Once past the Old Woman Cabin, at night mushers may be able to see the Unalakleet airport beacon flashing green then white.  This is a good sign as it means it’s not snowing on the rest of the trail to UNK.  It’s interesting that early airmail pilots used to fly in all kinds of weather using beacons like this to find their way.  The closer a team gets to UNK, the more likely they will encounter blowing and drifting snow.  Don warns the mushers to be very careful and navigate from marker to marker to avoid losing the trail as DeeDee Jonrowe did in 2006.  She was a few minutes behind leaders, Jeff King and Doug Swingly coming over the portage and heading to UNK.  Just a few miles out of UNK, she left the trail and lost three hours getting back on track and finally into UNK.

Unalakleet, pop. 750, is at the mouth of the Unalakleet River where it empties into the Norton Sound, an inlet of the Bering Sea.  I learned from Wikipedia that the sound was explored by Captain James Cook in 1778.  He named the inlet after Sir Fletcher Norton, Speaker of the British House of Commons.  Unalakleet is an Inupiag word that means where the south wind blows, the southern most point or the southern side – it depends on the resource.  In 2006 Handler experienced sustained winds of 40 miles an hour gusting to 60.  When the wind is blowing that hard, it’s nearly impossible to stand upright and walk.  The people of UNK are accustomed to winds, although not usually that strong,  and live with them on a daily basis.

The community of Unalakleet lies between the homelands of two Eskimo cultural groups.  The Inupaig live to the north and the Yupik live to the south.  With its trees, tundra and hills, Unalakleet is a very beautiful place.  It’s on the Bering Sea next to the large clean Unalakleet River.  Being known for its fishing and scenery, tourists often visit Unalakleet.

Unalakleet has many jobs in fishing, air cargo, education, construction and government.  Even with a healthy cash economy, the people fish many species of salmon, hunt seal, caribou, moose and bear and pick berries as a part of their traditional subsistence lifestyle.  Winters around UNK are cold and dry.   Most of the houses in UNK are connected to the water and sewer system.  Electricity is provided by the Unalakleet Valley Electric Cooperative.  The airport is served by daily flights from both Anchorage and Nome. There are three stores , a gas station, a bed & breakfast and one restaurant in the community.  The recently built Annikan Clinic is an important regional health facility.  To get around, locals mainly use snowmachines and 4 wheelers although there are a few pick-ups and suv’s.  If you order a pizza from the restaurant, it’ll be delivered by 4-wheeler.

Average winter temperatures range between minus 4 degrees and eleven degrees above zero.  Average summer temperatures range between 47 and 62 degrees.  Extremes have been measured down to minus 50 degrees and up to 87 degrees.  Average precipitation for UNK is 14 inches with 41 of that being snow.

Back in 1887, the Swedish Covenant Church opened up a mission in UNK which provided schooling.  In 1954, the Evangelical Covenant Church opened a boarding school.  That school was open to students from all around western Alaska where schools didn’t exist.  The boarding school operated for 30 years then closed when schools were built in most villages around the area.  Today, the UNK school system, is attended by nearly 200 students.  The mascot for the Frank A. Dengan Senior High School is the Wolfpack.  Having won 6 state basketball championships, the people of UNK are very serious fans and players.  During the race, technology and media students broadcast Iditarod news, happenings, interviews and other informational programs.  The first musher to reach Unalakleet receives $2,500 in gold nuggets from Wells Fargo.  The broadcasters are there to cover the story.  The checkpoint is in the newly remodeled community building.  The volunteers, vets and pilots stay in the old boarding school.  The local church always sponsors a pie social when the race comes through town.  There are so many varieties of pies, it’s tough to choose.  Handler decided on Spicy Raisin Pecan – it was drop dead DELICIOUS!

Well there you have it – history and information about the Unalakleet to Kaltag Portage Trail and a glimps of life in UNK.   Besides Wikipedia, Handler and I used www.unalakleet.org as one of our resources.  That site even had information on how global warming is affecting UNK.  Next we’ll hear about Shaktoolik.  Stay tuned and in everything do your best every day and have a plan.

Born to Run,
Sanka

 

If you happen to have a map of the Iditarod Trail handy, check this out.  In Trail Notes, Don Bowers, Jr. says that the original Iditarod Trail never ran on the Yukon River except to cross at Kaltag.  The original mail and gold rush supply trail went directly from Iditarod to Kaltag across the marshy Innoko River Valley.  I asked Handler why Iditarod teams don’t follow the same trail today.  It’s because the ITC wants the trail to be at least 1,000 miles long.  The direct route between Iditarod and Kaltag would fall far short of that distance.  The area along the direct route is also extremely desolate so it’s nice for the racers to travel the northern or southern route that passes through populated villages.

Kaltag is an Athabascan village that sits on an old portage trail that went west from the Yukon through the mountains to Unalakleet (YOU-na-la-kleet).  Sadly, disease and death have played a great role in Kaltag’s history.  Originally, Kaltag was an area used as a cemetery for surrounding villages.  Athabascans had spring, summer fall and winter hunting and fishing camps in the area and moved according to where the game or their food source was.  Then in 1839 a small pox epidemic killed many of the natives and traders in the area.  In 1880 a trading post opened and then a few years later gold was discovered.  But then in 1900, a measles epidemic and food shortage wiped out nearly one-third of the area’s population.  It was then that the survivors from 3 nearby seasonal villages decided to move together and form a new village.  Kaltag was named for a Yukon Indian, Kaltaga.  Between 1919 and 1940, the Galena lead mines were prosperous.  Kaltag, 100 miles down river, grew as a transportation hub.  Over time as the mighty Yukon flooded and changed its course, land eroded and the old cemetery slid into the river in 1937.

Today the population of Kaltag is 207.  Forty-five students attend school in grades Pre-kindergarten thru 12.  Subsistence is an important part of the economy.  Folks hunt and fish for salmon, whitefish, waterfowl, moose and bear and pick berries from the abundant area crops.  Some people in the village have cash jobs with the school, tribe and local government.  Others work as fire fighters or in the commercial fishing industry.    Most of the village houses have both running water and sewer.  There are no roads connecting Kaltag to other villages but people travel locally by ATV, snowmachine or boat.  Kaltag has year-round air service and barges deliver heavy cargo three times a year.  Temperature extremes in Kaltag have been recorded from 55 degrees below zero up to 90 degrees.  Otherwise, highs in July will be in the 70’s and lows for January will range from 10 degrees to below zero.  Annual precipitation is 16 inches with just over 6 feet of snow.  The river is open from mid-May to mid-October.

Besides being the meeting point of the northern and southern Iditarod routes and serving as a checkpoint every year, Kaltag is known for its Stick Dance Festival.  Every two years, this week long festival of potlatches is organized by relatives of people who have recently passed away.  Handler and I went to Wikipedia and found that a Potlatch is a gathering with feasting, speeches, music, singing, acting, dancing, gifting and spiritual ceremonies. Sounds like quite a celebration!  Visitors from many neighboring villages come as the living express their appreciation to those who helped in their time of mourning.

Once there was a dog named Yukon who was described as a forlorn looking mutt.  Skagway Bill was his master.  Bill and Yukon landed in Skagway late in the fall of 1897 eager to find gold in the Yukon River basin.  To get to the gold, prospectors had to follow White Pass up through the Coastal Mountains.  In the winter of 1897, deep snow made the White Pass Trail hard to follow.  One day Skagway Bill and a few other men set out to mark the trail with tall flags.  Yukon remained in the village waiting for his master to return.  A huge blizzard blew over White Pass.  After 3 days and nights of intense snow and howling winds, the blizzard ended but Skagway Bill and the other trail markers did not return.  With Yukon in the lead, a search party set out to find the snow bound men.  Just a few miles from the summit, Yukon stopped dead in his tracks. With his nose pointing into the air and ears standing straight up, he sniffed the air and listened.  Then he let out a strange whine and began digging furiously.  The rest of the search party joined his efforts with shovels.  The rescuers dug and yelled for the buried men.  After a while they heard a faint response from deep in the snow.  Finally, they found all the missing men who had been buried for three days under five feet of snow.  Yukon was thrilled to see his master.  When everybody returned safely to Skagway, Yukon was welcomed as the hero of the rescue effort.  I read this story in a book called Gold Rush Dogs by Murphy and Haigh.  It’s one of my favorite books because of the great pictures.

Well, there you have it – Kaltag then and now, the Stick Dance Festival, and a story about a hero dog named Yukon.  Now we’re virtually headed to Unalakleet on the Bering Sea.  Stay tuned and remember – in everything do your best every day and have a plan.

Born to Run,
Sanka