Northwest History. Alaska. Famine.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1936
• Subjects: Eskimos; famine; Fairbanks; Alaska; Dr. Henry W. Greist; medical missionary; Point Barrow; Seattle; Captain John Backland; trading schooner; C. S. Holmes; Barter island; the Indian bureau motorship; North Star; Kavalina; wild game; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Arctic; Indian; Pacific; Barrow; Barter Island; eskimo*
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/91178

Eskimos Munch Boats And Boots: Missionary Insists Famine Prevails Despite Sailor's Denial Of Story. ESKIMOS MUNCH BOATS AND BOOTS Missionary Insists Famine Prevails Despite Sailor's Denial of Story. FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Sept. 20. (/P)—Dr. Henry W. Greist, medical missionary from Barrow, took issue today with a Seattle ship captain's assertion that Eskimos of the arctic coast were in no danger of famine. Arriving by airplane on the to Seattle, Dr. Greist said Eskimos stripped the skins from their boats and cooked their boots for food this; year because of scarcity of game in the region east of Point Barrow. Dr. Greist, learning Captain John Backland of the trading schooner C. S. Holmes had denied accounts of starvation among the natives, said Backland had visited Barrow this season, but had not gone to Barter island or other districts to the east. "If he had gone 600 miles east of Barrow he would have seen famine conditions," Dr. Greist said. Dr. and Mrs. Greist left Barrow on the Indian bureau motorship North Star after it had discharged provisions for the Eskimos. They left the ship at Kavalina. When Backland arrived in Seattle last week he said wild game was plentiful near Barrow and the Eskimos were not facing famine.