Letters from Alaska

By Richard Bartoo and Norma Bartoo

Letters from Alaska
Someone has commented that the Bartoo family is made of people who are highly literate, adventurous, and in love with the outdoors and animals. From the articles in this collection, I think any reader will agree with that. In their 30 to 40 years of living in Alaska, my mom and dad wrote many things to describe what their life was like. Some were letters written to family and friends, some were trapping logs, some were just personal accounts of activities on hunting trips and other travels, often written strictly for their own enjoyment. My mother and dad were over 50 when they moved to Alaska, and started a new life there. From my mothers letters over the years, she tells all about their life in Alaska in the 20th century. She makes the stories of their experiences come alive: hunting for moose, goats, or caribou; then fishing for salmon and halibut, and how they lost the Salmon Derby; and their fur trapping of mink, martin, etc.
The perennial question folks ask, Whats it like to live in Alaska? Mom answers from her viewpoint, both in showing details of daily routines of growing flowers while weeding and feeding mosquitoes, as well as how to prepare for spending weeks or months at a time in the bush on their annual trapping trip.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483674469

Richard Bartoo

Richard Bartoo Richard is a chemical engineer who has traveled extensively around the world. Since retirement, he has settled down in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and grandchildren. For over 40 years, he and his mother Norma Bartoo who lived in Alaska, wrote many letters back and forth. Norma passed away in 2000, and Richard has started editing some of the many letters from this correspondence, much of which is about experiencing life in Alaska – hunting, fishing, trapping, and just living outdoors.

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Contents

Beginnings

Introduction By Norma

Introduction By Richard

What’s It Like To Live

In Alaska?

Fishing In Alaska

Fishing In Alaska

The Maid And The Mariner Stories

The Maid Goes For Mink

First Trapping Experience

Flat Tail Jinx

Wind, Mist And Shores

Swan Cove Mink

Trapping, ’64-’65

Deer? Dear Me, No!

Only Half!

The Maid And A Moose

Four Moons In The

Bush, 1980-81

Howdy Mister Moose

Other Alaskan Stories

Ouzels—Tlinget For

The Dipper

Captive Of The North

Derby Blues

There’s A Frosting On The Mountains

Learn To Like It Or Else

Juneau

A Winter Day At Our House.

An Eulogy To Kinky.

A Goat Hunting Trip

A Trip North Hunting

El Blanco, The White One

Maggie

Root Beer Run At Happy Toad Lane

Daddy’s Oldest Boy

Rabbits, Rabbits, Rabbits!

Letter From Ms. Boatman

Ray’s Letter To Arba

To Cut A Tree, Or Not To Cut A Tree

Admiralty Island Questions

Admiralty Island Questions

Selfish! Me?

Why Do I Do It?

Alaskan Wilderness Writings

Modern Mountain Men

So You Think You’d

Like To Trap?

The Story Of The Killerdiller

Confessions Of A Trapper

Two Weeks Trapping Trip To Seymour Canal Trapline On Admiralty Island, Near Juneau, Alaska

A Shore Way To Success

Hail Fellow Trappers

Headquarters Camp

Excerpts From 1979 Trapping Log

Raymond—Dad’s Life

In Alaska

Dad’s Dynamite

Lament Of A Stream-Gager’s Wife

Norma—Mom’s Life

Before Alaska

Mom’s Passing, Funeral And Eulogy

INTRODUCTION

By Norma

Folks—you are invited to share in bits and pieces of our life in Alaska, and I hope you enjoy it.

I came to Alaska under protest. I hated to leave my home in Pittsburgh and come to an unknown world—unknown to me, that is. What do folks think of Alaska—dark and cold, strange places, strange people? I was apprehensive. But Ray wanted to come. He’d never been really happy in Pittsburgh, he didn’t like City Life. If he wasn’t happy, how could I be happy? We could transfer for two years, two years wasn’t a lifetime—so I’d go.

I came to Alaska for two years, most thirty years ago. My children were quite grown; Russ was in the Air Force, Rowland had just enlisted in the Navy, Richard was in college. Barbara, we’d take with us. She didn’t seem to have strong feelings one way or the other—but Ray, his heart was set on going. So we came—left an eight-room house for a trailer in a trailer court, and we started a life in Alaska.

Ray was happier. We found a whole new world open to us. Oh! We’d trapped and hunted in Pennsylvania and here we had to learn all new tricks about it all. But we did and many times I accompanied Ray, and first we knew Ray could retire. Meanwhile Ray sampled the hunting and fishing. Went deer hunting when he’d only been here less than a week. We went trapping too, for two weeks in Pybus Bay, and so we grew into it more and more. There was a boat for sale. Everybody has a boat. We bought a boat, a used cruiser. Fishing was great. Ray was still working then, so we only trapped for two-week periods. We trapped beaver in Snettisham; Camped at the mouth at tide water, ferried the boat up stream each day. Where the water was deep enough we used a little motor, but mostly someone had to tow it. I wasn’t too good at that so mostly Ray towed and I carried an oar and endeavored to keep it off the bank, snags, rocks, etc.

Once we saw a beaver ahead of us, and we piled out. We’d lost a beaver, trap and all that day. That was him—trailing a wire from the trap. I tried to step on it but he pulled the wire under my foot. Ray tried to hit him with an oar, and freely wet us both. After a bit, we’d muddied the water and lost track of the beaver and gotten wet. It was February and though the sun had shown it was still quite cool and now the sun was going down and we were still a ways from camp—so we piled into the boat and helped our drifting a bit, to hurry along faster and to exercise for warmth too. And here I’ve wandered off on another story. Have to finish it another time.

Good luck and happy adventures.

Juneau Alaska, 1985.

Norma.

INTRODUCTION

By Richard

Someone has commented that the Bartoo family is made of people who are highly literate, adventurous, and in love with the outdoors and animals. From the articles in this collection, I think any reader will agree with that. In their 30 to 40 years of living in Alaska, my Mom and Dad wrote many things to describe what their life was like. Some were letters written to family and friends, some were trapping logs; some were just personal accounts of hunting trips and other travels, often written strictly for their own enjoyment.

The majority of the items included here were written by my mother, Norma Grace (Butler) Bartoo [1911-2000], during her life in Alaska, and the majority of her writings reflect that life: hunting, trapping, fishing, or just traveling through the countryside, she makes the outdoors come alive in her writings. My dad, Raymond Eldon Bartoo [1913-1983], does not express his feelings as openly but the few items written by him show very a very deep knowledge of and appreciation of the outdoors and all animals, whether in a barnyard or in the backwoods of Alaska.

I have presented these writings in no particular order, but only grouped into some very general categories; The Maid and the Mariner Stories is a collection that Mom defined herself, but the other groups are all based on my own categorizing. I have included a few items that are not from Mom or Dad (including some pieces of my own), but I felt they added to the collection by demonstrating that the personal qualities that I have noted for the family are not confined to just Mom and Dad.

I should note that I have copied the writings from the originals, and tried to keep them intact just as I found them. A few commas have been added or deleted, and a perhaps a few spellings corrected, but mostly these read just as they were written and they were often written in pen or pencil on low quality paper such as a schoolchild would use. As you read them, keep in mind that when Mom and Dad started writing these they did not necessarily have any audience in mind but were writing them just for their own pleasure, or for later reference and reminiscing on scenes gone by. After Dad’s death, Mom tried in about 1985-90, to get some of her articles published (unsuccessfully), and I offered to help her. Thus, while she wrote an Introduction, and I wrote my own introduction, these items were dormant for many years.

My father, Raymond Eldon Bartoo, moved from Pittsburgh Pa. to work for the USGS in Juneau, Alaska in 1959. My mother, Norma G. (Butler) Bartoo moved and joined him in 1961, along with my sister Barbara. My older brother Russell was in Alaska at the time, stationed with the US Air Force at Elmendorf Air Base, near Anchorage. I was in college in Pittsburgh PA, to graduate in 1962. My younger brother Rowland had just entered the Navy and was in training at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, near Chicago. Russ later left the Air Force and lived in Juneau, taking up a boat and commercial license to fish for salmon. I was the second of four children; my brother Russell Bartoo [1935-2004] was 3 years older than me. My younger brother Rowland and my sister Barbara (the youngest) are mentioned several times in these articles. Several others mentioned by name were close friends of Mom and Dad.

Dad, Mom, and Barbara went originally to Juneau to live in a trailer court in the downtown area of Juneau. Some time later (about 1967) Barbara was married, and Mom and Dad went to live in an apartment in Ketchikan, Alaska for about two years. They then moved back to the trailer court Juneau. They bought a plot of land and started developing it for building a house on; this was in a new area several miles north of Juneau, very near the Juneau Airport. It took some 14 years before they actually had a house on that lot. Meanwhile there was lots of fishing, hunting, and trapping to do.

Dad loved the hunting and fishing in Alaska, but mostly he lived for the trapping season. Mom and Dad had a series of 3 cabins along Seymour Canal, part of Admiralty Island just south of Juneau where they did a lot of their trapping. Dad later set up some temporary cabins (that he refers to as Plywood Tents), in the St. James Bay area of Lynn Canal by the Chilkat Mountain Range, to the north of Juneau, where they also trapped for several years.

Mom and I corresponded meanwhile; she would write tell me lots of things such as family ancestry dating back to the Civil War; what were their latest activities in Alaska; how their rabbits were doing; how her flower garden was blooming; and so on. Meanwhile I would write and tell her all my activities as a travelling engineer visiting chemical plants in various countries all around the globe.

I include a few sketches of Alaska maps here, for readers who want to orient themselves. Alaska is bigger than many countries, and it is so large that I find that most Alaskans do not comprehend just how big. My first map is an outline of the entire state; the second is of Southeast Alaska which includes Juneau and most of the areas where Mom and Dad did their activities. The third map is a sketch of the area around the northern part of Admiralty Island, where much of their trapping activities were.

I should note, my father Raymond passed away in December 1983; Russell passed away in Nov. 2004; and my mother Norma passed away in April, 2000. May they rest in peace.

Richard K. Bartoo,

June, 2013.

Alaska%20map%201%20mod%20001%20(1).jpg

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO LIVE

IN ALASKA?

By Norma Baroo (written about 1970)

What’s it like to live in Alaska, everyone seems to ask—friends, relations, and strangers of the lower 48 (The lower 48 is how Alaskans speak of the original 48 sister states.)

Living in Alaska is many things to many people. To begin to understand, a person must first realize the extent of this Northern Most State. If maps of the same scale were placed together with that of the original 48 US states beneath that of Alaska, the one of Alaska would span the other north and south, east and west, with a bit of the Aleutian Islands hanging over. But Alaska is not only as far flung in longitude and latitude, but it has more coast line than all the other 49 states combined. The bulk of population lives along the sea shore which makes many Alaskans boat owners and they live at or near sea level. None are far from mountains however.

Juneau the capital, which is in Southeast Alaska as the pan handle is called, is backed up against the mountains to the extent that to date, there are no land highways to anywhere from here. In fact we have few roads extending beyond the city; you can go 45 miles north along the shore, and 15 miles south to the old mining community of Thane, and that’s it.

So we are restricted to travel by ship or plane, should we leave the area, but this fact seems of little concern to most of us. We are about a 2 hour jet flight from Seattle Washington, and I have flown from Juneau to Pittsburgh Pa. in less than 12 hours, 6 of which were sitting in a terminal between flights.

Small private planes are common here and elsewhere in Alaska. I have heard it said that Alaskans own more planes per capita than anywhere else in the world. They are almost as common here as autos.

We have three types of native people; the Indians, Eskimos, and Aleutians, each more or less in their own area of the state but they are gradually intermingling with each other and the whites. Yes we even have acquired quite a few Asians, and people of the black race too—so the white, black, red and yellow races are represented here.

We have the oceans, mountains, lakes, islands, rivers and plains in our geographic area, all contributing to our way of life. Southeast Alaska, being cut off by land from the rest of the state by glaciers and lack of roads, is almost like a state by itself. In fact there are islands in it that are larger than some eastern states.

Indians are our local native peoples and some communities are predominantly of this race, where as Aleuts and Eskimos are rather few here. They prefer their way of life in their own native areas—Aleuts in the Aleutian Islands and the Eskimos in the far north.

Our natives are the totem pole makers and their arts are commonly seen in the towns of southeast and the state has endeavored to preserve it. Besides totems, our Indians are skilled in many other crafts such as fur sewing, blanket making, basket weaving and many others. I am always surprised at the ability they display to create beautiful and useful things from almost nothing—from things we would consider useless.

The native people of each area have their ceremonies, and special dances and clothing. In our area, the Chilkat Dancers predominate and they have become world renowned for their tribal dances and songs, handed down from generation to generation. These songs and dances describe some event or some legend known to their people. They are sung in the native language, and for this reason the early missionaries—not understanding the language—thought them of a religious nature and forbade their singing. For this reason many were lost forever, and few of the older songs are still remembered. Now, the state encourages these songs and dances, also their arts and the young people are learning them, plus the native language, which had been forgotten by many. There has been means developed of writing the native languages, even. They had never been written languages before.

But—so much for the native people. I will now try to describe what I find Alaska to be like. Southeast Alaska is in the so called temperate rain forest, where precipitation is high and mostly in the form of rain. Rain is so common that no one pays much attention to it, children play in it, men work in it, almost as though it weren’t happening, but a good day—a bright sunny day—and everyone rejoices, celebrates of a sort, it is so beautiful, so wonderful!

Even the old sourdoughs pause to enjoy the beauty, the majesty of it. I guess you know, sourdough is a name given to old timers—Alaskans—of the white race, that is. The Indians enjoy the beauty about them too, but sometimes less noticeably.

Because of our sea level elevation which is warmed by the Pacific current having come up from the southwest, lands southward along North America here have a rather mild temperature for so northerly an area. This is also the cause of our high precipitation—the warm air meeting the colder air from the mountains.

As I write this, yesterday was October 14th: Juneau official weather was 40 degrees F low, 45 high, with 0.52 inches of rain while Pittsburgh Pa. was 49 to 64 and cloudy. We didn’t get to 64 degrees, but we were only 9 degrees colder than their coldest—but only a few miles away, on the mountains, there is fresh snow. One could easily walk from downtown Juneau to the snow and back in the same day. Indeed, we have areas where skiing could last the year round and the Mendenhall Glacier, which is about 5 miles away, can be seen from our home, while many other people live even nearer. Roads lead to within 1/4 mile of the face of the glacier—one on either side, while a foot trail leads even closer. The glacier melt forms a lake at its face, where ice blocks split off and calve, as it is said, and fall into the water.

In summer these bergs float about and may be gleaned from the edges of the lake or in the river beyond. During spawning season salmon, of the five varieties of the Pacific Coast and three varieties of trout, come to streams here to lay their eggs. The salmon eat the trout eggs, and the trout eat the salmon eggs—to a degree. The state has started hatcheries for salmon in several lakes in the area to enhance the salmon fishing. Fishing is an important industry and sport in Alaska.

In winter, when the lake freezes, left over ice bergs from the glacier freeze fast and present many interesting and varied sizes and shapes. One winter I recall a beautiful white ice-swan with lifted wings ready for flight among those arts of nature. We laughingly took pictures of sitting on an iceberg to put on skates for ice skating. Some winters we have plenty of skating weather while others have few if any days when ice is thick enough to support skaters, or snow freezes onto the ice surface making it unsuitable.

At this elevation we seldom receive deep snow, and what does fall usually stays only a few days. Farther from the coast, snow comes earlier and stays longer and we may accumulate 10, 15 or 20 feet or more of that white stuff. It is of this that the glaciers are made—snow accumulating, packing into ice and pushing down the valleys, to become a river of ice. At one time the Mendenhall Glacier extended to tide water, but it has receded about 5 miles to date and is still receding.

There are many other glaciers in the area—either side of Juneau except the beach side, but the Mendenhall is the closest. All the major valleys have glaciers that extend back into the mountains to a common ice field, called the Juneau Ice Cap. Tourists engage local pilots to fly them over the panorama of ice and mountain tops.

It is now October 14th and we have had no frosts at our house but some people farther up the Mendenhall Valley experienced frosts a month ago. Our growing season is short, cool, wet and devoid of much sun. For this reason agriculture is not practiced to much extent in this area. Nearly everything Juneauites require must be shipped in—by plane or boat. This increases the cost to double in some instances. For this reason, wages must be higher. Wild meat is used extensively—fish, deer, moose, caribou, sheep, goats, etc. Caribou and sheep are acquired mostly from other areas farther north.

The fabulous farming reported in Alaska, is not in the Juneau area and I have found that even in the best agriculture areas of the state, crops are won with much strife and a farmer must learn new and varied ways of farming. A rancher or farmer from the lower 48 would be at a loss to succeed even mildly till he learned the new ways, used different types of seeds, etc. Even at that, many common crops in the lower 48, cannot be raised in Alaska except in green houses. The University of Alaska is developing more and more crop varieties however, so the scope continues to grow. I personally raise a garden where I grow peas, potatoes, radishes, lettuce, beets, carrots, turnips, onions, cabbage, cauliflower, etc. I also raise raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries and currants for our use.

About 12 varieties of blue berries grow abundantly here—more on our 2 acre lot than we care to use. We also have red and black huckleberries, and three varieties of cranberries that also grow in the area, plus salmon berries, thimble berries, nangoon berries, cloud berries, and several varieties of wild currants. Wild crab apples are in the area too but no nut trees. The forest consists of Sitka spruce, hemlock, alder, cotton wood, cedar, and—sparingly—vining maple. Farther north white birch is abundant. Too wet for it here, I guess. Timberline is not far up the mountains—too much snow and too little soil. The ground and rocks are mostly covered however—be it shrubs or lichens. They follow the snow line—greening as it recedes and denuding as it advances. At high elevations, summer is short indeed. Hours of daylight are long though. Nights are growing longer now of course. Officially today sunrise was 8:32 AM and sunset will be 6:59 PM. In mid June it is scarcely dark here at all, and further north even less. Fairbanks celebrates July 4th with a midnight base-ball game. The sun goes down to the horizon and just rolls along from the west to the east and starts to climb over again for another day.

No, they don’t get a lot more snow than we do. They have so much less precipitation, though it comes earlier and stays longer, yet they have less of it and it stays powdery till it starts to melt in the spring. None of the heavy stuff that we get. They also get ice fog and ice rainbows—or ice-bows.

I didn’t think I wanted to come to Alaska but I’ve learned to like it. Many folks find they do not like it however; mostly the women. Alaska is a man’s state, a sportsman’s paradise—hunting, fishing, trapping, skiing, boating, flying, but not too many spectator sports especially in Southeast, due to the weather. Indoor sports are popular however and well attended.

And what do I do personally? I like to do needlework, knit, crochet, and other such arts. I garden both vegetables and flowers. Flowers? Oh! There again one finds difficulties growing the old familiar varieties and learns in time what will and what will not do well, or how to make them do as you wish—maybe. I skate but don’t ski. My husband and I hunt, fish, and trap. We own a boat as everyone here does, and we enjoy using it for various things.

We had never lived near the sea before and have found pleasure exploring the shore, tide flats etc. and identifying what we found. For instance the varieties of starfish seem unending. They come in shades of red, orange, green, brown and purple with a normal supply of from 5 to 20 legs. Clams and mussels are abundant and of several varieties some edible, others not. Crabs of several varieties are abundant also and may be gathered at extra low tides at some seasons or trapped in crab pots—cages baited and sunk to the required depth. We own 3 trapping and hunting cabins and expect to have 3 more that can be moved from place to place as need be.

Our tides may vary some 25 feet or more from low to high. This causes large tide flats, some vegetated, others not. We live among tall spruce and hemlock trees where we over look a grassy tide flat where geese and ducks come to feed and where a few nest. Swans are infrequent visitors but sea gulls and such sea birds are numerous. Bald eagles are numerous also. It is rare that there isn’t one in sight somewhere, and there may be uncountable numbers. These mostly during migration—spring or fall. There’s an area near here where by official count their nests average two per mile over 678 of shoreline.

I go with my husband and our son to fish for crab, halibut, salmon and trout, sometimes for sport and sometimes commercially. My husband and I fish with sport poles but our son also gill-nets salmon. A gill net is designed to catch salmon behind the gills, when it tries to pass through the net. There are designated areas and times to gill net. The net is carried on a large spool near the rear of the boat and is played out or retrieved over 3 rollers—on the bottom and either side at the rear of the boat. It is played out from near shore towards deeper water—a large float by day or a float with a light by night attached to the shore end. The far end is retained by the boat, and boat and net drift with the tide. It is usual to leave the net out for about 2 hours so tide and distance from shore must be considered, for the net snags on the bottom if the tide goes out till it touches bottom. Depth and length of nets are regulated by law. The fisherman hopes to keep his net floating pretty much in a straight away from the boat so as to intercept as many fish as possible, also if it loops against itself it becomes terribly tangled. One also hopes not to snag too many drift logs, trees, or seaweeds.

As the net is reeled aboard by a power winch, it is wound around onto the reel (or spool); meanwhile the fisherman is busy picking the fish from the net. They may or may not clean their fish in the field, but they are stowed in the hold on ice till sold. Some times a fish buyer buys the fish in the fishing area, while other times the fisherman takes them back to the plant in town when the fishing period is over. At the plant they may be canned or frozen according to variety, quality and demand.

Southeast Alaska is served by 4 main ferries, and 2 other ferries serve some of the smaller communities. Four of the larger ferries (Matinuska, Malaspina, Taku, and Columbia), and also a smaller ferry the Le Conte, all are named after Alaskan glaciers. The four larger ferries sail from Seattle, Washington on a schedule of about two trips a week, and from Prince Rupert (British Columbia, Canada) to Ketchikan, Petersburg, Wrangell, Sitka, Juneau, Haines and Skagway, Alaska. These ferry cruises are made along the famed Inside Passage, a maze of islands along our Pacific shore. Sitka is the only city on the route that is on the outside, not in behind these islands.

The Le Conte is a smaller ship and links smaller communities with Juneau and the larger ferry system and airways. The Chilkat is another small ferry, and it links small outlying areas with Ketchikan and its airport and ferry system. Farther north, the largest ferry connects between Anchorage and Kodiak. The ferry system is referred to as our marine highway.

Skagway is also not connected to the other Alaska towns by road, but such a road is in the making. The Yukon and White Pass Railway runs from Skagway to White Horse—Yukon Territory, Canada. Haines has a highway connecting that town to the Alaska Highway, extending from the lower 48 across Canada to Alaska. Fairbanks used to be about the farthest north roadways extended, but the pipe line has changed all that now.

The Alaska Highway continues north to Fairbanks or to the west to Anchorage and points in-between. There is also a more direct route now from Fairbanks to Anchorage by way of McKinley Park.

Interior Alaska is netted by a few roads but for the most part is still virgin—mountains, plains, lakes and rivers. It is here that moose, caribou and wolves roam. Timber is sparse and mostly of little value for lumber. Lakes dot the area and come in all sizes and shapes. A variety of fish abound in most lakes and rivers. Wildlife is fairly plentiful and would be more so if food was more plentiful. It is a beautiful but rugged area. We mostly visit it in early fall for hunting and the fall colors abound. It is like the mountains run blood—a spire of bare rocks, bleak and rugged with blood red vegetation seeming to be dripping down its nearer sides and slashed by the ravines, washed bare by floods of snow melt in the springtime. There are several low plants that have these vivid red leaves this time of year, but mainly Bearberry, a prostrate shrub with black or red berries. This color tapers into a bit duller red at lower elevations, in a taller shrub, dwarf arctic birch and here the landscape begins to be splotched here and there, especially along the ravines and wetter places with yellow and green of alder trees. Still lower grow aspen and paper birch, interspersed with black spruce. The black spruce grows tall and slender with short limbs, giving the tree a needle like appearance.

Work on the oil pipe line has brought a big influx of out-of-state workers. Some will stay on after the pipeline is finished and others return to their previous homes. Some people like Alaska very much and find it a virtual paradise; others dislike it so much they are in a hurry to leave. City life in Alaska can be pretty much like city life anywhere else in the US. It is very much what you make it to be. Time is changing things in Alaska very fast, however. The old sourdoughs are dwindling and disappearing fast and so is the wild outdoor type of life, they loved so much. Some areas are very urban and others rural but much still wild and remote. To enjoy Alaska to the most, one needs to like and appreciate out door types of entertainment. Its natural beauty is unexcelled anywhere in the world and that beauty is varied. It does require a degree of hardiness in the individual.

The type of arts in Alaska seems endless and it rather seems like all Alaskans are artists of some sort. Arts are pretty much taken for granted but not lacking for appreciation, be it primitive or sophisticated art. If it is done anywhere, it must be done in Alaska.

Alaskans are a friendly happy people, a bit individualistic, no doubt, but they accept you for what you are and expect you to do the same. They are proud of their state, and recognize it’s shortcomings but like it as it is. They do not wish it to be a New York City of paved streets and skyscrapers but rather, a country of wild beauty, mountains, trees, glaciers, rivers and all where a person may lose their self in its grandeur.

I thank you. Norma Bartoo, a transplanted Pennsylvanian, now an Alaskan.

FISHING IN ALASKA

—Excerpts from a letter by Ray Bartoo

Ketchikan, Alaska.

Feb. 8, 1968.

Dear Richard:

In her last letter my beautiful blond daughter-in-law says that her dad and her husband are making plans to come up fishing next summer! This makes for no end of happiness in this establishment! Yes, I remember we talked about it some in December when I was there. Really, I can’t tell you too much about when to come unless I know just what you intend to fish for, how long you can stay, how much you want to spend, etc. Let me expound.

1. King salmon—They are our largest salmon. Kings are big, average over 20 lb. with many over 40 lb. They fight deep with large, powerful runs and occasionally some rolling and splashing on the surface, but seldom jump. They can be as large as 100 pounds. They are most plentiful, and easiest to catch during May and early June, although there are SOME around all year. They run up the rivers to spawn in May-June. We are not allowed to fish for kings in any river or stream, so all our fishing is in salt water. There never are VERY MANY king salmon. Some days we fish all day and never see any or perhaps 2 or 3 days. Then again, we may catch 6 or 8 in one day, especially in May. Weather, time of high tide, and amount of food fish make a big difference.

2. Silver, or Coho Salmon. They are most plentiful from July thru September. We CAN fish for them in the streams and lakes. But most are caught out in salt water, probably from July 15 thru Aug. when they come in to spawn. It’s only at spawning time that there are any silvers around. Coho or silvers run from 6 lb. to about 20 lb. with most about 10-12 lb. They fight on the surface with many spectacular leaps and rainbows out of the water.

3. We have 3 other kinds of salmon but very few are caught on hook and line. They are mostly netted, with large nets and very little sport; sockeye or red salmon, chum or dog salmon, and pink, or humpy salmon. Sometimes you can catch a pink while trolling in salt water; they typically weigh about 3 pounds. Sockeyes and chum salmon will typically weigh about 5 pounds.

4. Halibut. These large flat fish are usually caught on hook and line deep down in the water. They may weigh as much as 200 or more lb. and the average is 20-50 lb. They really put up a battle and it’s very tiring to land a big one. We usually fish over 100 ft deep for halibut. They may be caught all summer from about mid-May to Oct. The best fishing is at night when the larger fish come up near the surface to feed. We like halibut best to eat fresh, Coho to smoke, king to sell.

5. (a) Trout: We have about 4 or 5 kinds of trout here in Southeast. Mostly each kind is in a different kind of area. Dolly Varden are perhaps the most numerous. They are a kind of char, and look a lot like the Brook Trout you catch back east. They are not as good to eat as any of the others. The larger Dollies are USUALLY caught in salt water while trolling for salmon. They are pretty good eating then. We have caught the most Dollies when trolling for king salmon in May-June. Later on in July-Aug. they run up the streams to spawn, and will be eating the salmon spawn. At this time they are hardly fit to eat, because they get soft and taste of the salmon eggs. Mostly they are considered trash fish anyway. Although down in the Rocky Mountains they are a great game fish, they are sometimes called bull trout there. The average size is about 18 to 24; weight about 1.5-3 lb. They do fight pretty good on light tackle. When they are in the creeks and rivers, you can catch them almost as fast as you can cast. They like spoons and plugs and also herring baits, and will take flies.

(b). We have in many lakes, quite a few eastern brook trout. They were stocked about 25-30 years ago and in some places are pretty fair sized. Mostly we catch pan sized fish 10 to 14. Mom caught one that was over 20" and weighed 3.5 lb. while fishing thru the ice 5 years ago this winter. Of course she would be the one to catch the biggest one!

(c) Cutthroat trout. These are very numerous here in Southeast, especially in the lakes and streams running into or out of, the lakes. They aren’t too big, average 12 to 18. They look like rainbows and are probably related to them. They are about as near a NATIVE trout as we have. Some lakes are very good fishing. They are good to fish for with flies or spoons or salmon eggs. The lakes are always fair fishing for cutthroats any time of the year, but probably best in June-July and again Sept.-Oct. August may or may not be good as to the weather. We have had very good luck on some lakes in July around the 4th. Others may be better in June. They spawn in the spring, May & June. Fishing for them is spotty. Some days it is wonderful, then again it’s terrible!

(d). Rainbow Trout. Some places we have very good rainbow trout fishing. But I don’t know too much about them except for what we call Steelhead. The steelhead is a sea-run rainbow. They are as large as salmon, average 6 to 20 lb. and some larger. They come in to fresh water to spawn beginning in April-May and thru June. Some come in the fall and live all winter in the lakes or larger streams, then spawn and go back to salt water in the spring. Fishing has been very good in several spots around Ketchikan all winter, this year.

(e). Land Locked Sockeye Salmon. These are a small salmon which looks, and acts like a trout. They are found in several lakes. Very good to eat! Pink meated! They average 8 to 10 and are easily caught on flies; they will take small spoons too.

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