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Sarah Simon, Interview 1
Sarah Simon was interviewed on February 4, 1993 by Wendy Arundale at Peggy Thompson's house in Fairbanks, Alaska for the Koyukok River History Project. In this interview, Sarah talks about her family history and growing up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle based on hunting, fishing, and trapping and seasonal movement to different camps. She also talks about the traditional Athabascan "rules" (hutlanee) for preparing and eating certain foods, her marriage and learning how to raise a family, and her own spring trapping activities when she was young. (Photograph of Sarah Simon on the bank of the Koyukok River in Allakaket, Alaska in the summer of 2005 by Peggy Patterson.)
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Digital Asset Information
Archive #: Oral History 93-36-04
Project: Raven's Story
Date of Interview: Feb 4, 1993
Narrator(s): Sarah Simon
Interviewer(s): Wendy Arundale
Location of Interview:
Location of Topic:
Funding Partners:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Parts:
Alternate Transcripts
There is no alternate transcript for this interview.
Themes
Alaska Natives, Camps, Caribou, Changes in Wildlife Populations, Childbirth, Childhood Memories, Cooking, Death, Family, Food Preservation, Food Shortages, Grandparents, Grave, Hunting, Lynx, Marriage, Moose, Mother, Muskrat Hunting, Porcupine, Rabbit, Snare, Spring, Storytelling, Subsistence, Supplies, Survival, Traditional Beliefs, Traditional Food, Trapping, Travel, Winter
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Sections
1) Her childhood traveling to winter camp with her family.
2) Hunting and trapping and rules about eating certain foods.
3) Rules about what different people could not eat and why, and information about her mother’s family.
4) Information about her mother.
5) More about her own family, and some memories about getting married.
6) Learning about married life, and more about the winter she was sixteen.
7) The winter she was sixteen and hunting for porcupines.
8) Hunting and trapping at spring camp.
9) The death of her grandmother.
Click play, then use Sections or Transcript to navigate the interview.
After clicking play, click a section of the transcript to navigate the audio or video clip.
Transcript
Section 1: mother -- parents\ age\ residence -- location\ home\ camp -- winter\ Old Maggie -- grandmother\ Christmas\ dogs -- number of\ dog -- name\ (Athabascan)\ landmarks -- lake\ (Chilatna) (?)\ father\ distance\ Old Man Creek\ people -- lack of\ cache\ sisters -- Bessie, Celia\ babies -- age\ father -- hunting\ Allakaket\ temperature\ trapping\ lynx\ martin\ snare\ brothers -- Walter, Grafton, Sampson\ brother -- death of\ siblings -- order of|
Section 2: father -- hunting with\ gun\ axe\ lynx -- packing\ rabbits -- number of\ lynx -- number of\ traps\ snares\ hunting -- moose\ cache\ meat -- storage\ food\ moose -- scarcity\ moose -- bull\ muskrat\ spruce hen\ ptarmigan\ caribou\ trapping -- rules\ lynx -- rules\ rules -- hutlanee\ women -- rules\ age\ babies\ food -- scarcity\ food -- abundance|
Section 3: animals -- eating\ rules -- food\ rules -- women\ moose -- head\ moose -- neck\ rules -- hutlanee\ (Athabascan)\ cleaning\ grandson\ sickness -- tonsils\ people -- young\ moose -- foot\ caribou -- foot\ elders -- teaching\ moose -- heart\ men -- age\ mother\ consequences -- aging\ strength\ sickness\ Old Maggie -- grandmother\ mother -- siblings\ mother -- ?, Annie\ ?, Leon\ ?, Nate\ ?, Billy\ ?, Big Suzy\ woman -- name\ Bergman, Billy\ Old Maggie -- Athabascan name\ Old Maggie -- husband\ husband -- Athabascan name\ Jones, Eliza\ (Athabascan)|
Section 4: Old Maggie -- origin\ Huslia\ creek\ camp -- location of\ (Daklee) (?)\ family -- raising\ cache-- winter\ cache -- summer\ boys -- hunting\ children -- feeding\ Old Maggie -- kids\ hill -- Athabascan name of\ Mark, Peter\ story\ Old Maggie -- move\ Allakaket\ children -- adult\ children -- ages\ children -- girls\ beaver -- house\ moose\ siblings -- order\ mother -- age\ mother -- marriage\ father -- work\ Big Suzy -- friend\ mother -- life span\ father -- life span\ childbirth -- yearly\ stomach -- infection\ mother -- illness|
Section 5: children\ Sarah\ Mary\ sister -- death\ brother -- death\ girl -- death\ Big Beetus\ ?, Louise\ Paul -- adoption\ Beetus -- death\ Beetus, Sophie -- adoption\ Beetus, Grafton\ ?, Agnes\ ?, Elliot -- adoption\ ?, Mary\ ?, Walter\ Bessie -- marriage\ age\ Simon, Lee -- marriage to\ mothers\ marriage -- arranged\ age -- differences\ games -- baseball\ games -- football\ camp\ grandmother\ town -- stay in\ school -- fourth grade\ spelling bee\ high school\ camp -- spring\ difficulty\ marriage -- age at\ husband\ Chilatna\ tea -- preparation of\ drink -- Athabascan word\ drink -- snow\ tea -- first time drinking|
Section 6: marriage -- learning\ cooking\ Old Maggie\ husband -- Simon, Lee\ work\ learning -- watching\ old people -- help from\ ?, Louise\ ?, Kitty\ Old Man\ ?, Lucy\ ?, Maggie\ ?, Tillie\ ?, Ida\ Katolo\ games -- baseball\ games -- football\ food --dry meat\ food -- salmon strips\ mother -- advice\ food -- cooking\ men -- hunting\ Big Suzy -- death\ advice\ trap\ Big Suzy -- age of\ Old Maggie\ Athabascan name -- meaning of\ Solotna\ Chilatna\ camp\ families\ Old Nate\ Old Thomas\ Old Simon\ fish -- pike\ lake -- name of\ slough\ ?, Lucy\ tent|
Section 7: family -- travel\ winter -- camping\ places\ tent\ hill -- Athabascan name\ camp -- spring\ (Athabascan names)\ Old Man Creek\ muskrats -- number of\ trapping\ families\ father -- trapping\ lynx\ pelts -- value\ pelts -- fox\ pelts -- need for\ (Athabascan word) -- porcupine\ axe\ porcupine -- hand\ food\ luck\ porcupine -- speech\ quills -- fear of\ porcupine -- size\ porcupine -- tail\ food -- rules\ rules -- hutlanee\ hands -- cooking\ boiling\ mother\ sister\ stories|
Section 8: porcupine -- story\ book\ camp -- spring\ travel\ supplies -- packing\ spring -- travel\ Allakaket -- return to\ town -- stay in\ father\ boat -- hauling\ food\ Old Man Creek\ Koyukuk River\ sled -- Yukon Sleigh\ hunting\ spring -- water\ hunting -- muskrats\ mother\ \ shooting -- accuracy\ marksmanship -- learning\ brothers\ shooting -- bull’s eye\ gun -- learning\ teacher -- mother\ Old Maggie\ Aunt Suzy -- death of\ talk\ death -- mourning|
Section 9: camp\ marriage\ Old Man Creek\ husband\ mother\ Old Maggie -- fall down\ illness\ ?, Nate\ Simon, Lee -- parents\ travel -- boat\ worry\ dreams\ ice -- movement\ Allakaket\ Old Maggie -- illness\ travel -- lack of\ grandmother -- death of\ talk\ body -- preparation of\ body -- washing\ clothes -- clean\ ?, Nate\ ?, Lily -- daughter\ travel -- timing\ Big Suzy\ loss -- difficulty of\ cooking\ ducks\ funeral\ burial\ Allakaket -- graveyard\ camp -- return\ spring\ fishing\ nets\ mother -- visit|