Kodiak Tales: Stories of Adventure on Alaska's Emerald Isle, investigates the many-faceted experiences of living on Kodiak Island. Shipwrecks, plane crashes, bears, and Kodiak's often-harsh and unforgiving environment are among the challenges facing the archipelago's hearty residents. The eight short stories in part one range in time from pre-Russian days to the present and examine humans' role in Kodiak's natural realm. The five non-fiction pieces in part two are a personal testament to life in Kodiak's backcountry. Kodiak Tales Stories of Adventure on Alaska's Emerald Isle By Harry B. Dodge III AuthorHouse Copyright © 2010 Harry B. Dodge III All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4490-5601-8 Contents Acknowledgements....................................................................viiIntroduction........................................................................xiIgnati..............................................................................3Bear Country........................................................................17Primal Communion....................................................................33The Trapper.........................................................................39Museum Confession...................................................................52Survivor............................................................................59The Salmon Bake.....................................................................63Taquka'aq...........................................................................79Akalura Plane Crash.................................................................89Across Kodiak.......................................................................96Two State Employees Walk Home - the Long Way by Chris Blackburn.....................119South End Ordeal....................................................................126Uyak to Kodiak for Music Fest.......................................................138Kodiak-The Galapagos of the North?..................................................145 Chapter One Ignati I was but nineteen when I hired on as a promyshlennik in the north Pacific fur trade. The vast numbers of sea otters that inhabited the islands to the East and the money one could earn in hunting them was all the talk. I was eager to make my fortune and to see these distant and mysterious lands. Being as I had received a formal education, I was promoted to an officer's rank after five years' service aboard ship. Through many years of hardship and isolation, I eventually made my "fortune." But I returned to Russia without the expected jubilation. I had shipped out with the confidence of youth and the sure knowledge endowed by education, but I returned bereft of that self-assurance, and my certainty was skewed with doubt. I had been changed by my experiences and none more so than through my association with an Aleut slave. We called him Ignati, his real name being unpronounceable to us. We had landed on Umnak, a bleak island of rock, grass, fog, and wind, and there set about the business of acquiring sea otter pelts. The skills necessary to kill these creatures required us to depend upon native Aleuts to hunt them. This arrangement was the source of constant friction, for it was often necessary to employ force in order to coerce many of them to hunt. Russian ships had been harvesting these waters for more than twenty years by then, and the otters were becoming scarce. Boats from rival companies also hunted, and competition for this dwindling bounty was fierce. There was much talk of more lucrative hunting grounds further to the East and especially of Kad'iak, a lofty island teeming with sea otters and home to colossal-sized bears. Eventually, the village toion learned of our growing interest in the island and its promise of bounty. Ughek, the village chief, was a wily old master of diplomacy. Too old for the sea otter hunt, he organized the hunting parties and acted as liaison between the Russians and the Aleuts, or Unangan , as they called themselves. Through guile he had retained much of his wealth while most of the villagers had become destitute under Russian control. After more than twenty years of contact, many of the Aleuts could speak basic Russian, even if in a most rudimentary form. In the shrewd set of his eyes, I suspected Ughek understood more Russian than he revealed. He walked with the aid of a long stick. His movements were slow, deliberate, but sometimes dramatic. Bringing one of his slaves to us, Ughek announced, "You say Kad'iak. Him Kad'iak," and he indicated the man standing beside him. "Him?" Captain Kalkhov asked. "Are you saying this slave comes from Kad'iak?" "Yes, Kad'iak," the slave replied, startling all, even Ughek, who assumed a look of annoyance. Captain Kalkhov greeted this news with enthusiasm. "You speak the language?" "Very young when they take me and make me