Alvin Dayton went out to haul firewood and died last fall when his snowmachine fell through the ice on the Koyukuk River. In the past few months, other Alaskans drowned on the Kuskokwim River and the Yukon River in what remains an all-too-familiar hazard of life in Alaska.
Ricko DeWilde, Dayton's nephew, said it was in response to such tragedies that he fabricated a new type of grappling hook system that can be used under the ice to search for drowning victims.
On Monday, DeWilde's invention, which he calls the "Go-Flow," allowed him and two friends to recover the body of a 26-year-old man from the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks after the official search had been called off.
Retrieving a body from a river or lake will never be a joyous occasion for family members, but it can be a comfort. DeWilde said he met some resistance from people who said it was too dangerous for him to search Monday, but he thought of it as a duty, even though he did not know the victim, Roy Omiak, 26.
"Everyone who grows up in rural Alaska on rivers knows that looking for bodies is part of life," DeWilde said. "It's bad luck to leave somebody out there."
DeWilde, 40, said his invention needs more tweaking, but he believes it could be an inexpensive tool for these emergencies. The flotation device and control allows the hook to float downstream with the flow of the river away from the hole in the ice.
"It's the perfect simple design because you can't just depend on sonar, which is expensive and takes a lot of personnel to make it happen," he said.
On Saturday, the Fairbanks Fire Department cut several holes in the ice and searched for more than an hour and a half after the 7:40 a.m. report that a man had fallen in, a city press release said.
While some discouraged DeWilde from mounting a search Monday because of the risk posed by the mix of the open water and ice, he said his friend Clinton Huntington knows rivers and his friend John Nageak also pitched in.
He needed a boat and since DeWilde's family has long done business with Compeau's, he asked Craig Compeau for a loaner.
"They asked if they could keep it for up to a week," said Compeau, a longtime Fairbanks businessman who sells outdoor equipment. "I was shocked to see them arrive back about 90 minutes after they left."
"They recovered the body after just 30 minutes. They called the cops, who showed up right away and took the body. Not a happy ending, but some good might come out of this after all," Compeau said.
DeWilde had his share of troubles in years past, but he has worked to turn things around. He founded a clothing company, Hydz Gear, that features innovative designs for hoodies, shirts, hats, coats, basketball uniforms and other items. He said he wants to represent Native culture and tradition in a way that demonstrates strength and beauty.
"I don't want to see that tired Indian, that crying Indian, that beat Indian, or Native, Eskimos too. We're still alive, we're still fighting. We need to come out of that depression. I want to show strength and beauty too," he said in an interview posted on YouTube. "It's all about beauty and strength of Native American culture."
He said he got into the clothing business after making some items for a memorial potlatch nearly a decade ago. People liked them and asked for more. The son of the late Amelia and Lloyd DeWilde, he was raised on the North Fork of the Huslia River.
Compeau said DeWilde is an enterprising person and that the "Go-Flow" is based on a great concept. He suggested more testing this summer, even without ice, to perfect the invention.
"I love to see local ingenuity like this," Compeau said.
While this invention won't save lives, it could help find those who are lost, which is something.
Columnist Dermot Cole writes for the Alaska Dispatch News from Fairbanks. The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.