The exact location and identity of settlements described by interviewees are difficult to ascertain on the basis of available ethnographic documentation. This reflects, in part, the turbulence of the 20th century, when settlements were in varying states of collapse and, in part, the fact that this has not been the subject of past, focused ethnographic inquiry. Still, interviewees consistently describe at least one large village on the Alagnak, commonly called “Alagnak” or “Alagnak Village” at the beginning of the 20th century. The primary village site is reported as being on the south side of the river, across from Coffee Point near Barbara Peterson’s allotment (Olympic 2000). “Over 100 people lived at [the] village, downriver from [the] present site of church” (M. Andrew in Andrew and Andrew 2000). This is apparently the same village that is recorded in SHPO reports as being on the
“South bank of the Alagnak River 18 miles upstream (east) of its confluence with the Kvichak River. Sec. 29, T12S, R42W, SM….there is an “Abandoned village with several barabaras, remains of log church and graveyard with wooden Russian Orthodox crosses in various states of disrepair” (in Stirling 1982:24).
A number of interviewees traced their families back to this village. There is some suggestion that this “Alagnak Village” was thought of as the “second village” and that an even older village was located upstream, probably near Nick Apokadak’s allotment. On the basis of fragmentary
evidence, it appears that either this older settlement relocated or the two settlements consolidated into the Alagnak Village during the course of the great influenza pandemic of 1918-20. These distinctions are not clear in available ethnographic documentation, and more data on this point is clearly needed (Olympic 2000).16
The Tallekpalek fish camp still sits at Alagnak village, and the community’s Russian Orthodox church is reported to still have been standing in 1990s reports (Morseth 2000, 1998). The Russian Orthodox church – apparently the first church in the Alagnak corridor – was constructed out of logs at the Alagnak village. Later, this church was replaced by a lumber structure located some distance away, apparently near the Tallekpalek family cabin. Later, this church was relocated upriver to its current location, being pulled by sled dogs - “maybe four teams” (Olympic 2000).17 Mary Tallekpalek reported in the late 1990s that “The church was moved to Forks and then to the village where she is the last person living” (Morseth 2000).
A number of other settlements appear in the ethnographic and historical record. Some report a small cluster of homes called “Sleepy Town” downstream from the forks. Mary Tallekpalek reports that “There used to also be a camp/seasonal village at Rocky [Point] Bluff called Sleepy Town (Morseth 2000). Another settlement, sometimes called Branch River village, was located about 3 miles upstream from the Kvichak River confluence. This was the last settlement to be permanently occupied along the Alagnak, but was largely abandoned as a permanent settlement by the 1960s (see NPS 2006: 21). Stirling reports, “old village sites at the mouth of Kukaklek Lake, a few miles below the confluence of the Alagnak and Nonvianuk rivers, and ten miles above the Alagnak River’s mouth” (Stirling 1982: 2). He bases this in part on the accounts of Royce Perkins, a biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, who floated the river in 1971:
“There are three native “settlements” on the Alagnak River. One of them [probably Alagnak Village], on the south bank appears to be permanently
occupied by several families and many dogs. However, this perhaps is only in use seasonally. A second, smaller, cluster of houses lies on the north bank [probably “Sleepy Town”] and probably is used as a fish camp, although at one time it was likely used year-round. The third group of buildings is at the mouth on the north bank. This is the site of the village of Branch River, Abandoned several years ago. Four of five large frame houses now stand deteriorating” (Stirling 1982:5).
A number of structures, foundations, graves, and other features still stand along the Alagnak at historical settlement sites. In addition, remnants of early canneries still line the lower reaches of the rivers in the region, including the Alagnak, in such locations as the confluence with the Kvichak River. As will be discussed in more detail later in this document, Clemens and Norris (1999) documented six historic trapping cabins and other subsistence sites along the Alagnak River. Only with further ethnographic and historical research, and considerable cross-checking with the NPS archaeological records for the Alagnak, will the complete pattern of historical settlement be illuminated.
In addition to the identities of settled places, interviewees recall a considerable amount of detail regarding the names and identities of many other places along the river. Mary Tallekpalek’s camp on the Alagnak was called “Didocton.” Alaska Department of Fish and Game research reports the placename “Qeclkluq” or “cold spring water” for a site upstream from the Lower Alagnak Cabin Complex. The Grant’s Creek confluence is identified as “Tuntuviagtuliaq” or “Place with Moose” (Krieg et al. 2005). The exit point from Nonvianuk Lake is called “Parutuli,” a name that was not translated. Other placename recording efforts have yielded additional names. Mary Olympic (1995) reported that the area across from the Alagnak Village (“Coffee Point”) was called Sluryaraq, or “area where one slides.” Some Native Alaskan
interviewees also reported descriptive English names that they have used in recent times along the river. These names included “Lucky Hill” for a hill at Nick Apokedak’s allotment, “Grassy Point” for a location along the river by the Estrada allotment, “Horseshoe Bend” near Wassillie Andrew’s allotment (a.k.a. the “Andrew Cabin Complex”), “Moose Valley Creek” – a creek that enters the Alagnak by the Peterson allotment, “Blueberry Island” below the falls, “Coffee Point” across from the old village, and a number of places of ambiguous provenience including “Yellow Hill” and “Middle Cabin Creek” (Morseth 2000).