Diomede Outpost Surveyed By AP
Feature Writer In Visit To North
, (Associated Press Newsfeatures
Writer Saul Pett visited Little
Diomede Island recently during
a trip to Alaska. Following is a
summary of his story.)
By SAUL PETT
LITTLE DIOMEDE ISLAND. UP)
— We were flying north toward
Bering Strait.
“There’s American radar on that
mountain,” said Martin Olson,
bush pilot, pointing toward the
Alaskan Peninsula on our right.
“You can be sure they see us.”
Then he pointed to the left, to
a snowy blur on the northwestern
horizon.
“That’s the Siberian mainland.
You can be sure the Russians also
are watching us on their radar.”
It was an odd, unreal picture:
three men and an Eskimo boy in
a tiny single-engine plane being
closely watched by the electronic
eyes of the two giants of the cold
war.
But odder still was the sight
that lay directly ahead, in the
narrow neck of Bering Strait sep
arating the mainlands of the
United States and Soviet Russia.
Rocky Diomedes
Ahead of us, in the- middle of
the Strait, we could see two
rocky, snow-covered crags — the
Diomede Islands, one American,
the other Russian, only three miles
apart and welded together by a
frozen channel.
Here is the one spot in the world
where Russian and American ter
ritories brush elbows, less than
6,000 yards apart.
On both islands are Eskimos,
related to each other; Eskimos
who used to visit back and forth
but now remain apart — divided
by a cold war they never made.
Olson made one low pass be
tween the islands. On Little Dio
mede we could see a tiny cluster
of about 20 clapboard and tar
paper houses, a school and a
church, all hugging the foot of a
1,600-foot mountain. The airport
that awaited us was a strip of
bumpy ice near the shore, marked
with oil drums.
On Big Diomede, we saw an
equally steep mountain. From the
plane we could detect no build
ings or signs of life. Olson said
the Siberian Eskimos lived on
the west, or hidden side of Big
Diomede.
Bringing Food and Cigarettes
We had taken off that morning
from Nome, 140 miles to the
southeast. Olson carried food and
cigarettes to Little Diomede. He
also carried three passengers:
Capt. Robert Steele, of the Nome
contingent of £he Alaska Na
tional Guard, which helps patrol
the island; little Edgar Nyapana,
5-vear-old Eskimo boy returning
home after a month in a Nome
hospital, and me.
The wind was sharp and the
temperature 21 below as our plane
skis bumped down on the rough
ice. Villagers, who seldom have
visitors in wintertime, quickly
surrounded our plane.
The whole military contingent
of Little Diomede — 10 Eskimo
members of the National Guard |
— followed me to the scholhouse
for interviews.
Had they seen the Russians |
lately?
See Russians Almost Every Day
“We see them almost every
day when the weather is clear,”
said Sgt. -Mike Okpealuk. “Through
our -binoculars or telescope, we
see their dog teams, supply planes
landing behind the ridge, and their
observation post which is near the
north end of the ridge.
“They carry rifles or tommy
guns. We carry only M-l rifles.
They wear long dark coats and
sometimes, looking through our
binoculars, we can see them look
ing at us through their binoculars.”
What was the last contact they
had with the Russian Eskimos?
“Last winter. One night, before
any of us Guardmen knew it, a
man named Odoyuk walked over
the ice from Big Diomede and sud
| denly appeared in one of our
j -houses. He said he wanted to
j see his relatives here. He said
i he wanted to trade, to get fish
I for ivory. He got some fish and
j promised to return with the ivory.
I He never did.”
j Mike explained several families
on Little Diomede recognized the
visitors as a cousin they used to
see frequently.
“Odoyuk said most of the natives
on Big Diomede had been re
moved to the Siberian mainland
about the time of the Korean war.
Only a few families remained. He
said he, himself, had been taken
to the mainland but was allowed
to return to hunt. I don’t believe
it. I think he was sent over here
as a spy.”
Nothing To Learn
Did Odoyuk learn inything?
“There is nothing to learn. We
have no military base here, just |
10 National Guardmen acting as 1
scouts. Our job is to watch the
Russians and report all their
movements back to the mainland
by radio. There is our observation
post.”
Mike was pointing to an old
011 drum on which was mounted
a 20-power telescope in fixed po
sition. That is the sum of Little
Diomede’s observation oost.
The Guardmen held Odoyuk
prisoner for a while, Mike said,
then let him go on orders from
the mainland.
As Mike was talking a shout
came from the observation post.
We all raced out to the telescope.
LAW COVERING NUDISTS
'UNNECESSARY' IN VERMONT
MONTPELIER, Vermont, UPi —
An antinudist bill has been re
jected 122-103 by Vermont’s House
of Representatives. The only nu
dist colony in the state is at Mil
ton near the Canadian border,
with some 40 members.
Chairman Ralph A. Foote of the
Judiciary Committee said there
are statutes on the state’s law
books now to cover “indecency in
[ matters of lewdness” and that the
bill was unnecessary.
BRITISH UNWITTINGLY SPUR
RE-ELECTION OF DE VALERA
DUBLIN, Ireland, UH — Thanks
to the British, Eamon De Valera
emerged over the weekend as an
almost certain winner in the forth
coming election to choose a pres
ident of the Irish Republic.
A formal British protest against
| De Valera’s order releasing 21
Irish Republican Army detainees
from the prison camp at Curragh
appears to have clinched victory
in the June election for the 77
year-old, nearly blind Prime Min
ister.
WEATHER FORECAST
Partly cloudy and continued
cold with- easterly winds 15-20
mph. Lowest temperature expect
ed tonight, -23 and the high to
morrow 0.
I was invited to look.
There, on the north ridge of
Big Diomede, three and a half
miles away, I made out some sort
of structure behind blocks of
snow and on the top a small metal
I chimney. And to one side, a hu
man wearing something long and
dark.
Can Be Sure He's Watching
“You can be sure,” said Mike,
“he’s watching everything —
when your plane arrived, what
was unloaded, how many people
got out and when it leaves. He
must report all this to the main
land, just like we do.”
There was more talk about
Little Diomede and its 20 families
totaling 131 persons and how they
live on the isolated outpost. Nor
mally, the island has two white
persons, a teacher and a Catholic
j priest.
Only the teacher, Warren Tif
fany, originally from Bellingham,
Wash., was there during my visit.
! He said he didn’t mind the iso
j lation.
Soon it was time to leave, be
j fore the plane skis froze solid in
I the ice runway,
i Within 500 feet we were air
borne. Down below, the whole
j village was out waving us off. On
| the other side, on Big Diomede,
j I didn’t notice any Russians
I waving.
SUCH A BUSINESS !
EFFINGHAM, 111., Iff'— Sev
eral miles north of Greenup, 111.,
Lolami Keller’s car stopped
running.
No gas.
Truck driver Carl Simpson of
Kansas, 111., picked up the
stranded Keller and took him to
a service station in Greenup.
The service station operator rec
ognized the now embarrassed Kel
ler as a candidate for mayor of
Effingham — and his boss.
That service station and some
49 others in a five-county area
in southern Illinois are owned by
Keller.
TRIPLETS TIMES THREE . . .
NEW YORK, UP) — Three times
as many triplets — 10 sets —
have been born in New York City
this year as in the same period
most years, and the New York
City Health Department says no
body knows why.
In 1938 the first operational ra
dar to be installed in a U. S. Navy
ship was placed in the USS New
j York.
Basic Prices Surveyed,
Compared With Seattle
COLLEGE, Alaska — Eleven
Alaska cities are surveyed for 40
basic items and the total price for
each “basket” is compared with
the Seattle price. The rundown,
with Dec. 1958 price first, Sept.
1958 price next and Dec. 1957
price last, is as follows:
Seattle, $16.93, $17.40, $16.29;
Ketchikan, $19.57, $19.9S, $19.78;
Petersburg, $20.98, $21.77, (not
available); Sitka, $21.19; $21.40,
(not available); Juneau $20.89,
$20.45, $20.14; Kodiak $21.87,
$21.95, $21.22; Seward $22.36,
$21.89, $21.48; Anchorage $22.99,
$23.46, $21.87; Palmer $22.87,
$23.07, $21.69; Fairbanks $25.81,
$25.44, $25.20; and Nome, $28.19,
(other figures not available).
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