Project Jukebox Survey
Help us redesign the Project Jukebox website by taking a very short survey!
Tom Nurauq Kasayulie, Part 2
This is the continuation of an interview with Tom Nurauq Kasayulie on March 28, 2006 by Sophie Kasayulie, Frank Chingliak, Elena Chingliak, Karen Brewster, Louann Rank, and Marie Mitchell in Akiachak, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Tom speaks in Yup'ik and English about reindeer herding, living a subsistence lifestyle based upon hunting, fishing and trapping, losing his first wife in an accident, and his work experiences including commercial fishing.
See also:
Digital Asset Information
Archive #: Oral History 2004-07-46
Project: Akiachak - Then and Now
Date of Interview: Mar 28, 2006
Narrator(s): Tom Nurauq Kasayulie
Interviewer(s): Sophie Kasayulie, Frank Chingliak, Karen Brewster, Louann Rank
Translator:
People Present: Marie Mitchell
Location of Interview:
Funding Partners:
U.S. Department of Education, Alaska Native Education, Yupiit School District
Parts:
Alternate Transcripts
There is no alternate transcript for this interview.
Themes
Accident, Airplane, Airport, Alaska Natives, Alaska Territorial Guard, Bear, Beavers, Blackfish, Boats, Camps, Children, Commercial Fishing, Communication, Construction, Death of Wife, Dog Team, Fishing, Fox, Fur Trade, Gun, Hospital, Hunting, Jobs, Marriage, Mink, Muskrat Hunting, Native Language, Otters, Railroad, Reindeer Herd Population, Reindeer Herding, Reindeer Management, School, Skiing, Spring, Squirrels, Storytelling, Subsistence, Survival, Teacher, Traditional Food, Trapping, Travel, Tuberculosis, Weather, Winter, Wolves, Work, Yupik
After clicking play, click on a section to navigate the audio or video clip.
Sections
1) His winter trapline by dog team, traveling 75-100 miles in a day, blackfish diet, foxes in the mountains, and fur prices equal to a school teacher's monthly salary.
2) How he searched for a wife, his relationship with his children, and his first marriage.
3) Moving to Platinum area after his mother's death, reindeer herding, reindeer killed by wolves, and moving back to Akiachak.
4) His wives, children, and accidental deaths of two children.
5) The "grand old days" in the Alaska Territorial Guard, and a story of traveling with a battalion by plane to Anchorage.
6) His first job with airport construction, working with the railroad in Anchorage, the importance of his children speaking their Native language, and working in Fairbanks and Kenai.
7) Being in the Alaska Territorial Guard, shooting muskrats, experiencing tuberculosis, contagion at the Moravian orphanage, and the hospital at Akiak.
8) Herding and training wild reindeer using skis, herders catching cold from running with reindeer and sweating, and reindeer in the mountains.
9) His annual spring camps for muskrat hunting on the tundra about 25-30 miles from Akiachak, and the taste of whitefish and blackfish. Tom talks of his favorite meats, feeding dogs with beaver meat, growing up in the mountains, and tells a story about smelling the aroma of cookstove smoke from a distance.
10) Shooting a bear at age 15-16 about 30 miles from Akiachak during a wet winter when the bear came out of the den.
11) His mother teaching him to trap squirrels; the gun his uncle bought for him; catching 13 beavers as a boy; and being "High Boat" as a commercial fisherman.
12) His years of commercial fishing beginning when motors were first introduced, working as a deck hand, and Harvey Samuelson's wooden boat.
13) His wife's accidental death in a boating accident, and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
14) Fishing in rough weather; a story of taking two Togiak men to Naknek during a storm; and how big waves can "turn your heart."
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: trapping -- winter\ trapping -- mink\ trapping -- otter\ trapline -- distance\ trapline -- dog team\ dog team -- travel\ travel -- distance\ blackfish -- diet\ blackfish -- dogs\ dogs -- health\ trapline -- location\ Tuluksak\ Petmigtalek\ trapper -- quality\ hunting -- fox\ fox -- mountains\ fox -- price\ fox -- colors\ mink -- price\ school -- quitting\ high school -- White Mountain\ teachers -- salary|
Section 2: wife -- finding\ marriage -- prior to\ mother -- loving\ children -- communication\ communication -- indirect\ children -- money\ marriage -- date\ marriage -- first\ marriage -- arranged\ marriage -- partner\ marriage -- household\ marriage -- relative|
Section 3: mother -- death\ Platinum\ reindeer -- herding\ predation -- wolves\ wolves -- attitude toward\ wolves -- number killed\ uncle -- Kasayulie\ sister\ camp -- Kasayulie\ Akiachak|
Section 4: wife -- first\ wife -- involvement\ involvement -- lack of\ wife -- household\ marriage -- arranged\ wife -- Akiak\ wife -- second\ wife -- Akiachak\ children -- number of\ children -- death\ drowning -- accidental\ accident -- snow machine\ accident -- winter\ son -- death\ son -- children of\ Bethel\ place -- remembering\ wife -- Carrie\ wife -- Elsie|
Section 5: National Guard\ Alaska Territorial Guard\ Samuelson, Harvey\ battalion -- travel\ battalion -- composition of\ travel -- plane\ battalion -- flying\ flying -- story\ Anchorage\ scout master\ Nunivak Island -- people\ flying -- night\ plane -- engines\ engines -- appearance of\ engines -- red hot\ flying -- fear\ fear -- praying|
Section 6: job -- first\ job -- airport\ airport -- Bethel\ job -- Anchorage\ job -- railroad\ job -- offer\ job -- benefits\ language -- speaking\ language -- English\ language -- Yup’ik\ language -- loss\ birth -- son\ son -- Willie\ birth -- location at time of\ Fairbanks -- job\ Fairbanks --railroad\ wife -- first\ death -- wife\ death -- location at time of\ Kenai\ Akiachak -- work\ Akiachak -- 1950s|
Section 7: World War II -- where stationed\ son -- oldest\ son -- Willie\ Willie -- birth date\ Alaska Territorial Guard (ATG) -- enlistment\ Alaska Territorial Guard -- humor\ ATG -- marching\ muskrats -- shooting\ gun -- 22\ shooting -- success\ tuberculosis -- contracting\ tuberculosis -- Akiak\ hospital -- Akiak\ hospital -- patients\ contagion -- orphanage|
Section 8: reindeer -- human interactions\ reindeer -- herding\ reindeer -- marking\ marking -- in winter\ marking -- months\ herders -- running\ herders -- illness\ cold -- catching\ death -- of friends\ friends -- losing\ herding -- on skis\ reindeer -- wild\ reindeer -- mountains|
Section 9: camps -- seasonal\ camp -- spring\ camp -- tundra\ camp -- muskrats\ tundra -- grass\ camps -- annual\ camps -- changed\ Paimiut\ Petmigtalek\ Elaayiq\ camp -- distance\ whitefish -- taste\ taste -- like grass\ blackfish -- taste\ taste -- like mud\ reindeer -- meat\ squirrel -- meat\ beaver -- meat\ meat -- quality\ beaver -- hunting\ dogs -- diet\ dogs -- health\ childhood -- where raised\ childhood -- mountains\ childhood -- story\ Akiak -- surroundings\ smoke -- stove\ smoke -- aroma\ aroma -- distance|
Section 10: hunting -- bear\ bear -- head\ hunter -- age\ bear -- story\ winter -- wet\ bear -- size\ bear -- shoulder\ shoulder -- blade\ bear -- den\ den -- leaving\ den -- wet\ den -- distance\ foothills\ shooting -- close\ shots -- number|
Section 11: mother -- teaching\ trapping -- squirrels\ trapping -- marmots\ gun -- owning\ gun -- as a boy\ uncle -- gift\ gun -- type\ beavers -- catching\ beavers -- number\ number -- lucky\ boat -- fishing\ boat -- number\ fishing -- commercial\ fishing -- High Boat|
Section 12: fishing -- commercial\ job -- school\ hired -- year\ fishing -- beginning\ boat -- motors\ motors -- introduced\ job -- deck hand\ photograph -- boat\ Samuelson, Harvey -- boat\ boat -- wooden\ boat -- Bryant|
Section 13: wife -- death\ death -- accidental\ accident -- boating\ grandchildren -- names\ grandchildren -- number of\ great-grandchildren -- number of|
Section 14: fishing -- weather\ weather -- rough\ boating -- story\ Togiak -- men\ Naknek\ survival -- gratitude for\ winds -- gale\ wind -- speed\ waves -- big\ waves -- anxiety\ Naknek -- woman\ woman -- story\ gun -- threatening\ story -- humor