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Daniel O'Neill
![Dan O'Neill Dan O'Neill](https://projectjukebox.reclaim.hosting/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/people/dan_oneill.jpg?itok=uebdStlA)
Born in San Francisco, California in 1950, Dan O'Neill came to Alaska in the 1970s. He settled in Fairbanks, and has done a variety of things, including dog mushing, working as a laborer, conducting oral history interviews, as a journalist producing radio and video productions on historical topics, and is now a full-time writer. Dan worked for the Oral History Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the early 1990s doing interviews for projects such as the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve Project Jukebox and the Gates of the Arctic National Park Project Jukebox. He is the author of a number of books about Alaska, including The Firecracker Boys, Last Giant of Beringia: The Mystery of the Bering Land Bridge, and A Land Gone Lonesome: An Inland Voyage Along the Yukon River . Dan also was an opinion columnist for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner newspaper from 1998–2002.
As Interviewer
Interview Title | Archive #: Oral History | Project | Abstract |
---|---|---|---|
Suzy Stutzman and Dick Ring, Part 1 | 91-22-45 | Gates of the Arctic National Park |
Dick Ring and Suzy Stutzman were interviewed by Dan O'Neill and Bill Schneider on October 9, 1991 in Vail, Colorado at a major meeting of National Park Service personnel. Dick was the first Superintendent of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, and Suzy worked for him as a planner. In this interview, they talk about the establishment and early days of management of Gates of the Arctic National Park, community attitudes that existed toward the National Park Service at the time, and handling of park management issues like use of all-terrain vehicles. |
Suzy Stutzman and Dick Ring, Part 2 | 91-22-46 | Gates of the Arctic National Park |
This is a continuation of an interview with Suzy Stutzman and Dick Ring with Dan O'Neill and Bill Schneider on October 9, 1991 in Vail, Colorado. This is a continuation from tape number Oral History 91-22-45. Dick was the first Superintendent of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, and Suzy worked for him as a planner. In this interview, they talk about handling of park management issue like use of all-terrain vehicles, and their current jobs. |
Jim Pepper, Part 1 | 91-22-33 | Gates of the Arctic National Park |
Jim Pepper was interviewed by Dan O'Neill and William Schneider on October 8, 1991 at a National Park Service meeting in Vail, Colorado. Jim's friend, and a co-worker at Gates of the Arctic National Park, Mark Matsell, was also present. We were interested in Jim's recollections because he worked for the National Park Service in Washington, D.C. at the time of the legislative battle for passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), which established many new park lands in Alaska in 1980, and had responsibilities for Alaska lands. He was then subsequently assigned to work at Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. |
Jim Pepper, Part 2 | 91-22-34 | Gates of the Arctic National Park |
This is a continuation of an interview with Jim Pepper by Dan O'Neill and William Schneider on October 8, 1991 in Vail, Colorado. This is a continuation from tape number Oral History 91-22-33. In this part of the interview, Jim talks about his involvement with Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve and how Alaska's national parks compare with those in other parts of the United States. |
Bill and Lill Fickus, Part 1 | 93-15-63 | Gates of the Arctic National Park |
Dan O'Neill and Steve Ulvi collaborated in interviewing Bill and Lill Fickus at their home on Crevice Creek, John Rivers, about 40 miles north of Bettles, Alaska on September 26, 1994. Dan was a research associate at the Oral History Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and conducted some of the interviews funded by the National Park Service in the Yukon-Charley Rivers Preserve areas. Steve was a subsistence specialist at Gates of the Arctic National Park. The interview with the Fickuses was funded by the National Park Service as part of a project documenting the lives of people living and working in or near Gates of the Arctic. Dan and Steve conducted the interview around the kitchen table with the Fickuses for several hours, ate dinner, spent the night, then resumed the interview after breakfast for a few more hours. The time of year had been selected as a time when there were few pressing chores, such as garden harvesting and hunting. In this first of five interviews, Bill and Lill talk about their backgrounds, meeting, marrying, and living at Crevice Creek year round. The interview continues on tape numbers Oral History 93-15-64, 93-15-65, 93-15-66, 93-15-67. |
Bill and Lill Fickus, Part 2 | 93-15-64 | Gates of the Arctic National Park |
This is the continuation of an interview with Bill and Lill Fickus by Dan O'Neill and Steve Ulvi on September 26, 1994 in the Fickus' home in Crevice Creek, Alaska. In this, part two of the five part interview, they talk about their life at Crevice Creek. This is a continuation from tape number Oral History 93-15-63, and the interview continues on tape numbers Oral History 93-15-65, 93-15-66, 93-15-67. |
Bill and Lill Fickus, Part 3 | 93-15-65 | Gates of the Arctic National Park |
This is the continuation of an interview with Bill and Lill Fickus by Dan O'Neill and Steve Ulvi on September 26, 1994 in the Fickus' home in Crevice Creek, Alaska. In this, part three of the five part interview, they talk about raising their children at Crevice Creek, Bill's hunting stories, and their thoughts on the establishment of Gates of the Arctic National Park. This is a continuation from tape numbers Oral History 93-15-63 and 93-15-64, and the interview continues on tape numbers Oral History 93-15-66 and 93-15-67. |
Bill and Lill Fickus, Part 4 | 93-15-66 | Gates of the Arctic National Park |
This is the continuation of an interview with Bill and Lill Fickus by Dan O'Neill and Steve Ulvi on September 26, 1994 in the Fickus’ home in Crevice Creek, Alaska. In this, part four of the five part interview, they talk about guiding in, access to, and rescues in Gates of the Arctic National Park. This is a continuation from tape numbers Oral History 93-15-63, 93-15-64, 93-15-65, 93-15-66, and the interview continues on tape number Oral History 93-15-67. |
Bill and Lill Fickus, Part 5 | 93-15-67 | Gates of the Arctic National Park |
This is the continuation of an interview with Bill and Lill Fickus by Dan O'Neill and Steve Ulvi on September 26, 1994 in the Fickus’ home in Crevice Creek, Alaska. In this, part five of the five part interview, they talk about rescues, people they have met through the years of living at Crevice Creek, use of dogs, hunting, and raising their family at Crevice Creek. This is a continuation from tape numbers Oral History 93-15-63, 93-15-64, 93-15-65, 93-15-66. |
John Borg | 91-22-20 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
John Borg was interviewed on August 27, 1991 by Dan O'Neill at the post office in Eagle, Alaska. John is easy-going and though generally unhappy about the National Park Service presence in Eagle, he speaks without rancor, or even much visible emotion, about the effects of the establishment of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. The recording includes extraneous noises, as, periodically, mail box doors clatter when people come in to check their mail, and John monitors airplane radio transmissions. When pilots call him to ask the wind conditions, he leans over his desk to look up the flag pole outside, then, depending on how the banner waves, he passes on his estimate of wind speed and direction. In this interview, John talks about living in Eagle and the local reaction against the National Park Service and the establishment of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. He also talks about regulation and management issues surrounding subsistence, preservation, and development. |
Ed Gelvin | 91-22-55 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Ed Gelvin was interviewed on November 2, 1991 by Dan O'Neill and William Schneider at Ed's log cabin in Central, Alaska. The yard contained his construction equipment and airplanes and included a small landing strip and a hangar. The interview was conducted at his kitchen table; his wife and grandson were in the background. His wife, Virginia, did not wish to participate in the interview, although at times she added her opinions and perspective. There were a couple of hunting dogs in the house, and books on flying and fishing were prominent in the home. Ed was reserved and quiet in the interview, but voiced strong opinions about Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve and willingly described his many years of flying and getting to know many of the old-timers in the area. He speaks with an authority derived from hours of flying in the country as a registered guide and aerial wolf hunter. In this interview, Ed talks about his mining, flying, hunting and guiding activities in the area of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. He describes and tells stories about many of the early pioneers in the area, as well as the more recent "river people" who arrived in the 1960s and 1970s. He also talks about issues with the National Park Service over land selection and use, conflicts between resource development and protection, and his support for aerial wolf hunting. |
Albert Carroll | 91-22-59 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Albert Carroll was interviewed on November 2, 1991 by Dan O'Neill and William Schneider at Owen Stockbridge's house in Central, Alaska. Mr. Stockbridge trapped with Albert and has also worked on the river barges with him. The two men were taking a break from wood cutting. Mr. Stockbridge was present during the interview and commented when Albert asked him about dates, and also shared some pictures from the trapping camp they use in the Johnson Gorge area of the Kandik River. In this interview, Albert talks about his experiences piloting boats on the Yukon River and its tributaries, and about trapping. He speaks from the perspective of a lifelong user of the area. |
Laura Cross | 91-22-19 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Laura Cross was interviewed on August 28, 1991 by Dan O'Neill on the bluff above the Yukon River in Eagle, Alaska. Dan O'Neill was sitting in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve's visitor's center when Laura came in to get tourist information. Dan overheard her say she had come to Alaska to "claim my national interest lands." She said she had worked hard back in the 1970s to get the various D-2 lands established as conservation units, and now she had come to see as much of them as she could. Thinking that it was fortuitous to meet an "outside conservationist," O'Neill asked if she might like to say on tape what motivated her to campaign for the park lands in distant Alaska, and what they meant to her. She agreed readily, and Dan and Laura talked while sitting on a picnic table near the bluff behind the National Park Service headquarters building. In this interview, Laura talks about her involvement with the effort to protect Alaska land as conservation units, what wilderness means to her, and her perceptions of subsistence and the local response to the creation of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. |
Jean Boone | 91-22-16 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Jean Boone was interviewed on August 27, 1991 by Dan O'Neill at the Boone's general store in Eagle, Alaska. Like many others in Eagle, Jean wondered if the University of Alaska Oral History Program might have been co-opted by a large grant from the National Park Service. The interviewer explained that complete, unedited recordings would be deposited in the University's oral history collection where they would be available for researchers. He further stated that while the University could not guarantee the work of every researcher given access to the tape, it could reassure her that the Oral History Program was not in the business of manufacturing good public relations for the National Park Service, or anybody else. Finally, Jean said she was willing to speak on the record about what she saw as the destructive influences of the National Park Service. But she wanted to make sure her words would not be taken out of context or edited in such a way as to make her comments critical of the National Park Service seem supportive. In this interview, Jean talks about the reaction of people in Eagle to the establishment of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve and to National Park Service management regulations, and the protests and poor relationships that ensued. She also discusses the importance of protecting the subsistence lifestyle and preserving the natural beauty of the area. |
Gordon Bertoson, Part 1 | 91-22-53 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Gordon Bertoson was interviewed on November 1, 1991 by Dan O'Neill and William Schneider in Central, Alaska. In this first part of a two part interview, Gordon describes living in Central/Circle, on the Yukon and Kandik Rivers, and at a base camp at Forty Mile (mouth of Eureka Creek). He talks about the seasonal round of activities, including trapping, mining, hunting and fishing, and traveling by dog team and boat. He also discusses some of the old timers he knew in the area and the old system of dog team mail delivery and freighting. In addition, he gives some of his opinions on the "young people" who moved into the Yukon River country in the 1960s and '70s. |
Gordon Bertoson, Part 2 | 91-22-54 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
This is the continuation of an interview with Gordon Bertoson on November 1, 1991 by Dan O'Neill and William Schneider in Central, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Gordon talks about living in Central/Circle and on the Yukon and Kandik Rivers, some of the old timers he knew in the area, and working for wages in the mining industry and by trapping. |
Stanton Patty | 91-22-37 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Stanton "Stan" Patty was interviewed on October 11, 1991 by Dan O'Neill at Stan's home in Vancouver, Washington. In this interview, Stan recounts his early life in Fairbanks, Alaska and spending his summers at the mines on Coal Creek and Woodchopper Creek, as well as telling a wide range of family anecdotes. Throughout the narrative, he discusses such things as early Fairbanks history, gold rush history, meeting various "characters" who came north with the major rushes to the Klondike and Fairbanks areas, and what it was like working at the mines. He also mentions some of Alaska's early aviation pioneers. |
Steve Ulvi, Part 1 | 91-22-05 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Steve Ulvi was interviewed on April 9, 1991 by Dan O'Neill in the audio studio at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. At the time of the interview, Steve was an employee of the National Park Service at Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. He was the principle contact for the Yukon-Charley oral history project, and helped isolate themes which the interviews addressed. The strategy for this interview was to focus on Steve's life on the river prior to his joining the professional staff at the Preserve. In this first part of a two part interview, Steve talks about living a subsistence-based lifestyle in a remote cabin in the area that became Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. He discusses why he came to Alaska and chose this wilderness lifestyle, building and restoring cabins, the seasonal round of activities they did to survive that included hunting, trapping, and fishing. He also talks about how his attitude changed about things after living out on the river and learning about running a dog team. |
Steve Ulvi, Part 2 | 91-22-07 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
This is the continuation of an interview with Steve Ulvi on April 9, 1991 by Dan O'Neill in the audio studio at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Steve continues to talk about living a subsistence-based lifestyle in a remote cabin in the area that was to become Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. He talks more about the way of life, using dog teams for winter transportation and canoes in the summer, the role of women in maintaining their lifestyle, the sense of commuity among other people on the river, and how conflicts were or were not resolved. He also discusses the effect of the Preserve's creation on the "river people" and the balance of local lifestyles with resource protection. |
Jack Boone | 91-22-08 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Jack Boone with interviewed on July 13, 1991 by William Schneider and Dan O'Neill at the Boone's general store in Eagle, Alaska. Because this interview took place in the Boone's store, there are a few interruptions to accommodate store customers. In this interview, Jack talks about local concerns about the National Park Service and establishment of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, the protest actions carried out, and the effect of establishment of the Preserve. He traces the conflicts with the National Park Service back to earlier confrontations with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in which BLM forced people off of public lands. Several incidents on the tape illustrate how this set the tone for negative feelings about the National Park Service and other government agencies. Jack emphasizes the perceived threat to subsistence lifestyles of the people in the Yukon-Charley area and the changes that have come about in the area because of the presence of the National Park Service. |
Faye Chamberlain | 91-22-44 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Faye Chamberlain was interviewed on November 1, 1991 by Dan O'Neill and William Schneider at her home in Circle, Alaska. Her six-year-old son, Scotty, was home sick from school that day and was laying across her lap as she talked. Occasionally, some conversation with Scotty, or his coughing, is audible. Faye was formerly married to Richard Smith, with whom she lived on the Yukon River for several years, and he is mentioned throughout the interview. In this interview, Faye talks about living a subsistence-based lifestyle on the Yukon River, National Geographic making a film about "river people," and the impact of the establishiment of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve and National Park Service management regulations on local people's uses of the area. |
Donald Chase | 91-22-14 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Donald "Don" Chase was interviewed on August 26, 1991 by Dan O'Neill and William Schneider at his office in Eagle, Alaska. In this interview, Don Chase gives an administrative overview of issues faced during his tenure as superintendent of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. Schneider worked for the Park Service during the mid-1970s when many of the topics here were just beginning to be discussed, so he brings a certain bias and perspective to this interview. Don talks about the challenges of applying National Park Service policies and regulations in a region with complicated land use and ownership issues, trying to manage subsistence in a way that protected the lifestyle, and dealing with local community and national environmental responses to National Park Service management. |
Stan Albright | 91-22-30 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Stan Albright was interviewed on October 7, 1991 by William Schneider and Dan O'Neill in Vail, Colorado where he was attending the 75th anniversary meeting of the National Park Service. In this interview, Stan talks about his work as National Park Service Area Director for Alaska from about 1971 to 1975. A predominant theme in this interview is how poorly the National Park Services' Alaska Task Force teams worked with the Alaska Area Office staff. Although he did not give any specifics and tended to talk in general terms, Stan emphasized that the Alaska Task Force study teams could have avoided much trouble by drawing on the local National Park Service's expertise. As Area Director, he had a different approach to the selection of new park areas than some of the task force members. He suggests that the study team may have wanted to go for more far-reaching changes than he did. Often during the interview he talked around issues, using few specific examples, and was obviously uncomfortable with disclosing details that would point a finger at others in the Park Service. |
Charlie Kidd | 91-22-62 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Charlie Kidd was interviewed on July 31, 1991 by Dan O'Neill at Charlie's fish camp at MacGregor cabin on the Yukon River, which is about a mile and a half below Slaven's Roadhouse. Charlie was preparing to close up his fish camp after the king salmon run had ended and head up the Charley River to hunt moose. Dan O'Neill has described the interview as follows: "Within a few minutes of our landing, Charlie came striding down the beach from the trail into the woods. He wore no shirt or shoes but had on blue jeans and a fur head band. His hair was longer than shoulder length and his beard reached down his chest. He had well-muscled arms and calloused hands. There was no fat on him, but he wasn't skinny. It seemed as though he was expecting me that minute, because when I started to say who I was he broke in and said, 'Oh, you're the historian Steve said was coming.' When we got to the old MacGregor cabin, which looked tidy despite the roof being partly fallen in, Charlie had stirred the campfire to life. We talked for twenty minutes or more about various things: fishing for pike, trapping, the recent fire up the Charley River, dog travel, lining boats, etc. I asked Charlie if he knew what I was up to, and he said yeah, I wanted to ask him about the Coal Creek dredge. I said I'd also like to talk about living on the Charley River since the early 1970s. He said, 'The only thing Steve mentioned was the dredge. I don't really see any point in talking about anything else.' I said that was fine, that it was up to him what we talked about. I hadn't expected to be limited to the dredge as a topic. And Charlie didn't volunteer extended responses -- I think he was uncomfortable being tape recorded. Sometimes Charlie would seem to cross over into the 'life on the Charley River' themes, but I resisted asking him follow-up questions because I didn't want to lure him into talking about the things he'd said he didn't want to discuss." In this interview, Charlie talks about working on the gold dredge at Coal Creek and other miners in the area. |
Melody Webb | 91-22-29 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Melody Webb was interviewed on October 7, 1991 by Dan O'Neill and William Schneider in Vail, Colorado where she was attending the 75th anniversary meeting of the National Park Service. Schneider worked with Melody in the early 1970s in Fairbanks, Alaska on the National Park Service's Native Historic and Cemetery Sites studies, but at the time of this interview, she was Superintendent of Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park in Texas. In this interview, Melody talks about historical research she did for the National Park Service in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve and Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park. She speaks of personal experiences doing the Yukon-Charley Rivers study with Dave Evans, and the historical themes she helped develop that are now the basis for current preservation activities in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. She also discusses the concepts of preserving history and cultural values and the role of the National Park Service in doing this, and her views on the "river people" and subsistence. |
Dave Mihalic, Part 1 | 91-22-35 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Dave Mihalic was interviewed on October 9, 1991 by Dan O'Neill and William Schneider in Vail, Colorado where he was attending the 75th anniversary meeting of the National Park Service. In this first part of a two part interview, Dave talks about working as a ranger for the National Park Service in Alaska during the early days after passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) which established new national parks. He discusses serving on the Ranger Task Force and the Alaska Task Force, dealing with local antagonism towards the National Park Service, and serving as superintendent at Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve where he dealt with a variety of land use issues, mine permits, and local opposition. Dave talks about his personal background, his preparation for the job, and the issues he faced. |
Dave Mihalic, Part 2 | 91-22-36 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
This is the continuation of an interview with Dave Mihalic on October 9, 1991 by Dan O'Neill and William Schneider in Vail, Colorado where he was attending the 75th anniversary meeting of the National Park Service. In this second part of a two part interview, Dave continues to talk about working as superintendent of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve and the management issues he faced, including subsistence, the legitimacy of the "river people" who arrived in the 1960s and 1970s, mining, and hunting. He expresses his views about interpretation and implementation of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), the responsibilities of the National Park Service, and dealing with animosity towards the National Park Service from local residents in Eagle, Alaska and along the rivers. He specifically discusses an episode with Joe Vogler related to his mining operation at Woodchopper Creek, and finally mentions the naming of geographical features in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve and the importance of the oral history project. |
Bob Belous, Part 1 | 91-22-23 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Bob Belous was interviewed on October 8 and 9, 1991 by William Schneider and Dan O'Neill in Vail, Colorado where he was attending the 75th anniversary meeting of the National Park Service. Bob knew Bill Schneider from the mid-1970s when they were both working out of the Anchorage office of the National Park Service. In this first part of a two part interview, Bob speaks personally about his thinking and what he was trying to do when helping to create the subsistence provisions (Title 8) in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980. He speaks with precise logic and reason, but also with concern and care for how the policy has been received and how it might be fine tuned to the conditions as they exist today. Bob also asks that listeners take care not to reference his remarks out of context since the issue is so very complex. |
Bob Belous, Part 2 | 91-22-24 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
This is the continuation of an interview with Bob Belous on October 9, 1991 by William Schneider and Dan O'Neill in Vail, Colorado where he was attending the 75th anniversary meeting of the National Park Service. In this second part of a two part interview, Bob continues to talk about the establishment of new national parks in Alaska after passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980 and development of subsistence policies in Alaska national parks. He speaks with precise logic and reason but also with concern and care for how the policy has been received and how it might be fine tuned to the conditions as they exist today. Bob also asks that listeners take care not to reference his remarks out of context since the issue is so very complex. |
Richard Allison | 91-22-17 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Richard Allison was interviewed on August 27, 1991 by Dan O'Neill and Bill Schneider at Richard's house in Eagle, Alaska. In this interview, Richard talked about his wife, Carol Allison, and her paleontological work in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. He spoke as a husband, as a fellow geologist, and as a scientist trying to convey his knowledge and regard for the field of paleontology to the interviewers and the larger public he knew would be listening to the interviews. Richard discusses Carol's paleontological research and the importance of her findings. |
Randy Brown, Interview 1 | 91-22-42 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Randy Brown was interviewed on October 28, 1991 by Dan O'Neill in the audio studio at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. He was enrolled in classes and maintained a busy schedule. On the day of the interview, he had only one hour free. Consequently, the scope of the interview is abbreviated, but he agreed to continue the discussions at a planned second interview during the holiday break. In this first interview of a set of two interviews, Randy talks about living a subsistence lifestyle on the Kandik River in the late 1970s. He discusses his decision to move out there, how he learned to survive and relied upon trapping, hunting and fishing, building sleds, and tells the story of a previous fellow who starved to death when trying to live out in the country. |
Randy Brown, Interview 2, Part 1 | 91-22-57 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Randy Brown was interviewed on December 30, 1991 by Dan O'Neill in the audio studio at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. This is the first part of a two part interview that is the second interview in a two interview series. The first interview (ORAL HISTORY 99-21-42) was conducted on October 28, 1991. In this first part of the second interview, Randy continues to talk about living a subsistence-based lifestyle on the Kandik River in the late 1970s. Specifically, he discusses his seasonal round of hunting and fishing, and his methods of travel in both the summer and winter. During the interview, they were looking at USGS maps (1:250,000) of the area, so much of the conversation can be traced on the map. Since Dan O'Neill, had been a dog musher in Alaska for ten years, many of the questions relating to dogs, gear and traveling conditions are fairly specific. |
Randy Brown, Interview 2, Part 2 | 91-22-58 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
This is the continuation of an interview with Randy Brown on December 30, 1991 by Dan O'Neill in the audio studio at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. This is the second part of a two part interview that is the second interview in a two inerview series. The first interview (ORAL HISTORY 99-21-42) was conducted on October 28, 1991. In this second part of the second interview, Randy continues to talk about living on the Kandik River in the late 1970s. He discusses how he and his family survived, how the area changed as more people moved in, and the effect of the arrival of the National Park Service and the establishment of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. During the interview, they were looking at USGS maps (1:250,000) of the area, so much of the conversation can be traced on the map. Since Dan O'Neill, had been a dog musher in Alaska for ten years, many of the questions relating to dogs, gear and traveling conditions are fairly specific. |
John E. Cook | 91-22-31 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
John Cook was interviewed speaks on October 8, 1991 by Dan O'Neill and William Schneider in Vail, Colorado where he was attending the 75th anniversary meeting of the National Park Service. In this interview, John talks about his tenure as National Park Service Director for Alaska in the mid-1970s. He recalls with fair precision personalities and events from this time, and speaks with authority on his program to hire "good" people and to be responsive to local uses. This interview is from the perspective of a director who served at the height of conflicts with different interest groups and faced these challenges as he came to them, and prided himself on honesty and straight answers so that people knew where he stood. He also talks about his time working in Washington, D.C., which offers a perspective on these subjects. John discusses planning for the early national parks created by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980, dealing with the unique conditions of Alaska versus the standard National Park Service policies, managing for subsistence, and why he thinks national park lands are so valuable. |
Lynette Roberts, Part 1 | 91-22-51 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Lynette Roberts was interviewed on November 4, 1991 by Dan O'Neill in the audio studio at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. In this first part of a two part interview, Lynette talks about living a subsistence-based lifestyle with her husband, Steve Ulvi, in a remote cabin on the Kandik River in what is now Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. She discusses why they chose to live there, the seasonal round of their activities, the challenges of being a woman and raising a family out there, and their eventual move into Eagle, Alaska and then to Fairbanks. Steve got a job with the National Park Service, which was a source of resentment among some of the people of Eagle, and Lynette talks about some of the hostility expressed towards her and her family. This is not to say that Lynette's loyalties must be considered as if she was a National Park Service employee. She is clearly a woman with her own views. Though Dan O'Neill had never met Steve and Lynette before the project started, they became friends during the course of it, and this may have introduced a complication in the interview process. While Dan O'Neill was very interested in "the woman's perspective" on the bush lifestyle, he felt awkward pressing too hard for details on such marital issues as the division of labor. |
Lynette Roberts, Part 2 | 91-22-52 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
This is the continuation of an interview with Lynette Roberts on November 4, 1991 by Dan O'Neill in the audio studio at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Lynette continues to talk about the difficulties she and her husband, Steve Ulvi, faced in Eagle, Alaska with local attitudes towards the National Park Service after they moved in from living on the river. She also talks about their decision to move to Fairbanks, how it benefited their children, and what she liked and missed about living in the bush. |
Zorro Bradley, Part 1 | 91-22-21 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Zorro Bradley was interviewed on September 27, 1991 by William Schneider and Dan O'Neill in Fairbanks, Alaska. In the 1970's, Bill Schneider worked for the Cooperative Park Studies Unit under Zorro's supervision, so they knew each other well prior to this interview. In this first part of a two part interview, Zorro talks about working as an anthropologist with the National Park Service in the early days of establishment of new park units in Alaska after passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980. He discusses projects worked on and his role in the formulation of the National Park Service's policy on subsistence management in the parks. |
Zorro Bradley, Part 2 | 91-22-22 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
This is the continuation of an interview with Zorro Bradley on September 27, 1991 by William Schneider and Dan O'Neill in Fairbanks, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Zorro talks about Alaska Native people and the continuation of the subsistence lifestyle, and National Park Service policies toward subsistence. |
Skip Ambrose | 91-22-56 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Skip Ambrose was interviewed on December 5, 1991 by Dan O'Neill in the audio studio at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. At the time of this interview, Skip and Dan had been good friends for about sixteen years, having met through a mutual acquaintance, raptor biologist Robert J. (Bob) Ritchie. O'Neill and Ritchie had been friends for thirty-two years. Ritchie's name and his work with peregrine falcons on the Yukon River come up frequently in the interview. In this interview, Skip talks about his early research on peregrine falcons along the Yukon, Nation and Kandik Rivers within Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, how the birds are captured, banded and studied, the results of his research, and managing the area to best protect the falcons. |
Helge Boquist | 91-22-50 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Helge Boquist was interviewed on November 1, 1991 by Dan O'Neill and William Schneider at Helge's house in Circle, Alaska. This house is the last place downriver in the village of Circle, and was built by his son. It is directly behind a house Helge built, and large piles of wood cut to stove length are stacked between the two buildings. Pictures of his children and wife, Gladys, are prominently displayed in this neat and tidy house which Helge shares with one of their sons. In this interview, Helge talks about life along the river, gold mining at Woodchopper Creek, trapping, and about dogmushing and dog team mail carriers. He also talks about other long-time residents of Circle, making a living with hunting, fishing and trapping and wage employment at the gold mine and in Fairbanks, and traditional activities like moose hide tanning and skin sewing. |
Carolyn Kelly | 91-22-47 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Carolyn Kelly was interviewed on October 30, 1991 by Dan O'Neill in a conference room at the Noel Wien Library in Fairbanks, Alaska. The location was selected because it was close to where Carolyn worked, and because she said her husband held strong anti-Park Service views that it would be easier for her to speak freely on "neutral ground" rather than at their home. Dan O'Neill was put in touch with Carolyn by Karen Kallen-Brown. In this interview, Carolyn talks about living a subsistence lifestyle in a remote cabin in the area of what is now Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. She describes the "river people's" society, their daily life and seasonal round of activities, raising a child in this remote location, and the division of labor between men and women. She also talks about moving into the community of Eagle, Alaska, conflict with the National Park Service over land use, subsistence, and resource management issues, and impacts of losing this particular lifestyle. |
Richard Smith and Paul Nathaniel | 91-22-09 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Richard Smith and Paul Nathaniel were interviewed on August 4, 1991 by Dan O'Neill at their cabin site, known locally as Forty Mile, on the Yukon River, Alaska. Forty Mile is a reference to its distance up river from the community of Circle, Alaska. It is not to be confused with the historic settlement of the same name located at the mouth of the Fortymile River in Canada. The interview was conducted in the old cabin, which had been washed out into the Yukon River at break-up. When the high water receded, the cabin was sitting on ice blocks out in the channel. But the water rose again and floated the cabin back onto Richard's land and set it down within forty feet of its former foundation. It will become Richard's shop; he is building a new cabin for his residence. Paul participated in the interview for a while, then went outside. In this interview, Richard talks about living a subsistence-based lifestyle focused on trapping and fishing, working at the Coal Creek mine, and using dog teams and snowmachines for traveling in the backcountry. He also talks about the effect of the establishment of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, conflicts over land use and ownership, and the history of the cabin site. Finally, he tells a story about a particularly serious bear encounter he had. |
Ray Bell | 91-22-41 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Ray Bell was interviewed on October 31, 1991 by Dan O'Neill and William Schneider at the Bell's log home in Central, Alaska. During the interview, Ray's wife, Arlene, occasionally contributed some comments and clarifications from the other room. At the interviewers' urging, she moved into the living room and sat next to Ray so she could be better heard on the recording. Dan O'Neill previously had interviewed Richard Smith, Ray and Arlene's son, at his camp at Forty Mile (from Circle) on August 4, 1991 (ORAL HISTORY 91-22-09). Ray and Arlene built their log house in Central before going up to the Yukon to "live on the river." The house in Central is a large log cabin, 22 by 24, partitioned into bedrooms, living room and kitchen areas. Pictures are prominent, some of family members and, most notably, a picture of their son, Richard Smith, at his Forty Mile camp. There is also a painting which resembles their house at Woodchopper. It wasn't made at Woodchopper, but so closely resembled their cabin there that they obtained it. In this interview, Ray talks about his experiences living and raising a family on the Yukon River at Forty Mile (from Circle) and at Woodchopper, and working at the mine at Coal Creek. |
Sage Patton | 91-22-38 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Sage Patton was interviewed on October 24, 1991 by Dan O'Neill in the audio studio at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. The interview concentrated on details of life in the Alaska bush, and most particularly on a "woman's perspective," which might be distinct from a man's. Accordingly, interview questions dealt with such topics as the division of labor between the sexes in a subsistence lifestyle. When Sage lived on the Yukon and Nation Rivers in what became Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, she had been married to Dave Evans, and after the interview, she said she had been reluctant to dwell on details of their relationship in such a way as to appear to be "bashing the ex." In this interview, Sage talks about living a subsistence-based lifestyle in a remote cabin, including building a cabin, their seasonal round of activities including winter trapping and summer fishing, the use of dog teams, the reasons for choosing this lifestyle, and the roles of men and women in maintaining the lifestyle. She also discusses the local attitudes towards the "river people," and issues they faced once the National Park Service arrived to manage the area. |
Karen Kallen-Brown, Part 1 | 91-22-48 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
Karen Kallen-Brown was interviewed by Dan O'Neill on October 29, 1991 in the audio studio at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. She mentioned her hope that the oral history project would not overlook the "woman's perspective," and she suggested several names of women who lived subsistence lifestyles in the area. Some of the women she suggested had already been interviewed, or had been scheduled for interviews, but some names were new to the interviewers and they were added to the list. In this first part of a two part interview, Karen talks about coming to Alaska to be a teacher and living a subsistence lifestyle, with her husband Randy Brown, in a remote cabin on the Kandik River in the area of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. She discusses their seasonal lifestyle, building a cabin, raising children, the gender-based division of labor, her love of the country, and their decision to leave the area and move into Fairbanks. |
Karen Kallen-Brown, Part 2 | 91-22-49 | Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve |
This is the continuation of an interview with Karen Kallen-Brown on October 29, 1991 by Dan O'Neill in the audio studio at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Karen talks about the challenges of moving the family from life in a remote cabin on the Kandik River to Fairbanks, returning to their fish camp every summer, and issues surrounding management of subsistence by the National Park Service and its impacts on people living in the country and wilderness preservation. |
Woodrow "Woody" Johansen, Interview 1 | 85-84-01 | Dalton Highway |
Woodrow "Woody" Johansen was interviewed on April 17, 1985 by William Schneider and Dan O'Neill in Fairbanks, Alaska. In this interview, Woody talks about the history of the Alaska Road Commission, the Bureau of Public Roads and the Alaska State Highway Department, and the development of the Winter Haul Road (Hickel Highway). He shares his personal stories about the building of the Hickel Highway, and his memories of the crew hired to construct it. He also talks about his responsibilities as a District Manager on the Hickel Highway, including project management, engineering, recruitment, logistics, contract negotiations and mediation. |