Page 30 - Richardson And Glenn Highways (East Alaska)

FAIRBANKS
BIRCH AND
GRASS BASKETS
Made by Athabascan Indians from the Interior of Alaska , these birch baskets are trimmed with willow root, and are waterproof. While Interior Alaskans make baskets from birch bark, Coastal Eskimos who don't have access to birch use sweet grass. Many materi- als used are gathered as part of a subsistence harvest. There's a basket display at the Museum of the North in Fairbanks, and at the Fairbanks Wells Fargo museum, as well as at Morris Thompson Cultural Center.
PRESERVING
SALMON
Athabascan Natives preserved salmon using a variety of tradi- tional methods. Salmon are still dried and preserved by tradition- al smoking, as well as frozen and canned. You can see a display of an Athabascan smokehouse at the Morris Thompson Cultural Center.
Outdoor smoking and salmon drying allowed villages to pre- serve large amounts of salmon. This gave them a portable, lean protein to use over the fall and winter months. Additionally, dried salmon was lightweight, and could be carried from sum- mer to winter camps.
_:. //
LIFE ALONG
ALASKA'S RIVERS
The Morris Thompson Cultural Center in Fairbanks celebrates life along Alaska 's northern rivers. This unique museum gives you a contemporary, first-hand look at what it's like to live in Alaska, off the road system. The center isalso a place where elders teach young people traditional skills, such as dog mushing and fiddle playing. You'llbeableto openafreezerfuII of cold , butcher-wrapped packets of "moosemeat." You'll see how a typical Alaskan loads a skiff for river travel, and walk through an actual salmon smokehouse and learn about everyday life along the Tanana River.
River barges today aren 't much different than the steam paddle- boats of the early twentieth cen- tury. Today's boats run on diesel fuel , not firewood. At Nenana, an hour south of Fairbanks on the Parks Highway, river barges take propane and supplies to faraway, isolated villages on the rivers of the north. Barges are the life- blood of northern Native villages, as freight cannot be brought in by trucks. That's because there are no roads.
Small baskets are made with coastal sweet grass and often decorat- ed with intricate traditional designs. They 're made by Yup'ik people and trimmed with dyed seal gut for decoration . '
This historicalAlaskan section isbrought toyou inpart by Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.
"