OLAC Record oai:ahtnaheritagefoundation.com:OTHB01-0034-01

Metadata
Title:		Side A: Lemmie Charley 9/24/88 Side B: Steven John OTHB Oral History Subsistence
Access Rights:		restricted
Date:		1988-09-24
Description:		Side A: Lemmie Charley Lemmie Charley, 55 years old. Do you have a word in your language that means subsistence? Not right off hand this is kind of new to me. What does subsistence mean to you? It means losing our hunting grounds. We will never use again. Looking at the map and where I was trapping years ago at 19 mile. Subsistence means trapping and what we depend on and what we used to do. I live off the land, we go hunting, pick berries and stuff like that. We use the land to make fish wheel and stuff like that. Any formal training from old people? Yeah, my Dad, Frank Charley. A few men from Chistochina were taught how to survive off the land. Dad taught us how to set traps, make fish wheel, how to get moose, do you think that traditional lifestyle has changed? Yeah it has changed a lot. Young people depend on work and buy groceries right out of the store. I think it will be cut out in the next 20-30 years and young people will have a hard time because it will go back to old ways. Old people told me that years ago. You think subsistence ways will come back? Yeah. do you think it is important for young people to learn the traditional lifestyle? yeah. they need to learn to hunt, pick berries and stuff like that. If backscatter is built will it make a difference in lifestyle? Yes, different way of hunting and trapping. Too many people hunting and trapping here. We used to trap there at Tulsona creek. Our life depended on it. More worried about that place than anyone. That's the way I feel about it. What kind of things did Indians leave behind at camps? they wouldn't leave anything behind except for old lard can, tent frame, a tent frame looked like a tripod, three to four inches on the bottom and a couple of inches at the top and about 8 feet long. Use spruce bark. Old dishes. coffee can was used for frying pan. Now they would leave everything behind. You might leave a cup behind. No wires, we never use that we used willow. Have you ever heard stories of what they used to around there, Tulsona Creek? No not too much. but I know what we used to do there. what kind of place would you choose to make a good camp? Camp where there is good spotting ground, where there is good running water, wood, where there is good spruce. We use spruce for bedding and wind breaker. for moose. Muskrat camp. Pack couple of blankets and depend on spruce trees for the same thing shelter and all that. What can the Air Force do to keep the subsistence problem down? Don't start the back scatter project. Know for sure that there will not be hardly any Alaska Natives working there. Is there anything else you would like to say regarding subsistence? Would really like to see more of the young people learn the traditional subsistence. Right now if you left a 16 or 17 year old out in the woods and left them there they wouldn't survive. If you left an elder out there you wouldn't have to worry about them, they would survive they know what to look for food and how to make things to get food. Used to use bow and arrow to get game meat. Subsistence today is important to you? Yeah, pretty important. can't make living off the land anymore because there is always somebody there ahead of you. If someone went up 19 mile I'm sure you would find a camp fire spot around there. Side B: Steven John at Junior Sanford's home Steven John, 65 years old, born April 5, 1923, Taz'ha means have to come back Clan is Altse'naey, Mother is Jesse John, Father is Mentasta John. Mother is from Tetlin and father from Tanacross. Do you have a word for subsistence? I don't know a word. Good life to live subsistence life. We like rabbits we go out shoot rabbit. Any food we want we go out and get it and eat. did you ever have formal training from elders? Yeah, step dad used to teach us but I was too young. How people live and everything. Taught me how to snare rabbit, how to catch moose and caribou. Never throw nothing away. Used food we didn't eat the next day. We saved everything. I miss being out in the woods. Why has the lifestyle changed? The state changed it. after 1956 it started changing. Everybody used to go to Fox Lake for hunting. They used to dry meat. Laws and schools make a difference. Like to walk and do things like we used to. People never get sick back then. Now they just sit in one place. Do you ever think your people will go back to old ways? Yeah, I hope so. It was lotta fun for us when go out camping or whatever. I hope they go back someday. I would have moved back to Suslota if my family never moved here. Once in awhile people visit but when sick they never move, stay their village. Why is it important for them to learn the old ways? One of these days there will be no more work. Have to go back to trap, fishing, hunting. Have to learn about the old ways. If this backscatter comes along do you think it will make a difference on your lifestyle? Lotta difference. Why? Lotta jobs, young people gonna work not learn the old ways. Backscatter will make it a little more tough for us to learn the old ways. Fox Lake has trail all the way around. Beaver good money, they all trap beaver up there. Pretty good trapping country up there and good fishing for white fish and grayling. What could the Air Force do to tell them not to bother you? Tell them not to go there. If it was my land I would tell them not to go there. discussion on Fox and Mentasta Lakes. Tulsona Creek: Muskrat and fishing good up there. Good for moose hunting. What would you look for in the country to pick for a spot for camping? Good spot for spruce, hunting and fishing, picking blueberries. Somewhere you get animal easy. Good place to hunt. Gotta have good water too. Camp by little creek or something. Where there is lots of wood. Where there was real high ground for camp site. Take us two days walk to get to Copper Lake from Bensinetiis? Buster Gene and Bill Joe know lots about the Sanford river area. Good cook back then. Grayling used to cook over the fire. Baking powder bread they make really good. . Language as given: aht
Format:		Digitised: 0; Media: compact cassette; Media description: Maxwell UR 90
Identifier:		OTHB01-0034-01
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:OTHB01-0034-01
DateStamp:		1988-09-24
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for simple DC format
Search Info
Citation:		n.a. 1988-09-24. 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