A Special Publication of Alaska Newspapers Inc.
Art Barr Cleveland
Ambler
Hunter Success is providing meat for the family.
Ambler was established for its hunting grounds around 1957.
I’ve hunted for caribou a few times during the fall.
It’s a way for me to help out my family.
At Onion Portage we made
coffee, sat around the fire and enjoyed the view. Sometime later
we watched a herd of caribou moving into the deep
parts of the river. Wilbur, Herman and I got into the boat. Wilbur
handed
me the rifle. I looked through the scope and found a bull in the
crosshairs. I shot it by the ear. Then we got on land to butcher
the bull.
After awhile we had coffee and some fried meat. Luckily,
after we
ate, another herd came crossing the river. We jumped into
the boat and again
were successful and thankful for our meat.
To be a successful hunter
is to achieve your goal and when you’re
successful, you feel good about yourself. You have meat for
your family.
Hunting for meat is fun. You not only hunt but you admire
the country. The bright colors of fall time can be an awesome
sight. If
you have not been out in the country, you’re missing a whole
lot of what we have.
Hunter Success is important to me because
our forefathers were taught
by their parents and they passed it down to us. I think
my peers and I don’t use all the values of our culture. Our culture
is dying. To prevent that from happening, the Elders
have an Iñupiaq Day
every semester. The Elders come to the high school and
teach us the way they trapped and other activities.
To be a successful hunter
is a great feeling. The Elders know that feeling because they have provided
food for their families.
They
are independent;
they are free men against nature.
I need their knowledge
of hunting before they pass on; not just to hunt but to carry on our
forefather’s
traditions.
I would like to give special thanks to
my sources in Ambler.![End Article](images/NANALogoEnd.jpg)
Hunter Success is
one of our important Iñupiaq values. It is an important value to
non-Natives and Natives throughout the NANA region. This value
came from our forefathers that lived off the rich land long ago before
our parents were born.
From interviewing Elders and young men, I learned
more about hunter success. They all say, when you’re out hunting
and come home with fresh meat, you should always give meat to your
Elders or to the people that don’t hunt. Miles
Cleveland Jr.
Ambler
|
![separation bar](images/bar.jpg)
![Somebody have to teach you](images/SomebodyTeach.jpg)
Photo courtesy of Christine Ahlalook
“ Somebody have to teach you”
Crystal Tickett
Ambler
Tommy Douglas is an Elder who has been a resident of Ambler
since it originated in 1959. He was one of the
seven families that
formed this,
now westernized, village. His wife died as a
result of heart failure in the late ‘80s.
“ I think hunter success means providing food far the family.
The fur can be used for money or trade. I traded my fur for
shells with Larry Brown.
Hunting also means a way of living. Most of my life
I worked hard; hunting, trapping and fishing. In those
days we didn’t
need money. We lived off the land.
My dad taught
me the ways of hunting, just like the way other families do, dads teaching
sons.
I taught
my two
sons, James
and Peter,
to hunt also. Somebody have to teach you.”
Rodney
Tickett Sr. Is an Iñupiat Eskimo man who
was born in a campsite, Qala, in the
mid 1950’s.
He is the son of Sarah Tickett and the late
Harry Tickett. His
family is
one of the those that moved to Ambler
when it first originated in 1959. He was
three years old at the time.
Would you rather
live like the old days, or where we are today?
“
Old ways, because in those days we lived mainly on subsistence
and didn’t
have to worry too much about money, just
supplying food for our dogs. Today we have to worry about
gas, fuel and
store-bought
food.”
How do you feel about us rarely
having Iñupiat Days?
“
I feel that our Iñupiaq Values are being lost due to lack of
obtaining information from our Elders. They’re dropping
off one by one. I feel that Iñupiat Days should be more available
to our younger generation,
to be more exposed to our Elders while they’re
living.”
In what ways were your childhood
and teen years different from that of today’s
boys?
“ Today too much drugs and alcohol are available. In our days,
we were exposed to our parents; gathering food, wood for
fuel, and we were told to have respect for our Elders and also try and
understand Iñupiaq
as
much as we could.
I feel that today kids want
to be ‘homeboys’ because from
day one to 12th grade, they stay home and
never get exposed to the outer world. They just get used to being home.
In our days, we had to travel
from our families and home for nine months
to attend high school. They just want to be home and take drugs and alcohol.
Also, some don’t
have respect for others.”![End Article](images/NANALogoEnd.jpg)
Spear of the Past
Gary Baldwin
10th grade
Kiana
A hunter’s spear was made with great skill.
Out in
the country the hunter had fun.
He waited patiently for an
animal to Kill.
As time passed quickly he was introduced to
the gun.
It brought bloodshed...
and every animal in sight ended up
dead.
The spear was set aside...
as our Iñupiat way of hunting
quickly died.
![Tale of the Mudshark](images/Mudshark.jpg)
Photo courtesy of Hannah Loon/NANA
Tale of the Mudshark
Before the mudshark got ready to go,
he gathered most of his body parts from other places.
He got
beluga’s backbones, woodchips for meat, ribs from belugas.
Fins were made from an old lady’s sinew. By the lip,
the mudhsark put a bucket handle. Inside his brain he put
two flints for starting
fires. For his tail, he put a young lady’s hair.
By
the bucket handle he put a raven’s beak. On the top
of the head by its nose is an old lady’s cloak. He
put socks by his jaw. Under his head is a kingfisher. On
the side of his
head, under his eye, is
a porcupine. A swallow sits on top of the cloak.
These parts
can be identified around the head area when the mudshark
is baked. It is said by Elders around the region
that this is how the
mudhsark came to be. After he gathered all his parts
into his body, he swam away.![End Article](images/NANALogoEnd.jpg)
By Minnie Gray and Clara Lee of
Ambler
as told to Crystal Tickett
![The value of hunting and hunters](images/Hunting.jpg)
Photo courtesy of Noatak High School
The value of hunting and hunters
Kemberly Henry
Ambler
Alex Sheldon, Sr. started hunting when he was old enough
to hold up a gun.
He was taught to hunt by his dad and
to put snares out by his Aana, Mary Sheldon. His first
catch was a ptarmigan and a rabbit using snares. Alex said
it was
easier in the old days, when there was no electricity
or sno-gos, fewer white men and less worrying.
Nelson Greist,
Sr. started trapping when he was eight years old and he started
hunting at age twelve. When he went
out there were no wood stoves; only Coleman stoves.
Nelson hunted
where there were no willows or timber on the
Colville River. He didn’t go to school.
There were only three
white men and a store manager. Nelson moved to this area
on January 19, 1934. He said
long ago
they used to use arrows and twenty-twos. Nelson caught
an ahaalik (salt water duck.) He was taught
by his dad and his
older brother Howarth.
Nelson goes to Kotzebue every
spring to hunt oogruks but nowadays the ocean is getting dangerous.
He went out twice to go whaling. Nelson taught his boys, Nelson
Jr. and William, how to go out hunting and trapping.
Nelson
went to the Elder’s meeting and tried to get
funding to take boys out of school to go camping
and to teach them how to hunt. Long ago, people always live off
the land.
Hunting is very important to us. The Elders grew up with
these
Iñupiaq values. The people in our
village are not
learning how to hunt and set traps. This
village was
a small fishing
area long ago. Seven families from Shungnak
came here to make a village. There were no stores.
They used
to go to
Shungnak to buy food. Some people just
eat off the land.
Tommy Douglas was born in a tent just below
Pah river in the wintertime, so he said he never
gets cold.
Tommy taught
his sons Peter and James how to hunt. Back
in the old days, there was no booze or dope. Tommy said
they used
to trade
furs for shells with Larry Brown. There were
no outboard motors or sno-gos. They used paddles to
go fishing
and snow shoes to go through deep snow.
Hunter
Success is the most important value in this village because without
hunting this village
probably
wouldn’t
be here. The reason the seven families
moved here was because the caribou migrate
through
here and the fishing area is
good.
During Inupiat Day, the Elders came to
the gym to teach the school kids about stuff
you
could
make
and what
you could
do with it. Alex Sheldon made some key chains
of caribou horns and bear skin. Minnie Gray showed how
to make fancy
ukluks for
meetings and stuff like that. Cora Cleveland
showed us caribou hide (red and white.)
Arlene Greist
made picture frames with
pictures of Elders in the village.
Almost
every year moose come passing by the village. Long ago,
men went over to the north
through
Natmaktugiaq River
(Ambler River) to hunt caribou for clothing
and also for food. They went when the animals
were
prime.
At home women
continued netting for the small white fish,
broadnose whitefish and other fish. When
they thought they
had enough for the
winter, they went downstream to pick bear
berries and after they had enough, they
went home to
unpack. There
they repacked
and went upstream to pick blackberries
and blueberries. The next day they went to Ambler
to unpack. They
picked up more blueberries from this area.
A short way from here there
was a big cranberry patch, right where
the village is now. This is how the early Iñupiat
Eskimos
lived.
![End Article](images/NANALogoEnd.jpg)
The beginnings of a village
Hunting lures family from Shungnak
Chris Tickett
Ambler
Long ago, the first thing the Iñupiat
built around here was the church, even
before they
build the school.
It was the Friends Church. The Jade
Mountain, which is well
known throughout this part of the country,
is located approximately six miles
from our village.
The early
Iñupiat used jade stones
for their tools because of its hardness
and durability.
Ambler is rich in native
craftwork.
Women make baskets
of all sizes and shapes. The material
for birch baskets is available
in the nearby surrounding areas.
Today Ambler is modern with a school, airstrip,
a fuel
project run by the corporation,
a clinic and three stores. We even
have a telephone system.
People from Shungnak used to come downriver
to fish and hunt here in the fall
and they spent
part of
the winter
here.
The majority of the people now
living here are originally from Shungnak,
which is
about 40 river
miles from
here.
In about 1957, two people
started talking about moving to Ambler.
Arthur Douglas
was one of
them. Tommy
Douglas was
the other. He talked to his brothers
and friends and invited them
to follow if they
wanted to.
A few families
did. Arthur
was the first one to move here
in 1958. One of the most important
reasons that we moved here is
that the caribou migrate close to the
village. There are also
lots of fish. Ambler is known
for the variety of its food resources:
berries of all kinds, wild rhubarb,
wild
potatoes
and bear berries.
The first people to move here
were the following men and their
families:
Tommy
Douglas, Harry
Tickett, Mark Cleveland,
Tommy Lee, Truman Cleveland,
Charlie Douglas, Nelson Greist.
There was
aso Isaac Douglas,
his mother
and Arthur Douglas.
Most of these families are large,
resulting in a sizeable population.
A year or
two later some
other families
moved here, too.
Some white people
also came and settled here close to our village.
Some of
them married
local girls
and started
raising
families. One of the white
settlers even provides local air taxi
service now. ![End Article](images/NANALogoEnd.jpg)