"Falling Through the Ice"

When my dad was younger there was no modern transportation, and he always had to travel with his dog team. In those days he lived at the old village of Ohogamiut.

He told me that one time in January, 1946, when it was 30 degrees below he was traveling by dog team in Nuksuk Slough near Ohogamiut. While he was crossing he and his dogs fell through thin ice. He said the sled tipped to one side then he fell in the frigid water. He noticed his dogs were going down with him so he let them go. When he felt the bottom the water was up to his neck. He walked toward the edge of the solid ice, placed his mittens on the surface where they froze in place, then he pulled himself out of the cold water before he got too numb and tired. After he got out of the water he quickly gathered some nearby grass and stuffed it inside his wet clothing to keep him warm. That saved his life.

Another time was in spring, 1989, when Alexander Isaac and my dad went out goose hunting with their snowmachines. While they were coming back on the Yukon River, my dad fell through the ice. He was crossing some needle ice over a swift running part of the river and the ice broke. The current would have taken him under with his snowmachine but he was lucky there was another thicker layer of ice underneath that caught the end of his snowmachine and kept him from going all the way under. So he wouldn't be swept down by the current he hung on to his machine. He was able to stay afloat thanks to his down coat. Alexander quickly threw him a rope and he crawled out. As soon as he got out my dad and Alexander found some long skinny pieces of wood and put them under his snowmachine so they could pull it out.

By: John Moxie

Interviewed by: Olga Moxie