Monday, June 4, 2012

Klawok -- Totem Poles and Halibut

Friday June 1 to Sunday June 3

We arrived at the village of Klawok (pronounced Klo-wack)on Friday. The wharfinger was on holiday, so it took a couple of dockings to finally find a place with power where we could stay. And of course, the wind was against us both times. The first time, I managed to lasso a cleat and pulled us to the dock. In the end, the power on our neighbor's meter; he thought the Swiss chocolate was a good trade.


Double Headed Eagle Important to Russians and Alaskan Haida
Klawok and Craig are Tlingit and English town names in an area filled with Spanish names. While the Russians were slowly going southward along the coast, the Spanish were working their way northward. The Spanish arrived here in 1770. Most Spanish names are not in my coastal names book; however, Caldera and Madre de Dios must have interesting stories behind them. What is interesting is that in 1763, the Russian fur traders sighted Kodiak Island at the end of the Aleutian range for the first time. They had managed to keep their discovery a secret from all other nations. Catherine The Great, however, boasted to her N & S American ambassadors that her people were exploring the NW coast of North America. Immediately, Spain sent ships north to explore the NW coast. France sent LaPerouse (LaPerouse Banks in BC is good fishing). England sent James Cook. Cook had no idea how valuable the sea otter pelts were until he arrived in Canton with a few hundred pelts and were offered $10,000. The competition for fur and land was started.
Salmon Pole
Murre Pole

Klawock is named for Kloo-wah, a Tlingit chief, who moved his clan to the site, which had been a summer fishing camp. There is a large totem park with about 20 poles, some new; others replicas of ones brought from the old Tuxekan village. Twice we headed to the park when the rain stopped but it didn't stay dry for long. My book about the poles is very wrinkled from the water. A high mountain behind the village forces the water out of the air.

Klawock and Tuxekan are at the northern edge of the red cedar range, red cedar being the wood of choice for totem poles. Here the trees are smaller than in their southern range. These Tlingit people may have come to carving as late as the 1800's. Their poles were primarily mortuary poles. One pole represented the importance of salmon: at the bottom a weir to catch salmon for humans; at the top of the pole a bear with a fish after it had swum up river. Another had a pair of murres with twenty eggs in a variety of colors and patterns. Legend has it that murre parents paint their eggs so that they can recognize them when they return from the sea.
Halibut in Hot Smoker
We stopped to talk with some people cleaning 3 60-lb halibut. A couple from Fisheries was surveying sport fishermen to see where they caught the different types of fish and to take samples, especially of hatchery king salmon, to do genetic sampling. After a while, the fisherman asked us if we wanted a halibut fillet. Of course! He put it in the bag and asked if we wanted another! We went home with 10 pounds of halibut! He very happily accepted a bar of Swiss chocolate. Fresh halibut for dinner; the rest put in brine for the smoker.
Smoked Halibut for Dinner!
We left Klawock Sunday noon. It was a balmy 16 (60) degrees in the sun! Then it rained again -- maybe we'll be able to say that it rained every day that we were in Alaska!

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