We Alaskans

Reading the North: Preserving the 'Wild' of the Far North

Our Perfect Wild: Ray and Barbara Bane's Journeys and the Fate of Far North

By Kaylene Johnson-Sullivan and Ray Bane; University of Alaska Press; $24.95.

Description: Ray and Barbara Bane worked as teachers in Barrow and Wainwright in the early 1960s — but they didn't simply teach the children of their Iñupiat Eskimo and Koyukon friends and neighbors: They fully embraced their lifestyle. Doing so, they realized how closely intertwined life in the region was with the land and, specifically, how critical wilderness was to the ancient traditions and wisdom that undergirded the Native way of life. That slow realization came to a head during a 1,200-mile sled-dog trip from Hughes to Barrow in 1974 — a trip that led them to give up teaching in favor of working, through the National Park Service, towards preserving Alaska's wilderness.

This book tells their story, a tale of dedication and tireless labor in the face of suspicion, resistance and even violence. At a time when Alaska's natural bounty remains under threat, "Our Perfect Wild" shows us an example of the commitment — and love — that will be required to preserve it.

Excerpt: By 1970, Ray and Barbara had moved to Hughes, a village 62 air miles from Huslia. The Koyukuk River served as the main transportation corridor, but by river miles the distance was easily twice that much as the river looped and doubled backed on itself. The village consisted of small log cabins strung on a flat gravel bench along the base of a steep bluff. The population at the time was around 60 Koyukon Athabaskans and one Iñupiat Eskimo.

Ray and Barbara, the only non-Natives, lived in a two-room schoolhouse with an attached apartment. Once again, they found themselves hosting visiting officials and having school-related activities flow into their living space. Yet they felt a special fondness for Hughes.

Ray credits Barbara for their easy transition into new Native villages.

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"She radiates a sincerity and kindness that naturally attracts others. It was largely Barbara who made it so easy for us to fit into the tight-knit villages of Alaska. Village women would come to our house to visit, and Barbara felt comfortable visiting their homes and sharing their hospitality. The ladies of Huslia and Hughes referred to Barbara as 'sister' essentially adopting her into the village social life."

In the fall, whitefish, the most abundant group of fish found north of the Alaska Range, gather into schools in the Koyukuk River as they get ready to move into deeper water for the winter. Seining was a major source of food for their sled dogs over the winter. Barbara and Ray formed a seining team with their friends Henry and Sophie Beams. Seining uses a large net with sinkers on one edge and floats on the other so that the net hangs vertically in the water. When the ends are pulled together, the nets close around the fish and they can be drawn to shore. The nets Ray and Barbara used had hand-carved bone and antler for sinkers and balsam poplar bark for floats. They used boats to drape the net in an arc into the river. When they captured a school of whitefish, the water roiled.

Ray wrote in his journal: Crew members rushed into the frigid waters grabbing and throwing the fish onto the riverbank. When we were lucky we could completely fill two large boats to capacity in a couple of sweeps. We went home soggy, tired, and smelling of fish. We spread out the fish and let them freeze hard as the fall temperature dropped below freezing. Once the fish were frozen we placed them in a covered shed. It took several tons of fish to keep a team of working huskies well fed during the winter. To feed the dogs, we cut the fish into chunks and boiled it in a large cauldron over an outdoor fire. As the water boiled. I would toss in kitchen scraps, bits of moose and caribou meat and sometimes cornmeal or oats to thicken the stew. The dogs virtually inhaled the rich soup. Not having to chew rock hard frozen fish and then thaw it in their bellies saved calories.

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