The moose season started September 1, 1997, for all the hunters on the upper and lower Yukon River.

Mike Duny, a hunter from Marshall, says that his moose season was short but okay. It didn't take him long to catch a moose the day he went out hunting with Roy Fitka. They went up to Tucker's Slough above Russian Mission early in the afternoon. When they reached their destination they saw two big bulls swimming across the slough and waited until they got closer to the beach. When the two bulls were close enough, they shot them, pulled the moose up the beach and skinned them. Roy and Mike came home the following day.

Fred Fitka's moose season was also good and he had fun, he said. He went out with Willie Duny to Paimuit, located about 120 miles from Marshall, for a couple of days. He caught his moose a day after Willie caught his. When Fred was hunting his moose they had to run after it in the trees for a while. Fred and Willie couldn't find it at first, so they had to camp. They were going to go in but the grass was about 5' 7" and they couldn't see above their heads. They stood on logs and still couldn't see. They waited until the next day, and they finally found it in the cottonwoods. It took them seven hours to pack the meat out from the cotton woods to Fred's boat.

"This year's Moose season was alright, but there were too many gnats and a lot of bugs," says Moe Duny, another Marshall Hunter. He got his moose the first day the season opened in Unit 21 at Big Bend. The first night he camped at Paimuit, and the last three nights at Big Bend (Horse Island) about 5 miles below Holy Cross. Moe and others had their camp below Nick Andrew Sr., Alvin Owletuck Sr. and Joe Uzulook. After he caught his moose, he went home and put the meat away for winter.

There are changes in store for the old tank farm. Mas. Inc. and the City of Marshall plan to move the tank farm so that it will be in compliance with State and Coast Guard regulations. They plan to use the same tanks that Mas. Inc. already has and will start on the project during the summer of 1998. Local people will work on the project. They are going to use double walled fuel lines and they will be all welded with no thread connections. They are going to work with the Department of Environmental Conservation to make sure there are no leaks. Also to ensure this they are going to put double line dikes around each tank.

By Jonathan Boots

The old Willow gold mine has been up there since the days of the gold rush in the early 1930's. It is located about four miles above the Yukon River on Willow Creek on the other side of Mt. Okumiak. According to Roberta Fitka, there was a guy interested in developing the mine last year (1996). There are also some people in Marshall who are interested in developing the mine. Some people here voted for the new airport to be located on the other side of Wilson Creek so they would have a free road closer to the mine. But nobody is really sure where the airport's location is going to be. If the state builds an airport on the other side of Wilson Creek they might extend a road to the old mine. But they are still not quite sure about anything.

One thing people are really concerned about is whether there is mercury up at the old mine. If there is mercury up there it could be very dangerous. The mine has been assayed for valuable minerals, but so far geologists who did some tests last year have found only iron ore.

The old mine is presently on Mas. Inc. Corporation land. Some of the original miners used to own part of that land, like Gene Tetinek and Bill AlIman. Bill AlIman had a claim up there and he gave his building to the Mas. Inc. Corporation. Gene Tetinek gave his house to the school in Marshall. All the people who once owned land at the mine are now deceased. Nobody has any plans to sell or buy the mine yet. If anyone wanted to buy the mine it would cost them a lot of money, even though nothing valuable has been found up there yet.

The purpose of the 20' x 30' extension at the local Co-op Store is to increase and improve office space and also to add water and sewer to the building. The whole project will cost about $46,000. The costs are: $25,000 to get the lumber and materials to Marshall, $10,000 in labor, and $11,000 to hook up the water and sewer.

There are four guys from Marshall now working on the Co-op extension. Leo Fitka, the foreman, is in charge of getting the extension up, and he also assigns the laborers their different jobs.

There are three laborers, and they will be changed when they have worked for three weeks so more people can have a chance to work in town. The manager of the Co-op Store, Willie Fitka, says it will probably take only three to five weeks to complete the extension because the workers are building it at such a fast pace.

According to Willie, the Co-op is also going to have a neon sign which will read "Fortuna Ledge Co-op Native Store".

Charlotte Alstrom

The Alaska National Guard is building an armory on the south side of the road going to the new dump site. It is located right behind Leo Fitka's house and is to be used for storing supplies and training National Guard soldiers.

The two men who are working on the armory are Tim Mahoney and Dave Ward from Wasilla, Alaska. Tim and Dave are working for Cook Inlet Construction Inc. They are staying at Hunter Sales until the project is completed.

They started building the armory on September 16th, and they hope to complete the structure on November 15th.

The building is going to be heated by a monitor heater and an oil-fired heater.

Tim says that he and Dave like it here because of the friendly people and nice location.

Maurice Turet

Airport Update

The recent news on the airport project is that two archeologists recently did surveys to determine if there is any evidence of prior occupation. Somebody also said that state surveyors drilled twenty-two feet down and still didn't hit any bedrock. Ray Alstrom says there are no State requirements for the construction of the airstrip on tundra. He says they have technology that allows construction of the airport above the permafrost.

Before they build a bridge over Wilson Creek, though, they have to do surveys on the salmon that spawn there and they have to go through the Dept. of Fish and Game and the EPA to do these. The kind of studies that have to be done are to see if the bridge would interfere with fish spawning. Ray says that the Department Of Transportation will be building the airport on the other side of Wilson Creek because that is where it was chosen to be built by the village. Land ownership problems prevent it from being built above the present airstrip, even though that is a more convenient place for it to be built.

Tatiana Sergie

The Marshall Head Start began their school year on September 10th, 1997. There are 18 students attending the Marshall Head Start and they are: Nadia Fitka, Ryan Fitka, Daniel Fitka, Kristie Alstrom, Shaun Alstrom, Shawna Pitka, Kaelyn Fitka, Freida Sergie, Sophianne Sergie, Vassily Sergie Jr., Arthur Fitka II, Maxine Fitka, Thomas Soolook Jr., Zachery Andrew, Beverly Owletuck, Allison One, John Coffee and Darien Evan. Their teachers are Fran Evan and Barbie Fitka-Duny.

The nine kids who are going to graduate this year are the four year olds. They are: Shaun Alstrom, John Coffee, Darien Evan, Aurthur Fitka, Maxine Fitka, Shawna Pitka, Frieda Sergie, Sophianne Sergie and Ryan Fitka. They will all be five years old when they graduate.

This year the Head Start teachers are teaching the kids what their parents want them to learn, such as things about their culture, sharing, listening, taking turns,following directions and signging. One interesting topic that the kids are learning is about their culture. Nick Isaac, Marshall School bilingual teacher, is teaching them a few Yup'ik words, and the kids are enjoying it. Another thing that the kids enjoy doing is coming up to the Big school during play time to use the gym.

There are 18 students in the little red building we call the Head Start, and two teachers who teach them what they need to learn before they can become Kindergardeners. Nine of the 18 students will be graduating this year and Barb expects the same amount, or more, of kids for the next school year.

Dolores Hunter is the Administrator for the Marshall Traditional Council. The Marshall Traditional Council is there to operate and maintain affairs that have to do with the federal government, such as land, subsistence, human services and certain aspects of education.

Dolores is working through the Marshall Traditional Council on projects relating to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), Small Tribes, Kuigpagmiut and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

There are other people also working on each of these projects except for the ICWA program. Sophie Tiffert is working with the Small Tribes Program which tries to find employment for local people. Jacob Isaac works with the Enviromental Protection Agency (EPA) on a project to keep Marshall clean. No one has been hired yet to work with the ICWA program which requires a lot of family conflict resolution.

Tassie Fitka