Shem Pete's Alaska James Kari; James A. Fall; Shem Pete ...
06/2021
eBook
Shem Pete (1896-1989), a colorful and brilliant raconteur from
Susitna Station, Alaska, left a rich legacy of knowledge about the
Upper Cook Inlet Dena'ina world. Shem was one of the most versatile
...storytellers and historians in twentieth century Alaska, and his
lifetime travel map of approximately 13,500 square miles is one of
the largest ever documented with this degree of detail anywhere in
the world. The first two editions of Shem Pete's Alaska
contributed much to Dena'ina cultural identity and public
appreciation of the Dena'ina place names network in Upper Cook
Inlet. This new edition adds nearly thirty new place names to its
already extensive source material from Shem Pete and more than
fifty other contributors, along with many revisions and new
annotations. The authors provide synopses of Dena'ina language and
culture and summaries of Dena'ina geographic knowledge, and they
also discuss their methodology for place name research.
Exhaustively refined over more than three decades, Shem Pete's
Alaska will remain the essential reference work on the
landscape of the Dena'ina people of Upper Cook Inlet. As a book of
ethnogeography, Native language materials, and linguistic
scholarship, the extent of its range and influence is unlikely to
be surpassed.
Alexander Creek Drainage James Kari; James A. Fall; Shem Pete ...
Shem Pete's Alaska,
06/2021
Book Chapter
4.1 Tuqentnu ‘Clearwater Creek’
Alexander Creek
This was a major salmon fishing stream for the Alexander Creek band (Fall 1981:185). Alexander Creek and Kroto Creek (8.10) have the same Dena’ina ...name. (Eldridge 1900:10) “Eight or ten miles upstream spruce appears, increasing rapidly to Alexander (Taguntna, Indian) Creek, from which point northward it is an important growth both in quantity and size.” (See Map 20.
In 1898 Learnard (1900:654) noted that this stream was named after the chief who lived one quarter of a mile above the mouth of the stream. Alexander and Diqelas Tukda were the same person (Fall 1981:373).
This book is about the territory of the Dena’ina (Tanaina) Athabascans of the Upper Cook Inlet region of Alaska based upon interviews with Dena’ina people who know it well. In 1986 there remain about ...twenty-five speakers of the Upper Inlet dialect of the Dena’ina language. Most of them are over sixty. The foremost expert on the traditional Dena’ina of Upper Cook Inlet is Shem Pete, himself Dena’ina, who was born at Yusdishlaq’, near Susitna Station, in about 1896.
Shem is one of the most versatile Native storytellers and historians in late twentieth-century Alaska. Since 1974 he has worked with James
The materials presented in Chapters 6, 7, and 9 demonstrate that the Dena’ina made extensive use of the lands at the base of the high mountains of the Central Alaska Range.
Doroshin, who traveled ...with Dena’ina in the Kenai Mountains in 1848, wrote, “In the mountains every step, every motion, almost every word is underlain with certain traditional rules…. In the mountains they are very taciturn, and they sing no other songs besides the mountain songs…. In the mountains ‘knife’ is called k’nidultihi, otherwise k’izhak’i” (Radloff and Schiefner 1874:vii). At times Shem Pete talked about the unique language that was
Lower Susitna River James Kari; James A. Fall; Shem Pete ...
Shem Pete's Alaska,
06/2021
Book Chapter
Shem Pete: “Those Natives used to put up lots of grub…. All summer long they put up lots of fish and lots of grease, and seal grease and all the grease they can get a hold of for winter, down Susni ...Kaq’ Susitna Delta, 2.4. They had lots of caches at their winter villages. They come down there to Susni Kaq’ with skin boats. They put up lots of beluga grease and blubber and during the winter lots of Tyonek people came up there, and Knik people, and Kroto people, Alexander people—everybody visit them. They have a lot of
Western Cook Inlet James Kari; James A. Fall; Shem Pete ...
Shem Pete's Alaska,
06/2021
Book Chapter
Although our survey of place names begins north of the McArthur River, it should be noted that the Dena’ina place names extend south along the west side of Cook Inlet to the lower end of Kamishak ...Bay. Iliamna Lake Dena’ina were traveling up the beach to the Alaska Commercial Company post at Tyonek in the 1880s. Many Dena’ina villages and camps were located in the Kustatan area. See Cook Inlet Historic Sites Project (1975:101–120) and Chickalusion (1982) for information about the Kustatan area. After about 1930 Dena’ina villages at Kustatan and Polly Creek were abandoned. Tyonek people still journey