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

VANSTONE: TIKCHIK VILLAGE 345p. 230). Representatives of the same sub-cultural groups continueto be mentioned in the sources until the end of the century and itseems likely that although Kiatagmiut may have continued to be themost numerous subgroup living along the Nushagak River, Eskimosfrom the Kuskokwim and elsewhere already outnumbered Aglegmiutin the bay region. Ivan Petroff, in collecting data for the TenthFederal Census, noted that many families from the KuskokwimRiver, Yukon Delta, and Norton Sound were living in the vicinity ofNushagak (DRHA, vol. 2, pp. 146-147; Bailey, 1880, pp. 26-27;Elliott, 1900, p. 740; Petroff, 1884, p. 136).It will be remembered that in 1829 Vasiliev visited the Kuskowagamiutvillage of "Tuksa," a settlement that we have identifiedas Tikchik, and that the only population listing for Tikchik in thehistoric sources indicates that 31 "Kuskaquims" were living there in1879 (Russian-American Company Records: Communications Sent,vol. 6, no. 244, folio 478; Bailey, 1880, pp. 26-27). With regard tothe population figures, we have noted that they were taken frommission records at Nushagak and there is reason to believe that thesub-cultural designation is correct. That is, that the inhabitants ofTikchik at that time and earlier were not Kiatagmiut as might beexpected, but rather people who had moved into the upper NushagakRiver region from the Kuskokwim River. If this was the case in 1829and 1879, the question naturally arises whether Kiatagmiut ever livedat Tikchik or whether the settlement was established and then continuouslyinhabited by Kuskowagamiut.Although it is likely that most Kuskokwim River peopleNushagak River region generally and in Bristol Bay in particular,reached their new homes by way of the Bering Sea coast, there is noin thereason at all why some could not have come into the area by way ofThe various routes between the middleinterior rivers and portages.Kuskokwim and the upper tributaries of the Nushagak must havebeen well known to the people of both areas even before the pioneerexplorations of Vasiliev and Kolmakov. Although the Kiatagmiut -Kuskowagamiut boundaries at the time of contact are usually drawnso as to include the Tikchik Lakes area in the territory of the former,it may very well have been that this region was uninhabited, or virtuallyso, at the time the Tikchik settlement was established. If, asat least seems possible, it was Kuskowagamiut who pushed into thearea and established the settlement, then the boundaries should probablybe redrawn so as to place this area within the territory of theKuskowagamiut. One might well ask, however, whether people mov-