MS. JUDITH MORRIS: August 7th, in Kokhanok, Alaska. This is Judith Morris and I'm here talking with Nick Nowatok. Nick, can you tell me where you were born? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He says in the Kvichak, probably at Kaskanak. MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah, Kaskanak. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Kaskanak? You were born in Kaskanak? MR. NICK NOWATOK: That's what they say. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: That's what they say? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Where were your parents from? Where was your mom from? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He said that as long as he can remember, they have been from that area, like Kvichak. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: From Kvichak, Kaskanak? THE INTERPRETER: Yeah. Yeah, Kvichak, Kaskanak area. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: When did you move to Kokhanok? When did you come to Kokhanok? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) (Interpretation given.) THE INTERPRETER: He said right toward 1940s or so, and around, he came up and ended up staying there. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: You were coming up trapping and going back to Kaskanak? THE INTERPRETER: You know, they have reindeer up there. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Were you a reindeer herder? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He says he was with Alex Gregor. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Behind Igiugig? THE INTERPRETER: Yeah. MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Olber (phonetic)? THE INTERPRETER: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Behind Igiugig and behind Kokhanok? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. (Answers in Native language.) MS. JUDITH MORRIS: As the caribou? MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Did you sell the reindeer? MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He said they issue a (indiscernible) -- MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: From what he can remember, he said during first few years of the war they just let the herd leave. And I guess that was -- MS. JUDITH MORRIS: That was the end of that? THE INTERPRETER: Yeah, at the end. You know, and they didn't regroup after...

MS. JUDITH MORRIS: What about when you were doing reindeer, were you also trapping? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: Yeah, he said from the start that they -- yeah, they always have trapped. That was their mainstay of being in an area. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Uh-hum. What things did you used to trap, Mr. Nowatok? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He said, what they usually get in this area. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Did you ever trap wolves? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Wolves? THE INTERPRETER: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Did you use dogs when you were trapping? Did you use your dog team? THE INTERPRETER: They had to pull their dogs together because they couldn't... MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Okay. We're back with Mr. Nowatok, and I was asking about your dog team. Would you trap, do your trap line with your dog team? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Who was your partner? Did you have a trapping partner? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Zachar sometime. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Who? MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) Zachar (indiscernible) down there. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Lots of -- a partner? THE INTERPRETER: People -- MS. JUDITH MORRIS: -- spend the night out? Did you go for many days on your trapping line? Overnight? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) Almost two weeks sometime. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Sometimes two weeks? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Did you have a tent or a cabin? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Tent. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: A tent? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: A white canvas tent? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. THE INTERPRETER: You know, they always had a tent. (Inaudible) tent (inaudible.) MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Uh-hum. Uh-hum. Where did you go? Did you have your own trapping area? When you moved to Kokhanok, where did you trap? Where did you go? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Down Big Mountain. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Big Mountain area? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. Lots of guys trapping down there before. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Lots? What kind of traps did you use? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Fox and beaver, lynx. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Where would you get your traps? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Where did you buy your traps? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: Naknek. (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He says they were cheaper down at Naknek.

MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Mr. Nowatok, did you have a skiff? When did you get your first motor? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Down at the bay. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: You got it in the bay? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: How old were you when you got a motor? MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He said -- he said that once he was able to be on his own. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Where was your wife from? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Huh? MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Where was your wife -- what village was your wife from? Where was your wife from? MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: Right here. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Right here? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: That's why you moved to Kokhanok? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: You met her when she was up here? What family was she from? What was her name? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: (Indiscernible.) MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Was living here, and you got married, and you had how many children? MR. NICK NOWATOK: The oldest one right there. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: The oldest one is right there? MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) Martha and Annie. There were four girls. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Four girls? THE INTERPRETER: Dead or alive, you know. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Yeah. Were you a commercial fisherman, Mr. Nowatok? Did you commercial fish in the bay? MR. NICK NOWATOK: I go down to get job labor someplace. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Someplace down there? For many years? You fished for many years? On a sailboat? On sails did you fish? (Interpretation given.) MS. JUDITH MORRIS: (Indiscernible.) When did you quit trapping? How many years ago did you quit trapping? MR. NICK NOWATOK: I quit long time. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: You quit a long time ago? THE INTERPRETER: (Inaudible.) MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Who taught you how to trap? Who taught you how to trap? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He said you learn by watching your elders so you do what they are doing. You know, that's -- that's their way of... MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Parents tell you anything about taking care of animals? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. THE INTERPRETER: He says, yeah. And you know, he got a (indiscernible) and his dad was Alex Zackar's. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: You were raised by old, blind grandma? THE INTERPRETER: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: With Alex Zackar? THE INTERPRETER: No, they weren't even born yet. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: They were not? THE INTERPRETER: They were not.

MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Were any of the -- were any of the animals considered stronger than other animals? You know, is a wolf considered a strong animal? Is -- THE INTERPRETER: The wolverine had a -- MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Like ancestors. THE INTERPRETER: Yeah, they are considered like ancestors. A long time ago they claim even when animals used to talk like. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: When you were a young man, Mr. Nowatok, did you see mostly moose or caribou? Did you see the moose more or the caribou? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Caribou. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Caribou? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: Before I got no moose around here. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: No moose? THE INTERPRETER: No moose. MR. NICK NOWATOK: Nothing. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: When did you start seeing moose? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He said for a while there they -- you know, there was hardly... MS. JUDITH MORRIS: How about bear? Did you used to hunt bear? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: You hunt bear springtime or fall time? MR. NICK NOWATOK: One time in the springtime sometime. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: In the springtime sometime? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Did you go with a group of men for bear hunting? A group? THE INTERPRETER: He said -- he used -- when people lived here, they had two or three men in the camp, supposed to be two, two people. Two or three at the most. You know. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: (Indiscernible.) -- take your beaver with a gun? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: When you took your bear, would you use the fat or the meat or? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Meat, yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: The meat? Did you salt it or dry it or? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Salt your meat? In barrels? (Interpretation given.) MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Yeah. Get up? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Talking about -- you moved to Kokhanok in the '40s. How many people were living here? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Not many people before. Now lots of guys around there. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Not very many? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Long time ago. Not many of them. No kids much, too. Even down the bay and Iliamna. Nondalton, not much kids. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Not too many. MR. NICK NOWATOK: Right -- MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Go ahead. MR. NICK NOWATOK: Like right now, Nondalton has lots of them now. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Uh-hum.

MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Did people have houses close to the water? How did you haul your water? Have them on the shoulder, yoke, with buckets? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Carried them that way, the water? THE INTERPRETER: Most people -- some people had yokes, you know, some didn't. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Pack it with your dogs, water with your dogs? Did you have to cut ice in the winter to keep a water hole? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Can you tell a change in the weather, Mr. Nowatok? It's getting warmer in the winter, than when you were a young man? More snow? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Some -- sometime, yeah, got lots of snow. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: But not now? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Right. Not right now, nothing. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Well, not now, nothing. That's true. But -- MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah before, lots of snow before. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Uh-hum. Uh-hum. When you would take your dogs down to Big Mountain to trap, how long would that take you? How many -- would it take you a day? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Nice day, can make one day. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: One day to go down for your trapping? And you -- by dogs? Did you ever use snowshoes? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah, I use snowshoes all the time. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: All the time? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. THE INTERPRETER: (Inaudible.) MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Did you buy your snowshoes or did you make them? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Some a long time ago I make some. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: What would you use to make your snowshoes? MR. NICK NOWATOK: A long time ago I make snowshoes. (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: Moose hide. THE INTERPRETER: It was mostly moose hide. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Moose hide? THE INTERPRETER: Yeah. MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Uh-hum. MR. NICK NOWATOK: Make them dry first. You got to make. THE INTERPRETER: Make them dry. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: And back and forth weave them, the moose hide, on spruce or birch or what? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Birch. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Birch?

MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Did you ever use -- did you ever use anything like bear for making mukluks? Did you ever -- did you ever see bear insides, the bear intestines, used for mukluks? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. THE INTERPRETER: (Inaudible.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He said they used to use them for clothing most times, you know. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Waterproof clothing? THE INTERPRETER: Waterproof. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Keep you dry? THE INTERPRETER: Waterproofing. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Uh-hum. Uh-hum. Who would make -- who made the boots? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: Yeah. He said that he -- MS. JUDITH MORRIS: -- food is your favorite food today? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He said mostly fish. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Fish? Do you like fish? Dried fish? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Do you -- do you still help with the fish? THE INTERPRETER: (Inaudible.) MS. JUDITH MORRIS: -- did you used to take your subsistence fish? Where did you go subsistence -- where did you get your subsistence fish? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He said all around this bay here, he likes for fish camp within this bay. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Where would you get your fall fish? What do you call fall fish? -- what I mean by fall fish, Mr. Nowatok? Fall fish? In the fall? Spawned out? Where would you go for spawned out? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Go all over. THE INTERPRETER: He says all over wherever there's lake -- lake fall fish. (Inaudible.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: When I trapped, it was good to eat. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: They are good to eat? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: When you go trapping? (Indiscernible.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: For travelling.

MS. JUDITH MORRIS: What's the biggest change you've seen? Biggest change in the village that you have seen? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He says so many changes. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Too many changes? THE INTERPRETER: He says there's so many changes, he can't -- you know, he says so many changes. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Electricity? Motors? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Got no motors a long time ago. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: You had motors for a long time. MR. NICK NOWATOK: Only row that time (indiscernible). MS. JUDITH MORRIS: And before that rowing? Rowing? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: In a -- in a bidarka? Is that what they call them? Kayak? THE INTERPRETER: Yeah, kayak. Kayak. MR. NICK NOWATOK: They're tough kind, the kayak. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: What were they made out of, the kayak? What were they made from? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Most time women make it, make them. (indiscernible) Sometime. Some old time. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Some old-timers? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Too tough. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: They are tough? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: (Native language) Whatever skin was available, it used to be like (inaudible.) MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Moose? Or caribou? THE INTERPRETER: Yeah, whatever. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: If you saw a caribou? THE INTERPRETER: Yeah, whatever. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Where would you get your eggs? Did you go -- did you gather eggs in the springtime? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. THE INTERPRETER: It's all -- the bay right in front also, you know like... MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Favorite kind of eggs? MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He said the -- he said the eggs were about the same. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: About the same? THE INTERPRETER: About the same, you know. Seagull or the duck eggs. He said they were about the same.

MS. JUDITH MORRIS: What do you think is important for your grandchildren to know? What do you want your grand -- MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: I guess life is taking its own form. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: What was the first animal that you killed, Mr. Nowatok? What was the first animal you killed? (Interpretation given.) MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He said probably the first caribou. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Caribou down in Kaskanak? MR. NICK NOWATOK: We go on way down, almost week and I never see nothing before. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Go for a week and not see anything? So maybe a caribou when you were a young boy? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Yeah. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Was the first thing? What did you do once you -- when you killed your caribou, did you give it away? Did you eat it yourself? What did you do with it? THE INTERPRETER: That he gave to the elders first before he could take to his family. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: You gave it to your elders? THE INTERPRETER: You know, older people. That need it. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Mr. Nowatok, when you moved to Kokhanok, did you have to ask permission to live here? Did someone have to say it was okay for you to -- to come, if you could come live here? Who was the chief, the village chief when you moved to Kokhanok? MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) Some chiefs here a long time ago. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Some chiefs? Do you remember who? MR. NICK NOWATOK: Mike. THE INTERPRETER: Mike Newyaka. MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Newyaka? Mr. Nowatok, is there anything you would like to say on the tape before I turn it off? Anything you want to say? MR. NICK NOWATOK: (Answers in Native language.) THE INTERPRETER: He said no (inaudible.) MS. JUDITH MORRIS: Nothing?