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William "Bill" Demoski

Bill Demoski is an Athabascan who grew up in Koyukuk, and lived in the Galena area on the Yukon River in interior Alaska, living a traditional hunting, trapping and fishing-based lifestyle. His father, Aloysius Demoski, was a dog team mail carrier in the 1920s and 1930s who depended on good lead dogs to help him determine where the ice was unsafe. Bill moved to Fairbanks around 2006 where he has applied his general knowledge of river ice to the Tanana River.

Bill shared his knowledge and experience about interior Alaska river ice conditions at the 2004 Dangerous Ice Workshop, and then on a number of Tanana River fieldtrips. He has a vast knowledge of Athabascan traditions related to river travel and winter survival.

Bill is also known for his sled building skills; in 2007 he built a traditional style wood freight sled for the University of Alaska Museum of the North, and in 2011 was interviewed about dog sleds and dog mushing for the Dog Mushing Project Jukebox.

William "Bill" Demoski appears in the following new Jukebox projects:

Bill Demoski's Slideshow

Interview Title	Abstract	Archive #: Oral History	Project	Date of Interview
William Demoski	William (Bill) Demoski was interviewed on June 15, 2011 by Robert Drozda, Karen Brewster, and Marla Statscewich at the University of Alaska Museum of the North in Fairbanks, Alaska. Angela Linn, Ethnology Collection Manager, and Briana Brenner, her student intern, were also present at the interview. In this interview, Bill talks about how he learned sled building and how he built a particular sled. He identifies parts of the sled, compares modern and traditional sleds and materials, and compares models of different sled styles. This recording has been edited from the original.	2011-19-07	Dog Mushing in Alaska	Jun 15, 2011