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

VANSTONE: TIKCHIK VILLAGE 227they were to pursue traditional subsistence activities.It is certainthat many aboriginal hunting techniques began to be forgotten atthis time. The company assumed a paternal role, not only controllingthe goods which the Eskimos could obtain, but also carefully regulatinghow much they were to receive.It appears that Alexandrovski Redoubt, after an initial shortperiod of importance as the only company post north of the AlaskaPeninsula, lapsed into relative obscurity with the emergence of otherposts in southwestern Alaska. In 1846 it was reduced to an odinochka,or trail house, and subordinated to Nikolaevski Redoubt on CookInlet. From this time on until the end of the Russian period, Kolmakovskiwas supplied through Mikhailovski Redoubt near themouth of the Yukon River (DRHA,i vol. 1, pp. 365-366; Tikhmenev,1939-40, pt. II, p. 218; Russian-American Company Records: CommunicationsSent, vol. 27, no. 267, folio 387).The center of fur trade activity in southwestern Alaska may haveshifted farther north, but Alexandrovski continued to maintain itsinfluence in the Nushagak River region. The number of Russiansand Creoles actually occupied in trading activities was probably alwayssmall but they maintained control over desirable products, andthe Eskimos could obtain these only through the exchange of fur.This simple fact explains more than anything else the amazing rapiditywith which the Eskimos of southwestern Alaska were exposed tothe fur trade. Between 1818 and 1840 the entire region was openedup and trading contacts were established throughout the heavilypopulated Yukon and Kuskokwim river systems, as well as along theNushagak and its tributaries.For a long time after the transfer of Alaska from Russia to theUnited States, no attempt was made to explore the Nushagak Riverregion. At the end of the nineteenth century the vast inland regionnorth of Bristol Bay still remained comparatively unknown althoughit was penetrated by occasional trappers and traders, none of whomhas left specific accounts of visits to Tikchik. The assets of theRussian-American Company were purchased by Hutchinson, Kohl &Company of San Francisco. This firm, which apparently ran theNushagak post for at least a year and possibly two, was soon reorganizedto form the Alaska Commercial Company which dominated1This is a reference to "Documents Relative to the History of Alaska," 15 typewrittenvolumes, copies of which are located in the University of Alaska Libraryand the Library of Congress. These volumes, the first four of which contain mostof the Russian era materials, were compiled as part of the Alaska History ResearchProject (1936-1938) of the University of Alaska.