Northwest History. Alaska. Eskimos.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1936
• Subjects: Eskimos; air mail; Arctic Circle; Anchorage; Alaksa; the United States; Hugh Brewster; Alaskan aeronautics inspector; Kotzebue; Bering sea; destination; Ferguson Airways; Maurice King; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Alaska; Arctic; Bering Sea; Brewster; Ferguson; Maurice; Pacific; eskimo*
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/90959

Eskimos Find Way For Free Air Mail: Natives Beyond Arctic Circle Look On Planes As Saviors From Isolation. Eskimos Find Way For Free Air Mail Natives Beyond Arctic Circle Look On Planes As Saviors From Isolation ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Aug. 25. (/P)—It mav cost six cents to send an air mail letter in the United States, but Alaskan 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 "steameboat" 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 Airway, which maintains two commercial planes and anambulance ship, is the only air firm based within the Arctic Circle. Pilot Maurice King carries passenger, mail and freight. The ambulance plane is used to carry Eskimos from remote points to Kotzbue hospital.