Northwest History. Alaska 7. Aviation Air Mail, United States

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1936
• Subjects: Arctic airplanes; Eskimo; postal service; Anchorage; the United States; air mail letter; the Arctic Circle; Hugh Brewster; Alaskan aeronautics inspector; Kotzebue; Bering Sea community; aviation base; steamboat; the Far North; Ferguson Airways; commercial planes; ambulance ship; Pilot Maurice King; mail and freight; ambulance; Kotzebue Hospital; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Alaska; Arctic; Bering Sea; Brewster; Ferguson; Maurice; Pacific; Steamboat; eskimo*
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/89581

Tails Of Arctic Airplanes Are Eskimo "Postal Service." Tails of Arctic Airplanes Are Eskimo 'Postal Service ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Wednesday, Aug. 26.—UP)—It may cost 6 cents to send an air mail letter in the United States, but Alaska Eskimos who live beyond the Arctic Circle have discovered a way of doing it for nothing. Hugh Brewster, Alaskan aeronautics inspector, who returned here today after a visit to Kotzebue, a Bering Sea community in which the farthest north aviation base is located, said the Eskimos write messages on the tails of planes if they have friends living at the plane's destination. "The natives love airplanes," Brewster said, "and they regard them as their saviors from isolation. When they hear a plane they cry, 'Tigmasoon,' their word for airplane. Then they run to meet it." They formerly cried "steamboat" upon hearing a plane. "Planes in the Far North are covered with penciled messages. When an Eskimo learns a ship is going to a town where he has a friend, he writes a note on the tail," Brewster said. "When the ship lands, Eskimos crowd around reading all notes, looking for one from a friend." Even though the Eskimos have their own free mail system, there is no privacy in their messages. Ferguson Airways, which maintains two commercial planes and an ambulance ship, is the only firm based within the Arctic Circle. Pilot Maurice King carries passengers, mail and freight. The ambulance is used to carry Eskimos from remote points to Kotzebue Hospital.