OLAC Record oai:ahtnaheritagefoundation.com:OTHB01-0006-01

Metadata
Title:		Fred Ewan
Access Rights:		standard
Date:		1987-11-19
Description:		Interview with Fred Ewan, Glenda Ewan, and Adrian Ewan present with interviewer John Alfonsi in Gulkana Full Name: Fred John Ewan, Bii' iidah? means Everything come to me - Lived in village for 71 years, have 5 cabins along the Tok highway, from Gulkana all the way up to Crosswind Lake, born August 15, 1916 was born at Crosswind Lake but say he was born in Gulkana, clan is Tsisyu. Parents name are John Ewan and Katie Ewan.Katie Ewan came from other side of Cordova, John Ewan's mother come from south Copper River, his daddy's daddy came from Northway. Chief Ewan came from Ewan Lake, eight mile from Sourdough. Sagii Bene'? Ewan Lake means like sand lake. Was taken out of school because his family needed to get food for the winter. Walked everywhere there was no car back then. Taught school in Indian language .Learned from parents and everyone the language. Learned from looking at books or cans of food. What did your family do for living and survival? Seasonal for moose, trapping, fishing. 30 miles from where they used to live where they would get fish, lingcod, whitefish, sockeye, salmon etc. Fish Lake. Fall time get fish from there and put up for winter, November month start trapping for cross fox, lynx, marten, wolf, and mink. Don't trap on each other's territory. Respect for each other's trap line. How would your Dad control the game? His Grandpa was a Chief. Don't have to kill all the animals, that was part of controlling the game. How can traditional ways be better today? Teach the traditional ways to kids. Why is the village where it is now? 1942 war in the Aleutian Islands things had to be done to connect the highways. There was a gravel pit over there and the state didnt' tell them there was going to be a road there. One moose was divided into ten families. Everything was eaten: bear, porcupine, muskrat and other game. What did a chief do for his village? Chief had everything. If you get food you have to give half to the Chief. Went to Chief for everything: advice. What made a chief? He is really smart, like President. People worked for the chief, he had his own workers that he told what to do. Smart about history and everything. There never was two chief's in village. How would they know who was next chief? Who is the next good man in line. They watched how men were and then chose from what they saw. Who decided what Indian Law was? The chief was the one who decided. He would ask people their opinion on what made Indian law. What would happen if someone did something wrong? Chief would quiet them if someone was yelling around. Chief would stop the fight or whatever was happening and talk to the person. If someone stole from someone else it was up to the chief what would happen. They could be thrown in the river, kinda like eye for an eye. Just like Israel people we were. Up to tribe/clan to punish the person if someone was murdered. No women chiefs back then. Some of the old chiefs and where their village was: Bear Creek, small man, Cuuy. Had tail like marten. Chief Ewan was Neltsiine clan, Cuuy was Dits'iiltsiine clan. Who knew a lot of Ahtna history that is no longer living? Frank Stickwan's territory, Oscar Ewan, Frank Ewan, Tom Neeley, Paul Snell, Old Man Charley, Charley Ewan, John Ewan, Ewan was big people, smart people, Estaco Ewan, Gakona George, Sourdough Gene, Stella Ewan's dad, Adam Sanford, Frank Charley, Chief Nicholai, Mentasta Sam, Sanford Charley, Jack Justin, Bill Joe, Maggie Joe. Did you know about the old village up the Sanford River? Not much. Katie John will tell you, she know. How long do you think that Ahtna Indians have been here? Thinks that we been here since creation. Can tell story of beginning. Old stories say that we been here since creation. There are stories that say we been here since then. What places do you remember the old people talked about? Valdez Creek, Chitina, Canyon, Knik, Nabesna area, Copper river, you never starving here. Lotta destruction and war here. We hide the food from the Aleuts, they burn our cache and whatever there was down. Ahtna people hide their food in the hills. Are the old villages important to you? Yes because we live there all our life. Are the graves important? Yes, we gotta respect the grave. We give them something to take along with them. Whatever they need where they are going. We feed them too. Can't say name of deceased person or you get spanked or punished for it. Are there any other places that are important to Indian history? Supersition place, South of Sanford River, you have to talk to the grass. Don' denai - moving grass near the Sanford river. Mountains we have to talk to before we do anything. Tell the mountain that you were going to hunt there. Hogan Hill there was a village right on top of the hill. Tangle Lakes, Ewan Lake, Crosswind Lake. Don't bother there. Gunsight Mountain - Tsisyu people there. Naekayaasda? Look back to see my country. Story about the woman and baby that turned into a rock toward Anchorage around Caribou Creek. .
Format:		Digitised: 0; Media: compact cassette; Media description: Maxwell USD-II 90
Identifier:		OTHB01-0006-01
Language:		Ahtena
		English
Language (ISO639):		aht
		eng
Subject:		Ahtena language
		English language
Subject (ISO639):		aht
		eng
OLAC Info
Archive:		C'ek'aedi Hwnax Ahtna Regional Linguistic and Ethnographic Archive
Description:		http://www.language-archives.org/archive/ahtnaheritagefoundation.com
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for OLAC format
GetRecord:		Pre-generated XML file
OAI Info
OaiIdentifier:		oai:ahtnaheritagefoundation.com:OTHB01-0006-01
DateStamp:		1987-11-19
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for simple DC format
Search Info
Citation:		n.a. 1987-11-19. C'ek'aedi Hwnax Ahtna Regional Linguistic and Ethnographic Archive.
Terms:		area_Americas area_Europe country_GB country_US iso639_aht iso639_eng
Inferred Metadata
Country:		United KingdomUnited States
Area:		AmericasEurope