For those families that relocated off of the Alagnak, but returned seasonally, there was an enduring need for shelters along the river corridor. Some maintained existing family buildings on the Alagnak while, over time, others constructed new cabins that were suited to the needs of families making temporary stays along the river. Some families described cutting spruce logs in the area to construct their cabins historically. Michael Andrew, for example, recalled of his family’s Alagnak cabin:
“we used to go a long ways to get there, like when we hunt moose. From our home, we go, cause we used to have our cabin made out of logs. Logs, out of spruce, them trees. We used to make cabin. And we put a stove…we make it by the river… we all got together and made that cabin; from that cabin when we hunt moose we go from there, we go, use our tent, leave the cabin. But when we come home we stay there. We used to make out of logs, we make a big cabin. And we have to pack it, pack it by sleigh. Timber, pack it, I could remember we used to pack lots when we made cabin that time. Boy it’s nice to have a cabin. That kind that, not made of lumber - log cabin…Trapping cabin, we call it…Yeah, Alagnak river, that’s where we got [a cabin], when we go” (M. Andrew in Andrew and Andrew 1995).
Families that had maintained old homes along the river often replaced these with cabins on the same location, or elsewhere along the Alagnak. Mary Olympic, for example, reports that her family had a cabin on the Alagnak through the early 20th century, apparently without interruption since relocating off the river, but that she and her husband built a new cabin near Coffee Point in 1950 or 1951 (Olympic 2000). The construction of these cabins on old family homesites has continued into recent times:
“Has a Branch allotment, not very far up, at the second bluff. They started building a cabin up there last year. They are going to finish it this year. Its just a place that the family can go to get away. [Their] family lived there, their house and smokehouse are still there” (Katmai Research Project 1997: 17).
Non-Natives, especially those non-Natives with personal ties to the Native Alaskan community also constructed cabins along the Alagnak in the 20th century. For example, George Wilson, Sr. recalls of his father,
“Dad came up in 1919 to Nushagak, when he was 19 years old, from Nebraska. And he left Nebraska when he was 12, I think; 12 or 13, went to Colorado, Wyoming, then to Oregon, then to Seattle. And he got on the sailing ship and came up, came to Nushagak, there. And that’s where he stayed. Never did go back to the lower 48. He liked it up here, enjoyed the people, the Natives, and the way of living, trapping. He built cabins all over these rivers here. He had cabin up in Nonvianuk Lake, too. And on the Branch. And then Yellow Creek. And over in Nushagak River, he built cabin. That’s how he trapped you know, go in and find a place he liked, built a cabin and trapped there for quite a few years” (G. Wilson in Wilson and Wilson 1995).
For Native and non-Native cabin owners, these structures served as the base of operations for a range of seasonal subsistence tasks and social activities. In the absence of a permanent
community, the cabins became the new hubs of human activity along the River in the mid-20th century. By providing a predictable and comfortable base of operations for these activities, cabins provided safe shelter for children and allowed even elderly members of families to continue participating in travel and subsistence pursuits outside of the villages, and to perhaps revisit places that had been of importance to them during their times on Alagnak River many years before. These cabins allow for long-term stays that would not have been possible without adequate shelter, and Katmai Research Project participants noted,
“The harvesting trips of Levelock residents seemed to be of longer duration than the harvesting trips of other village residents. This is in part due to the fact that many households or kin groups keep cabins on the Branch River which are used for overnight stays as well as season stays” (Katmai Research Project 1997: 7-8).
Families have established their “fish camps” at these cabins, during peak salmon runs. In the past, during the summer, men fanned out to a range of hunting sites on and around the river corridor from their cabins, often returning by nightfall, while women could gather berries and
other resources in the riparian margins. At the end of seasonal visits, these families returned to their homes in the villages, such as Igiugig, Levelock, or Kokhanok, with the goods that they had gathered. With children and elders all potentially present at the cabin, subsistence tasks that involved the entire family were possible, as was the intergenerational transmission of cultural knowledge pertaining to the resources and practices associated with the Alagnak. A small number of families still undertake these extended stays today.
For other families, these cabins served primarily as a base of operations for trapping. George Wilson Sr., for example, reported that he began trapping the Alagnak shortly after World War II and had built cabins on the river to support his trapping operation by 1948. By 1951, the family had three separate cabins along the Alagnak that were used regularly as bases of operations while visiting their traplines through the Alagnak River area. In some cases, cabins used in one season for family subsistence tasks was used at other times as a trapping outpost. Mike Andrew, for example, reported that there was a “winter camp,” apparently used for trapping, that was long used at the location of Evan Chukwak’s allotment. This camp included a cabin, a cache, a smoke house, an outhouse and fish racks – all typical elements of the cabins of the period (G. Wilson in Wilson and Wilson 2000).
In time, as transportation became more efficient, short visits to the Alagnak from village
residents became more feasible, as will be discussed in the pages that follow. Even during short hunting forays to the Alagnak, these cabins became an important stopping point, a source of shelter in inclement weather, and a processing site for game. Similarly, for 20th century families on the move between widely spaced work sites or subsistence areas that were beyond the
Alagnak River corridor, the Alagnak cabins also provided welcome temporary accommodations. John and Mary Tallekpalek, for example, described their family’s cabins and camps on the Alagnak, which the family returned to regularly over the mid-20th century. They reported that they often stayed in the family cabin on the Alagnak during periods when they worked in the canneries, especially when traveling to and from wage employment with the canneries and associated commercial operations. By returning to the cabins on the way home, especially, these brief stays on the Alagnak ensured that the family still could participate in an abbreviated
plant materials in addition to cash and purchased goods (Tallekpalek and Tallekpalek 1998). In this way, the cabins helped some families maintain a degree of continuity in what was a
generally transitory social, economic, and demographic milieu.
While these cabins continued to be used through much of the 20th century, some fell into disuse and some were demolished. Erosion along the banks of the Alagnak has occasionally demanded the relocation of cabins, a practice that probably has considerable antiquity. Participants in the 2008 meetings reiterated this point: “They’ve got a problem with erosion on the Branch
River…my brother…had to move his cabin” (quoted in Stickman 2008). As shall be discussed later, some have suggested that this erosion has accelerated in recent years as a growing number of motorboats ply the Alagnak - an issue of considerable concern to Native Alaskans still using the River.
The use of certain cabins along the Alagnak for these relatively short visits, in the course of hunting, may have intensified after certain cabins were removed from the newly expanded park boundary in the years after 1980. Dan Salmon (2002) discussed, for example, his extended family using the Gregory cabin on Alagnak Wild River, apparently after the removal of a cabin at the outlet of Nonvianuk Lake.
At one time, cabins were numerous along the Alagnak, especially on its middle to lower reaches.18 Writing in the 1990s, Clemens and Norris (1999) identified eleven groupings of cabins that were extant in the Alagnak River Basin at that time, six of which are on the Wild River corridor. The six cabin groups inside the Wild River corridor include:
1) Peterson Cabin 2) Guide Camp Cabin
3) Apokedak Cabin Complex 4) Estrada Cabin Complex 5) Andrew Cabin Complex
Elsewhere in the Alagnak River basin, but outside of the Wild River corridor, Clemens and Morris also identified the Marlette Cabin, the Neilsen Cabin, Murray Cabin, the Agate Point Tent-Cabin Complex, and the Hammersly Cabin Complex.
The cabins within the Alagnak Wild River corridor deserve particular attention here, and will be the subject of more focused inquiry in the planned ethnographic study. The Peterson cabin sits on the right bank of the Alagnak River and is owned by Barbara Peterson. Known locally as a “trapper’s cabin,” this structure is built in the middle of the Native Allotment owned by Peterson. The Guide Camp Cabin sits near the north end of the Barbara Peterson allotment, and is reported to be associated with a charter guide camp. The Apokedak Cabin is described as a “historic cabin and cache,” sitting on the Native Allotment of Nick Apokedak; members of this family are still well represented in Levelock and participated in community meetings pertaining to the current project (quoted in Stickman 2008; Clemens and Norris 1999). The Estrada Cabin Complex is reported to be located on the Native Allotment of Agnes Estrada. The log cabin is a prominent “landmark” along the River’s right bank, and has served as a trapping and hunting cabin for decades (Bodeau 1991: 187-88). Evidence of earlier structures is apparently visible on site, and a long period of occupation at the site is suggested by rectangular housepits as well as past archaeological surveys for “prehistoric and historic resources” (Clemens and Norris 1999). The Andrew Cabin Complex is reported to sit on the Native Allotment of Wassillie Andrew. This cabin sits roughly two miles downriver from the Estrada Cabin Complex, on the right bank of the River. The “Lower Alagnak River Cabin Complex” consists of a cabin and various
outbuildings, as well as “a complex of historic and prehistoric items.” This cabin is located near the lower end of Alagnak Wild River and, unlike the other cabins identified here, is not situated on a Native Allotment (Clemens and Norris 1999). Surveys of cabins undertaken by the National Park Service in 2003-05 have clarified the locations and distribution of cabins along the riparian corridor.