 Nr.5 Upper Kuskokwim homeland | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 100[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 United States ( Alaska) | |
| Languages | |
| Upper Kuskokwim,American English (Alaskan variant) | |
| Religion | |
| Shamanism (largely ex),Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| OtherAlaskan Athabaskans EspeciallyTanana Athabaskans |
TheUpper Kuskokwim people orUpper Kuskokwim Athabaskans,Upper Kuskokwim Athabascans (own native nameDichinanek' Hwt'ana), and historicallyKolchan,Goltsan,Tundra Kolosh, andMcGrath Ingalik are anAlaskan Athabaskan people of theAthabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. First delineation of this ethnolinguistic group was described by anthropologist Edward Howard Hosley (who has specialized in the study of Alaskan Athabaskan cultures) in 1968, as Kolchan. According to Hosley, "Nevertheless, as a group possessing a history and a culture differing from those of its neighbours, the Kolchan deserve to be recognized as an independent group of Alaskan Athapaskans."[2] They are the original inhabitants of the UpperKuskokwim River villages ofNikolai,Telida, andMcGrath,Alaska. About 25 of a total of 100 Upper Kuskokwim people still speak the language.[1] They speak a distinct Athabaskan language (asUpper Kuskokwim language orDinak'i) more closely related toLower Tanana language than toDeg Xinag language (formerly Ingalik), spoken on the middle Kuskokwim.[3] The term used by the Kolchan themselves isDina'ena (lit. 'the people' asTenaynah by Hosley), but this is too similar to the adjacentTanana andTanaina (today Dena'ina) for introduction into the literature.[2] Nowadays, the term used by the Kolchan themselves isDichinanek' Hwt'ana (lit. 'Timber River people'). Their neighbors also knew them by this name. In Tanaina they wereKenaniq' ht'an while the Koyukon people to the north referred to them asDikinanek Hut'ana.[3] The Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskan culture is ahunter-gatherer culture and have amatrilineal system. They weresemi-nomadic and lived in semi-permanent settlements.
Their neighbors are other Athabaskan-speaking peoples:Koyukon (north and northeast),Holikachuk (northwest),Deg Hit'an (south and southwest), andDena'ina (south and southeast).[4]
From a total of 6 separate band groupings in the upper Kuskokwim River area in late prehistoric times, the Kolchan have coalesced into one community, Nikolai Village.[2]
The Upper Kuskokwim regional bands:[3]
The Upper Kuskokwim communities:[5]
The first written account of the early trade and contact was byLavrenty Alekseyevich Zagoskin, aRussian naval officer, who was given the mission ofexploring the Interior ofRussian America for theRussian-American Company. In the 1830s the Russians established a series oftrading posts within reach of the Upper Kuskokwim people.[6] On the Kuskokwim River the Russian trading posts consisted of Kolmakof Redoubt and a small post at Vinasale.[3] With the U.S.purchase of Alaska in 1867, control of trading stations and the fur trade passed toAmericans.
The homeland of the Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskans is a part ofDenali National Park and Preserve and located in the Tanana-Kuskokwim Lowlandsecoregion.[7] The Upper Kuskokwim name ofDenali mountain isDenaze/diˈnæzi/ (literally 'the tall one').[8]
The Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskans weresemi-nomadichunter-gatherers who moved seasonally throughout the year within a reasonably well-defined territory to harvest fish, bird, mammal, berry and other renewable resources. The people of Nikolai and Telida hunted seasonally in theAlaska Range extensively for many generations, well into the 1900s.[3]
The economy of Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskans is a mixed cash-subsistence system, like other modern foraging economies in Alaska. Thesubsistence economy is main non-monetary economy system.Cash is often a rare commodity in foraging economies, because of lack of employment opportunities or perceived conflicts in the demands of wage employment and subsistence harvesting activities. Wild resource use in many Athabaskan villages is overwhelmingly fordomestic consumption.
The large animals most harvested wereDall sheep (drodeya,drodiya),caribou (midzish),black bear (shisr) andgrizzly bear (tsone,chone).[3] Until the late 1800s and early 1900smoose (dineje) were absent in most of the area.[3] Before moose started to appear in the late 19th century and gradually replaced caribou population in upper Kuskokwim regions, caribou were the main target species for native hunters.[9] Caribou also spend much of the year in the mountains, moving down to the lowlands primarily during the winter.[3] Traditionally, Dall sheep were a favorite meal for people in Upper Kuskokwim region. People used to travel to Alaska Range to hunt them in November.[9] Grizzly and black bears are rarely hunted in Upper Kuskokwim region. A traditional method of winter bear hunting uses dogs to locate dens.[9]Hare or rabbits (gwh) are one a small game species.
Small game species such asupland game birds (ptarmigans andgrouse) were a valued source of fresh meat and are widely dispersed but their populations are cyclic and in some years they are very scarce.[3] Thespruce grouse (dish),sharp-tailed grouse (ch'iłtwle),ruffed grouse (trok'wda),willow ptarmigan (dilgima) androck ptarmigan (dziłk'ola) were taken opportunistically throughout the year with bow and arrows or with snares and fence-snare arrangements. Migratorywaterfowl (ducks and geese) pass through the area by the thousands in the spring when the headwaters of the rivers first open, but most move on to nest elsewhere. During the fall migration, when there is plenty of open water, most fly over the area without stopping except for a brief rest.[3] Ducks and geese were easily captured whenmolting. Men in birchbark canoes quietly approached waterfowl in bays and coves and shot them with bow and arrows. Women and children then caught the birds and collected eggs from their nests.
Fishing (creek and river) was done near the village sites, and the fish were stored in large subsurface caches and is domestic and most common.[10] All band members except the very young children assisted in harvesting and processing the catch. Available fish species include chinook salmon, silver salmon, chum salmon, broad whitefish, humpback whitefish, round whitefish, least cisco, sheefish, grayling, Dolly Varden, burbot (loche), pike, sucker, eel, blackfish, lake trout, and one non-fish species, freshwater mussels.[11] The main economicalfish (łuk'a) species are mostlyPacific salmon species. In Upper Kuskokwim region, salmon have been an important food resource as well as in other places in the North. There are five species ofPacific salmon recognized in Alaska, but only three of them (king or chinook, dog or chum and silver or coho) regularly venture up to the Upper Kuskokwim region. Currently,king or chinook (gas) salmon occupies the majority of the harvest of salmonids in this region, followed bydog or chum (srughat'aye) andsilver or coho (nosdlaghe) salmon. Whereas hundreds of thousands, and even millions, of salmon enter the Kuskokwim River, by the time they reach the headwaters only a few thousand or even a few hundred are left to spawn in any given stream.[3][9] In the Upper Kuskokwim Athabascan language, August isnosdlagheno'o (lit. 'coho salmon month').[9]
Whitefish, northern pike, Arctic grayling, inconnu (sheefish), suckers, burbot (lingcod, lush) and a few resident Dolly Varden trout are present but these are also widely dispersed and not present in every stream.[3] According to the people in the Upper Kuskokwim region,Dolly Varden trout (hoch'ilmoya) used to be much more common in the past, spawning in the area where salmon also spawn. However, it seems that their number has decreased recently.[9] Theround whitefish (hwstin'),lake whitefish orbroad whitefish (tilaya,taghye), andhumpback whitefish (sajila) are the most abundant group of fish north of the Alaska Range, inhabiting almost every type of river and freshwater habitat in this section of Alaska.[9]Northern pike (ch'ighilduda,ch'ulkoy) are harvested by people of Upper Kuskokwim region in summer, fall and during freeze-up.[9] In Upper Kuskokwim region,Arctic grayling (ts'idat'ana) are harvested in summer, fall and early winter, using rod and reel gear or nets.[9]Sheefish (zidlaghe) are harvested in the Upper Kuskokwim drainage mainly in summer months between June and August and less frequently in September and October.[9]Burbot or lingcod (ts’onya) used to be harvested with nets in Upper Kuskokwim region.[9] Traditionally, people set up a fish trap made out of spruce to catchAlaska blackfish (hozrighe,tułnuna) beneath the ice in winter.[9] Other fish species include thelongnose sucker (donts'oda).[9]
Beginning in late spring and continuing throughout the summer and early fall months, both adults and children gathered a variety of plants and vegetative materials.Fruit andberries such asblueberries (jija),salmonberries (tujija'),lowbush cranberries (netl'),highbush cranberries (tsaltsa,tsoltso),raspberries (dwhnikotl'),crowberries (dziłnołt'asr),kinnikinnick berries (dinish),timberberries, andwild rose hips (nichush,nitsush),[12] edible roots such asHedysarum alpinum (Indian potato, Alaska carrot or wild carrot,tsosr), and assorted plants were eaten fresh, preserved for later consumption, or used for medicinal purposes.[9][13]
The Upper Kuskokwimkinship is based on what is formally known as anIroquois kinship and reflects thematrilinealclan system and the importance ofcross cousin marriage. The Upper Kuskokwim social system characterized by unilineal descent and a division into three named, matrilineal, common descent or clan-like groups. These groups were:St'chelayu (lit. 'fish people'),Tonay'tlil'tsitnah (lit. 'middle kind' or 'people in the middle'), andMedzisht'hut'anah (lit. 'caribou people').[2]
Historically and traditionally, Upper Kuskokwim and other allAlaskan Athabaskans have practicedanimism andshamanism.
The Upper Kuskokwim people are today stronglyRussian Orthodox in faith, the result of missionary influence from the lower Kuskokwim and Yukon rivers beginning in the mid-nineteenth century.[2] Churches were built in Nikolai and Telida in the early 1900s.[3]
The Alaskan AthabaskanIndian ice cream (nemaje) is dessert-like berries, Indian potato, and fish (whitefish, sheefish) mixed with fat[9] (commonly Crisco now, but bear fat is occasionally used) and different from the CanadianIndian ice cream ofFirst Nations in British Columbia.
Alaska Nativetribal entities for Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskans are recognized by theUnited StatesBureau of Indian Affairs:
| Tribal entities | Location (native name) |
|---|---|
| McGrath Native Village | McGrath (Tochak') |
| Nikolai Village | Nikolai (Nikolai) |
| Takotna Village | Takotna (Tochotno') |
| Telida Village | Telida (Tilaydi) |
TheAlaska Native Regional Corporations of Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskans were established in 1971 when the United States Congress passed theAlaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).
| Native Village Corporation | Community | Alaska Native Reg. Corp. |
|---|---|---|
| Medfra Native Council Inc. | Medfra | Doyon, Limited |
| MTNT Limited | McGrath | Doyon, Limited |
| MTNT Limited | Nikolai | Doyon, Limited |
| MTNT Limited | Takotna | Doyon, Limited |
| MTNT Limited | Telida | Doyon, Limited |
TheTanana Chiefs Conference is a traditional tribal consortium of the all CentralAlaskan Athabaskans, with the exception of the Southern Alaskan AthabaskansDena'ina andAhtna).
