Northwest History. Alaska. Eskimos.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1929
• Subjects: Eskimos; King Island; Seattle; Bering strait; Nome; Alaska; the United States; the bureau of education; natives; construction; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Bering Strait; Pacific; Rocky Island; eskimo*
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/90789

Eskimos To Get School Building: Odd Structure To Be Placed On Rocky Site On King Island. ESKIMOS TO GET SCHOOL BUILDING Odd Structure to Be Placed on Rocky Site on King Island. SEATTLE, Feb. 9. OB—-Stormswept King island in Bering strait, 125 miles from Nome, Alaska, winter home of some 130 Eskimos, is to have the most unusual school ever erected by the United States bureau of education. For years natives have reserved for a school the best building site on the steep and rocky island hillside. Congress recently passed an appropriation for a building and after an extended wait the Eskimos will get their school. Because of the steep slope of the island the construction of a school Alaskan division of the bures education. The natives have adopted a style of their own in suspending their houses from poles, with only one edge of the dwellings resting on the ground. These houses are made almost entirely from hides, only floors being made of lumber. Two layers of skins with a thick mat of grass between are used for walls. Both top and bottom of the houses are securely tied with leather to poles that extend above the roofs from the ground. This type of structure is not adaptable for school purposes so the government is planning a building on three levels or terraces. On the lower level the pupils will be seated. The teacher will be at the front of the room on a second level a few feet higher. Still higher on the hillside a third level of the building will be partitioned for the teacher's living quarters. Construction will enable about 80 boys and girls to start their education. The island is isolated most of the year because of the severe winters and the bureau faces another problem In obtaining a teacher willing to undergo hardships and loneliness. During the winter months the natives live almost entirely on fish and sea weed. Their only occupation is catching food fish and fur seals. During the summer the entire population moves to the maintain near Nome, where the winter catch of furs is sold and winter supplies obtained.