This weeks editorial is a clipping from the Boston Globe
Daily paper, Boston, Mass. We thought the people of Kodiak
would be interested in this article. Beside the article, is an
answer to the professor’s letter written by a Civil Service
Employee from the Naval Station, who originally lived in
Boston.
This is one of a series of articles about Alaska, written
by Evan Hill, Boston University professor, now visiting the
territory.
By EVAN HILL
KODIAK, Alaska—Once this town was the Russian
«apitol of Alaska. Today a bartender, once from Illinois and
still called a “cheeehako” after 12 years in the territory,
•ays, “Well, you explain this Commonism (sic) tome. I keep
faring about it. Everyone says he is against it and I keep
asking people who come in here. No one know#.”
*ThatJ*srtender might .not know about “Comrnpnisro "
.4RTt only * few miles from him the headquarters of ; the I'tth
Maval District is quite aware of the ramifications off$hat poli
tical ayst^qi. r
Kodiak, fflso the home of the giant Kodiak bear, is a
giant naval air station. Alaska is aware of its former owner
«nd is in no mood for repossession. Kodiak is an island, with
approximately 100 miles of road. There are perhaps 200 auto
mobiles here. Yet some of the muddy, twisting streets are
equipped with parking meters, 10 cents an hour, five cents for
30 minutes. MTA riders complaining about rising costs on bus
and subway, would be startled at the 50-cent fare here. But
Kodiak’s transportation managers supply music to thfeir pas
sengers. A speaker blares popular tunes from the ceiling. The
passengers do nof talk to each other; they cannot be heard.
This village of 3000 has about four blocks of stores.
There is a drug store, a very modern supermarket, a modern
cleaners and the office of an airlines. Only one building rises
above two stories and that is a three-story apartment house.
On a slight rise in the level spot below the 2500-feet high Old
Women's Mountain, there is a Russian Greek Orthodox Cath
olic Church, a remnant of the years before “Seward’s Folly”
became a part of the United States.
There are no gardens, neither flower ror vegetable, and
no attempt is made to grow anything. Everything is shipped
in from the States, or “Outside” as it is called in Alaska. And
there are few radio antennas and none for TV. Radio recep
tion is difficult; TV is impossible, although Anchorage, about
*250 miles away has two TV stations. Single-story, wooden
houses, long in need of paint, perch on up the sides of the
Old Womap. Kodiak looks depressing in the rain. Down in the
center of the town there are more than 30 bars or liquor stores
eome of them combined; you can buy it by the bottle or the
drink. In the restaurants canned evaporated milk sits on the
counters. Fresh cream is not available. A glass of milk costs
25 cents. Ham and eggs, $1.75; Boston baked beans. $1.25 (I
.didn’t try But tea and coffee are each .10 bents, and
#he old Alaskan custom of a refill of coffee at no extra cost, is
still in force. v
Bottled liquor is about $2 a fifth more expensive than
in the States. And here aresame prices of perishables, which
ere flown up to the island: Green peppers, 43 cents a pound,
watermelon. 13 cencs a pound; peaches, 37 cent a pound; seed
less grapes, 50 cents a pound. This was a special sale. The
movie house changes its double feature three times weekly
and both evening performances are packed. The sailors rarely
attend for they have seen these pictures two years before in
the States,.but the residents are avid movie goers. For there
is little else for entertainment, other than the bars, and of
these, Tony’s Place is popular. It is operated by Ed Bowman
and his wife, f6r Tony has gone, and only his name remains'
Bowman, a natural extrovert, wears a waxed and pointed
moustache as he works behind his 40-foot long bar. Life size
pin ups of movie stars decorate the walls. Ed wears bows On
all the buttons of his gray gabardine shirt, and each bow is
made of a tiny United States flag.
At present a minor recession is bothering Kodiak. But
a new industry is growing rapidly and it might offset the
losses of a community that lives primarily from fishing and a
military base. King crab is an Alaskan giant that is caught in
traps similar to lobster pots. They are baited with rotted fish
and lifted periodically from the bottom to remove the big red
crustaceans.
Some crabs are five feet fcross and weigh as much as
50 pounds, but the average weighs about 15 pounds. They are
canned here on the island, but many are flown frozen to all
parts of the United States, where gourmets savor their flavor.
NEXT: How to cook an oogguk, strictly Eskimo style.
j UTTE9 to KD'ftr^R
. ■< y Gloh
j Au. n .• :• vi. the Editor:
Dear bir:
I read Mr. Evan Hill’s arti
cle about Kodiak with amuse
ment and annoyance. The
amusement that a visitor could
pass so quickly through our
town and feel so qualified to
judge it. As I see it, it would
be equivalent to a visitor to
Boston coming in at Logan
Airport, taking the East Bos
ton Tunnel, getting off at
Scollay Square, walking a
block or two in either direc
tion and sitting down in a bar
to write a thesis on the city.
I am not acquainted with his
bartender although I think
that I can claim most of the
bartenders i the city as ac
luaintances, and many as
friends *gnd they are well j
jdueatednten who can con-)
verse op any subject. Most of |
them arc the owners or man-1
agers of their bars or clubs.
But we do have a couple of
bars that might be classed in
Boston as "saloons" and may
be Mr. Hill was not very selec
tive or perhaps he was looking
for “color", in that case, Mr.
Bowman, the proprietor of
Tony’s Place provides it, he is
after all a showman and a
business. The bartender being
acheechako after twelve years
in the territory is not unusual
as most Alaskans fall into that
category. I have been in A
laska since 1945 and am still a
cheechako and will undoubted
ly remain one. Perhaps he did
not acquaint himself with the
understood requirements of
becoming a “sourdough"
As a matter of record most
of his “facts" are a little off.
It is the “Giant Naval Base,
and I’m sure the Navy would
be pleased to know that it was
so described, that nestles. in
the shadow of Old Woman
Mountain while the town, a
distance of about seven miles
or so, smuggles against Pillar
Mountain. But as the article
says, it was raining sq4 our
town doesn’t Jook its best
blanketed clouds that ob
•cure our utterly .beautiful
scenery, h*may tyave become
confused about our many
mountains.
No, we don't have gardens
growing on Alaska Way, our
main street, but then there are
none on Washington Street in
Boston. . . but there are many
residences that boast of really
lovely flower gardens and some
vegetable. The town was and
is primarily a fishing village
and far too crowded for profit
able vegetable gardens, and
our short growing season too
unpredictable to make it worth
while.
There are many houses or as
we frankly admit ‘skid shacks’
which need improvements and
paint but that is natural in a
fishing village that has grown
so rapidly that it hasn’t had
time literally to comb its hair.
But did the author visit the
new school district where the
new housing area is growing?
Or out to the residential end
f Mill Bay Road and Mission
Hoad whf rf line n*w routes
are springing up? 0 I,ew
zoning1 Jaw th« an- ver to
the shack <i cstion. Did he see
the Aleutinn Home project?
Over!three hundred homes
being built in beautiful rain-|
bow colors to accommodate
I Navy families.
Did he look into our streams |
and see the fish so thick you
couldn’t drop a line without
touching one? Did he see the
hundreds of people streaming
out to Chiniak, Pasagsak, Lar-,
sen Bay. Miller Point and
Spruce Cape for a picnic over
an open fire and some fishing ?
Did he go hunting? Did he see
the photographic hounds?
People who have never taken
pictures before become camera
fans with so much beauty to
photograph. Did he climb our
mountains the better to en
joy the view? Did he visit our
tohqgg&n slide and ski lift?
We du have bars, but not
that many. Listing our “com
binations** separately, our
town ‘^boasts’* at most twenty
liquor spots. But here a wo
man may walk into a bar
alone and no one will molest
her. She is welcome as any
man would be to sit and while
away a bit. o.* time chatting
with the bartender. O’ city
has ver crime, as h.
A few I ies possibly, hut
assault* ostunkn'own a
woman may wal the streets
without fear. We’ve had a
murder or two but they are
family affairs.
Our city hall estimates over
a thousand cars are registered
in the city for this year so far,
a far cry from the two hun
dred mentioned in the story.
Our hundred miles of road
cover a very minute section of
the island, the whole interior
being game reserve of the
Fish and Wildlife. Our bus
driver may supyly music in
deafening quanity to his pas
sengers at times but I have
ridden many times on the bus
to work when all the passen
gers joined in on the heated
discussions of politics and the
like.
Our prices may be high, but
did he check the wage scale!
We have no hungry people
here, there -pf
us. . . if we want it But I
have paid the same price for
fruit that he quotes, in Cali
fornia- The scarcity and price
Continued on page 12
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
More and more American families are making
their own "declarations of independence” these
days — by buying their own homes instead of
renting. Our home-financing plan has helped
many families in our community to free-and
clear home-ownership. Why, don't you join them?
ClMid im> Thundar
Btakiil MirtM at N. O. »• Fridaja, Old AdadaMntiaa Bullitlaa.
PHONES 2233 2222 4691
HKMIKHFCDCRAL DKPQSIT IN8URANCK CORPORATION
Hodiak mirror
' cb(e<ws of (America rs Last frontier
Published Every Saturday at Kodiak, Alaska
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Entered in the Postoffice at Kodiak, Alaska as Second
Class matter under act of Congress of March 3, 1878.
THE BENNETT PUBLISHING COMPANY
James G. Bennett, Publisher
Patrick J. Bennett, Editor
Nita and Mike Bennett, Executive Editors
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