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Hometown 1
Spotlighu
When ice on the Kuskokwim
River breaks up in May, the only road re Aniak,
Alaska (pop. 572), disappears with the melt
ing snow, and villagers await the summer
salmon runs.
The river is central to the lives of residents of the
Yup'ik Eskimo village, providing food, recreation
and a transportation route year-round. In the win
ter, the frozen river is a thoroughfare tor snowmo
biles and trucks transporting fuel and supplies to
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Who Will
Help Me?
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In a home-fall emergency, many seniors cannot reach the telephone.
They remain on the floor for hours or even days without any help. The
injuries often turn into permanent disabilities. A simple press on a pendant
will instantly signal Life Alert' s Center to summon the help needed.
For a free Brochure Call Now:
Operators are standing by (24/7)
At Home
in the Bush
nearby villages. In summer, floatplanes land on the
water, and fishing boats and barges ply the river.
“It’s the road, it’s the supermarket, it’s the
playground,” says Jeff Thompson, 44, a physician
assistant who moved to Aniak four years ago re
provide medical cure to residents of 16 villages in
tlie Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region.
Thompson, wlxi took the job as a way to repay
his student kxuis while exploring tlie nation’s List
Frontier, enjoys the solitude and remoteness of die
"I've Fallen and
I Can't Get Up "
(800) 757-2711
Life Alert
Emergency
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A floatplane, one of the means of transportation in Aniak, Alaska, rests near 1
Alaskan bush, a vast wilderness of forest and tundra inhabited by moose, ■
wolves, caribou and bear.
“I always wanted to come to Alaska, and diis was my opportunity re do
it,” says the Casper, Wyo., native. “Living here in the wild, it’s the kind of
place you dream about.”
Aniak, located at die confluence of the Aniak and Kuskokwim rivers in
southwest Alaska, has long inspired explorers and adventurers. Russian fur
traders visited the region in tlie 18(X)s, followed by gold prospectors in the
early KXX)s.
Some outsiders settled in Aniak and fathered children with the indig
enous Yup’ik and Athabascan women, inspiring tlie name of Aniak High
Schools mascot —The Halfbreeds.
“It’s exactly what we are,” says Ruth Birky, president of tlie Aniak Tra
ditional Council, which represents 240 natives in die village. “Were part
white and part native."
Birky, whose white father met her Yup’ik mother while lie was stationed
in Aniak with die U.S. Air Forte in 1956, says tlie team’s name caused
some embarrassment when the boys’ basketball squad advanced to die state
tournament in Anchorage last year, but residents are proud of their heritage
and their ream.
During basketball season, fans follow tlie ream to games in nearby vil
lages on the frozen river. "It looks like a highway," says Birky, wliose son,
Frederick, plays on tlx* team. “Ycxi follow the lieadlights.”
While haskerball is a favorite winter pastime, fishing rules when the
salmon runs begin in June. Five spec ies of salmon —king, chum, sockeye,
pink, and silver-spawn in tlie Aniak River, along with rainbow trout, artic
char, grayling and northern pike.
"It's a world-class drainage," says Roy “Woody" Wooderstxi, a fishing
guide and owner of Hook-M-Up Fishing Adventures. "You can come up
liere and catch eight different species of fish in one day."
Dakota Phillips lands a salmon. Fishing is especially popular during
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the annual Silver Salmon Derby. Last
August, 175 villagers paid $5 each to
participate in tlie 20-day event. Darlene
Morgan captured first place and $1,500
in the adult category with her 12.8-pound
fish, and Dakota Phillips, 10, took top
prize—$s(X>—in the youth division with
his 11.1-plunder.
"He caught a king salmon when
he was 4 years old," says Lisa Fey
ereisen, Phillips’ mother. “He’s been
fishing ever since.”
Page 14
•American Profile