside of the context of Euro-American
intervention, a modified form of carnivorous
pastoralism potentially could have occurred
autochthonously (Ingold 1988; Krupnik
1992:160-184). As an experiment in social
evolution, however, the importation of rein-
deer herding did not result in the transforma-
tion of culture and society for the Ifiupiat of
Northwest Alaska.

Implications for Ublasaun: A Retrospective

Fourteen years after Thomas Makaiqtaq
Barr’s death, a new era of reindeer herding
began. The revival of the reindeer economy
was grounded in the concept of individual
ownership and limited distribution of ani-
mals. Herders in that period of governmental

192

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

be quite rich. He wants to have a house
like an American house. The captain
who anchored here first has a small one
to trade him. [Smith 1984:54]

Furthermore, in reference to an
outstanding umialiq and trader, Ellen Lopp
made the following observation:

Ah-woot-nuk made a record with
his canoe last summer, In July he sailed
across the strait, traded for a boat load
of Siberian deer skins, and retumed.
Then he sailed to Kotzebue Sound, and
exchanged these skins for red fox, bea-
ver, and otter skins. Returning from the
sound in October, he sailed across the
strait again, and purchased another boat
load of deer skins. [Smith 1984:432]

Among the neighboring Arctic Coast-
al and inland dwelling Ifupiat of the 1950s,
Spencer (1959:152-153) noted that “in cer-
tain defined areas, men of wealth emerge as
significant leaders.” In comparing the coastal
to inland groups, Spencer noted that umialiit
both controlled skinboats on the coast and
directed cooperative caribou drives in the
Interior. In both cases, wealth was related to
the control of means of production, prolific
kin, goods, and resultant prestige. Though
more cautious about suggesting that umialiit
were equivalent to institutionalized “chiefs,”
Spencer stated:

But in north Alaska, as a result of
an incipient system of prestige wealth,
chieftainship as a political factor may
have been in process of development [in
the form of the umialiq]. [1984:284]

In all the cases of the Ifupiat of
Northwest, Arctic Coastal and Interior Alas-
ka, leadership was based on the ability of

individuals to rally followers and influence
their behavior. The capacity to accomplish
these tasks intrinsically was tied to knowl-
edge, skills, status, and wealth manifested
ultimately in economic stature. Since umi-
aliq-ships were largely achieved statuses, and
required constant maintenance as opposed

to institutionalized, inherited offices, the
bequeathing of the status of umialiq between
generations was as dependent on the perpetu-
ation of a suitable social arena as it was on
maintenance of the appropriate technology.
The social mechanisms discussed above for
achieving alliance or maintaining consolida-
tion were fundamental in this regard.

The qazgi, or men’s house, in North-
west Alaska Iiiupiaq society was the struc-
tural embodiment of leadership and, during
intervillage or intersocietal ceremonies,
manifested the wealth and prestige of an
umialiq’s followers. In villages with mul-
tiple umialiit, such as Cape Prince of Wales
and King Island, each qazgi was associated
with the political faction of the most power-
ful of multiple, associated skinboat captains
(e.g., Bogojavlensky 1969; Ellanna 1983a).
In settlements having only a single qazgi,
the most powerful umialiq—in the multiple
definitions of this term—provided leadership.
In both cases, the qazgi provided the insti-
tution through which male knowledge and
roles, including the subtleties of power, were
transmitted intergenerationally.

In addition to umialiit, the spiritual
powers of shamans, or angatkuut, and the
collective knowledge and experience of el-
ders provided both parallel and/or alternative
sources of leadership. These various posi-
tions of influence, a strict code of norms or
un-codified “laws,” and, to some degree, the
expectation of community-wide consensus,

From Hunters to Herders

137


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

1741, that led to the influx of fur pelt seek-
ing promyshlenniki into the Aleutian Islands
and, later, Kodiak Island, Prince William
Sound, Southeast Alaska, the Alaska Penin-
sula, Bristol Bay, and the Nushagak River.
British place names in and adjacent to the
study area—such as Point Rodney, King
Island, Cape Prince of Wales, and Norton
Sound—attest to the presence of Captain
James Cook and his crew in 1778. As par-
ticipants in the obsessive British pursuit for
a northwest passage to the Orient, Cook and
his crew traveled in the Bering Sea, Bering
Strait, and Chukchi Sea on both the Ameri-
can and Siberian mainlands as far north as
Icy Cape. Cook and his crew failed to note
Port Clarence and Kotzebue Sound, but they
provide the earliest descriptions of what was
later called the Seward Peninsula. The men
on this expedition of discovery made the first
documented contact with the Natives of the
mainland, but had little acculturative effect,
as they were principally involved in trading,
an activity in which the people of Bering
Strait, the coastal Seward Peninsula and the
offshore islands were already quite adept.
Narrative accounts, coastline maps, and the
artistry of John Weber provide useful early
ethnographic data.

The Russian financed voyage of
Joseph Billings in 1791, who previously had
sailed with Cook, resulted in descriptions of
the Ifupiat camped near what Ray concluded
was Cape Rodney and the mouth of the
Sinuk River (1975:47-52). Billings noted that
caribou were abundant on the Seward Penin-
sula at that time, with that animal furnishing
much of the clothing worn by the Ifupiat
observed by members of this expedition (Ray
1975:49). Men’s waistbands were decorated
with wolf or fox tails. Trade goods sought by

the people interacting with those of the Bill-
ings expedition included iron, knives, blue
glass beads, and metal buttons, but Ifiupiat
access to imported metals and beads was
already apparent. Billings’ expedition also
provided early ethnographic data and influ-
enced the subsequent searches for the elusive
Northwest Passage (Bockstoce 1977a).

Of central importance for these
purposes was the Russian financed search
for the Northwest Passage in 1816 under the
leadership of Otto von Kotzebue on the ship
Rurick. Those associated with this journey
of exploration included Ivan Fedorovich
Krusenstern, von Kotzebue, Lieutenant Gleb
Shishmarey, Dr. Frederick Eschscholtz,
naturalist Louis von Chamisso, and artist
Louis Choris (Ray 1975). Members of this
expedition sighted but did not land at Cape
Prince of Wales and went ashore at the site of
the settlement now referred to as Shishmaref,
where the residents were said to have had
fled after being threatened unsuccessfully
by the crew with firearms and, subsequently,
sabers, which frightened the Ifiupiat away
(Kotzebue 1967:204; Ray 1975:57). Kot-
zebue reported that the Shishmaref Ifiupiat
possessed Russian lances with iron tips
(Ray 1975:58). Although members of this
expedition met some Ifiupiat in the area of
Shishmaref Inlet, Kotzebue characterized
the interactions as having a tenor of hostility
(Kotzebue 1967; Ray 1975:56-57). Members
of Kotzebue’s expedition went on to name
Cape Espenberg:

Northward from Cape Prince of
Wales the coast appeared to be very
much inhabited, and when Kotzebue
went to shore—apparently near the east
end of Cape Espenberg—to investigate
the direction of the coast, he saw five

24

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

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From Hunters to Herders

56



Tiupiag Ideology, Protestant Christianity,
and Syncretism

The relatively flexible and tolerant nature of
Inupiaq ideology allowed for the incorpora-
tion of many aspects of Western Protestant
Christianity without requiring the necessary
rejection of many indigenous views and
some related behaviors (cf., Oswalt 1963a).
As was the case in the realms of socioeco-
nomics, socioterritoriality, and social orga-
nization including leadership and polity, the
Ifiupiat were active players in accepting,
rejecting, and modifying introduced concepts
and institutions in the sphere of ideology (cf.,
Fienup-Riordan 1990). To the Christian theo-
logian and scholar, the ability of the Ifupiat
to simultaneously embrace what to Western-
ers were clearly contradictory concepts and
“truths” went unnoticed, was perplexing, or
was attributed to the innately illogical mind
of these indigenous peoples. For example, in
describing the behavior of Wales Ifiupiat dur-
ing a fall storm, Ellen Lopp said:

The storm was very bad here and
the people were afraid our seal hunters,
camped on a sand spit ten miles from
here, would be washed off and lost. They
had their doctors [shamans] drumming
and singing, their kind of praying. The
wife of one came and had Mr. Lopp
read the Bible and pray. She has been
baptized into both the Greek and the
Roman churches, but had her Eskimo
doctor drumming a long time before she
thought of praying. [Smith 1984:77]

This quotation indicates the Ifupiat integra-
tion of Christian and indigenous practices in
attempting to deal with life crises.

Since the missionaries lacked com-

CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

prehension of most aspects of Iiiupiaq
ideology, their efforts at evangelization
were relatively ineffective in eradicating
indigenous beliefs, but they did provide
some alternative and acceptable views.
Those aspects of Iiiupiaq ideology most
conspicuous as revealed in practice, or
the most threatening, such as shaman-
ism, were the first to be targeted and
attacked by Protestant Christian mis-
sionaries. Although there was variance
between different Protestant groups, in
general, the behaviors most forbidden
and critiqued by the Christian clergy
were:

1. exorcistic healing practices, the
casting of curses and spells, predictive
scapulimancy, and the extraction of fees
for services conducted by shamans;

2. the possession and use of
amulets considered to be idolatry by the
missionaries; the practice of dancing
(especially with masks), drumming, and
associated ceremonial feasting;

3. polygynous, polyandrous,
arranged, cooperative, and unceremoni-
ously celebrated marriages or sexual
intercourse outside the institution of
marriage;

4. the use of Native languages.

The missionaries’ attacks on shaman-
ism were frequently reported in the literature.
In begging Jackson for medicine, one mis-
sionary teacher pleaded:

My dear Dr. Jackson, please do
what you can to have a physician located
here, in order that not only those living
here, and at the neighboring stations, but
also the whole Eskimo population, may
not have to resort to the heathen medi-
cine men—that is to say, to the miserable
witches among the Eskimos...Death is
frequently the result of their medicine,
and they bleed their victims in all direc-
tions, so that it is difficult to state which
is to be preferred—to die, or to get well

From Hunters to Herders

179


CHAPTER 8
CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE:
THE LEGACY OF REINDEER HERDING IN ALASKA

In 1968 I wrote that anthropology needed to discover history, a history that could account for
the ways in which the social system of the modern world came into being, and that would strive
to make analytic sense of all societies, including our own. Such an analytic history was needed,

I believed, to counter the ascendancy in the human sciences of a formal rationality that no longer
inquired into the causes of human action but merely technical solutions to problems conceived pri-
marily in technical terms. Our methods were becoming more sophisticated, but their yield seemed
increasingly commonplace. To stem a descent into triviality, [ thought, we needed to search out the
causes of the present in the past. Only in this way could we come to comprehend the forces that
impel societies and cultures here and now...

Such rethinking must transcend the customary ways of depicting Western history, and must
take account of the conjoint participation of Western and non-Western peoples in this worldwide
process. Most of the groups studied by anthropologists have long been caught up in the changes
wrought by European expansion, and they have contributed to these changes. We can no longer be
content with writing only the history of victorious elites, or with detailing the subjugation of domi-
nated ethnic groups. Social historians and historical sociologists have shown that the common
people were as much agents in the historical process as they were its victims and silent witnesses.

We thus need to uncover the history of “the people without history.” [Wolf 1982:ix-x]

This treatment of the introduction of rein-
deer herding to the lfiupiat of Alaska—and
the social and intellectual milieu in which it
occurred—was based on multiple messages

vividly put forth by anthropologist Eric R. Wolf

in his plea to colleagues set forth in the pref-
ace to his book, Europe and the People with-
out History. The first of these was that causal

explanations for social and cultural phenomena
in the present, and consequences for the future,

are complexly rooted in the past. To that end,

our research did not begin with the landing of

reindeer at Port Clarence in 1892, nor was it
limited to the past of either Euro-Americans

or Ifupiat. The second of Wolf’s concerns was

that all people, of all social statuses, are play-

ers in historical processes and through
their actions and reactions mold both the
manner and outcomes of sociocultural
change through time. With this in mind,

to comprehend this event, we examined
the lives of multiple players—both Ifiupiat
and White—having diverse statuses and
acting out a plethora of roles. Wolf’s third
concern was that “history” as we know it
in the Western world has basically ignored
those peoples lacking a written record.

To ameliorate the fact that only Whites,
frequently with a vested interest in the
outcomes, wrote about the introduction of
reindeer to Alaska while the Ifiupiat passed
along their versions of this story orally, we

From Hunters to Herders

185


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

while the Samis owned or had been lent
1,150 or 18 percent of all reindeer. The gov-
ernment only owned 338 or 5 percent of the
reindeer in Alaska by 1903, and those were
designated for future loan programs (Jack-
son 1904:9). Hugh J. Lee, who had replaced
Lopp at Wales, reported a new apprentice
payment program there, in which participants
were allocated 25 reindeer of their own and
issued a loan of 25 mission reindeer after five
years of service (Jackson 1904:63).

Throughout the history of the rein-
deer herding enterprise, the stated intent
and policy of importing the reindeer for the
benefit of “starving Eskimos” had been vio-
lated at several levels. These include the first
government herd going to the Wales mission;
the prohibition of Iiupiat selling reindeer
(especially females) or killing them for food
or raw materials; the use of both government
owned and Ifiupiat reindeer to “save” starv-
ing miners and commercial whalers; and the
government contracts with the Samis provid-
ing them not only money and better support
than Ifiupiag apprentices, but also access to
reindeer ownership more readily than that
afforded to the Natives.

By 1900 those who were critical of
Jackson felt that the policy and goals of the
reindeer herding project had shifted toward
an increase in missionary and Sami owned
herds. For example in 1905, less than half
(41 percent) of the reindeer were owned by
Natives and were distributed in herds averag-
ing less than 50 animals, while at the same
time the Samis herds averaged 238 reindeer
(Jackson 1906:11; Olson 1969a:34; Stern et
al. 1980:33).

As is clear from the discussion above,
by the turn of the century Jackson and his
supporters were explicitly more vested in the

economic development of Alaska by White
settlers than alleviating the “deprivation” of
the indigenous people of the territory. Rather
than the assimilationist model underlying his
early rationalization for importing reindeer,
Jackson had gone one step further. He began
explicitly supporting a model of European
colonization, in which indigenous popula-
tions were transformed into a servile labor
force, rather than being either the victims of
genocide or elevated to a level of equality
suggested in the more American “melting
pot” theory of assimilation. This philosophy
was poignantly revealed in his reindeer re-
port for 1903 and reiterated in 1904 (Jackson
1905):

This raises the question what that at-
tention should be and how these natives
can be made valuable helpers and assis-
tants in the development of the country
by the white men now there engaged
in mining operations. Any successful
method of accomplishing such desirable
results must keep clearly before it the
aim to prepare the natives to become a
help to the immigrants who come from
the States for the purpose of conduct-
ing mining operations. There are two
things which the native may be taught
to do which will enable him to help the
immigrant: First, he may be taught how
to create a supply of cheap food; second,
he may be taught how to supply cheap
transportation by means of reindeer... The
native knows how to take fish from the
rivers and from the sea for his family
use, and with proper training can be
made an equally successful fisherman
for the market.

The experience of the past twelve
years has proved that he [the Native] can
also become skillful in raising reindeer
for food. With the gradual disappearance
of the caribou and moose in sections of
Alaska and the difficulty and expense of

From Hunters to Herders

93


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

discovered some podding plants he had
never seen before. He went over to look
at them, and at the same moment the pod
burst open and out jumped a human be-
ing, well built and quite fully grown. The
raven was so surprised that he threw his
beak back, whereby he himself tumed
into a man. Then leaving he went up to
the newly born one and asked: “What
kind of a one are you, and where do you
come from?”

The raven laughed and said, “Aj, Aj,
Aj! You area funny thing. I have never
seen your like.” And the raven laughed
again adding: “I planted a pea-pod
myself, but I had no idea anything like
you would come out of it. But the earth
we walk on is not finished yet. Can’t you
feel how it rocks up and down? Let us
move over on to that hill there. The crust
is firm and hard there.” It was only then
that the man discovered he was walking
on quaking ground, and he hurried away
with Father Raven. [The raven created
many more men and women out of clay.]
At first there was not much difference
between men and animals, Animals
could turn into men and men into ani-
mals. And men walked on their hands
or crawled on all fours. It was only later
that they learned to walk upright on their
feet.

The world was still dark, so raven
took mica, which he had obtained from
the sparrow, and breaking it and throw-
ing it into the air, he thereby gave the
world light. In this new world of light he
taught people how to build houses, kay-
aks, and umiat and weapons so that they
could sail the seas and hunt its animals.
[Ostermann 1952:179-185]

To the Ifiupiat, there were multiple
and equally valid explanations of how the
world was created and how current relation-
ships between its different occupants arose.
In this case, the creator, Father Raven, differ-
ing from the Christian God, was neither om-

nipotent—all powerful—nor omniscient—all
knowing. Father Raven, as portrayed here,
had no grandiose scheme, nor did he have
predictive capabilities. Rather, his power
rested in his vast knowledge—akin to that of
elders. All creatures, including Father Raven,
animals, and people, were equal players in
the story of life as opposed to being hier-
archically stratified by a creator. Certainly
humans did not stand at the apex of a pyra-
mid of entities or beings that were created by
a single deity.

All Inuit groups, including the Ifiu-
piat of Northwest Alaska, credited people,
animals, some plants, and certain phenomena
that are classified as “inanimate” in West-
ern logic (such as rocks and mountains), as
having souls and as being “living” entities
(cf., Birket-Smith 1959; Hall 1984:343;
Merkur 1991:3; Oswalt 1990:35; Fienup-
Riordan 1990:72, 74, 167-168). In general
terms, Merkur (1991:2) proposed that Ifiupiat
numina (indwelling guiding forces or spir-
its) included three primary classes of meta-
physical beings—a profusion of differentially
functioning souls, spirits, and fia, the latter
being translated both as “owners” in some
ethnographic sources and as “indwellers in
nature” in others.

Souls had multiple forms or stages in-
cluding “breath souls,” “mind souls,” “name
souls,” and “free souls” (Merkur 1991:19-
20).

Everything outside the everyday

is caused by a special power, an imper-
sonal force, which permeates existence.
This force is called [by some Eskimos]
sila, The word is almost impossible to
translate, because it expresses something
which is to us [westerners] quite foreign.
It may mean the universe, the weather or
the intelligence. In itself, sila is neither

156

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 5
HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

Any rights of Eskimo ownership were deemed as residing only in the reindeer.
It apparently never occurred to Jackson and his co-workers that the imported
reindeer, which were loaned to missions and Laplanders, were grazing on land
legally belonging to the Eskimos, and to which title had not yet been extin-

guished. [Ray 1965:95]

Introduction

As Ray (1965) perceptively pointed out in the
quotation above and, although European colo-
nists and their descendants had been dealing
with Indians in the contiguous United States in
excess of three and a half centuries, neither the
federal government nor the majority of groups
or individuals who came to Alaska recognized
the existence of non-Western, long established
rights to wild resources and land in the new ter-
ritory. In this chapter we juxtapose the Western
view of Alaska as being a vast, unoccupied,
unowned (except in a general federal sense),
undeveloped country against the functionally
complex, institutionalized system of resource
and land use, settlement patterns, and politi-
cally recognized tenure integral to the Inupiaq
culture of Northwest Alaska in the 1800s. This
chapter examines the synthesis of these widely
disparate systemic views as played out in the
reindeer herding period.

Resource Use, Settlement Patterns, and
Land Tenure and Polity on the Northern
Seward Peninsula

In the 1800s all Alaska Native societies
had bounded territories and norms regard-
ing access to resources within those territo-
ries. However, the concept of wild re-
sources or land as commodities (i-e., goods
that are objectified and can be transferred
between groups or individuals irrespec-
tive of the relationships between products,
suppliers, and consumers) was not found
among the Ifiupiat of arctic and subarc-

tic North America (cf., Gregory 1982:7;
Ingold 1987:131; Sahlins 1981; Wenzel
1991). These norms included a cyclical
seasonal round and associated settlement
pattern characteristic of each society and
undertaken by local family groups within
the larger social unit.

From Hunters to Herders

115


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

path to the salvation, preservation, and civi-
lization of these “heathens” was through the
introduction of Protestant Christianity and
new economies not based on hunting, gather-
ing, fishing, and trapping. Though Jackson
was overtly to be driven by the mandates of
social evolution, he concurrently but more
covertly was an advocate of the European
colonial model using the mechanism of in-
troducing reindeer herding to the Natives of
Alaska. That is, while “saving” and “‘elevat-
ing” Alaska Native peoples, he also sought
to develop an indigenous class of pastoral
peasants.

An understanding of the intellec-
tual paradigms under which Jackson and
his followers pursued their goals is critical
to comprehending the consequences of the
introduction of reindeer to the Ifiupiat of
Northwest Alaska. That is, outdated social
evolutionary theories—as operationalized
by mechanisms of diffusion and assimila-
tion—do not provide the intellectual insights
necessary to accomplish this analytical task.
Time also has proven that theories of accul-
turation and modernization, prevalent in the
late 1950s and during the 1960s, have neither
shed much light on the processes of cultural
change nor provided predictive value.

Similarly, though the introduction of
reindeer involved shifts in technology and
economy in the same ecological setting, a
strictly materialist approach to comprehend-
ing the outcome of this event has limited
utility. To date, treatments of this topic have
been primarily historical, ethnohistorical,
or economic in nature (Lantis 1950; Olson
1969a; Ray 1965; Stern et al. 1980), with
less attention focused on social organization-
al and, particularly, ideological phenomena
associated with the introduction of reindeer

to the Ifupiat of Northwest Alaska.

The cultures and societies of North-
west Alaska, as elsewhere in the world,
have always been undergoing change. That
is, there was no “traditional,” “pristine,”
static, ahistorical social state from which
indigenous people either degenerated or
progressed. Rather, an understanding of
both the processes of sociocultural change
and the results must incorporate a dynamic
analysis of the social relations, ideologies,
and material conditions of both the Ifupiat of
Northwest Alaska and their social, economic,
and theological proselytizers in a historical
perspective.

Furthermore, the use of anthropo-
logical dichotomies—such as real and ideal,
etic and emic, objective and subjective,
synchronic and diachronic—employed for
analytical convenience, provides points of
reference rather than explanations of pro-
cess. That is, sociocultural structures and
meanings are continuously called on by
their bearers to facilitate their existence in
a constantly changing world. Accordingly,
social and material structures change and
symbolic meanings are renegotiated. Sahlins
noted some of the problems of understanding
historical events and related cultural change
from an anthropological perspective:

Clearly, the twin anthropological
(or historical) errors of materialism and
idealism consist in attempts to link the
meaningful significance and the worldly
happening in some mechanical or physi-
calist relation of cause and effect. For
materialism the significance is the direct
effect of the objective properties of the
happening. This ignores the relative
value or meaning given to the happening
by the society. For idealism the happen-
ing is simply an effect of its significance.

34

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

again at times misusing or exaggerating data.
Second, he argued that with the introduction
of domestic reindeer, the Native population
would increase—a demographic model that
he later transferred to the incoming White
population. Third,
The introduction of domestic

reindeer is the commencement of the

elevation of this race from barbarism to

civilization. A change from the condition

of hunters to that of herders is a long

step upwards in the scale of civilization.
[Jackson 1893:13-15]

Additionally, the introduction of reindeer
would solve the problem of transportation in
the Arctic, as Jackson was a great detractor
of dog teams, espousing their inefficiency.
Lastly, importing reindeer would develop a
new industry in Alaska that would benefit the
wealth of the entire United States.

In any event, it was the 1890 journey
and, implicitly, Jackson’s firsthand observa-
tions that were used as the justification for
lobbying for federal governmental support of
the importation of reindeer from Siberia. As
Jackson stated:

I found them [the Eskimo of Alaska]
like their neighbors on the Siberian side
to be a hardy and active people, but be-
cause they had never been instructed to
depend upon the raising of reindeer as a
support, unlike the Siberians, they were
on the verge of starvation. The whale
and walrus that formerly had constituted
the principal portion of their food have
been destroyed or driven off by the
whalers; and the wild reindeer [caribou]
that once abounded in their country,
have been killed off by the introduction
of breech-loading firearms. [Jackson
1893:5]

Healy reiterated this sentiment:

From time immemorial they
[the Eskimos] have lived
principally on the whale, seal,
walrus, salmon, and wild
reindeer. But in the persistent
hunt of white men for the
whale and walrus, the latter
has largely disappeared, and
the former has been driven
beyond the reach of the na-
tives. The white men are also
erecting canneries on their
[Alaska Natives’ best fishing
streams, and the usual supply
of fish is being cut off; and
with the advent of improved
firearms the wild reindeer are
migrating farther and farther
away. [Jackson 1893:31]

The actual scarcity of food hypothesis
has been subject to question. Jenness (1962:
11) much later concluded that there had been
a “breakdown of [the] aboriginal subsistence
economy” due to the use of “high-powered
rifles”’—a conclusion few would agree with
today. There is no doubt that the commer-
cial whaling industry had impacted both the
bowhead whale and Pacific walrus (Bock-
stoce 1977b; 1986:347). However, seals and
fish remained abundant. Caribou populations
appeared to decline at least after the mid-
1880s, though this has since been analyzed,
at least in part, as due to natural demographic
fluctuations and changing migratory patterns.
Caribou were not totally gone from all of the
coast by the end of the 1800s, however, as
hunters in the Point Barrow area speared ap-
proximately 100 from kayaks in 1894 (Brow-
er 1942:109, 145, 168). In any event, the
explanation for the unavailability of caribou

76

From Hunters to Herders


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In writing this document, we have drawn collectively upon more than three decades of
sociocultural, anthropological field research in Northwest Alaska. The most knowledgeable,
generous, and hospitable Ifiupiat of the area who have contributed directly or indirectly to
this project are too numerous to identify by name. However, while we regret that we cannot
recount the names of every Ifiupiat to whom we are indebted for completing this work, sev-
eral people do stand out. Gideon Kahlook Barr’s memories provided much of the foundation
upon which this narrative was reconstructed. To Vincent and Molly Tocktoo of Shishmaref,
we owe our warmest thanks for being both mentors and family during the years. Alex and El-
sie Allockeok Weyiouanna and their son and daughter-in-law, Clifford and Shirley Goodhope
Weyiouanna, have all shared their knowledge of reindeer herding of the past and that of the
present. The assistance of Herbert Anungazuk of Wales—as a friend, a source of history, and
a facilitator of research throughout Northwest Alaska prior and subsequent to his employment
with the U.S. National Park Service—has spanned nearly two decades and is deeply appreci-
ated.

We are ever indebted to our colleague and friend Dr. Ernest (Tiger) S. Burch Jr. for
sharing his insights gathered over three decades of research in Northwest Alaska in contribut-
ing to this project. His roles as field researcher at Shishmaref and Ublasaun and contributions
to and review of this manuscript were integral to its completion. Others who have greatly
assisted us in this endeavor include colleagues Drs. Craig Gerlach, Peter Schweitzer, and the
late Roger Powers of the Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks; Polly
Wheeler from the Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada;
and Dr. Igor Krupnik of the Smithsonian Institution and the Institute of Ethnology and An-
thropology, Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Russia. Additionally, we offer our
gratitude to graduate and undergraduate students Jim Simon, Matthew Ganley, Anna Kertulla,
and Michael Faugno of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Administrative and nonacademic
staff of the University of Alaska Fairbanks who provided support—including, but reach-
ing beyond the realm of the financial—thereby enabling us to complete this project that had
expanded considerably since its inception, include Drs. Anne Shinkwin, Luis Proenza, Gerald
McBeath, Gorden Hedahl, John Leipzig, and Charles Geist; Cary Lu, Thomas Wolfe, Tracie
Cogdill, and Judy Brainerd.

We lastly thank the U.S. National Park Service, Alaska Region for its conception of
and substantial financial support for this project through the auspices of a cooperative agree-
ment with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Most significantly, we would like to thank
Jeanne Schaaf, Project Manager and developer of the One Man’s Heritage Project, who also
served as the National Park Service’s technical representative for the study. Additional thanks
go to Paul Haertel and Dr. Ted Birkedal, who recognized the temporal and intellectual requi-
sites and commitment necessary for scholarly research. Others from the U.S. National Park
Service who deserve special mention for their commitment to the project include Jim Creech,
Lisa Greene, Joy Kucinski, Steve Peterson, and Phyllis Stromme, as well as Ernie Suazo,
Ken Adkisson, and Richard Harris of Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. Finally, thanks

From Hunters to Herders vii




CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

provided a system of checks and balances,
preventing the abuse, but not deterring the
use, of power in Ifiupiaq society of North-
west Alaska. In the 1890s and early 1900s,
Lopp and his wife, in their correspondence
from Cape Prince of Wales to relatives, made
frequent comments about the very functional
Ifiupiag “laws” operative in the village. They
maintained that the Ifiupiat had their own
customs and rules that they adhere to with
strict distinctions between right and wrong
(Smith 1984:55). In describing “blood re-
venge,” Ellen Lopp stated:

That is the custom here, a relative
avenges a murder. And it is thought right
if a man threatens another’s life for the
one who has been threatened to kill the
one who has threatened him. [Smith
1984:56]

The economic role of women in hunt-
ing and gathering societies in general has
been ignored by anthropologists, other social
scientists, and lay persons for decades.

Historically, ethnographic data on
northern hunting and gathering societ-
ies primarily have been gathered by
mate researchers who have focused on
the productive activities of men... The
apparent “natural” dichotomy between
males as hunters of large game and
females as gatherers of mostly plant
foods and small game may be rooted
in western ideology, which associates
the conquering of fierce and/or massive
wild beasts with the behaviors of “manly
men.” {Ellanna and Sherrod 1993:2]

Though gathering was given more promi-
nence in hunter-gatherer studies after the
1960s (cf., Lee and DeVore 1968), because
of the relatively small contribution of plant

resources in the Arctic to the overall econo-
mies of indigenous peoples, there was little
impact from these new insights on the inter-
pretations of northern foraging. Addition-
ally, the processing and storage of game by
women in the north rarely was considered
part of the process of production, thereby
relegating the economic role of women in the
Arctic to little more than “homemaking.”

As in the case of other general
hunter-gatherer stereotypes and specific
“Eskimo” stereotypes, the economic and
political roles of women in Ifiupiaq societ-
ies have been starkly underestimated and
incorrectly portrayed (cf., Estioko-Griffin
and Griffin 1981). In the conventional sense
of the term “production” in Ifiupiag societ-
ies—meaning hunting, trapping, and fishing
in addition to gathering—Ifiupiaq women of
Northwest Alaska have participated much
more participant in the former three activities
than previously thought (e.g., Ellanna 1983a;
Nelson, Mautner, and Bane 1982). Women
have become the principal fishers for domes-
tic consumption in much of historical Arctic
Alaska as a result of male involvement in
seasonal barter or wage opportunities (cf., Fi-
enup-Riordan 1983). Second, the processing
and storage of game and fish, known to be
undertaken by Ifupiaq women throughout all
of the historical period, is as much a part of
production as is the act of harvesting itself.
Third, in many cases the behaviors of women
toward the spiritual world are as critical as
those of their husbands and unmarried sons
in assuring harvest success (e.g., Turner
1990). Fourth, women have been acting as
economic organizers of both domestic and
extended (local) families, also throughout
the historical period (Ellanna and Sherrod
1993). Lastly, the implications for power

From Hunters to Herders

139


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

population center (Brooks 1973). The Anvil
Creek finds that began the Nome gold rush
are commonly attributed to three Scandina-
vians—former Norwegian reindeer herder
Jafet Lindberg, Eric Lindblom (a whaling
ship deserter), and John Brynteson, a Michi-
gan miner, during the fall of 1898 (Cole
1983:37; Lomen 1954:14-15; Schrader and
Brooks 1900:31).

I think that one of history’s strangest
sights was that witnessed by the equally
startled Eskimo and reindeer of the Ber-
ing Strait areas as multitudes of white
men and a few adventurous women,
bitten by the gold bug, ranged up and
down many miles of the beaches on both
sides of Nome, ripping up the tundra in
a frantic search for wealth beyond their
dreams. [Lomen 1954:21]

By the end of 1898, 300 claims had
been filed in the Nome Mining District.
By the summer of 1899, there were 2,000
recorded claims with an estimated produc-
tion of $3,000,000 of gold by the end of
the season (Schrader and Brooks 1900:16).
Nome became and remained the largest town
and regional center of the Seward Peninsula,
principally because of the activities that oc-
curred there at the turn of the century.

Prospecting activities influenced
other areas in the vicinity of the northern
Seward Peninsula and southern Kotzebue
Sound, including the location of gold in
the Cape York region, 100 miles northwest
of Nome and 25 miles from Port Clarence
(Schrader and Brooks 1900:25; Smith 1984),
In fact, it was Cape Prince of Wales reindeer
herder Stanley Kivyearzruk who located
coarse gold on Buhner Creek, precipitating
the organization of the Kanowock Mining
District during the summer of 1899 with its

chief camp at Cape York at the mouth of
the Anikovik River approximately 41 miles
northwest of Teller (Schrader and Brooks
1900:26; Smith 1984:282).

Another find on a tributary of the
Goodhope River during the winter of 1897-
1898 resulted in the exploration of the rivers
draining into Shishmaref Inlet in 1900.

Some of the latter prospectors established
their headquarters at Serpentine Hot Springs
inland from Shishmaref. Important for these
purposes is the fact that many of the Samis
brought to Alaska to herd reindeer were lured
to search for gold rather than maintaining
reindeer herds (Lomen 1954:16). Not unex-
pectedly, the Ifupiat of the study area were
not excited about the gold finds (Smith 1984:
282). Lastly, during this period of intense
mining on the Seward Peninsula, it was com-
monly reported that the caribou populations
were sparse if not totally absent (cf., Schrad-
er and Brooks 1900).

Conceptions of Hunters and Herders in the
Intellectual Climate of the 1800s

Aconception of the progressive un-
folding of human and socia! potentiali-
lies—evolution in the broad sense—was
in large part related 10 the triumph over
the theological partisans of degrada-
tionism, the belief that man had “fallen
from grace” rather than risen from lowly
beginnings. The rise of progressivism fit-
ted neatly with the increasing intellectual
inlerest in primitive peoples, now being
described scienlifically (in the sense of
natural history) in many faraway parts
of the globe by missionaries, botanists,
museum collectors, geographers, ship’s
doctors, and “gentlemen adventurers”
of many types. The major scienlific
interes| was in arranging these fascinat-

From Hunters to Herders

31


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

-—--

Photo 24. Charlie Weyiouanna was an apprentice reindeer herder who provided for his
mother and other siblings after they lost their father, Johnny Wiavgana. Charlie is wearing
a summer reindeer fur parka with bleached sealskin trim on the bottom. Kamiks are

made from common sealskin. Photo by Edward Keithahn, circa 1923, courtesy of Richard
Keithahn and National Park Service (neg. 196).

150 From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

fish camps, as whitefish were available year
round and were netted in the water under the
ice. Here Gideon built a home for his parents
Emily and Thomas, who was then 68 years
old, next to James Moses’ house. James and
his wife Bessie were operating a small store
at Singiq for White fur buyer John Back-
land—the son of the captain of the four-
masted trading schooner Thomas had seen as
a young man. During this same year, Gideon
also constructed a plank-walled house for
his own use on his 139-acre allotment and
ran his trap lines up and down the coast and
some distance inland. Unfortunately, a fall
storm in 1937 pushed the waters of Kuuk-
paum Imagrua (known also as Cowpack
Inlet) onto the beach, thereby destroying the
Barr family’s 30-foot wooden whale boat
that had been stored there—a loss worth
more than $1,000 at the time.

In the fall of 1937, President Franklin
D. Roosevelt signed the Reindeer Act—a
piece of legislation that was to affect the
future history of the reindeer industry
throughout Alaska by limiting ownership of
reindeer to Natives. With the government’s
acquisition of the Lomen reindeer and the
removal of non-Native competitors, Thomas
again had hopes that he or members of his
family could benefit from the endeavor he
had begun in 1905 with the purchase of his
first reindeer. By this time, Thomas was too
old to personally undertake the rigors associ-
ated with herding, Yet, he still hoped that his
eldest son Gideon, who was still actively en-
gaged in herding as secretary of the Nuglun-
guktuk Reindeer Company, would further
the family’s position in the herding business.
Using a traditional Iiiupiaq means of form-
ing alliances with other families to achieve
economic gain and prestige and to resolve

disputes, Thomas and Emily arranged a mar-
riage between their son Gideon and Kath-
erine Eningowuk, the daughter of Joseph
Eningowuk. In 1923, when Thomas and the
others were at Ublasaun, Joseph Eningowuk
had been a large owner and the chief herder
of one of the Shishmaref herds. In fact, that
year Joseph owned 284 of the total 905 rein-
deer in this herd, with four other herders hav-
ing nearly 100 reindeer each. In 1984 Gideon
described his 1937 marriage as follows:

Someone has talked—has planned
us, That’s the way it tumed out to be. I
guess I wasn’t really for it at first, and
at first she wasn’t really my choice. But
we just have to listen to the older people.
[Barr 1984]

Gideon and Katherine had a stillborn son the
following year.

After the passage of the Reindeer Act,
the federal government continued to attempt
to control the Ifupiat in all aspects of herd-
ing. For example, government officials wrote
frequent circular letters to “Eskimo” owners
encouraging or, more appropriately, ordering
them to carry out the carlier policy of main-
taining close and constant herding, construct
more corrals and cabins, kill wolves, con-
duct more thorough roundups, and divert
the profits from the sale of reindeer into the
management of the company as opposed to
the benefit of the shareholders.

Thomas’s revived hopes for his
family’s success in the reindeer industry were
dealt a severe blow during the harsh winter
of 1938 to 1939, when as many as half of the
reindeer throughout Alaska perished. During
that winter, Gideon and his wife Katherine
lived in Shishmaref, while Thomas and Em-
ily remained at Singiq. In 1939 the adminis-

62

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

ary, education, and reindeer herding history
of Alaska.

Sheldon Jackson, born in 1834 to a
dedicated Presbyterian family, was educated
at Union College in New York and became
an ordained Presbyterian minister upon grad-
uation from Princeton Theological Seminary
in 1857 (Stewart 1908:18, 32). Significantly,
Lewis Henry Morgan, one of the “fathers”
of American social evolutionary theory, had
graduated from Union College in 1844, and
by 1851, had published his first major work,
The League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, or Iro-
quois (Service 1985:16). Morgan’s work was
to influence the nation’s view of the “noble”
but “primitive” indigenous peoples of the
Americas.

Jackson attempted to join the Presby-
terian foreign ministry as soon as he became
ordained:

In the early days of the settlement of
the West, the work of evangelizing the
North American Indians, in so far as this
was attempted, and carried on exclu-
sively through the agency of the [Pres-
byterian] Board of Foreign Missions.
The stations to which its missionaries
were sent were usually on reservations,
remote from civilization, and virtually
outside its pale. Within the limits of
the Indian Territory, the largest of these
reservations, there were motley group-
ings of Indians, representing several of
the aboriginal confederacies and tribes
of half-breeds of various colour; and
also of negroes, who were held as slaves,
[Stewart 1908:40]

Jackson was driven by an energetic
ambition or obsession to participate in bring-
ing civilization and Protestant Christianity
to the “uncivilized,” “primitive,” “savage,”

29 66

and “pagan” indigenous Native Americans of

the United States (Jackson 1880). In pur-
suit of this goal, he pushed westward from
his parish in Minnesota, chaplainship in the
Civil War, and position as reservation school
teacher in Oklahoma to serve for the Presby-
terian Home Mission in delivering his mes-
sage to a broad area in the west, from Canada
to the Rio Grande (Lazell 1960; Stewart
1908:236). Between 1870 and 1882 Jack-
son was superintendent of the Presbyterian
Home Missions (Beaver 1988:455; Lazell
1960). Hinckley (1961:134) noted that before
shifting his attentions to Alaska, Jackson had
become convinced that the industrial school
was the most expeditious way of integrat-
ing young Native Americans into the world
of the White man (Stewart 1908:328). In
historical perspective, the view of Jackson
as a heroic figure in Alaska Native history
has been pervasive both in the past and more
present times. In his monumental and classic
survey of “Eskimos” originally published in
1936, Birket-Smith represents this view:

(After 19th century Euro-American
contact with Eskimos], there were lefi
only the miserable dregs of a people
ruined and demoralized when at last the
United States began an energetic cam-
paign of restoration which has been as
rapid as it has been successful. The name
that will for all time be remembered in
this connexion [sic] is that of Dr. Shel-
don Jackson...To change a pronouncedly
hunting people into herdsmen would
seem a difficult task, but that transforma-
tion which once gradually took place
under aboriginal conditions on Siberian
soil was successfully achieved by the
Americans in Alaska in a very few years.
(Birket-Smith 1959:220-221]

In 1877, Jackson made his first trip
to Southeast Alaska as a representative of

From Hunters to Herders

71


prom HUNTERS 70 HERDERS

THE TRANSFORMATION
OF EARTH, SOCIETY, AND HEAVEN
AMONG THE INUPIAT OF BERINGIA

By
Linda J. Ellanna
and George K. Sherrod

PLEASE RETURN TO:
TECHNICAL INFORMATION CENTER
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

August 2004


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

though the facts show that, except for a
few months spent at Sitka, he never did
any missionary work in Alaska during
his 30 years of service. He has also been
represented as having undergone great
hardships and as having made many per-
ilous journeys; but this is also untrue, for
nearly all his trips were made on steam-
ers. Above all, Dr. Jackson had been
credited with a profound knowledge of
Alaska. This is a great exaggeration, for
at best his knowledge was very superfi-
cial, In fact, it was his ignorance of the
physical conditions in the Northland
and of its people which led him to make
many egregious blunders of administra-
tion. Another factor coupled with this
was Jackson’s fondness for sensational
statements, no doubt in part developed
as necessary to the propaganda to which
he devoted most of his life. Jackson also
had a weakness for being the central
figure in every situation and was given
to taking credit to himself for the work
of others, [Brooks 1973:494-495]

Lopp was not an ordained clergy-
man when he initially came to Alaska in the
early 1890s, although associated with the
American Missionary Association while a
teacher at Wales (Roberts 1978:223). Roberts
(1978:23), in writing about the history of the
Society of Friends in Alaska, concluded that
Lopp was more interested in the quality of
secular education of Alaska Natives than in
their proselytization. This was at odds with
the Society of Friends mission philosophy
of the early 1900s, which concluded that the
imminent coming of Christ made it useless
to focus much attention on the secular edu-
cation of Natives (Roberts 1978:223). Not
being an ordained pastor, Lopp could not
perform weddings and had to call on Brevig
at Teller for undertaking such functions
Gohnshoy 1944:37).

Mr. Lopp was not a pastor, but he
was a college graduate and had taken
much interest in Biblical study, yet he
courteously waited until I came so that
we together might the better answer any
questions which we raised [regarding
explaining the Bible]. [Brevig’s view as
recounted in Johnshoy 1944:97]

Though to some degree Lopp bought
into the assimilationist model promoted by
both missionaries and the government, he
and his wife were positively disposed to-
ward, and very knowledgeable about, the
liiupiat, as was well described by his wife
Ellen in her letters to family (Smith 1984).
In fact, thetr older children spoke Ifiupiaq
fluently and one was given only an Ifiuptaq
name (Smith 1984). Lopp never had been a
proponent of White ownership of reindeer,
or either Siberian or Sami instruction of the
Ifiupiaq apprentices and herders (Andrews
1939).

Between 1903 and 1907, the number
of reindeer in Alaska increased from 6,505 to
approximately 15,839. Of these, 6,406 were
owned by 114 herders and apprentices, with
an average herd size of 56 animals. Again,
the range of variation between the number of
reindeer owned by apprentices and the herds
of independent owners, which averaged | 12
animals, was considerable (Olson 1969a:37).
In retrospect, one of Jackson’s biographers
(Stewart 1908:413) saw the reindeer popula-
tion increase and associated expansion of
Alaska missions as illustrative of Jackson’s
heroic contributions:

These figures [reindeer counts]
indicate, beyond all question, or doubt,
that the reindeer industry is now well
established in Alaska. It has become a
part of its educational system and has

From Hunters to Herders

97


lives and habits and influences were at
variance with the underlying influences
and principles which from the beginning
of its history have made our land stable
and strong. [Stewart 1908:131-132]

Hooper, captain of the Marine Rev-
enue steamer Corwin, portrayed Native
religion similarly during his 1880 trip to the
Arctic. Of the Ifupiat of Northwest Alaska,
he stated:

Like all Indians, these are very
superstitious, While hunting the white
whale they are not allowed to chop
wood, dig in the earth, sew, tan skins,
and many other things, for fear the spirit
that controls the movements of the white
whales will take offense and not permit
them to return the next season. When
the whaling is completed they collect
the bones and burn them; those who can
afford it burn the clothes wom while
whaling, the poorer natives paying trib-
ute to the “God of the White Whale,” by
cutting off and burning a small piece of
some garment. [Hooper 1964:24-25]

When the missionization of Alaska
began, it was assumed that the Native
peoples of Alaska lacked an awareness of
the “true” or Christian god—in “spiritual”
want of the teachings of Christianity and
ultimate salvation. Although missionaries
recognized these “pagan” beliefs, practices,
and practitioners embraced by Natives in
general, and the Ifiupiat more specifically to
this case, they had little understanding of the
integration of these components into a func-
tional ideological system or “religion.” They
viewed the Ifiupiat as practicing mere “idola-
try” based on the forces of evil. However,
to the Ifiupiat, indigenous belief systems
included explanations for the creation of the
world or, more broadly, the universe; strict

CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF “HEAVEN”

moral codes of behavior between all existing
entities intended to keep the cosmos in bal-
ance; concepts of souls, spirits, and passages
through different states of being (e.g., birth,
death, rebirth); and the ability of the indi-
vidual and spiritual specialists to influence
creatures, phenomena, and powers.

The Ifupiaq stories of creation, as
recounted in oral tradition, were intended to
provide the listener with an understanding
of how the world came to be. Through the
telling of oral histories, the Inupiat were able
to transmit, across generations, an under-
standing of the order of their universe and
the meaning of the rules or norms (““mor-
als”) that governed the interactions of all
entities occupying this cosmos. Conversely,
to Western theologians, the ability to recite
Biblical passages associated with the creation
of the universe and conduct “proper” behav-
ior, based on the word of God, was of greater
significance than was the comprehension of
the message.

In recounting the reactions of Na-
tives to his Sunday school sermon, minister
Brevig’s misunderstanding of Ifupiaq oral
history and comprehension of the universe
of which they were a part was overtly dis-
played:

Several Sundays were required for
the presentation of the story of creation,
for concerning this there were many
questions to be answered, especially
from the witch doctor. And yet these
people were more readily taught and
convinced than are doubters amongst
civilized people. Our doubters, as a rule,
refuse to believe the truth which they
already have heard, while the heathen
have nol heard the truth before, but
are seekers after the truth...[t was not
impossible to implant the concept of
God in their soul because they already

From Hunters to Herders

171


CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

ing to summer fishing locations. They set
rawhide nets for whitefish, trout, and salmon.
Men in kayaks drove beluga, which entered
the channels and estuaries associated with
Shishmaref Inlet and the Serpentine River
following schools of herring, into shallow
water where the animals were speared. Small
seals and caribou were opportunistically
taken during the summer. As in the case of
Deering, berries were collected in late sum-
mer (Eisler 1978:17-19).

In the fall, families traveled to the
mouths of rivers and lagoons to seine for
tomcod and herring. Boat loads of fish were
acquired in this manner. Hunters focused
their attention on the southwardly migrat-
ing waterfowl and sea mammals, primarily
spotted seals and young ugruk. Whitefish
were netted as well. After freezeup, families
returned to the winter village from where the
annual cycle would start yet again (Eisler
1978:19-20),

Caribou products and the pelts of
wolves and otters were acquired by means
of trade with people living farther inland
and having greater access to caribou. Highly
desired reindeer skins used for clothing and
bedding were obtained from Siberian traders
(Eisler 1978:21).

Unlike their Deering area neighbors,
the people of the coast in the area of Shish-
maref were reluctant to harvest brown bears.
The aversion on the part of the coastal dwell-
ers to taking these animals was, in part, asso-
ciated with the belief that angatkuut (sha-
mans) transmutated into this species, thereby
potentially causing death and misfortune to a
hunter taking such prey (Eisler 1978:17).

In the cases of both Deering and
Shishmaref—as we have concluded was
the situation at Cape Espenberg—semi-

permanent winter villages were seasonally
the largest and most enduring communities
and were the focus of societal, family, and
individual identities some part of each year
(usually during the coldest winter months),
though local families seasonally occupied
multiple smaller satellite settlements.. Fre-
quently, a winter village had minimally one
qazgi—sometimes multiples of these institu-
tions, each of which was associated with an
umialiq. The qazgis were the institutional
manifestations of intrasocietal and, at times,
intersocietal ceremonialism. These large win-
ter villages were relatively numerous and,

in conjunction with their associated season-
ally occupied camps and resource use areas
within territorial boundaries, formed neigh-
boring contiguous areas of occupation and
activity (Ray 1983:173-226). The movement
of the Ifupiat across the land and sea was
neither random nor opportunistic, but rather
highly patterned, and was based on winter
village and societal affiliation, in addition to
resource availability.

Within societal boundaries, extended
or local families had usufruct rights to key
resource harvesting areas, such as trap lines,
fish camps, and fall marine or terrestrial
hunting sites. For the Ifiupiat, as well as
other northern hunter-gatherers, access to
these areas of resource extraction was based
on continuity of use by familial units and,
for individuals, on her or his consanguineal,
affinal, or “fictive” ties to a particular group
of kin (cf., Ellanna and Balluta 1992 for the
Dena’ ina Athabascans; Feit 1991 for the Cree
Algonquians). Primary rights to land and
resources established through consanguineal
models endured throughout the lifetime of an
individual, despite his or her gaining second-
ary privilege elsewhere on the basis of affinal

120

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

assumed that women were inconsequential in
matters of reindeer ownership, management,
and distribution. To the extent that reindeer
were conceptually more akin to harvested
game than living wild resources (see chap-
ter 6 below), it is highly unlikely that some
level of control over the former by wives and
mothers of male owners was either trivial or
non-existent.

Field and archival data minimally
indicated that women facilitated and partici-
pated in arranged marriages for purposes of
consolidating reindeer wealth. Because they
controlled the distribution of harvested game,
it is likely that women had a covert role in
the sale or redistribution of reindeer and their
products. Additionally, during periods when
men were either occupied in the pursuit of
harvestable local wild resources or engaged
in temporary wage employment, women
and children provided the necessary labor
to guard, corral, mark, and butcher reindeer
(Andrews 1939), Furthermore, there is a
stronger case for arguing the inheritance of
reindeer herds from mothers to their married
daughters than from fathers to their sons. In
such cases, sons-in-law, their brothers, and
maternal grandsons, if available, normally
carried out most of the pragmatic day-to-day
activities associated with herding.

Implications for Ublasaun

The settlement of Ublasaun mirrored the
themes of social stratification typical of the
Inupiat of Northwest Alaska in the early
1900s. Thomas Makaiqtaq Barr and his
brothers and eldest brother’s sons, who had
become active in reindeer herding, provided

a core of productive males around whom
this temporary winter grazing settlement was
established. Social hierarchy in this group

of consanguineally related men was based
on status associated with relative age, with
Thomas holding a senior position. A set of
affinal relatives were associated with Thomas
and his brothers and eldest brother’s sons.
The person with the most tenuous social
status at this site was the herding apprentice
Gordon Dimmick, who later was to gain ac-
cess to the family through means of a marital
alliance with Peter Barr’s wife’s sister Mary.

The dissolution of the winter com-
munity at Ublasaun was related, in part, to its
location as a winter reindeer herding site—a
place in which the supply of mosses and
lichens eventually became depleted. Addi-
tionally, the mixing of distinct herds at the
summer range at Cape Espenberg and chang-
ing governmental policies both played a sig-
nificant role in the abandonment of Ublasaun
as a winter settlement and in the formation
of the Cape Espenberg Reindeer Company
and the Nuglunguktuk Reindeer Company
based at Deering. When the cooperativization
or in corporation of the reindeer herds into
companies occurred, Thomas retained pri-
mary status in the Nuglunguktuk Company
as president; and other of his male relatives,
including his son Gideon, served in various
official capacities throughout the following
years.

Ublasaun had been a productive
seasonal spring and fall seal netting site
throughout history. However, it was marginal
as a winter village due to the absence of a
lagoon. Lagoons and rivers provided the set-
ting in which fishing and other harvest activi-
ties occurred, allowing the participation of
a wide spectrum of age and gender cohorts,

148

From Hunters to Herders


5S AUN

THE SITE CONSISTS OF THE RUINS

OF SODHOUSES, "inipiag," AND

ASSOCIATED STRUCTURES, SUCH
AS RAISED POLE CACHES, "igigaq,"
PIT CACHES, "sigqlaag," DOG YARDS

Peter Kahlook Barr
Bessie Sikinguag Okie
Children: Roy, David,
and Lydia

Lloyd Koonuk and Margaret
Children: Rudoiph, Ernest,
and Daisy

:

"pituklit," AND BOAT RACKS, "umiaquik."

SHEET

Thomas Makaiqtaq Sarr
Emily Paizuzrag Kiyutelluk
Children: Fannie, Gideon
Elijah, Bessie, and Mary

DELINEATEO BY: JAMES € CREECH, 1993

REINDEER HERDERS' CAMP circa 1925

ALASKA

(LATE FALL )

UBLASAUN

SHAREO BERINGIAN HERITAGE PROGRAM

ONE MAN'S HERITAGE PROJECT

eve

WATIONAL Paw
UNsaD prATER OGPARTIONT OF Tam INTERIOR

—



CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

and be compelled to feed and maintain
one more person in the future; that is,
the one who saved the life [the shaman],

according to their views. [Jackson 1896:
88]

While visiting Wales in 1901, Char-
lie Kittredge, Ellen Lopp’s brother, reported
passing a house where a shaman was work-
ing and that there was great drumming. The
Ifiupiat allowed him to observe the shaman
healing a man who was ill. Curing by the
healer entailed getting the evil spirit into the
angatkuut’s mouth and blowing it out the
door (Smith 1984:356). It should be noted
that this observation was made after Wil-
liam Lopp had been residing and teaching in
Wales for more than a decade.

In part, because reindeer failed to
become the economic focus for the Ifiupiat of
the northern Seward Peninsula and southern
Kotzebue Sound and people continued to
rely on obtaining wild local resources—eco-
nomic activities encouraged by most mis-
sionaries—many aspects of indigenous
views pertaining to the relationship between
humans and animals persisted. That is, since
the Ifiupiat not only chose, but were strongly
encouraged to continue hunting, fishing,
trapping, and gathering, their views about
the spirituality of all entities found in nature
and beyond basically remained intact. For
example, from the perspective of the Ifupiat,
the maintenance of amicable relationships
with the spirits or souls of animals and their
guardians—established and maintained by
thoughts and appropriate behaviors—was
critical to hunting success.

More importantly, the ignorance of
missionaries about the multifaceted and in-
terconnected spiritual relationships between
the Ifiupiat and the empirical and non-em-

pirical aspects of their environment shielded
these facets of the indigenous worldview
from direct attack. However, as in the case
described above of the women using both
shamanic drumming and prayer to stop the
storm and save the stranded Ifiupiagq, har-
vesters frequently incorporated Christian
amulets and actions, such as crosses, Bibles,
and prayer, into the indigenous repertoire of
measures used to maintain the balance of the
universe.

While in the Western perspective,
humans were expected to demonstrate mas-
tery over land and resources, this perception
negligibly influenced Ifiupiaq ideology, both
in the early years of Euro-American contact
and up until the 1990s (cf., Ingold 1987:133;
Wenzel 1991). With the exception of the no-
tion of stewardship over domestic dogs and,
later, reindeer, examples of the integration of
the notion that humans are dominant over life
forms were missing from the ethnographic,
ethnohistorical, and historical records.

As described above in the tale of how
caribou became domesticated reindeer (chap-
ter 3), it was through the caribou’s consump-
tion of human urine and lengthy contact with
a man that this animal was transformed from
wild prey into a being requiring the care of
humans, By becoming tame, the reindeer
lost the autonomy and self sufficiency of the
caribou. Thus, as indicated in the history of
reindeer herding from the perspective of the
Ifupiat, close herding consisting of pro-
longed contact between man and animal was
favored over its “open” alternative.

Conversely, in the case of the Utu-
kok River people, who were neighbors of
the Ifiupiat of the study area and who were
referred to as “Wolf People,” caribou re-
tained their natural characteristics, while the

180

From Hunters to Herders


GLOSSARY

Inupiag (plural: Inupiat)

ishuma

kinship

land tenure
Maniilaq

manifest destiny

materialism

matrilateral descent

numina

ontological

open herding

paradigm

parallel cousins

Alaska Native group primarily occupying the northern
regions of the state.

The Nunamiut (inland Inupiaq) mind soul, which pro-
vided memory and problem solving abilities and was the
repository of emotion.

The social recognition and expression of genealogical
relationships, both affinal and consanguineal. Kinship
systems may include socially recognized relationships
based on supposed, as well as actual, genealogical ties.

The act, right, manner, or term of holding land.
Inupiaq prophet.

A future event accepted as inevitable; in the mid-nine-
teenth century, expansion of the country to the Pacific
was regarded as the Manifest Destiny of the United
States.

The theory that physical matter is the only or fundamen-
tal reality and that all beings, processes, and phenomena
can be explained as manifestations or results of matter.

A form of kinship in which descent is traced through the
female line.

In upiaq indwelling, guiding forces or spirits that
include three primary classes of metaphysical beings: dif-
ferentially functioning souls, spirits, and ifiua.

Relating to or based upon being and existence.

A technique in which herders allow animals to roam free
as if living in the wild, only to be handled at specific
times in the year, such as during fawning.

A philosophical and theoretical framework of a scientific
school within which theories, laws, generalizations and
the experiments performed in support of them are formu-
lated.

Cousins who are related to each other through a same-sex
parent link (for example, the child of your father’s broth-
er or your mother’s sister is your parallel cousin).

200

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

the hearty support and good-will of
every one of the ministers and teachers
[at] the thirty-eight or more missionary
settlements which now dot the surface
of the habitable portion of Alaska. It
has awakened energies and ambitions
which hitherto have lain dormant; it has
furnished an object tesson to the natives
in economizing their possessions and

in doing its part alongside the Church
and school in transforming the starving,
dying Eskimos into well-fed, self-sup-
porting, and self-respecting American
citizens. [Stewart 1908:413]

There were an estimated 19,322
reindeer in Alaska in 1908 at 23 stations, and
46 percent of the stock was Native owned
(USBOE 1909:1048, 1054). These included
Shishmaref No. | and Deering No. | (also
called Lane River) herds, both of which were
established in 1905. The Shishmaref herd,
to be kept south of Shishmaref Inlet, was
formed with 398 reindeer from the Wales
herd, including animals owned by Thomas
Sokweena, Joseph Eningowuk, Frank Iyatun-
guk, John Sinnok, Harry Karmun, and Walter
Kiyuktuk (Jackson 1905:108). The Deer-
ing herd was established by a loan of 100
reindeer from Lopp to the Friends Mission.
Other herds established between 1905 and
1907 included Kivalina (1905) (Hall 1984:
281), Iliamna, Tanana, Icy Cape, Wainwright,
Kobuk, Sinuk, Igloo, Council, Golsovia,
Shaktoolik, and Egavik (Jackson 1909:1051-
1053). Minimally, by 1905 there were other
independent herds not reported by Jackson,
including that of Thomas Makaiqtaq Barr,
living between Shishmaref and Cape Espen-
berg. The stated intent was to have the gov-
ernment manage the Alaska Reindeer Service
once again to benefit Natives:

During the past year the reindeer en-

terprise has been administered primarily
to benefit the natives. The chief object
has been to bring about a more rapid
and a more general distribution among
the natives of the reindeer belonging

to the Government, the missions, and
the Lapps, in order that the increase of
the herds might be theirs [the Natives’]
and the reindeer enterprise thus become
in fact a native industry. In this object
we have succeeded only in so far as the
government reindeer are concerned.
[USBOE 1909:1046]

The 1907 annual report was written
by Harlan Updegraff, Chief of the Alaska
Division for the Commission of Educa-
tion, based in New York (USBOE 1908).
Updegraff’s view of Alaska Natives reflected
no enlightenment over the Eurocentric and
sociocultural evolutionary modeled biases
and overt racism of Jackson and his support-
ers, as revealed by thts internally inconsistent
statement:

He [the Alaska Native] has accepted
the Christian religion, he prefers the
white man’s food and clothing, and he
[has]is adopted the structure of the white
man’s house whenever he is financially
able. Furthermore, in many parts of
Alaska his income is derived from labor
performed for the white man...The na-
tive races may be elevated to a higher
standard of civilization only through a
system of education which recognizes
the community as the unit of effort and
the individual as the subunit.

The laws of nature bind the in-
dividual to his own social stock by
such strong ties that they can rarely be
broken. The social habits and impulses
which have been inherited or established
by social contact in the early years shape
the life of the individual. ..Jt must be
remembered that the advancement of an
inferior race is not dependent upon the

98

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

shaman.

The Ifiupiat of the Seward Peninsula,
Bering Strait, north and northeastern Norton
Sound, and south and southeastern Kotze-
bue Sound had minimally three distinctive
economic patterns during the early histori-
cal period. These subsistence patterns to a
greater or lesser degree, persisted well into
the mid-1900s—the temporal period of con-
cern here (Ray 1975:104).

Those people located at Cape Nome,
Cape Prince of Wales, and offshore islands
(King, the Diomedes, and Sledge) special-
ized in the hunting of large marine mammals
from umiags, or skinboats (Bockstoce 1979;
Bogojavlensky 1969; Ellanna 1983a; Kaplan
1988; Ray 1983:173-226). Those sea mam-
mals of specific interest included the bow-
head whale and/or Pacific walrus, although
gray whales, beluga, and other smaller
whales, as well as bearded and three species
of hair seals, were taken as well. Residents
of these insular or insular-like (e.g., Cape
Prince of Wales) communities developed
maritime skills and technology associated
with their focus on large marine mammal
hunting, including sophisticated and acute
navigational proficiency and extraordinarily
large walrus hide covered umiaqs.

These large and seaworthy crafts
facilitated the dominance of these Ifiupiat
over intercontinental trade with the Siberian
Yupik and Chukchi of the coast of the Chu-
kotsk Peninsula; the Kauweramiut of the
interior Seward Peninsula; and Ifiupiat who
resided north and northeast along the Chuk-
chi Sea and Kotzebue Sound coasts mini-
mally to Point Hope and south and southeast
through Bering Strait, along the Bering Sea
and Norton Sound, to the northern mouth of
the Yukon Delta (Saint Michael after 1833).

These large-sea-mammal hunters partici-
pated in symbiotic relationships between the
islands and the coastal mainland and inte-
rior dwellers of both Alaska and Chukotka.
In large part, such symbiotic relationships
were a product of diversity of each group’s
geographic and overall environmental condi-
tions. Wales, which is more like an island
because of the mountainous barriers isolating
it (Ellanna 1983a), had a settlement pattern
similar to the islands in the 1890s and early
1900s—that is, the majority of people left
the village during the summer for trading and
fishing at locations considerably distant from
the winter village (Smith 1984:244).

While all Iftupiat of the Seward Pen-
insula and adjacent islands hunted caribou,
often traveling some distance to do so (cf.,
Bockstoce 1979; Burch 1984:306-307; Os-
walt 1967:93-94; Ray 1975:104, 1984:287-
289; Wells 1974), only the settlements and
societies of the interior Seward Peninsula and
southern Kotzebue Sound practiced the sec-
ond primary economic pattern of the study
area—cooperative caribou hunting. For these
purposes, the Ifiupiat of the interior Seward
Peninsula (generally referred to as the Kauw-
eramiut) and the Malimiut of the Goodhope
River, Buckland, and Candle areas special-
ized in this subsistence pattern in the 1800s
and, in some cases, the early 1900s, as did
many groups residing in the interior to the
north that were either wiped out or dispersed
to the coast in response to Euro-American
trade, disease related deaths and the attendant
relocation of survivors to intact communities
located along the coast, and a decline in the
number of caribou (Burch 1975; Hall 1984:
345; Ray 1975:106; Wolfe 1982).

Spencer (1959:6-7; 1984:279) argued
for a strict ecological dichotomy between

From Hunters to Herders

19


GLOSSARY

semisubterranean houses

shaman

sila

social Darwinism

social organization

social stratification

sociopolitical typology

status

syncretism
tuttum
ugruk
ummialigpuk

umialig (plural: umialiit)

umiag (plural: umiat)

umiagpak

Houses typical of Inupiaq groups that are constructed
partially underground, such as those at Ublasaun.

A person with supernatural powers who uses the power
to heal the sick (or cause harm), divine the hidden, or
control events.

In Ifiupiaq, a force representing the universe, weather or
intelligence.

Application of the theory of natural selection to social
organization, hence misinterpreting Darwin’s biological
theory of evolution.

The patterning of human interdependence in a given soci-
ety through the actions and decisions of its members.

A system of social classification in which various statuses
are viewed as unequal to each other.

Classification scheme based on the scale and complexity
of social organization and the effectiveness of political
regulation (includes band, tribe, chiefdom, and state).

Any position that determines where someone fits in so-
ciety; may be ascribed (gained without the choice of the
individual, such as inherited) or achieved (gained through
an individual’s efforts).

The combination of different forms of belief or practice.
Ifiupiaq for caribou.
Ifiupiaq for bearded seal.

Ifupiaq for ship captain (big boat captain), such as the
captain of a Revenue cutter or steamer.

Ifiupiag for boat captain, boss or rich man; indicates
someone of very high status within a society or commu-

nity.
Ifiupiaq for boat or skinboat.

Ifiupiaq for ship or big boat, such as a Revenue Cutter or
Steamer.

202

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

group who were forbidden to use their own
language. Rather, the condemnation of the
language was seen to facilitate the process
of dividing people from their “primitive”
and “uncivilized” practices and traditions.
Of course, the goals of these efforts to bring
about cultural assimilation and transforma-
tion were placed in the framework of human-
itarian aid and relief to the Eskimos ravaged
by immoral “white men” in their selfish
pursuit of resources and wealth.

Jackson’s interests went far beyond
the organization and implementation of
formal schools, however. As a firm believer
in the concept of industrial training schools,
Jackson envisioned them to be a means for
“civilizing” people who were principally
hunters, fishers, trappers, and gatherers—the
way of life of all indigenous peoples of
Alaska at the time of Euro-American con-
tact and throughout the period of time that
Jackson was involved in the missionary and
reindeer herding efforts in Northwest Alaska.
To Jackson, reindeer herding in the Alaska
context was the means of realizing the goals
of industrialization and economic change
essential for bringing about the social and
cultural evolution of hunters and gatherers
into civilized people (Stewart 1908:387).
Moreover, reindeer contributed to Jackson’s
desires to settle and develop Alaska without
any concern for Natives.

Even before Jackson had purchased
the 16 expendable reindeer of 1891, he had
sent a letter to the president of the Tacoma,
Washington, Chamber of Commerce, urging
support of his pending Congressional ap-
propriations. In the entire letter there is not a
whisper that the reindeer were being bought
for the benefit of the Eskimo. Instead, he
said, “The introduction of domesticated rein-

deer from Siberia into Alaska will build up
a new industry and greatly add to the com-
merce of the Puget Sound Ports as well as to
that of the whole Pacific coast.” (Ray 1965:
94 citing a letter of January 1891 from Jack-
son to the President of the Tacoma Chamber
of Commerce).

Although Jackson directed the teach-
ers to provide instruction, in English, to
the Native students in reading, writing, and
arithmetic, they also were expected to teach
health, sanitation, carpentry, domestic skills,
morality, and, importantly, were required
to undertake the supervision of the reindeer
enterprise commencing the summer of 1892.

After his trip to Alaska in 1890,
Jackson lobbied in Washington for a govern-
ment appropriation to realize the importation
of reindeer (Jackson 1893:11; Lazell 1960:
91; Stewart 1908:388-389). The resourceful
Jackson used missionary publications and
general newspaper media to obtain personal
donations for importing reindeer during the
summer of 1891. He was successful in rais-
ing $2,146 from private contributors (Jack-
son 1896:11; Stewart 1908:389). During the
summer of 1891, when Lopp was conduct-
ing a survey of reindeer range potential on
the Seward Peninsula, Jackson and Healy
on the cutter Bear purchased 16 reindeer to
prove that reindeer successfully could be
transported by ship (Jackson 1893:9; Stew-
art 1908:390). Jackson and Healy held the
reindeer aboard the ship for approximately
three weeks and landed them at Unalaska  ;
in the Aleutian Islands (Jackson 1893:27).
Although none survived the winter on the is-
land, Jackson and Healy had made their point
about the feasibility of successful transporta-
tion of reindeer over a much longer distance
than would be the case in the Bering Strait

78

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 8: CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE

does the population of their predators (Guen-
ther 1994, personal communication). The
federal government’s promotion of open and
cooperative herding in the late 1920s im-
pinged upon the herders’ abilities to protect
their stock.

From the standpoint of the develop-
ment ofan economically viable industry of
national magnitude, the restriction of own-
ership to Natives after 1937 was counter-
productive. Obstacles including the lack of
an adequate means of communication and
banking facilities, as well as cultural differ-
ences, made it highly unlikely that indige-
nous peoples scattered in villages and camps
on the Seward Peninsula could develop and
maintain profitable entrepreneurial relation-
ships with commercial interests located in
the contiguous United States. The federal
government failed to provide the technical
assistance theoretically necessary to amelio-
rate these limiting conditions.

Similarly, erratic government poli-
cies concerning reindeer herding in Alaska
negated attempts at planning on the part of
both the herders and local superintendents,
and created an attitude of mutual distrust
and frustration. Furthermore, not only were
the “official” policies inconsistent through
time, but their implementation at the local
level depended on the diverse and oftentimes
contradictory philosophies, capabilities, and
hidden agendas of both mission and govern-
ment superintendents.

Lastly, as Olson (1969a) recognized,
the importation of reindeer herding was un-
successful as a mechanism for bringing about
the social and economic change of the Tiiu-
piat of Northwest Alaska. As indicated by the
Bureau of Indian Affairs report cited above
(Little 1963), by the early 1960s the govern-

ment apparently had forgotten that this was
Jackson’s repeatedly stated justification for
initially importing reindeer to Alaska.

However, while the conclusions
described above have validity, they are two-
dimensional. Like blueprints and flowcharts,
they address this historical topic from a
technical or mechanical perspective, but fail
to consider the myriad of human motivations
and actions that bore causative relationships
to the outcomes—the human dimension.
These conclusions approach the obvious and
are akin to what Wolf (1982:ix) referred to
in the quotation above as “commonplace” in
nature. Most notably, previous accounts and
interpretations of this event in Alaska Native
history have either ignored or paid well-in-
tended lip service to the Ifiupiat as actors in
this most complex and absorbing drama (cf.
Wenzel 1991:25). They also lacked a holistic
perspective. That is, previous accounts, for
the most part, have failed to place the unfold-
ing story into a number of critical contexts,
including the ideological and intellectual par-
adigms of the White and Ifiupiaq actors, the
global arena, and the sociopolitical climate
of the time. Finally, the rigorous academic
scrutiny applied to pastoral endeavors and
other transformations of modes of production
elsewhere in the North by Ingold (1988) has
not been applied in the Alaska case.

Some additional and/or alternative
conclusions are presented below in an effort
to synthesize the aspects of this study that,
hopefully, have contributed greater depth and
breadth to an understanding of the Alaska
reindeer experience. As such, this treatment
also examines the Ifiupiat role as an active
player rather than a passive recipient in the
scenario of Euro-American contact and so-
ciocultural change in Northwest Alaska.

188

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

the Presbyterian Home Mission, albeit with
no official church authority in the territory
(Stewart 1908:236, 340). His coming to
Alaska was, in large part, the result of this
general Protestant movement into the frontier
(Beaver 1988) and, more specifically, related
to Jackson’s reading a letter from army Pri-
vate J. S. Brown stationed at Fort Wrangell
to General Howard that described the precar-
ious conditions of Alaska Native at the hand
of Whites (Lazell 1960:53). Jackson was
deeply disturbed about what he termed the
“low moral status of the Indians,” for which
he blamed, in part, the White man (Lazell
1960:14). He was also concerned about the
Tlingit and Haida practice of slavery, which
was a violation of the “Christian concept of
the worth of the individual, and also a viola-
tion of the Constitution” (Lazell 1960:17). As
a result of this visit, a school was established
at Fort Wrangell in 1877 under the Presbyte-
rian ministry (Bancroft 1970:710).

Jackson perceived Alaska to be the
most fertile and receptive setting for continu-
ing his life-long goal of civilizing and pros-
elytizing the indigenous people of the west-
em and northern United States and its new
territory of Alaska. Jackson made more than
900 public addresses about Alaska between
1877 and 1883 and was instrumental in the
effort to create a Presbytery of Alaska. He
also lobbied throughout the United States for
both private and public funds for industrial
schools/missions and encouraged the settle-
ment and development of the new territory
(Hinckley 1961:76, 134; Stewart 1908:271).
According to Jackson, Henry M. Teller, who
was Secretary of the Interior in 1894, and
Commissioner of Education John Eaton,
industrial schools were the most expeditious
way of incorporating young aborigines into

the White world (Hinckley 1961:134).

Jackson’s efforts throughout the
period of missionizing Alaska and introduc-
ing reindeer herding closely involved mu-
tual support of women’s Christian groups.
According to Stewart (1908:263), Jackson
was both the proposer and first advocate
of concerted action among women of the
Presbyterian Church. Women became a main
lobbying target for Jackson’s missionary ac-
tivities throughout his career (Hinckley 1961:
79-80; Stewart 1908:256-263). In part, he
achieved the support of Christian women by
giving public speeches about the exploitation
of Native women as being treated like chat-
tel, bought by miners, sold into prostitution,
forced to marry old men, and other terrible
fates, such as the alleged widespread practice
of female infanticide, vastly exaggerating
these claims (Hinckley 1961:88).

From 1877 until 1884 Jackson’s
continued intense missionary efforts through
schools in Southeastern Alaska. To Jackson,
there was an inextricable link between teach-
ers and preachers, with the former provid-
ing the latter a means of gaining access to
indigenous peoples. From the date of his first
visit to Alaska, Jackson sought interviews
with members of Congress, wrote letters to
influential people, and efficiently used public
media urging the establishment of public
schools and the formation of a provisional
government in the territory. Given the in-
tellectual climate of the time in the United
States, Jackson’s social evolutionary and
assimilationist views were shared by many of
the country’s most elite and powerful.

After the passage of the Organic Act
of 1884 that provided for a modicum of gov-
ernance and $25,000 for the “education of
children of school age in the territory, with-

From Hunters to Herders

73


CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

Introduction

The Bering Land Bridge National Preserve is
located on the Seward Peninsula in Northwest
Alaska, stretching along the northern coastline
of the Chukchi Sea and extending southward
inland to the Bendeleben Mountains (Figure 1).
The preserve is named after the Bering Land
Bridge, a prehistoric land mass that connected
Siberia and Alaska, creating a “bridge” be-
tween Asia and North America that allowed for
the migration of plants, animals, and people
between the new and old worlds. Established
in 1980 by a presidential proclamation (Schaaf
1996:1), the Bering Land Bridge National
Preserve was created in response to the dearth
of scientific information present, comprising
data relevant to various disciplines such as an-
thropology, archaeology, biology, climatology,
ecology, geology, and geomorphology, among
others.

The following report is a part of a larger
effort titled the One Man’s Heritage Project,
sponsored by the National Park Service’s
Shared Beringian Heritage Program. The
Shared Beringian Heritage Program was cre-
ated in 1991 to foster scientific research and
an exchange of ideas between Russian and
American scientists, land managers, and Native
peoples. Specifically, the program was devel-
oped by the National Park Service to provide
background information relevant to planning

the proposed Beringian Heritage Inter-
national Park in partnership with Russia.
Toward this effort, it is the objective of
the Shared Beringian Heritage Program to
bring together a variety of specialists from
various disciplines to work on a specific
research topic or problem.

The One Man’s Heritage Project is
the result of such collaboration. Originally
conceived by Project Manager Jeanne
Schaaf, the project consists of a long-term,
integrated study of early twentieth century
Ifiupiaq reindeer herding, including human
ecology, ethnohistory, ethnoarchacology,
and historical architecture (Schaaf 1996:3).
The One Man’s Heritage Project centers
around the past settlement of Ublasaun, a
former winter reindeer herding village that
is an archaeological site on the north shore
of the Seward Peninsula in the Bering
Land Bridge National Preserve. The man
is Gideon Kahlook Barr, local expert and
Ifupiaq elder who lived at Ublasaun with
his family when he was a young boy. Inter-
views with Gideon Barr, as well as with his
sister Bessie Barr Cross, comprise the core
of this report.

The following is an ethnohistory of
the introduction of reindeer herding to the
Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska, integrating
the disciplines of anthropology and history.
A glossary has been included that defines

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 8: CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE

Photo 29. Tom Kununtagq Tocktoo. He is wearing waterproof kamiks. Oil
was applied to the mukluk skin to make it more water repellent and

to keep the leather from becoming too dry. Photo by Edward Keithahn,
circa 1923, courtesy of Richard Keithahn and National Park Service (neg.

151).

194 From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

sugar, milk, coffee, and beans for fox pelts.
Some traders developed long-term relation-
ships with the Ifupiat similar to indigenous
trading partnerships. For example, while
wintering at Ublasaun, Thomas and the oth-
ers traded with John Backland, the owner
and operator of a large schooner. In subse-
quent years they traded with Backland’s son.
The high value of the pelts induced some fur
buyers to undertake risky, extensive winter
travel by dog team to beat out their maritime
competitors. In 1923, White fur buyer John
Swedler visited Ublasaun. Not only was
Swedler the first White man Thomas’s six-
year old son Gideon remembers seeing, but
the trader also taught the boy his first Eng-
lish word, “dollar.” While Gideon watched,
Thomas traded fox pelts for pieces of green
paper. Gideon was fascinated by the paper
money with pictures of strange looking men

he didn’t know.

Trader Swedler traveled by dog team
from Candle and Buckland. He acquired
his Ifiupiaq name, Kimogtetoghoruaq or “a
person that has eaten a dog,” because of a
time when he was caught in a storm and
was forced to consume one of his animals to
survive. Because people at Ublasaun traded
in the winter with overland travelers and in
summer with merchant vessels, there was
less reason for these Ifiupiat to go regularly
to any other settlement to obtain Western
goods. However, they exchanged their dol-
lars for goods periodically at the trading post
at Deering.

In April, when trapping had come
to an end, the Ublasaun families moved to
spring ugruk hunting camps up and down
the coast where the reindeer fawned. People
remained at those camps until the baby rein-

Photo 7. Paul Tocktoo is in the white parka cover with an unknown boy in black. They are standing in the
entrance to a sod house. Snow blocks were good wind-breakers and prevented snow from building up when it
blew from the north. Most of the house entrances faced south, east, or west. Photo by Edward Keithahn, circa
1923, courtesy of Richard Keithahn and National Park Service (neg. 134).

From Hunters to Herders

43


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF “HEAVEN”

tures and phenomena into distinct bounded
domains was not limited to the realm of
ecology. The Ifiupiat also distinguished
animals from one another on the basis of
their respective social relations with humans.
What is of significance in this context was
the social universe in which caribou, rein-
deer, wolves, dogs, and humans interacted.
From the perspective of the Iftupiat—the
“real people”—these social and ideological
relationships were between co-predators and
prey, and between stewards and wards (cf.,
Ingold 1988).

Oswalt reported a story about the
genesis of caribou and reindeer as told by
a man from the Unalakleet area who had
learned this tale as a boy in the Bering Strait
area,

According to this myth, Raven cre-
ated beach peas which grew on the na-
ked earth, and from one pod a full-grown
man burst forth. Raven approached,
pushed up his beak, and also became a
man...From clay Raven formed various
pairs of animals at different times and
gave life lo them. Mountain sheep were
created first, followed by reindeer and
then caribou; a woman was formed next,
to become the wife of the first man. Ra-
ven wenl on lo create certain fish as well
as other creatures and to teach the hu-
man couple how to live in their emerging
environment. [1967:211-212]

This story is of consequence, given
the explanation for the distinction between
caribou (wild reindeer) and reindeer given to
Thomas Barr by elders at Wales as recounted
in chapter 3. The narrative above (Oswalt
1967) suggests a noteworthy variance be-
tween these animals reaching far back into
the genesis of the world, whereas the latter
story argued for the distinctiveness between

these animals as resulting from their respec-
tive relationships with humans. Since Ifiupi-
aq ideology is tolerant of regional, temporal,
contextual, and experiential variation, these
two accounts were not mutually exclusive
nor inherently contradictory. Both stories
highlighted the uniqueness of these two ani-
mals—while Western biologists relegate their
differences to mere intraspecific variation.
However, the story Thomas heard at Wales in
the late 1800s elaborated on the formation of
the social bond between herders and reindeer
and hunters and caribou—between predator
and prey as opposed to steward and ward.

The Nunamiut believed that the cari-
bou possessed ifiua. As Gubser stated:

In the older days, when a man killed
a caribou he was supposed lo cut off its
head after skinning the animal. Then
the ifiua was able to return to the other
caribou and tell its relatives (generally)
that it had been freed from its body; that
is, it was said to “bring the good news”
to its relatives. Here we see the implicit
notion that caribou are essentially well
disposed toward men and do not go out
of their way to avoid being caught. The
act of cutting off the head to send the
tuttum ifiua back to the caribou is a way
of saying “thank you,” as it were, for the
meal and hides. [1965:326]

Additionally, the Nunamiut had a rich oral
tradition about Ifiupiat and caribou changing
forms, and maintained that caribou observed
human behavior and disrespected humans
who were lazy and disorderly (Gubser 1965:
327-330).

According to Spencer (1959:269-
270), a series of elaborate taboos arose
among the Nunamiut regarding the treatment
of caribou. When they were being hauled on
a sled, care was taken to ensure that caribou

160

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

328 reindeer, the number of animals returned
to him to replace the 133 he lent the govern-
ment for the Point Barrow “relief” expedition
to be discussed below (Jackson 1900:15;
140). Although he died in the 1900 influenza
epidemic, his herd was inherited by his wife,
who became known as “Sinuk (or Sinruk,
Synrock) Mary” and prospered, eventually
being relocated to the Unalakleet area (Jack-
son 1896:73; Olson 1969a:29-30; Ray 1983:
117- 140; Stern, et al. 1980:26).

By 1895 Jackson began to state his
concern for non-Natives who were locking
into Alaska and how the reindeer industry
could help them by “...opening up...the vast
and almost inaccessible region of Northern
and Central Alaska to White settlers and
civilization” (1896:16). Jackson saw the pro-
cess as being the conversion of white moss
through reindeer into food and clothing for
White men by its subsequent transformation
into reindeer meat and furs (1896:16).

By 1895 Jackson’s policies were
shifting to a more open advocation of re-
stricting Native access to reindeer in favor
of allocation of animals to missions and
Sami herders. For example, in 1895 Jack-
son directed that reindeer be allocated to the
Swedish Evangelical and St. James Episco-
pal missions located on Golovnin Bay and a
Catholic mission on the Yukon at Nulato, the
first two missions receiving their reindeer in
1896.

In 1895 and 1896 Jackson contin-
ued to maintain firm control of reindeer that
had come into the hands of Natives. When
on his rounds of schools and reindeer herds
in the summer of 1896, Jackson arrived at
Golovnin Bay to find the missionary Mr.
Hultberg and the trader Mr. Dexter in a major
dispute over Eskimos selling their reindeer

to the store. Jackson left trader Dexter “a
formal notification that they [Eskimo ap-
prentices] were not allowed to sell” (Jackson
1897:26, 101-102, 109-110). If apprentices
were to sell reindeer, they were not to be al-
lowed by the missionary teachers to remove
the reindeer from the herd (Jackson 1897:
109). Jackson’s increasingly covert hostility
toward Natives in general, and Eskimo herd-
ers and apprentices specifically, is evident in
the following quotation:

If any deer is injured through the
carelessness or negligence of a herder
or apprentice, the same will be charged
to his account, and in the case of an ap-
prentice, replaced from his deer. Where
one or more natives kill or injure a deer,
procure all the evidence possible, that
they may be punished. [Jaekson 1897:
109-110]

Following Jackson’s instructions,
in 1895 Kjellmann and Brevig punished an
\fiupiaq, Axsegroak from Nook, who had
killed a reindeer and fed 10 neighbors and
himself, all of whom were starving. It was
Kjellmann’s and Brevig’s view that all who
shared in the meat should pay for the crime,
despite the fact that one man offered to kill
himself. The Ifiupiaq involved in this event
referred to the superintendents as “oomaliks”
and were forced to pay one fox skin each
and the reindeer hide for participating in the
“illegal” kill Jackson 1896:58-59). Of the 13
apprentices at Wales in 1895, four had left by
1896 and two were discharged because they
had “no interest in herding” (Jackson 1896:
66-67). No longer did the importation of
reindeer seem to be associated with provid-
ing assistance to Natives. To the contrary,
by 1896 Jackson felt that “it is indispensable
that the natives should thus become prepared

From Hunters to Herders

85


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF “HEAVEN”

about that way with people hooting and
throwing things at them. He told them
another day that to make whiskey out of
flour and molasses was killing the flour
and molasses and that to drink it was like
eating something dead, like eating dead
people. That if his wife went up to the
graves on the hill and ate dead bodies,
when she came back he wouldn’t even
let her into his house as she would make
it stink, Sokweena [the Ifupiat transla-
tor] squirmed in his chair and interpret-
ed. [Smith 1984:159]

The lessons taught by the Lopps, as
opposed to those of Brevig or Kjellmann,
were focused more on the forgiving and lov-
ing aspects of God than on his wrath. They
also more pragmatically included a posi-
tive promotion of temperance, one of Ellen
Lopp’s major goals on coming to Alaska
(Smith 1984:15).

In the Protestant Christian view of

genesis, God was the creator of the universe.

Of beings or phenomena on earth, only man
was created in God’s own image and pro-
vided with spiritual qualities such as a soul.
Unlike Father Raven who graciously pro-
vided humans with knowledge to improve
their situation, the paternalistic Christian
God was all-knowing and saw it to be in the
best interest of man to keep him ignorant. In
fact, the acquisition of wisdom by humans
and their fall from grace were inextricably
linked—that is, the attainment of knowledge
by eating the apple was the first sin.

All life forms created by God were
not equal. Men, not women, were created in
the Christian God’s image, so the latter was
relegated to a subordinate status. As inter-
preted by Protestant Christians at the end of
the 1800s, different “races” were explained
as varying states of rising up from the fall

from grace. Those classified as “savages”
were at lower levels of humanity than those
who were “civilized.” Other forms of life—
such as animals and plants—were created by
God for man’s pleasure, use, and mastery,
and were beings that were without souls.
Because they possessed souls, only humans
were afforded the possibility of eternal exis-
tence after death. Where the souls of the dead
spent eternity was determined by knowledge
and acceptance of God and Christ and their
teachings and the nature of individuals’ deeds
and thoughts while on earth in human form.
The alternatives of “heaven” and “hell” were
basically constructs used to entice or coerce
the “proper” behavior of people or negatively
sanction the alternative, respectively.

From both the Protestant Christian
theological and social intellectual paradigms
of the time, the relative status of human
populations was measured by the degree of
control people exerted over nature and their
own behaviors. People from industrialized
societies not only domesticated (controlled)
animals and plants, but they harnessed
power from wind, rivers, and non-renew-
able resources such as coal and oil—the
ultimate appropriation of nature (cf., Ingold
1987). Similarly, educated White Protestant
Christians exhibited the greatest degree of
“reasonable” self discipline in controlling
their own behaviors—temperance, control
of sexuality, and proper etiquette, behavior,
dress, and use of language. Most missionar-
ies who pushed westward and northward into
Alaska saw themselves as being the epitome
of civilized, Christianized humanity—the
models for raising the lowly status of indig-
enous peoples.

As the missionaries failed to under-
stand the nature of Ifiupiaq ideology and

174

From Hunters to Herders


used for taking caribou were not to

be employed in the harvesting of sea
mammals (e.g., Birket-Smith 1959;
Oswalt 1967; Spencer 1959:269-270).
Whereas fox and caribou hunting
were compatible activities, foxes were
dangerous to bowhead whales. Among
Arctic Coastal Alaska Ifiupiat, if a

fox were brought to a dwelling alive,
the entire community suffered from
whales withholding their bodies from
the offending human populace (Brower
1942:95).

Another dichotomy in the
worldview of the Ifiupiat of the Seward
Peninsula and the Kotzebue Sound area
was that between fish and terrestrial
species—a Variation on the marine
mammal and terrestrial animal theme
(Oswalt 1979:230). For example, Wells
(1974:37) recalled that angatkuut had
a strict rule that people neither were
to pull green growing grass nor scrape
any hide while fishing on rivers with
dip nets in the late spring. According to
Wells (1974:53), it was taught that furs
and sinew had to be stored in a cache,
and caribou and sheepskins must not be
tanned, nor sinew braided for sewing,
during the summer while people were
fishing. “A person who disobeys gets
sick all of a sudden, suffers unbearable
pain, and dies” (Wells 1974:53). Like-
wise, among the Nunamiut (Gubser
1965:200), a woman was prohibited
from scraping or sewing caribou
skins near a fishing place. If she did
so, the ifiua of the fish were angered,
withholding their physical manifes-
tations from Ifiupiaq fishers.

The categorization of crea-

CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

Photo 26. Every family in the village owned a storage
cache. Caches were elevated from the ground so that
dogs and other animals could not get into food or
personal belongings. They were made from hand-hewn
driftwood. Photo by Edward Keithahn, circa 1923,
courtesy of Richard Keithahn and National Park Service
(neg. 132).

From Hunters to Herders

159


llustration by George Aden Ahgupuk from Igloo Tales by Edward L. Keithahn. USDI. U.S. Indian Service. 1944.


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

The Nuglunguktuk is very inactive
at present, because about 90 percent of
the owners live at Deering and Kotze-
bue, the balance at Shishmaref. I have
been using my influence to dissolve
this organization and hope to get better
results this year.

Kendrick wanted to combine Allockeok’s
herd with that of Shishmaref. His goal was to
dissolve the Nuglunguktuk Reindeer Compa-
ny and turn over the range to the Shishmaref
enterprise. Although not official until 1948,
the Nuglunguktuk Reindeer Company was
no longer considered a functional herding
concern. Sam Kendrick’s recommendations
were ultimately successful.

By World War II, reindeer had be-
come a basically negligible component of
the economy of the area. People were liv-
ing much as they had 36 years before when
Thomas has purchased his first reindeer. As
noted by a Shishmaref teacher, ugruk was
the primary food source for the residents of
the northern Seward Peninsula. In one year
local Ifiupiat consumed 13,200 pounds of
ugruk, most of which was dried and stored
in seal oil and poke containers. Herring was
the second most important resource in terms
of weight at 11,000 pounds. The teachers re-
ported that no Ifupiaq was interested in gar-
dening, and there was no mention of reindeer
as a food resource. The government teacher
at Shishmaref had the following observation:

I have watched the natives for five
years, and I find that there is nothing that
will keep them away from taking their
foods at the proper lime. It appears to me
at times that they do not work at their
jobs enough, and I often hear others state
that the natives do not work at gathering
a supply of native foods enough, but I
then wonder what I and those that criti-

cize would do if we were in the natives’
place. I saw one of my natives go out
on the Arctic ice this past spring for the
tenth time before he got his first oogruk
[sic] of the season. [USBOE 1923-1944]

In 1991 Gideon recalled his and his father’s
last trip to Ublasaun:

In the early 1940s, we stayed about
maybe one month and a half or so. My
father wanted to stay here... The house
was in good shape then, ‘cause just be-
fore freezeup [we had repaired] the roof.
We were still up at Espenberg area, and
right after freezeup then [Thomas] he
took us down here. [Barr 199]1e]

In 1942, in response to World War I,
Gideon moved without his family to Nome to
work as a warehouseman for a construction
company under contract to the U.S. Army.
Katherine, their daughter Christina, and their
son Delano, born in 1943, remained in Deer-
ing with Thomas, Emily, and other members
of the family.

In the fall of 1944 Gideon received
word that 75 year-old Thomas was ill, so he
returned to Deering from Nome. Thomas
knew that he was dying, and asked Gideon to
obtain some fawn reindeer meat—his fa-
vorite food. Gideon and his paternal cousin,
Walter, left for Cape Espenberg to get the
fawn meat for Thomas. While there, the
weather became bad and they were storm-
bound for one week. Upon their return, they
learned that Thomas had died.

Ublasaun was no longer used for
either reindeer herding or as a seal hunting
and fishing camp by Thomas’s brothers, sons,
and nephews. With Thomas’s death, and
the demise of the Nuglunguktuk Reindeer
Company, the hope and promise of Ublasaun

64

From Hunters to Herders


BIBLIOGRAPHY

U.S. Department of the Interior, Alaska Planning Group
1974 Final Environmental Impact Statement: Proposed Chukchi Imuruk National
Reserve. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
1996 Ublasaun: First Light. National Park Service. Anchorage.

U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Secretary
1933 Survey of the Alaska Reindeer Service, 1931-1933. Washington, D.C.: Gov-
ernment Printing Office.

U.S. Department of the Treasury, Marine Reserve
1887 Report of the Cruise of the Revenue Steamer Corwin in the Arctic Ocean in
the Year 1885 by M.A. Healy. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
n.d. Records of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Record Group 22. Anchorage:
U.S. National Archives-Alaska Region.

VanStone, James W.
1962 Point Hope: An Eskimo Village in Transition. Seattle: University of Washing-
ton Press.
1984 Exploration and Contact History of Western Alaska. Jn Handbook of North
American Indians, Vol. 5, Arctic. D. Damas, ed. Pp. 149-160. Washington,
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Ward, Karl
1955 A Study of the Introduction of Reindeer into Alaska: I. Journal of Presbyterian
History 33 (4): 229-237.
1956 A Study of the Introduction of Reindeer into Alaska: II. Journal of Presbyte-
rian History 34(4):245-256.
Wells, James K.

1974 Ipani Eskimos: A Cycle of Life in Nature. Anchorage: Alaska Methodist Uni-
versity Press.

Wenzel, George
199] Animal Rights, Human Rights: Ecology, Economy and Ideology in the Cana-
dian Arctic. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

226 FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS


BIBLIOGRAPHY

University of Alaska Fairbanks; Anchorage: Division of Cultural Resources,
Alaska Region, U.S. Nationa! Park Service.

Barr, Gideon Kahlook, Sr. and Fannie Barr
1984 Interview for the Eskimo Heritage Program of Kawerak, Shishmaref, June 26,
1984, with Edgar Ningeulook. Nome: Kawerak, Inc.

Beasley, Walter L.
1912 Reindeer Progress in Alaska. Scientific American Supplement 73:17-18.

Beaver, R. Pierce
1988 Protestant Churches and the Indians, Jn Handbook of North American Indians,
Vol. 4, History of Indian-White Relations. W. Washburn, ed. Pp. 430-458.
Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Beechey, Frederick W.
1968 [1831] Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Beering’s Strait, Vol. 2. Bib-
liotheca Australiana No. 35. Amsterdam: N. Israel.

Berthrong, Donald J.

1988 Nineteenth-Century United States Government Agencies. Jn Handbook of
North American Indians, Vol. 4, History of Indian-White Relations. W. Wash-
burn, ed. Pp. 255-263. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Bird-David, Nurit H.
1991 [1988] Hunter-Gatherers and Other People: A Re-Examination. /n Hunters
and Gatherers 1: History, Evolution and Social Change. T. Ingold, D.
Riches, and J. Woodburn, ed. Pp. 17-30. New York: Berg.

Birket-Smith, Kaj
1959 [1936] The Eskimos. London: Methuen and Co. Ltd.

Bockstoce, John R.

1977a Eskimos of Northwest Alaska in the Early Nineteenth Century. University of
Oxford, Pitt Rivers Museum, Monograph Series No. 1. Oxford: Oxford Lim-
ited.

1977b Steam Whaling in the Western Arctic. New Bedford: New Bedford Whaling
Museum and Old Dartmouth Historical Society.

1979 The Archaeology of Cape Nome, Alaska. Philadelphia: The University Mu-
seum, University of Pennsylvania.

FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS 207


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

umiaks with fifty men coming from the
east. “At the head of each boat was a
fox-skin, on a nigh pole, with which they
beckoned to us, uttering, at the same
time, the loudest cries.” Soon the men
armed with lances and bows and arrows,
landed and sat down on the ground

in a large circle, “two chiefs [seating]
themselves apart from the rest.”...to
demonstrate his friendship, Kotzebue
distributed tobacco. [Ray 1975:58]

From Cape Espenberg, Kotzebue
and his crew sailed north to the cape, which
they named Krusenstern, and explored and
defined the perimeters of the sound that now
bears the captain’s name. Additionally, mem-
bers of the expedition named Goodhope Bay,
the Choris Peninsula, Chamisso Island, and
Eschscholtz Bay (Ray 1975:59-67). Kotze-
bue anchored about 10 miles northeast of the
present day community of Deering, where
eight Ifupiat in an umiaq approached him.
Kotzebue described them as being apprehen-
sive and constantly prepared for a fight (Ray
1975:59). Two days later, the crew landed
at the mouth of the Nugnugaluktuk River,
where they encountered other Ifiupiat (Ray
1975:60). It was noted that the Ifiupiat sought
tobacco as a trade item, known and available
to the indigenous people of Kotzebue Sound
by way of aboriginal trade networks. In fact,
it is unlikely that knowledge of Kotzebue
Sound was unavailable to the Russians at
this time or earlier, in part as a result of trade
fairs held at that location in which people
from both continents participated (Bockstoce
1977a).

In 1820 and 1821 the Russian Impe-
rial Navy financed a two-ship expedition led
by Mikhail N. Vasiliev in the Discovery and
Gleb S. Shishmarev in the Good Intent—the
most ambitious attempt to date to locate the

coveted Northwest Passage (Foote 1964:57-
58; Ray 1975:64-65). Shishmarev document-
ed the use of firearms by Ifupiat in Kotzebue
Sound:

At Elephant Point in July of the
previous year, 1820, a party from one
of the Russian ships encountered about
three hundred Eskimos from the Buck-
land River who were camped in tents. ©
They noticed that some of the natives
had firearms, and later, when hostili-
ties broke out betwcen the Russians and
Eskimos, the two groups exchanged
gunfire. [Bockstoce 1977a:7]

In conjunction with the east to west
search for the Northwest Passage proposed
by Captain John Franklin, the British sent
forth an overland expedition to the Mack-
enzie River, the members of which were to
traverse the Mackenzie by boat to its mouth,
and then proceed west to Bering Strait. The
British also sent forth a naval expedition
from east to west headed by Captain William
Edward Parry (Bockstoce 1977a:10). Captain
Frederick Beechey, commanding HMS Blos-
som, was sent to meet Franklin at Kotzebue
Sound in 1826 with supplies necessary for
his return trip to England, as well as a vast
array of trade goods, including red broad-
cloth, iron in various forms, hatchets, nails,
cases of beads, principally blue jewelry and
trinkets, knives, print handkerchiefs, kaleido-
scopes, needles, scissors, mirrors, shirts, fish
hooks, and vermilion (Bockstoce 1977a:10).

Significant for these purposes is trade
between Beechey and approximately 18
people from the village of Shishmaref, who
traveled to the ship in skinboats, particularly
in search of iron and tobacco, for which they
reluctantly were forced to trade bows and
arrows (Beechey 1968; Bockstoce 1977a:

From Hunters to Herders

25


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

bou, they offended the spirit of this highly
venerated animal of central importance to
human existence (Ingold 1987:150).

Dogs were a highly valued economic
asset to men. Nunamiut men, for example,
were “often judged by the number, power,
endurance, and size of [their] dogs” (Gubser
1965:290). Men were commonly evaluated
by their dogs in other ways as well. Vicious,
fighting, working dogs reflected the mean,
gruff personality of their human owners,
whereas quieter and more industrious men
had hard pulling and well mannered dogs
(Gubser 1965:292-293). Dogs were used for
pulling sleds, as pack animals in the summer,
and as assistants in hunting musk ox in the
early 1800s (Gubser 1965:291).

Meaningfully, Nunamiut and other
lfiupiaq women were responsible for raising
puppies and caring for adult animals. Given
the economic implications of owning dogs
in Ifiupiaq society, it is not surprising that
the care of both immature and adult animals
largely was left in the hands of women as
economic managers of local families or do-
mestic units (cf., Ellanna and Sherrod 1993).
In the same way that women reproductively
and through social means (e.g., adoption,
marriage, naming) strove to maintain de-
mographic balance between sex and gender
cohorts in the human societies of which they
were a part, in their capacity of caretakers of
dogs they ensured that the men had access
to an optimal number of these animals. That
is, having too few dogs economically inhib-
ited productive activities, whereas too many
placed a burden on their owners as competi-
tors for the same food sources.

As in the case of reindeer, dogs
entered the realm of personal property upon
the death of their owner. Usually, his or her

spouse or, in the case of very young person
or an elderly widow or widower, his or her
sons and daughters or parents and siblings
inherited working dogs. As property, dogs
were saleable, transferable, loanable, barter-
able, dispensable, or edible, only in the direst
of circumstances. An attack on a person’s
dogs among most Ifiupiat was tantamount to
a challenge to oneself.

Missionaries, Genesis, and the Order of the
Protestant Universe

To meet the spiritual want of these
rapidly forming settlements, and to
anticipate the evil influences which were
ever present in force, and ever aclive
in the midst, was the work of the home
missionary—the evangelist of the fron-
tier—and never, perhaps, in the history
of the Christian Church, was an emer-
gency so pregnant with influences for
good or evil, even more promptly and
courageously met. [Stewart 1908:13]

As early as the 1870s, the justification of the
Presbyterian missions for proselytizing in-
digenous peoples and those of non-Protestant
faiths, as championed by the leader of the
missionary movement into Alaska, Sheldon
Jackson, is clearly represented in the follow-
ing quotation:

Alongside of the best representa-
tives of Christian culture and civiliza-
tion were the lawless and debased, the
unfortunates and degenerales of human
society, who are always found in force
in the new settlements on the frontier.
Here, in close contact with the best and
worsl of the Anglo-Saxon race, were
Indians and half-breeds, Mexicans and
Mormons, Chinese and Japanese, whose

170

From Hunters to Herders


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Burch, Emest S., Jr.

1971 The Nonempirical Environment of the Arctic Alaskan Eskimos. Southwestern
Jourmal of Anthropology 27(2): 148-165.

1972 The Caribou/Wild Reindeer as a Human Resource. American Antiquity 37(3):
339-368.

1974 Eskimo Warfare in Northwest Alaska, Anthropological Papers of the Univer-
sity of Alaska 16(2): 1-14.

1975 Eskimo Kinsmen: Changing Family Relationships in Northwest Alaska. St.
Paul: West Publishing Co.

1984 Kotzebue Sound Eskimo. Jn Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 5,
Arctic. D. Damas, ed. Pp. 303-319. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institu-
tion.

1988 Modes of Exchange in Northwest Alaska. Jn Hunters and Gatherers 2: Prop-
erty, Power and Ideology. T. Ingold, D. Riches, and J. Woodburm, ed. Pp. 95-
109. Oxford: Berg.

1991 Unpublished Ifiupiat place names on U.S. Geological Survey. Shishmaref,
Bendeleben, Teller, and Kotzebue 1:250,000 quadrangle maps.

1994 The Cultural and Natural Heritage of Northwest Alaska. Volume V: The Ifiu-
piaq Nations of Northwest Alaska. Kotzebue, Alaska: NANA Museum of the
Arctic and Anchorage: U.S. National Park Service, Alaska Region.

Burch, Jr., Ernest S., and Linda J. Ellanna, ed.
1994 Key Issues in Hunter-Gatherer Research. Oxford: Berg.

Burridge, Kenelm
1985 Missionaries and the Perception of Evil. 7x Missionaries, Anthropologists, and
Cultural Change. D. Whiteman, ed. Pp. 153-170. Studies in Third World So-
cieties, Publication No. 25. Williamsburg, VA: Department of Anthropology,
College of William and Mary.

Cantwell, John C.
1893 Alaska and the Reindeer. California Magazine 3(18): 259-274,

Chance, Norman A.
1966 The Eskimo of North Alaska. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Cole, Terrance M.
1983 A History of the Nome Gold Rush: The Poor Man’s Paradise. Ph.D. disserta-
tion, Department of History, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.

FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS 209


CHAPTER 3
THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN:
A HERDER'S STORY

It was the spring of 1918, and the world was
embroiled in the closing phases of World War
I. This was the year that the tide of the war
ultimately would turn to favor the allied forces.
During the coming winter, however, 20 mil-
lion people around the world would succumb
to a devastating epidemic of what was termed
“Spanish influenza.” While the war, removed
by geography and culture from the day to day
concerns of most Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska,
may have had little direct influence on their
lives, the influenza epidemic to come was to
affect everyone. The tumultuous climate of
the year passed unnoticed in the short life of
Thomas Makaiqtaq Barr’s first son, one-year-
old Gideon Kahlook Kunautaq Barr. (““Makai-
qtaq” was spelled many ways by White teach-
ers, such as “Mukaktik,” “Mukritruk,” and
“Mukituk.”) Thomas’s wife Emily had given
birth to Gideon in the northwestern Seward
Peninsula village of Shishmaref on July 21,
1917. Among Shishmaref’s residents were
several women healers and midwives to whom
Ifiupiat turned for assistance when giving birth.
One of Gideon’s Ifiupiaq names, Kahlook, was
bestowed upon him as a namesake of a de-
ceased relative of his father. His other Ifiupiaq
name, Kunautaq, was that of his father’s father.
It was in 1918 that Thomas Makaiqtaq
Barr built a house at Ublasaun, planning to
abandon the family’s former home at the winter
camp to the southeast. This winter camp was

called Qivaluaq by the Ifiupiat, but known
as Kividluk or Kividlo to the few White
people in the world aware of its existence.
Nearby Qivaluaq was the associated settle-
ment of Sallifiq, or “a place where there is
a lagoon behind and a beach coast out-
side.”

In 1918, as it had been for millen-
nia since the end of the last “ice age,” the
Seward Peninsula reached out across the
narrow waters of Bering Strait toward the
Chukotsk Peninsula of Siberia. The wind-
swept tundra of the northwestern Seward
Peninsula lay behind a coast line that often
was pounded by the crashing waves of the
Chukchi Sea. In the spring of 1918 a mul-
titude of Ifiupiaq settlements and season-
ally occupied camps dotted the shores of
this landmass, dispersed opportunistically
among its many lagoons, inlets, lakes,
streams, sandy bars, islets, and islands.

Spanish influenza would reach the
area by late fall of 1918. Some settlements
north and east of Shishmaref were spared,
however, largely due to a quarantine en-
forced by local Ifiupiat with the use of fire-
arms. The people of Cape Prince of Wales
to the southwest and other settlements to
the east in the interior of the Seward Pen-
insula and to the northeast in the Kotze-
bue Sound area were not so lucky, as the
epidemic forever changed the distribution

From Hunters to Herders

37


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

of purchasing from missions and other non-
Natives, the Lomens owned 14,083 reindeer
by 1929 (Stern et al. 1980:40).

In all these dealings we [Lomens]
received the assistance of govemment
employees responsible for the reindeer
operations under their control. They took
keen interest in seeing white owners en-
ter the industry, realizing that only in this
way could substantial outside markets be
built up. [Lomen 1954:88]

The Lomens also purchased a cold-
storage plant at Nome and constructed others
throughout the Seward Peninsula and Nor-
ton Sound areas. In 1923 they organized the
Enterprise Steamship Company and acquired
two small schooners for transporting meat
from cold storage plants to ports, later also
acquiring a refrigerated ship (Lomen 1954:
169). The Lomens’ contended strategy was
to leave local markets to the Natives and
promote the sale of reindeer outside Alaska
(Lomen 1954). However, there was a negligi-
ble local market, and Lopp already had been
seeking an outlet for Native-owned reindeer
outside the territory, securing contracts to
provide reindeer to be served in railroad din-
ers (Mozee 1933:6).

The government attempted to use
federal resources to help Native reindeer
herders during the Lomen period. Much to
the dismay of the Lomens, this assistance to
the Ifupiaq herders involved backhauling
reindeer meat for sale outside the territory on
the government supply ship the U.S.S. Boxer
(Lomen 1954:214; USBOE 1925). This ac-
tion was in direct competition with Lomens’
efforts to secure and maintain a monopoly on
the market outside Alaska. However, from
the Ifiupiaq perspective, the U.S.S. Boxer
provided only an unreliable and sporadic

means of shipping reindeer to market. For
example, Andrews (1939:173-174) reported
in 1924 that after a chief Ifupiaq herder from
Kivalina had driven his herd of 6,000 ani-
mals 50 miles to the beach where they could
be loaded for transport, he was informed

that the captain of the U.S.S. Boxer refused
to take on any reindeer as cargo because he
lacked appropriate orders from Seattle to do
so.

In the 1920s the federal government
made attempts to improve the status of the
reindeer industry in Alaska through the ex-
pertise of biologists. The government invest-
ed $300,000 between 1921 and 1924 toward
this end. Specifically, in 1920 the Bureau of
Biological Survey (now U.S. Fish and Wild-
life Service) undertook a program to im-
prove the condition of reindeer and develop
improved methods of range management. A
reindeer experiment station was established
at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks to
assist in this effort. Palmer, a reindeer biolo-
gist, observed in the mid-1920s that:

Moreover, since reindeer grazing
to him [the Eskimo] is often merely of
secondary consideration to hunting and
fishing, as a grazer he requires constant
and direct supervision. If the reindeer
industry depended upon the unaided
efforts of the Eskimo it would be limited
in scope. [1927:4]

Andrews (1939: 140) critiqued the Bureau

of Biological Survey as being both ineffec-
tive and serving the interests of the Lomens
rather than that of the Native owned reindeer
industry.

By the 1920s, 30 years after the first
reindeer had been imported from Siberia, it
was estimated that the herds had increased to
200,000 reindeer, with an additional 100,000

106

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

Photo 6. Since houses had limited space, storage caches were used to store food and other hunting
equipment. Ugruk skin was used for covers due to its waterproof qualities. Photo by Edward Keithahn, circa
1923, courtesy of Richard Keithahn and National Park Service (neg. 161).

slid fast. They also used slabs of ice as sleds
if seal skins were not available.

In 1918 Thomas, Gilbert, Peter; the
brothers’ paternal nephews Adrian and Wal-
ter; James Moses, and Lloyd Koonuk, all had
reindeer. Dimmick was Thomas’s apprentice
herder. While each man had his own reindeer
identified by a unique earmark, the animals
were kept collectively in a single herd. An
earmark was a pattern cut into the ear of
a fawn while it was still with its mother
and was used to establish ownership of the
animal. By consolidating the reindeer, these
related owners cooperatively herded, thereby
caring for their reindeer 24 hours a day—a
technique called close herding—while al-
ternatively pursuing hunting, trapping, and
fishing. Herding involved ensuring that the
animals did not stray or fall victim to preda-
tors such as wolves, wolverines, and polar
bears. While the reindeer had to be watched

year round, the most critical time was in the
spring when the does fawned.

During the months at Ublasaun
before spring fawning, the herders engaged
in trapping furbearers—primarily red and
arctic foxes, but also mink, land otter, lynx,
and wolverine. As prices for pelts in the early
1920s ranged from $22.50 to $250 for a blue
or silver fox, trappers potentially were able
to eam more in three months than a govern-
ment teacher/reindeer agent did in an entire
year. Being in the vicinity of reindeer im-
proved the prospect for a successful trapping
harvest, as foxes were drawn to the herds in
search of food in the form of carrion.

White traders aggressively sought the
pelts of the Ifiupiaq trappers. In the summer,
small boats as well as four-masted sailing
schooners anchored off Cape Espenberg
northeast of Ublasaun, trading dry goods,
ammunition, and groceries such as flour,

42

From Hunters to Herders



paternalism included Thomas’ son-in-law
Fred Goodhope and Harold Dimmick,
whose father was Makaiqtaq’s apprentice at
Ublasaun. In 1958 Goodhope and Dimmick
established a herd of 1,572 deer at Cape
Espenberg. The deer, wire, building materi-
als, and tents essential to the operation were
loaned to them by the federal government,
and the assets were to remain governmen-
tal property until their loan was repaid. The
animals that they received from the Bureau
of Indian Affairs were originally part of the
Eschscholtz Bay and Buckland herds. As in
many other cases, this partnership dissolved
because of a disagreement in 1961, at which
time Dimmick took 550 deer to Koyuk. After
retrieving his deer from their migration back
to their place of birth at Cape Espenberg in
1961 and 1963, Dimmick gave up herding
and moved into the Matanuska Valley near
Anchorage in Southcentral Alaska (Olson
1969b). The corral constructed by Goodhope
and Dimmick was in the general vicinity of
that previously used by the Nuglunguktuk
Reindeer Company of Deering. Fred Good-
hope’s herd was subdivided in his later years
between Thomas’ grandchildren, Fred Good-
hope, Jr. and Shirley Goodhope Weyiouanna.
These are the last two remaining herds on the
northwestern shores of the Seward Peninsula
in the early 1990s.

In 1950, James Kivetoruk Moses,
who was at Ublasaun as a child, abandoned
his trapping cabin on the shores of Devil
Mountain Lake and moved to Shishmaref,
subsequently to become a well known Na-
tive artist. In 1952 Gideon married Fannie
Kigrook of Cape Espenberg, the daughter
of herder Harry Kigrook and Annie Tock-
too, Gideon and Fannie had several children
together—the oldest Annie, then Mary Ann,
Gideon Jr., a girl who died as an infant,

CHAPTER 8: CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE

Elsie, and Arlene. Gideon and Fannie lived
in Kotzebue from 1952 until 1961, where he
worked as captain of a tugboat that carried
supplies up the rivers and along the coast of
Northwest Alaska. Gideon and Fannie lived
in Kotzebue near many other people from the
Cape Espenberg area, including Fred Good-
hope Sr. and his family and Thomas’ widow
Emily (until she died in Shishmaref in 1975)
and son Bill Zaccheus Barr. Thomas’ daugh-
ter Bessie, married to bush pilot John Cross,
also lived in Kotzebue, where she raised a
family and remained in the early 1990s.

In 1961 Gideon and Fannie moved
permanently to Shishmaref, where he resided
until the mid-1990s. Some of Thomas’ kin,
such as his brother and close companion Gil-
bert, remained in Deering until their death.
Thomas’ brother Peter, after leaving Ubla-
saun, moved to Shishmaref where he spent
his final days. In 1976 Gideon’s household
in Shishmaref included his wife Fannie, her
brother James Kigrook, their sons Gideon Jr.
and Perry, their daughters Elsie and Arlene,

a granddaughter Donna (Elsie’s daughter),
and adopted grandchild Vivian. Gideon was
baptized into the Lutheran Church by Rever-
end Duane J. Hudson on July 30, 1980. The
last inhabitants at Cape Espenberg, then, like
the first in oral tradition, were scattered to the
north, east, and south of the cape.

Thomas was successful among the
Ifupiat of his time. To a large extent, his
demise as a herder was a product of federal
government intervention and the world econ-
omies that waxed and waned on the shores of
the northern Seward Peninsula. Nonetheless,
Thomas Makaiqtaq Barr had set the stage for
reindeer herding among the Ifupiat of North-
west Alaska. His legacy lives on in the herds
of his grandchildren.

From Hunters to Herders

193


or Deering, both before and after Thomas’s
involvement in reindeer herding.

The Cape Espenberg seasonal round
began in spring. During that time, people
left their winter village and traveled to ugruk
hunting spring camps, the location of which
was dependent on ice conditions. Hunters
searched for places where the ice was old
and rough—ice that would stay on the beach
for a long time. Ugruk went up through holes
in this rotten but flat ice to sun themselves on
warm spring days. Entire families camped on
the shore until the ice went out. Ugruk meat
was dried and stored underground with seal
oil in a poke.

Other harvesting activities were
undertaken by Cape Espenberg Ifiupiat in the
spring, such as the gathering of sour dock
when the leaves were new and tender. Squir-
rels also were snared early in the spring and
again in late fall with willow sprigs and little
pieces of wing bone.

Sometimes walrus were taken from
spring sealing camps, but their availability
was inconsistent through time. Access to
walrus depended on the spring migratory
route of the animal—that is, for Cape Espe-
nberg people to obtain them, walrus had to
travel close to the shore in the vicinity of the
northern Seward Peninsula. All walrus meat
not boiled was stored in a barrel or poke with
seal oil and buried underground. It was eaten
as a delicacy by people, and surplus meat
was fed to dogs.

In the past, the Ifupiat of Cape Es-
penberg had fewer dogs—maybe only two
or three—than in more recent years. Dogs
were used as pack animals and assisted men
in seal hunting by locating breathing holes.
In the past, people could not afford to feed
many dogs, since the dogs competed for the

CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

same foods as their owners.

Caribou were not available on the
coastal plains of the Seward Peninsula after
Thomas was a young man old enough to go
hunting with adults. Therefore, the Ifiupiat
of Cape Espenberg hunted caribou south of
Devil Mountain, where they met other hunt-
ers from Shishmaref and Serpentine Flats.
Espenberg people also went into Lane River
country, where they encountered people from
the Mary’s Igloo area. They did not go to
Imuruk or Kuzitrin Lakes, as “that was too
far” and was the territory of the people of
Kuugrug (Kougarok), who hunted caribou at
Imuruk Lake.

At that time, caribou were hunted
with rifles and blockaded by use of caribou
antler inugshuq (cairns). These were cooper-
ative hunts, occurring in the summer shortly
after the cessation of ugruk hunting in June,
when hunters took some fawns, a preferred
food and source of hides for children’s cloth-
ing. Espenberg hunters mostly drove the
animals into lakes, including a body of water
only about seven or eight miles southwest
of the cape. Hunters in kayaks used spears
to dispatch the caribou after driving them
into the lake. Caribou were butchered by the
lake, and the meat dried and stored with seal
oil in pokes. The pokes were then cached
in wooden lined underground pits covered
with logs and sod. While men were hunting
caribou, Espenberg women continued to pick
sour dock and willow greens, also preserved
in seal oil filled pokes.

Caribou were also hunted in the fall,
as the greater seasonal fat content was highly
valued. “Eskimo ice cream” was made out
of caribou tallow. In the fall caribou were
driven into corrals. A snare was placed
between every opening in the corral. When

From Hunters to Herders

127


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

of the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska, touching
everyone in some way by taking the life of a
relative, trade partner, or acquaintance.

When Thomas began to construct his
house at Ublasaun, he knew from the rich
oral tradition of his people, from his experi-
ence camping there while fall seal netting,
and from the remains of ancient houses—oc-
cupied by people who had not yet acquired
metal implements, but who used large,
pecked stone net sinkers and indigenous pot-
tery—that his was not the first winter settle-
ment at this location.

In 1918 Ublasaun remained a very
productive site for fall seal netting by the
Ifiupiat of the area. Every household had
a few fathoms of seal-rawhide, eight-inch
mesh net. Before freezeup, people coopera-
tively netted the much needed and desired
spotted seals (adults and pups), ugruk (beard-
ed seal), and, at times, beluga (white whales).
Each household’s net was attached end to
end until the greater net was composed of
three or four of the smaller panels, weighted
to the bottom of the sea by stone sinkers. The
seals taken between the knots became the
property of the family in whose individual
net they were caught. Seals that had drowned
and washed ashore down current from the net
became the property of whoever discovered
them in the morning on the beach. Therefore,
early each morning, children raced from their
houses down the beach to find seals that had
washed ashore. The large net was checked by
adults in umiags twice daily and monitored
constantly to ensure that the large ugruks or
beluga whales that might become entangled
in the mesh could be dispatched before de-
stroying this piece of cooperative technology.
Periodically, the large net was brought ashore
to dry, lest it become too soft to be effec-

tive. Some of the seals were stored whole in
underground caches, where they soon froze,
and were processed during the coming winter
as needed.

But 1918 was the first time that
Ublasaun was to serve as a winter village for
Ifupiaq reindeer herders, whose lives had
predominantly depended upon the bounty
of the sea and the wild herds of caribou that
once roamed the tundra.

Both the seeming disappearance
of the caribou and the arrival of imported
Siberian reindeer from Chukotka were phe-
nomena relatively recent in the tradition of
the Ifupiat. In the next two years, Thomas’s
brothers, nephews, his apprentice Gordon
Dimmick (Qiziilaaq), and some other rela-
tives and associates moved from Qivaluaq to
Ublasaun, where they remained during the
winters until 1925. Ublasaun was chosen as
an opportune site for the winter camp, since
the herd kept straying away from Ifiuirniq
(Espenberg River) and heading southwest.
Ublasaun was closer than Cape Espenberg
to the herd’s previous calving grounds near
Qivaluaq. Reindeer does, like caribou does,
try to return to the place of their birth to fawn
each spring. Additionally, there was good
moss for winter food near Ublasaun. So the
herders decided to move there to remain
closer to their animals.

Seven more semisubterranean houses
were constructed by the people who moved
to Ublasaun following Thomas and his fam-
ily. This is the community that Thomas’s son,
Gideon, remembered as a young child.

A description of the distribution of
people in the eight houses at Ublasaun and
their relationships contributes a breath of life
into this setting. Thomas’s semisubterranean
house was the first dwelling on the south-

38

From Hunters to Herders




GLOSSARY

conjugal

consanguineal

covert/overt

cross cousins

descent

diachronic analysis

dichotomy

diffusion

egalitarian society

ego

eminent domain

endogamy

ethnocentrism

Of or relating to being married, including married per-
sons and their relations.

Related by biological or “blood” ties; (your biological
mother, father, sister, or brother are consanguineal kin).

Hidden/open, a dichotomy in anthropology referring to
those things in culture that are not apparent versus those
that are apparent.

Cousins who are related to each other through an op-
posite-sex parent link (for example, the children of your
father’s sister[s] or your mother’s brother[s] would be
your cross-cousins).

Lineage, or the degree of closeness of association with
others through kinship over generations.

A type of analysis that tries to understand the present in
terms of the past.

Something with two seemingly contradictory qualities.
Anthropology has a number of dichotomies, such as
overt/covert, real/ideal, or male/female.

One society’s borrowing of a cultural trait belonging to
another society as the result of contact between the two
societies.

A society in which all persons of a given age-sex cat-
egory have equal access to economic resources, power,
and prestige.

In the reckoning of kinship, the reference point or focal
person.

A government’s right to take private property for public
use by virtue of the superior dominion of the sovereign
power over all lands within its jurisdiction.

A marriage practice according to which people are ex-
pected to take mates from within their own group (e.g.
kin, caste, community).

The belief that one’s own culture is superior to all others.

198

From Hunters to Herders


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abrahamson, John D.
1968 Westward Alaska: The Native Ecology and Its Resource Base. Anchorage: The
Federal Field Committee for Development Planning in Alaska.

Alaska History Research Project
1936-38 Documents Relative to the History of Alaska. Fairbanks: Elmer Rasmuson
Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Alaska, Territory of, Department of Education.
1920 Report of the Commissioner of Education. Juneau: Department of Education.

Anderson, H. Dewey, and Walter C. Eells
1935 Alaska Natives: A Survey of Their Sociological and Educational Status. Stan-
ford: Stanford University Press.

Anderson, Robert T.
1959 Eskimo Reindeer Herding: A Problem in Applied Anthropology. Anthropo-
logical Quarterly 32(2):95-107.

Andrews, Clarence L.
1919 Reindeer in Alaska. Washington Historical Quarterly 10:171-176.
1926 Reindeer in the Arctic. Pacific Northwest Quarterly 17:14-17.
1939 The Eskimo and His Reindeer in Alaska. Caldwell: The Caxton Printers.
1944 Wm. T. Lopp. Alaska Life 7(8):49, 52, 54.

Arbuckle, Gerald A.

1985 Inculturation and Evangelisation: Realism or Romanticism? Jn Missionaries,
Anthropologists, and Cultural Change, D. Whiteman, ed. Pp. 171-214. Studies
in Third World Societies, Publication No. 25. Williamsburg, VA: Department
of Anthropology, College of William and Mary.

Arobio, Edward L.
1978 Reindeer Herding within the Subsistence and Cash Economies of Northwest
Alaska. Jn The Subsistence Lifestyle in Alaska: Now and in the Future, M.
Murray, ed. Pp. 134-148. Fairbanks: School of Agriculture and Land Resourc-
es Management, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS 205


CHAPTER 4
THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND

MISSIONARY EDUCATION: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

To establish schools among a starving people would be of little service... To feed the popula-
tion at government expense would pauperize, and in the end would certainly destroy them.

Some other method had to be devised. This was suggested by the wild nomad tribes on the
Siberian side of Bering Strait. They had an unfailing food supply in their large berds of domestic
reindeer. Why not introduce the domestic reindeer on the American side and thus provide a new
and adequate food supply?

To do this will give the Eskimo as permanent a food supply as the cattle of the Western plains
and sheep of New Mexico and Arizona to the inhabitants of those sections, It will do more than
preserve life—it will preserve the self-respect of the people and advance them in the scale of civi-
lization. It will change them from hunters to herders. It will also utilize the hundreds of thousands
of square miles of moss-covered tundra of Arctic and sub-Arctic Alaska and make those now use-
less and barren wastes conducive to the wealth and prosperity of the United States.

A moderate computation, based upon the statistics of Lapland, where similar climatic and
other conditions exist, shows Northern and Central Alaska capable of supporting over 9,000,000
head of deer.

To reclaim and make valuable vast areas of land, otherwise worthless; to introduce large,
permanent, and wealth-producing industries, where none previously existed; to take a barbarian
people on the verge of starvation and lift them up to a comfortable self-support and civilization, is

certainly a work of national importance. [Jackson 1896:10-11]

This quotation of Sheldon Jackson
presents a backdrop for understanding some of
the rationales put forth to justify the importa-
tion of reindeer into Alaska. However, a histor-
ical perspective on the introduction of reindeer
herding is inexplicably linked with the period
of contractual, federal missionary education of
the Ifupiat and other Natives within the study
area and throughout Alaska. The remaining
chapters of this monograph will analyze the
introduction of reindeer herding to the Ifupiat
of the northern Seward Peninsula and south-
ern Kotzebue Sound from the perspectives
of socioterritorial, social organizational, and
ideological change, conflict, and syncretism.

This chapter provides a relatively succinct
chronological overview of the sequence

of events associated with the vision of
directed cultural change or social engineer-
ing by way of formal western education
and reindeer herding, with an emphasis on
governmental policies, and shifts in such
policies, toward Native education, reindeer
herding, and herders as relevant to the
analysis to follow.

For alternate treatments of the
reindeer episode in the history of Ameri-
can-Native relations in Alaska see Lantis
(1950); Olson (1969a); Ray (1965); Stern
et al. (1980). For much of the primary

From Hunters to Herders

67


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

to the Ifiupiat as being a reduction in number
due solely to the introduction of the breech
loading rifle is not supportable.

During the summer of 1890, Jack-
son, through a contract with the American
Missionary Association (Congregational
Church), established a school at Cape Prince
of Wales staffed by Lopp and Thornton
(Jackson 1893:5; Smith 1984:v; Stewart
1908:376). Similar contracts with the Protes-
tant Episcopal Church resulted in a mission-
ary contract school at Point Hope under the
guidance of Driggs and a Presbyterian Board
of Home Missions funded school at Point
Barrow under Stevenson (Jackson 1893:5;
Stewart 1908:376).

The idea of involving private donors,
missions, and Christian volunteers in the
educational process was perceived as accel-
erating the very slow progress of construct-
ing and implementing government schools
for Natives in Alaska, because of inadequate
federal funding. More importantly, such
religious affiliated institutions were, in
Jackson’s and his colleagues’ opinion, the
perfect forum for bringing about the over-
all “assimilation through formal education”
in the context of the Christian paradigm.
Jackson demanded that teachers be affiliated
with a church and be able to prove that they
had been active Christians (Ray 1975:207).
Moreover, if an employee in a contract mis-
sion school behaved in a manner inconsistent
with Jackson’s view of morality and a proper
Christian life, he or she was fired (Ray 1975:
207). Additionally, Jackson encouraged the
marriage of his missionaries with govern-
ment teachers—the ultimate union of church
and state—with a relatively high degree of
success (Lopp and H. Hall Young were ex-
amples of such unions) (Hinckley 1961:168;
Smith 1984:vii).

The missionary teachers were ex-
pected not merely to teach a standard aca-
demic elementary curriculum but also to
bring about directed cultural change of their
wards. The Ifiupiat were, in Jackson’s and
many of his peers’ view during this time, at
or near the bottom of the pyramid of human
existence. For example, in 1888 Jackson’s
language policy for Alaska Native schools
was as follows:

The Board of Home Missions has
informed us that government contracts
for educating Indian [Native] pupils
provide for the ordinary branches of an
English education to be taught, and that
no books in any Indian language shall
be used, or instruction given in that lan-
guage to Indian pupils. The letter states
that this rule will be strictly enforced
in all government Indian schools. The
Commissioner of Indian Affairs urges,
and very forcibly too, that instruction in
their vernacular is not only of no use to
them but is detrimental to their speedy
education and civilization, It is now
two years and more since the use of the
Indian dialects were first prohibited in
the training school here. All instruction
is given in English. Pupils are required
to speak and write English exclusively;
and the results are tenfold more satis fac-
tory than when they were permitted to
converse in unknown [emphasis ours]
tongues. [Krauss 1980:95]

Speaking in Native “tongues” was
not only perceived by Jackson and some
of his colleagues as being counter produc-
tive to the civilization of indigenous people,
but was believed to cause the spiritual and
mental degeneration of the missionary teach-
ers (Hinckley 1961:168-169). It is unlikely
that Jackson and others failed to consider the
implications of such a policy on the culture,
identity, and self esteem of members of a

From Hunters to Herders

77


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

ing reports about primitive peoples in
layers of culture from the most primitive
to the most evolved, with a particularly
strong emphasis on the origins of various
institutions. [Service 1985:3-4]

The age of exploration and colonialization

by western Europeans and, later Americans,
yielded considerable documented evidence
of peoples of different, and oftentimes
“inhuman” or barely human, “races” living
throughout the world, who not only practiced
“primitive,” “heathenistic,” “savage,” or
“barbarous” behaviors but obviously were in-
ferior to the citizens of enlightened, progres-
sive Christian nations. Initially, the existence
of such “primitive” peoples posed major
ideological and theological problems. For ex-
ample, when Eskimos were first recorded in
the 1570s, they were conceptualized as bes-
tial entities more similar to “animals” than

to “humans”—humans and animals being
perceived as qualitatively very distinct from
each other and basically unrelated during this
period of intellectual history (Fienup-Riordan
1990:9-10). Humans were on the pinnacle of
the pyramid of life.

The achievement of human status in
mainstream Western thought by indigenous
peoples of the Americas and elsewhere took
another couple hundred years to achieve.
How was the “primitive” condition of such
peoples to be explained? As the quotation
above suggests, some theologians found their
answers in the Old Testament of the Bible,
which they interpreted as teaching that hu-
mans had degenerated following their expul-
sion from the Garden of Eden. While some
people progressed from that lowly status by
knowing God and becoming civilized, others,
such as the Eskimos, remained in this pri-
mordial degenerative state. In contrast, also

during the latter half of the 1700s, some phi-
losophers (such as Rousseau) perceived these
newly “discovered” indigenous peoples to be
“natural men” and “noble savages,” uncor-
rupted by the evils of civilization. In the case
of Eskimos, others saw the ability of these
people to exist in the rigors of the Arctic as
admirable and ingenious given the environ-
ment, although, without question, inferior to
Western humanity.

The initial fascination for Euro-
Americans was in the sharp contrast
between the harsh, cold, primordial con-
ditions of arctic life and the ultimately
admirable human qualities and adaptive
strengths attributed to its aboriginal
occupants. Such adaptive strengths
presumably enabled them {the Eskimos]
to cope with the severity of their envi-
ronment, The social Darwinism of the
nineteenth century preached the survival
of the fittest, a principle that was applied
to all phases of natural development.
What, then, was more admirable, more
susceptible to idealization than a people
who were apparently so perfectly fitted
to their environment, masters of their
domain. [Fienup-Riordan 1990:15]

The intellectual climate of the
Western world was strongly dominated by
evolutionary theory in the second half of
the 1800s. British social theorist Herbert
Spencer’s (1967) coining of the term “‘so-
cial Darwinism” in the 1870s—to describe
his application of Darwinian (Darwin 1950)
principles to universal evolution including
the transformation of human societies—was
significant in this context. More influential
to the growing field of ethnology and so-
cial evolutionary theory was Lewis Henry
Morgan’s (1985) Ancient Society published
in 1877. Morgan used evolutionary theory to
explain the origins of multiple social insti-

32

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

They expect to be out a long time,
because they must get lots of caribou
skins for their big families. If they catch
enough caribou ina short time, they will
come home early. They also want to
catch mountain sheep. [Wells 1974:53]

The Ifiupiat crossed from the upper Noatak
to the Kobuk River drainage, with both men
and dogs packing meat, hides, and fat to
creeks that were tributaries of the Kobuk
River. The hunters rafted down the creeks
and, eventually, the rivers until they reached
the divide into the Selawik area.

August, the eighth new moon, or
“Ah mi ayk si Vik” (amigitshivik), was the
time when “the caribou, moose, and other
animals with horns are now peeling off the
skin of their antlers” (Wells 1974:57). Hunt-
ing caribou and bears was essential during
August. Wells (1974:57-58) described the
method of driving caribou from mountain
tops through chutes following ridges, even-
tually leading to big lakes. The chutes were
constructed of trees or rocks arranged to
appear as if they were humans. The caribou
ultimately were driven into the water, where
they were speared by men in kayaks or shot
from shore with bows and arrows. This was
a busy month for obtaining whitefish and
pickerel with willowbark braided set nets.
These fish were dried. Seal hunters returned
home from the coast with highly valued seal
oil, meat, and ugruk hides that were used for
mukluk bottoms and the rawhide webbing of
snowshoes.

In September, “Ovie rhaum Tut ka,”
or “the last summer month before freeze
up,” people continued to fish, mostly for dog
food, and to collect driftwood and insulative
dry moss and grass. Some bears were hunted
before denning.

October, “Si Koo Vik” (shikovik), or
“freeze-up season,” was considered to be the
onset of winter. Weirs, constructed in June to
block fish from migrating out of lakes, were
opened. Fish were trapped in large quantities
in dip nets that held 40 to 50 pounds each.
The weir periodically was opened and closed
with willows to harvest fish more efficiently.
Bears were dispatched in their dens with
spears and, more recently, rifles.

November, “Nulak vik” (nuliagvik),
or “the mountain sheep are mating,” was the
time hunters traveled to the headwaters of the
Noatak River. There they hunted caribou in-
dividually with bows and arrows as opposed
to cooperative drives.

The twelfth new moon, December,
was called “Si khin ah chak” (sigingniglaq),
or “the sun rises and stays up only a short
time” (Wells 1974:83). This was the season
for preparing caribou hides, sheep skins, and
sinew for making clothing. Gifts were also
prepared to be presented to other people who
had been helpful in times of need. Mes-
sengers were sent from one winter village
to another to invite neighbors to feast; play
competitive games; dance; and exchange
furs, caribou hides, and seal oil.

The Shishmaref seasonal round, as
reconstructed by Eisler (1978:9-22) based on
oral history accounts, varied somewhat from
that of the Deering area, particularly regard-
ing sea mammal versus caribou dependency.
Eisler (1978) provided neither the Ifupiaq
names nor as detailed a seasonal round of
harvesting activities as did Wells (1974),
dividing the year into four parts based on a
Euro-American agricultural seasonal model.

During the winter, families conducted
activities near their settlement and semisub-
terranean homes. Men hunted seals from

118

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

70,243 for all of Alaska, with 46,683 or 66
percent in Native ownership (USBOE 1917:
7).

It should be considered, however, that
these increasing percentages of reindeer held
by Natives were not particularly significant
to increased viability of reindeer herding and
husbandry as an industry to benefit particu-
larly the Ifiupiat, since these statistics clearly
demonstrate that there was greater Native
ownership of still very small herds of rein-
deer, averaging 48 animals by 1917, but with
a widely disparate range of from a couple of
animals to several hundred (Stern et al. 1980:
37). Finally, by 1913 the Lomens—a Nome
based entrepreneurial family that had come
to Alaska during the peak of the gold rush—
began acquiring reindeer. This was to be the
beginning of the history of White private
ownership of this industry (Lomen 1954:

73; USBOE 1917:8). It is curious that while
Walter Shields, who was superintendent of
the northwestern district of the Alaska Rein-
deer Service, stated in his 1915 report that
the entrance of Whites into the industry was
not to the benefit of the Natives (USBOE
1917:22), Lomen (1954:73) claimed that
Shields played a major role in arranging for
this family’s initial acquisition of reindeer
two years earlier.

Before considering the Lomen period,
however, it is significant to note that once
again there was to be a new shift in reindeer
herding policy that, it could be concluded,
was ultimately a major factor in bringing
about the disintegration of Ifupiaq herding.
This was the idea and, later, policy—promot-
ed and supported by Lopp and other govern-
ment officials—of cooperative or corporate
herd ownership and management. This policy
was unquestionably related to the widespread

distribution of reindeer into so many Native
hands between 1907 and 1915. The concept
of cooperative management of reindeer was
first proposed to Lopp in 1911 by Charles
Thomson, Missionary of the Congregational
Church at Wales, and Dr. James Hamilton,
Diomede teacher:

We beg to submit for your consid-
eration a plan designed to increase the
value of the rcindecr industry to the
natives, As a substitute for the ownership
of individual deer by natives, indicated
by ear markings, we suggest that the
natives be permitted to own herds on the
corporation plan, each owning a frac-
tional share of the entire herd; viz., an
undivided interest, according to his in-
vestment, and receive from time to time
a pro rata share of the profits in the form
of dividends, according to the following
general organization:

(1) In organizing the business, there
should be approximately a share of stock
for each deer in the herd, at the par value
of $20 per share;

(2) The does should be kept for
breeding purposes, the excess of
bucks, over and above those needed for
breeding purposes, should be sold for
slaughter; the nct profits over and above
all expenses should be held subject to
distribution in the form of dividends;

(3) In compensating herders and
apprentices a share of corporation stock
should be substituted for each reindeer
provided for under the present plan;

(4) The stockholders should meet
annually and elect directors. [USBOE
1912:80]

Within a couple of years of this sug-
gestion, Lopp became a proponent of coop-
erative herd ownership, because herds were
growing rapidly, overgrazing and overcrowd-
ing on some ranges had become an issue,

102

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

the administrative assistant of the Secretary
of the Interior to prohibit Native interference
with the movements of Lomen deer across
the ranges (Andrews 1939:226).

The Lomens continued to argue that
the “success” in the reindeer business only
had benefited Alaska Natives. Ultimately, the
Lomens were not able either to secure ad-
equate financing or outside markets to make
reindeer herding a business success, despite
their near monopoly on supply sources,
lighterage, and the distribution of reindeer
products, or to stem the tide of the public
controversy that favored ownership limited
to Natives. Additionally, the financial failure
of Sami Jared Lindeberg, a major supporter
of the Lomen enterprise, and the loss of other
sources of backing, put the Lomens in an
increasingly difficult economic position.

The government continued to play a
strong role in managing the Native owned
herds. Government superintendents sent
frequent circular letters, strongly suggest-
ing changes in Ifiupiaq herding operations
as well as encouraging the reinvestment of
profit from the cooperatives into the com-
pany rather than to payment of dividends
to individual stockholders. For example, in
1937 J. Sidney Rood, Acting General Rein-
deer Superintendent, wrote a circular to all
Ifiupiaq reindeer owners advocating close
herding, the construction of corrals and
range cabins, more thorough roundups, the
killing of wolves, the use of reindeer bells,
and castration of many more bull fawns and
mavericks (USBOE 1937).The government
was assisting in the marketing of hides. They
discouraged the Ifupiat from killing baby
fawns for their skins (USBOE 1937).

In September 1937 President Frank-
lin Roosevelt signed a bill authorizing the

Secretary of the Interior to proceed with
extinguishing all non-Native interests in rein-
deer in Alaska and shifted the authority over
reindeer herding to the Alaska Native Service
in the Office of Indian Affairs rather than the
Department of Education. This action ulti-
mately terminated the Lomens’ involvement
in reindeer (Lomen 1954:281). In the end,
the amount of money ($795,000) allocated
for the purpose of extinguishing owner-

ship of reindeer by non-Natives, though not
dispensed in a timely fashion, was more than
adequate to pay off non-Native owners. In
fact, approximately only $333,000 was used
to purchase the reindeer, another $113,000
acquired all of the associated improvements
and facilities, and $46,000 went to adminis-
tering the costs associated with the purchase
(Stern et al. 1980:71, 73).

Although the Lomens originally
estimated their assets—including reindeer,
equipment, corrals, abattoirs, and all related
paraphernalia—at $2,000,000, their major
financial backers in 1937 offered sale of
the company’s assets to the government for
$950,000 (Lomen 1954:278). In the end, the
Lomens’ creditors received significantly less
than the latter amount. Lomen concluded:

Obviously we had been as “ham-
strung” by the Government as the
reindeer were by the wolves—two-
legged as well as four-legged—through
investigations, departmental, senatorial,
and congressional, in the years since
1927, to say nothing of the departmental
competition on sale of meat and hides in
the United States. [1954:288]

After the signing of the Reindeer Act
in 1937 and the assessment and purchasing
of non-Native reindeer and associated equip-
ment, the Lomen era was nearing an end. By

From Hunters to Herders

111


ethnography

ethnohistory

evangelization

extended family

forced assimilation

idealism

ideology

llaganiq

insular community

interfamilial alliance

intersocietal
intrasocietal

ifiua

ihuksuk or iftugshug

GLOSSARY

A descriptive account of a particular culture, usually con-
taining an analysis of its social structure (including kin-
ship), economic and political organization, and religion.

A kind of historical ethnography that studies cultures of
the recent past through the accounts of explorers, mis-
sionaries, and traders, and through the analysis of such
records as land titles, birth and death records, or other
archival materials,

The effort to convert others to Christianity; preaching the
gospel.

A family consisting of two or more single-parent, mo-
nogamous, polygynous, or polyandrous families linked
by a blood tie.

Use of force by a dominant group to compel a minority
to adopt the dominant culture; for example, penalizing or
banning the language and customs of an ethnic group.

The theory that the essential nature of reality lies in con-
sciousness or reason; that only the perceptible is real.

The content or manner of thinking characteristic of an
individual, group, or culture.

Also called ///iamavik -An important character, one of
several brothers, in an original story (chapter 7).

An isolated community.

Alliance between two families, usually through marriage,
in order to further the common interests of both families.

Between two different societies.
Within the same society.

In Ifiupiaq ideology, the spirit of all natural or living
things, which is capable of taking on different physical
forms but usually is revealed in a human-like appearance.

Cairns built of caribou horns to resemble people, and
used to hunt caribou.

From Hunters to Herders

199


CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

In the case of the lfiupiat of the Cape
Espenberg area, a reconstruction of the
seasonal round as practiced near the turn of
this century is complicated by the fact that
members of the society were drawn into the
neighboring communities of both Shishmaref
and Deering during the ingathering of more
dispersed peoples associated with the estab-
lishment of schools, churches, and permanent
trading facilities in the first decades of the
1900s. We know that people who wintered
at Cape Espenberg were alternatively coastal
sea mammal hunters and fishers, trappers,
and caribou hunters. In the maritime realm of
economic behavior, the Cape Espenberg an-
nual subsistence round probably most closely
resembled that of the population wintering
at Shishmaref, while the caribou hunting
aspects of their economy were presumably
more like that practiced in what are now
the Deering and Buckland areas. Therefore,
information on both the seasonal rounds of
Deering—as recalled by elder James Wells
(1974), a near contemporary of Gideon
Barr—and Shishmaref—as reconstructed by
an anthropologist who undertook fieldwork
in the latter community in the 1970s (Eisler
1978)—are presented here. In both cases, in-
formation about the seasonal rounds at earlier
points of time was passed down through oral
histories from the ancestors of the Ifiupiat.

James Wells’s (1974:5) father and
mother, Frank and Kitty, were reindeer herd-
ers, who, along with two-thirds of the Native
population of Deering, were encouraged by
the Society of Friends Church to establish a
new community in 1914 on the Kobuk River
delta—the present settlement of Noorvik
(Wells 1974:5), Although moving as a child
to Noorvik, Wells continued hunting and
fishing in the Deering area, and it was this

annual seasonal cycle of land use and fish
and game procurement that he wanted to pass
on to younger generations.

Wells (1974) divided the year ac-
cording to Ifupiat seasonal periods. January
was called “Si khin ah rook rook” (sigingna-
chuq), or the time when “the sun is beginning
to rise higher and higher after it has been
really low in the last new moon before this
one” (Wells 1974:11). January was one of the
coldest months of the year, the temperature
determined by observable phenomena such
as the cracking noises of the trees, Marten,
mink, fox, lynx, wolverine, land otter, and
wolf were trapped with deadfalls and snares
(Wells 1974:13).

February was called “Koo rhu Auk
toek Vik,” or “the sun is high enough so
the snow is being melted by the sun and the
water is now dripping from the tree branches
and from the high river banks, and then it is
frozen into icicles towards evening” (Wells
1974:17). Navigation during snowstorms
with high winds was based on celestial signs,
wind direction, the shapes of snowdrifts,
and other observable phenomena taught to
hunters as young men by elders. Ptarmigan,
pickerel, blackfish, and mud shark were
taken during February, the fish either being
hooked or trapped under the ice. Bear dens
were marked in the fall in the event that
people might need bear meat and fat during
the coming February, although most bears
were taken later in the year.

March, “Khil ghich Tut Kak,” or the
month when “the summer hawks have come”
(Wells 1974:23), was an important time for
bear hunting. By this time of year, bear meat
was scarce and the fat gone. The animals
were taken in their dens with spears and
jade axes. During the last part of this moon,

116

From Hunters to Herders


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Seveck, Chester Asakak

1973

Longest Reindeer Herder: A Fascinating True Life Story of an Alaskan Es-
kimo Covering the Period from 1890 to 1973. Arctic Circle Enterprises.

Shields, Walter C.

1914

1917

1918

1919

Annual Report of Walter C. Shields, Superintendent of Schools in the North-
western District. J Report on the Work of the Bureau of Education for the
Natives of Alaska, 1912-13. Pp. 28-31. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1914,
No, 31. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

Report of Walter C. Shields, Superintendent of Schools in the Northwestern
District. Jn Report on the Work of the Bureau of Education for the Natives
of Alaska, 1914-15. Pp. 19-23. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1916, No. 47.
Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

Report of Walter C. Shields, Superintendent of the Northwestern District.

In Work of the Bureau of Education for the Natives of Alaska, 1916-17. Pp.
15-21. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1918, No. 5. Washington, D.C.: Govern-
ment Printing Office.

Report of Walter C. Shields, Superintendent of the Northwestern District. In
Work of the Bureau of Education for the Natives of Alaska, 1917-18. Pp. 11-
18. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1919, No. 40. Washington, D.C.: Govern-
ment Printing Office.

Shinkwin, Anne D., and Mary Pete

1984

Yup’ik Eskimo Societies: A Case Study. Etudes/Inuit/Studies, Supplementary
Issue 8:95-112.

Simon, Jim, and S. Craig Gerlach

1992

Reindeer Herding, Subsistence, and Alaskan Native Land Use in the Ber-
ing Land Bridge National Preserve, Northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska: A
Review of the Impact of Reindeer Herding on Community Relationships and
Land Use in the Early Twentieth Century. Unpublished report prepared for
Division of Cultural Resources, Alaska Region, U.S. National Park Service.
Anchorage.

Smith, Eric Alden
1991 [1981] Risk and Uncertainty in the “Original Affluent Society:’ Evolutionary

Ecology of Resource-Sharing and Land Tenure. /# Hunters and Gath-
erers 1: History, Evolution and Social Change, T. Ingold, D. Riches,
and J. Woodburn, ed. Pp. 222-251. New York: Berg.

222

FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ellanna, Linda J.
1980 Bering-Norton Petroleum Development Scenarios and Sociocultural Impacts
Analysis. Vols. I and II, Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Technical Report No.

54, Anchorage: Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Office, Bureau of Land Man-
agement.

1983a Bering Strait Insular Eskimo: A Diachronic Study of Ecology and Population
Structure. Technical Paper No. 77. Juneau: Division of Subsistence, Alaska
Department of Fish and Game.

1983b Technological and Social Change of Marine Mammal Hunting Patterns in
Bering Strait. Technical Paper No. 79. Juneau: Division of Subsistence,
Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Ellanna, Linda J., and Andrew Balluta

1992 Nuvendaltin Quht’ana: The People of Nondalton. Washington, D.C.: Smithso-
nian Institution Press.

Ellanna, Linda J., and George K. Sherrod
1993 “Big Women”: An Alternative Interpretation of the Economic Role of Women
in Ifiupiat Society. Unpublished paper presented to the Seventh International

Conference on Hunting and Gathering Societies, Moscow, Russia, August 1 8-
22, 1993.

Ellanna, Linda J., George K. Sherrod, and Steve Langdon
1994 Subsistence Mapping: The Spatial Component of Hunter-Gatherer
Ecology. Unpublished MS.

Ellanna, Linda J., and Maureen Roche
1976 Bering Strait Regional Census-1975. Nome: Kawerak, Inc.

Estioko-Griffin, Agnes, and P. Bion Griffin
1981 Woman the Hunter: The Agta. J Woman the Gatherer. Frances Dahlberg, ed.
Pp. 121-152. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Etienne, Mona, and Eleanor Leacock, ed.
1980 Women and Colonization. New York: Praeger, Inc.

Fair, Susan W., and Edgar Ningeulook
1995 Qamani: Up the Coast in My Mind, in My Heart. Manuscript on file, Nation-
al Park Service, Anchorage, Alaska.

FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS 211


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

Photo 22. Annie Maamak Nayokpuk (Koonuk) with son Lawrence Nayokpuk on her back. Maamak was the
wife of the Native store manager, Elmer. Her father was Washington Qappikzruag who was a “good”
anatquq, or shaman. Photo by Edward Keithahn, circa 1923, courtesy of Richard Keithahn and

National Park Service (neg. 031).

inherent in the role of women as “owners”
and distributors of food and raw materials
from harvested game that has been “taken
home” and their control of its consumption
have been overlooked in understanding the
socioeconomic and sociopolitical orders of
Ifiupiaq societies.

With regard to traditional Ifupiaq
modes of property inheritance and issues of
gender, Thornton noted in the 1890s at Cape
Prince of Wales:

Notwithstanding the assumed infe-
riority of women, no difference seems
to be made between the two sexes in the
matter of inheritance. All the children,
whether boys or girls, share equally in
the estate of a deceased parent.

Widows, too, hold the property
of their dead husbands. If the husband
happened to be a rich man—an oomael-
lik [sic], or captain, she retains his

social position to a certain extent... One
woman here, the daughter of a great
oomaellik (now dead) and the wife of
another enjoys the unusual distinction of
having the right to own and bear arms.
Last spring we saw her shooting ducks
with no little skill and success. [Thorn-
ton 1931:107]

The Creation of a “Civilized” Social Order

It is as important to teach the natives
just emerging from barbarism how to
earn an independent support as it is to
give them book instruction. The indus-
trial pursuit which nature seems to have
mapped out for the native population of
arctic and subarctic Alaska is the breed-
ing and herding of reindeer and the use
of deer as a means of transportation and
intercommunication. [Jackson 1897:15]

140

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

nomic systems throughout the historic period
considered in this context. That is, sea mam-
mals (particularly seals), caribou, and anad-
romous and freshwater fish, as geographi-
cally available, continued to provide the bulk
of the Ifupiat diet and, to a lesser extent,
essential raw materials for making skinboats,
foot wear, food storage containers, and other
items of well-adapted indigenous technology.
The reindeer, ostensibly brought to alleviate
Eskimo hunger and overall deprivation, basi-
cally remained unobtainable to the Ifiupiat as
a fundamental source of food and raw mate-
rials. Therefore, the indigenous social order
associated with the hunting-gathering way of
life remained viable and intact.

Furbearer pelt trapping and trade
underwent some degree of both quantitative
and qualitative change. A greater percentage
of Ifiupiat time was spent in pursuit of fur-
bearers— initially an economic activity with
little effective federal governmental regula-
tion—until the market degenerated after
World War II. Trapping provided the Ifiupiat
with access to trade goods of European or
American origin. Ironically, one of the few
economic benefits the Ifupiat derived from
having reindeer was greater success in trap-
ping, as wherever there were reindeer, foxes
became more abundant (Andrews 1939:142).
The establishment of western commercial
mercantile outposts and the seasonal avail-
ability of trading vessels disrupted the larger
trade fairs and reduced the economic impor-
tance of intrasocietal and intersocietal trade
partners. However, the persistence of trading
partnerships well into the 1990s suggests the
tenacity of these social relationships and the
attendant economic interchange of locally
available wild harvested resources consid-
ered integral to Ifiupiat well-being.

Within the indigenous social matrix
(characterized by social stratification), and
particularly before the cooperatization of the
herds, having reindeer became a new avenue
for obtaining or maintaining wealth and sta-
tus among the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska
(Landis 1950:31). One such individual,
aspiring to become an umialiq in a somewhat
unconventional manner, was William Al-
lockeok—an orphan, raised by a White man,
who became quite prosperous and powerful
through reindeer and mercantile ventures.

For example, at the first reindeer fair
in 1915, Allockeok, one of the Shishmaref
delegates who had apprenticed in Wales,
gave a passionate speech on how to be a suc-
cessful reindeer man:

When you work with deer, make
your work count, if you wish a good
living from the 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 stray away and they will stay
in places 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. We are now
planning to sell all our meat at the same
place and at the same price. This will be
good, for then no one wilt envy the men
from other herds. We should all work
together for the good of the industry. I
know what reindeer herders have lost
because they did not stay near the herd
and seldom went out to round them up.
If you do not get out to the herd until late
in the day the deer wil! scatter and stray.
I have watched this carefully for four
years and have lost very few deer, be-
cause I have always started early. Many
of the deer men lose deer because they
do not attend to business; the deer get
lost, or killed, or taken by people. If you

144

From Hunters to Herders


United States Department of the Interior

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

240 W. 5" Ave., Room 114
Anchorage, Alaska 99501

IN REPLY REFER TO:
H30(AKRO-RCR)

Dear Colleague:

I am happy to present you with a copy of From Hunters to Herders: The Transformation of ‘Earth, ,
Society, and Heaven Among the Iiupiat of Beringia by Linda Ellanna and George K. Sherrod. This book
tells of the introduction of reindeer herding to the Ifiupiat living on the northern Seward Peninsula
between 1918 and 1925. The authors focus on Thomas Makaiqtaq Barr and his family and associates,
who herded reindeer and hunted seals at Ublasaun, near the present community of Shishmaref. The
reindeer project was the idea of Sheldon Jackson, a missionary and educator who thought that by entering
the herding industry, the Ifiupiat could gain a permanent food supply and improve their lives.

If you have any questions about the book, please call me at (907) 644-3472 or email me at
Rachel_Mason@nps.gov. If you wish to obtain additional copies, please contact Greg Dixon of our staff.
He can be reached at Greg_Dixon @nps.gov or by telephone at (907) 644-3465.

" Sincerely,

Kactee Maan

Rachel Mason
Cultural Anthropologist

a |


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

Stratification, Leadership, and Gender in
Iitupiag Societies of Northwest Alaska

A point that needs to be made at the
outset, and emphasized, is that in tradi-
tional times, both individuals and groups
of Northwest Alaskan Eskimo could
and did achieve a standard of living far
above that of their fellows... Northwest
Alaskan Eskimos operated in terms of
“rank,” not egalitarian societies... Any-
one who suggests otherwise is probably
confusing the 1890-1910 situation with
the traditional one, or else is applying
the (reasonably accurate) stereotype
of Canadian Eskimos to the Northwest
Alaskan population; either procedures
would be in error.

The general fact of ranking in
Northwest Alaska can be inferred from
the accounts of early writers... It was
also brought to my attention repeat-
edly by informants, the best of whom
were concerned that I might present
an artificial picture in which the actual
variation in the behavior of their ances-
tors would be obscured. They insisted
that, in traditional, as well as transitional
times, some individuals were shiftless,
unhappy, stupid, luckless, weak, poor,
and/or ineffective, just as some were
in 1970; some other individuals were,
during the same period, energetic, happy,
intelligent, fortunate, strong, rich, and/or
powerful. Most people were distributed
between those two extremes, again, just
as they were in 1970.

The majority of Northwest Alaskan
Eskimos aspired to a standard of living
well above that of mere persistence. The
stereotype of Eskimos being content
with the condition of abject poverty
did not apply to most of the Northwest
Alaskan Eskimo population at any time
during the century and a quarter covered
by this study. That they were able to
cope with poverty and adapt to it when
nothing better was possible does not

mean that they accepted it. Furthermore,
at all time periods for which I have
information, a large percentage of the
Eskimo population in Northwest Alaska
apparently desired much more than the
minimum, and some people were will-
ing to work hard to get it. [Burch 1975:
205-206]

Other data support these conclu-
sions. For example, Wells’ (1974) account
of the Deering area of Northwest Alaska,
while depicting another variation in social
stratification as expressed through productive
activities, substantiated Burch’s (1975) more
general comments. Seasonal variation in
Ifiupiat resource and land use activities along
southern Kotzebue Sound was based on
whether or not a family had access to a skin-
boat. Beluga drives in the past involved 15
to 20 hunters in kayaks whose efforts were
coordinated by a “captain of the big drive.”

The phenomenon of social stratifica-
tion, as described by Burch (1975) and Wells
(1974) above, was not unique to the Ifiupiat
of Northwest Alaska. In the 1950s Spencer
noted similar features of social organiza-
tion among the neighboring Arctic Coastal
Ifiupiat of Alaska, among whom poverty was
associated with lack of family ties and the
absence of a circle of relatives, while wealth
and success were associated with large kin
networks and with the skills of being an
umialiq:

It ts to be emphasized that social
standing was reserved for very few; it
might take years of building toward suf-
ficient property to command the services
of a crew and one lean year could ruin
a good start... Wealth was conceived to
exist in expendable surplus of any and
all goods. This meant extra food, a full
cellar, extra clothing, skins and furs of

134

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

Olson (1969a:37), in his modern account
of the history of the reindeer industry, con-
curred with Brevig’s accusations against
Lopp, as the latter was very supportive of
lfiupiaq herding and generally was opposed
to the involvement of missions, Samis,
Whites, and Siberians in this industry.

In the annual reindeer report for
1905, Jackson (1906:7) began to restate his
original intention of importing reindeer from
Siberia as a “means of saving the inhabit-
ants of the northern and northwest regions
of the Territory [of Alaska] from starva-
tion”—an old line of argument in response
to the Churchill investigation. Nonetheless,
he did not back down on his policy that the
missions remain the focus of herding. For
example, in 1905 both Deering (Society of
Friends) and Shishmaref (Lutheran) were
also established as mission stations (Jackson
1906:10). The former herd was under the
direction of chief herders Keok and Karmun,
who had served as apprentices at Wales. The
Shishmaref based herd included reindeer
owned by Thomas Sokweena, Joseph Enin-
gowuk, Frank Iyatunguk, and John Sinnok
(Jackson 1906:60-61). Jackson even strongly
argued the fiscal advantages of mission over
government stations (Jackson 1906:19- 20).

During 1906, the last year of Jack-
son’s supervision of the Alaska Reindeer
Service, the stated policy was to provide
small herds (approximately 100 animals) to
mission stations for the “industrial training”
of Eskimos—loans to be repaid at the end of
a specified period (Jackson 1908:9). Appren-
tices were to be compensated with two rein-
deer per year for a five-year apprenticeship.
However, once an apprentice was successful
in obtaining reindeer, he remained under the
supervision of the superintendent in regard

to matters of disposing of any animals,
including the prohibition on selling females.
In 1906 5,153 reindeer were owned by 99
Eskimos, again with very disparate herd
sizes. The Shishmaref and Deering herds had
grown to 414 and 647 animals, respectively.
Of these, the lfiupiat owned 369 of the Shish-
maref reindeer and 461 of the Deering herd
(Jackson 1908:10, 12). Although the pres-
ence of reindeer by then in the Espenberg
area was documented, no mention of that
region per se was made in the 1906 report:

During the past three winters the
Eskimo herders at Wales and Shishmaref
have been accustomed to drive part
of their herd over the frozen tundra a
distance of 150 miles to Nome, and there
kill and sell to the butchers several of
their surplus male deer. In this way they
earned $3,229.35 during the winter of
1905-6. [Jackson 1908:10]

Much of the 1906 report was a
critique by Jackson of the Churchill inves-
tigation, principally revolving around an
accusation that the investigator had spent
most of time on the cutter Thetis and only
12 total days inspecting schools (Jackson
11908:14-15). Multiple letters of sup-
port for Jackson and in opposition to the
Churchill report were incorporated in this
final account, including critiques from the
missionary/teachers at Shishmaref, Teller,
Barrow, Bethel, and Gambell (Jackson 1908:
26-31, 46-55; Johnshoy 1944; Oswalt 1990:
107-112). Jackson attributed the Churchill
investigation to sectarianism and denomina-
tional controversies and jealousies (Jackson
1908:33).To the bitter end, Jackson argued
that the intent of Congress in providing funds
for importing reindeer was to support both
Natives and missions, despite the fact that

From Hunters to Herders

95


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

state of disarray, thereby disrupting the lives
of Thomas and the other residents of Ubla-
saun. While Thomas and his followers had
amassed a considerable number of reindeer,
there were very few outlets for either rein-
deer meat or hides. The Lomens’ company
was dominating the market outside Alaska,
and Whites located in mining camps still op-
erative, such as at Deering, were supplied by
the nearest herders. Meanwhile, the federal
government, through its superintendents,
adamantly continued to discourage lfiupiaq
herders from killing their reindeer for their
own consumption. Thomas was aware that
some herders had opted to adopt open herd-
ing over the more cautious and, in many
Ifiupiaqs’ opinion, more responsible methods
of close herding they had been taught by the
Whites and Samis in the past. Some herds
were officially consolidated into companies,
while others were becoming unavoidably
mixed. In some respects, the reindeer had
gone from being an asset to becoming a li-
ability.

The settlement at Ublasaun was dis-
banding. Peter Bart, Lloyd Koonuk, and Gor-
don Dimmick began spending most winters
at Shishmaref. Gilbert Barr also maintained a
house at Shishmaref which was 12 feet by 16
feet, and was occupied by him and his fam-
ily of seven for part of each year. However,
Gilbert continued to take his reindeer to Cape
Espenberg in the summers and eventually
moved to Deering for the winters. By the end
of the summer of 1925, Thomas’s and his
brothers’ reindeer had become mixed with
the herd of Stanley Kivyearzruk.

In the two years to follow, Thomas
and his family were to make several impor-
tant moves. Ublasaun was abandoned as a
winter herding settlement. By 1926, approxi-

mately at the time of the death of Thomas’s
sister who had been living with them, the rest
of the Barr family—Thomas, Emily, Fannie,
Gideon, Elijah, Bessie, and Mary—officially
moved from Ublasaun to Deering, in part so
that the children could go to school. Elijah
died at Deering of a ruptured appendix dur-
ing the winter of 1926, and his sister Fannie
died in the hospital at Kotzebue the follow-
ing April. With the death of Fannie, Gideon
became the eldest of the Barr children.

Gideon and his sister Bessie attended
school. In 1990 Gideon recalled going to
school in Deering:

I didn’t walk into school until I was
nine years old, ‘cause my father had to
stay out in the country [with the rein-
deer]. I used to be ashamed of myself so
much, I'd be real tall boy compared to
those little primary kids, that’s the worse
thing that I could ever stand, because
for me being tall and the rest I went to
school with, they’re so small. It’s really
painful, [J] was ashamed of myself. It
wasn’t my fault. [Barr 1990]

While at Deering in the winters and
at Cape Espenberg in the summers, Thomas
and Emily had more children, including the
twins Nora and Mabel and another daughter
in 1929, named after the deceased Fannie.

In 1930 Laura was born and in 1932 they
had another son who they named Elijah after
the son Thomas and Emily had lost in 1927.
Finally, the youngest child Bill (or Zaccheus)
was born in 1935.

Since the original school in Deering
had been dismantled and moved to Noorvik
in 1914, the new teacher Clarence Andrews,
who had arrived in Deering in 1925, reno-
vated a saloon to serve the purposes of a
facility for educating the 38 Native children

From Hunters to Herders

55


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

the floor. The plates and cooking utensils
were stored in the corner next to the stove.
Each house had a single door connected to
the living room by a long hallway. Food,
clothing, hunting implements, and other
items were stored in the tunnel-like corridor.
While serving as a storage shed, the tunnel
functioned to buffer the living quarters from
the arctic winds and cold.

There were numerous elevated and
subterranean caches around each dwelling in
or upon which each family stored food, tents,
hunting gear, clothing, and other items essen-
tial for life in the Arctic. The elevated caches
were constructed of four driftwood poles 8 to
10 inches in diameter and 20 to 25 feet long,
firmly implanted in the tundra. Between
these uprights, cross pieces were attached
that, in turn, supported one or more floors.
The first floor was positioned as low as seven
feet above the ground with others placed five
to six feet above the one beneath it. Kayaks,
spears, nets, ice scoops, and other imple-
ments for harvesting resources were stored
on the lower level. Animal pelts wrapped
in ugruk or walrus hides were placed on the
upper tiers to protect them from the ele-
ments. Families with umiaqs stored them
upside down for the winter on elevated
platforms beyond the reach of hungry canids.
However, for most of the time, the families’
work dogs were staked in proximity to their
owners’ dwellings. From a distance, the
elevated caches and overtumed umiags on
their platforms provided the only hint of oc-
cupation, since the houses appeared as mere
knolls in an otherwise windswept landscape.
Worn paths in the snow linked the clusters
of domestic structures to each other, forming
the physica] manifestations of a community.

Gideon described the differences be-
tween the interiors of the old house of Umiaq

and new houses at Ublasaun as he remem-
bered it in 1990:

It [an old house] has a kitchen and a
living room, and hallways—a little short
hallway and a storage shed. Those were
used and made before they start using
stoves in the house. That kitchen got to
have—the top of it has to be built up a
little higher than the living room because
the smoke has to go out. And inside the
living room it is only heated by a seal
oil lamp, and they also cook some and
melt some snow on those seal oil lamps.
You can tell real easy if it’s an old house.
There would always be on the right side
coming in that’s the kitchen there and
the living room over there. That is only
heated by seal oil lamps. That’s they way
they were built.

When we built these houses, we
lived modern way. We got stove, cast
iron stove, and a smokestack. Nice and
warm in the house all the time. And the
only seal oil lamps we ever used was in
the storage shed during the winter. And
we were using kerosene lamp at first and
then, finally, these gas lamps come out
and that’s when we start using the gas
Jantern, which is even too bright. [Barr
199 1e]

The floors of the structures were
planked with wood, except for the cache.

A rawhide loop was kept near the covered
opening in the ceiling for snaring polar

bear legs if such animals attempted to reach
through the stomach or glass skylight. If a
polar bear leg were caught with the loop, the
Ifiupiat tightened the tension on it and the
loop was attached to a house beam. Then
the men exited the house with weapons and
killed the bear.

It was not uncommon on a winter
day to see children sliding down steep banks
with fleshed seal skins ready to stretch. The
children “curved the front up” and they really

From Hunters to Herders

a


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF “HEAVEN”

of frustration.

The concept of the “Caribou Mother”
was distributed among the Caribou, Iglu-
lik, Baffin Island, and Labrador Inuit. Re-
ferred to as Hila, Pinga, Pana, and Piwzuma
(Merkur 1991:89), she regulated the indig-
enous ritual observances associated with
caribou hunting and did not allow excess ani-
mals to be killed. The Caribou Mother was
compared to or equated with the Sea Mother
(Sila or Sedna) of other Inuit (Merkur 1991:
90). Some aboriginal groups in the eastern
Canadian Arctic recounted myths regarding
relationships among the Sea Mother, Caribou
Mother, and other important spiritual “own-
ers” or “guardians” of particular animals
(Merkur 1991:91-93), The principal theme
of the genesis of Caribou Mother stories
dealt with a time during which sea mammals
had already been created by the Sea Mother,
but there were no caribou on earth. An old
woman went inland and made caribou using
her breeches and boots and speaking magical
words. However, the Caribou Mother was
forced to engage in separate acts of creation
to give the caribou life through breath souls
and personality from free souls (Merkur
1991:93),

Ingold’s (1987:250) discussion of
Caribou Man as the keeper and guardian of
caribou among the Quebec Inuit suggested
that the ill treatment of the animal resulted
in this steward withholding caribou from
humans. At times, Caribou Man was believed
to assume the form of the spiritually power-
ful polar bear, predator of humans.

Oguilluk’s description of caribou
hunting by the Ifiupiat of the Kauwerak area
of Seward Peninsula provided insights into
the spiritual relationships between humans
and caribou:

The menfolk went out to hunt cari-
bou. If they saw a herd, they would not
go near them. They would build a corral.
The corral was made out of willows
bound together with rawhide ropes. The
people of Kauwerak had a special cer-
emony for this time. They had an ugly
mask carved of wood. An aungutgouk
[sic] would carry the mask to the corral
to a pile of stones that looked something
like a man. He would stick the mask
in the stone. The people could sce if
the mask shed some blood—through
its mouth. If the mouth shed lots of
blood, that meant there would be lots of
caribou. If it did not shed much blood,
they would not get many animals. [1973:
97-98}

This story suggested the blatant in-
ability of hunters to control caribou, includ-
ing the number of animals they were able to
corral and/or harvest. That is, the ceremony
was predictive in nature as opposed to ma-
nipulative. The moral of this narrative was
that success in caribou hunting was not in
the realm of pragmatic or ceremonial control
by the Ifiupiat. The inability of humans to
master caribou stood in stark contrast to the
requisites mandated for herding—that is, the
concepts and practices of corralling domestic
deer for counting, earmarking, sled training,
castration, trade, or butchering.

Although not Ifupiat, the pastoral
Chukchi viewed feral reindeer as ideological-
ly distinct from their domesticated reindeer
stock. Ingold (1987) concluded that while
the Chukchi viewed themselves as masters
over their domestic reindeer as symbolized
by acts of sacrifice, wild reindeer were held
in esteem and perceived to be under the
power of the same “supernatural” or “su-
preme” beings that influenced the lives of

162

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

No deer have been butchered for
meat. As the supply of seal and wal-
rus meat and fish has been much less
this year than usual, our herders were
compelled to subsist, at times, on flour,
molasses, and tea, a very unsatisfactory
diet. [Lopp’s annual report from Cape
Prince of Wales for 1899 cited in Jack-
son 1900:109]

Several allocations of reindeer at the
turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth cen-
tury warrant consideration in this context.
In 1899 numerous non-Native residents of
the Kotzebue Sound area submitted a peti-
tion for an allocation of reindeer to “relieve
the winter sufferings of the destitute natives
of this region” (Jackson 1900:163). Mission
stations established between 1897 and 1900
included the Norwegian Mission Station at
the site of the old Teller Station (1900) and
the Catholic Mission at Nulato (1901). The
second recorded allocation of reindeer for a
private herd occurred in 1898, when three
Ifiupiaq apprentices—Tautook, Sekeoglook,
and Wocksock—were given reindeer in ac-
cordance with their contract to start a com-
bined herd of 186 animals, reportedly to be

established in the Teller area (Jackson 1898b:

9-10, 12, 1900:16). By 1899 Jackson report-
ed that this herd numbered approximately
300 animals (Jackson 1900:15). In 1899
Antisarlook’s herd numbered 328 reindeer
(Jackson 1900:16). With the exception of the
Wales herd of 714 reindeer, of which a few
belonged to apprentices but most were the
property of the American Missionary Asso-
ciation mission, the Eaton government herd
was the largest with 737 animals, only 23 of
which belonged to an apprentice (Jackson
1900:16, 68).

Jackson advocated very early in his
Alaska career that reindeer used as pack and

sled animals were extraordinarily superior

to dog teams as a mode of transport. When
the gold rush began on Norton Sound, Ber-
ing Strait, Kotzebue Sound, and the inte-

rior Seward Peninsula in 1898, Jackson

was certain that reindeer would assume the
function of dog teams as the primary mode
of transportation (Jackson 1900:19, 1904:
21-22; Brooks 1953:412). Additionally, the
large number of miners who came north in
search of their fortunes increased the demand
for reindeer meat. The period brought prob-
lems to Jackson as well as hopes for a vastly
expanded industry, as many Sami emigrants
chose to become miners rather than herders,
and some Samis sold animals directly to min-
ers (Jackson 1900:21-22).

On both sides of Bering Strait and
throughout most of Alaska, the correspond-
ing occurrence of two epidemics—measles
and influenza—and secondary bacterial in-
fections in 1900, with the synergistic effects
of disrupting the social order of the liiupiat,
impacted the reindeer industry and associated
missionary activities both directly and indi-
rectly (Jackson 1901:10-11; Smith 1984:320-
325, 338; Wolfe 1982). For example, half
of the Ifiupiat at Teller Station died during
this epidemic (Johnshoy 1944). Jackson was
unable to secure many reindeer in Siberia for
importation, as most of those herders either
were sick or had died there, as well (Jackson
1901:9-10). Similarly, many of the Ifiupiaq
apprentices and herders died or were dis-
abled for much of the year in Alaska, includ-
ing Charlie Antisarlook and his two brothers
and Wocksock, who recently had established
a herd with his partners (Jackson 1901:10-11,
15; Smith 1984:320, 323). In many cases, the
herds were left on their own, as many Ifiupiat
were too ill to round up the reindeer.

90

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

and Pete (1984) for the central Yup’ik, for
these purposes, the following criteria are
considered relevant to societal affiliation and
boundary demarcation:

1. an intelligible but distinct subdialect;

2. recognized use rights to a specific ter-
ritory, usually composed of a drain-
age area of one large river and its
tributaries and other smaller rivers in
the area, or a piece of coastline;

a generally common seasonal round;

4. the location of a primary winter

village with at least one qazgi and
surrounding satellite settlements and
camps;

5. a marriage universe, with some ex-

ceptions for purposes of alliance;

6. a preponderance of primary kin ties;

7. a shared ceremonial life;

8. a set of mutual and reoccurring per-

sonal names,

9. anda sense of group identity.
Depending on the perspectives of both soci-
etal members and outsiders (scholars or lay
persons) trying make sense of Ifiupiaq so-
ciopolitical organization and socioterritorial
boundaries from the time of contact through
a period of rapid sociocultural change during
the historical period, the names and numbers
of societies in the area of Northwest Alaska
vary (cf., Burch 1975:10-12; Ray 1975:7,
1983:173-226).

Ray (1975, 1984:286) concluded
that during the 1800s, there were 22 Eskimo
(fupiaq and Yup’ik) “tribes” in the Bering
Strait area as she defined it (from Pastolik on
the Yukon delta in the south to the Goodhope
River in the north). She also concluded that
Ifiupiat who resided in the Buckland, Candle,
and Deering areas in the mid-1800s were
more culturally and linguistically affiliated

as

with the Kotzebue Sound region, and not in-
cluded in those named “Bering Strait tribes”
(Ray 1984:286, 295). Burch (1975:10-12,
1984:303-305), focusing more on the Kot-
zebue Sound than Bering Strait region but
overlapping the classifications of Ray (1984:
286, 295), referred to these sociopolitical
units as “societies,” and provided a more in-
clusive compilation of such social groupings
for an area from Golovnin Bay in the south
to the Colville River in the north. Moreover,
he (Burch 1994:4) aggregated 13 of Ray’s
(1984:286, 295) distinct Ifiupiaq “tribes” into
10, also for the time period circa 1800.

Concerning the study area of interest,
for the mid-1800s Ray (1984:286) identified
the Shishmaref, Cape Espenberg, Goodhope,
Buckland, Deering, and Candle “tribes” as
distinct sociopolitical units. Conversely,
Burch (1975:11) identified the existence of
merely one society located along the south-
ern shores of Kotzebue Sound (including
Goodhope, Deering, Buckland, and Candle)
and Shishmaref and Cape Espenberg (Tapqaq
or Tapqaqmiut) yet another single socio-
political unit in 1850, in part as a result of
processes of ingathering and consolidation
of multiple societies in the course of the
historical Euro-American contact period. For
example, for the period 1800 to 1825 Burch
(1975:11) argued that Imupiat from the tip
of Cape Espenberg, Goodhope, and Deering
(Pitagmiut) were a single society, while Can-
dle and Buckland (Kangigmiut) composed a
second. Oswalt (1967:6-7, 13) also made the
distinction between the Ifiupiat of the Seward
Peninsula (Kauwerak and Kingigmiut of the
interior peninsula and Wales, respectively)
and those of Kotzebue Sound (Malimiut or
Malemiut).

Winter settlements observed by

From Hunters to Herders

15


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Krupnik, Igor
1993 Arctic Adaptations: Native Whalers and Reindeer Herders of Northern Eur-
asia. Hanover: University Press of New England.

Lantis, Margaret
1950 The Reindeer Industry in Alaska. Arctic 3(1):27-44.
1952 Eskimo Herdsmen: Introduction of Reindeer Herding to the Natives of Alaska.
Jn Human Problems in Technological Change: A Casebook. E.H. Spicer, ed.
New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Lazell, J. Arthur
1960 Alaskan Apostle: The Life Story of Sheldon Jackson. New York: Harper &
Brothers, Publishers.

Lee, Richard B., and Irven DeVore
1968 Problems in the Study of Hunters and Gatherers. Jn Man the Hunter. R. Lee
and I. DeVore, ed. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.

Levin, M.G., and L.P. Patapov, ed.
1964 The Peoples of Siberia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Little, Arthur D.
1963 An Evaluation of the Feasibility of Native Industry in Northwestern Alaska,
Report to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Lomen, Carl J.
1954 Fifty Years in Alaska. New York: David McKay Company, Inc.

Lund, Henriette
1974 Of Eskimos and Missionaries: Lutheran Eskimo Missions in Alaska, 1894-
1973. Minneapolis: Division of Service and Mission in America, The Ameri-
can Lutheran Church.

Martin, Calvin
1978 Keepers of the Game: Indian-Animal Relationships and the Fur Trade. Berke-
ley: University of California Press.

Merkur, Daniel
1991 Powers Which We Do Not Know: The Gods and Spirits of the Inuit. Moscow:
University of Idaho Press.

FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS 217


BIBLIOGRAPHY

U.S. Bureau of Education, Alaska Reindeer Service (USBOE)

1908 Report on the Alaska School Service and on the Alaska Reindeer Service.
Reprint of Chapter XV from the Report of the Commissioner of Education for
1907. U.S. Bureau of Education. Whole No. 394. Washington, D.C.: Govern-
ment Printing Office.

1909-1944 Alaska Reindeer Service, General Case Files. Boxes No. 36, 42, 46,

47, and 51, Record Group 75. Anchorage: U.S. National Archives-
Alaska Region.

1910 Report on Education in Alaska. Reprint of Chapter XXX from Report of the
Commissioner of Education for 1909, with an Appendix. U.S. Bureau of Edu-
cation, Whole No. 437. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

1911 Report on Education of the Natives of Alaska and the Reindeer Service. Re-
print of Chapter XXXIII from Report of the Commissioner of Education for
1910, with an Appendix. U.S. Bureau of Education. Whole No. 448. Washing-
ton, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

1912 Report on Education of the Natives of Alaska and the Reindeer Service, 1910-
11. Pp. 80-81. Bureau of Education, Alaska School Service. Whole No. 484.
Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

1913 Report on the Work of the Bureau of Education for the Natives of Alaska,
1911-1912. Bulletin, 1913, No. 36. Whole Number 546. Washington, D.C.:
Government Printing Office.

1915 Report on the Work of the Bureau of Education for the Natives of Alaska,
1913-1914. Bulletin, 1915, No. 48. Washington., D.C.: Government Printing
Office.

1923-1944 Alaska Reindeer Service, Miscellaneous reindeer herd records. Boxes

31, 38, and 46, Record Group 75. Anchorage: U.S. National Archives-
Alaska Region.

1934-1945 Alaska Reindeer Service, Miscellaneous letters. Boxes 31, 47, 71,
and 75, Record Group 75. Anchorage: U.S. National Archives-Alaska
Region.

1936-1971 Alaska Reindeer Service, Agricultural, Hunting, and Fishing Statistics.

Boxes 61, 62, and 63, Record Group 75. Anchorage: U.S. National
Archives-Alaska Region.

1953-1955 Alaska Reindeer Service, Hunting, Fishing, and Fur Farming. Box 64,
Record Group 75, Anchorage: U.S. National Archives-Alaska Region.

U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Alaska Reindeer Service (BIAARS)
1909-1932 Records of the Alaska Reindeer Service. Record Group 75. Anchorage:
U.S. National Archives-Alaska Region.

U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Juneau Area Office
1922-1929 Log Books, U.S.S. Boxer. Box No. 13, Record Group 75. Anchorage:
U.S. National Archives-Alaska Region,

FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS 225


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

in 1892 was a village of seven houses and
possibly a qazgi (Ray 1983:214). The site of
Ublasaun sits on a low bluff on the Chukchi
Sea, where driftwood deposited by storm
surges accumulates at the mouths of two
small streams. The name “Ublasaun” refers
to the last occupation of a settlement that had
been used at different points of time prehis-
torically and historically by Ifupiaq inhabit-
ants of the area.

Shishmaref (Kigiqtaq) is the only
community on the northwestern coast of the
Seward Peninsula that was occupied as a per-
manent settlement in 1994. This prehistoric
and historical settlement, documented since
first Euro-American contact, is located on
Sarichef Island surrounded by the waters
of the Chukchi Sea and Shishmaref Inlet,
approximately 25 miles south of the Arctic
Circle and roughly 120 miles northwest of
Nome. The island is roughly 5.5 miles long
and 1.5 miles wide.

According to local people, the origi-
nal village site was inland on the banks
of the Arctic River. They say there are
mounds of whale bones there marking
the site. The village has been located at
or near its present site since before the
arrival of Caucasians. [Heller and Scott
n.d.:21]

The population of Shishmaref has varied
through historical time from 131 individuals
in 1912; 131 again in 1920; 223 in 1930; 257
in 1940; 194 in 1950; 175 in 1957; 217 in
1960; 267 in 1970; 306 in 1975; 394 in 1980;
and 456 in 1990 (Ellanna and Roche 1975;
Heller and Scott n.d.:21, 158; Sobelman
1985:40; U.S. Bureau of the Census 1990).
In addition to Shishmaref, the extant com-
munities of Teller, Brevig Mission, Wales,

Deering, Buckland, Candle, Selawik, and
Noorvik form a northern Seward Peninsula
and southern Kotzebue Sound geographic
subregion of Northwest Alaska.
Additionally, there are multitudes
of both seasonal and historical settlements,
the majority of which are either no longer
occupied permanently or, in some cases,
systematically used because of factors as-
sociated with the centralization of indigenous
populations. These settlements and camps
stretched along the coast from the delta of
the Kobuk River in the Kotzebue Sound area
to Cape Nome, and occurred inland across
the Seward Peninsula, forming the socioter-
ritorial and socioeconomic arena in which
a vast part of this story of reindeer herding
unfolded. From north to south these include,
but were not limited to, the following sites:

e Noorvik on the Kobuk River delta,
established in 1914 by The Society of
Friends Mission on a federal reserva-
tion, principally inhabited by Ifupiat
who previously resided in the min-
ing town of Deering (Ray 1983:218;
Wells 1974:5);

e Selawik, first reported in 1842 (Za-
goskin 1967) based on second hand
information and listed by Petroff in
the 1880 census (Orth 1971:852);

e Elephant Point, a beluga whale hunt-
ing site used by Buckland residents
reported by Nelson (1971) Buckland,
which first appears on a U.S. Geo-
logical Survey map in 1914 (Orth
1971:165);

e asmall concentration of people in

From Hunters to Herders

11


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

bringing beef and mutton from the States
to inland mining camps, it is of great
importance that the Eskimo be trained to
raise reindeer with which to supply the
immigrant miner with fresh meat ....

In the development of the rich
mineral resources of that region he {the
White man] will find the reindeer and
the Eskimo herder and teamster the
connecting link between himself and the
resources of nature - for his comfort and
for his profit. [Jackson 1904:19-21]

Ownership patterns of reindeer by
Ifiupiat largely had been dominated by cer-
tain families. Lopp’s successor Lee at Cape
Prince of Wales noted the development there
of what he termed a “reindeer aristocracy.”
While explicable in terms of Ifiupiaq social
order, as discussed below, the attempt to
break up such alleged “aristocracies” fitted
Jackson’s model of the “Eskimo” becoming
peasants with little to no internal social strati-
fication. Lee countered this development in
the industry at Cape Prince of Wales in 1903
by making rules about apprentices, assumed-
ly sanctioned by Jackson and his supporters:

In the past the owners have been
nearly all related to each other, so that
but a very few families have been bene-
fited, but the rule now in vogue is that all
new apprentices must be boys who are
not related to other deer owners. I hope
in this way to introduce the ownership
of the reindeer into as many different
families as possible.

This new rule was greeted with
cheers by the population of the village,
as they were beginning to feel jealous of
the Kingegan reindeer aristocracy, and
the new rule is that no boy shall become
an apprentice until he shall have learned
some English. [Hugh J. Lee as cited in
Jackson 1904:65]

In 1905 the Secretary of the Interior
commissioned an investigation of reindeer
herding and education in Alaska, because of
Jackson’s-and others’ who agreed with his
philosophies-seeming reversal in reindeer
policy, his continued support of missionary
activities with money derived from the rein-
deer industry and other governmental sourc-
es, and his avid determination to have educa-
tion provided primarily by missionaries. The
investigative endeavor was conducted by
Frank C. Churchill, a strong advocate of the
separation of church and state. Churchill’s
report not only addressed problems associat-
ed with the role of Ifupiaq reindeer herding,
such as the allocation of such large numbers
of reindeer to the missions, but questioned
Jackson’s apparent receipt of dual salaries for
the same job—one from the federal govern-
ment as an agent of education and the other
from the Presbyterian Board of Home Mis-
sions (Lazell 1960:192).

Jackson’s (1908) annual reindeer
report of 1906 included his own refutation
of Churchill’s report, as well as letters of
support from several missionaries, including
Brevig. As Brevig reported:

This summer (1905) there was
prevalent disorder throughout all of
Alaska among the Government teachers,
missionaries, and reindeer herd manag-
ers. Some of the younger officers of the
customs [sic] ships, some politicians
in Washington, including Dr, Jackson’s
subordinates, with Mr. Lopp as helper
had banded themselves together for the
purpose of having Dr. Jackson removed
from office. They also proposed to have
the reindeer business and its manage-
ment placed in the hands of the Customs
department and thus remove the reindeer
herds from their connection with the
missions. [Johnshoy 1944:208]

94

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

Photo 25. John Okie, the best dressed man in Shishmaref. Photo by Edward
Keithahn, circa 1923, courtesy of Richard Keithahn and National Park Service
(neg. 112

From Hunters to Herders 151


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

histories. Of particular importance are beliefs
about the relationships between humans,
animals, land, and other features—both those
classified by Westerners to be “empirical,”

or based on experience, as opposed to “non-
empirical’’—of the lfiupiaq universe (Burch
1971).

Based on cross-cultural ethnographic
data, it can be assumed that people in hunt-
ing-gathering societies viewed the creation,
parameters, and delineation of the universe in
ways distinct from those who domesticated
plants and animals (Ingold 1987, 1988). In
particular, within the ideological domains of
most hunting and gathering peoples through-
out the world, humans and animals were
ontologically related, transmuted from one
form to another, spiritually intertwined, and,
in the case of some species or under certain
circumstances, perceived to be one and the
same (cf., Ingold 1988 for general com-
ments; Fienup-Riordan 1990 on the central
Alaska Yup’ik; Guenther 1988 on the “Bush-
man” of southern Africa; Nelson 1983 and
Ellanna and Balluta 1992 on the Koyukon
and Dena’ina Athabascans of Alaska, respec-
tively).

As Wenzel stated the point in rela-
tionship to the Inuit of the Canadian arctic:

Inuit subsistence has its own ideol-
ogy. It comes in part from the belief
that many animals were human in times
past..., but it also arises from the social
relatedness of its daily practice. Inuit
do not segregate the qualities enjoyed
by human beings from those enjoyed
by animals. Animals share with humans
a common state of being that includes
kinship and family relations, sentience,
and intelligence. The rights and obliga-
tions that pertain among people extend
to other members of the natural world.

[1991:60-6 1]

From this perspective, hunters did not relate
to animals as their dominators, managers,
or stewards, but rather as co-residents who
shared the same conceptual ideology and
maintained themselves through the accumu-
lation of knowledge.

Hunters and gatherers, pastoralists,
and late nineteenth century Western Protes-
tants also embraced quite distinct ideologies
about the relationships between humans and
domestic—as opposed to wild—animals.
For example, it is likely that Ifupiat made an
ideological distinction between reindeer and
caribou and dogs and wolves.

The purpose of this chapter is to
explore the nature of lfiupiaq cosmology,
especially as it related to the domestication
of animals, the nature of nineteenth and early
twentieth century Protestant Christian ideol-
ogy, and the syncretism of the two as mani-
fested in the case of the Ifiupiat of Northwest
Alaska. As so clearly articulated by Fienup-
Riordan in regard to the Yup’ik of Western
Alaska, a comprehension of the interface of
indigenous Native American and other non-
Western and Christian missionary ideologies
is difficult to attain and the processes are
poorly understood:

Analysts of and participants in
the native-missionary encounter in the
Arctic have tended to depict conversion
as an all-or-nothing process in which
the native culture either is left intact or
is totally transformed. The missionary
encounter is presented not as a dialogue,
but in terms of relative failure or suc-
cess (Martin 1978; Tanner 1979). For
example, Oswalt (1963a) attributes the
easy acceptance of Moravian ideology
along the Kuskokwim to an inherent
weakness in the traditional nineteenth-

154

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF “HEAVEN”

the souls of objects belonging to others.

In the Ifiupiaq worldview, death was
not the terminus of the existence of spiritual
entities embodied in sentient beings. Death
was rather a rite of passage from one state of
being to another paralleling that of life, until
the rebirth of a finite number of souls. For
example, Beechey in 1827 noted the fol-
lowing about the “religion” of the Ifiupiat of
Northwest Alaska:

It seems probable that their reli-
gion is the same as that of the Eastern
Esquimaux [sic], and that they have
similar conjurers and sorcerers. We may
infer that they have an idea of a future
state, from the fact of their placing near
the graves of their departed friends
the necessary implements for procur-
ing a subsistence in this world, such as
harpoons, bows, and arrows, caiacs [sic],
&c, and by clothing the body decently;
and from the circumstance of musical
instruments being suspended to the poles
of the sepulchres, it would seem that
they consider such state not to be devoid
of enjoyments. [Beechey 1968:302]

To the Ifupiat, the number of souls of
all beings was finite. That is, upon the death
of an embodied entity, the ifiua or life soul
and, in the case of humans the name soul,
resided in the spirit world until reborn. In the
case of humans, the birth of a baby brought
the name soul and tfiua of an ancestor, usu-
ally but not always someone of a grandparen-
tal generation, back to earth. In the case of
animals or fish taken by humans, the duration
of time spent between lives in this world was
influenced by the treatment afforded to the
animal that had given itself to the hunter or
fisher.

Since animals were perceived to have
the ability to reason, talk, understand human

speech, and otherwise behave and think like
humans, it is only through their kindness as
a result of being afforded proper respect in
both thought and actions that they allowed
themselves to be taken by people (cf., Fien-
up-Riordan 1990:45-46; Spencer 1959:264).
As in the case of humans, the souls of seals
or other animals taken during a given year
reappeared in physical form in future times.

Angatkuut had special rapport with
the metaphysical world in general. They
functioned through the assistance of spiritual
helpers and were called upon to act as inter-
mediaries between humans and potentially
offended animal or plant souls or spiritual
guardians such as Sedna, the sea mother.
Frequently, angatkuut were called upon to
rectify the inappropriate meeting of two dis-
tinct categories of phenomena.

From the Ifupiat perspective, phe-
nomena in the universe existed within bound-
ed domains. While humans, animals, and
other spiritual entities existed on an equal
plane, disastrous consequences resulted from
the indiscriminate mixing of components
derived from such bounded domains. That is,
the recognition and maintenance of separate-
ness between domains was a fundamental
concern and involved rigidly proscribed and
prescribed behaviors. Some of these discrete
domains of the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska,
particularly as they relate to animal domesti-
cation, are presented here.

The pervasive land-sea dichotomy,
found everywhere in areas of Ifiupiaq and
Yup’ ik distribution, acted as a barrier to the
inappropriate merging of endeavors and
things concerning animals from the land
with those of the sea (Birket-Smith 1959:
168; Oswalt 1979:316; Spencer 1959:264).
For example, among the Nunamiut, weapons

158

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

the nineteenth century, waiting for their
first born ideas, is far from accurate.
Even at the first meeting with Europeans
their material culture already contained
European objects. Economic adjustments
that had been developing since the 1780s
had interpenetrated all aspects of their
life, including intertribal affairs, and

had prepared the foundation for changes
during the twentieth century. The direc-
tion taken in this respect was a matter of
degree, not kind. [Ray 1975:251]

This quotation regarding the nature of pro-
cesses of cultural change after Euro-Ameri-
can indirect and direct contact on the Ifupiat
of Northwest Alaska dispels one stereo-
type—that of the “pristine primitive Eski-
mo”—while seemingly promoting yet an-
other—the Eskimos as people who have lost
their culture. That is, Ray (1975:251) astutely
points out that at the time of Euro-American
contact, the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska
were not locked in an historical vacuum, but
rather were active participants in an inter-
locking network of trade and attendant social
relations that both brought and disseminated
goods and ideas of indigenous and European
origin. European and American explorers
and colonialists ethnocentrically perceived
themselves to be changing indigenous
peoples—either through annihilation at one
extreme or, at the other end of this cultural
change continuum, assimilation. However,
in reality the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska,
like other Native Americans and indigenous
peoples worldwide, were dynamically and
diachronically strategically modifying their
sociocultural systems as new and distinct op-
tions became available.

In large part related to the cultural
change paradigms in American anthropol-
ogy commonly expressed in ethnographies

and ethnohistories of the 1950s and 1960s,
Ray (1975) and many others writing about
“Eskimos” (cf., Chance 1966; Hughes 1960;
Oswalt 1963b; VanStone 1962) focused on
aspects of indigenous cultures markedly
modified rather than on more conservative
underpinnings of society and culture that had
remained viable, even if manifested overtly
in new forms, into the 1990s. In this frame of
reference, we explore the history of Euro-
American indirect and direct contact with the
Ifupiat of Northwest Alaska in this chapter,
with the exception of the inextricably linked
formal Western education and reindeer herd-
ing events treated in more detail below.

In this section, then, we present a
brief but relevant overview of Euro-Ameri-
can contact history with Ifupiat of the
Seward Peninsula, Bering Strait, and Kot-
zebue Sound areas. Importantly, it should
be remembered that Eurasian trade goods
passed from Siberia into Alaska and vice
versa by way of well-established and long-
term trade networks long before the Ifiupiat
of the area had any direct contact with Euro-
Americans in the latter half of the 1700s,
with the Ifiupiat of Cape Prince of Wales and
the Diomede and King islands and Kotzebue
Sound in Alaska and the Siberian Yupik of
East Cape (Nevuqaghmiit) and the Chukchi
on the Chukotsk Peninsula being dominant
middlemen in this aboriginal trade network
(Nelson 1971; Ray 1975; Schweitzer and
Golovko 1994).

With the exception of St. Lawrence
Island, not of direct concern in this study,
Russian attempts to make contacts with the
indigenous peoples of the Alaska mainland
and the islands located in Bering Strait were
largely unsuccessful before the Bering and
Chirikov journeys much farther south in

From Hunters to Herders

23


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

wood [sic] scaffold. But on the follow-
ing day, when he visited the grave, he
found it was robbed, and the snow under
it was covered with tracks made by two
wolves.

Arming himself with bow and ar-
rows and spear, he followed the tracks
and soon discovered that they changed
to human footprints, and between them,
tracks of a third—a woman. Follow-
ing their trail for hours, it took him to
a cave-like house in the mountains. He
entered and found his wife seated on the
floor between two young men, sons of an
old man and woman who were the only
other occupants of the house.

Her captors refused to give her up.
After much talk, they promised to let her
return home for one year, if the husband
would give them the copper knife-blade,
which was lashed to the end of his spear.
He agreed to this. As they were leaving,
the old man added, “In one year my two
sons will come after her, and bring her
back, and neither your charms, nor you
medicine-men can keep her from us.”

After returning home, she lived in
constant dread of the ‘‘wolf-brothers.”
She feared they would come and steal
her away before the end of the year. She
followed her husband wherever he went,
and never once allowed him out of her
sight.

Near the close of the year, a wise
old woman announced that the wolf-
brothers were now on their way to get
the wife. The people then prepared to
defend her. All the powerful charms and
medicine men obtainable were secured
for her protection. They lashed her to
a post, in the middle of the “Kosga”
[men’s house], with so much seal thong,
that only her face was visible. Scores of
men, armed with bows and arrows, re-
mained there to guard her. Others where
[sic] stationed in the recess along each
side of the long underground passage,
which fed to the door.

When the wolves arrived at the en-

trance, they became men. They walked
down the long passage and entered
unharmed. In their presence the armed
men and charms became powerless. At
a touch from the older wolf-brother the
jashings dropped from the woman, and
they carried her out.

Recovering from their spell, the
people ran out-side [sic], but the wolf-
brothers had disappeared with the
woman. A searching party followed them
to the mountain. But in the place of the

former house, they found a common
wolf-den. [Smith 1984:431]

This story illustrates several themes
associated with the fraternity of men and
wolves and their relative spiritual power. The
intersocietal abduction of women was well
documented for the Ifupiat of this and neigh-
boring areas (cf., Burch 1974; Ray 11975).
The social composition and kin relationships
of the domestic unit of wolves reflected that
of humans. Trade was a means of bartering
to both wolves and men. However, while
wolves and humans were analogous or, to
some Ifupiat like “brothers,” clearly the
former possessed more spiritual power than
their human counterparts, as illustrated by
the ineffectiveness of Ifiupiat angatkuut and
armed bodyguards in protecting the wife
from her second abduction.

Oquilluk documented certain di-
mensions of the relationships between both
coastal and inland dwelling Ifupiat of the
Seward Peninsula and wolves (1973:149-
170). According to Kaweramiut Oquilluk,
Toolik—the founder of the community of
Kauwerak and a culture hero—killed a giant
eagle (Tingmiakpuk) in self defense while
hunting caribou in the Kigluaik Mountains.
With the death of the eagle, Toolik heard a
drumming sound. A spirit helper appeared to

164

From Hunters to Herders


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Plaskett, David C.
1984 A Lapp Reindeer Herding Colony in Northwest Alaska. Unpublished report.
Anchorage: Alaska Historical Commission,

Powers, W.R., J.A. Adams, A. Godfrey, J.A. Ketz, D.C. Plaskett, and G.R. Scott
1982 The Chukchi-Imuruk Report: Archeological Investigations in the Bering Land
Bridge Nationa! Preserve, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, 1974 and 1975. Oc-
casional Paper No. 31. Fairbanks: Anthropology and Historic Preservation
Cooperative Park Studies Unit, University of Alaska.

Postell, Alice
1990 Where Did the Reindeer Come From?: Alaska Experience, the First Fifty
Years. Portland: Amaknak Press.

Pratt, Kenneth L.
1984 Classification of Eskimo Groupings in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Region: A
Critical Analysis. Etudes/Inuit/Studies, Supplementary Issue 8:45-61.

Ray, Dorothy Jean

1965 Sheldon Jackson and the Reindeer Industry of Alaska. Journal of Presbyterian
History 43(2):71-99.

1975 The Eskimos of Bering Strait, 1650-1898. Seattle: University of Washington
Press.

1983 Ethnohistory in the Arctic: The Bering Strait Eskimo. Alaska History, No. 23.
Kingston: The Limestone Press.

1984 Bering Strait Eskimo. Jn Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 5, Arctic.
D. Damas, ed. Pp. 285-302. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution,

Renner, Louis L.
1979 Pioneer Missionary to the Bering Strait: Ballarmine Laformne, S.J. Portland:
Alaska Historical Commission.

Ridington, Robin
1988 Trail to Heaven: Knowledge and Narrative in a Northern Native Community.
Iowa: University of Iowa Press.

Roberts, Arthur O.
1978 Tomorrow Is Growing Old: Stories of the Quakers in Alaska. Newberg: The
Barclay Press.

Roberts, Brian B.
1942 The Reindeer Industry in Alaska. The Polar Record 3(24):568-572.

220 FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

incentive from the lfiupiat perspective. That
is, reindeer represented more than a com-
modity that could be exchanged for money

in the form of wages or sales profits to the
Ifupiat, but rather a means by which individ-
uals could accumulate more traditional forms
of wealth and achieve greater social status.
Additionally, in an Ifiupiag driven economic
scenario, it was the process of obtaining
wealth and having control over it, not just the
end result, which was important in an Ifiu-
piaq driven economic scenario.

A major transition from Native to
non-Native private ownership of reindeer
continued from the first and second decades
of the 1900s until 1939. In 1908 federal ap-
propriations for the Alaska Reindeer Service
dropped from $25,000 yearly to $9,000,
probably associated with the depression of
1907, the restructuring of the Alaska Rein-
deer Service after the resignation of Jackson,
and the philosophy that the industry had
reached a stage in which it should be more
financially independent (Olson 1969a:12).
Correspondingly, in 1908 the missions began
selling reindeer in larger numbers—reindeer
allocated to them under federal government
contracts to benefit the Natives. Initially the
missions sold reindeer to Eskimos. However,
the potential for widespread commercial-
ization of reindeer gained the attention of
Nome-based entrepreneurs.

The period of intense non-Native
ownership of reindeer and involvement in
commercial herding started in 1913, when
the Lomen family initiated the purchase of
1,200 from Alfred and John Nilima, Sami
herders who lived in the Kotzebue Sound
area (Lomen 1954:73). The reindeer own-
ership transferred hands in 1914 (Plaskett
1984:72). Nilima was reportedly unhappy

with the growing plethora of restrictions
associated with the reindeer industry (Plas-
kett 1984:72). The elder Lomen, Gudbrand,
eventually became a District Court judge for
the Second Judicial District in Nome (Lomen
1954). Lomen’s (1954:73) account of their
family’s involvement in the reindeer industry
indicated that Shields welcomed the involve-
ment of some non-Natives in the reindeer
industry. Shields, according to Lomen (1954:
73), believed that the enterprise would profit
by White ownership. Lomen was convinced
that there would be no “governmental objec-
tion” (Lomen 1954:73).

So in the fall of 1913 he [Shields]
explained to me that Alfred Nilima’s
contract with the Government was going
to expire the following summer and,
should Nilima see fit to sell his holdings
to whites, there would be no government
objection. [Lomen 1954:73]

Concerns about non-Native owner-
ship were exacerbated in 1914, when the
missions began liquidating of their reindeer
through sales to the Lomens. The Lomens
purchased 1,000 reindeer from the Swedish
Evangelical Covenant Mission in Golovin in
1915 for $18,000 (Andrews 1939:219, 225;
Lomen 1954:87). In that same year the Lo-
mens negotiated a sale with Brevig for 319
animals, to be effective in 1916:

In the month of November when |
[Brevig] visited Nome, I entered into an
agreement with Lomen and Company.
The company agreed to purchase the
mission’s reindeer at eighteen dollars per
head. This agreement was to be in effect
as of January first, 1916, but since it was
considered best that only the contracting
parties know about this deal, the affair
was not made public. [Johnshoy 1944:
288]

104

From Hunters to Herders


Gideon referred to as “uncle,” related his
impression of Christianity from the 1920s to
Shishmaref teacher Edward Keithahn:

I hear Bible stories. Long time ago
young man he asked Jesus, “I like to go
to heaven. What I’m do now?” Jesus
asked, “You got plenty all kinds stuff?”
Young man say, “Yes.” Jesus say, “All
right, you give every kind to poor peo-
ple. Then you go to heaven. All right.”
Young man think hard. Pretty soon red
face. Him think about it, “I’m work hard,
plenty save. Other people no work, no
save. All time lazy. I think not right di-
vide up with same kind of people.” That
young man go to hell. Well, I’m same
kind man. I like same kind people. Same
kind people in hell, | like it too. Preacher
say hell plenty hot. All right! I like it
change. Alaska all-a-time plenty cold.
Maybe hell fine for Eskimo!” [Keithahn
1963:97]

Allockeok, like Thomas, was an aspiring
umialig and considered to be a powerful
person by other Ifiupiat. Allockeok was will-
ing to risk the wrath of a Christian afterlife
of damnation to achieve status in an Ifiupiaq
way. Allockeok already had concluded that
the Christian God was neither fair nor com-
passionate toward the Ifiupiat.

While little direct information re-
mained about Thomas’ personal reaction
to Christianity, it was known that he was
not baptized, despite the fact that churches
had been in the area for over half a century
before his death. We know that Thomas
abandoned houses or settlements in response
to death—a fundamental Ifiupiaq practice.
Additionally, he was known to predict the
weather, a skill that was often found in peo-
ple possessing exceptional spiritual powers.
Lastly, those who didn’t know Thomas were

CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

able to learn something about his values and
view of the world from the stories that he had
told his son Gideon throughout the years.

When asked in 1987 about the “old
religion before missionaries,” Gideon stated
what Thomas had taught him about this
subject:

They [the Jfiupiat] don’t know any-
thing about bible but they know a person
not suppose to steal and he not suppose
to tell lie cause it'll hurt the others if
he is talking about something, about
lying, make up story or something like
that. You’re not suppose to help your-
self from somebody’s property without
telling. If you need them that bad, sure
you can use it and be sure and tell the
owner that you did it... Always had to
tell the owner of what he took as long as
he knows, Otherwise if he don’t tell the
owner, that’s stealing. That’s not right.
That’s an old custom who never tell lies
against each other in order to try and put
somebody in trouble. Make up stories
will hurt Jots. That's a strict rule before
white man ever showed up. A person got
to live honestly... They said as tong as
he’s trying to do them things, he won't
live long; but if you’re honest with other
people and then help the elder people, be
nice to everybody equally, then you will
live long time. And that’s a strong advice
which is true. [Barr 1987]

In 1987 when Gideon was asked who
the head of the old religion was, he replied:

Most of these elder people always
more—in my time—just like those older
people they were just like missionaries
telling you all what the good side of life
is and what’s the bad side of life, they
kept that separate. They are the one that
most likely are preacher. (Barr 1987]

According to Gideon, before the mis-

From Hunters to Herders

183


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hrdliéka, AleS
1930 Anthropological Survey in Alaska. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Print-
ing Office.

Hughes, Charles C.
1960 An Eskimo Village in the Modern World. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University
Press.

Hughes, Daniel T.

1985 The Effects of Missionization on Cultural Identity in Two Societies. Jn An-
thropologists and Missionaries: Part II. F.A. Salamone, ed. Pp. 167-182. Stud-
ies in Third World Societies, Publication No. 26. Williamsburg, VA: Depart-
ment of Anthropology, College of William and Mary.

Ingold, Tim
1987 The Appropriation of Nature: Essays on Human Ecology and Social Relations.
lowa City: University of Iowa Press.
1988 [1980] Hunters, Pastoralists and Ranchers: Reindeer Economies and Their

Transformations. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

1991 [1988] Notes on the Foraging Mode of Production. /n Hunters and Gatherers
I: History, Evolution and Social Change. T. Ingold, D. Riches, and J.
Woodbum, ed. Pp. 269-285. New York: Berg.

Jackson, Sheldon
1880 Alaska, and Missions on the North Pacific Coast. New York: Dodd, Mead and
Co.
1893 Annual Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska, 1892. Sen-
ate Miscellaneous Document No. 22. 52TM Congress, 2nd Session. Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office.

1895 Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska, 1894. Senate Docu-
ment No. 92. 534 Congress. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
1896 Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska, 1895. Senate Docu-

ment No. 111. 54" Congress, Ist Session. Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office.

1897 Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska, 1896. Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office.

1898a Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska, 1897. Senate Docu-
ment No. 30. 55" Congress, 2nd Session. Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office.

214 FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS


Progressively, the teacher/
missionaries and, later, government teachers
took on the guise of increased authority and
leadership at the expense of angatkuut and
umialiit. Although this class of missionary/
teachers was relatively successful at driving
aboriginal spirituality and its practitioners
underground (Oswalt 1963a), they were basi-
cally unsuccessful in the wholesale elimina-
tion of either the beliefs or the covert prac-
tices of indigenous spiritual specialists.

The processes of ingathering or
centralization, promoted by White repre-
sentatives of Western society and culture,
brought about the decline in the number of
Ifiupiaq winter settlements. Those indig-
enous settlements—such as Cape Prince of
Wales or Shishmaref—that were selected as
the sites of schools, churches, and trading
facilities persisted as villages into the 1900s,
while other communities declined or were
abandoned as a result of induced centraliza-
tion. Whereas initially it was difficult for the
Ifupiat to maintain the extent and timing of
functional seasonal rounds from these more
centralized settlements, the division of labor,
alternative schemes such as leaving children
with elderly relatives, and modern, non-lo-
cally produced technology (e.g., outboard
motors and snowmachines) permitted con-
tinued mobility amid the pressures for cen-
tralization (cf., Ellanna 1983b; Ellanna and
Balluta 19192; Ellanna, Sherrod, and Lang-
don 1994; Pelto 1987).

As in the case of territoriality, internal
socictal usufruct rights remained intact in re-
sponse to the continuing need for the Ifupiat
of Northwest Alaska to hunt, trap, fish, and
gather. However, grazing territories, issued
in total ignorance of or disregard for Ifupiaq
socioterritorial boundaries, brought about
sociopolitical conflict.

CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

For example, despite Jackson’s de-
sire to seek apprentices who were not good
sea mammal hunters, the earliest fledgling
herders predominantly came from the more
wealthy and powerful families at Wales. The
obvious conflict between Jackson’s goals in
this regard, and the reality of who became
apprentices in the early years, principally had
to do with whose territory the mission sta-
tion and reindeer were attempting to appro-
priate. Exceptions did occur. For example,
Charlie Antisarlook was a powerful person,
possibly an umialiq, so he had less apprehen-
sion about trespassing on Kingigan (Wales)
territory than would men of lesser influence.
Charlie, most likely, obtained temporary per-
mission to be in the territory of neighboring
groups. However, as soon as Charlie received
his reindeer, he and his entourage headed
back to the mouth of the Sinuk River—Cape
Rodney—or the northwesterly border of the
Cape Nome territory to which he had valid
claims.

The importation of reindeer had
implications for disrupting indigenous trade
networks and attendant social relations on
both sides of Bering Strait. For example, in
regard to the Chukchi, Miner Bruce com-
mented that:

Early last fall we began to be
troubled by the Siberians’ fears for
their safety from harm by the natives. It
became known soon after the deer were
Janded that there was a disposition to
ridicule the idea of introducing reindeer
on this side on the part of some of the
Cape Prince of Wales natives. [Jackson
1893:58]

Additionally, Brevig reported throughout his

journal (Jackson 1898b:67) that the mission

trade of deerskins from the herds of imported

From Hunters to Herders

125


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

the case of a she-wolf. By this means he
initiates the ceremonies with an indica-
tion that a he-wolf gives four day’s taboo
and a she-wolf five. The moment they
hear these kicks on the wall, the women
inside have to bow their heads and tum
their faces away from the entrance. At
the same time, a man runs out and tells
the men in all the other houses about

it. Then they all go out knife in hand,
hoping that the soul of the wolf, which
is still inside its skin, will take a liking
to one of the knives and next time allow
itself to be killed by it.

At every house there are at least two
wooden stages [storage platforms], one
for meat and one for skins. Still with the
skin over his shoulder the hunter then
walks to the stage on which the skin is to
be dried. While it is being stretched out
and hung up, a young man runs up with
a piece of caribou skin to give to the
wolf-hunter, who lays it on the ground in
front of him; he must then urinate on it
and then remove all his clothing, so that
he stands naked in the snow. He then
rubs his whole body with the caribou
skin, whereupon the young man lights
a large fire at which the hunter further
purifies his body by allowing the smoke
to drift over him.

His knives, bows and arrows are
then hung up by the side of the skin,
and all cry out “It now sleeps with us.”
The meaning of this is that the soul of
the wolf will sleep with the people that
night; and during that night all the offer-
ings become its property, though it does
not take them away; at the same time,
they still belong to the hunter.

After these ceremonies the hunter
goes into his house and sits down beside
his wife, all the women still sitting
with bowed heads and averted faces,
Then soon all the men of the settlement
come on a Visit to hear what the wolf-
hunter has to tell; he tells stories for the
entertainment not of his guests but of the
wolf-soul.

Next morning at the first gleam of
dawn the wolf-soul has to be sent away.
The hunter goes down on one knee by
the fire with a white stone hammer in
his hand, reciting a magic song. Then
he howls “Uhu Uhu!” four times if it is
a he-wolf, five times for a she-wolf, and
strikes the floor four or five times. Then
he goes outside and crawls up the roof of
the house to the window, while another
man takes his place at the fire. Still on
one knee the hunter listens for sounds
inside the house, whereupon the man at
the fire shouts to him: “How many?” The
hunter then strikes four or five blows in
response to which the man inside howls
“Uhu!” four or five times.

This ceremony is repeated in all the
houses, whereafter all the men with their
knives in hands watk to the wolf skin,
where the same is repeated, they crying
“Leave us like a good soul. Like a strong
soul.” And then the ceremonies end with
a big feast in the wolf-hunters house.
(Ostermann 1952:36-37]

The elaborate ceremonialism in-
volved in taking wolves illustrates the intense
and complex spiritual significance of these
beings in Ifupiaq ideology. To the Ifiupiat,
wolves were invited guests, offered personal
possessions, entertained with stories, and
feasted, while simultaneously being encour-
aged to leave the human settlement with a
feeling of goodwill.

Another example of the treatment
of wolves as honored and respected guests
was recounted for the Deering area by Wells
(1974:77-78), who recalled that hunters took
a litter of wolves in April if encountered dur-
ing their hunts. The young wolves were taken
home and raised as if they were pets—a
status rarely achieved by dogs. When they
were six or seven months old, they were tied
up with a piece of alder by boring a hole at

166

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER’S STORY

tl

eer it. aes
Photo 9. Trading ship, C.S. Holmes, which the local people called Sitamalik, meaning four-master. It traded

staple goods tike coffee, tea, sugar, flour, cloth, rifles, and ammunition. When the ship was sighted on the

horizon the people would yell, “Traymay umiqpak!” Edgar Ningeulook interpreted this as “trading
ship,” or the “trading ship is here.” Photo by Edward Keithahn, circa 1923, courtesy of Richard

Keithahn and National Park Service. (neg. 074).

he visualized as the homeland of the caribou
that fascinated him as a boy. While visiting
Wales that same year, Thomas was sitting in
a qazgi and heard the men tell a story that
explained how reindeer came to be:

A young man was once hunting
caribou, but without killing them. He
merely followed them, appearing every
time they tried to escape from him; in
that way he tired them.

In the end the animals were so ex-
hausted that they no longer avoided him.
Thus, they became accustomed to his
voice, and were no tonger afraid of him.

At length the young man married,
but still followed the caribou, which
accumulated and became more and more
numerous. The only time he came back
to the house he had built was when his
clothing was worn out. His wife made
new clothes for him, after which he went
back to the caribou and kept on follow-
ing them, so that they might become
familiar with him. He was wise in his
way of handling them, and as he never
made them afraid or chased them, they

became almost tame.

Summer and autumn passed, and
winter came. But still the young man
was with his caribou, which were now
multiplying while other herds joined his.
Then he moved his tent out to the herd,
and thus he became the first caribou
herdsman,

The caribou were no longer shy like
the wild ones. They were very fond of
eating frozen urine, and when they began
to eat human urine, their hair became
speckled with white.

His wife became pregnant and gave
birth to a son, and the son grew up. And
when he was old enough to help his
father to watch the caribou [sic]. They
took tums at it; when the father was with
the herd, the son slept and vice versa.

Wolves were numerous in the
land where they lived, and they bit the
caribou to death. One day the father
complained that the son slept too long,
which was the reason why the caribou
were killed.

The son took this accusation to
heart; and so one evening when his
father had returned to the herd, the son

From Hunters to Herders

47


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

tended to place as many reindeer as possible
in the hands of Natives by taking herds to
Natives rather than forcing potential herders
to serve as apprentices:

The fiscal year 1909 was in many
respects the most remarkable in the
history of the Alaska Reindeer Service.
It marks the beginning of the period of
full utilization of all the reindeer owned
by the Government for the benefit of
natives, for at the present time there is
hardly a surplus government reindeer
north of the Kuskokwim River. This
was made possible by the establishment
of new stations, by the employment of
natives as chief herders instead of Lapps,
thus permitting the expenditure of larger
amounts for support of apprentices, by
transferring reindeer to both chief herd-
ers and apprentices in lieu of salary or
supplies, either in whole or in part, by
accepting on an economical basis the
largest practicable number of apprentic-

es, and by better and closer supervision.
[USBOE 1910:1321]

Other government policies imple-
mented in the post-Churchill report to secure
Eskimo ownership included a prohibition
on the sale or other type of disposition of
female reindeer to any person other than a
Native (USBOE 1909; Stern et al. 1980:35).
Old, barren, or otherwise disabled does could
be killed only if reported to the government
superintendent. This report provides the first
official recognition of Qivaluaq replacing
Deering as a reindeer herding site for herd
owners Keok, Karmun, Makaiqtagq, and their
apprentices, although the herd is listed as
“Shishmaref (Keok’s) Herd,” also sometimes
called Shishmaref Number 2 herd (USBOE
1910:LIX, LXVI).

In 1911 the report on education and
on the Alaska Reindeer Service for the past

fiscal year commenced as follows:

With the authority of Congress the
Bureau of Education has extended its
work in Alaska far beyond the narrow
limits of providing schools for children
of the natives.

The education of the natives of
Alaska is conceived as meaning their
advancement in civilization. With this in
view superintendents, teachers, physi-
cians, and nurses must regard themselves
as social workers striving to elevate the
native races intellectually, morally, and
physically. In the schoolrooms emphasis
must be faid on instruction in manual
training and then domestic arts. In the
villages the endeavor is made gradually
to establish sanitary conditions. [USBOE
1912:5]

The number of Native reindeer own-
ers had increased by 146 between 1907 and
1909, making a grand total of 260, still,
however, with very disparate distribution
between large herds and those men who had
obtained only a few animals (USBOE 1910:
1322). By then the missions had begun to sell
off some of their animals to Natives.

In the next decade there were to be
many changes in the reindeer ownership
pattern. By 1911 there were 33,629 reindeer,
with 460 Natives owning 20,071 animals or
60 percent of the reindeer (USBOE 1912:
23). By 1912 the total count had increased
to 38,476 reindeer, with 633 Natives owning
24,068 or 62.5 percent of all animals (US-
BOE 1913:13). In 1913 reindeer numbers
were still on the rise—47,266 total reindeer
with 797 Natives owning 65 percent of the
animals. The following year (1914) there was
a total of 57,872 reindeer, with 980 Natives
owning 37,828 or 66 percent of all reindeer.
Finally, by 1915 the herds had increased to

From Hunters to Herders

101


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

were gone. The following summer, baby boy
Thomas Makaiqtaq Barr, named according
toIn upiaq custom fora recently deceased
person, was born to Gideon and Katherine.

From Hunters to Herders 65


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

expanded kinship networks and, oftentimes,
consolidated power, wealth, and prestige.
While personal preference in the selection
of marriage partners was not totally ignored,
marriages were predominantly arrangements
between families, as opposed to the choice
of individuals. Societal endogamy was the
norm, although marriages outside of this
sociopolitical unit were instituted to bring
about alliances with mutually interdependent
families or groups.

Coresidence and the birth of one of
more children, particularly before mission-
ary influence, formalized marital unions
between two individuals. Similarly, dissolu-
tion of marriages involved the cessation of
coresidence, but did not dissolve most of the
social bonds and obligations forged by their
inception (Heinrich 1972). While both mar-
riage and divorce required social recognition,
neither was ceremonially formalized. Before
Christian influence, there were few negative
sanctions against adolescent sexual relations
before marriage, except for those that were
considered incestuous (i.e., father-daugh-
ter, mother-son, siblings including parallel
cousins classified by sibling or sibling-like
terms). There was no concept of illegitimacy.

Although most marital unions were
between a single male and female, polygyny
(the marriage of one man to two or more
women) was common as practiced by men of
influence and wealth. Conversely, polyandry
(the union of a single woman with two or
more men) occurred, although infrequently,
or not of lengthy duration. Comarriage, one
of the most misrepresented and misunder-
stood aspects of Ifiupiaq culture, was neither
wife swapping nor a gesture of hospitality
on the part of men (Burch 1975:48). Rather,
the practice normally involved a consensual

relationship between two conjugal pairs

for purposes of extending or consolidating
primary kin networks and reciprocal obliga-
tions. Comarriages were usually long term
and, once forged, like any type of marriage,
were rarely fully dissolved. The offspring of
any of these marital unions shared varying
degrees of sibling relationships.

An extended or local family, rather
than the nuclear family common in Western
society or domestic unit (people living in a
common dwelling), was constituted around a
set of siblings and cousins. This social group
was the most significant component of Ifiu-
piaq society of Northwest Alaska:

A local family was a single, coher-
ent organization, one in which the
constitucnt relationships were articulated
with one another in terms of a definite
pattern. The Eskimos did not have a
name for this type of organization, as
such, but they referred to the members
of one simply as i/agiit, i.e., as people
interacting in terms of kin relations.
[Burch 1975:241]

A senior male member of the group
overtly led each local family. It was to the
advantage of members of such a family unit
to augment the wealth and prestige of their
leader (Burch 1975:212). The most promi-
nent of such leaders in any society were
referred to as umialig, the most significant
position of institutionalized leadership in
Northwest Alaska liiupiaq society. Although
most commonly expressed as “skinboat
captain” and hunt leader, the position of the
umialiq was considerably broader in mean-

ing:

This single Eskimo term means
several different things in English,

From Hunters to Herders

17


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

would be preferable teachers of reindeer
herding and husbandry to the Iiiupiat as op-
posed to the Siberians. “It was quite obvious
that he [Sheldon Jackson] intended the Samis
to be prime factors as private owners in the
expanding reindeer industry” (Lomen 1943:
45).

Lopp disagreed, however, prefer-
ring Ifiupiaq reindeer handlers (Smith 1984).
Lopp and his wife and children had learned
Ifupiaq and were familiar and comfortable
with Eskimo culture:

When sober, the natives are friendly
and for the most part grateful for the
benefits conferred upon them by the mis-
sion,... They have many laudable traits,
being generally honest, truthful, and
industrious. Their vices are those due to
ignorance and superstition, and we have
great hopes that patience, kindness, and

perseverance will cure them. [Smith
1984:70]

Using privately donated funds,
Jackson sent Kjellmann to Norway to recruit
Sami herders, their families, and specially
trained herding dogs. Kjellmann arrived at
the Teller Reindeer Station in July of 1894
with seven herders and their families (16
total Samis) (Jackson 1895:10-12, 1896:
14). Fellow Norwegian, missionary Tollef
L. Brevig, arrived the same summer to act
as the Scandinavian pastor to the Samis and,
secondly, to function as the teacher at the
government schoo] at Teller Station, so that
Kjellmann could devote his time to rein-
deer associated activities. Brevig was given
permission to preach the gospel to the “Eski-
mos” (Jackson 1895:10; Johnshoy 1944:24).

The 53rd Congress, Second Session
increased the appropriation for the mis-
sion work to $7,500 in 1894, and the same

amount was allocated in 1895 (Jackson 1896:
14), In 1894 120 head of reindeer were pur-
chased in Siberia and taken to the Teller Sta-
tion—creating an Alaska herd of 588 animals
(Jackson 1895:13). Jackson (1895:18) argued
that the existing procedures for purchas-

ing animals in Siberia were inefficient and
proposed the establishment of a purchasing
station in Siberia.

The involvement of Samis in Alaska
herding was perceived both positively and
negatively by the Ifiupiat. The record indi-
cates that the Samis were not considered to
be enemies as had been the Siberians, there-
by removing at least that obstacle from the
working relationship between those teaching
herding and the Ifiupiat. Kjellmann’s view of
this relationship was probably different from
that of the Ifiupiat, however:

The apprentices, at least most of
them, have long since discovered their
inferiority and seen how much they have
to learn from these people [the Samis].
We have now reached a point where no
apprentice undertakes to do anything be-
fore he has consulted one of the Lapps,
so far as languages make it possible.
[Jackson 1897:65]

Jackson made the following compari-
son between the Sami herders and Eskimo
apprentices:

One of the tendencies observed in
the apprentices is a feeling that as soon
as they can throw a lasso and drive a
team that they have learned all that
they need to know, and that after a few
months’ service, they are fully com-
petent to take the entire charge of the
herd...Because a fireman on a locomo-
tive learns to open and shut certain
valves, and start, slow down, or stop

From Hunters to Herders

83


go to Thetus Smith for her invaluable manuscript editing and layout and to Denis Galvin, for
his strong advocacy in favor of a solid program of natural and cultural research as an essen-
tial preamble to good park planning.

Acknowledgments, 2004

Linda Ellanna and George Sherrod conducted the research for this volume in the early 1990s
and completed the manuscript in draft form in 1995, including the acknowledgments above.
Sadly, Dr. Ellanna’s illness, followed by her death in 1997, halted work on the project.

An additional set of acknowledgments is in order to thank all those who helped to complete
the manuscript in its present form. In 1999, Dean John Liepzig and Associate Dean Charles
R. Geist of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Alaska Fairbanks took the initia-
tive to bring to closure this important University research effort on behalf of the National
Park Service. Professor Peter Schweitzer of UAF’s Department of Anthropology served as
project lead and hired anthropology graduate student Stacie McIntosh to prepare the manu-
script for publication. Stacie did an excellent job as technical editor while preserving the
authors’ writing style and scholarly perspective; she also added a useful glossary for the
benefit of the non-specialist reader. Tracie Cogdill, then secretary of the UAF Department of
Anthropology, facilitated the university’s communications with NPS project personnel. Polly
Wheeler, cultural anthropologist, also served as a liaison with the university and shared her
professional expertise. Herbert Anungazuk of the NPS then carefully went over the manu-
script to check references and to make the Ifiupiaq orthography consistent. With the help of
these people, Stacie was able to accomplish an enormous task within a short time.

It was not until 2004, however, that Bob Gerhard, head of the NPS Shared Beringian Heri-
tage Program, made program monies available to publish the volume. The project was also
fortunate to obtain publication funds from the Alaska Park Technical Reports program. Many
thanks to both of these programs.

To illustrate the story of Ifiupiaq reindeer herding, we used 32 photographs taken by Edward
Keithahn, who with his wife Toni taught school in Shishmaref, 1923-1925. The Keithahns’
son Richard graciously gave permission for these photos to be used in this book. Thank you
also to James Magdanz, who allowed us to use his photo of the late Gideon Barr, and to
Mary Sue Cross Anderson (niece of Gideon Barr), for permission to use a picture of Thomas
Makaigqtag Barr and his family.

Holly Poydack, a student at the University of Alaska Anchorage, worked on the project as an
intern in the summer of 2004. Her main tasks centered on the illustrations for From Hunters
to Herders. Her family connections to Shishmaref and her familiarity with Ifiupiaq culture
proved invaluable in completing the editing for the manuscript. We were even more fortunate

Viii From Hunters to Herders




CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

Photo 17. Portrait of Sheldon Jackson. Photo courtesy of Alaska State Library, Juneau, AK. Photo
#01-3279.

72 From Hunters to Herders


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Johnson, Walter H.
1917 Report of the First Reindeer Fair Held in Alaska, Bureau of Indian Affairs
Bulletin 1916, No. 47. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

Kakinya, Elijah, and Simon Paneak
1987 Nunamiut Unipkaajgich: Nunamiut Stories. Collected in 1949-1950 by Helge
Ingstad. Knut Bergsland, ed. and trans. Barrow: Commission on Ifiupiat His-
tory, Language and Culture, The North Slope Borough.

Kan, Sergei
1987 Introduction. Native Cultures and Christianity in Northern North America:
Selected Papers from a Symposium. Arctic Anthropology 24(1): 1-7.

Kaplan, Lawrence D., comp. and ed.
1988 Ugiuvangmiut Quliapyuit: King Island Tales. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Lan-
guage Center and University of Alaska Press, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Karmun, Alfred
1924-27 Diary of the Deering Livestock Company. Microfilm. Fairbanks: Elmer E.
Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Keithahn, Edward L.
1963 Eskimo Adventure: Another Journey into the Primitive. New York: Bonanza
Books.

Kotzebue, Otto von
1967 [1821] A Voyage of Discovery into the South Seas and Bering Straits, Vol. 1.
Bibliotheca Australiana No. 17. New York: Da Capo Press.

Koutsky, Kathryn

198la Early Days on Norton Sound and Bering Strait: An Overview of Historic Sites
in the BSNC Region, Vol. I, The Shishmaref Area. Occasional Paper No. 29
Fairbanks: Anthropology and Historic Preservation Cooperative Park Studies
Unit, University of Alaska.

1981b Early Days on Norton Sound and Bering Strait: An Overview of Historic Sites
in the BSNC Region. Vol. III, The Port Clarence and Kauwerak Areas. Oc-
casional Paper No. 29. Fairbanks: Anthropology and Historic Preservation
Cooperative Park Studies Unit, University of Alaska.

Krauss, Michael E.
1980 Alaska Native Languages: Past, Present, and Future. Research Paper No. 4.
Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

216 FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS


DEDICATION

This depiction of the socioeconomic and ideological events surrounding the introduction of
reindeer herding to the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska is dedicated to the memory of Thomas
Makaiqtaq Barr. His story, and those of his family, breathed life and the Ifiupiat perspective
into a tale that, heretofore, has been documented through the lens of missionaries, teachers,
government personnel, and other observers or the scholars who interpreted their works—
those who principally have portrayed the vision of the western world, regarding this unique
attempt at social and cultural engineering of indigenous peoples.

DEDICATION, 2004

The completed volume is dedicated to the memory of its lead author, anthropologist Linda
Justine Ellanna, who died in January 1997, and to the memory of Gideon Kahlook Barr Sr.,
who died in September 1997. Dr. Ellanna made many significant contributions to Alaska
anthropology as a researcher, teacher, and writer. Gideon Barr, son of Thomas Makaiqtaq
Barr, was a major source of the knowledge and history documented in this book. He leaves a
lasting cultural legacy to his people.

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

extent of the acquirements of individuals
of the habits and impulses of civilized
life, but upon the extent of the contribu-
tions of the individual of higher habits
and better impulses to his fellow-man.
The most rapid advancement of an infe-
rior race will be brought about, there-
fore, by educating the brightest boys and
gitls in such ways as will cause them
to render the greatest service to their
people.

Civilization has been evolved by
a fairly even process and the different
elements that have composed it at its
various stages of development. It was
through efficient participation in these
related elements that increased control
over nature and self was gained and the
physical, mental, moral, and spiritual life
of the race evolved. The Alaska natives
should pass through this process under
competent direction. [USBOE 1908:
385-386]

Who was to provide this “competent
direction” — the paternalistic government,
of course. Although Updegraff concluded
in 1907 that some relationship between the
Bureau of Education and mission societies
should be continued to support the latter in
their efforts to civilize Alaska Natives, gov-
ernment schools rather than missions were
designated as the institutions responsible not
only for education but also for providing di-
rection to reindeer herding under the Alaska
Reindeer Service (USBOE 1908:411).

In 1908 Walter Shields became the
new superintendent for the Northwestern
District of the Bureau of Education:

His presence ushered in a new era
for the Eskimo and the reindeer... It
did not take him Jong to grasp that the
main problem confronting his Bureau
in northwestern Alaska was the reindeer
industry. The best way of advancing con-

ditions for the native people was going
to be to develop this industry. He [Walter
Shields] was inspired by the challenge.
[Lomen 1954:72]

According to Lomen (1954:73), Shields “‘be-
lieved that if whites could play a part through
the investment of capital, the reindeer indus-
try would benefit.”

Updegraff also submitted the 1909
U.S. Bureau of Education annual report, with
Lopp remaining superintendent of schools in
the northern district with his headquarters in
Seattle (USBOE 1910). Legislatively man-
dated compulsory attendance of children in
public schools was specifically delineated.
The Deering and Shishmaref schools had
been established in 1905 and 1906, respec-
tively (USBOE 1909:1025), closely affiliated
with the creation of reindeer herds in these
locations. In addition, throughout Alaska
agriculture had been added as a fundamental
part of the school curriculum (USBOE 1909:
1026). Reindeer herding was perceived by
the federal government officials as essential
to the continued task of civilizing Alaska
Natives:

The most prominent feature of
the industrial education of the natives
of Alaska as it is being conducted by
the bureau is the reindeer service, The
reindeer industry has become the center
of the life of many Eskimo villages,
and the progress in civilization that has
been made through participation in it is
marked, [USBOE 1910:1307]

This new era—the period of govern-
mental paternalism in the arena of reindeer
herding—and its policies had many implica-
tions for Jfiupiaq participation in this indus-
try. First, the government policy was tn-

100

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

The missions were usually a force
for disintegration of the Indian society,
and they joined the settlers, the Army,
and the government policy in the process
of disruption. Their persistent attack on
the religion of the Red man and their
relegating of all his beliefs and ritual
practices to the realm of superstition
deprived the missionaries the use of
the Indian spiritual values and ideas as
bridges to the gospel and to acceptance
of the Christian faith in terms meaning-
ful to Indians. The cultural product was
usually something different from both
the traditional society and the white pat-
tern, [Beaver 1988:439]

Beginning in the mid-1 800s, Prot-
estant missionaries rapidly spread west
and, later, north in the wake of the frontier
movement. Formal education was a central
component of the evangelizing policies of
multiple Protestant denominations.

There was never any argument
over whether the aim of missions was
“evangelization” or “civilization,” since
the two were regarded as twin objec-
tives. The debate was about sequence:
did one begin with evangelizing and
move on to civilizing, or was the order
to be reversed? Some persons believed
that the gospel could be understood and
accepted only when a significant degree
of civilization had been achieved; others
held the position that conversion had
to come first, because only acceptance
of the gospel could awaken a desire for
civilization. Whatever the theory about
sequence, actually both activities were
stressed and the school was regarded as
the chief means of evangelism. [Beaver
1988:437]

Reindeer herding, in the Alaska context,
provided a mechanism for those who favored
the civilization before the evangelization se-

quence or for those who strategized that the
two processes should be undertaken simulta-
neously.

With the end of the Civil War and
the abolition of slavery, philanthropists and
reformers turned their attention to the plight
of the American Indian (Beaver 1988:444).
With the presidential election of Ulysses
S. Grant in 1868, the federal government
embarked on a formal policy of assimilation.
In Grant’s inaugural address, he stated that
he favored a policy toward Indians resulting
in their civilization and ultimate citizenship.
In 1869 Congress appropriated $2,000,000
to enable the president to establish a “peace
policy” with the Indians—that is, it was per-
ceived to be cheaper to civilize, educate, and
assimilate indigenous people than to main-
tain a state of hostility toward them (Beaver
1988:443; Szasz and Ryan 1988:291-293).

Grant relied heavily on missionary
institutions to implement his policies toward
American Indians. For example, missionaries
were selected as special agents for reserva-
tions. In general terms, then, the policies
and actions emerging from the Grant admin-
istration stimulated missionary expansion
throughout frontier areas of the United States
inhabited by American Indians.

However, with the presidential elec-
tion of Garfield in 1881, the government’s
avid support of missionary activities among
American Indians greatly diminished (Bea-
ver 1988:449; Berthrong 1988:261). During
that time, rivalries between Protestant groups
were minimal. However, competition be-
tween Protestants and Catholics commonly
took the tenor of open hostility. The com-
petitive relationship of Protestants vis-a-vis
eastern and western Catholicism ultimately
was to be significant in terms of the mission-

70

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

Photo 28. Ethet Walluk (Sereadlook), left, and Earl Walluk. They lived in Kuukpak most
of the time, which is 35 miles east of Shishmaref. Photo by Edward Keithahn, circa
1923, courtesy of Richard Keithahn and National Parks Service (neg. 104).

From Hunters to Herders 177


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

Photo 18. William Aqviag Sinnok, left, and his brother Ralph Panikpak Sinnok. Their father John
Sinnaq was a reindeer herder from Wales who moved his reindeer herd to Shishmaref. Photo by
Edward Keithahn, circa 1923, courtesy of Richard Keithahn and National Park Service (neg. 107).

federal contracting with Christian schools
already had ceased 12 years before (Jackson
1908:36).

Nonetheless, Churchill’s investigation
and report raised adequate questions about
Jackson’s management of both education and
reindeer to culminate in his coerced resigna-
tion as general agent for education in Alaska,
written in 1907 to be effective in 1908—the
year of his death (Jackson 1908:7; Lazell
1960:199; Stewart 1908:461). Supervision
of herding was transferred from Jackson to
Lopp, who had been appointed the superin-
tendent of reindeer in the northwest district
in 1904 (Olson 1969a:11). Whereas even
Jackson’s detractors have argued that he pro-
vided service to Alaska Natives by forcing
the federal government to fund schools and

other services—a task that they had previ-
ously neglected—the status of the reindeer
service as a result of his administration and
tactics for raising money from both the gov-
ernment and the public was less than admired
by many who knew Alaska well. For ex-
ample, Dr. Alfred Brooks, who was in charge
of the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska from
1903 to 1924, although concurring that Jack-
son had dedicated his life to public service,
had the following to say about him:

To deny Jackson’s services to the
people of Alaska would be to belie the
facts...On the other hand, a Jackson
myth has been growing up in missionary
circles which is equally as far from the
truth. Many honestly believe that he was
a pioneer missionary in the Territory,

96

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

barbarous deer men of northeastern Si-
beria. Intelligence applied to the raising
of reindeer, just as to any other industry,
produces the best results (Jackson 1896:
14).

This view of the Siberian herders was
shared by T.L. Brevig, who later was the mis-
sionary at the Teller Station:

From a social and cultural point of
view, these [Siberian reindeer herdsmen]
ranked even lower than the Eskimos.
They were uncivilized and more bar-
baric, and their treatment of the reindeer
was very cruel. [Johnshoy 1944:24-25]

Miner Bruce was appointed to the po-
sition of Superintendent of the Teller Station
for the first year (Jackson 1893:10, 1896:

13). However, Bruce and his assistant Gibson
were removed from their positions during

the first year by Healy, who charged the
former with trading five gallons of whiskey
for reindeer in Siberia and for selling rifles

to the Natives (Lazell 1960:111; Ray 1965:
83). Lopp, who was teaching in Wales at the
time, reluctantly succeeded Bruce during the
subsequent year (Smith 1984), until Jackson
hired William Kjellmann, a Norwegian living
in Wisconsin, to take over the Teller Station.
By the fall of 1892, nine Ifiupiaq apprentices
had entered the course of instruction at the
Teller Reindeer Station (Jackson 1894:16).

In the spring of 1893 and with the
apparent success of the Teller Reindeer
Station through the winter of 1892 to 1893,
Congress appropriated $6,000 for the con-
tinuation of the importation of reindeer from
Siberia to provide both a food source for the
Ifiupiat and a means for transforming them
from hunters to reindeer pastoralists Jackson
1896:13). This action had policy implications

by legislatively and administratively linking
the school system, missions, and reindeer
herding.

Lopp’s associate at Wales, Thornton,
was murdered by three young local Ifiupiaq
boys in August 1893 (Smith 1984:vii; Thorn-
ton 1931:x-xi). Although the Ifupiat of Wales
executed the murderers, in part to prevent
the wrath of the Revenue Marine Service on
the village, this provoked some setback on
the part of the missionary/teacher program
that Jackson had conceived. However, it
was clear to many people before his arrival
in the village that Thornton was socially
and ideologically too rigid to have worked
successfully in such a cross-cultural setting,
particularly at Wales (Smith 1984:11-12). By
the fall of 1893, the deceased Thornton was
replaced as teacher at Wales by the return of
Lopp with his wife Ellen.

The plan to transform the Ifiupiaq
economy involved an apprenticeship pro-
gram—a program akin to the industrial
schools of Jackson’s fancy. Jackson and his
followers changed the policy of the appren-
tice program and its implementation yearly
for the next decade (Olson 1969a:21-22;
Ray 1965:81-82). Initially, Ifiupiat were to
be selected and recruited by superintendents
to become apprentices for two years’ train-
ing at a station. As apprentices, they were to
receive housing and food. At the end of two
years, they were to be given ten reindeer and
retumed to their home villages. Subsequent-
ly, the program was changed:

Under Dr. Jackson the Reindeer Ser-
vice developed an apprenticeship system
whereby young, progressive Eskimo
were engaged to tend the reindeer under
Lapp instruction. In addition to his main-
tenance, each young man was given a

From Hunters to Herders

81


for her to give birth, her father took her
to an island where she was confined in
observance of the birth customs. Her
husband, now in dog form, guarded her.
The girl gave birth to a large litter. Half
of her children were human beings, but
half were dogs. Because the dog hus-
band was unable to hunt for food, it was
in the habit of swimming to the girl’s
father, who would load it with meat to
carry back to the island. One time the
father packed stones together with the
meat. The burden proved too heavy for
the dog, which sank to the sea bottom.
Afterward, the father took meat by
kayak to the island, and fed his daughter
and her children. Seeking revenge for
the magic words that had cursed her

to wed a dog, the daughter encouraged
those of her children that were dogs to
bring about her father’s death. The dogs
badly mauled their grandfather before
he made good his escape. With no one
now to fetch meat, the girl transformed
her clothing and/or boots into boats, and
sent her children out into the world to
fend for themselves. The dog and human
children became the ancestors either of
Indians or whites or, where Indians are
unknown, of inland-dwelling spirits and
whites. [Merkur 1991:127]

There are several meaningful con-
trasts between this story and the previous tale
of the wolf brothers taking a human woman
from her husband to make her their wife. The
dog is able to marry the women as a result of
her father’s magical curse rather the animal’s
own desire—that is, humans had power over
dogs, unlike the wolf example in which the
wolves are eminently more dominant in
the contest over the woman and against her
protectors. In contrast to the wolf, the dog
husband maintained a dependent relation-
ship with his wife’s father—a human—rather
than being a hunter and provider as were the

CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

wolves, When the woman encouraged her
dog children to take revenge on her father,
even in large numbers they were unable
to prevail. Lastly, the product of the union
between the Ifiupiaq wife and the dog hus-
band, her children, became two forms of
substandard human beings and not “real
people”—that is, they were the ancestors of
subhuman Indians (Athabascans), Whites, or
other inland peoples.

In the worldview of the caribou hunt-
ing Ifiupiat of Anaktuvuk Pass in Alaska,
as described by Gubser (1965:289]) in the
early 1960s, at times dogs were crossbred
with wolves. The progeny of this union had
a Status intermediary between that of the
dog—dependent upon and inferior to hu-
mans—and the spiritually powerful wolf.
Furthermore, Gubser (1965:293) argued that
the Nunamiut perceived that dogs lacked
an ifiua. Merkur (1991) implied, however,
that dogs had breath souls in the worldview
of eastern Canadian Arctic caribou hunting
\fiupiat. Although the Nunamiut related a
version of the dog husband story to Gubser
(1965:293), this animal seemed to play a
very minimal spiritual role in their society. It
is unlikely, however, that dogs had no spiri-
tual essence in the Alaska context, as Brower
(1942:109) noted that the inadvertent killing
of a lead dog by a hunter was offensive to the
dog spirit.

Nelson (1971:438) reported that
in the 1870s, Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska
regarded dogs as very unclean and offensive
to the “shades” or ifiua of game animals. For
example, great care was exercised to make
certain that no dog would have an opportu-
nity to touch the bones of a beluga. Similarly,
the Quebec Inuit thought that if domestic
dogs were allowed to chew the bones of cari-

From Hunters to Herders

169


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

had a certain idea of some god, although
their faith concerning this god was mere
idolatry. It was important to present

God as the Creator of all, not only as the
most powerful of all spirits, but even as
the Creator of all spirits, who lives and
exists in reality. Their [the Ifiupiat’s]
spirits existed only in their imagination
{emphasis ours]. Besides presenting Him
as the Most Powerful, it was equally
necessary to present Him as the best,
most truthful, and most trustworthy, and
all knowing. These divine characteris-
tics, the spirits, according to their pagan
belief, lack entirely.

The Eskimos had a very indefi-
nite story concerning creation and the
universe. How it came into being or who
was its first cause their traditions had
nothing to report.

The story of how the earth was peo-
pled is as follows: There appeared a man
some place in the world, but conceming
how he came into being or whence he
came, again there was silence. The man
was at first naked, and fed upon berries.
But soon he felt the need for a more
nourishing food, so he hunted small
game. Necessity made him an inventor,
so he invented the bow and arrow. With
these new weapons he captured large
game, even the deer. When winter came,
he needed protection against the cold.
Thus his dire need again taught him to
tan hides by rubbing them with stones
and to make them pliable so that they
could be fashioned into garments for the
body. But man was alone and he began
to roam far away. He came to a house
where lived a woman who had an adult
daughter. Whence and how these and the
house had come into being, the story had
nothing to say. The daughter became the
wife of the man and from this pair all
people on earth have descended.

The Eskimos were very eager to
hear the Bible story concerning the
creation of all things, and concerning
the coming of sin through the fall. This

especially made a dear impression upon
them. [Johnshoy 1944:71-73]

Similar misunderstandings about the
nature of Ifiupiaq ideologies were made clear
in the 1892-1893 report written by Lopp and
Thornton. These teacher/clerics stated that
they were “still unable to discover that the
natives have any definite belief in existence
after death; so much the better, perhaps, as
we have no erroneous beliefs to eradicate”
(Smith 1984:68).

Brevig’s misinterpretation of the
worldview of the Ifiupiat was similar to that
of his associates, as further revealed in this
passage:

The Eskimo religion was largely a
demon worship. They believed that evil
spirits exercised a powerful influence
over every event in their lives. They
were constantly possessed with fear least
they at any time should arouse these
spirits’ hatred and revenge. Accordingly
they sought in every manner possible to
win for themselves the good will of the
spirits,

As mediator between the people and
the spirits stood the Ungekok [sic], the
“shaman,” witch doctor, who was ac-
cepted by the people as having power or
influence over one or more spirits.

By a fantastic ceremony consisting
of the beating of drums, much howl-
ing, and wild dancing, together with the
burning of incense, these witch doctors
presented themselves as having the
power to turn away the spirits’ wrath.

By the same means they also presented
themselves as having the power to tum
the anger of the spirits against anyone
who did not implicitly obey their com-
mands, As pay for their incantations they
demanded whatever they most desired,
and no one dared deny them. [Johnshoy
1944:54]

172

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

unaffected by these illnesses, the Ifiupiat
succumbed in large numbers. Attempts by
traditional healers—shamans or angatkok—
to battle the evil spirits causing the sickness
were futile.

While the direct effect of these
epidemics on Thomas is unknown, he and
his brother relocated their houses in 1900 to
the old Espenberg site—approximately one
mile from the coast up the Espen-

Fox pelts became a resource of considerable
demand.

In 1898 the western gold rush had
expanded into the far north, with the sprout-
ing up of the “boom” mining communities of
Deering and Candle in 1901, located a short
distance east of Cape Espenberg and Thom-
as’s and his brothers’ summer homes. Deer-
ing and Buckland had a profound influence

berg River. It was common practice
for Ifiupiat to abandon a dwelling if
a relative died in a house. In fact, if
large numbers of people died in any
settlement, it was not unusual for sur-
viving members of the community to
relocate the entire village elsewhere.
As a young boy, and later
as a grown man, Thomas had seen
the cycle of at least two economic
“booms” and “busts” in his life most-
ly undertaken by White immigrants
to Alaska. While Thomas had passed
through life to this point in an atmo-
sphere of dramatic change, he could
not have predicted that there was
much more to come, instigated by
world markets and players of which
he had no knowledge, Although com-
mercial whaling continued into the
first decade of the 1900s, the industry
had commenced its decline in the
early 1860s before Thomas’s birth,
and by 1907 was no longer economi-
cally viable due to the collapse of
the whale oil and baleen markets.
About the same time that whalebone

(baleen) was no longer of mercan- Photo 10. Louise Tunmaag Tocktoo Barr, who sang solos in the
tile importance, the trading schoo- _ church at around this age, is wearing a calico parka cover
ners became a conduit for Ifiupiaq _—-With a wolf ruff. Her mittens are tanned reindeer skin, and

participation in the arctic fur trade.

she wears reindeer skin mukluks. Photo by Edward Keithahn,
circa 1923, courtesy of Richard Keithahn and National Park

Service (neg. 217).

From Hunters to Herders

49


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

the people kicked the ball they’re pretty
heavy, and all the village people they
get out there on the lake and they break
through and they jost most of the popu-
lation from drowning. [Barr 1991e]

One spring when the days got
long and were nice, Thomas was playing
around the houses at Singiq and Ikpiziaq.
He looked up and saw molting animals
that were eating from the ground. It was
here that he learned that these animals
were caribou feeding on moss and lichens
on the top of the hill:

He’d [Thomas] be standing right
along side the window watching those
animals feeding on top and then he
would holler at them, shout at them, And
when the caribous heard that noise, the
shouting he made, they would lift up
their heads and listen and start looking
around. That’s how close the animals
always had to feed even though they are
wild in those days... [Barr 199!e]

However, shortly after Thomas
was old enough to accompany the men
hunting, the caribou began to disappear
from the northwestern Seward Penin-
sula. At that time, the Ifiupiat were using
rifles rather than bows and arrows for hunt-
ing caribou. Thomas remembered when they
corralled them using ifuksuk, or cairns of
caribou horns. The disappearance of cari-
bou caused hardship for Thomas’s family,
as they relied heavily on the meat for food
and on the hides for clothing. After that, they
became more dependent on reindeer hides
obtained through trade with the Siberians
from across Bering Strait.

From the time Thomas was about 14
or 15 years old until his early 40s, whaling
vessels and trading ships were commonly

Photo 8. Gideon Kahlook Barr Sr., August 1993. Photo
by James Magdanz.

seen in the waters of the Bering and Chuk-
chi Seas and Bering Strait. In the spring,
the whaling ships anchored at Port Clarence
to the south and took on crews of Iitupiaq
whalers, seamstresses, cooks, and cabin
boys. While Thomas was not employed by
the whalers or traders, he knew people who
were. Some Ifiupiat thought that it was the
whalers and traders with their abundant
firearms that were responsible for driving off
the caribou as well as killing many bowhead
whales and walruses.

In approximately 1889 when Thomas

From Hunters to Herders

45


referring to it as

The most admirable project by the
U.S. Bureau of Education to provide a
means of livelihood for the Eskimos in
Alaska, whose former hunting resources
were rapidly decreasing. [Hadwen and
Palmer 1922:2]

Hadwen and Palmer (1922) analyzed the
reindeer industry as being handled by “crude
methods without the benefit of any definite
scientific investigation or oversight.” The
intent of their research was to provide sci-
ence to a project that was somewhat out

of control and needed the guidance of the
modern livestock industry, which included
the interbreeding of reindeer and caribou to
improve stock.

More recent governmentally funded
reports largely have consisted of compila-
tions of both primary and secondary sources
to be used as the basis of cultural invento-
ries and assessments. These include, but are
not limited to, the works of USDOI (1974),
Grauman (1977), Williss (n.d.), and, to some
extent, Powers et al. (1982), Koutsky (198 la,
1981b), and Eisler (1978), the latter three
works being based both on primary and sec-
ondary sources, as well as extensive field-
work conducted in the study area.

Versions of the histories of the
“good,” “brave,” and “heroic” missionary
juxtaposed against the “primitive,” “noble”
or “ignoble savage,” and “depraved” and/or
“deprived” Eskimo provide insight into the
worldviews, values, and strategies of indi-
viduals and organizations spearheading the
assimilationist movement in Northwest and
other areas of Alaska. Such accounts are
largely biographical and authored by per-
sons associated with the various denomina-

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

tions that proselytized Alaska’s indigenous
peoples. For example, the works of Lazell
(1960) and Stewart (1908) about Sheldon
Jackson exemplified the views of the authors,
the United Presbyterian Church, and the
Presbyterian Historical Society, thereby rep-
resenting the values of Jackson and lauding
his efforts as being heroic:

He [Jackson] did more than any
other person in the nineteenth century
to inform the American nation about
Alaska’s needs and people. His failure to
accomplish all he hoped to do is, in large
part, due to the disgraceful inaction of
successive Congresses... [Lazell 1960:9]

Although ostensibly representing more
objective, historical accounts of the reindeer
period in Alaska, works such as Postell’s
(1990) or Murray’s (1988) description of
Norwegian herder Carl Sacariasen’s account
of the infamous Yukon relief expedition are
equally biased in favor of the missionary-
promoted assimilation of indigenous peoples.
Murray stated:

Missionary endeavor is not in good
repute today. These earnest individuals
are pictured in popular stereotypes as
totally ignorant of the customs of the
native population, unfamiliar with their
Janguage and guilty of imposing an alien
religion on the hapless aborigines almost
by force. Those who feel righteous
indignation over missionary activities do
not know of the things Sheldon Jackson
did to preserve native culture. [1988:3]

An analysis of missionary documents is
extremely useful, but requires careful and
detailed scrutiny for use in establishing the
ethnohistory of indigenous peoples (White-
man 1985b: 295-322).

From Hunters to Herders


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Stern, Richard O., Edward L. Arobio, Larry L. Naylor, and Wayne C. Thomas
1980 Eskimos, Reindeer and Land. Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 59.
Fairbanks: University of Alaska.

Stewart, Robert L.
1908 Sheldon Jackson: Pathfinder and Prospector of the Missionary Vanguard in the
Rocky Mountains and Alaska. New York: Fleming H. Revelle Company.

Stoney, George M.
1974 [1899] Explorations in Alaska. Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute.

Strathern, Marilyn
1988 The Gender of the Gift. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Szasz, Margaret C., and Carmelita S. Ryan
1988 American Indian Education, Jn Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 4,
History of Indian-White Relations. W. Washburn, ed. Pp. 284-300. Washing-
ton, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Tanaka, Jiro
1991 Egalitarianism and the Cash Economy among the Central Kalahari San. Jn
Cash, Commoditisation and Changing Foragers. N. Peterson and T. Mat-
suyama, ed. Pp. 117-134. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.

Tanner, Adrian
1979 Bringing Home Animals: Religious Ideology and Mode of Production of the
Mistassini Cree Hunters. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Thornton, Harrison R.
1931 Among the Eskimos of Wales, Alaska, 1890-93. Baltimore: The Johns Hop-
kins Press.

Tower, Elizabeth A.
1988 Reading, Religion, Reindeer: Sheldon Jackson’s Legacy to Alaska. Anchor-
age: Elizabeth A. Tower.

Turner, Edith
1990 The Whale Decides: Eskimos’ and Ethnographer’s Shared Consciousness on
the Ice. Etudes/Inuit/Studies 14(1-2):39-52.

U.S. Bureau of the Census
1990 US. Census, 1900, Alaska: Summary Population and Housing Characteristics.
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of the Census.

224 FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS




CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

*(€Z0
“Bau) SDIAIaS 4Jeg ]UOIEN pue UYeYILeYy PseYyrY Jo AsaqN0? ‘EZH} BID ‘UYeYIey PUeMpy Aq 070Yd “puNnoisydeq BY} UL aBYyIed 34}
uo SulAUp si JRaW “Burjuejd poom ay} Japun pue a2ues}Ua 3yj JO apis By} UO P3j0Is Bq P]NOD poo “asnoy pos Jo JU) Ut AOg *g OJOYg

From Hunters to Herders

40


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

Photo 16.
Bertha Qituk
lyatunguk

and Anna
Weyiouanna.

) These girls

{| visited the
Keithahn home
frequently to
learn more of
the Western
civilization.
Here, they
wear summer
clothing. Photo
by Edward
Keithahn, circa
1923, courtesy
of Richard
Keithahn and
National Park
Service (neg.
197).

From Hunters to Herders 69


Arctic River serve as a boundary between
the Wales herds and that of Allockeok—an
idea Allockeok opposed (USBOE 1932).
This same telegram stated that the Serpentine
River was the boundary between Allockeok’s
and Shishmaref’s herds, and proposed that

a border between the Shishmaref and Nu-
glunguktuk herds be reestablished. From the
end of the 1920s, Allockeok refused to join
the Shishmaref Reindeer Association and

wanted to maintain a separately owned herd
(USBOE 1929). Mozee wrote a telegram
on August 20, 1929, in which he stated that
he would not approve either the Shishmaref
or Nuglunguktuk grazing applications until
the Shishmaref side of the controversy over
range was investigated (USBOE 1929).
Also, a letter from the Seward Penin-
sula administrator of reindeer to the general
superintendent at Nome gave the follow-
ing account of the history of Shishmaref’s,
Allockeok’s, and his brother Kunnuk’s herds:

1. The Wm. Allockeok herd is what
in 1925 was known as the Shishmaref
No, 2 herd and had been grazing their
deer on the range shown in the map as
the old Allockeok Range. About 1923
or 1924 the four Shishmaref herds were
organized into the SRA [Shishmaref
Reindeer Association]. A year later Al-
lockeok withdrew his deer again from
the association and formed a herd of his
own. Since that time his had been a sepa-
rate herd. 2. In 1924 or 1925 the Lane
River herd which up to this time had
been a Deering herd joined the SRA and
put their deer together with the Espen-
berg herd which also became a part of
the SRA. The Lane River and Espenberg
herds together have had up to the present
a separate mark and herded their deer
separately, but their names have been on
the SRA books and their signature to the
bylaws of the said organization. During

CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

the last two or three years they have used
the range between the Lane River and
Cripple River very little. Originally this
was a part of the range used by the Lane
River herd, 3. The range on which Al-
lockeok has his deer now is his old range
marked on the map. This range has been
overgrazed and has very little winter
feed left on it. Allockeok and also the
members of the SRA feel that it would
be better if he and his brother Lloyd
[Koonuk] took the old Lane River range
and they [the SRA] took Allockeok’s old
range, as this would make it easier to
keep their deer from mixing and would
give them all winter feed. 4. Lloyd has
been a member of the SRA but as he

and his brother have quite a few deer
together now, they decided it would

be better to form a partnership and put
all their deer together rather than try to
separate those that they own together
now. You will notice that the applica-
tion is a partnership between William
and Lloyd applying for ground to graze
their deer jointly. I sent you a copy of the
agreement between them some time ago.
[USBOE 1929]

In response to the proposed range
reallocation, government teacher Andrews at
Deering wrote a letter of objection. The sub-
mitted areas were, at the time, still used by
herders from the northern Seward Peninsula,

including Stanley Kivyearzruk. Andrews
wrote:

Stanley Kivyearzruk is one of the
oldest of the reindeer men now living.
He earned his deer at Teller or Wales,
drove them to his present location about
or over 15 years ago and lives there on
the range, except when he is in Deer-
ing in winter schooling his children.
His wife died about a year or two ago.
To give his range to Allockeok and turn
over the management of the herd to
him will be equivalent to confiscation

From Hunters to Herders

131


CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

against Ifiupiat who were perceived to be
“poaching” reindeer, even under conditions
of starvation. Subsequent to the transfer of
stock to Ifiupiaq herders, the federal govern-
ment continued to control reindeer herding
through directives and by the enforcement
of punishments on herders who attempted
to sell or kill reindeer as needed. Ultimately,
Jackson cautioned the local superintendents
about discouraging Ifiupiat from relying on
locally available wild resources in the fear
that indigenous populations would draw on
the same imported supplies needed to sup-
port White missionaries and teachers. The
persistent Ifiupiat reliance on locally avail-
able wild resources perpetuated aboriginal
societal territoriality, despite the fact that
this indigenous social order and polity never
had been recognized by White encroachers.
Furthermore, Ifiupiaq socioterritoriality con-
tinued to operate as a separate and distinct
system overlain by the activities of herding
and associated allocation of formal grazing
areas by governmental representatives.

The continued dependency of the
Ifiupiat on locally acquired fauna and flora
mandated that indigenous peoples not aban-
don the seasonal cycle central to facilitating
harvesting activities. The Ifiupiat annual
cycle was distinctive from that of the natural
geographical and ecological inclinations of
the reindeer. In some cases, individuals and,
particularly families, tried to compromise
this diverse set of requirements by strategi-
cally divided activities, with some members
of a local group pursuing herding while
others continued hunting and gathering. In
fact, winter reindeer camps on the coast were
deliberately placed at sites known for marine
mammal productivity or in proximity to mis-
sion stations, deliberately located to facilitate
summer maritime transport.

Ultimately, attempts to simultane-
ously accommodate herding and indigenous
hunting, trapping, fishing, and gathering
failed for the most part. Localized range
depletions, taking up to 25 years to rectify
(Lantis 1950:31), forced the relocation of
reindeer increasingly more distant from sites
strategic and productive for acquiring wild
local faunal and floral resources. Gradually,
the reindeer were drawn to more outlying
pasturage, while hunters were reluctant to
leave the areas needed to sustain life in the
Inupiaq context. Finally, the compromise
of practicing “open” as opposed to “close”
herding was adopted by the Ifiupiat, not
principally at the urging of governmental of-
ficials in the 1920s but as an empirical solu-
tion to conflicting demands between hunting-
gathering and pastoral modes of subsistence.

Often, the sites of reindeer stations,
churches, and schools were not associated
with traditional societal centers or territories.
To the degree that these Western outposts
were affiliated with access to trade goods and
medical treatment, they enticed the ingather-
ing of the Ifupiat. This trend was increasing-
ly exacerbated by demands of missionaries
and teachers for mandatory attendance of all
Ifupiat at church services and their children
at school.

In their attacks on the shamans or
angatkuut, missionaries, at times armed with
Western vaccines and medicines, engaged
in open conflict. The success of the Western
spiritual entrepreneurs was enhanced by
the synergistic effects of epidemic diseases
on indigenous peoples and societies (Wolfe
1982). While the qazgi was perceived by
missionary teachers to be the theater for
demonic “pagan” rituals and interactions,
the school and mission was the fortress of
civilized religion and morality.

124

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

CHURCH

VarRk Tair

sere

> & © Wee "

Perth Bh wets
» Kazereters ?

Figure 1. Location of the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve on the Seward Peninsula in Alaska.

2 From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

origin with Diomeders, King Islanders, and
other Natives disrupted the indigenous ex-
change network (Johnshoy 1944).

As reindeer became more numerous
and the now semi-independent Ifiupiaq herd-
ers were being dispatched in a leapfrog pat-
tern northeast of Wales, they inevitably were
assigned to ranges outside their respective
societal territories. Again, conflicts arose,
such as that between originally Wales-based
and, subsequently, Shishmaref-based herder
Allockeok and the deermen of the Cape Es-
penberg area.

There were no indigenous socio-
political institutions in Northwest Alaska
that could have facilitated and governed the
assignment and protection of ranges associ-
ated with reindeer herding, even if the United
States federal government had given the
Ifiupiat the authority to do so. Therefore, the
only institutions that functioned directly or
indirectly to govern reindeer range alloca-
tion, protection, and transference were those
of the federal government and, for a short
time, the territorial administration of Alaska.
The functioning of federal agents regarding
matters associated with territoriality was in
direct conflict with indigenous sociopolitical
institutions. The acceptance of such external
authority would have mandated Western po-
litical and ideological assimilation and a ba-
sic disregard for indigenous institutions. The
implementation of cooperative herding in
the middle of the 1920s, and the subsequent
decline of the reindeer population begin-
ning in the 1930s, negated any necessity for
wholesale Ifiupiaq sociopolitical, institutional
change in favor of Western authority and
personnel in regard to herding.

The recognition of ecological rela-
tionships between reindeer and pasturage for

some Ifiupiat transformed land from being
the arena upon which economic activities
(.e., hunting and gathering) were conducted
to becoming the underpinning of the mode of
production in the herding paradigm. This was
to bring about conflicts between individuals
vested in the pursuit of reindeer husbandry
and those persisting primarily in hunting,
trapping, fishing, and gathering endeavors as
the base of economic procurement.

In the herding paradigm, particularly
when the government began issuing exclu-
sive grazing permits, some reindeer own-
ers viewed land as alienable—that is, they
potentially could keep others from using the
acreage for which they held a government
permit. In the sense that land was viewed by
non-Natives as a commodity, it also could
be allocated, transferred, sold, and inherited.
To the extent that reindeer herding in Alaska
was modeled after cattle or sheep ranching
and involved range allocation and disputes,
there was an ideological conflict with Inupiaq
cultures of Northwest Alaska, in which soci-
etal boundaries and usufruct rights governed
access and inheritance to, and humans were
not seen to be the masters and owners of land
and resources.

Implications for Ublasaun

In the early 1990s Thomas Makaiqtaq Barr’s
son Gideon recollected the annual cyclical
round of wild resource harvesting by people
who lived in the Cape Espenberg area,
including seasonal harvesting at Ublasaun.
Gideon said that he and his family always
preferred living “out in the country,” as op-
posed to settlements, such as Shishmaref

126

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER’S STORY

deer were old enough to make the migration
to summer pasturage at Cape Espenberg. In
1919 the Barr brothers constructed a rein-
deer corral at the cape. The corral was used
for multiple purposes. As the reindeer were
driven through the chutes, each herder’s
animals were counted. Additionally, young
bulls destined to become steers were moved
into a holding pen awaiting castration. Fawns
then received the earmarks of their moth-
ers. It was during the summer of 1921 that
Gideon’s mother also had a baby at Espen-
berg—his sister Elizabeth, who became more
commonly known as “Bessie.” By the spring
of 1922 Thomas had amassed a herd of 1,163
animals.

With the onset of fall, the herders
collected the reindeer and drove them back
down the coast to Ublasaun. This cycle was
repeated annually until 1925. These were the
years of Gideon’s childhood that he recalls
most fondly:

Starting December, yah. December,
January, February, and those months, if
the dogs start barking, us kids, we don’t
have to go out—our parents had to look
out and see if it’s a bear [polar bear] or
dog team coming in, because your dogs
will, as soon as they hear something or
smell something, then usually they start
barking.

Well, I like it [(Ublasaun] because it
was nice, clean life, happy life. Hardly
anybody get to arguing or something
and, when something starting to come
up that’s not right, they'll, our fathers,
get together and talk it over and advise
whoever, whoever try to get off the line.
They give them good advice, saying
that’s not the way to live. You won’t be
living happy...And they won’t care to
help you no more pretty soon, because
you’ve done something that is not right

with all the, all the neighbors. That was
the real strong advice. Those old, old
people, old women and old men. These
women take care of their young girls and
those old men, they would take care of
the boys. They keep on advising them.
(Barr 1991e]

By 1925 the lives of Thomas Barr and
his family underwent considerable change.
However, to understand the nature of this
transformation in the lives of the people of
Ublasaun, we must return to the events that
preceded the formation of the community.

In approximately 1869, two years af-
ter the purchase of Alaska from Russia by the
United States, Thomas Makaiqtaq Barr was
born at Cape Espenberg to his father Kunau-
taq and his mother Kuvaaq. As a small boy,
Thomas lived at Singiq across the lagoon
from Qivaluaq. It is near this location that
Thomas’s father was eventually buried.

When he was a small boy during the
fall and winter, Thomas played at the area of
an old village called Ikpiziaq, located about
one mile from Singiq on the east side of the
Kalik River. By 1937 it looked like no one
had lived there because drifting sands had
covered the remains of the old sod houses.
As a young boy, Thomas was told a story
about why that village was abandoned:

Sometimes after Christmas, maybe
March, when the sun get high enough,
when he [Thomas] was old enough to go
out, he [went] away from the sod house
where his parents lived, [and went to the
old village site]. There was a little lake
behind that, ah, behind that little knoll
that slowly [was] vanishing towards the
west, down this way, And there was a
little lake right here, right in front it [the
village}, and in early fall, they decided
to play football, they didn’t know that
ice wasn’t thick enough. Well, when

44

From Hunters to Herders


FRomM HUNTERS To HERDERS

THE TRANSFORMATION OF EARTH, SOCIETY, AND HEAVEN
AMONG THE INUPIAT OF BERINGIA

By
Linda J. Ellanna

and
George K. Sherrod

Department of Anthropology
University of Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775

Edited by Rachel Mason, National Park Service
August 2004


the Chukchi. Similarly, according to Bogoras
(1904-1909:497), the Chukchi made requests
to a “‘supematural” power—‘the being of the
Zenith”—to allow them to capture wild rein-
deer. If a male deer was obtained, the animal
was offered food, his antlers were decorated,
and his head was taken into tents where it
was entertained with singing and drumming
(Bogoras 1904-1909:380-38 1).

As described above, Ifiupiat viewed
reindeer as having been created separately
and distinctly from caribou or as having
achieved their unique status as a product of
a long-term relationship with humans. The
behavior of herders to reindeer paralleled the
nature of the relationships between guardian
deities and caribou. As protectors of reindeer,
humans were required to assure that reindeer
were not over-harvested, that they were safe
from non-human predators such as wolves,
that meat and hides were not wasted, and that
they received assistance during reproduction
(Ingold 1988:76-81). In the case of the Ifupi-
at in the study area, reindeer functionally had
entered the social realm of humans, as taboos
associated with mixing the domains of land
(caribou) and sea (for example seals or fish)
were not applicable to reindeer herding. For
example, while herding deer at Ublasaun,
seals were actively netted. Similarly, reindeer
corralling occurred simultaneously with sum-
mer salmon fishing in the Deering area.

The degree to which the Iffjupiat
exercised control over reindeer was sug-
gested by the fact that concepts of personal
or family owned property were applied to
these domesticated animals, while caribou
were not considered to be under the authority
of humans and, in fact, only became akin to
property after being harvested at the discre-
tion of the animal. Ownership of reindeer

CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

was symbolized by earmarks; and land hav-
ing the mosses and lichens used for reindeer
grazing moved from the realm of common
societal property in the perspective of the
hunter, to individually or family held grazing
leases delineated by the federal government
(cf., Ingold 1988:5).

To the Ifiupiat of the northern Seward
Peninsula and the Kotzebue Sound area,
wolves were perceived to be more spiritually
charged than most other animals. They and
the killer whales of the sea held a special re-
lationship to humans as social co-predators.
All of the three predator-forms transmutated,
as killer whales became wolves when they
came on land, had human forms at times in
the past, and exhibited human behaviors and
ideologies.

An Ifiupiag story concerning wolves
is important to understanding the role these
animals played in the worldview of the Ifiu-
piat of Northwest Alaska. It was printed at
Wales in the May 1902 issue of The Eskimo
Bulletin:

Long ago, when wild deer [caribou]
were plentiful, a young hunter who had
returned to his home on the coast from a
successful deer hunt, sent his wife with a
dog sled to haul in the deer he had killed
and cached in the hills. On her way
home with her load of meat, her dogs
stopped and whined as if scared. After
some urging, they went ahead, but as the
moon rose, the woman saw the cause of
their fright. For there, on each side of her
sled, were two wolves. Their gaunt fierce
look, frightcned her. She immediately
felt a pain in her stomach. As she neared
her home, the wolves disappeared. But
pain with which they had afflicted the
woman increased during the night, and
resulted in her death before morning.

The husband wrapped her body in a
walrus skin, and placed it on a rude drifi-

From Hunters to Herders

163


ing Strait Eskimo. [1969a: 193]

There were years during which
optimism about the commercial develop-
ment of a reindeer industry was exposed
as the unreliable excess of partially
organized planners. Reindeer ownership
and reindeer as a production resource
became known as concepts that yield
to cyclical market forces controlled by
someone “outside” the Eskimo realm of
influence. [1969a:67]

Anthropologist Ray’s (1965) ethno-
historical account of this episode in the his-
tory of Alaska Natives, citing Lantis (1950)
and an August 24, 1964, article in the news-
paper The Tundra Times, closed as follows:

Jackson did not live to see the large
commercial herds that resulted from the
purchases [by Lomens] in 1914, At one
time there were about 600,000 reindeer
in Alaska. Nor did he [Jackson] see the
catastrophic decline of the industry dur-
ing the 1940’s, Now [in the early 1960s]
there are only 38,000 reindeer in 16
herds, all owned by Eskimos.

Finally, in the most recent extensive
publication on this topic, anthropologists
Stern and Naylor and their economist co-au-
thors (Thomas and Arobio) concluded:

In addition to predation and caribou
tosses, some additional causes can be
found for the decline of the reindeer
industry, such as disease, poor herd
management which resulted in straying,
and overgrazing. The inability to fulfill
reward expectations caused many per-
sons to abandon their herds, especially
when confronted with massive losses of
animals from causes that appeared to be
beyond their control. [Stern et al. 1980:
76]

Some of the conclusions explicitly

CHAPTER 8: CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE

asserted or implied by the various authors
cited above regarding the apparent failure of
the importation of reindeer to Alaska—both
in light of the stated goals of assimilation
of the Eskimo and the potential for bringing
industry into the new territory. For example,
the absence of a commercial market for
reindeer meat and hides outside of Alaska is
indisputable. The economic depression of the
1930s, associated low prices of meat, an ef-
fective cattle industry lobby against the sale
of reindeer meat in the contiguous United
States, and the costs and difficulties of trans-
porting the meat such a great distance were
all factors that inhibited the development of
a reindeer industry. Even non-Native owners
with Western financial expertise and backing,
such as the Lomens, were incapable of turn-
ing reindeer herding into a viable economic
enterprise at the scale they had envisioned.

Unquestionably, both localized and
more widespread range depletion occurred—
a process which commenced with the es-
tablishment of the first herds and became
critical by the middle of the 1930s. In part,
overgrazing was inevitable given the practice
of maintaining stock within the proximity of
permanent mission stations and what Had-
wen and Palmer (1922; Palmer 1927) termed
“mismanagement” on the part of unqualified
and inexperienced reindeer superintendent/
teachers, Although potentially having major
implications in this context (cf., Krupnik
1993:166-171), shifting ecological circum-
stances and their impact on reindeer carrying
capacity were not within the scope of this
research (Gerlach n.d.).

Similarly, what was perceived to
be intensified wolf predation in the 1930s
theoretically might have contributed to herd
population declines after 1934. As a general
rule, as the number of ungulates increases, so

From Hunters to Herders

187


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Collinson, Richard
1976 [1889] Journal of H.M.S. Enterprise, on the Expedition in Search of Sir John
Franklin’s Ships by Behring Strait, 1850-55. London: Sampson Low,
Marston, Searle, and Rivington, Ltd.

Creech, James E.
n.d. Description of Historic Structures at Ublasaun, Bering Land Bridge National

Preserve. Unpublished report on file at NPS Alaska Regional Office, Anchor-
age.

Cross, Elizabeth (Bessie)
1988 Interview regarding Native historical use of the Cape Espenberg area, Kotze-

bue, May 26, 1988, with Brian Hoffman and David Daily. Anchorage: ANC-
SA Office, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Dall, William H.
1970 [1870] Alaska and Its Resources. New York: Amo Press.

Darwin, Charles
1950 [1859] Origin of Species. London: Watts.

Dyck, Noel
1989 [1985] Aboriginal Peoples and Nation-States: An Introduction to the Analyti-
cal Issues. /n Indigenous Peoples and the Nation-State. N. Dyck, ed.
Pp. 1-26. Social and Economic Papers No. 14. St. John’s: Institute of

Social and Economic Research, Memorial University of Newfound-
land.

Dye, T. Wayne
1985 A Missionary Philosophy of Development. /n Missionaries, Anthropologists,
and Cultural Change. D. Whiteman, ed. Pp. 215-225. Studies in Third World
Societies, Publication No. 25. Williamsburg, VA: Department of Anthropol-
ogy, College of William and Mary.

Eisler, David C.
1978 Subsistence Activities in the Proposed Bering Land Bridge National Reserve.

Fairbanks: Anthropology and Historic Preservation Cooperative Park Studies
Unit, University of Alaska.

210 FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

example, he was a whale boat owner, a lucra-
tive furbearer trapper, an intercontinental
trader, a major shareholder in the Deering co-
operative store, an officer of the Nuglunguk-
tuk Reindeer Company, relatively wealthy as
demonstrated by his large and modern home
at Ublasaun, and the nucleus of a large group
of consanguineally and affinally subordinate
kin. Through the marriages described above,
Thomas was linked to men of means and so-
cial status, who were also reindeer herders, in
neighboring societies. Lastly, Thomas acted
as point of contact between members of his
group and various White people, including
traders, government officials, teachers, and,
probably, miners in the Deering area.

In Ifiupiaq society, the status of
prominent men was complexly linked with
the socioeconomic and sociopolitical capa-
bilities and position of their wives, sisters,
and daughters. In Thomas’s case, his wife
Emily was a person with advantageous link-
ages from the standpoint of reindeer herd-
ing. Based on the observations of Clarence
Andrews, who was the teacher at Deering
in 1924, Emily played a conspicuous role in
managing family resources:

The little trading craft that ply the
coast get goods with less freight cost,
can afford to cut prices to get good skins.
Some of the Eskimos get wise and hold
back some of the best skins to trade on
the boat. If the local merchant gets an
idea of it, he will search the igloo, take
the skins if he finds them, and give credit
as he sees fit. Mukkaktuk’s [Makaiqtaq’s
or Thomas’s] wife may sometimes sit on
the skins when he comes, for they are as
tricky as necessary in the case of need.
[Andrews 1939:169-170]

We also know that after Thomas’s death, Em-

ily assumed the role of head of the family.

Thomas’s attitude toward women in
his family was exemplified by the fact that he
confronted what Whites perceived to be the
appropriate role of females in his teaching of
and aspirations for his eldest living daughter
Bessie. Thomas took Bessie out of school in
1930 along with Gideon. Having only one
son capable of helping support the family
during this time of economic need, Thomas
taught Bessie to hunt, trap, and drive dogs.
She, in turn, had her own dog team at a very
young age and undertook activities central to
the welfare of the entire family before reach-
ing her teens.

152

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

in from up north, so he took care of that
herd, night and day, winter and sum-
mer, and that’s how come there was a
little herd left. And then when the wolf
go away and then that herd, ah increase
rapidly and then they start to roam out
some. Little herd, here and there. Now
it’s all back to Seward Peninsula again...
{In] 1927, that’s when they let the herd
go. Nobody, nobody really take care

of the herd of their own. They just turn
them loose. [Barr 1982]

For Thomas, the wolves killing the reindeer
was Clearly the result of herders “sleeping
too much” and not paying adequate attention
to their animals, as was foretold in the story
he had heard at Wales as a young man.

By 1932, the Nuglunguktuk Rein-
deer Company was facing many problems.
In late July and early August of that year,

a roundup of reindeer at the company cor-
ral indicated that Nuglunguktuk had a mere
1,915 reindeer, a decline from the 6,000
animals in the herd the previous year. These
included mavericks marked to the company,
fawns killed for parka skins, individual
owner marks transferred to the company, and
reindeer from the Cape Prince of Wales herd.
Additionally, Deering teacher William Fort-
son reported that the Nuglunguktuk Reindeer
Company had no “finances whatever and the
individuals have had a poor income for the
last year and are in no position to build a new
corral.” As a result of the depression, em-
ployment in the gold mines at Deering and
Candle was the only viable means by which
Ifiupiat of the area could obtain cash.

Reindeer herding suffered in two
ways. Since men were employed in mining,
there were few available for summer round-
up activities. Secondly, because furbearer
trapping was no longer lucrative, Thomas

and his peers were incapable of supporting
themselves through trapping in conjunc-

tion with herding during the winter months.
Wages associated with employment in the
mines were not matched by the reindeer
industry, and herders were unable to convert
reindeer into currency. As a result, adolescent
boys and some girls and women attempted to
undertake summer roundups for purposes of
marking, castrating, and butchering reindeer,
but with marginal success.

In 1935, reaching the age of 15 when
young men were expected to become more
self sufficient, Thomas’s oldest son, Gideon,
stopped living in his parents’ home and took
up residence with his father’s brother’s son
Walter Barr, who was 28. They lived in a
cabin at Killeak lakes.

In 1937, Walter married Grace Tip-
plemen from Candle, and they resided in the
cabin after their marriage. Grace already had
one daughter, and she and Walter had five
more children—a daughter in 1942, a son
in 1943, and three other daughters in 1945,
1946, and 1948. Grace died in 1948.

The year Walter and Grace married,
Gideon, the bachelor, constructed a trapping
and herding cabin at the headwaters of the
Nugnugaluktuk (also recorded as Nunaga-
luqtuq or Nugnugalurtuk) River. Gideon was
now indisputably an adult Ifiupiag living on
his own.

The year 1937 was to be important in
the life of Thomas, Emily, and other mem-
bers of the Barr family. By then, Emily’s
mother had died. Most of Thomas’s fam-
ily, including Gideon, had moved to Singigq,
where the former had lived as a young boy
and grown up. There were three or four
homes at the Singiq settlement. The area was
an excellent location for winter and spring

From Hunters to Herders

61


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

1827 on the northern Seward Peninsula and
southern Kotzebue Sound included Wales,
Shishmaref, Cape Espenberg, and Goodhope
Bay (Ray 1975:90). In 1880, Hooper (1964:
26) noted the distinctiveness of the people
of Cape Espenberg, whom he termed “Tup-
kug-ameuts,” from those of Cape Prince of
Wales (“King-eegan-meuts”). Hooper (1964:
26) also identified distinct groups resid-

ing in the vicinity of the Buckland River
(“Kung-eegameuts”), Hotham Inlet and Cape
Blossom (“Kee-kik-tag-ameuts”), Sulawick
(Selawik) (“Sulawig-meuts”), Koogarook
(Kougarok) River (“Koo-og-ameuts”), and
Icy Cape (“Oto-kog-ameuts”). On his ex-
pedition between 1881 and 1883, Jacobsen
(1977:88) noted a distinction between people
living “between Norton Sound and Kotzebue
Sound” as being ““Malemiut,” while those to
the west, including “Prince of Wales Penin-
sula,” are the ““Kawiaremiut.”

For the study period, kinship was the
single most important facet of social orga-
nization of the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska.
Though there is regional variation between
the societies considered here, a generalized
overview is presented in this chapter, with
more complex and analytical treatment of the
topic in chapter 6.

Kinship ties between Ifiupiat were
based on factors of biology, marriage, and
the extension of family relationships to
people who were neither consanguineally (by
descent) or affinally (by marriage) related
through social mechanisms such as mar-
riage and comarriage, adoption, passing on
and sharing of personal names, trading and
hunting partnerships, and female-focused
partnerships referred to in English today by
some people as “friendships.” Biological
relatedness was recognized when social and

biological facts coincided, but was only one
of many factors that established and united
kin (Burch 1975:46).

While the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alas-
ka reckoned descent bilaterally (through both
fathers’ and mothers’ sides), they employed
Iroquois cousin terminologies in which cross
cousins (mother’s brother’s and father’s
sister’s offspring) had distinct nomencla-
ture from those of parallel cousins (father’s
brother’s and mother’s sister’s children). Ad-
ditionally, matrilateral and patrilateral paral-
lel cousins were differentiated (Burch 1975:
70; Ray 1975, 1984:286). In some cases,
sibling terms were applied to cousins - most
commonly to parallel cousins. In sibling
sets, age relative to ego was recognized in
terminology, with the eldest same sex sibling
exercising authority over juniors.

A set of people related consanguin-
eally to any one individual (or two in the
case of same sex twins) was defined, from
that person’s (or persons’) perspective as i/a-
giit, a category of relatives that Burch (1975:
46) concluded was “roughly equivalent to
the anthropological category of personal
kindred.” The relative number of an indi-
vidual’s subordinate kin greatly influenced
his or her political position in a given fam-
ily group, settlement, and society. Although
most literature on Eskimos in general and
Ifupiaq in specific has stressed the overt role
of maleness as dominant over that of female-
ness, this assumption about gender relations,
at least at the covert level, is reconsidered in
subsequent chapters.

For the most part, marriage among
the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska, especially
during the early historical period, was per-
ceived to be a mechanism by which individu-
als established domestic units, and families

16

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

sister’s daughter. Furthermore, Thomas’s son
Gideon remembers that his father and Al-
lockeok considered one another kin.

Clarence Andrews was a strong
proponent of close herding. In his capacity
as superintendent charged with oversight of
the reindeer of the Nuglunguktuk Reindeer
Company, he told Thomas how bad open
herding was. Andrews convinced Thomas
that the government was promoting open
herding only to benefit White owners such
as the Lomens. In addition to the range wars,
Thomas, as president of the Nuglunguktuk
Reindeer Company, was confronted with a
shortage of adult men capable of participat-
ing in the herding operation, since the round-
up activities conflicted with other forms of
employment.

During the depression commencing
in 1929, Thomas was to experience another
event in world economics over which he
had no control and about which he had little
direct understanding. The prices for fur pelts
and reindeer fell dramatically, while the
value of gold actually increased. The placer
mining operations on the Seward Peninsula
once again boomed. Therefore, many herd-
ers found that their most successful avenue
to obtaining Western goods was by being em-
ployed at the mines in Deering and Candle.

During the depression, when Thom-
as’s son Gideon barely had started the fourth
grade, his father took him out of school on
November 10, 1930. In 1990 Gideon poi-
gnantly recollected this event:

Just when | was really get into it,
you know, school, when I was 13 years
in the fall. So I didn’t even know he
[Thomas] walked in, because we were
facing away from the door. And some-
one came along and touched me on my

shoulder. I looked up, it was my father.

I asked him “what”? He said, “Son, you
won’t become a teacher. Now I already
talked to the teacher here. Now you have
to go home with me. I’ll show you how
to hunt. You won’t become a teacher no
matter how much schooling you try to
get. But if you, if you learn how to take
care of yourself the real Eskimo way, the
subsistence way of hunting, you won’t
go hungry. You’ll be safe to live up here
in Alaska.” These things were more
important than school to him {Thomas},
because that was the only way. Well, got
to be a good hunter, then you'll never go
hungry. If you’re lazy or not a very good
hunter, then your family, if you have a
family, they’ll go hungry anyhow. That
was the purpose that he [Thomas] was
looking after. [Barr 1990]

So Thomas taught Gideon to hunt. Thomas
showed Gideon how to set traps, go after
foxes, hunt seals, and use kayaks in the
spring. Father and son also got ugruk on top
of the ice in the spring and learned to put

a little air under the skin of a seal in water,
plugging it so that it floated.

Thomas also took Bessie, his second
oldest child, out of school in 1930 when she
was nine years old. Thomas taught her how
to hunt and drive dogs as well, as he was
disappointed in this time of need that she was
not a son. According to Bessie, he raised her
to be a boy. By the time Bessie was 10 years
old, she had her own dog team. When her
team had pups, Thomas told her that he could
not allow her to feed them reindeer meat. If
Bessie wanted to keep them, she would have
to feed them some other way. So, unaccom-
panied, Bessie took a boat to a nearby island,
where she knew seals sunned themselves in
the spring. There she shot four spotted seals
to feed her pups. When Bessie was between

From Hunters to Herders

59


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

all kinds, pokes of oil, weapons, utensils,
tools, boats, sleds, dogs, and the like.
[1959: 154, 156]

In Arctic Coastal Alaska, men of such posi-
tion and wealth feared powerful shamans.

The principal way by which particu-
lar bilaterally reckoned kin groups amassed
wealth and prestige was through participation
in collective productive activities, such as
skinboat hunting, caribou and beluga drives,
net and weir fishing, and trading. Resources
harvested through cooperative ventures were
not distributed equally between the members
of the entire group, but were allocated within
localized families in accordance with the
degree of ownership of the primary modes of
production—technology, usufruct rights to
key harvesting locations, and people who act
as producers.

Technologies employed in collective
harvesting endeavors included umiat, caribou
surrounds, and fish weirs and nets. These
items of technology were not societally
owned nor owned equally by all segments of
a large extended local family. Instead, this
technology generally was associated mini-
mally with the eldest productive male of the
group possessing the skills, knowledge, and
wealth necessary to supervise the construc-
tion, maintenance, and use of these means
of production. Additionally, this individual
and his closest kin controlled key geographic
sites from which these technologies were
deployed. Many cooperative units existed
within any larger lfiupiat society. The relative
status and affluence of such extended family
groups were directly linked to the size of the
productive social unit—especially its number
of contributing males and females.

The ability of some extended fami-
lies to amass more wealth than others was

as dependent on control of distribution as on
the ability to produce. If the common lay and
scholastic stereotypes about all Eskimos, that
they were generous and shared boundlessly,
were true, their sharing would have negated
differential productive capacities and related
social stratification and provided for only
one means of exchange—that of generalized
reciprocity.

During the course of field research
among the north-west Alaskan Eskimos
over a period of some twenty-five years |
heard many stalements about sharing and
generosity almost identical to those cited
above. But I also heard about “buying”
and “selling,” “borrowing,” “inheriting”
and several other ways in which goods
were transferred from one person or
group lo another. When I investigated
just how these words were expressed in
the native language and what their ref-
erents were in lerms of actual behavior,
it became clear that the social reality of
exchange was much more complex than
the ideology would lead one to suspect.
Not only that, it was evident that there
were many contexts in which “sharing”
and “generosity” had no place at all,
even in the ideology. [Burch 1988:95]

Burch (1988) went on to conclude that
concepts about, and practices related to, the
transfer of property occurred differentially in
the realms of societies, local families, conju-
gal families, and individuals.

In an attempt to amass wealth in a
way that failed to negate the ideology of
generosity, lfiupiaq men and women em-
ployed diverse and highly sophisticated
strategies. For example, the food and raw
materials derived from hunting bowhead
whales, walruses, and belugas were system-
atically divided between crew members in a
manner in which the umialiq and his brothers

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135


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'’S STORY

butchered fawns for parka skins while their
pelts were “just right.” Women needed three
fawn skins to complete one man’s parka but
only two for a child’s garment. Those with
few reindeer had to be careful of the number
that they took in any given year, though they
desired reindeer meat, as they did caribou, as
a food to accompany their main diet of seal.
Thomas butchered reindeer to dry in Septem-
ber when the flies were gone, taking what-

_
/
7

*

o
8

Photo 12. Eugene Avuguziag Ningeulook, at left. The unknown
young man on the right is not originally from Shishmaref, but

he may have been involved in the reindeer industry in another
village. They are wearing white spotted reindeer parkas called
atigi or mumnugq. Photo by Edward Keithahn, circa 1923, courtesy
of Richard Keithahn and National Park Service (neg. 211).

ever his family needed for food in the winter.
He pitied people who did not have many
reindeer, and helped them out. He also had a
few sled reindeer and seven dogs. Thomas,
like most Ifiupiat, preferred dogs to reindeer
for sledding, because the reindeer fell down
on glare ice; and it was also colder traveling
with reindeer, as they kicked up snow into
the face of the driver.

Between 1909 and 1918 Thomas used

Qivaluaq, his childhood home, as
a headquarters for winter herd-
ing activities with James Keok
from Wales, chief herder of what
was referred to as the Shishmaref
Number 2 Herd. Thomas, his
brothers Gilbert and Peter, and
their apprentice Gordon Dimmick
had a total of nearly 100 reindeer
in this herd. Besides Keok and the
Barr brothers, other men owning
animals in the herd included H.
Karmun, T. Kotenna, A. Kiyutel-
luk, D. Iokwana, H. Kokizowak,
Outpolluk, Soagzrunuk, Nealotok,
Pete Ehechvaiuk, Charlie Good-
hope, Ahinkok, and W. Okouok.
The Shishmaref No. 2 herd was
bounded on the southeast by the
Buckland River animals herded
by Thomas Sokwenna. Stanley
Kivyearzruk’s herd at the Good-
hope River was also located to the
southeast. At that time, two Kot-
zebue herds were to the northeast
on the Baldwin Peninsula, the first
of which was principally owned
by the Friends Mission and the
second largely belonging to Sami
herder Alfred Nilima. Two other
Shishmaref herds were to the south

52

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 2
THE GEOGRAPHICAL, SOCIOCULTURAL, HISTORICAL,
AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

The Geographical Context

The geographical region of primary concern
includes an area stretching from the Kobuk
River delta in the Kotzebue Sound region,
south along the eastern and southern shores
of the sound, the entirety of the Seward Pen-
insula—coastal and interior—and, more pe-
ripherally for these purposes, eastern Norton
Sound (Fig. 2). The relevant adjacent islands in
Bering Strait include the Diomedes (Inalik and
Imaklik), King (Ukiuvuk), and Sledge (Ayak).
The latitude of this area is both high Subare-
tic and low Arctic, with inland temperatures
reaching greater extremes than those moderated
by the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Chukchi
Sea along the coast. The coastal plains in this
region are punctuated by a myriad of ponds,
lakes, islands, islets, lagoons, and connecting
streams and rivers. The interior of the Seward
Peninsula is separated from the coast by rela-
tively high, glacially chiseled, craggy moun-
tains with peaks taller than 2,000 feet. These
mountains both act as isolating barriers and
provide a diversity of habitat, supporting fauna
and flora distinct from that of the coastal plains.
The habitat of the region is diverse
internally—marine, riverine, lacustrine, and
terrestrial—overall supporting a variety of
species. Human access to and dependency on
wild resources have varied historically and

contemporarily by location, economy, so-
cial organization, technology, and knowl-
edge. For the most part, tundra life forms
are the dominant vegetation, with spruce
forests located on the eastern periphery
of the study area, including the Kobuk
River drainage and segments of the inte-
rior Seward Peninsula and Norton Sound.
Tundra vegetation includes sedges, moss-
es, lichens, herbs, and dwarf shrubs that
carpet vast layers of permafrost and poorly
drained soils.

Geographically, the settlement
serving as the focus of this research at its
onset, Ublasaun (Uplazaun, Ublazaun,
Ullugsaun, also known to archaeologists
as KTZ-149), is located on the north coast
of the Seward Peninsula approximately
two miles north of the Arctic Circle (Kout-
sky 1981a:17). This semi-permanent fall
spring seal hunting and netting site—and,
in the early 1900s, a winter reindeer herd-
ing camp—is situated 2.3 miles west of
the mouth of the Kitluk River, 23.6 miles
southwest of Cape Espenberg, and 6.8
miles northeast of the historical settlement
of Singiq (located at the northernmost
tip of Shishmaref Inlet). Ublasaun is also
approximately seven miles northeast of
the larger and more permanent settlement
of Qivaluaq (Kividluk or Kividlo), which

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

104-105). At Shishmaref, Beechey noted a
considerable large village of “yourts” (yurts
or semisubterranean houses) (Bockstoce
1977a:104). Ifupiat from others areas, such
as Cape Prince of Wales, were returning to
their winter homes by the end of August
and early September of that year (Bockstoce
1977a:110). The Ifupiat whom Beechey
encountered were very accomplished trad-
ers, but they indicated that most of their
trade had been principally through indig-
enous trade networks, rather than with White
people (Bockstoce 1977a:111). Additionally,
the Ifiupiat traders drew accurate maps of
the coastline, including the area from Cape
Krusenstern to Cape Darby, and delineated
Port Clarence—evidence indicative of their
aboriginal long-distance, systematic, mari-
time travel, and associated knowledge base.
The lfiupiat encountered by members of the
Beechey expedition seemed unfamiliar with
firearms, whereas others from the Buckland
River and Cape Prince of Wales areas were
certainly acquainted with the capabilities
of muskets (Bockstoce 1977a:129). For the
most part, however, the Ifupiat remained
primarily dependent on local technology
modified, in some cases, by the use of metal
acquired in trade.

Retreating south from the pack ice
in October 1826 without locating Franklin,
Beechey later returned to the Alaska coast in
1827 (Bockstoce 1977a:14). Crewmembers
aboard the expedition’s barge were killed in a
wreck of the vessel, and the Ifiupiat salvaged
the useable metal from the barge. Beechey
described these Iiiupiat in the following
terms:

Before we left the island [Chamisso]
we were visited by several natives whom
we remembered to have seen the preced-

ing year... Our visitors were, as before,
dirty, noisy, and impudent. ..[after the
visitors left and retuned at 3:00 A.M.,
Beechey stated] there is every reason to
believe that [thievery] was their real mo-
tive. [Beechey 1968:256-257]

The Ifupiat, after hearing a shot,
responded with a volley of arrows aimed
at Beechey’s party and wounded two of the
crew:

After a considerable time, an elderly
man came forward with his arms and
breast covered with mud, motioned us to
begone, and decidedly rejected all offers
of reconciliation...[Beechey towed their
umiak on board imprisoning them on the
island] for I [Beechey] was unwilling
to allow them to depart with sentiments
which might prove injurious to any Eu-
ropeans who might succeed us. [Beechey
1968:285-286]

These hostilities continued with the abduc-
tion of one man as hostage by members of
Beechey’s crew in an effort to regain goods
believed to have been stolen by the Ifupiat.
The Ifupiaq hostage was finally set free
(Bockstoce 1977a:14, 126-127).

Beechey anchored at Port Clarence in
late August and early September 1827, where
he and his crew, noting several boats and
tents, concluded that the people there were
well provided with iron. Beechey’s party
estimated the population of the Port Clarence
area at 400 people residing in three villages:
one on the north spit of Grantley Harbor, one
more permanent in appearance with winter
houses on the north side of Port Clarence,
and one at the entrance of Tuksuk Chan-
nel—the latter seemingly a seasonal fishing
site (Beechey 1968; Bockstoce 1977a:121;
Ray 1975:84-86). At Port Clarence they met

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From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

and raw materials was severely limited by
government meddling in the incipient in-
dustry. That is, reindeer provided one means
of access to, and were symbolic of, wealth
and prestige. However, the lack of markets;
governmental restrictions on the use, barter,
or sale of the animals; the limited number of
reindeer held by most Ifiupiat; and the wide-
spread distribution of Native owned reindeer
inhibited the successful development of
many specialized reindeer umialiit.

The concept of umialiq was extended
by Whites to Ifiupiat performing altered
economic functions. For example, both W.T.
and Ellen Lopp referred to the Native traders
at Wales as “‘oo-ma-liks.” One such person,
Okbaok, had a store and promoted himself
as an importer and exporter of Siberian and
Alaska furs, skin clothing, ivory, and curios
in The Eskimo Bulletin (Smith 1984:434).

The abilities of exceptional Ifupiat
to fully realize attainment of the status of
umialiq through reindeer herding was dealt a
final blow when the federal government ini-
tially promoted and later coerced the Natives
into adopting the western corporate model
and open herding technique. Whereas umi-
aliq and kin based ownership of wealth in-
spired some Natives to herd, owning abstract
shares in a reindeer company or association
rather than reindeer—combined with overall
declines in the cash economy of Alaska at the
end of the 1920s—eroded the incentive for
most Ifiupiat to become intensely involved
in either reindeer herding or ownership. The
connection between this governmental policy
and the expansion of Whites, particularly the
Lomens, into the reindeer business was so
obvious and overt that it became, at least to
some (including Jackson), the stated intent of
importing reindeer to Alaska.

The In  upiat did not perceive
herding for individual wages to be a means
by which one could achieve the status and
wealth of an umialiq. Conversely, being paid
for herding accomplished exactly what Jack-
son and his followers had intended—turning
Natives into servants for largely White own-
ers. The absence of widespread servitude in
Imupiaq culture acted against both the accep-
tance of such roles in relationship to Whites
and, even more importantly, to members of
one’s own society,

While missionaries and government
officials were attempting to bring about the
demise of traditional Ifupiaq leaders (i.e.,
umialiit and angatkuut), indigenous peoples
were actively engaged in extending their
concepts of social order to comprehend the
behaviors of Whites. To some degree, school
teachers and/or missionaries had parallel
roles to those of umialiit in the sense of the
latter being “rich,” “underwriters,” “credi-
tors,” and “bosses,” but not usually in the
sense of “hunt leaders” (Burch 1975:212).
For example, teachers and missionaries com-
monly controlled interactions between vil-
lage members and outsiders; they had access
to material wealth; and, like umialiit, they
controlled the resources, including reindeer,
provided to the other members of the com-
munity. Additionally, teachers and missionar-
ies—through their roles as educators, pros-
elytizers, and healers—overtly and covertly
attacked the position of angatkok, handmaid-
ens of the devil from the White perspective.
In a sociocultural setting in which powerful
umialiit were oftentimes also angatkuut, cen-
sure of one institution often simultaneously
denoted condemnation of the other.

Because activities involving boat
crews and umialiit remained central within

146

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CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

was nearing the age of 20, he began trading
with schooners and Siberians near Cape Es-
penberg and on the Baldwin Peninsula near
the site of the contemporary community of
Kotzebue. By then, Thomas already had es-
tablished trading relationships with a Chuk-
chi partner from East Cape from whom he
obtained green tobacco, wolf and wolverine
skins. The Siberians traveled to Cape Espen-
berg after going 55 miles in open water from
the Chukotsk Peninsula. There they awaited
good weather to travel on to the trade fairs to
the north or back to their homes. The Si-
berians—including men, women, and chil-
dren—lived at Cape Espenberg in makeshift
dwellings constructed by their overturned
skinboats.

Thomas did not trade beaver pelts,
although they were in great demand by the
Siberians, because the Ifiupiat of the Kobuk
River had an abundance of this species and
actively conducted trade with the Siberians
at Kotzebue trade fairs. People from Serpen-
tine Hot Springs in the interior of the Seward
Peninsula and from the settlement of Selawik
also were beaver traders. Before metal was
available in the trade network, Thomas was
told that people from the head of the Kobuk
River exchanged jade and jade tools, knives,
and ax bits for coastal products. Thomas also
remembered umialiit from both the Alaska
and Siberian sides trading whiskey. It was
sold in wooden casks to the umialiit, who
subsequently traded the beverage in lesser
quantities contained in flasks manufactured
from ugruk intestines.

Thomas had a rifle that he didn’t like
because it kicked too much. However, his
Siberian trading partner really wanted the
rifle. The partner promised Thomas that on
his next trip back, he would bring goods to

exchange for the firearm. So Thomas gave
his trading partner the weapon, but he never
received payment because that was the last
time the Siberian came to Alaska.

In 1892 Thomas had heard stories
about the arrival of live reindeer at Port
Clarence delivered on the umiaqpak, named
the Bear. Because of the long-established
trade with the Siberians for reindeer pelts,
the Ifiupiat of the Seward Peninsula saw the
coming of live reindeer as both being a new
opportunity but also as potentially disrupting
their social and economic networks with the
people of the Siberian mainland and spe-
cialized traders in the Bering Strait region.
Within two years, some reindeer had been
moved to Cape Prince of Wales, where there
were permanent White residents—the mis-
sionary teachers William and Ellen Lopp and
their family.

In August 1897, Thomas’s wife-
to-be, Emily Kuvaaq Payuraq Kiyutelluk,
was born at Shishmaref. Some people at
Shishmaref had relatives among the Siberian
Natives, including his wife’s kin. Emily’s
father, Kiyutelluk, was accidentally shot by
his brother, Okshuk, while seal hunting the
spring before she was born. Emily’s mother’s
name was Mary (Mukluwik). Mukluwik’s
brother was Charlie Goodhope or Teyeopuk.
Mukluwik subsequently remarried a man
named Kiyutuk. Thomas’s children referred
to both Kiyutelluk and Charlie Goodhope as
“grandfather.”

During the year 1898, before he had
turned 30, Thomas observed a most amazing
phenomenon. He witnessed several White
men, including an officer from the umiaqpak
Bear, accompanied by Ifiupiaq guides, driv-
ing hundreds of reindeer across the tundra
north to Point Barrow—across the tundra that

46

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CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

Spafarief Bay until mining resulted
in the formation of the community of
Candle in 1900 (Ray 1983:218);

Deering, established in 1901 as a sup-
ply station to interior Seward Penin-
sula mining camps (Orth 1971:264);

Pitak (Pittaq) located at the mouth
of the Goodhope River (Burch 1991;
Ray 1983:217);

several temporary fishing and sealing
sites in the area between the mouth
of the Goodhope River and Cape
Espenberg (no permanent settlements
are recorded) (Burch 1991; Ray
1983:216-217);

Tuqutuq at the mouth of the Espen-
berg River (Inuiqniq, Ifuigniq, “Ta-
apkuk” in the 1880 census) (Burch

1991; Ray 1983:216);

Ublasaun (Ullugsaun, Ublazaun)
(Burch 1991; Koutsky 1981a:17);

Photo 1. Shishmaref school class of 1923-1924. School started in mid-October and ended in
mid-April so students could take part in subsistence hunting and gathering. Photo by Edward
Keithahn, circa 1923, courtesy of Richard Keithahn and National Park Service (neg. 142).

Qivaluaq (Kividlo, Kivaluaq, Kivid-
luk) on the northernmost part of the
barrier islands that create Shishmaref
Inlet (Burch 1991; Koutsky 1981a:18;
Ray 1983:214);

Sallifiq, a settlement associated with
Qivaluaq but facing the lagoon rather
than the Chukchi Sea (Burch 1991);

Singigq (Singik, Singeak, Singyuk,
Singyak) located on the mainland
across Cowpack Inlet and closely
associated with Qivaluaq (Burch
1991; Koutsky 198 1a:17-18; Ray
1983:214);

multiple winter sealing, ugruk
(bearded seal), caribou, waterfowl,
and other resource harvesting camps
between Qivaluaq and Shishmaref
(Burch 1991; Ray 1983:214);

Shishmaref (Kikiktuk; Qikiqtaq;
Qigiqtaq) first reported by Kotzebue
in 1816-1817 (Burch 1991; Kotzebue
1967:199-201; Koutsky 1981a:19;
Ray 1983:213);

12

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 6
THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

The case of Too-nuk’s hoarding ivory, illustrates a trait often seen among

the more ambitious Eskimos. They have been known to hoard valuable furs,
ivory, and even money, preferring to suffer from want, in sickness and “starv-
ing times,” rather than part with them. [an account by W.T. Lopp that was
published in The Eskimo Bulletin in 1902; Smith 1984:432]

Introduction

W.T. Lopp’s portrayal of the Ifiupiat of Wales
cited in the quotation above stood in stark
contrast to the stereotypic view of “primitive”
hunters and gatherers as being communalistic
and egalitarian, and living precariously on the
edge of starvation and death. Without ques-
tion, Lopp’s insights were relatively unique
given the intellectual climate of the late 1800s
(cf., Morgan 1985) in general, and of Christian
pioneers in specific.

Accompanying the notion of “civiliza-
tion,” as opposed to the status of “Eskimos” in
Alaska when first proselytized by Protestants in
the 1880s, was the view that such “heathens”
lived in a state of primitive communalism,
bereft of concepts of private property and any
sense of hierarchical social order. Notions such
as “wealth,” “power,” “prestige,” and “class
structure” were considered inapplicable to in-
digenous societies of the territory—particularly
to the Ifiupiat, as Jackson and some others had
undergone more lengthy contact with the obvi-

ously more stratified Indians of Southeast
Alaska before moving north.

Missionary teachers and govern-
ment agents, when confronted with the
discrepancies between Ifiupiaq behaviors
and the models incorporated within their
stereotypes, opted to endorse the idea that
such strange and atypical behavior on the
part of hunters and gatherers could be
explained as a product of interfaces with
Whites of “low moral standards,” fully
rectifiable through the experience of mis-
sionization. These ideological colonialists
clung tenaciously to their models, explain-
ing any Ifupiaq deviance as being the ef-
fect of some foreign and unnatural cause.

In this chapter we examine con-
flicts between the social order of the Ifiupi-
at of Northwest Alaska and the paradigms
promoted by Euro-American agents of
change. The resolution of these conflicts is
examined in the section “Umialiit of Deer”
and the Ublasaun case study.

From Hunters to Herders

133


CHAPTER 4; THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

area—that is, between the Siberian coast
and, ultimately, the deep water and protected
anchorage of Port Clarence on the Seward
Peninsula.

The importation of reindeer from
Siberia was not merely an idea conceived of
in the United States and implemented with-
out problems. Clackson and others reported
repeatedly that the Siberians were “supersti-
tious” about selling live reindeer, though they
had long engaged in the trade for reindeer
hides to insular and mainland peoples on
the Alaska side of Bering Strait. In his 1893
report appendices, Jackson cited an 1870
publication by George Kennan, Tent Life in
Siberia, in which the Koryaks and Chukchi
were said to be:

Most noticeable in their reluctance
to part with a living deer. You may pur-
chase as many dead deer as you choose,
up to 500, for about 70 cents apiece; but
a living deer they will not give to you for
love nor money. [Jackson 1893:20]

Other data indicated that there was a
distinct stratification of herders on the Si-
berian side, and that “big deer herders” had
economic motives for wanting smaller herd
owners not to sell live reindeer (C. Stem as
reported in Jackson 1899:179-185). Contrast-
ingly, the exportation of live reindeer provid-
ed an incentive to Siberian owners of small
herds to exchange live reindeer for highly
valued trade goods. There was concern on
the Siberian side about the amount of rein-
deer being amassed on the Alaska mainland.
As Siem reported:

It would prove itself to be of advan-
tage if the Alaskan deer were taken away
from the Bering Sea coast. Exaggerated
reports of their numbers, carried across

the Bering Straits [sic] by the Eskimo
traders, tend to prejudice the deer men
against selling more. [Jackson 1900:184]

Healy was one source of the idea that
the Natives of Siberia were “superstitious”
about live reindeer based on his observa-
tions of considerable ceremonialism in the
transmission of reindeer (Jackson 1893:7). In
part, the reluctance of the Chukchi to trade
or barter live reindeer was associated with
their ideological views about reindeer and
the appropriate ways of treating them. Jack-
son reported that because of the “supersti-
tious” nature of the Chukchi, if they sold live
reindeer and an epidemic should occur, their
shamans would blame the misfortune on the
person who sold the animals (Jackson 1893:
8). However, the Siberians’ “superstition”
regarding the sale of live reindeer may have
had fundamentally an economic motive, as-
sociated with their control and maintenance
of a favorable balance of trade with the
Ifupiat and Siberian Yupik of Alaska and the
islands of Bering Strait through the domina-
tion of the indigenous market for adult and
fawn deerskins in general and, more specifi-
cally, for multicolored skins more character-
istic of reindeer than caribou. Additionally,
by not selling live reindeer, the Chukchi
could obtain as much in trade for the hides as
for the reindeer and retain the meat for their
own use (Ray 1965:79).

Between the summers of 1891 and
1892, Jackson again relentlessly lobbied
Congress unsuccessfully for an appropria-
tion of $15,000 to support the importation of
reindeer from Siberia with the assistance of
congressmen Teller from Colorado (Jackson
1893:6, 1896:11; Stewart 1908:391). Though
this congressional action also failed, Jack-
son had adequate funds through donations

From Hunters to Herders

79


heads did not touch the ground. Marrow was
not extracted from the leg bones of caribou
until hunting was over. Additionally, Spencer
noted that for both the Nunamiut and their
coastal neighbors of Arctic Coast Alaska, the
Tareumiut (based on Spencer’s analytical
distinctions) that:

The caribou requires special treat-
ment. If the breastbone is eaten, it should
be accompanied by the meat from the
ribs. Unless this is done, the caribou
skull, with breastbone, ribs, and spine,
will come flying through the air in
pursuit. This monster also pursued the
braggart. There was a man who recently
remarked, “I don’t know what kind of
animal I haven’t caught.” There was a
shaman present when he said this. The
latter remarked: “Now maybe you'll see
the caribou skeleton come at you.” Sure
enough, when the man was out hunt-
ing some time later, the caribou skull
came flying at him. He ran from it but
it caught up to him. Then it whistled
and went away. The man returned to
the community, told what he had seen,
became ill, and died soon after. [1959:
263-264]

The neighboring Ifiupiat (Tareumiut)
at Point Barrow also treated caribou with
special care. They greased the hoofs of a
caribou carcass with a piece of blubber as
soon as the animal was taken. When inquir-
ing about this practice, Brower was told:

This has to be done...because cari-
bou were land animals and needed oil as
soon as killed. Otherwise, how could the

hunter expect any more luck fin hunting
caribou]. [1942:91]

Another example of Nunamiut/
Tareumiut prescribed behavior regarding
caribou was revealed in a parable about a

CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

married couple. When her husband was hunt-
ing, the wife always treated animals well by
not wasting meat. However, she eventually
got tired of butchering, cleaning, and stor-
ing caribou, so the wife secretly hoped that
her husband would become an unsuccessful
hunter. She didn’t look forward to the sum-
mer when work on caribou was most intense.
When her husband brought the first caribou
of the season home, she placed a discarded
bucket over the head of the dead animal,
thereby decreasing her husband’s chance of
hunting successfully in the future. Her action
was effective, as the husband’s caribou hunt-
ing miserably failed in the weeks to follow,
continuing into the spring. Without caribou
meat, the couple was reduced to eating
sinew and sealskins. In weakened condition,
one day the man walked outside and saw

the caribou asking for someone to take the
bucket off his head. The animal promised

all kinds of game would come to the hunter
if he removed the bucket. When confronted
by her husband, the wife confessed to her
disrespectful treatment of this most important
animal by putting the bucket on the caribou’s
head. She said she would never do anything
like that in the future. Subsequently, the
couple, having learned a very important les-
son, never went hungry again (Spencer 1959:
413-414).

Among the Ifiupiat, there were multi-
ple spiritual stewards or caretakers of cari-
bou. For example, in Nunamiut oral tradition,
a “chief of the caribou” took the forms of
either a human or a caribou (Kakinya and
Paneak 1987:65-67). This guardian had the
capabilities of withholding caribou from
hunters if the bodies of harvested deer were
treated disrespectfully, such as allowing them
to become dirty or treating them angrily out

From Hunters to Herders

161


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

tutions—including forms of marriage, the
structure of the family, concepts of property
and inheritance, and features of political
organization. The cause and effect relation-
ships, as outlined by Morgan (1985), pro-
vided a virtual “cookbook” for “intellectuals”
of the late 1800s and early 1900s wishing

to engage in abstract or applied endeavors

at social engineering. In essence, Morgan’s
Ancient Society not only explained the
“primitive” status of the indigenous peoples
of the Americas but also outlined the manner
in which those groups could be brought from
their base conditions to more closely ap-
proximate the apex of humanity represented
by the civilized White, Western world.

By the early 1800s the United States,
having thrown off the shackles of British rule
while incorporating some of its institutions
such as slavery, had a “love-hate” relation-
ship with colonialism. Despite the legal
abolition of slavery in the 1860s, Americans,
in their quest to conquer the frontier in the
spirit of “manifest destiny,” developed new
forms of colonialism distinct from the mod-
els they had rejected. It was the citizen fron-
tiersmen or pioneers, rather than the British
administrators and soldiers, who spearheaded
the Western movement, colonizing the new
frontier by claiming its land and resources.
When these pioneers ran out of land and
new-found wealth for the taking at the shores
of the Pacific Ocean, the thrust of the frontier
movement moved northward more in search
of valuable resources from the land, rather
than land for the land itself. Differing from
the European colonial models with which
Americans had firsthand experience, there
were negligible attempts to subjugate Amer-
ica’s indigenous peoples into the status of
slaves or peasants. Rather, Native Americans

were perceived as obstacles to the fulfillment
of manifest destiny, dealt with by means

of warfare, relocation, and confinement on
reservations.

Leading clergy and scholars of the
1800s—who were often one and the same—
of industrialized nations of Western Europe
and the United States had found the explana-
tion for the existence and “primitive” status
of Native Americans most appropriately ad-
dressed by the theses of social evolution. The
social evolutionary paradigms of the time
were based on intellectual stereotypes, rather
than on the ethnographic realities exhibited
by any sociocultural group (Fienup-Riordan
1990:1-34; Wenzel 1991:38).

While some of the American pio-
neers were busy staking claims to land and
resources, others were more intent on staking
claims to souls—principally those of Native
Americans. Whereas commercial whalers,
prospectors, fur traders, and other entrepre-
neurs systematically had been pillaging the
known frontier of the North since the late
1700s, it was not until the last decades of the
1800s that American Protestant missionar-
ies expanded their efforts from the “west”
to Alaska in the north, preceded only by the
Russian Greek Orthodox and some Roman
Catholic clergy.

Sheldon Jackson, as a representative
of both the Protestant mission movement and
the intelligentsia of his time, was a contem-
porary of Lewis Henry Morgan, Herbert
Spencer, and other social theoreticians. To
Jackson, his colleagues, and the bulk of the
population of United States in the latter half
of the 1800s who knew, however superficial-
ly and stereotypically, about the indigenous
peoples of the Americas in general and the
Eskimos of the North specifically, the only

From Hunters to Herders

33


CHAPTER 4; THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

out reference to race,” Jackson was appoint-
ed General Agent for Education in Alaska in
1885 (Jlenness 1962:8; Stewart 1908:342).
Using his authority and control over federal
funds, Jackson embarked on a scheme to ex-
pand the evangelical activities of Protestant
missionaries through governmentally funded
“contract” schools with various denomina-
tions. Jackson and his supporters encouraged
the expansion of the Moravian Church on the
Kuskokwim and Nushagak Rivers beginning
in 1884 (Oswalt 1963a:24-25, 1990:78-791),
the founding of the “Holy Cross” Mission on
the Yukon by the Roman Catholics in 1886,
and the Swedish Evangelical Mission Cov-
enant of America in Unalakleet and Yakutat
in 1887. They also supported the Anglican
Reverend William Duncan’s movement of
his Tsimshian followers out of British Co-
lumbia to Annette Island also in 1887, the
formation of the Methodist Episcopal Church
mission and contract school at Unalaska in
1889, and the establishment of the Congre-
gational Church at Cape Prince of Wales and
the Episcopal Church at Point Hope, both in
1890 (Stewart 1908:364, 372).

It was also during that time that
Jackson first reported concern for the “Es-
kimos” of Northern Alaska, whom Marine
Revenue Service personnel reported to be in
a “degraded” condition (Stewart 1908:373-
374). In the larger context of United States
policies in which governmental support of
the assimilation of indigenous peoples under
the auspices of religious groups was waning,
Jackson was, in fact, expanding missionary
activities in Alaska through using federal
funds to create and support mission schools
(cf., Beaver 1988).

Jackson’s first trip to the Arctic was
in 1890 on the revenue steamer Bear, under

the command of Captain Michael A. Healy,
in response to the reports he had read and
heard regarding the deprived and depraved
condition of the Eskimo in Northwest Alas-
ka.

The bare, unagricultural-looking
land, the strange habitations, and the
skin-clad people, made him [Jackson]
amenable to any suggestion that would
“lift these poor people from their deg-
radation” and “build up their manhood”
[citing a Jackson letter in March 1890 to
L. M. Stevenson, a missionary volunteer
who ultimately ended up in Point Bar-
row]. Jackson, and Healy as well, did not
recognize that the Eskimos conducted
their lives within well-defined mores and
led as happy and rewarding an existence
as inhabitants of a more complex society.
[Ray 1965:73]

Jackson’s implicit model reiterated in this
quotation is clearly that civilization is essen-
tially a corollary of food production—an idea
that would have him seeking an alternative
nonagricultural mode of food production for
the Ifupiat.

In March of 1890, before his trip
north with Healy aboard the Bear, Jackson
published a call for volunteers to “man” the
northern areas of Alaska, despite what he
called the rigors of the arctic winters, the
isolation from the outside world, and the
difficulties associated with teaching English
among a “people who were as a rule ignorant
of it” (Stewart 1908:376). This appeal re-
ceived a positive response from |2 men and
12 women, from which Professor L.M. Ste-
venson and medical doctor John B. Driggs
were selected for Point Hope and Professors
William T. Lopp and Harrison R. Thornton
for Cape Prince of Wales. All of Jackson’s
travel, and that of his volunteers, was provid-

74

From Hunters to Herders


Toolik and told him that the pulsating tone
was the heartbeat of the eagle’s mother. She
was mourning the death of her son.

The spirit told Toolik that the only
way to appease the grieving mother eagle
was to retum Tingmiakpuk’s spirit to her.
Toolik’s spiritual mentor, with the assistance
of other spirits, instructed him in the perfor-
mance of the eagle-wolf dance. The inclu-
sion of wolves in this dance was based on
the symbiotic relationship between them and
eagles—the latter sharing his or her harvests
with wolves. The relevance of this ceremony
to the Ifiupiat was reflected in its strict ritual
structure and the elaborate costumes used to
express the important relationships between
wolves, eagles, humans, and spirit helpers.
During the last half of the dance, four wolves
appeared emerging from their dens and as-
sisted in the return of the younger eagle’s
spirit to his mother. The wolves danced joy-
ously, as with the return of Tingmiakpuk’s
spirit, they would once again share in the
bounty of the eagle’s harvest. On Toolik’s
deathbed, he expressed the importance of
the Ifiupiat continuing to do the eagle-wolf
dance ‘“‘just like the spirit showed them [the
Iftupiat”] (Oquilluk 1973:165). The repeti-
tive performance of the dance—not just by
Kauwerak people but also by those of Sinuk,
King Island, and neighboring communities—
secured the good will of the spirit helpers.

The symbolic significance of the tale
in this context was that by returning the ea-
gle’s spirit to its mother, the wolves benefited
by their reciprocal relationship with eagles.
The Ifiupiat, in turn, profited by placating the
spirit of the eagle’s mother, Toolik’s spirit
helpers, and, importantly, the metaphysically
powerful wolves. In this case, wolves were
appeased so they would neither compete nor

CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF “HEAVEN”

harm the Ifiupiat. Additionally, in this case,
wolves were the physical medium by which
spiritual imbalances were righted—a role
generally assumed by angatkuut in human
societies. Variations on this story involve
ravens being in a symbiotic relationship with
wolves rather than the eagle (Ingold 1988).

Siberian or Asiatic Yupiit were for-
bidden to take or harass killer whales, ravens,
and wolves. Spiritual qualities were attrib-
uted to killer whales and they were perceived
to be protectors of human hunters. During the
winter, “killer whales changed into wolves to
plague [miserly] owners of reindeer” (Birket-
Smith 1959: 165-166; Oswalt 1979:272). The
fraternity between wolves and human hunters
noted in Alaska did not extend to reindeer
herders in the Siberian context.

To the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska,
in some cases wolverine and fox were afford-
ed treatment and respect similar to that given
to wolves, based on the perceived relatedness
of these animals. Rasmussen (Ostermann
1952:163) reported that according to Ifupiaq
oral traditions in Northwest Alaska in 1924,
villages of wolves and wolverines were sepa-
rated by a single river.

Additionally, he recorded that:

A man who intended to hunt the
wolf or wolverine must not cut his hair
or drink hot soup for a whole winter.
During the hunting season no hammer
may be used in his house, neither a stone
hammer for breaking marrow bones nor
an ordinary hammer as a tool. The same
rules apply for both wolf and wolverine.

When a wolf hunter returns to his
settlement with the skins of a newly-
caught wolf over his shoulder, he must
walk sun-wise the same direction from
east to west around his house, kicking
his heel four times against the outer
wall if it is a he-wolf and five times in

From Hunters to Herders

165


pastoral

patrilateral descent

personal kindred

poke

polity
polyandry

polygyny

prescribed

prestige

promyshlenniki

proscribed

qazgi

rank

reciprocity

Sami

scapulomancy

GLOSSARY

Of, or relating to herding and raising livestock.

A form of kinship in which descent is traced through the
male line.

All of a person’s relatives; an ego-oriented set of con-
sanguinal or affinal kin patrilaterally and matrilaterally
reckoned by ascending and descending relationships.

A bag or other storage container made from the skin of a
seal.

Political organization or a politically organized unit.

A system of marriage in which a woman may have more
than one husband.

A system of marriage in which a man may have more
than one wife.

Dictated; set as a rule. For example, marriage prescrip-
tions may specify who an individual must marry.

Social reputation based on a subjective evaluation of
social statuses relative to one another.

Russian fur-trappers.

Restricted or forbidden. For example, marriage proscrip-
tions specify who an individual cannot marry.

Among the Ifiupiat, a physical structure in which men
worked, conducted recreational and ceremonial activities,
exchanged knowledge and taught adolescent boys.

A position in a hierarchical system of social classifica-
tion.

Mutual exchange of gifts or services.

A reindeer-herding group living in Northern Europe,
including Northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Also
known as Lapp or Laplander.

Predicting the future by the study of animal bones, often
by interpreting the cracks developing in a shoulder blade
(scapula) which has been heated in a fire.

From Hunters to Herders

201


dogs that were conceptually distinguished
from wolves, found it necessary to explain in
oral histories the distinctiveness of caribou—
a feral animal—from domesticated reindeer,
and considered the caribou to be a ward of
the human herder, it is suggested here that
the Ifupiat had no ideological conflicts in
assuming control over reindeer herds. To the
Ifiupiat, in some respects, live reindeer pen-
etrated the realm of harvested game. There-
fore, while there was no inherent ideological
conflict to the Ifiupiat in commencing herd-
ing, they did not view their stock as a West-
ern commodity in the same sense as encour-
aged by the federal government.

To the degree that reindeer were
akin to dogs, harvested game, or other wild
resources, reindeer fell under the influence
of, and were symbolically associated with,
women. For example in Northwest Alaska,
intergenerationally a family’s involvement
in herding was primarily traceable through
females as opposed to males. As described in
greater detail in chapter 5, genealogical and
family history information from the Northern
Seward Peninsula and Southern Kotzebue
Sound suggests that deer most commonly
passed to subsequent generations through
daughters by means of inheritance and/or
arranged marriages. Additionally, sibling
set marriages (i.e., siblings from one fam-
ily marrying those from another) potentially
restricted the number of people with whom
women, who controlled the distribution of
harvested resources once they were brought
home, obligatorily shared. Such marriages
were strategically arranged by umialiit to
facilitate their abilities to amass wealth.

The stratified nature of Northwest
Alaska Iftupiaq society, focused on umialiq-
ships, was described in significant detail in

CHAPTER 8: CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE

chapter 5 (cf., Bogojavlensky 1969; Ellanna
1983a and 1983b; Krupnik 1992:86-127).
Based on Euro-American stereotypes about
Eskimos that have persisted in the United
States from the late 1800s to the present (cf.,
Fienup-Riordan 1990:11-34), missionaries
and/or other representatives of the federal
government during the early Alaska reindeer
era perceived these indigenous peoples to

be egalitarian and communal in nature. This
characterization of the Ifiupiat paralleled the
Protestant Christian ideals promoted by the
missionaries and teachers. In contrast, the
policies and intent of the apprentice program,
though fluctuating through time, basically
promoted the concept of individual owner-
ship of reindeer herds in the image of West-
ern capitalism. Given what we know about
Ifiupiag social organization of Northwest
Alaska interfaced with the eventual alloca-
tion of deer to Natives both through the
apprenticeship program and, later, through
private sales, the development of reindeer ar-
istocracies, while distasteful to the mission-
aries, is not surprising in retrospect. How-
ever, when the federal government started the
active promotion of cooperative (company or
association based) herding under the con-
trol of White superintendents in the 1920s,
the incentive and autonomy associated with
individually owned herds—particularly as

a relatively newfound means of gaining
wealth—was destroyed. This was a major
factor in the demise of reindeer herding in
Alaska by the early 1940s.

By the mid-1940s, governmental
agents such as Rood recognized the requisite
for recreating individual incentive in attempt-
ing to salvage remnants of reindeer herding
in the context of Alaska Native society. Re-
gional reindeer superintendent Rood (1938)

From Hunters to Herders

191


A HERDER'S STORY

THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN:

CHAPTER 3

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® JO asinod ay} SULINP sa}os yNUEN yNPYNW 39143 JNO a1oM AY} JY] YONW Os payyeM SJa|pPURY JeaPUldJ SY ‘s]eas J9YI0 10 YUEN Jo
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51

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

ed by the U.S. Marine Revenue Cutter Bear
under the command of Healy.

Asa result of the 1890 trip, Jackson
felt be could justify acceptance and support
of the accounts of widespread starvation of
the “Eskimos,” the primary source of which
had been Captain C.L. Hooper’s records
from his 1880 journey on the U.S. Marine
Revenue Steamer Corwin, regarding the
decimation of the population of St. Lawrence
Island between 1878 and 1880 (Hooper
1964:6a, 10-11). Although there was grue-
some evidence that most of the population
had died, Hooper was not the most unbiased
of observers:

These natives are a lazy, worthless
people. They hunt and fish only when
forced to do so by hunger. The only sign
of civilization among them is their fond-

ness for whiskey and tobacco. [Hooper
1964:8]

A historical analysis of the St. Law-
rence Island deaths suggests that multiple
factors were operative in contributing to this
tragedy, including an epidemic and related
social and economic collapse, poor hunting
conditions, and the use of alcohol (Bock-
stoce 1986:140-141; Ellanna 1983a). Jackson
(1893:11) reported that the King Islanders
were starving and had resorted to eating dogs
in the fall of 1891. However, lacking com-
parable examples from the mainland, Jack-
son misrepresented the historical record. As
pointed out by Ray:

In order to impress his readers with
the Eskimos’ mortality, Jackson misquot-
ed Captain William Beechey’s report of
a large village at the location of present-
day Shishmaref in 1827. Jackson quoted
the village as once having from 1000

to 2000 people. What Beechey actually
said was that it {the village near the site
of modern Shishmaref] was “the largest
they had seen yet.” The population at
Jackson’s time was 80, with about 15
houses. [Ray 1965:76]

The idea of importing reindeer herded
by the Chukchi of Siberia to Alaska cannot
be credited to Jackson. Naturalist Charles
Townsend, traveling aboard the Revenue
Steamer Corwin in 1885, may have been the
first to publicly suggest this venture (Postell
1990:11; Ray 1965:74). Lomen (1954:28)
argued that the idea was first suggested by
Henry W. Elliott in 1872. Healy, who had
taken his first cruise to Alaska with the U.S.
Revenue Marine Service in 1868, had been
a proponent of the importation of reindeer
since at least 1885. Healy’s ideas about
Siberian reindeer herding being imported
to Alaska resulted from the regular visits of
the Marine Revenue Service cutters to the
Siberian coast since 1879 and his discussion
of the topic with Charles Townsend during
the 1885 journey on the Corwin (Brooks
1973:488-489). Healy had no qualms about
sharing this idea with Jackson (Postell 1990:
12; Ray 1965:74). Teachers Lopp and Thorn-
ton, stationed at the Wales mission, had their
own plans for importing reindeer by skinboat
after they first arrived at Wales in 1890 and
learned that some Cape Prince of Wales Iiiu-
piat had a financial interest in Siberian herds
(Brooks 1973:489-490; Ray 1965:75 citing a
letter from Lopp to Neda Thornton in 1930).

Jackson justified the importation of
reindeer to Alaska using several rationales.
First was the “starving Eskimo” concept,
which he promoted throughout the United
States in attempts to raise money and get
legislative appropriations for his scheme,

From Hunters to Herders

75


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

apiece.

The federal government investigated
the status of the industry on an annual basis,
In 1931 a federal Reindeer Committee (also
known as the Kendrick Committee) was
appointed to look into charges against the
Lomens. This committee was composed of
the Governor of Alaska, Chief of the Alaska
Division of the Office of Indian Affairs, the
General Supervisor of the Alaska Reindeer
Service, a single Eskimo representative, and
one of the Lomens—what Mozee saw as a
very discriminatory body vis-a-vis the Native
herders (Mozee 1933). Committee reports
were made and, according to Andrews (1939:
226), “pigeonholed” in Washington. An-
drews, who had observed or participated
in the fledgling reindeer industry in Alaska
from its inception in 1892, made the follow-
ing observation about Native herding:

Considering that they [the Iiupiat]
did not have other than what they had
earned by the wages, by reindeer or
other manner, while the corporations
[Lomens] boast of millions of dollars
invested, the native has done remarkably
well, and until the heresy of “open herd-
ing” was introduced, and his deer were
mixed with the white men’s herd, to his
{the liupiaq’s] loss and damage, he has
accomplished much for a man only one
lifetime removed from a hunter on the
sea. [1939:145-146]

Though the Lomens claimed that this
committee vindicated their activities (Lo-
men 1954:219), Andrews (1939:226), who
had gone public with charges about what was
happening between the Lomens and Native
owned herds as facilitated by the govern-
ment, said that by 1932 the situation was in
chaos (Lomen 1954:219). Mozee (1933:1),

superintendent of the Alaska Reindeer Ser-
vice northern region, attributed his dismissal
from the Alaska Reindeer Service in 1933
by the Secretary of the Interior and Alaska’s
Governor Parks as directly attributable to
his objections to the Lomen Company’s
activities regarding reindeer. Lomen’s recol-
lections of the happenings during this time
period were quite different, of course:

The reindeer industry was the only
one in northwestern Alaska. in which
the Eskimo was an important factor. It
gave him opportunity for development,
permanent employment, and assured
independence. Over the years the Lo-
mens furnished employment to hundreds
of Eskimo reindeer men, paying them
hundreds of thousands of dollars...In
other words, we helped the Eskimo to
help themselves.

Federal paternalism toward the na-
tive people invariably proves detrimental
to Eskimo character and welfare...If
Eskimo are so poor that reindeer must
be given them by the Government, then
they are also too poor to herd them
properly. They cannot tend reindeer in
the storm-swept hills without supplies
and equipment...By providing employ-
ment for Eskimo deer men, our company
made it possible for them to purchase
necessary supplies for themselves and
families [from the Lomen stores], and
at the same time care for their own deer,
which were mixed with ours, Thus the
industry insured to the Eskimo a more
stable economy. [Lomen 1954:228-229]

From Andrew’s (1939), Mozee’s
(1933), and many others’ perspectives, the
Lomens were trying to coerce Native owners
and cooperatives into partnerships with them,
thereby assuming the liabilities of the Lomen
Corporation (Andrews 1939:226). The Na-
tives protested, and Lomen attempted to get

110

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF “HEAVEN”

sionaries came, the lfiupiat way of burying
bodies, which was continued well into the
1900s, meant placing the corpse rolled up in
an old skin on a raised platform. No wooden
boxes were used until the missionaries came
to Northwest Alaska. Gideon’s grandpar-
ents, when they died, were rolled in skins,
not placed in wooden boxes. Thomas once
told Gideon a story about a man who came
back to life, escaping from the burial cover-
ing through a hole that had rotted in the skin.
He got down from the platform and walked
through the village. (This person, Talaaluk
or a “person with a bad shaped nose,” got his
name because of a cut below his nose.)

Thomas also told Gideon that the
Ifiupiat way to bury people properly was
with the things that they would need in the
afterlife. In 1988 Gideon recalled his father’s
teachings:

In older days especially, these medi-
cine man, real bad people. All what they
owned like hunting equipment, anything
that they owned they had to put it on
their grave site... You can’t pick noth-
ing out of those. If you ever run into an
old grave site with all the property like
that, some are real bad nowadays, even
today’s time. You won’t feel right and
if you don’t return that from where you
pick it up from, he’ll [the shaman] get
you. Those people are real bad they say.
Which is very true. [Barr 1988}

Even recently, a man from Buckland
touched grave goods and began growling like
a wolf rather than talking. The man started
growling after he picked up pieces from an
old grave site including a doll made out of
caribou horn. After he returned these things
to the grave, the man became normal again.

Gideon also told a story about travel-
ing to Serpentine Hot Springs as a young boy

with two cousins—sons of his father’s broth-
ers Ahvalook and Peter. This was the first
time the boys had been to Serpentine. They
had been told that if a person places his muk-
luk string into the hot spring and it “cooked,”
then you would have a long life. However,
if it didn’t “cook,” your life would be short.
Gideon untied his mukluk string and dipped
it into the water; the mukluk string wrinkled
and curled, as it should when “cooked.” One
of his cousins placed his mukluk string into
the water, It very slowly started to change,
hardly cooking at all. The second cousin also
put his mukluk string into the water and it
remained unchanged, Gideon recalled that
about five years after this incident, the cousin
whose mukluk string was unaffected by the
water died of a “sore throat.”

In 1991 Gideon told about the rela-
tionships between different animal forms:

Cause, you know how the ground
squirrels around here, they look as if
they have scales or little spots, the only
way you can prove it is on the liver.
You’ll see white fish eggs in the liver.
Not hatched, and these, ah, muskrats,
and the only way you can prove it, that
they say those are bullheads. Bullheads,
fish go up the river, and then they die,
then they come out as, ah, muskrats.
Only way you can prove it is, ah, you’ ll
see bullhead on the liver. [Barr 199]e]

After breakup each year before Thomas and
the others left Ublasaun for spring and sum-
mer camps, they took all of the seal bones
and oil—parts of the seals they had not
used—and put them in one pile. Then when
a south wind was blowing, they burned the
remains of the seals. They waited for the
southerly winds so that all of the smoke and

debris from the fire would go back into the
ocean, the home of the seals.

184

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

1,000 reindeer to be repaid in five years with
the herder retaining the natural increase. The
borrower also received supplies for the first
year, while, in turn, accepting supervision
and training from government personnel.
Government herds were formed, from which
loan reindeer were derived, such as the
Eschscholtz herd established in 1941 with
4,500 reindeer from old Lomen herds.

From Hunters to Herders 113


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

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i

From Hunters to Herders

20


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

wish to be a deer man you should always
attend to business. [USBOE 1917:76]

Both Lopp and his successor Hugh
J. Lee recognized the existence of what
they termed the Kingigan (Wales) “reindeer
aristocracy” since the inception of herding
in Alaska (Jackson 1904:65). This provided
an example of both intrasocietal and interso-
cietal social stratification, using reindeer as
a form of wealth and prestige within the in-
digenous system. For example, a letter from
missionary Lee in charge of the Cape Prince
of Wales reindeer station after 1902 shows
that he perceived that people in Wales were
happy about his new rule prohibiting new
apprentices from entering the reindeer pro-
gram to be related to other reindeer owners.
In making this unenforceable rule, Lee was
handicapped by his ignorance of Ifiupiaq kin-
ship systems and assumed a preference for
some “primeval” egalitarian order on the part
of the Ifiupiat. The tenacity of Ifiupiaq social
stratification and Lee’s failure to distribute
reindeer as widely as possible were evident
in official government correspondence 13
years later:

Although Wales has numerous
reindeer men, and the majority of the
natives are prosperous and thrifty, there
are also some very poor people; while
there is very little, if any, suffering from
actual want, lhe poor and improvident do
not hesitate to borrow or beg from those
whose good management and thrift have
enabled them to make provisions for
their own families. [USBOE 1917:49]

Another example of the maintenance
of indigenous social relations in the context
of herding was illustrated by umialiq-like
individuals and their male kin. Ifiupiat who

were the eldest of a large group of male
siblings had an economic advantage in tradi-
tional society related to boat crew member-
ship. This principle was extended to rein-
deer as illustrated by herder/owner Charlie
Antisarlook, his brothers and their sons, and
Thomas Barr and his brothers and sons, this
corps of men being central to the formation
of successful reindeer herds.

To the same extent that the indig-
enous social order was appropriate to the
herding of reindeer, existing mechanisms
for structuring kin alliances were applicable.
Arranged marriages between families of
prominent herders stand out in genealogical
records for Northwest Alaska, some specific
cases of which are discussed below. The
practices of comarriage and polygamous
unions, while largely driven underground by
teacher / missionaries, covertly continued in
both hunting-gathering and reindeer herd-
ing aspects of society and economy. Ifiupiaq
adoption and naming practices also endured
into the 1990s. For example, Ifupiaq names,
key to the indigenous concept of recycled
souls, continued to be bestowed on infants,
paralleled by Christian naming. The Ifiupiat,
then, had a dual naming system involving a
set of primary personal, middle, and second-
ary (family) names in English (often Biblical
or historical in origin) along with indigenous
personal names associated with the name
soul of deceased individuals (Burch 1975:
68-69, 142, 158; cf., Oswalt 1963a).

With few exceptions, solely owning
reindeer did not provide the aspiring umialiq
with the means of production necessary to
entice and support followers and amass other
wealth. The ability of the Ifupiat to con-
vert reindeer into western goods, articles of
indigenous origin, or locally harvested food

From Hunters to Herders

145


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF “HEAVEN”

tions of people living on the Alaska mainland
as having tails to this practice (1931:35).

Rasmussen recorded in 1924 that the
caribou hunters of the Utukok River (Utorqa-
rmiut), the drainage of which lies between
Point Lay and Icy Cape, were known as the
“wolf people:”

Because in winter they left their
homeland, like the wolves, [and] fol-
lowed the reindeer. These migrations
proceeded between October and March
and lay along the frozen rivers, with
their many tributaries, wound their way
like roads and paths through the dense
brush of the plains and the valleys be-
tween the mountains. On account of the
difficulty of procuring food for the dogs,
they seldom had more than a couple with
them, so that men and women had to
drag the sleds themselves. [Ostermann
1952:32-33]}

The role of the dog in Ifiupiaq cos-
mology has important implications for the

comparison of wolves and dogs to caribou
and reindeer, and their relationships with
humans. Oral histories regarding interactions
between humans and dogs bear some superfi-
cial similarities to those concerning wolves.

For example, one widespread varia-
tion of the Sea Mother myth among the
Inuit/Ifiupiat involves her taking a dog as a
husband, thereby associating the dog with
biological paternity (Merkur 1991:125-126).
Variations on the theme of the dog-husband
story traversed from the Ifiupiat of Port Clar-
ence in Alaska across the Arctic to Greenland
(Merkur 1991:126). A summary of the tale of
the Sea Mother follows:

There: was a girl who would have
no husband. Her father despaired and
said, “Since she will have no husband,
she may marry my dog!” A man wear-
ing a dogskin amulet came and married
her, Next morning he proved to have
been a dog that had taken human form.
She became pregnant. When it was time

Photo 27. Often, families had few dogs, as the dogs tended to get rabid. Fewer dogs also meant
less food was consumed, as the people had to feed the dogs from their own supplies. Photo by
Edward Keithahn, circa 1923, courtesy of Richard Keithahn and National Park Service. (neg. 147).

168

From Hunters to Herders


Introduction 133

Stratification, Leadership, and Gender in Ifiupiat Societies of Northwest Alaska....... 134
Creation of a “Civilized” Social Order o.oo... eeesssesesseesccecsnecsseesneerevsesaecnensenasesnesseees 140
Umialiit of Deer... ee eereeneeeeees

Implications for Ublasaun

CHAPTER 7
THE CREATION OF “HEAVEN”
IntrOductiOn..........cceecesseeseeecee rene
The Ifupiat Order of the Universe
Missionaries, Genesis, and the Order of the Protestant Universe

lfiupiat Ideology, Protestant Christianity, and Syncretism
Implications for Ublasaun

CHAPTER 8
CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE: THE LEGACY OF REINDEER
HERDING IN ALASKA. ieee eceeecseeceresereeenenevevevacsceaenecsesevsaesensenassevecsaeeeeesanes 185
Implications for Ublasaun: A Retrospective ........ccsesesesssesevseserenersssenerensererecsecsnersenens 192
GLOSSARY 0. .eecececccsseeseeecssenceseseeseensacseseeessessesevsascasssesensasssesasaesassaesneeseeseasaessaceaenaesenss 197
BIBLIOGRAPHY .....cccceseeesessesssessnseeesceerensceseesesasevscavseveraaasseesecsesevaesasenesnsansenanenenaenea 205
vi

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 8: CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE

Photo 30. Andrew Papazrualuk Tocktoo, an apprentice reindeer herder,
is wearing a fall squirrel skin parka. The trim is bleached sealskin and
hairless reindeer skin. The squirrel parka was sometimes used under a
reindeer parka for extra warmth, especially when hunting and traveling
by dog team. Photo by Edward Keithahn, circa 1923, courtesy of Richard
Keithahn and National Park Service (neg. 216)

From Hunters to Herders 195


CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

the caribou were snared, they were shot with
sinew-backed bows and arrows. Espenberg
hunters also stalked caribou by hiding behind
a bank or some other feature that sheltered
them from the caribou’s view.

After spring and early summer hunt-
ing, Espenberg Ifupiat went to visit other
villages and, when the berries were ripe,
collected blackberries, salmonberries, blue-
berries, and cranberries. Most berry picking
occurred in August.

In September, Espenberg people went
fishing for herring around the Shishmaref
area. Few herring were in the vicinity of the
cape proper; but, alternatively, there were
whitefish and some salmon on the ocean side
of Cape Espenberg. Herring were sometimes
salted. Salmon, too fat to be dried, were also
considered excellent if salted for winter use.
Other fish—as most other faunal and floral
species—were also dried, stored with seal oil
in a poke, and buried underground.

Ublasaun was a productive location
from which seals were netted in the fall. Seal
nets were set from the beach out to about
three fathoms, then tied to another net, and
to yet another, The seals taken between knots
connecting net panels belonged to the family
who owned that segment of net. Seals were
also netted after freeze-up during the winter
on Lopp Lagoon. Seal nets were anchored
by skin pokes filled with sand. On the beach
the nets were tied off to the roots of moderate
sized pieces of driftwood.

Just before freeze-up Espenberg Ifiu-
piat seined for herring and cod with sealskin
or twisted black whale sinew thread. After
freeze-up, people used herring and whitefish
nets on rivers to get fresh herring. Nets were
set under the ice either farther upriver or in
lakes with whitefish, such as those northwest

of Devil Mountain. Whitefish harvest per-
sisted for approximately three weeks after
freeze-up.

After fishing, it was time for trapping.
Trapping was the most important thing to do
in winter. In 1987 Gideon recalled, ““That’s
the only income you had in order to buy this
White man food such as flour, sugar, cof-
fee—all that. They traded them out at the
stores,” Gideon also traded fox and wolver-
ine pelts.

In the early 1990s, Gideon felt that it
was inappropriate for him to discuss land use
south of Shishmaref. He said that he was not
familiar with that country because he lived
at Cape Espenberg and did not go that far
south. Gideon stated:

Anyway I don’t have too much
experience from there [Shishmaref] on
down {the coast] because I don’t travel
too much in that area during the sum-
mer and in winter, I was raised up Cape
Espenberg area most of my life, until
1960. [Barr 1990]

Instead, Thomas’s and Emily’s
children grew up in the vicinity of
Kuzimmaqtuuq(“has rhubarb”) on the east-
ern side of Cape Espenberg, approximately
15 miles from the cape proper, located on
Kotzebue Sound. In the early 1990s, Gideon
recalled detailed place names from Shish-
maref north to Cape Espenberg, from Espe-
nberg along the coast of Kotzebue Sound to
Deering, and inland on the northern Seward
Peninsula to Serpentine Hot Springs.

Gideon recalled that neither he nor
his father had gone to Siberia, although his
father had a Siberian trade partner. Only
certain people knew the Siberian dialects.
In fact, Gideon claimed that he never had

128

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CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

and sons received the largest portion of the
harvest. When the harvest was taken home,
women assumed control and distributed
within a network of kin and partners, in part
distinct from that of her husband and his
crew members (e.g., Bogojaviensky 1969;
Ellanna 1983a). Obligatory reciprocal feast-
ing was another means by which wealthy
families gained more social status by giving
while simultaneously creating indebtedness
on the part of others.

What mechanisms did these more
wealthy and prestigious productive kin-based
associations use to maintain requisite demo-
graphic and social compositions? Particular
strategies involving marriages, comarriages,
partnerships, adoptions, divorces, ceremo-
nialism, and naming were only some of the
numerous means by which particular extend-
ed families ensured their social position and
affiliated wealth. Marriages were function-
ally, not merely or primarily, unions between
individuals as conceived of and practiced
by the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska (Ellanna
1983a). Rather they were arranged, at times
from birth, between heads of extended fami-
lies to recruit desirable productive members
in succeeding generations of people having
similar or greater status and affluence—inter-
familial alliance to extend the kin base. Con-
versely, particularly prosperous and strategi-
cally shrewd families arranged intrafamilial
unions—such as those between classificatory
cross cousins or sibling pairs—to consolidate
or restrict access to technology, areas, and
highly successful people within the existing
group for succeeding generations.

Additionally, comarriages between
consensual couples, adoption, the mainte-
nance of obligatory and reciprocal relations
after divorce, ceremonies such as the Mes-

senger Feast, and the allocation of personal
names were means by which the Inupiat of
Northwest Alaska consciously manipulated
sociocultural relations to forge new, or con-
serve existing, economic and social advan-
tages (Bogojavlensky 1969; Burch 1975;
Ellanna 1983a; Heinrich 1972). The perse-
verance of distinctive covert and overt Iiiu-
piaq marital norms into the 1900s—including
arranged marriages and comarriages—was
noted in Wales by the Lopps at the turn of
the nineteenth to twentieth century (Smith
1984:239) and in Shishmaref by Keithahn
(1963) in the 1920s. Field data gathered
from the study area in the 1970s, 1980s,

and 1990s indicated the subtle, conservative
nature of these aspects of social organiza-
tion among the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska.
Similarly, the allocation of personal Ifiupiaq
names remained an important mechanism for
expanding or consolidating social bonds and
status throughout the historical and into the
contemporary periods.

Throughout the decade of their tenure
from 1892 to 1902, Lopp and his wife El-
len made notes in their letters about social
stratification, outstanding individual char-
acters, and the role of the umialiq at what
was then commonly known as Cape Prince
of Wales. In discussing missionary-teacher
Thornton’s fear of the people of Wales, Ellen
Lopp stated:

Mr. T. [Thornton] is the one who
is afraid [of the people of Wales]... He
wants to have the old chief [emphasis
ours] Elignok taken away and is going
to ask Captain Healy to take him. The
chief's oldest son was killed in the Gilly
affair, and he and his wife both think
of it when they are drunk. Their second
son is a rising chief. He got a whale this
year, and if he trades it to advantage will

136

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CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

confronted with the task of “putting Alaska
Natives in their proper place” in the context
of American society. This attitude was mani-
fest in the philosophies of many missionary/
teachers, including Harrison Thornton, who
accompanied Lopp as a volunteer to teach at
Cape Prince of Wales in 1891. After almost
dying on the sea ice in an effort to prove the
superiority of Whites in general and White
males in specific over Natives, even at skills
in which the lfiupiat excelled, Thornton
wrote:

It was really important for the suc-
cess of my work to inspire the natives
with some respect for me as the repre-
sentative of my race, my nation, and
my religion; and they would naturally
admire intrepidity on the part of a hunter
more than any olher quality. Moreover,

I felt certain that sharing their toils

and hardships would greatly increase
my influence among them. After this
adventure, I solemnly resolved that I
would never again be guilty of a similar
performance. It was quite manifest that
each of us [Thomnlon and Lopp] had
given our “constituents” ample proof
that he dare do all that becomes a man.
Surely, the preservation of our lives and
the successful outcome of our mission
are more important than the mere killing
of seals. [1931:191}

In general, in the worldview of the
missionary/teachers and federal govern-
ment officials, representatives of the class of
Americans of which they were a part, they
stood as the pinnacle of humanity in the
evolutionary paradigm of the time. Other
Whites, who were basically uneducated
immigrants, stood beneath them on this
pyramid of civilization. The Samis, whom
Jackson had “imported” along with Eurasian

reindeer, were below the level of other immi-
grants, in part because they practiced pasto-
ralism and associated nomadism rather than
plant domestication and sedentism. In fact,
the Samis were not considered by Jackson
and his followers to be “whites” of European
descent. In this social evolutionary schema,
the Siberian reindeer herders (Chukchi and
others) were far below the Samis, while
indigenous hunters and gatherers remained
near the bottom of this ideological pyramid
in a state of “heathenism” and “lower barba-
rism” (Morgan 1985:10-12).

The ultimate model for Jackson, and
many of the colonial oriented agents of his
time and the years to follow, was more that
of a European paradigm in which Eskimos
were to be transformed, not into equal par-
ticipants in the American dream, but rather
into a peasant class, which was perceived as
necessary to support the Americanization and
colonization of Alaska by Whites. This phi-
losophy of indigenous peoples, as applied in
the northern context, historically was some-
what different from the containment and
isolationism of American Indians on reserva-
tions in the Unites States. The social order
in Western society and the concept of servi-
tude were exemplified by Teller missionary
Brevig’s travel to the Methodist mission at
Unalaska to obtain a “proper maid,” an Aleut
from Unalaska who had been educated in
a boarding school/orphanage, for his wife
(Johnshoy 1944:146).

Within the context of White su-
premacy, the land and its wild resources were
perceived to be owned by the federal govern-
ment and managed and dispensed to other
Americans (initially, in the Arctic, mostly
missionary/teachers and, after the late 1890s,
gold miners) by official representatives.

142

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

This ignores the burden of “reality”: the
forces that have real effects, if always in
terms of some cultural scheme. [1985:
154]

As relevant to the question at hand, then, the
results of the processes of cultural change
must be analyzed as outcomes of the interac-
tions of the bearers of distinct cultures and
members of unique societies. The result of
this interaction ts synthesis. In this case, the
analyses in the examples of change portrayed
in chapters below are focused on getting at
some primary syntheses as they were mani-
fested in the sociocultural systems of the
Ifupiat of Northwest Alaska. In chapter 8 the
analytical components are dealt with collec-
tively to reintegrate the whole and hopefully
to be able to extrapolate beyond the confines
of the study based on lessons learned from
exploring this complex and engrossing tale.

From Hunters to Herders 35


acculturation

affinal

alliance

angatkok (plural: angatkuut)

assimilation (see also forced
assimilation)

baleen

bilateral descent

canids

caribou fences

close herding

comarriage

GLOSSARY

The process by which important changes take place in
a culture as a result of intensive, firsthand contact with
another culture.

Related by marriage (for example, one’s mother-in-law or
son-in-law is considered an affinal relative).

A bond or connection between individuals, families,
tribes, or states to further the common interests of both
groups’ members of these groups.

Ifiupiaq for shaman/shamans.

The process of change that a minority group may experi-
ence when it is dominated by another culture; the minor-
ity is incorporated into the dominant culture to a point
that it no longer exists as a separate cultural unit.

Whalebone.

A form of kinship reckoning in which descent is traced
through both the male and female lines.

Any of the family (Canidae) of carnivorous animals that
includes the wolf, fox, coyote, and the domesticated dog.

Fences used to drive caribou into lakes, or other con-
strained areas, where they were killed.

A technique in which herders maintained constant contact
with and vigilance over their stock of reindeer, staying
with the herd 24 hours a day.

A consensual, sexual relationship usually long-term,
between two conjugal pairs for the purpose of extend-
ing or consolidating primary kin networks and reciprocal
obligations.

From Hunters to Herders

197


1898b

1900

1901

1902

1903

1904

1905

1906

1908

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska, 1898. Senate Docu-
ment No. 34. 55th Congress, 3" Session. Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office.

Ninth Annual Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska, 1899.
Senate Document No. 245. 56th Congress, [st Session. Washington, D.C.:
Government Printing Office.

Tenth Annual Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska, 1900.
Senate Document 206. 57th Congress. Washington, D.C.: Government Print-
ing Office.

Eleventh Annual Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska,
1901. Senate Document No. 98. 57th Congress, Ist Session. Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office.

Twelfth Annual Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska,
1902. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

Thirteenth Annual Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska,
1903. Senate Document No. 210. 58th Congress, 2? Session. Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office.

Fourteenth Annual Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska,
1904, Senate Document No. 61. 58th Congress. 3 Session. Washington, D.C.:
Government Printing Office.

Fifteenth Annual Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska,
1905. Senate Document No. 499. 59th Congress, Ist Session. Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office.

Sixteenth Annual Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska,
1906. Senate Document No. 501. 60th Congress, 1st Session. Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office.

Jacobsen, Johan Adrian

1977

Alaskan Voyage, 1881-1883. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Jenness, Diamond

1962

Eskimo Administration: I. Alaska. Arctic Institute of North America, Techni-
cal Paper No. 10. Montreal: Arctic Institute of North America.

Johnshoy, J. Walter

1944

Apaurak in Alaska: Social Pioneering among the Eskimos. Translated and
Compiled from the Records of the Reverend T.L. Brevig, Pioneer Missionary
to the Eskimos of Alaska, from 1894 to 1917. Philadelphia: Dorrance & Com-

pany.

FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS 215


CONTENTS

PROJECT SUMMARY oe ccsecceceesetecsneessseecseevevscsaessecseneceessesaesasaessessaessaesensereesaesneeeeseees ili
DEDICATION 00... cecsceeseeseeseecesnceneceecsecevsnecsssaesesseesevsecaesansaesasseecaevanerseseansetsaassersecseraes iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS. ..... cc cecscescsseessessessesscessecsenscceseversceeersaesacsasenseneerseeaavaceasavsesnesseeesees Vv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......cceceesseecesescesescescesesesenaesceeeesesesvaesacaesaeeseaeenesseecseseesaenensensnens Vil
CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY uu... eee cceesseseseesccsseeecsseneeaceseeeecsaeereeseceneeseesaseeaeas 1

Introduction..........

Study Design

The Quest for Data... cece sesesesteesescsseessecseseeeeesseeeseseeeeessitsaesesesgeneeaeersesaseassessee 4
CHAPTER 2

THE GEOGRAPHICAL, SOCIOCULTURAL, HISTORICAL, AND

INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS 1.0... ccccccsecessssesenecesenecseeessesnevaceeesneseaseasesensaeseagenessaeseeeens 9

The Geographical Context
The Sociocultural Context

The Context of Euro-American Contact ........ccccesseeseeceseesseeeessecseeeeveesaetecseenacseneenentees 22
Conceptions of Hunters and Herders in the Intellectual Climate of the 1800s.............. 31
CHAPTER 3
THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER’S STORY uu... eee 37
CHAPTER 4
THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY
EDUCATION: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW. ......cccccesccsecseessenecseeveneseeeeseaceeeaeesteeerseees 67
CHAPTER 5
HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS 0.0... ccccecsesessetecnevaeeceeceteeeensestaevensutenensaeeaeeaeees 115
TmtroductiOn........ccceceeeseesesseeseneceseceesnesscneesseaceeecesesecosssesasesseseseseaeeaeesersnessersaseneneeees 115
Resource Use, Settlement Patterns, and Land Tenure and Polity on Northern
Seward Peninsula... isc csesessceseessesesccsseeseessenecssvesesevevsaseesaesessnesevsessatsaesasesseeesseee 115
The Americanization of the Last Frontier: The Creation of Private and
Public Lands... ccssesssseeseneeseeseeeseceeesesessesseecsesceavasasessesessesaecnssaessseaveesersersesaes 121
Hunting Territories, Mobility, and Herding: Attempts at Alienation and
CommModitization.......ccceeeecesceeseesesseeseesseeseeevseseeecsesseuseesessessecseesssesesensvaeseeeeavecenens 123
Implications for Ublasaun........ es seeeseeeeseesesssesseseeeeseseeerececseseetessecsessereeeeenenesners 126
CHAPTER 6
THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY... ec eeeeceeeeeereeeseesereneeeeteenerseees 133

From Hunters to Herders


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EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA.

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PARK
SERVICE

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nationally owned public lands and natural and cultural resources. This includes fostering the wisest use of our
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services.

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CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

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Photo 4. Unknown young lady, left, and Mary Okie Dimmick. Mrs. Keithahn taught the girls dressmaking in
school. These young ladies were happy to have their own dresses, The dresses were used only on Sundays or on
special occasions, such as the week of the Christmas program, Photo by Edward Keithahn, circa 1923, courtesy
of Richard Keithahn and National Park Service (neg. 194).

From Hunters to Herders 29


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

for herding their deer on the lands the
natives supposed should belong to them
for grazing their deer. The Government
neglected to provide for certain areas
being allotted to each, until 1927, thirty-
five years after the native began the
work. [Andrews 1939:225-226]

Furthermore, Andrews surmised that open
herding would result in reindeer becoming a
wild species synonymous with caribou.

Ifnot kept under control, in a few
years the reindeer herd is almost impos-
sible to collect when wanted for butcher-
ing. It is like caribou hunting; they must
be killed when and where found. Then
they are lost to all intensive purposes as
a domesticated animal. [1939:143]

Hadwen and Palmer’s report rein-
forced the concept of cooperative herding:

The organization of herds ona
cooperative Oasis, as proposed and
recently initiated by the Bureau of Edu-
cation, will not only secure proper and
definite allotments of range but will pro-
mote more effective management of both
herds and ranges. Such organizations
among native owners will make possible
the employment of the best reindeer men
for herding and prevent interference
and meddling by others. [Hadwen and
Palmer 1922:35]

Hadwen and Palmer (1922:34) advo-
cated the need to develop industrial regula-
tions that would accommodate both White
and Native ownership—championing the
idea that the industry should “aid in foster-
ing local white enterprises in the Territory.”
Lastly, they stated that Eskimo reindeer were
badly managed because of improper methods
and the lack of trained supervision on the

part of teachers in the Bureau of Education.
By the early 1920s, then, the federal govern-
ment, through most of its representatives,
was both condoning White ownership of
reindeer and suggesting yet another policy
shift in recommending open as opposed to
close herding.

The economic climate of the depres-
sion in the 1930s was dismal even in Alaska.
As the market for reindeer declined and
became increasingly competitive, contro-
versy over non-Native ownership of reindeer
became more intense (Lomen 1954:219),
Range warfare between the various Eskimo
herders, but principally between the Ifiupiat
and the Lomens, was reminiscent of the
western frontier, including rustling, poach-
ing, and the transgression of range boundar-
ies (Mozee 1933:11).

Roberts (1978) described the interac-
tion between the Lomen Company and the
Eskimo herders as follows:

In the early 1930s, the Lomen stores
were offering to purchase native-owned
deer in exchange for $2 credit. These
owners remember selling their deer meat
for as much as $.40 a pound. Although
the proposition was “tantamount to dis-
honesty” in their [Ifiupiat] eyes, because
of debt and badly crowded ranges they
seemed to have no other alternative. In
some cases, a charge of $1.94 per year
for herding the deer rendered the credit
practically valueless. [Roberts 1978:282]

That is, while the Lomen Company was
willing to exchange $2.00 in credit for each
reindeer at their commercial outlet, they were
subsequently charging Native owners $1.94
herding fee for each reindeer found in their
herd. In effect, they were purchasing some
reindeer owned by Natives at the cost of $.06

From Hunters to Herders

109


usufruct rights

Yupik (plural: Yupiit)

yurt

GLOSSARY

The legal right of using and enjoying the fruits or profits
of something belonging to another.

Alaska Native group primarily occupying Southwest
Alaska.

A circular domed tent of skins or felt stretched over a

collapsible lattice framework, used by pastoral peoples of
inner Asia.

From Hunters to Herders

203


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

For the most part, scholarly histories
or ethnohistories of the human, cultural,
faunal and ecological components of the in-
troduction of the reindeer industry to Alaska
that were written principally by anthropolo-
gists and economists have been fewer than
more popular accounts and were predomi-
nantly written between 1950 and 1980 (with
the exception of Simon and Gerlach 1992
undertaken in conjunction with the project
resulting in this monograph). Anthropologist
and ethnohistorian Margaret Lantis (1950,
1952) was one of the first to write about the
cultural implications of reindeer herding by
Alaska Natives. Her work was followed by
that of another anthropologist/ethnohistorian,
Dorothy Jean Ray (1965, 1975, 1983). A
more socioeconomic emphasis was pre-
sented in the monograph by economist
Olson (1969a). Most recently, Stern, Arobio,
Naylor, and Thomas (1980) (two of whom
are anthropologists and the other two econo-
mists) published an extension of the work
of Olson (1969a). Olson (1969a) and Stern
et al. (1980) were promulgated, in part, to
assist governmental agencies in promoting
and managing the more contemporary rein-
deer industry in Alaska. All of these sources,
with the exception of Ray’s (1983) treatment
of Charlie and Mary Antisarlook, focused
more on reindeer herding as it generically
affected “Natives” than on the specific social
organizational and ideological implications
of herding to the Ifiupiaq and Yup’ ik cultures
and peoples of Alaska.

Lastly, but most certainly not least
importantly, are the ethnographic and ethno-
historical monographs on the Ifiupiat and Yu-
piit of Alaska and Chukotka. These provided
much of the sociocultural, ethnohistorical,
and theoretical frameworks for all facets of

this work. We are most indebted to the works
of Ray (1965, 1975, 1983, 1984) and Burch
(1975, 1984, 1988, 1991). Additionally, other
accounts of importance for this purpose in-
cluded Eisler (1978); Fienup-Riordan (1990);
Gubser (1965); Hall (1984); Krupnik (1993);
Nelson (1980); Oswalt (1963a, 1963b, 1967,
1979, 1990); Rasmussen (Ostermann 1952);
Sobelman (1985); Spencer (1959, 1984); and
VanStone (1984).

From Hunters to Herders


common anthropological terms and uses, as
well as many of the Ifiupiaq words appearing
in the report. Because this document is an eth-
nohistory, much of the information it contains is
derived from historical accounts by explorers,
missionaries, government officials, and other
non-indigenous settlers or visitors to Alaska.
Many of these accounts reveal prejudice against
the Ifiupiat, and Alaska Natives in general,
because of the then-contemporary, turn of the
century ideology prevalent in the United States
and elsewhere. It is not the intent of this report
to justify or sanction those views, but to ex-
plore how this ideology influenced decisions
the Euro-American missionaries and govern-
ment agents made concerning Alaska Native
lifestyles and livelihoods.

Readers who are seeking a more
general review of Ifiupiaq reindeer herding
on the Seward Peninsula should read Ub/a-
saun, First Light (U.S. Department of the
Interior, National Park Service 1996). Other
manuscripts produced as a result of the One
Man’s Heritage Project include place-names
research (Fair and Ningeulook 1995), a
compilation of historical archaeology papers
(Gerlach n.d.), and an architectural report
on Ublasaun (Creech n.d.). In addition, the
National Park Service Alaska Region and
the University of Alaska produced a docu-
mentary video entitled Sulipta Paitaat: Our
Ancestors’ Heritage. All of the above, plus
this volume, form the cohesive whole that is
the One Man’s Heritage Project.

Study Design

Two primary goals were set forth for this
ethnohistorical project. The first was to por-
tray the lives of a group of Ifiupiaq reindeer

CHAPTER 1; INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

herders living at the winter reindeer herding
and seal hunting settlement of Ublasaun on
the northern Seward Peninsula in the early
decades of the 1900s. The second goal was
to analyze the nature of Ifiupiaq sociocultural
change associated with the introduction of
domestic reindeer herding in Alaska, as well
as the portrayal of this process in Western
history.

There were very few people alive in
the early 1990s who could recall with clarity
the events of the early 1900 era, particularly
some of the aspects of day-to-day life. As
pointed out by University of Alaska Fair-
banks co-researchers in the U.S. National
Park Service’s Shared Beringian Heritage
Program: One Man’s Heritage Project:

Unfortunately, many of the top-
ics targeted for study in the original
research design are not represented in
the presently available data. This stems
in large part from the fact that today’s
Native elders were mere children during
the climax of Alaskan reindeer herding.
[Simon and Gerlach 1992:5]

For example, interviews with elders such as
Gideon Barr, who was a young boy and man
during the peak and subsequent collapse of
the reindeer industry in Alaska, benefited
from the fact that he had been the recipient
of oral histories from his father and others,
thereby providing a skeleton upon which this
story of Ublasaun and its inhabitants could
be reconstructed. Glimpses into the lives of
the families domiciled at the winter reindeer
herding community of Ublasaun between
1918 and 1925 also have been extracted from
other Ifiupiaq oral histories, ethnographic
documentation, and the memoirs of teach-
ers, preachers, reindeer agents, miners, and

From Hunters to Herders


Front cover photograph

Photo 13. Back row, left to right: Eugene Ningeulook, Charlie Weyiouanna, Andrew Tocktoo, Tommy
Seetomona. Front row, left to right: Fred Davis, Tommy Teayoumeak, and Fred Avessuk. These
young men were hunters and reindeer herders. During fawning season, they slept out in the open
using reindeer skin sleeping bags to protect the fawns from predators. Photo by Edward Keithahn,
circa 1923, courtesy of Richard Keithahn and National Park Service (neg. 079).

Inside front cover
Panoramic drawing of Ublasaun, originally a seasonal hunting camp and later a permanent
reindeer herding camp. Figure 7 by Jim Creech.

ii From Hunters to Herders


or other alliance mechanisms (Burch 1975:
248).

Under structured circumstances, per-
mission was extended to members of another
society for accessing land and resources
across boundaries. For example, either an-
nual or seasonal food shortages in one area as
opposed to another; social ties derived from
marriages, partnerships, adoptions, or, less
commonly, naming; transient privileges; and
trade were all mechanisms by which interso-
cietal access was temporarily accommodated
(e.g., Heinrich 1972; Ray 1983:161-162).
The importance of mutually understood per-
mission, whether covert or overt, in crossing
societal boundaries cannot be understated as
a guiding principle among Ifiupiat of North-
west Alaska. Access to resources rather than
land per se, except in the cases of villages
or camp sites, was the important variable in
Ifiupiaq socioterritoriality. Although personal
property existed in the form of a man’s kayak
or harpoon, or a woman’s sewing bag and
clothing, such a concept was not applicable
to parcels of land or resources at any level
among the Ifiupiat of the study area.

The Americanization of the Last Frontier:
The Creation of Private and Public Lands

As described in detail above, the American-
ization of Alaska involved the integration of
multiple stereotypes of hunting and gathering
societies in general, and those of the North
more specifically. Stereotypical assumptions
included the view that the new territory,
despite its obvious resources, was largely
devoid of human habitation and use—that it

CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

was a frontier awaiting “taming” and “devel-
opment” under the auspices of federal and
missionary initiation of animal and plant do-
mestication and the introduction of industry.

Although cognizant of the fact that
the territory was formally “owned” by the
United States after 1867, the absence of
governmental presence and concern fostered
the perception on the part of Euro-American
immigrants, entrepreneurs, and adventurers
that the lands and resources belonged to the
White public, in part available for the tak-
ing by individuals, to be placed into private
ownership. For example, a circular dated
November 9, 1945, from A.D. Johnson, the
Bering Unit Reindeer Manager, to local su-
perintendents, company directors, and herd-
ers, reflected that this view about land and
resources had remained preeminent not only
in the late 1800s, but well into the 1900s:

Nearly all of the land in Alaska ex-
cept small tracts, for which the Govern-
ment has passed title for mining ground,
home sites, etc., belongs to all of us, or
all citizens of the United States, of which
Alaska is a part. Sometimes this Govern-
ment land is called Eminent Domain,
which means the same thing. Some of
this public land has been withdrawn by
the Government. The land withdrawn
can be used for whatever the Govern-
ment has decided justifies this with-
drawal. This land withdrawn is set up
as a reservation —White Mountain is a
good example of such a reservation. The
Government ownership of these public
lands, as well as the regulation thereof,
has been interpreted by various agencies
of law to mean that the Government has
authority to assign rights (not perma-
nent) to individuals to use the natural
resources, which includes the plant life
which nature has provided. [USBOE
1945]

From Hunters to Herders

121


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

Photo 19. Howard Sinnok, left, and Helen Ningeulook (Attatayuk). They were in the second grade
and happy to have their first parka covers. Helen is wearing waterproof mukluks. Photo by Edward
Keithahn, circa 1923, courtesy of Richard Keithahn and National Park Service (neg. 051).

From Hunters to Herders 99


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

representative of the U.S. Office of Indian
Affairs. At that time, the reindeer superinten-
dent was teacher Clarence Andrews. Thomas
was elected president of the company at its
first meeting. Stanley Kivyearzruk became
vice-president, Harry Kigrook the secretary,
and Thomas’s paternal nephew Adrian the
chief herder.

The Nuglunguktuk Reindeer Com-
pany applied for a grazing permit to include
the lands previously occupied by the Lane
River or Stanley Kivyearzruk herd and those
pasturages used by Thomas Barr and his
brothers. The combined range was situated
between that of several other reindeer com-
panies. The Deering Reindeer Company’s
range was to the east, while those of the
Seward Peninsula, including the Shishmaref
herd,were to the south and west. The Igloo
herd lay to the south, whose range in 1929
was described by Thomas and recorded by
teacher Andrews as follows:

The boundaries of their [Nuglun-
guktuk Company] combined range are
as follows: Beginning at Cape Espen-
berg, where the waters of the Kotzebue
Sound join the Arctic Ocean, the east
boundary is the shoreline of Kotzebue
Sound as far as to the mouth of the
Goodhope River, thence up the Good-
hope River to the mouth of Humboldt
Creek, thence up Humboldt Creek to
its head, The boundary from that point
turns northward and follows the di-
vide, or watershed, between the waters
that flow into Kotzebue Sound to the
mountain 1,000 foot high at the head of
the Serpentine River, thence north on the
ridge to Devil Mt., thence north to head
of Ikpoogrook River. Thence down that
river to the Arctic Ocean. Thence east
to Cape Espenberg. This would bring it
back to the point of beginning, at Cape
Espenberg. They have occupied a small

amount of territory on the Arctic shore
and have a corral at the mouth of the
Nunagayok River, which flows into the
Arctic about 8 or 9 miles west of Cape
Espenberg. This brings a part of their
range into the Seward Peninsula District.
The far greater part, however, lies in the
Northwestern District, according to the
description given in the orders concem-
ing the lines of the districts as divided.
To split on the watershed is difficult as it
makes a long, thin strip of land on each
side of a divide which is poorly marked
as it is a very flat country full of marshes
and sinall lakes. [USBOE 1923-1944]

Between 1929 and the early 1930s,
there were consequential range disputes
between the Shishmaref Reindeer Associa-
tion, the Deering Reindeer Company, and
the Nuglunguktuk Company, and William
Allockeok and his brother Lloyd Koonuk,
who had become partners after the dissolu-
tion of Ublasaun. In his capacity as president
of the Nuglunguktuk Reindeer Company, the
then 60 year-old Thomas enlisted the aid of
his children’s teacher Clarence Andrews in
trying to protect the range of the herd.

Of the numerous range disputes, the
one between Thomas’s company and that
belonging to Allockeok and Koonuk was the
most troubling, and involved a barrage of
letters and telegrams between Andrews, on
behalf of the Nuglunguktuk Company, and
other local and regional reindeer superin-
tendents and reindeer companies competing
for good range. In justifying their claims to
the disputed territory, Allockeok and Koo-
nuk had drawn upon the fact that the latter
had been living with Thomas at Ublasaun
between 1918 and 1925. Additionally, al-
though Allockeok and Koonuk were broth-
ers, the latter’s second marriage had been to
a woman whom Thomas considered to be his

58

From Hunters to Herders




CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

e anumber of small villages occupied
during ugruk and seal hunting sea-
sons were located between Shish-
maref and Mitletak, including Iqpiq
(ikpek), which was said to have had a
qazgi (Burch 1991; Ray 1983:213);

e Mitletak (Mitletok, Mitletukeruk,
Mitletavik) at the northern entrance to
Lopp Lagoon (Ray 1983:212; Smith
1984:18) and the neighboring coastal
village of Singaurak (Singlorak,
called “Synowrook” by Lopp, Ray
1983:212);

e Kingigan, or Wales, the largest com-
munity on the Seward Peninsula,
actually composed of two villages—
Agianamiut to the south and Kiatana-
miut to the north—referred to as Cape
Prince of Wales or the “Cape” in most
of the reindeer literature and first
named Cape Prince of Wales in 1778
by the Cook expedition;

e York, a mining camp located at the
mouth of Anikovik River northwest
of Cape York, which was established
in 1899 near the pre-nineteenth
century village of Anaktoaluk (Orth
1971:1067; Ray 1983:210);

e multiple inland villages on the Kuzi-
trin, American, and Pilgrim Rivers as
reported by W.R. Hobson in 1854-
1855 (Ray 1983:205-206), includ-
ing the second largest village on the
Seward Peninsula, Kauwerak; Ahve-
nuk (Aviunak), which was known as
Mary’s Igloo during the gold rush at
the end of the 1800s and early 1900s;

Igloo; and Pilgrim Hot Springs
(Koutsky 198 1b:30, 78);

multiple camps and settlements on
both sides of Tuksuk Channel, includ-
ing two small villages, both of which
were called Singaurak, located on
each bank of the mouth of this chan-
nel (Ray 1983:204);

Salinuk or Nuk (today known as
Teller) located on the southern sand-
spit, separating Port Clarence and
Grantley Harbor (Koutsky 1981b:19-
20; Ray 1983:203-204);

Brevig Mission located on the north-
eastern shore of Port Clarence and
commonly referred to as Port Clar-
ence, Teller Reindeer Station, and
Teller Mission in the 1890s and early
1900s, renamed Brevig Mission in
1913 (Johnshoy 1944:254);

Singak (Synok, Sinuk) was the largest
village on Port Clarence (Beechey
1968; Ray 1983:203);

Kalulik located at Cape Douglas
was a large and relatively long-term
village and was described by W.T.
Lopp in 1893 as being the home of a
famous shaman (Koutsky 1981b:22;
Ray 1983:199) ;

Singiyak, a village at Cape Woolley
across from King Island, occupied
until the 1918 influenza epidemic
wiped out the entire population (Ray
1983:199);

From Hunters to Herders

13


CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

by gradual means, for Allockeok is not
noted for fair and generous dealings.
[USBOE 1929]

In another memorandum that same
year, Andrews was increasingly critical of
Allockeok, referring to him as “ignorant but
very tricky and has the habit of telling things
wrong” (USBOE 1929).

In summary, the depletion of rein-
deer in the 1930s solved range disputes that
the government agents had been unable to
resolve. However, the people who had lived
at Ublasaun during the winters between 1918
and 1925 were in a no-win situation. With-
out a resident school teacher at Espenberg,
cape Ifiupiat were forced to associate with
either the Shishmaref or Deering school
teacher/reindeer agent. The fragmentation of
the Espenberg society into different villages
and reindeer cooperatives escalated the range
wars and complicated attempts at resolution.
For example, while brothers Thomas and
Gilbert Barr ultimately became residents of
Deering, their youngest brother Peter and
the Moses family—all of whom had lived at
Ublasaun—telocated to Shishmaref. Lloyd
Koonuk, another occupant of the Ublasaun
winter camp, eventually joined his brother
Allockeok in yet a third faction. Finally,
although these players were all competing
in the arena of reindeer, they were integrally
interconnected by primary and secondary
bonds of kinship.

132

From Hunters to Herders




that Holly’s mother, Bernice Sockpick Allred, is from Shishmaref and was able to identify
many of the photos. Holly’s other relatives who helped include Alma Mullins, Joan Hjals-
eth, and Sarah Ringstad. We are very grateful for the many ways that Holly helped with this
project.

We also thank Fred Tocktoo of the Nome office of the Western Arctic Parklands (NPS),
originally from Shishmaref, for his help in identifying the Keithahn photos. On a trip to
Shishmaref, Fred found an extraordinary manuscript, prepared by the late Edgar N. Ningeu-
leuk with the assistance of Shishmaref Elders, Alex and Elsie Weyiouanna and Walter Nayok-
puk, describing each of the Keithahn photographs. We relied primarily on that manuscript to
develop captions for the Keithahn photos Linda Ellanna chose to illustrate From Hunters to
Herders. Richard Keithahn generously gave a complete set of his father’s photos to the com-
munity of Shishmaref. The late Susan Fair was a key contact to Mr. Keithahn and was instru-
mental in facilitating the elders’ identification of the photos.

This project would never have been completed without the assistance of a number of employ-
ees of the National Park Service, Alaska Region. Herbert Anungazuk, cultural anthropologist
and Ifiupiag cultural expert, identified the people in some of the photos and provided other
invaluable advice in every phase of this project. Stephanie Stephens, Museum Curator, and
Jerry Kyle of the curatorial team helped us through the adventure of locating the Keithahn
photos. Jeff Bennett of the GIS team created two maps on very short notice. Cultural Re-
sources Team Manager Ted Birkedal and Lake Clark/Katmai National Parks and Preserves
Cultural Resources Chief Jeanne Schaaf, formerly research archaeologist at the Alaska
Regional Office, provided institutional memory and unfailingly supported From Hunters to
Herders throughout the project’s long history. Joy Kucinski sustained the project as its con-
tracting officer. Thetus Smith, writer-editor, championed From Hunters to Herders through-
out all its delays and did a wonderful job of copy-editing and laying out the manuscript,
along with a multitude of other tasks. We owe each of these people a large debt of gratitude.

From Hunters to Herders ix


CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

opportunity to undertake employment for
wages in the mining industry in Deering.
These factors, in addition to the merging of
reindeer herds and the location of the Nu-
glunguktuk Reindeer Company’s adminis-
tration to Deering, provided a rationale for
Thomas’s decision to move his family from
Ublasaun and Cape Espenberg to Deering

in 1926. Conversely, the Ifiupiaq settlement
of Shishmaref became a point of centraliza-
tion for some of the Cape Espenberg people,
with its school, Lutheran church, and limited
mercantile facilities. After Thomas’s death,
Emily Kiyutelluk Barr and the children still
living with her relocated from Deering to
Kotzebue. Eventually Gideon was to live in
Kotzebue, Nome, and Shishmaref at varying
periods of his life, when the development of
the former two regional centers offered op-
portunities for wage employment. Yet, in the
early 1990s, Ifupiat from both Shishmaref
and Deering recognized Cape Espenberg as
having been the center of an Ifupiat group
distinct from all others in the past, though
unpopulated in recent decades.

Grazing lands for reindeer were
divided into parcels by the government,
with no concern for territories associated
with particular indigenous societies. Herd-
ers were presented with arbitrarily drawn
maps of ranges at reindeer meetings. The
Espenberg herders—who had first formed
the Cape Espenberg Reindeer Company in
1927 and, later, the Nuglunguktuk Reindeer
Company in 1929—had their own distinct
grazing territory, as did the herders at Deer-
ing, since at least the 1920s. Joseph and
Scott Walluk’s Kuukpak, or Cowpack, herd
was allocated a grazing area in the northern
reaches of Shishmaref Inlet near Qivaluaq
and Singiq after Thomas and his brothers had

relocated their winter pasturage to Ublasaun.
Four Shishmaref reindeer companies became
one between 1923 and 1924, and their graz-
ing area was adjacent to and south of that

of the Espenberg/Nuglunguktuk companies.
The Goodhope herd had grazing rights in the
Goodhope River drainage west of Deering.
Stanley Kivyearzruk—and his herders Harry
Kigrook, who was Gideon’s second wife’s
father, and Frank Asunok—had his herd at
Niglingaqtuuq, which was a point of land in
the Nugnugaluktuk River estuary, approxi-
mately 25 miles south of Cape Espenberg

on the western shores of Kotzebue Sound.
By 1925 the Kivyearzruk and Barr reindeer
had merged, gaining external recognition as
a single herd in 1929 under the name of the
Nuglunguktuk Reindeer Company. Herd-
ers in this enterprise used two corrals in the
vicinity of Cape Espenberg.

The Nuglunguktuk Reindeer Com-
pany was engaged in a range dispute with
William Allockeok and his brother Lloyd
Koonuk, who were claiming part of the Es-
penberg range. For the most part this dispute
between Allockeok and Thomas Barr and
their associates was conducted through the
White reindeer superintendents. In this case,
the reindeer superintendents and their volleys
of letters regarding this range war functioned
analogously to Ifiupiaq shamans known for
settling intergroup or interfamily hostilities
for pay.

Examples of the range disputes on the
northern Seward Peninsula, as conducted by
White government superintendents on behalf
of the Ifiupiat, were multiple. For example, in
1932 many telegrams regarding range wars
were sent to superintendent Mozee from the
various herd administrators in the region.
One of February 8, 1932, proposed that the

130

From Hunters to Herders


On multiple occasions, Brevig deliberately
broke Ifiupiat behavioral taboos and defied
the angatkuut in an attempt to demonstrate
“that the evil spirits were not able to harm
the white teacher” (Johnshoy 1944:54).

As Brevig clearly displayed, in the
evangelizing strategies of the Protestant mis-
sionaries to Alaska, there was no requisite
for learning or comprehending indigenous
worldvtews—that is, they were a priori
assumed to be merely “superstitions” of
“primitive” peoples who lacked the mental
capacities necessary to form logical thought,
and who had no coherent body of rational ex-
planations for the formation of the universe
or the relationships between its entities.

In her letters to family, Ellen Lopp
and her husband William—both of whom
had empathy for the Ifiupiat and seemed to
comprehend slightly more of their episte-
mology, etiology, and ideology than other
missionaries—discussed the teachings she
and her husband were promoting in Wales
between 1893 and 1902. In Sunday school
prayer and Bible readings, they taught that
there was only one god who:

... sees, hears, and knows all. Christ
[is] perfect. We [humans are] imperfect.
Forgiving spirit. Never angered. Com-
mands, Prayer, thanksgiving and wor-
ship. Faith. Why we are here again. We
are like two persons. Good and bad spirit
(Smith 1984:45]

Ellen Lopp told her Sunday school in 1893
the following:

[I have been]. ..telling the little
Eskimos and some of their mothers how
Saul couldn’t be king any more because
he stole sheep. [These] people know

CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

so little about even the simplest things
that they would need to understand the
story of Saul’s disobedience. And he did
steal...1 might have said he disobeyed
God, but I don’t know any word for
disobey [in Ifiupiaq]. These people don’t
use such a word much, [Smith 1984:48]

Somewhat perplexed, she went on to write
home that:

One thing that troubles me when [
think of these people becoming Chris-
tians is what to tell them they should
or shouldn’t do. They keep their own
customs very carefully. But there are
strict tines between right and wrong that
they all agree upon. But we [Christians]
can draw no such line for them. We don’t
agree among ourselves even. [Smith
1984:54-55]

Other Lopp Sunday school lessons in
1897 included:

A soft answer turneth away wrath.
Beloved now are we sons of God.
Christ pleased not himself. Do good
to them that hate you. Every good and
perfect gift is from above. Forgive one
another. God is love. Honor thy father
and mother. I am the way and the truth
and the light. Judge not that ye be not
judged. Knock and it shall be opened.
Live peaceably with all men. [Smith
1984:164]

Ellen Lopp, somewhat dismayed, re-
counted the following sermons given by the
reindeer superintendent/missionary at Teller
station:

Mr. Kjellman [sic] told them [the
Ifupiat of Wales] in the sermon that
when people in the States did wrong
they had placards telling what they
had done put on them and had to walk

From Hunters to Herders

173


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

Photo 2. These men had just returned from checking the seal nets. The man with the oar in a horizontal
Position is indicating that a beluga has been caught in the seal net. If it had been vertical, it would have
indicated that a young ugruk had been caught. Photo by Edward Keithahn, circa 1923, courtesy of Richard
Keithahn and Nationat Park Service (neg. 100).

according to the context in which it is
used. Appropriate glosses, include the
following English terms: “boss,” “rich

man” “underwriter,” “creditor,” “‘em-

ployer,” and “boat captain.” In the sense
of “boss” or “boat captain,” an umealik
would probably be the man leading the
hunt, in the sense of “wealthy man” or
underwriter,” he often would not be.
[Burch 1975:212]

The institution of the gazgi or men’s
house was the “court” of the umialiq. The
qazgi among the Ifiupiat was a physical
structure in which men worked, exchanged
knowledge with each other and with adoles-
cent boys, and conducted both recreational
and ceremonial activities, as opposed to also
being a place of residence, such as was the
case among the central Yup’ik of Alaska.
Membership and relative status in a qazgi
were directly associated with both a man’s

kinship ties to, and the wealth and social
position of, the umialiq with whom the qazgi
was associated (Bogojavlensky 1969; El-
lanna 1983a, 1983b).

Shamans or angatkuut provided
spiritual leadership. Though these figures
have been stereotyped in the lay literature as
being merely “medicine men,” “magicians,
“witchdoctors,” or, more simply, “healers,”
they were men, and sometimes post-meno-
pausal women, who had undertaken suc-
cessful spiritual apprenticeship and had the
powers to make things right in a world that
had gone awry due to inappropriate human
behavior toward the spirits of the universe
of which they were a part. Shamans could be
benevolent or malevolent, or both, depending
on the perspective of those they were acting
for or against. The most powerful men were
those holding the roles of both umialiq and

”

18

From Hunters to Herders


century Yup’ik value system, Many
descendants of that encounter, however,
modern natives and non-native clergy
alike, maintain that Christianity simply
gave new form to old beliefs...

As aresult of the view that the
native-missionary encounter was either
pure oppression or enlightenment, mis-
sionaries allernately have been criticized
for imposing themselves on native
peoples and have been reified as the
saintly bearers of “good news.” Follow-
ing Kan...the history of native-mission-
ary interaction can rather be seen as an
encounter between different systems of
meaning. In Western Alaska this encoun-
ter has resulted in neither total commit-
ment to nor total rejection of one by the
other. Instead, a subtle internalizalion
of selecied cultural categories has taken
place...The people involved made con-
scious choices based on perceived con-
gruities, and in some cases incongruities,
between Yup’ik and Christian systems of
meaning. This “negotiation,” sometimes
intentional and deliberate and some-
times not, characterized the relationship
between natives and Christian missionar-
ies. [Fienup-Riordan 1990:69-70]

The Inupiaq Order of the Universe

In the citation introducing this chapter, All-
ockeok expressed his dismay at the harshness
and unforgiving nature of the Christian God
and the apparent disregard of this deity for
the needs of the Ifiupiat. Differences between
Christian worldviews and those of the Ifiu-
piat were not limited to the temperament and
justness of spiritual entities. For example, the
Ifiupiat view of the genesis of the universe
and its empirical and nonempirical beings
stands in stark contrast to those versions
recorded in the Old Testament.

CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

Rasmussen gathered an origin story
in 1924 east of the Mackenzie River from
Apagkak, whose home was on the Noatak in
the Kotzebue Sound drainage. Concerning
the genesis of the Ifiupiat and other forms
perceived to be living in the world,, Apagkak
said:

No, no one with certainty can know
anything about the beginning of all life.
But anyone who keeps his eyes
and ears open and remembers what the

old people relate, has a certain knowl-
edge thal can fill the emptiness of our
thoughts. Therefore, we are always
ready to listen to those who get their
knowledge from the experience of dead
generalions. And all the old myths we
got from our forefathers are dead men’s
talk. In these speak those who long ago
were wise. We, who think we know so
little ourselves, listen eagerly to them...

The sky was made before the earth,
But it was no older than thal the earth
was being formed and getting a hard
crust, in those days when it became land.
And here is the first living thing we have
any story about.

Tulungersaq, or Father Raven, we
call him, because he formed all life in
the world and in people and was the
originator of it all.

He was no ordinary bird but a holy
power which made the beginning of
everything that became the world we
live in now. And yet, he too began in
the shape of a man; he groped about in
blindness and his actions were acciden-
tal, until it was revealed to him whom he
was and what he was to do.

Darkness was all around him and
he could see nothing. He felt with his
hands, His fingers rubbed over clay
wherever he groped his way. The world
was clay, everything around him was
dead clay...

Father Raven went about planting
herbs and flowers, when suddenly he

From Hunters to Herders

155


spirituality, Jackson and his theological
colleagues initially attacked the more overt
forms of Ifupiaq “religion” —ceremonies,
shamans, amulets, the qazgi, and other physi-
cal manifestations of “devil worship.” Addi-
tionally, social practices associated with rites
of passage—such as sexual habits, marriages
(or, in the missionary view, the absence
thereof), divorce, and treatment of the body
after death—were also targeted for eradica-
tion by the spokesmen for the Christian God.

The major goa! of missionaries
was the replacement of Eskimo religion
and much of the social patterning with
Christian beliefs and behaviors. Sha-
mans best symbolized Eskimo religion,
and mission workers often regarded
them as agents of Satan to be eliminated.
Eskimos considered men of the cloth
as the shamans among the whites, and
they feared the scemingly powerful
deities that the missionaries represented,
However, missionaries of different faiths
working in one locality competed with
one another, thereby confusing their con-
verts about the “true” form of Christian-
ity. [Oswalt 1979:286}

The impact of epidemic diseases—
such as those of 1900 and 1918—facilitated
the effectiveness of attacks of the missionar-
ies on shamanism and shamans, as the latter
seemed to be unable to right the universe
gone wrong by their spiritual powers (cf.,
Oswalt 1967a). For example, Brevig forbade
the Ifupiat to perform healing ceremonies
on the Teller Reindeer Station grounds and
physically removed shamans attempting to
perform such rituals (Johnshoy 1944:107).
He used healing and saving a person from
drowning as ways of discrediting the local
Ifupiaq shamans (Johnshoy 1944:121-122).
In one case Brevig claimed he cured Charlie

CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

Antisarlook’s son by using medicine. Later,
Brevig blamed the subsequent death of the
adolescent on Charlie, a shaman, for bringing
him to the mission too late. Brevig attributed
the boy’s request to be healed, and, later, to
be buried in a Christian coffin with a Bible,
to the secret workings of the gospel.

Brevig and other Protestant mission-
aries of the time also criticized the Ifiupiat
practices of not burying people and includ-
ing grave goods with the deceased, although
the former had no misgivings about interring
Charlie’s son with a Christian Bible. Church
services were promoted as the ritualistic re-
placement for the indigenous ceremonies that
were customarily conducted in the qazgi.

As noted by teacher Keithahn (1963:
18) in the 1920s at Shishmaref, few Ifiupiat
spoke or understood English after nearly
two decades (at this village) of missioniza-
tion. Angatkuut were still functioning in the
community then (Keithahn 1963:60-62).
One common explanation for “progress”
in attempts to Christianize and civilize the
Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska was their “lim-
ited mental capabilities.” In the early years
of evangelical activity at Wales (e.g., 1890s),
missionary-teacher Thornton stated the fol-
lowing about the intellectual capabilities of
the Ifiupiat:

There are very few generic terms
in this tongue [Ifiupiaq]; hence it would
seem that the Eskimo mind lacks the
power of readily seeing points of simi-
larity in different objects and combining
them to form a mental concept of a new
class, or genus—a power which Cauca-
sian peoples appear to have possessed at
a very early date. [1931:117]

This view of the intellectual capaci-
ties of Alaska Natives generically remained

From Hunters to Herders

175


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

In June 1897 Thomas J. Morgan, fed-
eral commissioner of Indian Affairs, termi-
nated the policy of contracting with missions
for the delivery of education through the op-
eration of schools. This cessation of support
was stimulated by rivalries between Catho-
lics and Protestants over control of reserva-
tion schools. Morgan, a Baptist clergyman,
believed that the Catholics were attempting
to use their foothold in the American educa-
tion process to eventually take over all public
schools (Beaver 1988:449). While withhold-
ing funds, Morgan encouraged Protestant
denominations to continue their educational
mission at their own expense with donations
from members.

By the summer of 1897, Jackson was
confronted with the reality of no longer being
able to openly support missionary activities
with federally allocated educational funds.
Governmentally owned and supervised rein-
deer, then, became the mechanism by which
federal funding indirectly could be channeled
into the perpetuation of Jackson’s goals of
continuing the expansion and support of mis-
sionary activities among Alaska Natives.

Between 1897 and 1898, a coales-
cence of events occurred that provided
Jackson the opportunities and justifications
to achieve his long-term goals of establishing
a colony of Sami herders, who in turn would
enhance the reindeer industry in Alaska by
providing an economic base for missions
through reindeer (cf., Ray 1965:95-96). The
site for the new headquarters of the govern-
ment reindeer station, named Eaton Station
after former Commissioner of Education
John Eaton, was selected on the Unalakleet
River (Jackson 1898b:12). Wales herders and
apprentices Tautook, Sokwenna, Ootenna,
Netaxite, Kivyearzruk, and Keok assisted

Lopp in getting the Eaton Station established
under the direction of superintendent Kit-
tilsen. Reasons for moving the government
station from Teller to Eaton were multiple,
including the degradation of lichens in the
Teller area, accessibility to timber (an en-
vironmental necessity from the perspective
of Sami herding), closer proximity to the
governmental center of the region at Saint
Michael, and a suitable home for a Sami
colony eight miles from the nearest Eskimo
community. The two relief expeditions de-
scribed below, and the shift of the gold rush
focus to Northwest Alaska—which resulted
in attendant demands for meat, pack animals,
and transportation—provided the rationale
for acquiring additional European reindeer,
equipment, and Sami handlers and teach-
ers and expanding missions under the guise
of assisting Whites colonizing Alaska (cf.,
Hinckley 1961).

Not all of those associated with the
reindeer industry, including Lopp and Healy,
were enthusiastic about the establishment of
a Sami colony or even the presence of Samis
in Alaska:

The landing of so many Lapps to
look after the small government herd
al Unalakleel or colonize this part of
Alaska is much ridiculed here [St. Mi-
chael]...Whal the U.S. Bureau of Educa-
tion expect [sic] to accomplish by bring-
ing so many Laplanders lo Arctic Alaska
is an enigma to all who are personally
acquainted with the destitution, need,
and possibilities of the Eskimo race.
There is already an excess of trained
herders and experience has demonstrated
that it is easier to increase their number
than the number of the herds. [Ray 1965:
97 citing an article of unknown author-
ship from The Eskimo Bulletin, a publi-
cation printed by Lopp in Wales]

From Hunters to Herders

87


seen Siberian people until recently, when
they came to Kotzebue to the trade fairs and
to Nome for the Elder’s Conference and, in
1991, when a group in several boats stopped
at Shishmaref.

Unlike Gideon, Thomas saw Sibe-
rians on the Alaska mainland. Actually, he
worked as a middleman in intercontinental
trade. The people from East Cape came with
paddles and sails—no outboard motor—and
camped at Cape Espenberg. Then the Sibe-
rians headed for Kotzebue, usually in July,
until the “closing time” (enforcement of
political boundaries between the then Soviet
Union and Alaska). Gideon remembered
that he did not know Diomeders until they
first started going to Kotzebue trade fairs,
although he knew the people from Wales.
Wales traders used to travel to Kotzebue
from their winter village to go to the hospital
before there was one at Nome.

In Gideon’s lifetime, fur trade was
very important, although the market for pelts
declined during the depression, when he and
his sister Bessie were taken out of school,
and, again, in his adult years after World War
II. Gideon traded red and white fox, wolver-
ine, wolf, mink, and muskrat pelts for ammu-
nition, coffee, canned evaporated milk, flour,
and sugar. There was no “oleo” (margarine)
in those days. Everything came in barrels.

Thomas had a trading partner in
Selawik. Living on the coast at Cape Es-
penberg, Thomas collected seal and ugruk
skins, rawhide line, seal oil, and reindeer
fawn skins. In early April, he made an an-
nual trip with these trade items to Selawik
after passing through Kotzebue. At Selawik
the Ifiupiat had dried fish, land otter, beaver,
muskrat, and other resources not found in the
Espenberg area. The Selawik people had fish

CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

and brown bear oil, but wanted seal oil for
variety. Trade took place between partners,
not just with
anyone. Partners were approximately the
same age. Thomas’s Selawik trading part-
ner’s grandson and Gideon inherited the
reciprocal relationship from their grandfather
and father, respectively.

Thomas, his family, and others at
Cape Espenberg and, for a period of time,
Ublasaun, attempted to maintain their well
established Ifiupiaq annual cycle of resource
harvest after they obtained reindeer in the
first decade of the 1900s. Thomas and his
following employed herding strategies that
involved taking reindeer with them as they
followed their seasonal round. The establish-
ment of Ublasaun represented compromising
an ideal winter village settlement location
close to fish, for one with accessibility to
undepleted reindeer pasturage. By the mid-
1920s it had become impossible to simulta-
neously conduct both activities. This factor,
coupled with the mixture of Cape Espenberg
reindeer with other herds in the southern
Kotzebue Sound and northern Seward Penin-
sula areas, resulted in the de facto acceptance
of corporate herding conducted by hired
staff.

Ingathering processes instituted
by governmental and missionary players
brought about the ultimate dissolution of
Cape Espenberg as a distinct winter settle-
ment and, most likely, unique Ifiupiaq soci-
ety. Mining activities at Deering provided a
town in which a Society of Friends school
and church was established twice—the Ifupi-
aq majority of the first settlement moving to
the site of Noorvik in 1914 and the reopen-
ing of the Deering school in the mid-1920s.
Additionally, the Ifupiat of the area had the

From Hunters to Herders

129


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

to purchase 175 reindeer, 171 of which were
landed alive. This action was taken in the
face of considerable public doubt. As de-
scribed by Jackson in 1893:

In the public discussions which
arose with regard to the scheme a senti-
ment was found in some circles that it
was impracticable; that on account of the
superstitions of the natives [of Siberia]
they would be unwilling to sell their
stock alive; further, that the nature of the
reindeer was such that he would not bear
ship transportation, and also that even
if they could be purchased and safely
transported the native dogs on the Alas-
kan coast would destroy or the natives
kill them for food. [Jackson 1893:7]

Additionally, Jackson and Lopp became
aware that importing reindeer, in part, was
not supported locally as they were told that
there was “ridicule [about] the idea of intro-
ducing reindeer on this side on the part of
some of the Cape Prince of Wales natives”
(Jackson 1894:58).

In any event, these reindeer were
transported in five trips to Port Clarence,
where a facility was constructed the same
summer (Jackson 1893:6, 10; Stewart 1908:
393). The establishment was referred to as
Teller Reindeer Station. With seemingly no
knowledge or, at best, comprehension of the
significance of the long-standing relationship
between the Chukchi and Ifiupiat of North-
west Alaska as enemies, Jackson conveyed
four Chukchi herders (Jackson 1896:13) with
the reindeer to train the Ifiupiat in handling
and herding techniques:

To protect the Eskimo, Government
regulations prohibited white men from
owning female reindeer, a wise precau-
tion during the early days of the industry.

He [the Eskimo] had no experience with
domestic livestock, therefore, a few
Siberian deer men were brought over to
instruct the Alaska Eskimo in the care of
the animals. [Lomen 1954:31]

The subsequent conflict between the
Jfiupiat and Siberian deermen who had been
sent to train them was not based merely on
intergroup hostility, but largely on the fact
that the potential success of Alaska reindeer
herding was perceived to be disruptive to the
social and economic relationships already
established between peoples on both sides
of Bering Strait. All but one of the Siberian
herders left before Sami herders came in
1894, in large part because they thought that
the people of Wales would kill them (Olson
1969a:32).

Jackson’s opinion of the Siberian
herders was not too favorable, despite his use
of them as a model for the transformation of
the Alaska Eskimo:

The Siberian deermen are a non-
progressive people. They have lived
for ages outside of the activities and
progress of the world. As the fathers did,
so continue to do their children. [Jackson
1893:8]

Although Jackson preferred from the begin-
ning to employ Sami herders from the Scan-
dinavian North (Ray 1965:80):

Siberian herders were employed at
the beginning of the enterprise, not be-
cause they were considered the best, but
because they were near by [sic] and were
the only ones that could be had at the
time...By universal consent it is admit-
ted that the Lapps of northern Europe,
because of their superior intelligence are
much superior to the Samoyedes deer
men of northern Europe and Asia and the

80

From Hunters to Herders


BIBLIOGRAPHY

1986 Whales, Ice, and Men: The History of Whaling in the Western Arctic. Seattle:
University of Washington Press.

Bodenhom, Barbara
1990 “I’m Not the Great Hunter, My Wife Is:” Ifiupiat and Anthropological Models
of Gender. Etudes/Inuit/Studies 14(1-2):55-74.

Bodfish, Waldo, Sr.
1991 Kusiq: An Eskimo Life History from the Arctic Coast of Alaska. Fairbanks:
University of Alaska Press.

Bogoras, Waldemar G.
1904-1909 The Chukchee. /n Jessup North Pacific Expedition, Vol. 7. New York:
American Museum of Natural History.

Bogojavlensky, Sergei
1969 Imaangmiut Eskimo Careers: Skinboats in Bering Strait. Unpublished Ph.D.
dissertation. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Bowden, Henry W.
1981 American Indians and Christian Missions: Studies in Cultural Conflict. Chi-
cago: The University of Chicago Press.

Boyd, William L.
1972 Jarvis and the Alaskan Reindeer Caper. Arctic 25(2): 74-82.

Briggs, Jean
1974 Eskimo Women: Makers of Men. /n Many Sisters. C. Matthiasson, ed. Pp.
261-304. New York: Free Press.

Brooks, Alfred H.
1973 [1953] Blazing Alaska’s Trails. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.

Brooks, Alfred H., and Franklin C. Schrader
1900 Preliminary Report on the Cape Nome Gold Region, Alaska. U.S. Geological
Survey, Special Paper A. Abstract in Mines and Minerals 20 (1920):534-537.

Brower, Charles D.
1942 Fifty Years below Zero: A Lifetime of Adventure in the Far North. New York:
Dodd, Mead and Company.

208 FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF “HEAVEN”

was illustrative of a means by which this cul-
ture hero was incorporated into a Christian/
Ifiupiaq matrix, and thereby syncretized with
indigenous Ifiupiaq ideology.

Implications for Ublasaun

Thomas Barr and the others who lived at
Ublasaun frequently recounted the story of
the origins of Cape Espenberg and the ances-
tors of the people who resided there in the
early 1900s. Three brothers, their sister, and
mother were the first people to live at the
cape. One brother, Ilaganiq killed the larg-
est whale ever taken from a kayak. He set
one part of the whale skull on a ridge on the
northern tip of Cape Espenberg, so that his
ancestors would see the tremendous size of
the whale he had taken. Through time, how-
ever, the enormous whalebone that Ilaganiq
had placed at the tip of the cape became
weathered and became smaller.

The members of this family did not
get along. Finally, one brother went to Deer-
ing, and the other traveled up the Kobuk Riv-
er. The sister moved across Kotzebue Sound
to dwell at Cape Krusenstern. Ilaganiq, the
whale hunter and culture hero, remained at
Espenberg with his mother. He was a good
seal and ugruk hunter. Whenever Ilaganiq
took a whale, he cut it up and swam across
Kotzebue Sound to visit his sister at Cape
Krusenstern. He gave his sister enough food
for the winter. Ilaganiq’s feet and hands were
different from today’s Ifupiat in that he had
a thin layer of skin between his fingers and
toes. When he spread them out, they acted as
good paddles. That is how he took the whale
meat across the sound to his sister.

Ilaganiq was also bigger than the av-
erage man. People acknowledged him to be
very strong. He often traveled along the coast
collecting parka skins from caribou hunters.
Because of his size and power, Ilaganiq just
took the skins rather than trading for them,
making slaves out of the caribou hunters.
The caribou hunters got tired of him robbing
them and decided to kill Ilaganiq. They pre-
pared many skins for him. When he got in his
kayak to leave, they stuffed skins around him
and over his legs, packing him in tight. Then
they shot him with their bows and arrows. He
managed to strike a couple of men with his
paddle, and they both died. But Ilaganiq was
unable to get the arrows out of his body, and
he also died.

By fall his mother found out that
Ilaganiq had been killed. At that time, Cape
Espenberg was floating ground with deep
water under it. Ilaganiq’s mother made a
shallow grave. She wanted to punish people
for killing her son by ruining their ability to
hunt in the waters near Cape Espenberg. She
filled her mitten with dry sand when the wind
was blowing to the northwest and talked with
the mitten. She told the mitten, “wherever
the wind blows, you travel, and this sand
will work its way out.” Wherever the mit-
ten went, the water became shallow. The
mitten traveled all the way to the Goodhope
River, creating sand bars in Kotzebue Sound.
When the mitten had completed its task, the
Espenberg area became solid ground and the
surrounding waters shallow.

By the time Thomas and the oth-
ers moved to Ublasaun for winter herding,
White missionaries had been at Wales for
nearly 30 years and had recently moved in to
Shishmaref and Deering. The reindeer herder
Allockeok, who Thomas knew well and who

182

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CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

for teamsters to do the freighting of that vast
region for the white men” (Jackson 1897:
120).

In defense of his reindeer distribu-
tion program, Jackson pointed out that in
1895 he had lent three Native herders rein-
deer, forming the third station near Cape
Nome—the Antisarlook or Point Rodney
herd. But he staunchly defended the role of
his missionary/teachers in allocating reindeer

to Natives:

In arranging plans for the distribu-
tion of the domestic reindeer in Alaska,
so far as the native population are con-
cerned, I have looked to the missionaries
settled among them for cooperation and
assistance... They [the missionaries] are
the wisest and most disinterested friends
the natives have. From their position and
work, having learned the character and
needs of the people, they can wisely di-
rect the transfer of the ownership of the
deer from the Government to such of the
natives as have been trained in the care
of deer. [Jackson 1897:15]

Not coincidentally, in 1896 Jack-
son also changed the Native apprenticeship
program to a duration of five years with no
reindeer to be earned during the period of
instruction. Furthermore, Ifupiat completing
the five-year apprenticeship had no guarantee
of either receiving reindeer as gifts or being
lent reindeer to establish their own herds:

The feeding, clothing and instruc-
tion of a man and his family are ample
payment for his services while learning
this trade. Experience has shown that the
apprentice at the station makes a better
living than his associates at home. When
he completes his apprenticeship, it may
be proper to give him some deer for a
start, but if this is done, it will be as a
gift and not wages. [Jackson 1897:110]

In addition to not giving the appren-
tices any wage, there are accounts in both
the reindeer reports for 1895 and 1897 of
reducing the rations for Eskimo apprentices,
since they had “all...the fish and seal oil they
wanted” and “all.,.Native grub they can eat”
(Jackson 1896:51, 102). Jackson instructed
the teachers to have Eskimos stay on their
“native diet,” thereby not creating wants dif-
ficult for them to supply by not eating expen-
sive food from San Francisco (Jackson 1897:
112). Yet in the reindeer annual report, J.C.
Widstead, who was now superintendent of
the Teller Station, narrated that:

{The] entire coast from Cape Prince
of Wales down to the lakes suffered
more or less. At Palarzook, especially,
but also Topcarzook and Canougok,
villages between us and the cape, the
natives were actually starving. Results
of sealing were insufficient in the fall,
frost fish failed them in the winter, and
later the little crab which they sometime
resort to for lack of something better
also failed. [Jackson 1897:48]}

No reindeer were imported from
Siberia in 1896 and 1897 (Postell 1990:27;
Ray 1965:91). In 1896 Jackson contracted
with two commercial firms to buy reindeer,
when he learned that the government ship
Bear was unable to pursue reindeer acquisi-
tion that season. However, the effort to buy
reindeer was unsuccessful (Ray 1975:91).

In the winter of 1896 the Russian
government granted permission to locate a
purchasing station at St. Lawrence Bay in
Siberia. Rather than importing reindeer that
summer, the station was established by the
beginning of fall (Ray 1965:91). The opera-
tion of the station, however, was ultimately
unsuccessful.

86

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

unchanged well into the 1900s. As recently
as the early 1930s, the government commis-
sioned a study of education and other aspects
of the social life of Natives in Alaska (An-
derson and Eells 1935). Conclusions similar
to those of Thornton nearly one half century
before were echoed in Stanford University
academics Anderson’s and Eells’ descrip-
tion of Natives as having “impaired mental
abilities:”

The mental ability of Eskimo chil-
dren seems to be distinctly and measur-
ably inferior to that of white children in
the United States. It increases regularly
with increasing amount of white blood
in the case of children of mixed parent-
age. It is affected little, if at all, by the
degree of contact with white civilization,
by age, or by school attendance...It may
be estimated that the inherent ability
of unselected Eskimo children may be
represented by an average intelligence
quotient of between 75 and 90, probably
one between 80 and 90, and that their
actual ability to do ordinary school work
is somewhat lower. [Anderson and Eells
1935:327]

This blatantly racist view of the
Eskimo’s genetic lack of intelligence affected
how governmental agents in 1930 still were
analyzing Eskimo concepts about the uni-
verse.

Based on their assumption that Na-
tives had no “real” religion, Anderson and
Eells proposed that religious change was
necessary:

It is probable that our Western
religion is preferable to the old shaman-
istic practices and the taboo cult which
it fostered. It should be the duty of the
government, however, to aid the natives
in developing a concept of the cosmos

and the form of their relationships to it
which is reasonable to them. No attempt
should be made to foster any denomina-
tion. Also, the overlapping of denomi-
national influence in the operation of the
more remote native villages is undesir-
able, for this results in confusion and
social dissension, [1935:212]

Anderson and Eells went on to recommend
religious education in the schools:

Religious education in the school,
non-sectarian in character... [is] impor-
tant to the natives to understanding the
history, mythology, and practical aspects
of both their native religion and Christi-
anity, and enabling them to understand
the involved and “foreign” language of
the Scripture. [1935:387]

The apparent failure of both ecclesi-
astical and governmental endeavors to civi-
lize and Christianize Natives was blamed on
the inability of indigenous peoples to evolve
at a more rapid rate because of their innate,
genetic inferiority. Ironically, this line of
reasoning was supported by the same social
evolutionary thought that originally drove the
movement to spiritually and economically
save the Eskimos.

Euro-American ideology, as promot-
ed by Jackson and his colleagues, was ram-
pant with “superstitions” of relevance here-
in—that is, with ideas and concepts that were
supported neither by biblical passages nor
Western “scientific evidence.” Perhaps most
noteworthy in this context were Euro-Ameri-
can perceptions about wolves and other wild
canines. Such superstitions were commonly
implanted in the minds of children by tales of
European origin—such as multiple stories of
werewolves, including “Peter and the Wolf,”
“Little Red Riding Hood,” “The Three Little

176

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

The epidemic raised the issue of
inheritance of reindeer owned by Ifiupiat, as
it was customary in the western legal tradi-
tion to give the surviving wife her deceased
husband’s reindeer rather than, for example,
transferring them to the eldest son. Impor-
tantly in this context, the epidemic left many
children on the Seward Peninsula orphaned
(Wolfe 1982; Smith 1984). Those children
were mostly taken in by various missionaries
to be raised at their discretion free of other
influences and therefore more effectively
assimilated (Johnshoy 1944). Finally, and of
significance, the shamans were ineffective in
dealing with these diseases of plague propor-
tions, and their credibility was undermined to
the advantage of the missionaries, as ac-
knowledged by Brevig:

By the help of God, none of those
died who had just caught the epidemic
or who became sick shortly after they
had been brought into the mission...The
natives lost their faith in their traditional
superstitions and evil spirits and medi-
cine men. They said, “None of those
which we previously relied upon have
been able to help us, while none of those
sick ones which the white teacher had
treated from the beginning have died”...
Thus, the majority of the natives broke
more and more with their own traditions.
The medicine men lost their power and
reputation. [Johnshoy 1944:158]

Reindeer herd ownership statistics for
the first decade of the 1900s are important
in understanding the implementation of the
seemingly ever-changing policies of Jackson
and the Bureau of Education toward Inupiaq
participation in this industry. This was also
the final decade of Jackson’s leadership in
the reindeer herding endeavor. In 1900, Lopp
had proposed dividing the Wales herd to es-

tablish another in the vicinity of Shishmaref
Inlet Jackson 1901:16, 97), although it did
not occur until 1904. In 1900 there were
3,323 recorded reindeer, 644 of which be-
longed to the government, 1,184 to 6 mission
stations, and 1,495 to 20 Ifiupiaq apprentices
or herders (Jackson 1901:23). Most of those
reindeer that Charlie Antisarlook owned were
inherited by his wife Mary after his death

in 1900. Lieutenant Bertholf of the Marine
Revenue Service traveled to Sinuk to advise
Mary about problems she was facing with
her reindeer due to the influx of gold seekers
to the Seward Peninsula:

Finding that the herd had been inter-
fered with by lawless whites and much
of the pasturage in the immediate vicin-
ity of the herd burned by fires started
by the whites, I advised her [Mary] to
move, during the coming winter, to the
east side of Norton Sound, where she
would be among her relatives and better
protected from annoyances by white
men. [Jackson 1902:29]

By 1901 a total of 10 mission herds
extended from the Kuskokwim River to Point
Barrow, possessing a total of 4,164 reindeer
derived from the 1,280 animals that had been
imported from Siberia (Hadwen and Palmer
1922; Jackson 1902:15; Olson 1969a:11).
That year also marked the first decade after
the initial importation of reindeer. In 1901
100 reindeer were lent to the Friends Mission
at Cape Blossom and were driven north by
Ifupiaq apprentices George Ootenna, James
Keok, and Stanley Kivyearzruk (Jackson
1903:23; Smith 1984:405). Jackson (1902:
18) reported that by 1901 from 30 to 35 Ifiu-
piat had served 3-to-5 year apprenticeships,
with 20 of them reindeer owners. The impor-
tation of reindeer from the Tungus of eastern

From Hunters to Herders

91


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Feit, Harvey A.
1991 Gifts of the Land: Hunting Territories, Guaranteed Incomes and the Construc-
tion of Social Relations in James Bay Cree Society. In Cash, Commoditisa-
tion and Changing Foragers. N. Peterson and T. Matsuyama, ed. Pp. 223-268.
Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.

Fienup-Riordan, Ann
1983 The Nelson Island Eskimo. Anchorage: Alaska Pacific University Press.
1984 Regional Groups on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Etudes/Inuit/Studies,
Supplementary Issue 8:63-93.
1990 Eskimo Essays: Yup’ik Lives and How We See Them. New Brunswick: Rut-
gers University Press.

Foote, Don C.

1964 American Whalemen in Northwest Arctic Alaska. Arctic Anthropology 2(2):
16-20.

Geertz, Clifford
1963 Agricultural Involution. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Gerlach, S. Craig, ed.
n.d, Bottles, Beads, and Reindeer Bells: The Archaeology of Early Twentieth
Century Reindeer Herding. Manuscript on file, U.S. National Park Service,
Anchorage, Alaska.

Grauman, Melody Webb
1977 A Historical Overview of the Seward Peninsula-Kotzebue Sound Area. Un-
published report, U.S. National Park Service.

Gregory, Christopher A.
1982 Gifts and Commodities. London: Academic Press.

Griffin, P. Bion
199] Philippine Agta Forager-Serfs: Commodities and Exploitation Jn Cash, Com-

moditisation and Changing Foragers. N. Peterson and T. Matsuyama, ed. Pp.
199-222. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.

Gubser, Nicholas J.
1965 The Nunamiut Eskimos: Hunters of Caribou. New Haven: Yale University
Press.

212 FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS


CHAPTER 8: CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE

tian beliefs and modified forms of both. In
respect to the lfiupiat view of the universe
associated with land and animals, there was
little substantive change. Institutions such as
the gazgi and specialists, such as the shaman,
were driven “underground,” but their valid-
ity did not diminish. To some degree in all
areas, the schoolhouse/church and lay clergy
became surrogate forms of their indigenous
counterparts.

While shamanistic and other highly
visible ceremonial displays were the targets
of missionary and teacher attempts at cultural
eradication, the more personal act of hunting
was not. Hunting can be viewed as a ritual
in and of itself—as a rite of renewal (cf.,
Guenther 1988; Ingold 1987:153, 217-218;
Wenzel 1991:61). From this perspective, har-
vesting was the point of articulation between
hunter and animal, society and environ-
ment. For the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska,
as among many other hunters and gatherers
worldwide, hunting and other harvesting
activities were the means of reaffirming
social and cultural identity and strengthening
ties between humans and other non-human
residents of a shared universe (cf., Nelson
1983; Wenzel 1991). The view that hunting,
fishing, gathering, and trapping were merely
economic and/or nutritional endeavors was
contrary to lfiupiaq worldview. This percep-
tion also assumed a dichotomy between the
secular realm of economic behavior and the
“sacred” realm of religion—a dichotomy that
is atypical of hunters and gatherers. The the-
oretical replacement of foraging with herding
inherently involved serious ideological and
behavioral consequences not anticipated by
missionaries, teachers, and other spokesper-
sons of mainstream American society.

Most hunter-gatherers, such as the

Tfiupiat, viewed feral animals as individu-

als possessing free will. That is, while ap-
proachable by anyone having the socially
recognized right to pursue game or fish ina
specific area, the prey retained the privilege
of deciding whether or not to offer its body
and, if so, when and to whom. Consequently,
wild resources only assumed some character-
istics of private property once they had been
harvested (cf., Bogojavlensky 1973; Ingold
1987:113, 1988:3; Tanner 1978). That is,
while humans and their social bonds regulat-
ed the disposition of the products of harvest-
ing, control or ownership was qualitatively
different from that of personal property, such
as items of technology and clothing. Addi-
tionally, the Ifupiat viewed themselves to be
stewards of domestic dogs. Although dogs
were seen as being the property of individu-
als or domestic or local families for purposes
of use and exchange, they were not to be
abused, neglected, or otherwise treated disre-
spectfully.

By way of contrast, pastoralists gen-

erally viewed the animals they were herding
as private or kin group property while on the
hoof, so to speak (Ingold 1987:113; 1988:
3), with the allocation of their stock being at
human discretion whether or not ceremoni-
ally treated. The federal government viewed
reindeer as a commodity—like cattle or
sheep—belonging wholly to its owner. Al-
though it is generally agreed that some pas-
toralists, like American ranchers, conceptual-
ized their stock as being personally owned,
there is little evidence that others, such as
the Chukchi, envisioned their animals solely
as commodities free of social obligation—as
suggested by the reluctance on the part of the
Chukchi to sell live deer.

Because the Inupiat had domestic

190

From Hunters to Herders


humans modified their behavior by mimick-
ing wolves in the pursuit of prey. However,
there was nothing inherently contradictory
between these two examples in the paradigm
of Ifiupiaq worldview.

The affiliation of humans and wolves
had ramifications for the interactions of
Ifiupiat, missionaries/superintendents, rein-
deer, and wolves. Despite the aggressive and
unrelenting attempts on the part of the White
superintendents to encourage the Ifiupiat to
eradicate wolves, the latter passively re-
fused to participate in this endeavor, in part,
because of their spiritual affinity with the
species. Interestingly, a similar reluctance to
kill wolves on the part of the Iglulik Inuit of
Hudson Strait was noted by a British naval
officer George F. Lyon in 1822:

When the Eskimos arrived, they
were accompanied by a pack of 13 rav-
enous wolves that proved troublesome
to the English and Eskimos alike. The
wolves did not attack people, but they
were adept at seizing anything edible,
including unguarded dogs. It is curi-
ous that the Eskimos did not attempt to
rid themselves of the wolves by using
spring-bait traps, which the Iglulik re-
portedly had in aboriginal times. [Oswalt
1979:173]

During the late 1920s and 1930s, it
was perceived by the federal government that
wolf predation had become a major factor in
the dramatic decline of the reindeer herds. In
response, the governmental representatives
advocated that everyone involved in herd-
ing, including the Ifiupiat, take an active role
in eradicating this predator. In addition to
the relationship between the Ifiupiat and the
wolf described above, another explanation
for the reluctance of the Native deermen to

CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF "HEAVEN"

assist in this undertaking involved the aban-
donment of close herding—championed by
White reindeer superintendents. From the
Ifiupiat perspective, in moving from close to
open herding, the Native herders, rather than
the wolves, were responsible for the demise
of the deer due to neglectful stewardship.
As in the Chukchi case described above in
which wolves were believed to raid the deer
of herders who shunned social obligations
(Bogoras 1904-1909), the Ifiupiat perceived
that it was they who had broken norms by
abandoning the deer. Punishing wolves only
would have exacerbated an already tenuous
situation.

The degree to which the Ifiupiat of
Northwest Alaska retained aspects of their
indigenous belief systems and incorporated
facets of Protestant Christianity is illustrated
by explanations for the existence of sha-
manistic behavior well into the 1990s. For
example, Wells (1974) reiterated throughout
his account of the “traditional” knowledge
of elders that the powers of shamans (who
he termed “medicine men” in English) were
always derived from Satan, that is, they were
the forces of evil. While firmly believing
in the existence and extraordinary spiritual
power of these specialists, Wells (1974) si-
multaneously condemned them as being evil.
The influence of Protestant teachings—in
this case, the Society of Friends—was ap-
parent in Wells’ portrayal of shamanism as
a dark, enveloping force from which the
Ifiupiat would never fully escape. Addition-
ally, Wells (1974:98) recounted that the
Ifiupiaq prophet Maniilaq, a “super shaman”
who was said to have lived 200 years ago,
predicted the coming of Whites and opposed
evil shamans, forcing them to “give up.” The
categorization of Maniilaq as a “prophet”

From Hunters to Herders

181


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

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107

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

and southwest, the first composed mainly of

reindeer belonging to John Sinnok with some
government animals, and the second ranging
at the Serpentine River, principally owned by
Allockeok.

Lloyd Koonuk’s brother Allockeok
had become a powerful reindeer entrepre-
neur. As a young boy, Allockeok was adopted
by a White man named Thomas Chase, a
miner at Kougarok. Asa result of growing up
with a White father, Allockeok was a fluent
speaker of English. He referred to Gideon as
“nephew.”

During the years Thomas and his
family lived at Qivaluaq, their square house
was constructed out of materials salvaged
from a shipwreck. Ralph Olanna’s parents
owned Thomas’s home and lived next door.
During those years, Thomas and his broth-
ers built an umiaq at Cape Espenberg, and
Thomas and Emily had three girls—Fannie,
Martha, and Suzy. The Barr brothers and
their families wintered here and hunted in the
area from Qivaluaq to Cape Espenberg and
inland to Serpentine Hot Springs.

{n 1914 Thomas knew many Ifiupiat
who had been living in the mining camp at
Deering where a school had been established.
All the Ifiupiat of the area were told by the
Friends missionary/teachers that Deering
was an “evil” place where non-Natives were
“corrupting” the local Eskimos. That year the
missionaries relocated the school and most of
their [fupiaq followers from Deering to a site
on the Kobuk River named “Noorvik.” To
Thomas, it was puzzling that the missionaries
and the White “God” had so little influence
over the miners. It also appeared to Thomas,
his relatives, and friends that White laws,
enforced by the umialiqpuk (“big boat cap-
tain”) of the revenue cutter Bear, were used

to punish the {fiupiat, but not the White min-
ers, whom the missionary/teachers thought
were so bad.

The following winter, Thomas went
to the first reindeer fair held at Igloo in the
interior of the Seward Peninsula. Reindeer
herders came from far and wide for this gath-
ering. It was at the fair that Thomas met the
White businessmen from Nome, the Lomens.
The Lomen family recently had purchased
Alfred Nilima’s reindeer that had been in the
Kotzebue herd and now were located on the
Seward Peninsula in the vicinity of Buck-
land. In addition to the Lomens, there were
many other White men at the fair including
Walter Shields, the reindeer superintendent
for the northern district, and T.L. Brevig, the
missionary from Teller. Some of the White
people were telling Thomas and the other
Ifupiaq herders that there wasn’t enough
range for the large number of reindeer.
Therefore, the Ifupiaq herders were encour-
aged to form village companies or associa-
tions, putting all their reindeer under one
mark and hiring a chief and assistant herders.
Although Thomas and the other herders en-
joyed the driving, lassoing, racing, and other
contests at the fair, he didn’t think that the
formation of a company was a good idea.

In 1917 Thomas and Emily had their
first son whom they named Gideon Kahlook
Kunautaq Barr. World War I had already
begun in Europe, and Thomas and his broth-
ers, having acquired a suitable number of
reindeer, were preparing to move their winter
camp to Ublasaun where they remained for
several years as individual reindeer owners
with a common herd. The winters were spent
at Ublasaun and the summers at Cape Espe-
nberg.

In 1925 the reindeer industry was ina

54

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

10 and 11 years old, she used her dog team to
ferry supplies between the Barr home on the
coast at Cape Espenberg and her father’s, pa-
ternal uncles’, and their sons’ trapping cabins
in the interior of the Seward Peninsula.

In 1930 Thomas had few options but
to take his two older children out of school
to help support the family. He was now over
60 and, given the economic failure of the fur
industry and his inability to convert reindeer
into cash, subsistence from the land and sea
became the only viable means of supporting
his family. After taking Gideon and Bessie
out of school, Thomas moved the family
to Buckland for nine months, returning to
Deering and Cape Espenberg in the summer.
During this year Emily’s stepfather, who had
been living with them, died before complet-
ing a bow he was making for Gideon. Once
Gideon and Bessie were helping support
the family, Thomas and Emily remained in
Deering most of the year so that the younger
children could attend school.

By 1931 Thomas held 22.4 shares in
the Deering Reindeer Company, which, by
1932, had grown to a total of 15,863 animals.
At the same time, Thomas personally owned
48 reindeer and 460.2 shares in the Nuglun-
guktuk Reindeer Company. Thomas and his
brothers and their collective offspring togeth-
er owned the majority of reindeer (1,014) in
the Nuglunguktuk Company. By then, Harry
Kigrook was the secretary of the Nuglunguk-
tuk Company.

In 1931, Thomas had to deal with
another major dispute between the Shish-
maref and Nuglunguktuk companies. Despite
his objections, the local reindeer superinten-
dent at Deering, named Moyer, ordered the
Nuglunguktuk herders to remark 725 Shish-
maref reindeer corralled with their own herd

as belonging to the Nuglunguktuk Reindeer
Company. Moyer assured Thomas and the
other herders that there would not be a prob-
lem, as he was sending a letter to the reindeer
superintendent at Shishmaref instructing him
to remark the same number of Nuglunguktuk
reindeer expected to be corralled with the
Shishmaref herd to their company. Moyer ex-
plained that this solution was better than the
alternative of driving reindeer between the
two herds. The problem was that there were
not 725 reindeer from the Nuglunguktuk
company herd corralled at Shishmaref in that
and subsequent years. Consequently, Moyer
realized that the reindeer were not moving
between the Shishmaref and Nuglunguktuk
herds, but, rather, that the Shishmaref Rein-
deer Company and Allockeok had invaded
the northern range. Thomas perceived the
mixing of the herds to be a direct result of
the open herding policy being promoted by
the federal government.

In the early 1930s, wolves that os-
tensibly had moved south and wiped out the
Noatak and Kivalina herds came onto the
Seward Peninsula and began killing reindeer.
In 1982, Gideon Barr recounted the events of
the period and echoed his father’s sentiments
about the evils of open herding:

Finally all the company earmarks
was all mixed up, cause, the herd was all
mixed up. Summer time, they just turn
them loose...And they got too many and
they overgraze the Seward Peninsula...
And then [1927] they starved out, and
then the wolves come in from the north.
That’s the way the reindeer was unlucky,
Government, government got hold of a
little herd from Deering and then put it
up at Selawik. And this guy that saved
that government herd was name Charlie
Smith from Selawik. When wolf come

60

From Hunters to Herders


Justifications for the introduction of
reindeer and the concept of pastoralism to the
Eskimos of Alaska—although most char-
acteristically described as a means of “civi-
lizing” and assimilating these indigenous
peoples—represented a range of multifarious
views and applications bonded together by a
common thread. At one end of the continuum
was the objective of complete ideological
and economic assimilation of the Ifiupiat
and other aboriginal peoples of Northwest
Coastal Alaska—a goal implying a future
state of their equality in mainstream Ameri-
can society. At the opposite terminus of this
conceptual! continuum were the aims of those
who were more interested in salvaging souls
for an afterlife rather than being concerned
with the status of such peoples in the world
of the living.

Thorough integration of the Ifiupiat
into American society, although it was the
stated ideal of some Whites involved in this
event, was never attempted, in large part
due to the racially and culturally biased
attitudes and intellects prevailing at this
time in United States and European history.
Conversely, as in the case of the Society of
Friends in the Kotzebue Sound area, the mis-
sionaries focused the majority of their efforts
on Ifupiaq spiritual salvation. In the case of
Sheldon Jackson, the prime mover behind
this episode, the establishment and support
of Protestant Christian missions in Alaska at
any cost was the overriding goal that imbued
him with unrelenting energy and ingenuity.
To Jackson, either covertly or, in the later
years of his civil service, more overtly, as-
similation in the sense of equality of Native
peoples seems never to have been the un-
derlying model. Rather, Jackson sought to
elevate Natives through reindeer herding—as

CHAPTER 8: CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE

an example of industrial training—into a
higher level of socioeconomic order in which
they would be capable of serving as skilled
and efficient laborers to White entrepreneurs
“developing” Alaska. Following the Jackso-
nian era, federal governmental policy fol-
lowed a more paternalistic path.

Rationales for the failure of the
reindeer industry to provide the medium for
the assimilation of Alaska Natives, whether
based on the hidden or stated agendas of the
non-Native actors or the economic feasibil-
ity of such an enterprise (cf., Olson 1969a),
wholly disregard the desires, the actions, and
the reactions of the Ifiupiat (in this case). The
unfulfilled cultural change and modernization
prophecies of Alaska Native ethnographies
of the 1950s and 1960s have highlighted for
a much longer period of time the relatively
conservative nature of many aspects of
indigenous sociocultural systems, including,
but not limited to, ideological relationships to
the land and its empirical and non-empirical
occupants; the tenacity of kin-based social
orders; the persistence of territoriality in both
group and individual identity; and the highly
structured nature of the social relations of
production, distribution, and consumption
(cf., Ingold 1988). The Ifiupiaq’s resistance
to undertaking herding under the conditions
dictated by the federal government and its
emissaries, in fact, may have contributed di-
rectly to the decline of the herds. That is, the
reindeer experiment, as initially introduced,
may have failed because the Ifiupiat opted
not to assimilate, rather than the converse.

Because the missionaries never
comprehended the Ifiupiat ideological sys-
tems and ritualistic practices that they were
attempting to replace, the result was a com-
posite of indigenous and Protestant Chris-

From Hunters to Herders

189


ed in association with the U.S. National Park
Service funded segment of this project, also
provided useful information. This included

a description of the physical configuration

of the community of Ublasaun; the predomi-
nant technology associated with the taking
of resources, including reindeer, at this and
related sites; the placement and architec-
tural details of domestic units and associated
structures; and the relationships between this
winter village, other settlements, and season-
ally occupied sites on the northern Seward
Peninsula.

In addition to interviews, the Ifiu-
piaq data and perspectives employed in this
ethnohistory were drawn from oral histories
and unpublished, documented sources—a
common method for dealing with the “his-
tories” of groups that lacked written lan-
guages (cf., Sahlins 1987; Wolf 1982). Of
these sources, oral history accounts relayed
through transcribed interviews were among
the most significant and included data from
the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S.
National Park Service, the Alaska Native
Language Center of the University of Alaska
Fairbanks (e.g., Kaplan 1988), and Kawerak,
Inc., the regional non-profit entity of the
Bering Straits Native Corporation. Addition-
ally, some oral history accounts were derived
from early ethnographic narratives (e.g.,
Ostermann 1952),

Personal documentation was central
to fully characterize certain aspects of Iiiu-
piaq life and the attitudes of the missionary/
teachers who also acted as reindeer officials.
For example, Ellen Kittredge Lopp’s (and
some of William T. Lopp’s) letters and se-
lected issues of The Eskimo Bulletin, which
Lopp published in Wales, Alaska, were criti-
cal sources of ethnographic data on the Ifiu-

CHAPTER 1; INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

piat of Wales and other areas in which these
teachers traveled. Additionally they provided
historical accounts, attitudes of missionaries/
educators of the time, reindeer history, and
many other kinds of knowledge (e.g., Smith
1984).

Published versions of personal docu-
mentation were equally central to the re-
search task at hand. An example is the diary
of T.L. Brevig (Johnshoy 1944), a Norwe-
gian Lutheran Church clergyman assigned to
the Teller Station between 1894 and 1917 to
provide spiritual guidance to the Samis (who
immigrated to Alaska in association with the
introduction of reindeer herding), and, later,
to the Ifiupiat. This source is dominated by
Brevig’s accounts of missionary exploits,
and, therefore, has limited ethnographic or
historical value beyond that of document-
ing his and his churches’ goals and values.
However, limited autobiographical accounts
of teachers residing and working in the study
area during the end of the 1800s and early
decades of the 1900s provide useful informa-
tion. Examples of such accounts are those
of Clarence Andrews (1939), who served as
teacher, reindeer superintendent, and Ifiupiaq
advocate at Deering in the mid-1920s; Har-
rison Thornton (1931), who was one of the
first missionary/teachers at Wales in the early
1890s; and Edward Keithahn (1963), who
was a teacher at Shishmaref from 1923 to
1925, and knew and photographed much of
the population of the villages of the northern
Seward Peninsula. Other biographies, such as
that of Carl Lomen (1954), contribute a per-
spective of the White entrepreneur in North-
west Alaska from the turn of the nineteenth
to the twentieth century until the end of the
1930s. Lomen’s (1954) interpretations of his
family’s history, including the introduction of

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

thereby contributing to the well-being of the
group at large.

As in the case of Wales, a reindeer
aristocracy appeared to be developing on the
northern Seward Peninsula, with Thomas
appearing as a central character. In fact, this
reindeer dynasty seems to have persisted into
the early 1990s. For example, Teyeopuk or
Charlie Goodhope—who had been an ap-
prentice at Wales and one of the first inde-
pendent Ifiupiaq owners to establish a herd
in the vicinity of Deering—was Thomas’s
young bride Emily Kiyutelluk’s mother’s
brother. It is likely that Emily, her mother
Mukluwik or Mary, and her stepfather Kiyu-
tuk accompanied Charlie Goodhope when he
moved north from Wales with his reindeer.
Thomas and Emily’s daughter Fannie be-
came the second wife of Charlie Goodhope’s
son Fred, who inherited his father’s reindeer.
Thomas’s granddaughter of this union, Shir-
ley Goodhope, married Clifford Weyiouanna,
who was the primary herder in Shishmaref
in 1994, having acquired his reindeer from
his father-in-law Fred Goodhope. Thomas’s
grandson, Fred Goodhope Jr., was the sole
herder at Cape Espenberg in 1994, and
married Clifford Weyiouanna’s first cousin,
Marilyn.

Within the context of Ublasaun, ap-
prentice Gordon Dimmick wed Mary Okie—
sister of Thomas’s youngest brother Peter
Barr’s wife Bessie—subsequent to the break-
down of the settlement. James Moses lived
at Ublasaun with his father’s brother Moses
Keyluk, who was also James’ adoptive and,
in lfiupiaq kinship terminology, classifica-
tory father. Moses Keyluk had been married
to Thomas’s sister Quganaq, who had died
before the relocation to Ublasaun. Lastly,
Lloyd Koonuk, who also lived at Ublasaun,

chose Annie as his second wife after the dis-
solution of the settlement. Annie was James
Moses’s sister and, therefore, Thomas’s sister
Quonuk’s classificatory daughter.

While the marriages described above
could be interpreted as attempts to consoli-
date relationships between individuals who
took part in the Ublasaun venture, Thomas’s
son Gideon was a participant in an arranged
marriage to Katherine Eningowuk, whose
father was a prominent Shishmaref reindeer
herder. This marriage extended relationships
between Espenberg reindeer men and those
stationed in the Shishmaref area—impor-
tant during a period of hostile relationships
between the herders of the two areas. Inter-
estingly, the marriage between Annie and
Lloyd Koonuk, also occurring during this
period, functionally linked Lloyd’s brother
Allockeok’s reindeer faction with the Espen-
berg contingent through Thomas via Annie’s
relationship with Thomas’s sister described
above.

With the failure of reindeer coop-
eratives in the late 1940s, Thomas Barr’s
death, and, possibly the critique of arranged
marriages by missionaries throughout the
northern Seward Peninsula and southern
Kotzebue Sound, Gideon’s first marriage
also dissolved. Gideon’s second wife Fannie
Kigrook was the daughter of Harry Kigrook,
who had been an apprentice at Wales and a
herding associate of Stanley Kivyearzruk.
Fannie had grown up in the same area as the
Barr family.

Thomas Barr was a significant leader,
not only at Ublasaun, but at Cape Espenberg
and among some of the herders of the north-
ern Seward Peninsula at Deering. Thomas
was a progressive and innovative umialiq
in several senses of the term used here. For

From Hunters to Herders

149


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rood, J. Sidney
1938 This Reindeer Business. Alaska Life 1(8): 17.

Rouse, C.H., C.R. Mountjoy, and D.M. Belcher
1948 Reindeer Survey-1948. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
Alaska Native Service.

Sahlins, Marshall
1981 [1972] Stone Age Economics. New York: Aldine Publishing Company.
1987 [1985] Islands of History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Salamone, Frank A.
1985 Missionary Education as an Indicator in Separate Development in Nigeria. Jn
Anthropologists and Missionaries: Part II. F.A. Salamone, ed. Pp. 287-299.
Studies in Third World Societies, Publication No. 26. Williamsburg, VA: De-
partment of Anthropology, College of William and Mary.

Schaaf, Jeanne
1988 The Bering Land Bridge National Preserve: An Archeological Survey,
Vols. I and II. Anchorage: Division of Cultural Resources, Alaska Region,
U.S. National Park Service.
1996 Introduction. /# Ublasaun: First Light. Anchorage: National Park Service.

Schrader, Frank C., and Alfred H. Brooks

1900 Preliminary Report on the Cape Nome Gold Region, Alaska. Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office.

Scotter, George W.
1972 Reindeer Journey on the Rim of the Arctic. Alaska Journal 2(21):57-60.

Schweitzer, Peter P., and Evgeniy Golovko
1994 Contacts across Bering Strait, as Seen from Nevuqagq. Draft report to the
Division of Cultural Resources, Alaska Region, U.S. National Park Service.
Anchorage.

Senungetuk, Joseph E.

1971 Give or Take a Century: An Eskimo Chronicle. San Francisco: The Indian
Historian Press.

Service, Elman R.

1985 A Century of Controversy: Ethnological Issues from 1860-1960. New York:
Academic Press.

FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS 221


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

In 1897 accounts ostensibly came
from the interior that there were stranded
prospectors starving to death on the Yukon
River. There were accusations by detractors
that Jackson had some role in facilitating
the spread of these rumors. In any event,
Jackson’s services were temporarily trans-
ferred from the Department of the Interior to
the War Department to arrange for recruit-
ing Sami reindeer, herders, sleds, harnesses,
and moss from Norway as a relief effort for
the starving prospectors (Jackson 1898b:9;
Lazell 1960:169; Smith 1984:175).

Kjellmann already had arrived in
Norway in an effort to recruit Sami herd-
ers to Alaska. At the very end of December
1897, Jackson joined him there when the
Yukon relief effort was allocated governmen-
tal funding in the amount of $200,000 in late
1897 (Jackson 1898b:32). The result was the
recruitment of 68 herders and their families
(113 Samis in all), 539 reindeer, 418 sleds,
511 harnesses, and 500 tons of moss (Jack-
son 1898b:39; Lomen 1954:33). Several of
the Samis who had signed contracts decided
not to go to Alaska immediately before the
ship Manitoban departed. Jackson got the po-
lice and threatened to send those who broke
their contract to jail (Lazell 1960:169).

Sailing from Norway to New York
in February, crossing the continental United
States by train, and traveling by ship to
Alaska (Haines), five Sami herders and two
others, a vastly reduced number of reindeer
(114) mostly due to their starvation and the
rigors of the journey, and some equipment
eventually reached Circle City in February
1899 under the supervision of Hedley E.
Redmeyer, approximately one year after they
had departed Norway (Jackson 1898b:39-45,
1900:18-19, 165; Ray 1975:238-239).

The remaining 108 Sami, Norwegian,
and Finnish emigrants (67 herders and their
families) were sent from Seattle to Eaton Sta-
tion during the summer of 1898 on the ship
Navarro (Murray 1988:98-99). This “relief
effort” was termed “Jackson’s Wild West
Show” by the Oregonian. This effort, al-
though not providing assistance to allegedly
“starving miners,” accomplished Jackson’s
goal of getting Samis to Alaska. In Jackson’s
words:

In my estimalion, next to the discov-
ery of gold, the most important event,
commercially, in the history of Alaska
during this year [1898] is the importa-
tion of this colony of Lapps. Experience
is rapidly demonstrating that the only
possible efficient transportation service
in Alaska must be through the use of
reindeer, and this necessitates the trained
and expert drivers of reindeer found
among the civilized Lapps and Finns.
[1898b:47]

In the winter of 1897, firsthand re-
ports from Point Barrow reported that there
were about 300 stranded commercial whal-
ers on the arctic coast, whose ships were ice
bound or crushed in the Arctic Ocean (Brow-
er 1942; Jackson 1898b:19-31, 83-95; Smith
1984:207, 221-224). Accounts of this relief
expedition vary widely, depending on the
agenda of who is recounting the story (cf.,
Brower 1942 and Jackson 1898b). Nonethe-
less, it was reported that the rumors upon
which the government acted suggested that
the stranded whalers near Point Barrow were
in imminent danger of starvation unless relief
actions were undertaken by the government.

Charles Brower, who had come to
Alaska in 1884, was in charge of a shore-
based whaling station owned by H. Liebes

88

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

Kotzebue,

KOTZEBUE
TT LLL Tuquirq cape

Map Location

NORTON SOUND

v0) 45 30 60 Miles

20 40 80 Kilometers

Figure 2. Northwest Alaska showing approximate locations of place-names, including historic settle-
ments, mentioned in the text.

10 From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

western periphery of Ublasaun, on the east
bank of a small creek that drained nearby
tundra lakes. Besides Thomas, his wife Em-
ily Paizuzraq Kiyutelluk (Qayutialak) and
their three daughters and two sons—Fannie,
Bessie, Mary, Gideon and Elijah—lived to-
gether in this, the largest house at Ublasaun.
Thomas’s youngest brother Peter Kahlook
(Qauqluk) Bart, who as a child had been
adopted out to another family, his wife Bes-
sie Sikinguaq Okie, and their three children
Roy, David, and Lydia resided two houses
up the beach from his eldest brother’s home.
The unmarried apprentice herder Gordon
Dimmick, whose father was from Kivalina
and who subsequently married Peter’s wife’s
sister Mary, lived in a small house situated
between those of Thomas and Peter.

Thomas’s other brother Gilbert
Sublaq Barr lived at the northeastern most
periphery of Ublasaun with his wife Rosie
Umisaagq, their daughter Lillian, and their
three sons Edward, Isaiah, and Jessie. There
was a strong bond of kinship between Gil-
bert and Thomas, who wanted to live, herd,
and travel with each other. Rosie’s stepfather
Umiaq and mother Aguviuna lived in the
shadow of their daughter’s house in the most
traditional style structure in the settlement,
reminiscent of the dwellings of people who
occupied this site before iron came to the
Ifupiat.

Three other houses were positioned
between those of the brothers Gideon and
Gilbert. One was the home of two young
men Adrian (also called Edwin) and Walter
Barr. These young men were brothers whose
deceased father Ahvalook was the eldest
brother of Thomas, Gilbert, and Peter. The
second was the home of widower Moses
Qilug and his adopted son James Kivetoruk

Moses. Moses was from up the coast. His
now-deceased wife was Thomas’s older
sister Quganaq. The third dwelling was
inhabited by Lloyd Koonuk and his first wife
Margaret, who was James Moses’s sister,
and their three children, Rudolph, Ernest,
and Daisy. James’s biological father was
the brother of widower Moses Qiluq. Lloyd
Koonuk, originally from Arctic River south-
east of Shishmaref, was the brother of the
affluent reindeer herder William Allockeok
(Allagiaq).

The total population of Ublasaun in
the early 1920s was approximately 30—a
fairly large winter settlement even then, since
members of the village dispersed to Cape
Espenberg and elsewhere during summer
months. This community, however, was not
large enough to have a qazgi or men’s house.

Except for Umiaq’s and Aguviuna’s
more traditional domicile, the houses at
Ublasaun were transitional between the
semisubterranean homes found at Shish-
maref and throughout Northwest Alaska in
the recent Ifiupiaq past, and frame dwellings
at Deering, the dominant house form of the
future. In 1920, from the exterior, the village
resembled several small hills with protrud-
ing smokestacks. A small skylight made
of the translucent stomachs of walrus or of
glass was set in the apex of each of these
sod-covered mounds—this skylight being
large enough to emit light but small enough,
hopefully, to deter the raiding paws of a polar
bear.

Gideon remembers that the family’s
10-by-18-foot house at Ublasaun was con-
structed of driftwood. The small amount of
scrap lumber available at Cape Espenberg
was used to build the single bed for Thomas
and Emily. Gideon and his siblings slept on

From Hunters to Herders

39


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

the engine, it does not follow that he is
competent to take the engineer’s place.
No more does it follow because an Es-
kimo man gains a little experience with
reindeer that he is able to take charge

of a herd, In Lapland where the people
have greater intelligence and the advan-
tage of heredity, a young man is required
to serve an apprenticeship of five years
before he is considered competent to
manage for himself. [Jackson 1895:18]

The Samis had contracts with the
Bureau of Education that paid them for their
participation in the herding industry, more
generous and diverse provisions than the
Ifupiaq apprentices, and a greater possibil-
ity of accumulating reindeer for their own
herds (Olson 1969a:25; Ray 1965:87). The
Samis whom Jackson was to recruit in 1898
were given a contract guaranteeing them the
loan of 100 reindeer for three or five years
after completing their tenure with the Alaska
Reindeer Service—ultimately promising the
Samis more reindeer than were available in
Alaska at the time. From the perspective of
Jackson and most of the missionaries and
teachers, the Samis, while culturally different
from Americans and industrialized Europe-
ans, were higher up the sociocultural evo-
lutionary ladder in terms of being civilized
than were the Ifiupiat (Jackson 1895:11).

The Ifiupiat realized that the original
justification for bringing the reindeer from
Siberia was ostensibly for their benefit. Lopp
and his wife Ellen had traveled up the coast
from Wales to Point Hope spreading the
word about the benefits of reindeer pastoral-
ism (Smith 1984:46). Yet, the Ifiupiat were
forbidden to kill the reindeer for either food
or clothing, unless provided by the station,
under the rationale that such actions were
necessary for allowing the herds to grow

(Ray 1983:122). In fact, in 1897 Jackson
demanded the arrest of an Ifiupiaq who had
killed a reindeer to provide an example to
others as to the serious implications of such
actions (Ray 1965:85). Additionally, it was
obvious to the Ifiupiat that Samis, White
missionaries, and the government all owned
reindeer, but that they, as the alleged “‘starv-
ing Eskimos,” were given none. In 1894

the first reindeer allocated from the Teller
Mission Station—119 animals—were given
to the American Missionary Association at
Wales under the direction of Lopp Jackson
1895:66, 1896:15).

By 1894 Jackson was fully cognizant
of the growing resentment on the part of the
Ifiupiat and, in the fall of that year, signed
an agreement with Charlie Antisarlook to
loan him 100 reindeer based on the terms
that the same number, of which 75 were to
be females, be returned to the Teller Rein-
deer Station in 5 years (Jackson 1895:66-
67). Antisarlook was a man of considerable
influence. He was a widely traveled trader
and had served as an interpreter for Healy
since 1890 (Ray 1983:119). It is likely that
Jackson perceived Antisarlook as presenting
a minimal risk if reindeer had to be allocated
to the Ifiupiat. Additionally, Antisarlook had
served as an apprentice at the Teller Reindeer
Station since its inception, although fired by
Bruce and rehired by Lopp.

In January 1895 Antisarlook and his
wife Mary (a half Russian, half Yup’ik wom-
an from Saint Michael) took 115 reindeer, 15
of which he and his brothers had earned as
apprentices, and 4 of their own apprentices
to the Sinuk River—this first Native owned
herd being referred to as the Point Rodney
herd in government documents (Johnshoy
1944:94, 114, 121). By 1899 Antisarlook had

84

From Hunters to Herders


BIBLIOGRAPHY

White, Richard, and William Cronon
1988 Ecological Change and Indian-White Relations. /n Handbook of North Ameri-
can Indians, Vol. 4, History of Indian-White Relations. W. Washburn, ed. Pp.
417-429. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Whiteman, Darrell L.

1985a Introduction: Missionaries, Anthropologists and Epistemology. /n Missionar-
ies, Anthropologists, and Cultural Change. D. Whiteman, ed. Pp. vi-xii. Stud-
ies in Third World Societies, Publication No. 25. Williamsburg, VA: Depart-
ment of Anthropology, College of William and Mary.

1985b Missionary Documents and Anthropological Research. /n Missionaries, An-
thropologists, and Cultural Change, D. Whiteman. ed. Pp. 295-322. Studies in
Third World Societies, Publication No. 25. Williamsburg, VA: Department of
Anthropology, College of William and Mary.

Williss, G. Frank
n.d. “Tt Is a Hard Country, Though:” Historic Resource Study, Bering Land Bridge
National Preserve. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Park Service.

Wolf, Eric R.
1982 Europe and the People without History. Berkeley: University of California
Press.

Wolfe, Robert J.
1982 Alaska’s Great Sickness, 1900: An Epidemic of Measles and Influenza in a
Virgin Soil Population. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
126(2):91-121.

Woodbury, Anthony C.
1984 Eskimo and Aleut Languages. /n Handbook of North American Indians, Vol.
5, Arctic. D. Damas, ed. Pp. 49-63. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institu-
tion.

Young, Oran R.
1992 Arctic Politics: Conflict and Cooperation in the Circumpolar North. Hanover:
University Press of New England.

Zagoskin, L.A.
1967 Lieutenant Zagoskin’s Travels in Russian America, 1842- 1844. Henry N.
Michael, ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS 227


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

encampment was described at Point Clarence
“on the north spit between the two harbours”
(Collinson 1976:72-73). A large number of
Natives were there in early September want-
ing to trade caribou and herring for Western
goods (Collinson 1976:72-73). In 1890,
Hooper (1964:20) described the fierce repu-
tation of Wales Ifupiat and their domination
of trade with people of the Siberian main-
land at East Cape—that they were feared by
people up and down the coast. Trade between
inland and coastal Ifiupiat at a trade fair in
Kotzebue Sound was described in 1880:

The coast natives bring oil, walrus-
hides, and sealskins; those from Cape
Prince of Wales bring whiskey, arms,
tobacco, and the skins of tame reindeer,
which they purchase from the Tchuktchis
[sic]. These articles are exchanged with
the natives of the interior for furs-wolf,
fox, marten, mink, &c. [Hooper 1964:
26]

Trade between the King Islanders and the
Siberian mainland peoples for reindeer leg-
gings is well documented in oral history, as
well as trade to Kotzebue and St. Michael
(Kaplan 1988:45).

Among the Ifiupiat of Northwest
Alaska, intersocietal and interethnic rela-
tions, in addition to trade, involved organized
warfare (Burch 1974). Blood feuding—the
act of seeking revenge for the death of one’s
relative—occurred intrasocietally, intersoci-
etally, and interethnically. The primary goal
of warfare, a societal or confederative en-
deavor, was to defend or expand the integrity
of boundaries at multiple levels or to plunder
an opposing group, taking women and chil-
dren as hostages and diverse kinds of wealth.
Additionally, warfare was a mechanism
employed to protect or claim trade routes

and key resource harvesting areas. Both
generalized (bow and arrow) and special-
ized technology (including bone, ivory, and
hide armor) were employed before the use
of firearms and metal breastplates. Russians,
and later, Americans, actively discouraged
indigenous warfare, as it was perceived to be
disruptive to the colonial, economic goals of
these non-Natives interlopers.

The relationships between the Chuk-
chi of Siberia and Alaska liiupiat involved
both trade and warfare, as is attested to in
an abundance of oral histories (Ray 1984:
287). In the 1790s, Kobelev reported that the
Chukchi had attacked the village of Wales
taking women and children as prisoners
(Ray 1975:53). Professional Ifiupiaq traders
often traveled into foreign territories without
consequence, although they were frequently
heavily armed (Ray 1975:88).

Because of the structure of the analy-
ses in this monograph, the ideology of the
Ifupiat of Northwest Alaska is described in
detail in chapter 7. Therefore, this topic is not
redundantly presented in this sociocultural
overview.

The Context of Euro-American Contact

We come now to 1898, During the
next two years more than thirty thousand
persons—at least seven times its popula-
tion—would overrun Seward Peninsula.
From the reconstruction of this history,
it is apparent that on the eve of the gold
tush, the Eskimos were so far accultur-
ated to the western life style that their
own culture can no longer be discussed
mainly in terms of traditional content,
but in terms of adaptation and accep-
tance of large parts of American culture.
The popular notion that Eskimos lived
in an aboriginal condition at the end of

22

From Hunters to Herders


good nor evil, but it is extremely danger-
ous to the person who does not under-
stand how to deal with it. {Birket-Smith
1959: 164]

Birket-Smith (1959), based on his survey of
Eskimo cultures in the 1930s, compared this
force—sila—to Polynesian mana. Personi-
fied sila were found in the form of ifiua.

While lfiupiaq ideologies regard-
ing souls varied regionally, multiple themes
that reappeared in somewhat different forms
through circumpolar. A brief overview of
some of these conceptualizations of souls
provides a framework for analyzing both
Ifiupiaq concepts of animal souls, their rela-
tionships to human souls; and the ideologi-
cal responses of these indigenous peoples to
Christianity and Western logic.

Nelson (1971:422) reported multiple
distinct concepts of soul forms in the Bering
Strait area in the late 1800s. One variation
of soul provided life-giving warmth and had
the form of a body. However, this type of the
soul was without sense and took flight into
the air when a person died (Merkur 1991:5).
This life-giving soul has been interpreted as
being a breath soul, acquired at birth with an
infant’s first respiration (Merkur 1991:35).
After death, a breath soul became a name
soul, functioning to guard future genera-
tions, particularly protecting namesakes. The
breath soul concept closely was related to the
idea of ifiua—an indweller that “imparted
a distinctive character to physical phenom-
enon” (Merkur 1991:35).

Other accounts of souls provided in-
sights into the overall spiritual dimensions of
Ifupiaq life. For example, the Ifiupiat of Ber-
ing Strait and the caribou hunting Nunamiut
of Interior Arctic Alaska were documented as
attributing consequential importance to both

CHAPTER 7: THE CREATION OF “HEAVEN”

the breath soul and ifiua or “shade” of a per-
son (Gubser 1965:206; Nelson 1971; Merkur
1991:7). Under certain circumstances, ifiua
suffered soul loss requiring shamanistic
intervention. The “shadow” soul resembled
the person to whom it belonged in form, but
only was seen by shamans. The loss of this
soul, or shadow, brought about death through
its departure and never returned to the body,
though it remained in communication with
the ifiua of the deceased person (Merkur
1991:7-8).

Another Bering Strait soul concept
reported by Nelson (1971) had the form of a
body, was sentient, and enjoyed an afterlife.
The Nunamiut recognized the ishuma or
“mind soul,” which provided memory and
problem solving abilities, and was the reposi-
tory of emotion (Merkur 1991:7). The loss of
ishuma caused senility or death.

Ifiupiaq metaphysical pluralism
distinguished between the variety of souls
that were part of a body during life, some of
which departed upon the death of an indi-
vidual (Ingold 1987:246; Merkur 1991:35).
Only “free souls” were able to leave the body
during sleep, trances, and illnesses without
causing any loss of life. However, if a free
soul were lost or abducted while outside the
body, failing to return in a timely fashion,
the life of the afflicted individual was limited
unless a shaman was enlisted to recover the
roaming soul (Ingold 1987:246).

Like the Greenlandic Inuit (Oswalt
1979:153), the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska
felt that certain possessions had a spiritual
essence or soul, possibly even a part of the
owner’s soul. To barter, lose, or have some-
thing stolen, including animals killed, was to
give up a part of one’s self. Conversely, other
individuals potentially acquired power from

From Hunters to Herders

157


CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

As Ray (1965:95) concluded, in both the so-
cial evolutionary assimilationist and external
and internal colonial models, the concept that
indigenous people had preexisting land rights
was virtually nonexistent (cf., Dyck 1989;
Wolf 1982; Young 1992:18).

Concurrently, there were operative
stereotypes of the indigenous peoples of
Alaska as being “savage,” “heathen,” “primi-
tives” living in an ahistorical and somewhat
pristine state of barbarism awaiting the op-
portunity to advance to the socially “higher”
Euro-American branch of humanity. These
aboriginal peoples made a living by what
was perceived to be haphazard and opportu-
nistic wandering throughout this vacant land,
grasping food and raw materials whenever
intersected. As Jackson propagandized the
situation, the tenuous “natural” existence of
particularly the “Eskimo” had been made
even more marginal by the commercial
activities of New Bedford whalers and their
extraction of bowhead whale and Pacific
walrus and, through their presence and the
availability of firearms, wild herds of caribou
that once roamed the Seward Peninsula in
abundance. From the Euro-American point
of view, there was neither an indigenous
system of patterned use of resources nor any
recognizable configuration of land tenure or
polity providing guiding principles.

The importation of reindeer and the
institution of herding in Alaska were present-
ed by their promoters as providing indige-
nous peoples with an economic alternative to
and replacement for hunting, trapping, fish-
ing, and gathering. The pastoral activity of
herding, as perceived by its advocates, both
provided a more civilized economic base
and, secondarily, a reliable food supply. The
shift from hunting to herding was thought

eventually to result in more patterned and
reduced mobility of the wandering Eskimos.

“Close herding,” in which herders
maintained constant contact with and vigi-
lance over their stock, was the paradigm pro-
moted by the federal government, missionar-
ies, and the Sami instructors for the first three
decades after reindeer had been imported.
Close herding required a movement from
more inland winter herding sites to summer
coastal range in imitation of the animals’
natural habits. In fact, though the Seward
Peninsula had little timber. The relocation
of the primary governmental herding station
from Teller to Eaton was related to the avail-
ability of wooded country on the Unalakleet
River for winter herding at the latter site.

As explored in preceding chapters,
reindeer herding was inextricably connected
to the institutions of the school and church
in the model of assimilating indigenous
peoples. Not coincidentally, reindeer stations
were the geographic focus of herding and the
location of missions and schools—during the
early years, one and the same. In a parallel
fashion, those directing herding programs
were simultaneously teachers and preachers
during the early decades of the introduction
of reindeer into Alaska. Even when church
and state were both formally and, in theory,
functionally separated with the end of the
Jacksonian era, pragmatically the church and
school, along with trading facilities, became
the nucleus for newly imposed pastoral set-
tlement patterns and ingathering of more dis-
persed Ifiupiat into “villages” in Northwest
Alaska (Burch 1975:277). It was the opinion
of the missionary/teachers and government
officials that indigenous peoples could best
be civilized in the context of Western style
communities and “normal” domestic units,

122

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

reindeer and the Lomen family involvement
in this industry, are claimed to be the defini-
tive “story of the Alaska reindeer industry.”

Critical genealogical, residential, kin-
ship, economic, and other data were obtained
from the archival records of the Alaska
Reindeer Service and the Bureau of Indian
Affairs. Alaska Reindeer Service archival
information included tabulations of reindeer
by owners, correspondence related to the
issuance of range permits, the inheritance of
reindeer estates based on the relatedness of
individuals, circulars issued to Ifiupiaq herd-
ers and local superintendents, and overall
governmental policies and accepted practices
as revealed by the contents of memoranda.
Bureau of Indian Affairs village censuses
enumerated members of the communities
by household; relationships of individuals
in each domestic unit; age, gender, place of
birth, ethnicity (“race”), and, occasionally,
occupation of everyone in the community at
the time of the census. For some of the years,
the material cumulative assets of household
members were itemized, described, and
evaluated in terms of dollars by the teachers
who conducted the censuses.

The annual reports of the Bureau
of Education related to the introduction of
domestic reindeer span the period of 1892 to
1914. The reports from 1892 to 1908 (for the
year 1906) were written somewhat generi-
cally by Sheldon Jackson and were designed
as much to promote support for his assimi-
lationist activities as to provide a factual
account of the reindeer and education events
of the previous year. Therefore, the reindeer
reports, like many sources of ethnohistory,
must be viewed with a critical eye because
of their biases. For example, the portraits of
eight children brought from the Bering Strait

area to Carlisle Indian School in 1897, and
how they appeared in 1898 dressed solely in
Western clothing and hairstyles appropriate
to the period, speak loudly of the colonial
and assimilationist perspective of Jackson
and his supporters. It has also been docu-
mented that Jackson was a master of using
printed media to further his objectives (e.g.,
Hinckley 1961:93). Hinckley (1961:93-94,
131) concluded that the annual reports were
padded with information from the previous
year, that the use of the first person pronoun
indicated Jackson’s egotistical involvement
in the reindeer project, and that Jackson was
assigning himself federal titles in these docu-
ments before the posts officially existed. For
example, Jackson referred to himself as the
U.S. General Agent of Education in Alaska in
1884, although this post was not created until
April 11, 1885.

There were also multiple govern-
mental sources from various periods of time
intended to assess the status of Alaska and
its resources in general, and Alaska Natives
more specifically, including their education,
economy, and “progress” into civilization.
An example of such “academically” authored
reports includes Anderson and Eells (1935)
for the period 1930-1931. That document
ostensibly focused on the status of educa-
tion and the potential of Natives for learning.
Anderson and Eells were commissioned at a
time when the education of Alaska Natives
had been placed under the Office of Indian
Affairs, rather than the U.S. Office of Educa-
tion (Anderson and Eells 1935:5). Another
example of a governmentally funded study
is that of S. Hadwen and L.J. Palmer (1922),
reported in a U.S. Department of Agriculture
Bulletin, Reindeer in Alaska, dedicated to the
reindeer enterprise initiated by Jackson, and

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 3: THE HOPE AND PROMISE OF UBLASAUN: A HERDER'S STORY

on the lives of the Barr family in subsequent
years.

Stanley Kivyearzruk from Wales had
entered the herding program and became an
independent herder by 1905. Thomas knew
Stanley through his visits to Wales. Early
in 1905, Stanley Kivyearzruk’s apprentices,
Harry Kigrook and Frank Asunok, built
houses that served as reindeer camps about
halfway between the tip of Espenberg and
the mouth of the Goodhope River. Harry
Kigrook was the father of Fannie Kigrook—
who later became Gideon’s second wife. The
formation of this herd adjacent to Cape Espe-
nberg piqued Thomas’s interest in acquiring
his own reindeer.

By 1905, Thomas and his broth-
ers were too mature, and more importantly,
too well established in life with large kin
followings and investment capital to have
reduced their status to that of mere reindeer
apprentices with no guarantee of reward at
the end of a period of indentureship. At this
time reindeer became more readily available
to those Ijiupiat who were capable of pur-
chasing them without serving the mandatory
apprenticeships. Thomas purchased his initial
five reindeer from James Keok of Wales on
August 14, 1905, for five fox skins and $100
in cash.

On July 27, 1907, Thomas bought
13 more reindeer in two separate purchases
from James Cross, who was superintendent
of the Wales Congregational Mission. Thom-
as’s brother Gilbert also purchased reindeer,
bringing the total of their combined herd to
approximately 100 animals. Though the bill
of sale designated these reindeer as going
to Deering, they were located on the range
next to Cape Espenberg and to the south as
far as the Lane River range used by Stanley

Kivyearzruk. Those reindeer were purchased
for the Barr brothers—Thomas, Ahvalook,
and Gilbert. Soon other people in the Es-
penberg area obtained reindeer, including
Thomas’s youngest brother Peter, who had
served as an apprentice for William Ookonok
and had been adopted out of the Barr family
as a child; Harry Kigrook; James Kivetoruk
Moses; and Adrian and Walter Barr, Ahva-
look’s sons.

Between 1905 and 1910, Thomas
experienced some major events that altered
his status and role in his social network. His
eldest brother Ahvalook died, leaving Thom-
as as the oldest male in the sibling group
responsible for the other brothers and their
families and Ahvalook’s adolescent sons.

In that period Thomas also wed Emily—a
young woman half his age, stepdaughter of
Kiyutuk, and the maternal niece of aspiring
reindeer herder Charlie Goodhope. Neither
the age difference nor what appears to be an
arranged marriage was atypical of the Ifiupiat
of Northwest Alaska at that time. Shortly
thereafter, Thomas began raising a family.
Lastly, during these years, Thomas and his
brothers were involved in both “traditional”
and more contemporary economic activities,
including reindeer herding, trapping, hunting,
fishing, trading, and seasonal wage employ-
ment in the mines near Deering.

Owning reindeer brought about
changes in the lives of the families involved.
Herders had winter homes made out of
driftwood and sod located on the coastline.
Herders’ families remained on the coast
most of the time. Most men trapped, hunted
seals, herded reindeer, and traded fox skins
for flour, sugar, coffee, and other goods from
these camps. They used reindeer mostly
during the winter and in July, when they

50

From Hunters to Herders


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bailey, Alfred M.

1948

Birds of Arctic Alaska. Popular Series, Number 8. Denver: The Colorado Mu-
seum of Natural History.

Bancroft, Hubert H.
1970 [1886] History of Alaska, 1730-1885. Darien: Hafner Publishing Co.

Barr, Gideon Kahlook, Sr.

1979

1982

1984a

1984b

1987

1988

1990

199la

1991b

1991c

1991d

199le

William Allockeok. Jn 1 Remember III. N. Itchoak, ed. Pp. 72-77. Nome: Keg-
oayah Kozga Public Library, Inc.

Interviews for the Eskimo Heritage Program of Kawerak, Shishmaref, Febru-
ary 1982 with Albert Ningeulook. Nome: Kawerak, Inc.

Interviews for the Eskimo Heritage Program of Kawerak, Shishmaref, June 6,
1983, with Georgianna Ahgupuk. Nome: Kawerak, Inc,

Interview for the Eskimo Heritage Program of Kawerak, Shishmaref, Septem-
ber 27, 1983, with Virgil Katchatag and Eleanor Oozeva. Nome: Kawerak, Inc.
Interview on Bering Land Bridge Cultural Resources Inventory, Nome, May
15-16, 1987, with Jeanne Schaaf. Edited by Herbert O. Anungazuk. Anchor-
age: Division of Cultural Resources, Alaska Region, U.S. National Park Ser-
vice.

Self interview for Bureau of Indian Affairs, ANCSA Office, regarding 14(h)(1)
sites, Shishmaref, January 10, 1988. Nome: Kawerak, Inc.

Videotaped interview for U.S. National Park Service, Shishmaref, September
1990 with Jim Boyd. Transcribed by Herbert O. Anungazuk. Anchorage: Divi-
sion of Cultural Resources, Alaska Region, U.S. National Park Service.
Interview regarding place names in the Cape Espenberg area, Shishmaref,
July 11, 1991 with Ernest S. Burch, Jr. Fairbanks: Department of Anthropol-
ogy, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Interview on the cultural history of the area in general. Shishmaref, July 12,
1991, with Igor Krupnik. Fairbanks: Department of Anthropology, University
of Alaska Fairbanks.

Interview regarding KTZ-149, at KTZ-149, July 17, 1991, with Craig Ger-
lach, Jim Simon, and Jeanne Schaaf. Fairbanks: Department of Anthropology,
University of Alaska Fairbanks; Anchorage: Division of Cultural Resources,
Alaska Region, U.S. National Park Service.

Videotaped interview regarding reindeer herding, Cape Espenberg (Ublasaun),
July 18, 1991, with Herbert O. Anungazuk. Anchorage: Division of Cultural
Resources, Alaska Region, U.S. National Park Service. Video photography by
Tom Wolf, IMPACT, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Interview regarding reindeer herding, Shishmaref, September 21, 1991, with
Jim Simon and Jeanne Schaaf, Fairbanks: Department of Anthropology,

206

FROM HUNTERS TO HERDERS


leads and breathing holes, sometimes trav-
eling as far as 50 miles from the village to
do so. They set seal nets at leads or through
holes cut into the ice. Netted seals were val-
ued, as their blood was fresh and uncoagulat-
ed. Seals taken during the winter were used
for human and dog food, clothing, and oil
rendered from the fat. An active working dog
team consumed a seal each day. Nets were
used for sealing until the ice conditions were
such that hunters risked losing their technol-
ogy (Eisler 1978:9-10).

Winter settlements frequently were
located near lagoons or channels from which
fish were taken through the ice. Old men and
women contributed to the household’s food
supply by ice fishing (Eisler 1978:12).

Other animals hunted during the win-
ter included polar bear, caribou, and a variety
of small game. Occasionally, men hunted
polar bears, using dogs to chase and tire the
prey. Polar bear meat was highly valued and
their pelts used for clothing. Caribou hunt-
ing was very difficult during winter months
because of the rigors associated with mov-
ing great distances across the windswept
and snow covered tundra. However, a small
number of these animals were harvested by
individual hunters using bows and arrows.
Small game, such as arctic hare and ptarmi-
gan, were snared during the winter. Since
these animals were not found on the coast,
hunters traveled inland to stream and river
beds where willow thickets abounded. Fox,
wolverine, and small numbers of wolves
were hunted and trapped, their hides essential
for the production of trim and ruffs on winter
clothing (Eisler 1978:12).

In late spring, the food shortages that
often accompanied the end of winter were al-
leviated. Families drove ptarmigan and arctic

CHAPTER 5: HOME RANGE TO RANGE WARS

hare into nets. Waterfowl, entangled with
bolas or shot with arrows, were a welcomed
source of fresh meat in the spring. Arctic
ground squirrels and muskrats were snared
during this season. Gull eggs, and occasion-
ally those of ducks and geese, were gathered
(Eisler 1978:13).

While there was still adequate snow
to enable hunters to use dog sleds, families
moved from the winter village to spring seal
camps located northeast and southwest along
the northern Seward Peninsula coast. Hunters
took seals from kayaks on the open water of
the Chukchi Sea, or they approached sleep-
ing ugruk on the ice, scratching the ice as
if they were other seals. For the people of
Shishmaref, ugruk (bearded seals) were the
most favored of the seal species, especially
during their northward migration in the
spring. Ugruk were a source of food, oil and
raw materials, with stomachs and intestines
used to construct rain coats and translucent
skylights, and hides used to cover kayaks, as
boot soles, and as the source of rawhide line.
Smaller hair seals provided human and dog
food, lamp oil, clothing skins, and storage
pokes (Eisler 1978:14-15).

When the snow had melted from the
tundra after seal hunting, families coopera-
tively hunted caribou by driving them into
lakes, where they were dispatched by hunters
in kayaks. Long inugshug (fences) of cari-
bou antlers were used to guide and funnel
the movement of the animals into the water.
The meat was dried and stored in seal oil
in sealskin pokes. The pokes were cached
underground in a hole with a wooden floor
and covered with logs and sod (Eisler 1978:
15-16).

As the days became longer and
warmer, families moved from spring seal-

From Hunters to Herders

119


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

there were multiple small herd holdings,
there were problems associated with inheri-
tance, the demand for reindeer in local mar-
kets had declined, and there was a general
reexamination of Bureau of Education policy
(Murray 1988:213; Stern et al. 1980:46-47).
Under this cooperative system, reindeer from
one village or a number of proximal villages
were to be combined under the direct man-
agement of a paid chief herder.

The government used the idea of
organizing and implementing reindeer fairs
to promote the idea of cooperative manage-
ment based on shares, as well as to encour-
age competition and individual pride in being
a good herder and master of the skills nec-
essary to achieve that status (Lomen 1954:
113; Olson 1969a:41- 44; USBOE 1917:8-9,
73-82). Shields was alleged to have made the
following statement justifying the fairs at the
first gatherings:

In engaging in the reindeer industry
there are two things to be studied—the
reindeer and the Eskimo who has to be
employed to take care of them. The Bu-
reau of Education can claim no qualifica-
tion for the scientific study of reindeer,
but the employees of the Bureau do
claim to be especially qualified to handle
the Eskimo. That is our work. We must
never forget that to the Bureau of Educa-
tion the reindeer industry is just one
means of development of the Eskimo. To
the white owner, the Eskimo is just one
means for the proper development of the
reindeer industry. That is important to
remember. [Lomen 1954:116]

The fairs began in 1915 and ended
in 1918 with the deadly influenza epidemic.
Fair events included contests to determine
the fastest sled reindeer, the strongest animal,
the best driving reindeer, the most skillful

lassoer, the cleanest and fastest butcher, the
top reindeer song composition, and general
skills, such as bow and arrow and rifle shoot-
ing and snowshoe racing (USBOE 1917:
73-82). The first fair was held at the inte-
rior Seward Peninsula community of Igloo.
Subsequent fairs were held at Akiak, Noatak,
Noorvik, and Unalakleet (Stern et al. 1980:
46; Ray personal communication).

In 1918 the Spanish influenza epi-
demic swept the Seward Peninsula. Between
Saint Michael and Cape Prince of Wales,
the epidemic claimed an estimated 1,200
victims (Andrews 1939:127). From an area
between Wales and Shishmaref northeast to
Cape Espenberg, the Ifupiat were spared the
effects of the disease, primarily because of
the rigid and armed quarantine organized by
Shishmaref people. Superintendent Shields
also died during this epidemic.

While Jackson was criticized for not
allowing the Ifiupiat to harvest animals for
personal use, it is apparent that those who
replaced him shared the same views on the
domestic consumption of reindeer. Although
not explicitly stated, the reindeer were now
viewed as having commercial potential that
best could be exploited by consolidating
herds under central management—a Western,
corporate model. While the Ifiupiat, in theory,
benefited economically from such a con-
solidation, the relatively low level of active
Native participation in herding negated the
assimilative function that had been professed
as the primary rationale for initiating the im-
portation of reindeer and herding to Alaska.

It is unclear from the record, howev-
er, the degree to which governmental agents,
including Lopp, were cognizant of the fact
that through the process of cooperatization,
this policy resulted in the diminishment of

From Hunters to Herders

103


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

The reference by Brevig to keeping the deal
secret reveals his knowledge that minimally,
some would perceive the action to be inap-
propriate.

Brevig had been convinced by attor-
ney Lomen that the mission’s contract with
the government was not enforceable or bind-
ing Johnshoy 1944:287-290). Nevertheless,
Lopp threatened legal action against the mis-
sionary society. Additionally, R.P. Claxton,
Commissioner of Education, wrote in 1915
that the sale of the reindeer by the Norwe-
gian Evangelical Lutheran Mission was in
direct violation of the spirit and letter of the
contract the mission had entered into with the
government in 1909. Claxton declared the
sale null and void and asked the mission to
return the reindeer or legal action would be
taken against them.

Brevig’s account of the subsequent
events follows:

We telephoned Mr. Lopp and told
him that he could start legal action if he
wished, This he attempted to do but was
given the decision that the case had to
be tried in the district where the reindeer
were. Attorney Lomen informed us later
through fetter, that during the summer
they had tried to bring this case up for
a hearing in the court at Nome, but
the United States prosecuting attorney
refused to take the case, because they
[the U.S. government] had no ground to
stand on, Thus this saga ended. [John-
shoy 1944:290]

As a final note on this affair, Brevig
recorded in his diary that in 1907, “Dr.
Jackson wrote me privately, ‘Do not let them
bluff you to give back the reindeer: they are
your property and can not be taken’” (John-
shoy 1944-288-289).

Lomen’s view of the reindeer indus-
try is clearly accentuated by how he de-
scribed it:

To call it the reindeer industry was
to make it seem more substantial than
it really was. At the time we entered it,
unfenced public domain was roamed
by herds of semiwild docile reindeer.
Herding was done on foot by Lapps and
Eskimo. Herds were small, animals valu-
able. Except for a few corals and range
shelters there was little or no equipment.
There were no abattoirs or cold-storage
plants, no refrigerated ships, no “outside
markets” for meats and hides, {Lomen
1954:76]

The Lomens continued to expand
their reindeer empire. In 1917 they pur-
chased 1,717 reindeer from Samis Andrew
Bahr, John Nilima, and M.I.K. Nillika. They
bought 2,032 reindeer from Nils Klementsen
and Ole Bahr at Egavik in 1918. The Lomens
added 819 reindeer purchased from Peter
Bals and others at Egavik in 1919 (Lomen
1954:87). By 1918 the Eskimo owned 60
percent and the Samis 23 percent of ‘the rein-
deer (Spencer 1984:281). And in 1921 the
Lomens purchased 1,060 reindeer from Peter
and Isaac Hatta at Buckland. (Lomen 1954:
87). While the Society of Friends at Kotze-
bue wanted to get out of the reindeer busi-
ness in 1927, they thought it inappropriate to
sell reindeer to herders who were not Native,
so they sold their animals to Ifiupiaq herders
rather than to the Lomens. However, with
few missionaries having qualms about the
sale of reindeer to non-Natives, the Lomens’
total purchase in the beginning of the 1920s
was approximately 8,700 reindeer, distribut-
ed in range between Buckland, Egavik, Kot-
zebue, and Teller. Continuing their practice

From Hunters to Herders

105


PROJECT SUMMARY

This ethnohistorical study focuses on the lives of a group of Ifiupiaq reindeer herders living at
the winter reindeer herding and seal hunting settlement of Ublasaun on the northern Seward
Peninsula between 1918 and 1925. Thomas Makaiqtaq Barr and his family and associates
were drawn from hunting into reindeer herding as part of a plan missionary / educator Shel-
don Jackson set in motion in the 1890s to improve the lives of Alaska Natives. More gener-
ally, this study aims to analyze lfiupiaq sociocultural change associated with the introduction
of reindeer herding in Alaska, as well as how this process has been portrayed in Western his-
tory. The authors interviewed elders, particularly the late Gideon Barr, Thomas Makaiqtaq’s
son, to obtain first-hand knowledge and memories of stories passed down over generations.
They also relied on other oral histories and ethnographic documentation of Ifiupiaq culture,
archival records from the Alaska Reindeer Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the
written memoirs of non-Native teachers, missionaries, reindeer agents, and frontier entre-
preneurs. Research for the study was conducted in the early 1990s as part of the One Man’s
Heritage Project within the National Park Service’s Shared Beringian Heritage Program.
The One Man’s Heritage Project was a long-term, interdisciplinary study of Ifiupiaq reindeer
herding in Northwest Alaska, centering on the past settlement of Ublasaun.

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From Hunters to Herders iii


CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

few animals every year. At the end of the
five-year apprenticeship period he was
graduated to ownership, with some forty
head of reindeer; and as an owner he
could, if necessary, employ an apprentice
himself. [Lomen 1954:43-44]

In 1893 it was decided that appren-
tices would receive two reindeer the first year
and five animals the second. The apprentices
were to be encouraged to remain with the
herd at Port Clarence another four years. If
they remained for five years, they were to be
given an additional 10 to 15 animals and al-
lowed to leave (Olson 1969a:22). In 1894 the
terms of the apprenticeship changed again,
with the apprentices receiving two reindeer
the first year, five the second, and ten the
third and for each year thereafter (Ray 1965:
82). Healy was opposed to the idea of de-
ferred payment, as he felt that the lfupiat
were incapable of comprehending the re-
ceipt of something years into the future, and
incapable of working under the concept of
deferred gratification (Ray 1965:81-82).

It is noteworthy that despite the al-
leged starvation, Ifiupiat did not enthusiasti-
cally receive the recruitment of apprentices.
At the end of the first two years, only five of
the 17 apprentices were over the age of 25
(Olson 1969a:22, 29). It has been concluded
that:

Apprentices drawn to the Reindeer
Station in the first several years were
atypical Eskimos, and those who were
not entirely atypical at the start soon
found that hunting and fishing were
more to their liking, after all, and so
neglected their herding. [Ray 1965:81]

Ray’s conclusions are supported by
Jackson’s policies as to the type of “Eski-
mos” who should be sought as apprentices:

In selecting apprentices it would
not be well to choose the best huntsman
among the Eskimo, for the fact that a
man is a successful huntsman shows that
his strongest interests lie in the direction
of a hunter’s life; that this view is correct
has been demonstrated by our apprentic-
es. The liking for hunting is a hindrance
to the interest in herding and taking care
of reindeer, and hunters are not willing
to settle down to the somewhat confining
life of a herder. To this should be added
that all those among the Eskimos who
live where there is seal fishing, and who
on that account are good, zealous hunts-
men, are the ones who in the longest run
will be able to maintain themselves with-
out reindeer, They will longest be able
to get their support from the seal. Such
apprentices should first be chosen who
are likely to be the first to need help...to
wit, those Eskimos who live among
the fjords and along the streams [those
dependent upon fish]...The chief thing
to be considered is their intelligence.
[Jackson 1896:86]

However, it is noteworthy that most of the
apprentices in the early years came from the
more wealthy families at Wales—the larg-
est and one of the most affluent sea mammal
hunting and trading populations. Further-
more, as discussed below, the first Ifupiaq to
receive his own herd, Charlie Antisarlook, an
umialiq and shaman, was from Ayasayuk or
Cape Nome, a large marine mammal hunting
site.

In the summer of 1894 Jackson hired
the Norwegian William J. Kjellmann to act
as superintendent of the Teller Reindeer Sta-
tion. As a young man, Kjellmann had worked
as a herder in Norway and was the first ex-
perienced participant in the reindeer project
(Jackson 1895:10, 1896:14). Since Kjell-
mann had worked with reindeer in Norway,
he concurred with Jackson’s view that Samis

82

From Hunters to Herders


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

some of the same Ifiupiat whom they had
encountered at Chamisso Island the previous
year, including people from Cape Prince of
Wales (Bockstoce 1977a:122). At the end of
September, hostilities broke out between the
Blossom’s crew and Buckland River Ifupiat
at Chamisso Island, concluding in the deaths
of both crew members and Ifiupiat (Beechey
1968; Bockstoce 1977a:130-131). When the
Blossom \eft Kotzebue Sound in the fall of
1827, it was the last British ship to go north
of Bering Strait for the next two decades
(Bockstoce 1977a:132).

In 1848 a search began for the miss-
ing Franklin expedition, resulting in an
increased non-Native presence in the Bering
Strait, as well as the earliest overland expedi-
tion from Kotzebue Sound across the Seward
Peninsula and into Norton Sound (Collinson
1976; Ray 1975:143). Between 1848 and
1854 nine ships, eight of the British Royal
Navy and one private yacht, sailed along the
coast of Northwest Alaska and dispatched
parties inland, seeking clues to the where-
abouts of Franklin and his men (Ray 1975:
141-148). Consequently, the inhabitants of
the interior of the Seward Peninsula became
less isolated from direct Euro-American
contact. The crews of the Plover and Rattle-
snake (Ray 1975:173-174) constructed two
houses at Port Clarence in 1850 and 1853.
The overland expeditions included that of
William Hobson from Port Clarence to Kot-
zebue Sound in 1854 through Tuksuk Chan-
nel, across Imuruk Basin, and up the Kuzi-
trin River to the interior Seward Peninsula
villages of Kauwerak and Soiyuk. Hobson
followed the Spafarief or Kiwalik River to
the southern coast of Kotzebue Sound, on
to Chamisso Island, and across to the Good-
hope River, reaching the village of Pittak-

puk (Pitak, near Pittaq bluff) on the river’s
floodplain, where people there had a good
supply of caribou (Burch 1991; Ray 1983:
217; Williss n.d.:36). Hobson then went on to
the present site of the community of Deering
and Chamisso Island (Ray 1975:153).

Between 1865-1867 more non-Na-
tives penetrated the interior of the Seward
Peninsula to construct the proposed Western
Union Pacific telegraph line, a project that
was never completed. However, it did lead
to the establishment of a telegraph station at
Port Clarence in 1866, referred to as Libby-
sville at the time (Ray 1975:157-169, 173-
174). Participants in the endeavor noted that
there was a scarcity of caribou in the Unalak-
leet area in 1867 (Ray 1975:164).

More frequent, diverse, and, ulti-
mately, sustained contact between Ifiupiat
and non-Natives in the study area resulted
from the expansion of the American com-
mercial whaling industry into the Bering
Sea, Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea, and Arctic
Ocean in the mid-1800s (Bockstoce 1986).
Serious attempts to take bowhead whales
in the Arctic, principally for baleen and oil,
commenced in 1848, when the whaler Su-
perior sailed through Bering Strait (Bock-
stoce 1986:21; Foote 1965). Although the
industry began to decline as early as the
1860s, commercial whaling continued into
the 1900s and brought about more sustained
contact between lfiupiat and non-Natives
when steamships began overwintering along
the northwest and arctic coasts of Alaska,
and shore-whaling commenced (Bockstoce
1977b, 1986:232).

Although the history of whaling is
lengthy, complex, and interesting (see Bock-
stoce 1986 for a more detailed account), the
most important outcome for these purposes

From Hunters to Herders

27


CHAPTER 6: THE MYTH OF THE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY

the sociocultural context of Ifupiaq life dur-
ing the entirety of the historical period, indig-
enous leadership at this level was not eradi-
cated successfully. In many cases, people
possessing the qualities of umialiit tended to
be those who filled more formal positions of
authority, such as officers of reindeer com-
panies and associations, or heads of “tribal”
governments.

However, in the case of angatkuut,
their competition with missionaries was
decidedly more confrontational and mutually
threatening. One indigenous solution to this
conflict was for angatkuut to assume posi-
tions of influence within the church, thereby
maintaining their roles as spiritual leaders—a
classic case of syncretism. Since the mis-
sionaries considered many of the practices of
angatkuut to be satanic in origin, there was
no requirement for the Ifupiat to abandon
beliefs in the validity of shamanistic power
or spirituality. Rather, the overt practice of
shamanism was driven underground and,
seemingly, subordinated to Christian ritual-
ism and clerical spiritual guidance. However,
through oral histories and ceremonialism,
angatkuut remained important sociocultural
entities. That is, both benevolent and malevo-
lent powers and feats of prominent angatkuut
endured as a part of the cultural tradition of
the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska well into the
early 1990s.

Ifupiat attempts at incorporating
what they perceived to be the strange views
and behaviors of missionaries, teachers, other
government officials, and non-Native entre-
preneurs were driven by indigenous points of
reference and meanings. The Ifiupiat referred
to teachers and both lay and missionary rein-
deer superintendents as “‘oomaliks” (umiali-
it), a title extended to them because of their

control over western resources and reindeer
(Jackson 1896:58-59). Healy, as captain of
the revenue steamer Bear, was referred to
as umialiqpak or “big umialiq” based on his
power and control of governmental resources
and teachers, and his authority to carry out
sanctions against both Whites and Natives.
Missionaries, teachers, and govern-
ment workers basically considered the role of
women in Ifiupiaq society to be outside the
realm of power and influence—a domestic,
subordinate role at best. The ways in which
Ifupiaq women exercised power—through
controlling harvested resources and orches-
trating social arrangements—were either
misunderstood or ignored on the part of the
primarily White male representatives of
Western culture in Alaska during the period
in question (Ellanna and Sherrod 1993).
However, because Western inheritance rules
and other aspects of non-Native legal sys-
tems were imposed on the Ifiupiat, govern-
mental representatives were obliged to deal
with some women as reindeer owners. For
example, the influenza and measles epidem-
ics of 1900, with the attendant death of a
large number of male herders and owners,
led to widows being assigned reindeer own-
ership by government authorities. In Charlie
Antisarlook’s case, his death and that of his
two brothers made his half-Russian, half-
Yup’ik wife Mary (also known as Sinruk,
Sinuk, or Synrock Mary) one of the largest
Ifiupiaq herders in the study area (Jack-
son 1902:124). The Whites, with their lack
of understanding of the social and related
economic roles of women in Ifiupiaq society,
treated Mary as an anomalous case.
Because non-Natives tended to be
ignorant of the covert yet powerful socio-
economic roles of Ifiupiaq women, they

From Hunters to Herders

147




CHAPTER 4: THE INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER HERDING AND MISSIONARY EDUCATION

and Company during the year in which the
events of this relief expedition unfolded
(Brower 1942:viii, 212-213). A reindeer
“relief” expedition was organized during the
first couple of months of 1898, led by Lieu-
tenants E. P. Bertholf, David Jarvis, and sur-
geon Dr. Samuel Call of the Revenue Marine
Service (Jackson 1898b:26-27). Reindeer
from the Teller, Golovnin Bay, and Wales
Stations and Charlie Antisarlook’s herd were
collected, totaling 448 reindeer to be driven
to Point Barrow. Lopp, Antisarlook, and an
apprentice named Ootenna drove the herd
across frozen Kotzebue Sound, through the
mountains, west of Point Hope, and along the
coast to Point Barrow under what the Ifiupiat
advised were perilous conditions, arriving in
March 1898 (Brower 1942:212-213; Jackson
1898b: 19-31; Lazell 1960:64-65; Ray 1975:
239-240; Stern et al. 1980:28-29)—a seem-
ingly more “successful” expedition than

that on the Yukon, as only 66 reindeer were
lost. However, according to Brower (1942:
213) the reindeer were nothing but “skin and
bones” upon their arrival. When the relief
expedition reached Point Barrow, it was ap-
parent that the whalers, with the assistance of
Ifupiat and personnel from the shore-based
whaling station, had rescued many provi-
sions from the stranded vessels. Addition-
ally, according to Brower (1942:212-213),
the staff of the Liebes Whaling Station

under his direction and with the assistance
of local hunters had adequately supplied the
stranded whalers with food, and only 180 of
the animals driven north were killed for meat
(Jackson 1898b:21).

But perhaps it was just as well that
Lopp started back to Wales with the dog
team almost at once...had he stayed
around longer he might have realized

that he’d really been driving “coals to
Newcastle,” so to speak, because of all
the fresh meat our Eskimos had been
bringing in for weeks. [Brower 1942:
213]

The remaining reindeer were used to
start mission herds at Point Hope (Episco-
pal) and Point Barrow (Presbyterian), with
34 going to the former and 391 to the latter
(Jackson 1898b; Ray 1983:127). Importantly,
since most of the herders and drivers on the
expedition were Ifiupiat, Jackson argued
that this event proved that “Eskimos” could
be turned into herders if given a chance and
the proper supervision by Whites (Jackson
1898b:28).

Although the evidence about food
availability during the end of the 1890s is
somewhat confused and the commercial
harvests of the bowhead whale and the Pa-
cific walrus had reduced their populations,
temporary food shortages, usually in spring,
were well documented in the oral tradition of
the Ifiupiat of Northwest Alaska before the
commercial whaling and mining periods of
contact history. The letters of Lopp and his
wife Ellen suggest that, despite short periods
of hunger, the vast majority of food being
eaten by the herders and apprentices at Wales
Station between 1893 and 1902 was com-
posed of sea mammals (hair seals, ugruk, and
whales), fish, migratory waterfowl, and other
resources taken by local Ifiupiat (Smith 1984:
80, 114, 118, 184, 210, 254, 375, 431, 436).
However, what is meaningful in this context
is that, despite the importation of reindeer
to “feed the Eskimo,” by 1899 Ifiupiat with
or without apprentice affiliation were unable
to look to reindeer for relief from periods of
food shortage. In the words of Lopp:

From Hunters to Herders

89


CHAPTER 2: GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS

summer patrols in Alaska and Siberian wa-
ters of the north Pacific, Bering Sea, Bering
Strait, Chukchi Sea, and Arctic Ocean were
undertaken (Ray 1975:189). This service,
under the jurisdiction of the Treasury of the
United States , was responsible for regulating
firearm and liquor trade as well as customs
and fisheries business, and, in general, act-
ing as the presence of American authority in
the new territory. The revenue marine cut-
ter patrols carried out other functions, such
as searching for mission vessels, providing
passage to stranded whalers or miners and
to missionaries/teachers coming north to
“civilize” the Ifiupiat and other Natives. One
example of such contact was that by Hooper
and his crew on the revenue steamer Corwin
in 1880. In July of that year, Hooper traded
calico, drilling (a thick cotton fabric), and
tobacco for red and white fox skins with Ifiu-
piat from a settlement of approximately 20
houses at Cape Espenberg (Hooper 1964:23).

However, these patrols were uniquely
relevant concerning the Ifiupiat of the region
because of the diversity, intensity, and na-
ture of interactions between revenue marine
cutter patrols and indigenous people. These
patrols participated in the Alaska Reindeer
Service’s transportation of imported rein-
deer from Siberia, to be discussed below; in
attempting to control the trade of firearms
and alcohol; in trying to maintain Western
law and order and dispense justice involv-
ing disputes between Natives and non-Na-
tive whalers, traders, and prospectors; and in
documenting ethnographic and demographic
information regarding Alaska’s indigenous
peoples, particularly those residing on the
coast.

Jacobsen’s (1977) voyage in Alaska
between 1881 and 1883 provided some

relevant ethnographic information. Jacobsen
(1977:141-142) recorded the community of
Kauwerak with five houses and one qazgi
and visits to this settlement from Port Clar-
ence people attending a welcoming feast.
The Kauwerak people attempted to sell Ja-
cobsen caribou meat, attesting to the contin-
ued presence of that species in the interior of
the Seward Peninsula in the early 1880s. On
a journey to Cape Prince of Wales, Jacob-
sen recorded three houses at the outlet of a
lake into “Port Clarence Bay,” the village of
“Singrak” (Singak) with three houses of five
to six people each, Ifupiat from “Kikertarok”
(near the present site of Kotzebue) on the
northern shore of Kotzebue Sound heading
for “Shaktolic” (Shaktoolik) to a feast, and
many other locations north and south of the
Seward Peninsula (Jacobsen 1977:142-155).
Shishmaref and other communities of con-
cern herein were not noted, however.

Lastly, although concurrent with rein-
deer herding and the introduction of formal
Western education discussed in chapter 4,

a few words on the gold rush in Northwest
Alaska are in order, particularly because of
the role of gold prospecting and mining in
the formation of the city of Nome. Daniel
Libby of the Western Union Telegraph Ex-
pedition had discovered gold on the Seward
Peninsula—specifically on the tributary

of the Niukluk River—as early as 1866 or
1867.. The first mining district was organized
in 1881 by the Alaska Mining Company to
extract a silver deposit at Omilak Mountain
(Schrader and Brooks 1900:27). Not until
30 years later (1897) did Libby return with

a party of relatives and friends to prospect
in the same area of his original find. By the
winter of 1898-1899, several mining compa-
nies had been organized with Council as the

30

From Hunters to Herders