THE NOME NUGGET I
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MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
ON THE COMMANDER ISLANDS
Meet Some Of Our Neighbrs Who Have Established A
Well-ordered and Friendly Community On Islands
Only A Few Miles From Alaska
By T. LYTKIN
What a relief it is today to know that in the North
Pacific we have for neighbors our great ally, the So
vie people. Yet there have been Americans who sought
to alarm us. and to provoke suspicion and enmity be
tween the American and Soviet peoples. There have
been Americans who preferred to see aggression-mad
Japan as our neighbor in these lands. To say 'have been'
is too optimistic. For only a month ago, in the June
6th issue of Collier’s Magazine. George Renner, a pro
fessor at Teachers College and an American convert
to the Nazi pseudo-science. Geo-Politics, proposed as
one of the conditions for post-war peace handing over
the Soviet Pacific coasts to Japan.
A few days after the publication of this appeaser pro
posal by the professor, the offer to the Japanese of
other people's lands, a Japanese expeditionary force
landed on the island of Attu. easternmost of the Am
erican Aleutian archipelago. As we go to press they are
being taken care of by our military forces. Attu's near
est neighbors are the Soviet Commander Islands. It
was these very islands that anti-Soviet provocators not
so long ago sought to turn into an issue of suspicion and
ill will between the .American and Soviet peoples. Lyt
kin’s article describes life on these Soviet islands,
neighbors of ours in the North Pacific. It was written in
times of peace and gives us an insight into the life of a
people whom we can gladly and truly call good neigh
bors.
Each day the first to turn the pages of the dav-by
day calendar, are the inhabitants of Bering and Mednv
Islands off the coast of Kamchatka. Only a few miles
of water separate these people of the- far eastern USSR
from their neighbors on the Aleutian Islands of Am
erican Alaska. But through these waters passes the
international time boundary line. The day of the Bering
and Mednv Islanders begins a full twenty-four hours
earlier than that of the nearby Alaska Aleutians a few
rn les away. Continuing East, from the Commander
Islands, the day begins later and later until the time
circle is closed back at the neighboring American Al
eutian islands, only a few miles away, but a whole day
later.
Discovered by Vitus Bering
Bering and Mednv are two of the islands in the Com
mander group, discovered by Commodore Vitus Ber
ing. The famous explorer lies buried there, and his
name is borne by the nearby sea and strait. He perish
ed while on an expedition sent to discover whether
Asia was connected with North America. The expedi
tion was commissioned by Peter the Great. Bering
and his party set out in 1737. in two packet boats. “St.
Peter " and “St. Paul." After sailing for three years
they arrived at the Bay of Avachinsk on the eastern
coast of Kamchatka. Here they camped for the first
winter, and out of their camp grew the town of petro
pavlovsk (Peter and Paul).
Fly In 40-Seat Passenger Plane
It was to this city in Kamchatka that we set out
i: the summer of 1940 to photgraph life on the Com
mander Islands. We went by air in a fine forty-seater
passenger plane piloted by the well-known Far Eastern
pilots Ovechkin and Derkunsky. We were able to see
below us. as we flew, the Amur River, vital artery of
the Maritime Province: Komsomolsk, one of the new
pioneer cities of the east built by the Soviet Communist
youth: Nikolayevsk at the Amur's mouth: and then
across the Tartar Straits that runs between Sakhalin
Island and the mainland, and over the Northern Soviet
half of this large and mountainous island. (The south
ern half is Japanese). Above the island we climbed to
an altitude of 8,000 feet. Soon we were over the Ok
hotsk Sea, at this point about six hundred miles wide.
Through breaks in the clouds we caught glimpses of
the sparkling waters below. Across the sea lay Kam
chatka, where we finally came down at the city of
Petropavlovsk.
There we boarded the Steamer “Neptune,” a 3500
ton vessel. The “Neptune" put out to sea, but dropped
anchor for the nighi because of th fog. We could see
nothing through the mist, but the captain told us the
Commander Islands were not far away.
In the morning we found ourselves among the reefs,
about 700 feet from the shore of Bering Island, where'
the daring explorer is buried. Before us lay the little
village of N kolskoye. It consisted of a group of about
thirty log houses nestling in a protected cove. Our j
arrival caused a great stir and the people came run
ning to the beach. Normally they have such a visit
only once a year when a supply vessel brings the in
habitants their annual stock of provisions, fuel and
other requirements. Our appearance meant an extra
ration of excitment in addition to other extras.
Blue Foxes Run Loose Like Pets
As there was no ptmtected harbor and a heavy sea
was running, the “Neptune" had to shun the shore, and
we were taken off in a small Aleutian boat. In the
boat we noticed a number of small animals roaming
like house pets in the cabins. We were to see many of
them all over the island. They were the famous blue
foxes, whose fur assumes the modish blue tint in the
winter, that adds to their value in the fur market.
The Commander Islands abound in these foxes which
are bred on the islands and behave like domesticated
pets. There are also beavers, and a great variety of
birds as well. But the islands are most famous for their
large sealing grounds.
The first known settlers on these islands were the
Unargens, a tribe from the Aleutian Islands. The came
in 1826. When the report of the Bering expedition was
made public, fur trappers from all parts of the world
flocked to the islands. Bent on quick large profits, they
hunted down the valuable fur animals to the point of
extinction and ruthlessly exploited the native inhabi
tants. When the islands were taken over by the Soviet
government the fur industry was on the verge of ruin.
In 1924 the number of seals in the area was estimated
at 3,000. Todav there are about 50,000 on the protected
sealing grounds.
These are about twelve and a half miles from Nik
olskoye. Navigation laws prohibit steamers sailing in
the vicinity from using sirens or searchlights, so that
the animals will not be disturbed.
We piled our cinema gear on sledges drawn by dogs.
I think this is the only place where dogs are used to
pull sledges in the summer. The boggy ground is al
most as smooth under the runners as snow. We went
speeding to our destination, with Joseph Nozhikov. an
extremely skillful hunter, guiding us through the tall
grass.
Thousands of Seals
Suddenly a wonderful scene opened before us. Liter
ally within a stone’s throw, thousands and thousands
of seals and their cubs were gamboling in the water,
or basking on the beach. They wrere all a deep, dark
brown, and some of the bulls were as large as horses.
This is the place where the seals breed and spend
most of the year. In December they swim south, to
Japan, but they return every spring.
Great care of the pack is taken by the staff of the
hunting station on the islands. Every year they kill
only a certain number of the three-year-old “bach
elors." males who have not acquired a ‘harem.” The
hunters leave the rest for breeding purposes. This in
sures a steady increase in the pack.
The people of the Commander Islands constitute a
well-ordered and friendly community. Scurvy, that
terrible scourge of the past, has been completely eradi
cated. The diet now consists of fresh vegetables, fish, (
pork, sugar and sweetmeats, in addition to the veni- j
son from the reindeer herds introduced on the island,
seal meat, wild bird’s egges and game that are ob
tained on the islands. All the houses have electric
lights and radios. In Nikolskoye and Preobrazhenskoye!
there are clubs, libraries, amateur art circles and bands, j
Because of the situation of the islands in the North
ern Sea. they are also the site of weather and scien
tific stations. In the work of the meteorological ob
servatories and in the veterinary and other technical
stations much of the professional work is done by the
natives. The Aleutian, Badayev, transmitting from the
island radio station, is considered one of the best radio
operators in the Far North. The Aleutians A. Maltseva,
a woman, and V. Adodurov are zootechnicians on the
State animal breeding farm located on the island.
first Far North District Entirely Literate
The Aleutian District was the first in the Far North
of the USSR where the whole population became lit
erate. rhe islanders now have their own newspaper,
“Aleutskaya Pravda." and they listen eagerly every
day to the broadcast of news and other programs
from Moscow. The people surrounded me while I
ground out my films, fascinated, as every community
is, at the actual process of picture taking. However,
the cinema has long passed the stage of novelty for
them. They have movies regularly.
Through movies, radio, airplane and their own ad
vancing culture, these people of the Commander Is
lands in the midst of the Northern seas, are an integ
ral part of the life of our country.
(Reprinted by permission of the magazine “Soviet
Russia Today).
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----“ S
GENERAL ELECTION SEPT. 8, 1942.
The people of Alaska have a Legislature. It
meets for 60 days every 2 years. It decides how
much shall he spent for our roads. It is respon
sible for our Public Schools. It provides for the
care of our needy children and our needy elder
ly men and women.
Because of the War the Territory and its
citizens must make many adjustments. It is more
important now than in times of Peace that we
choose carefully the men to be our members in
the Legislature. The limited powers we have in
our Government must be watched and preserved.
The next Legislature must have men in it
that will know what our part of Alaska needs;
men that will protect the rights of Alaskans. The
Republican candidates are those kind of men.
You will vote wisely on September 8. at the
General Election by voting for—
SENATOR
Stuart L. Stangroom
REPRESENTATIVES
Henry (>. Miller
Kenneth I). Rude
Walter Taylor
(1 Dudley Warner
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Above is a reproduction of the
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Old Papers For Sale
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j
Notice of Hearing and Settle
ment of Final Account
No. 595
In the Probate Court for the
Cape Nome Precinct, Territory of
Alaska: Second Division.
In The Matter of the Estate of
ARTHUR F. WRIGHT. Deceased.
TO WHOM IT MAY CON
jCERN; Notice is hereby given
that the undersigned administrat
or of the estate of Arthur F.
Wright, deceased, has filed in the
above entitled Court, his final
account and report and that
Tuesday, the 20th day of Octo
ber, 1942, at the hour of 11:00
o'clock A. M. on said date in the
Court Room of said Court at
Nome, Alaska, has been fixed by
the order of said Court, as the
time and place,for the hearing of
the same and any obeetions there
to and the settlement thereof and
that at said time and place said
Court will adjudicate who are
the heirs of said deceased.
Dated this the 20th day of
August, 1942.
John Solon, Administrator
of the Estate of Arthur F.
Wright, deceased.
Publish Aug. 24, 31, Sept. 7, 14
Carrying an Assortment
of Fine Liquors, Win
es, and Beers.
FRONT STREET, NOME