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Warren Neakok

Warren Harding Neakok was born to Frederick Thomas Neakok (known as Tommy Neakok or Tommy Knox) and Eva Neakok at Akuliaqattaq near Icy Cape, Alaska, while his family was camped there hunting bearded seals. At age four, Warren was adopted by his grandparents, Neakok and Kimmik Knox and grew up in the area around Icy Cape, Point Lay, and Wainwright, Alaska. He grew up living off the land following a traditional subsistence lifestyle of traveling by dog team and hunting caribou, seals, and beluga whales, catching fish, and trapping birds and small game. He learned to set ptarmigan snares and set squirrel traps from his grandmother, and how to hunt with a bow and arrow and a rifle from his grandfather. Throughout his life, Warren was an accomplished hunter and trapper, successfully harvesting beluga whales, seals, polar bears, caribou, fish, fox, wolves, and wolverines. He also was a reindeer herder. He started living in Point Lay around 1940 and worked as a janitor at the school. In 1947, while caring for his mother and siblings after the death of his father, Warren married Dorcas Tingook Upicksoun, a widow caring for eight children; they went on to have six more children of their own. Warren provided for his family through hunting and trapping and found work with the Coast and Geodetic Survey and at the DEW-line station. Warren and Dorcas Neakok remained living in Point Lay during the 1950s and 1960s when others moved away and the village nearly disappeared. They are credited for helping to keep the community and traditions alive until it was resettled in the 1970s.Warren was a respected Iñupiaq elder known for his knowledge of the ice conditions along the Chukchi Sea coast from Wainwright to Point Lay. Warren Neakok died on September 26, 2010. For more about Warren Neakok, see To Keep The Past Alive: The Point Lay Cultural Resource Site Survey by Warren Neakok, Dorcas Neakok, Waldo Bodfish, David Libbey, Edwin S. Hall, Jr., and the Point Lay Elders (Barrow, AK: North Slope Borough, 1985).

Date of Birth:

Jul 1, 1922

Date of Death:

Sep 26, 2010

Warren Neakok appears in the following new Jukebox projects:

Warren Neakok's Slideshow

Interview Title	Abstract	Archive #: Oral History	Project	Date of Interview
Warren and Dorcas Neakok, Part 1	Warren and Dorcas Neakok were interviewed on January 5, 1980 by Ron Metzner for a project related to potential oil development of the Alaskan continental shelf. There is no location given for where the interview took place, but based on some of the comments made during the interview it sounds like it was not done at the Neakok's home in Point Lay, Alaska. Therefore, because the other interviews for this project were done in Barrow, Alaska, the assumption is that this one was also done there. Other interviews for this project appear in the Historical References to Ice Conditions Along the Beaufort Sea Coast of Alaska (Scientific Report, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1979), however the Neakok's interview was not included in the publication. In this first part of a two part interview, Dorcas is the main narrator and she talks about growing up in a reindeer herding family, sea ice conditions around Point Lay, Cape Lisburne and Icy Cape, the effect of wind and current on the sea ice and the lagoon ice, ice pileups, and ice movement causing flooding. She also talks about feeling the 1964 Alaska Earthquake in Point Lay and seeing the ice crack up because of it.	97-64-13_PT.2	Sea Ice in Northern Alaska	Jan 5, 1980
Warren and Dorcas Neakok, Part 2	This is the continuation of an interview with Warren and Dorcas Neakok on January 5, 1980 by Ron Metzner for a project related to potential oil development of the Alaskan continental shelf. There is no location given for where the interview took place, but based on some of the comments made during the interview it sounds like it was not done at the Neakok's home in Point Lay, Alaska. Therefore, because the other interviews for this project were done in Barrow, Alaska, the assumption is that this one was also done there. Other interviews for this project appear in the Historical References to Ice Conditions Along the Beaufort Sea Coast of Alaska (Scientific Report, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1979), however the Neakok's interview was not included in the publication. In this second part of a two part interview, Warren is the main narrator and he talks about sea ice conditions around Point Lay, Cape Lisburne and Icy Cape, the effect of wind and current on the sea ice and the lagoon ice, ice pileups, and ice movement causing flooding. He also talks about getting caught on drifting sea ice when walrus hunting and seal hunting at open leads in the winter.	97-64-12	Sea Ice in Northern Alaska	Jan 5, 1980
Warren Neakok	Warren Neakok was interviewed on July 26, 1984 by Dave Libbey and Ed Hall at Warren's home in Point Lay, Alaska. A total of eight interviews were done with Warren for the North Slope Borough's Point Lay cultural resource site survey, whose results are reported in To Keep The Past Alive: The Point Lay Cultural Resource Site Survey by Warren Neakok, Dorcas Neakok, Waldo Bodfish, David Libbey, Edwin S. Hall, Jr., and the Point Lay Elders (Barrow, AK: North Slope Borough, 1985). In this interview, Warren talks about a dog sled trip he took from Point Lay to Point Hope, Alaska and uses a map to mark the route. He mentions specific places along the route and provides Inupiaq place names. This recording has been edited from the original in order to facilitate the flow of the interview and conversation.	88-08-06 & 88-08-07	Dog Mushing in Alaska	Jul 26, 1984