Marshall Cultural Atlas

This collection of student work is from Frank Keim's classes. He has wanted to share these works for others to use as an example of Culturally-based curriculum and documentation. These documents have been OCR-scanned. These are available for educational use only.

 

 

 

 

 

Marshall Profile

 

Introduction

 

Marshall is located on the Yukon River approximately 80 air miles to the north of Bethel and 140 miles upriver from the mouth of the Yukon on the Bering Sea. It is located on the north side of a high bank of the river which is referred to as Fortuna Ledge. This ledge affords Marshall protect-ion from flooding in the spring. However, the nature of the mountain and valley country to the east combined with the pattern of the winter winds make it a very breezy community to live in during the winter. Since most of the taller spruce trees were felled early in its history, this has contri-buted to its reputation as a windy village.

Marshall is surrounded by tundra and taiga on a gentle slope leading up to the flanks of Pilcher Mountain, named after a miner who used to live in the area. The geology is variable, although most of it is a green to dark grey sedimentary rock in various stages of metamorphosis.

The village was first organized in the early part of this century after the establishment of the gold mine at Willow Creek. Although at first it was composed of a large number of non-Natives, today it is an almost completely Native community with roots both up and down the Yukon River. The majority of the community is made up of people from the abandoned villages of Ohagamiut and Takshak with many also coming from present day Pilot Station and Russian Mission. There are also a few from Emmonak. The remainder are from other communities around the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Its present population is approximately 300.

Marshall is a Second Class City with two governing bodies, a seven member City Council and a seven member Traditional Council. It has a City Manager hired by the City Council to take care of its business and a VPSO and VPO to enforce its ordinances. The Traditional Council President is also the Mayor of the City Council, and the City Manager is also a member of the Traditional Council. There is one other person who is both a member of the Traditional and City Councils. Finally, there is a village Chief, Vernon Evan, who was elected by the Traditional Council for life.

Marshall is unique among villages in Alaska because until Statehood it had Territorial status. This made it a headquarters for many state and federal agencies, including the Fish and Wildlife Service. Where other villages had B.I.A. schools, Marshall had its own Territorial elementary school. It even had its own U.S. Marshal. Today it is the only Alaska village that has two official names, Marshall and Fortuna Ledge.

F. Keim

Introduction	- Frank Keim
History	- Vernon and Irene Evan / Gabriel Duny
Environment
Government
Land Ownership	- Willie Fitka Jr. / Flora Evan
Education	- Mike Hull / Marlene Papp
Health	- Ruth Fitka / Henry Manumik
Economy	- Leslie Hunter Sr. and Willie Fitka / LaVerne Manumik
Sewer and Water	- Richard Oney / Barbara Andrew
Solid Waste Management
Energy	- Aloe Coffee / Billy Waska
Transportation	- Vernon Evan / Leslie Hunter Jr.
Communications	- Joe Peter / Tina Papp
Housing	- Leo Fitka Sr. / Palassa Sergie

 

Christmastime Tales Stories real and imaginary about Christmas, Slavik, and the New Year Winter, 1996	Christmastime Tales II Stories about Christmas, Slavik, and the New Year Winter, 1998	Christmastime Tales III Stories about Christmas, Slavik, and the New Year Winter, 2000
Summer Time Tails 1992	Summertime Tails II 1993	Summertime Tails III
Summertime Tails IV Fall, 1995	Summertime Tails V Fall, 1996	Summertime Tails VI Fall, 1997
Summertime Tails VII Fall, 1999	Signs of the Times November 1996	Creative Stories From Creative Imaginations
Mustang Mind Manglers - Stories of the Far Out, the Frightening and the Fantastic 1993	Yupik Gourmet - A Book of Recipes
M&M Monthly
Happy Moose Hunting! September Edition 1997	Happy Easter! March/April 1998	Merry Christmas December Edition 1997
Happy Valentine’s Day! February Edition 1998	Happy Easter! March/April Edition 2000	Happy Thanksgiving Nov. Edition, 1997
Happy Halloween October 1997 Edition	Edible and Useful Plants of Scammon Bay	Edible Plants of Hooper Bay 1981
The Flowers of Scammon Bay Alaska	Poems of Hooper Bay	Scammon Bay (Upward Bound Students)
Family Trees and the Buzzy Lord	It takes a Village - A guide for parents May 1997	People in Our Community
Buildings and Personalities of Marshall	Marshall Village PROFILE	Qigeckalleq Pellullermeng ‘A Glimpse of the Past’
Raven’s Stories Spring 1995	Bird Stories from Scammon Bay	The Sea Around Us
Ellamyua - The Great Weather - Stories about the Weather Spring 1996	Moose Fire - Stories and Poems about Moose November, 1998	Bears Bees and Bald Eagles Winter 1992-1993
Fish Fire and Water - Stories about fish, global warming and the future November, 1997	Wolf Fire - Stories and Poems about Wolves	Bear Fire - Stories and Poems about Bears Spring, 1992

 

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