How many other ancient seasonal Native trading centers were taken over by Westerners for permanent cities?
The Russian explorer Otto von Kotzebue transformed our seasonal trading site Kikitugruk into a permanent home for western miners and other fortune-seekers in the 1800s.
Inlanders/coastal Natives from the Doyon, Sitnasauk Nome, Dillingham, Point Barrow, and the Kobuk River people traded food, materials, tools, and vital environmental news every summer at Kikiktugruk.
Our Native lives are changed for the worse. We no longer hunt for bearded seals near Kikiktugruk, an important main food source. Fresh ocean salmonberries and cloudberries are also taken out of our diet as a result of Westerners/Bush pilots overtaking our historic trading site.
My father’s family comes from Teller, Wales, Shishmeraff, Noatak and Sisolik. I was born in Kotzebue and spent most of my life on the Kobuk River.
— Avuu Schaeffer
Wasilla
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