Shem Pete's Alaska: The Territory of the Upper Cook Inlet Dena'ina

432 Pages·2003·22.1 MB·English

by  James M. Kari

Shem Pete’s Alaska

Shem Pete’s Alaska
The Territory of the Upper Cook Inlet Dena’ina
Second Edition
by James Kari and James A. Fall
Principal contributor
Shem Pete
Additional place names and commentary by
Mike Alex Alec Peter
Nickafor Alexan Henry Peters
Emma Alexie Annie Ronning
Alexandra Allowan Fedosia Sacaloff
Tommy Allowan Morrie Secondchief
Harry Balluta Jim Sinyon
Pete Bobby Johnny Shaginoff
Sergei Californsky Mary Shaginoff
Maxim Chickalusion Alberta Stephan
Nellie Chickalusion John Stephan
Ella Chuitt Leo Stephan
Fedora Constantine Pete Stephan
Peter Constantine Sava Stephan
Miska Diaphon Terry Stephan
Bobby Esai Frank Stickwan
Hester Evan John Stump
Fred Ewan Jake Tansy
Betty Gilcrist Arthur Theodore
Peter Kalifornsky Bailey Theodore
Ben Neeley Lillian Theodore
Dick Mishakoff Mike Theodore
Jim McKinley Andy Tyone
Katherine Nicolie Jack Tyone
Feodoria Pennington Jim Tyone
Billy Pete Katie Wade
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA PRESS ~ FAIRBANKS
Second edition Translations from Dena’ina Athabascan
© 2003 James Kari and James A. Fall Shem Pete
Billy Pete
First edition Katherine Nicolie
1987 Sava Stephan
Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska and James Kari
The CIRI Foundation.
Maps
Address correspondence to: Matt Ganley, Map Alaska: www.map-alaska.com
University of Alaska Press Music transcriptions
P.O. Box 756240 Thomas F. Johnston, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-6240
Design
Dixon J. Jones, UAF Rasmuson Library Graphics
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shem Pete’s Alaska.
Bibliography: p.
1. Tanaina Indians. 2. Tanaina Indians-Names. Front Cover
3. Names, Geographical-Alaska. 4. Tanaina language Lynx Lake and lakes west of Willow, photo by Fred
Glossaries, vocabularies, etc. 5. Alaska-history, Local. Hirschmann AK-6838. See Plate 5 and Fig. 61.
6. Indians of North America-Alaska-Names. I. Kari, Inset photos: (top) see Plate 1, (bottom, l. to r. ) see Plate 24,
James M. II. Fall, James A. III. Pete, Shem, ca. 1896-1989 Fig. 3, Plate 9, and Map 17.
E99.Tl85S54 1987 979.8’00497 87-1414
ISBN 1-889963-56-9 (cloth) Back Cover
ISBN 1-889963-57-7 (paperback) Photo by Julius Kallander, Jr. See the caption for Fig. 5.
Frontispiece
Printed in the United States of America Figure 1: Shem Pete, October 17, 1985. Photo by Michael
All rights reserved Penn, courtesy of the Anchorage Daily News.
Vignette backgrounds
Close-up of dentalia shell necklace worn by Shem Pete at
the Cook Inlet Region, Inc. potlatch on October 17, 1985.
Dentalia shells are called k’enq’ena and the necklace is called
t’uyedi. Photo by Kathy Kiefer.
Detail of a large birchbark basket, the elegant utility vessel
of the Dena’ina, called lch’ehi or q’ey lch’eha. This basket was
made by Emma Alexie of Lime Village. Digital image by Kim
Armstrong, UAF Rasmuson Library Photographic Unit.
Preparation of this book was funded in part by a grant from
the State of Alaska, administered by the Department of
Community and Regional Affairs, through the 1985 Cultural
Heritage Program of CIRI. Funding was also provided by Cook
Inlet Region, Inc., and by Alaska Native Language Center,
College of Liberal Arts, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and a
grant in 2001 from The CIRI Foundation.
Contents
LIST OF MAPS AND TABLES VII
FOREWORD XI
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION XIII
INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION XV
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS XVII
TERMINOLOGY AND FORMAT XVIII
SYMBOLS, ABBREVIATIONS, COMMON DENA’INA WORDS XIX
THE DENA’INA AND AHTNA SOUND SYSTEMS AND ALPHABETS XXI
Introduction 1
Shem Pete Ełan Shit’i, ‘I Am Shem Pete’ 1
Billy Shem Pete 6
Sava Stephan, Sr. 8
The Dena’ina Language Area, Dena’ina Dialects, and Prehistoric Migrations,
by James Kari 10
Upper Cook Inlet Prehistory: the Archaeological Evidence, by Douglas Reger 15
The Russian Presence in Upper Cook Inlet, by James Kari and James A. Fall 17
Upper Inlet Dena’ina Regional Bands, Subsistence Patterns, and
Traditional Leaders, by James A. Fall 22
Upper Inlet Dena’ina Bands and Band Names, by James Kari 27
Dena’ina Place Names and Territorial Knowledge, by James Kari 30
A note on map production for Shem Pete’s Alaska, by Matt Ganley 36
1 Western Cook Inlet 49
Chief Simeon Chickalusion, 1880–1957 59
Tanik’edi, a Dena’ina Technique for Salmon Fishing
in Cook Inlet, by Nickafor Alexan 64
Beluga Hunting in the Tyonek Area, by James Kari and James A. Fall 75
Quyushi Uqu Ch’el’ani, Beluga Hunting, by Shem Pete 78
2 Lower Susitna River 81
The Wrangell Map of 1839, by James Kari 85
Dena’ina Log and Pole Buildings, by D. C. Beard 94
Susitnu Htsukdu’a—The Susitna Story, by Shem Pete 96
3 Fish Creek 99
Notes on Dena’ina Watercraft, by James Kari 102
Baytnidahen and Red Shirt, by Shem Pete, translated by Billy Pete 106
4 Alexander Creek 109
Ghuliy—Potlatch Wealth, by James Kari 115
5 Lower Yentna River 119
Shem Pete, Dena’ina Singer and Composer, by Thomas F. Johnston 125
6 Skwentna River to the Rainy Pass Area 131
Htal—the 1932 Trip to Rainy Pass, by Sava Stephan 140
An Analysis of the Dena’ina-Upper Kuskokwim Interface
Over Time, by James Kari 144
7 Upper Yentna River, Lake Creek, and Kahiltna River 149
Archaeological Investigations at Tiq’atl’ena Bena
(Hewitt Lake), by R. Greg Dixon 151
1919 Trip from Sushitna Station to the Johnson Creek area
and Hewitt Lake, by Shem Pete 164
8 Middle Susitna River 173
Traveling with the Kroto Creek Band in the 1920s, by Katherine Nicolie 177
The Story of Beł Dink’udlaghen: The One Who Swam Back Inside
with Them (the Salmon), by Shem Pete 184
Wasilla Stephan of Montana Creek,
compiled by James Kari, with an excerpt by Russell Annabel 195
9 Chulitna River 201
Names for Denali/Mt. McKinley in Alaska Native
Languages, by James Kari 211
10 Upper Susitna River 215
A Trip from Tyone Village to Knik in 1912, by Jim Tyone 223
An Analysis of the 1904 Moffi t Sketch Map, by James Kari 231
11 Talkeetna River 235
Ch’anqet’ and the Mountain People, by Shem Pete 240
John Shaginoff 257
12 Little Susitna River 259
No Room in the Homeland…Willow’s First Citizen
Looks for Home, by James Kari and Priscilla Russell 264
Being With Shem Pete, by Priscilla Russell 265
13 Western Knik Arm 271
Knik Archaeological Excavations, by Fran Seager-Boss 281
14 Matanuska River 289
Basdut—Old Man Ezi,
told in Dena’ina by Shem Pete, translated by Billy Pete 293
Chief Ezi, by Alberta Stephan 295
The Chickaloon Ahtna Country,
by Katie Wade and the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council 298
15 Eastern Knik Arm and the Anchorage area 313
Dach’ Idlughet Hyighiyih—How Eklutna Got Its Name, by Shem Pete 326
Early Days in Anchorage, by Shem Pete and Sava Stephan 335
16 Turnagain Arm and Point Possession 343
Captain Cook’s Arrival in Cook Inlet in 1778, by James Kari 345
Nutuł’iy ch’u Tutl’uh—Fire Island and Turnagain Arm, by Shem Pete 348
Unhsah Tahna’ina—The First Underwater People, by Fedosia Sacaloff 356
BIBLIOGRAPHY 359
GEOGRAPHIC NAMES INDEX 369
PERSONAL NAMES INDEX 379
SUBJECT INDEX 387
List of Maps and Tables
Tables
Table 1 The Dena’ina sound system xx
Table 2 The Ahtna sound system xx
Table 3 Discrepancies in orthographies for three Athabascan languages in Shem Pete’s Alaska xxi
Table 4 Upper Inlet Dena’ina Qeshqa (Chiefs) 26
Table 5 Upper Inlet Dena’ina bands 28
Table 6 The cartography of Upper Cook Inlet relevant to Dena’ina place names reconstruction 33
Table 7 Summary of the place names inventory in Shem Pete’s Alaska 37
Table 8 Toponymic generic terms in Dena’ina and Ahtna 38
Table 9 Semantic analysis of place names in Shem Pete’s Alaska 40
Table 10 Place names on the 1839 Wrangell map (eastern portion) 87
Table 11 Dena’ina terms for songs and dances 126
Table 12 Shem Pete’s family on the 1920 census for Susitna Station 171
Table 13 Athabascan names for Denali/Mt. McKinley 211
Table 14 Personal names reported by Shem Pete and Hester Evan 240
Table 15 Dena’ina words from the 1778 Anderson vocabulary. 346
Maps
Map 1 Chapter guide to Shem Pete’s Alaska and major Dena’ina place names in
Upper Cook Inlet, by Matt Ganley and James Kari inside front cover
Map 2 The Dena’ina language area showing dialects and surrounding languages,
by Matt Ganley and James Kari inside back cover
Map 3 Oblique landform map of Alaska with the Dena’ina language area, from Alpha et al. 1988 11
Map 4 Cook Inlet Basin and the Dena’ina Language area in relief, by Matt Ganley 11
Map 5 Distribution of Athabascan, Eyak, and Tlingit languages, by James Kari 12
Map 6 Detail from the 1884 Petroff map: Upper Cook Inlet 19
Map 7 Upper Inlet Dena’ina regional and local band names, by James Kari 29
Map 8 Shem Pete’s lifetime travels, by Karen Pearson 30
Map 9 Hydronymic districts in Northern Athabascan languages, by Dixon Jones 39
Map 10 Detail from 1940 Kroll’s map of Alaska: Upper Cook Inlet 44
Map 11 Western Cook Inlet (Chapter 1 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 48
Map 12 Two USGS quad maps with names for K’idazq’eni Łi’a 53
Map 13 Inset map of Tyonek area (Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 57
Map 14 Detail from the1794 Vancouver map of Cook Inlet 63
Map 15 Detail from the 1911 Brooks map: Upper Cook Inlet 73
Map 16 Lower Susitna River (Chapter 2 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 80
Map 17 Wrangell map of 1839 (eastern portion) 86
Map 18 Fish Creek (Chapter 3 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 98
Map 19 Alexander Creek (Chapter 4 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 108
Map 20 Detail from the Eldridge and Muldrow map of 1898: Lower Susitna River 111
Map 21 Lower Yentna River (Chapter 5 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 118
Map 22 Detail from the 1899 Herron map: Tyonek to Kichatna River 120
Map 23 Skwentna River (Chapter 6 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 130
Map 24 Detail from the 1898 Spurr map: Skwentna River to South Fork of Kuskokwim River 132
Map 25 Aboriginal band distributions for the Upper Kuskokwim–Kantishna River, by Edward Hosley 144
Map 26 Hypothetical former Dena’ina band territories west of the Alaska Range, by James Kari 147
Map 27 Upper Yentna River (Chapter 7 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 148
Map 28 Map of the Hewitt Lake site, by Greg Dixon 152
Map 29 Detail from the 1899 Herron Map: Kichatna River to Dillinger River 155
Map 30 Detail from the 1910a Sleem Map: Iditarod Trail and Peters Hills 157
Map 31 Detail from the 1995 Kroll map: McKliskan 158
Map 32 Detail from the 1906 Herning map: Upper Yentna River 161
Map 33 Middle Susitna. River (Chapter 8 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 172
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Map 34 Inset map: Kroto Creek settlements and place names (base map by Dan Foster) 176
Map 35 Detail from the 1900 Meiklejohn Map: Kroto Creek to Talkeetna 193
Map 36 Chulitna River (Chapter 9 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 200
Map 37 Detail from the 1916 Alaska Engineering Commission map: K’esugi Ridge 203
Map 38 Detail from the 1910a Sleem Map: Peters Hills and Chulitna River 204
Map 39 Detail from the Eldridge and Muldrow map of 1898: Talkeetna to Broad Pass 209
Map 40 Athabascan names for Denali/Mt. McKinley, by James Kari 212
Map 41 Upper Susitna River (Chapter 10 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 215
Map 42 The Dickey sketch map of 1896 217
Map 43 Jim Tyone’s 1912 travel route: Tyone Village to Knik 225
Map 44 1904 sketch map by a Western Ahtna man, labeled by geologist Fred W. Moffi t 231
Map 45 Detail from the 1899 Johnston and Herning Map: Matanuska River and Tyone Lake 233
Map 46 Talkeetna River (Chapter 11 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 234
Map 47 Detail from the 1900 Meiklejohn Map: Talkeetna River and Chickaloon River 255
Map 48 Little Susitna River (Chapter 12 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 258
Map 49 Detail from 1906 Herning map: Lower Susitna River to Knik Arm 260
Map 50 Detail from 1910b Sleem map of Willow Creek Mining District: Knik Arm 268
Map 51 Western Knik Arm (Chapter 13 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 270
Map 52 Detail from the 1899 Johnston and Herning Map: Knik Arm and lower Susitna River 275
Map 53 Old Knik in 1912 as drawn by Stanley Herning 283
Map 54 Detail from Davidson 1915 cadastral map of Cottonwood Creek area 286
Map 55 Matanuska River (Chapter 14 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 289
Map 56 Detail from the 1900 Meiklejohn Map: Matanuska River 291
Map 57 Detail from the Mendenhall map of 1898: Matanuska River 296
Map 58 Three Dena’ina-origin names off Anthracite Ridge on USGS maps 305
Map 59 Detail from the 1906 Herning map: Matanuska River 306
Map 60 1885 Ahtna Sketch map annotated by Henry T. Allen 310
Map 61 Eastern Knik Arm and Anchorage area (Chapter 15 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 313
Map 62 Detail from the Mendenhall map of 1898: Eagle River 329
Map 63 Detail from the 1910a Sleem map: Anchorage area and Turnagain Arm 340
Map 64 Turnagain Arm (Chapter 16 Dena’ina place names map by Matt Ganley) 343
Map 65 The 1778 chart of Cooks River, by James Cook 345
Map 66 Detail from the 1884 Petroff map: Middle Cook Inlet 355
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