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

336 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY, VOLUME 56Realistic population statistics for Tikchik and villages in the surroundingarea are difficult to obtain for the period between 1860 and1900, partly because the seasonal movements of people made themdifficult to count but also because during this period people fromother areas were continually moving into the Nushagak River region.It is likely, however, that much of this influx would eventually findits way to the bay area. Probably the most reliable figures are thosebased on official Orthodox Church sources, and they show that in1895-1896 there were 384 Kiatagmiut, while in 1898-1899 the figurewas 398. Most of these would appear to have lived in middle andBetween 1860 and 1890 a number of new settle-upper river villages.ments came into existence in this area to replace in degree of importanceearlier ones. However, the basic continuity of upriver andmiddle river population centers was not greatly altered. Tikchik, itwill be recalled, had a population of 31 in 1879 (Bailey, 1880, pp. 26-27) and it is likely that Old Koliganek replaced it as the major upriversettlement. This rapidly growing community had a population of 30in 1879 (Bailey, 1880, pp. 26-27), 91 in 1880 (Petroff, 1884, p. 17)and 114 in 1898 (Elliott, 1900, p. 740). In the middle river region,three new villages appeared: Ahkokpak, Elilakok, and Tunravik.The only population listing for any of these settlements is a figureof nine for Ahkokpak in 1890 (Porter, 1893, p. 164) and it is doubtfulif more than 100 persons ever occupied the three villages. In theKokwok-Akulivikchuk area we can note important shifts in population.Agivavik, with a population of 47 in 1879 (Bailey, 1880,pp. 26-27), 52 in 1880 (Petroff, 1884, p.17), and 30 in 1890 (Porter,1893, pp. 5, 164) was probably abandoned sometime during the firstdecade of the present century, perhaps at the same time as Tikchikand for the same reason. Also abandoned about this time wasAkulivikchuk which had 72 inhabitants in 1880 (Petroff, 1884, p. 17)and 61 in 1890 (Porter, 1893, p. 164). The last residents are said tohave moved down to Kokwok, which itself was about to go into adecline in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Duringour period of interest Kokwok had a population of 83 in 1879 (Bailey,1880, pp. 26-27), 104 in 1880 (Petroff, 1884, p. 17), 145 in 1881(DRHA, vol. 2, p. 144), 46 in 1890 (Porter, 1893, pp. 5, 164), and106 in 1898 (Elliott, 1900, p. 740). Ekwok, with 79 inhabitants in1898 (Elliott, 1900, p. 740), began to emerge as the major settlementfor this section of the middle river and has continued to maintain thisposition down to the present time. On the basis of these populationfigures and an examination of the sites in question, it is possible to