Tikchik village: a nineteenth century riverine community in ... - Cluster

Time and ChangeThe span of occupation at the Tikchik site would seem to encompassall or most of the nineteenth century. Trade goods were foundin all the dwellings, the kashgee and in the test trenches, so it is safeto say that there was at least indirect historic contact during theearliest stages of occupancy. It may have been that the inhabitantshad access to Russian trade goods before the actual appearance ofthe Russians in the Nushagak River region, and certainly opportunitiesfor acquiring such goods increased greatly after the establishmentof Alexandrovski Redoubt in 1818. However, the collectionsclearly show that it was American influence after 1867 that left itsmark on the material culture of the villagers and continued to influencevillage life, both directly and indirectly, until the site wasabandoned after the "great sickness" of 1899-1900. We have alreadynoted that historical source material referring directly to Tikchik isscanty. Therefore it will be necessary to rely on such data for theNushagak River region as a whole in order to specify particular spansof time that were significant to the history of the Eskimo inhabitantsof Tikchik.1829-1866An exploring party under the direction of I. F. Vasiliev ascendedthe Nushagak and Nuyakuk rivers in 1829 and explored one or morelakes in the Tikchik Lakes system, probably making direct contactwith the inhabitants of Tikchik. The following year Vasiliev againascended the Nushagak and this time passed over to the Kuskokwimwhich he explored in the interest of expanding the fur trade into theinterior of southwestern Alaska. In 1832 a trading post was establishedat the mouth of the Holitna River and was eventually movedtwice until Kolmakovski Redoubt was founded in 1841 and becamethe center of the interior Kuskokwim trade until the end of the Russianperiod. From 1841 communications were maintained betweenKolmakovski and Alexandrovski Redoubt and presumably the peopleof Tikchik occasionally encountered Russians along the river. Theyalso are certain to have made trips to the mouth of the Nushagak324