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On-board
Lectures
2001
Souvenir
Album
Sketch
Book
Alaska
Geographic
Alliance
Heacox
Photo
Album
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Following is a daily summary
of the activities of the Harriman Expedition Retraced.
Log Entries, on the right-hand sidebar,
are perspective pieces written by Young Explorers or
scholars. The left-hand sidebar links to a variety of
on-board sections, including summaries of lectures giving
during the expedition. The Souvenir Albums
include selected daily photos documenting various
ports-of-call, and the Sketch Book
holds scanned images of artwork done aboard the Clipper
Odyssey during this expedition.
Daily
Summaries:
July 21, 2001: Seattle,
Washington
The original Harriman Alaska
Expedition started the sea portion of its journey in
Seattle, where the participants held a banquet ashore before
boarding the S.S. George W. Elder. The Harriman
Retraced participants began their voyage in Seattle, too,
with a banquet, but would catch their ship
elsewhere.
July 22, 2001: Prince Rupert,
British Columbia
After an overnight stay in
Seattle, Harriman Retraced participants boarded a jet and
flew to Prince Rupert's, then traveled by ferry and bus to
board the ship in Prince Rupert, an important shipping and
commercial center in northern British Columbia. Once aboard
the M.V. Clipper Odyssey, participants were
immediately briefed on ship safety and lifeboat
procedures.
July 23, 2001: Cape Fox;
Annette Island and Metlakatla; Ketchikan;
Saxman
Expedition members visited the
site of Old Cape Fox Village, to participate in a healing
ceremony, led by Rosita Worl, Eleanor Hadden and Irene
Shields. They built a fire and sang traditional songs, while
Harriman Retrace participants brought offerings in a gesture
of reconciliation with the spirits of Tlingit ancestors. The
ceremony marked the beginning of the "Celebration of
Healing" held in honor of the repatriation of objects from
old Cape Fox collected during the Expedition of
1899.
Next, the Clipper Odyssey
visited the community of Metlakatla on Annette Island.
There, Harriman Retraced participants visited the salmon
cannery and the home of Father Duncan, a Presbyterian
missionary who brought Tsimshian people to the island in the
19th century.
The final stop of the day was
Ketchikan, where Tlingits from the neighboring village of
Saxman met the Clipper Odyssey to witness the
unloading of the repatriated objects. The objects, lowered
by crane onto a flatbed truck, were taken to the home of a
Tlingit elder and then to the Saxman Civic Center to be
viewed. At the Center, Harriman Retraced passengers attended
a celebratory potlatch with the community.
July 24, 2001:
Wrangell
As the Clipper Odyssey
docked at Wrangell, local Tlingits paddled out to meet the
ship in wooden canoe. In town, expedition members visited
the petroglyphs, the museum and the historic house of Chief
Shakes. At a welcome ceremony held in the Elks Lodge,
Wrangell children performed dances and the vice mayor
presented Tom Litwin with the key to the city. On the way
back to the ship, Harriman Retraced participants stopped to
buy garnets harvested by local children from a site near the
Stikine River.
July 25, 2001: Tracy Arm and
Juneau
After pulling up to the dock in
a very heavy "Juneauesque" mist, Harriman Retraced
participants visited the Alaska State Museum to view Alaska
Native crafts and tools from across the state. They next
attended a reception held at the mansion of Governor Tony
and First Lady Susan Knowles. At the mansion, the Knowles
displayed the silver and ivory punchbowl that was given to
Edward Harriman by the 1899 Harriman Expedition
participants. Governor Averell Harriman (a very young
participant on the original expedition) later gave the bowl
to the state of Alaska. The Governor and First Lady then
came onboard the Clipper Odyssey for dinner and gave
a talk about current economics and politics in the
state.
July 26, 2001:
Skagway
In Skagway, a waystation for
gold rush prospectors, Harriman Retraced participants, like
the original Harriman expedition, rode the White Pass
railroad to Bennett Lake. In 1899, prospectors on the
railroad stopped at the lake, then traveled on by foot to
the Yukon River to Dawson City. Harriman participants spent
the rest of the afternoon exploring the historic town of
Skagway. One popular spot was the cemetery where infamous
town conman Soapy Smith was laid to rest along with many
other gold-rush era townspeople.
July 27, 2001:
Sitka
Harriman participants rose early
this morning to see a lanky black bear prowl the shores of
Peril Straight. When Harriman participants arrived at Sitka,
they boarded buses and toured the town, including the old
pulp mill. Later, participants attended a community forum
held in the Sheetla Kwan Nakahidi House and went for a
nature walk in National Historic Park, led by local nature
writer Richard Nelson. Some Harriman participants also
visited the St. Michael's Russian Orthodox
Church.
July 28, 2001: Glacier
Bay
A few early risers saw over a
dozen feeding humpback whales rolling off the bow at Port
Adolphus. Later, the Clipper Odyssey passed icebergs,
dark blue and ribboned with gravel, as it sailed into
Glacier Bay National Park. Stopping near the Marble Islands,
participants spied puffins winging across the water and
later in the afternoon, near Marjorie Glacier, a
blonde-tufted brown bear meandered along the
shore.
July 29, 2001:
Yakutat
In the morning, teacher,
historian and local village elder, Elaine Abraham came
aboard the Clipper Odyssey, accompanied by her son
David Ramos, other community members and children. She
lectured on sealing, subsistence and the Yakutat community.
The Clipper Odyssey sailed on rolling seas into
Disenchantment Bay to the ice field at the foot of the
Hubbard Glacier. Harriman participants witnessed as Elaine
and her family gave an offering of tobacco to the Glacier.
The Clipper Odyssey returned to the town of Yakutat,
where Harriman participants and local community people
gathered at the Alaska Native Brotherhood hall to discuss
the implications of the way Native people were portrayed in
the volumes that followed the original
expedition.
July 30, 2001: Kayak
Island
After a morning of watching
humpback whales, Harriman participants arrived by Zodiac on
the sandy beach of Kayak Island. As they gathered for
various hikes, participants saw hundreds of shorebirds and a
Steller sealion in the in the cove. While on the island,
some folks hiked to Steller's Cave, some observed the flora,
some bushwhacked through backwoods in search of an
archeological site, and all feasted on blueberries, salmon
berries and wild strawberries that grew in abundance across
the island.
July 31, 2001: Prince William
Sound, Cordova and Valdez
Arriving in Cordova in morning
mist, Harriman participants explored the small town, and the
cannery in nearby Orca. Later, as the weather cleared, the
Clipper Odyssey arrived in Valdez. Participants
traveled to the Alyeska Terminal to see the loading berths,
tankers and termination of the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline.
Some also visited the museum in Valdez and took the
opportunity to use an on-shore phone to call
home.
August 1, 2001: Columbia
Glacier, College Fjord and Harriman Fjord
Blessed with a perfect day
(sunny, 47 degree), Harriman participants motored through
brash ice to observe the massive Harvard Glacier. As if
performing for the camera, a huge chunk of glacial ice
calved into the ocean, rumbling like a jet at takeoff and
sending a sizable swell toward the Zodiacs. Later, the
Clipper Odyssey sailed into Harriman Fjord, where
participants explored the Harriman Glacier and surrounding
wilderness.
August 2, 2001: Squire,
Knight and La Touche Islands
Harriman passengers took Zodiacs
for a cruise around Knight and Squire Islands to observe
life in the intertidal zone: starfish, crab and jellyfish.
Later, they visited La Touche Island, the site of an
abandoned copper mining town. Many participants explored the
old town site and surrounding woods while others examined
deposits of fool's gold and copper among debris left over
from mining operations. A few nature walkers who strayed
from the group caught a glimpse of a fleeing black
bear.
August 3, 2001: Chiswell
Islands and Kenai Fjords National Park
At the Chiswell Islands, a
collection of steep rock outcroppings rising from the ocean,
Harriman participants observed countless shorebirds, otters,
and sea lions. Participants in one Zodiac also spotted the
smooth black fin of a killer whale. In the afternoon, some
participants ventured out in a blowing rain to Harris Bay,
where they examined the site of an ancient Alutiiq village
with archeologist Aron Crowell.
August 4,
2001: Homer
The Clipper Odyssey
docked on the Homer Spit where Harriman participants boarded
buses for a trip to the Pratt Museum in the center of town.
Many visited local galleries while a few took the
opportunity to use the laundromat. Next, participants
boarded the Storm Bird that ferried them across
Kachemak Bay to the small community of Halibut Cove. Former
state senator Clem Tillion and his wife Diana, long time
residents, met them at the dock. In Halibut Cove,
participants strolled the boardwalks and enjoyed lunch at
the Saltry, the Cove's only restaurant.
August 5, 2001: Kenai Fjords
and Barren Islands
In the early morning Harriman
Passengers motored through a small canal into Surprise Bay,
Kenai Fjords National Park. On shore, they hiked across the
rocky beach into a forest populated with old, moss-covered
spruce trees to an abandoned cabin at Sunny Fox gold mine.
Participants panned for gold in a nearby stream, while
others took a steep climb to examine mining equipment and
the old mine shaft. Some of the first hikers encountered a
black bear feasting on plump blueberries among rusted mining
machinery near the trail.
August 6, 2001: The Triplets
and Kodiak Island
In clear, warm morning weather,
Harriman participants and guests from Kodiak visited the
Triplet Islands in Marmot Bay where they cruised close in to
the steep cliffs to observe nesting birds. Scores of
puffins, gulls and cormorants flew in arced flight patterns
above them, filling the sky with their cries. Later, the
Clipper Odyssey docked at Kodiak, and passengers
disembarked to explore Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox
Church and the Baranof, St. Herman and the Alutiiq Museums.
Participants concluded the evening with a trip to the
National Fishery Research Center, where Alutiiq dancers and
Russian Balalaika Players entertained.
August 7, 2001: Geographic
Harbor and Kukak Bay
The Clipper Odyssey made
its way into Amalik Bay in bright morning sun. As the boat
anchored at the head of Geographic Harbor, passengers
noticed blonde ash on the mountains, the product of an
eruption of the Novarupta volcano a century ago. Entering
the smaller bays at low tide, Zodiac parties scouted for
bears on the pumice-strewn beaches of Katmai National Park.
Nearly a dozen ambled along the beach, feeding on shellfish
in the tidal zone. Next, Harriman participants stopped at
Kukak Bay Refuge Rock Archeological Site, where they
bushwhacked through high grass, fireweed and devil's club,
to observer the location of an ancient village.
August 8, 2001:
Chignik
At Chignik, a fishing town on
the Alaska Peninsula, Harriman passengers enjoyed a sunny
break in the heavy clouds as they disembarked by Zodiac. In
town, many toured the Norwest salmon cannery while others
took hikes. Some headed up a long ladder to the reservoir
while others trekked up an ATV trail into the rolling green
hills and steep headlands behind the community. Nearly
everyone enjoyed a delicious confection, or two, from the
town's famous Donut Shop.
August 9, 2001: Unga
Island
Harriman participants took a
long beach walk on the southeastern tip of Unga Island to
examine a petrified forest visible only at low tide. Other
participants explored invertebrate life in tidal pools,
watched birds or climbed shore slopes to take in the flat
rolling landscape. Later, the Clipper Odyssey
anchored outside of deserted Unga Village. Along the
boardwalk lined with fireweed, Harriman explorers looked for
clues about those who lived in this now-deserted town. Some
also stopped to visit a solitary grave of a 5-year-old girl
who died at the turn-of- the-century, and was buried in the
shade of a spruce tree near the old school.
August 10, 2001: Unimak
Island
Harriman passengers arrived on
the crescent-shaped black sand beach at Unimak Island just
as the sun burned through low cloud cover. As the day
cleared, the steaming Shishaldin volcano became visible in
the distance. One group of participants walked the long
beach, watching seals play in calm waters. Another group
hiked into the squishy tundra that covered the island and
picked fresh strawberries. On a nature walk, a participant
found the jaw of a juvenile brown bear, complete with an
impressive set of teeth, in the tide line.
August 11, 2001:
Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, Bogoslof Island
At Unalaska, passengers
disembarked the Clipper Odyssey in glaring sun and
boarded school buses to quickly tour the town. Stops on the
tour included the Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy
Ascension, the cemetery, a W.W.II Memorial, a local
archeological site, the Museum of the Aleutians, and the
Grand Aleutian Hotel. The Clipper Odyssey's next stop
was in the Bering Sea near Bogoslof Island, where thousands
of sea lions lolled on the beach. Keeping a safe distance so
as not to disturb the animals, Harriman participants sat in
Zodiacs, rocking over swells, and watched the creatures
through binoculars. As sea birds swooped over them,
participants could hear the sea lions roaring and barking
from the island.
August 12, 2001: St. George
Island, Pribilofs
Harriman participants rode
Zodiacs across the choppy Bering Sea near St. George in the
Pribilofs. On shore, some participants hiked in the cold,
blowing fog across rocky maritime tundra to the high cliffs,
where they scouted for red-legged kittiwakes. Other Harriman
explorers visited the seal blind, and watched hundreds of
fur seals bask in the sun. Others toured the seal plant to
observe manual sealskin processing, now an almost lost art.
Harriman participants were invited to view the ornate icons
inside the newly restored Great Martyr Russian Orthodox
Church.
August 13, 2001: St. Paul
Island, Pribilofs
Arriving at St. Paul Island in
the morning, Harriman participants disembarked their Zodiacs
among a dozen long-line halibut boats docked in the harbor.
They boarded buses bound for the seal rookery at Reef Point,
where they saw countless semi-adult male northern fur seals
lounging among wild yellow poppies along the side of the
road. They also climbed along rocky cliffs to view puffins,
kittiwakes and thick-billed murres. On the way back, some
participants saw reindeer grazing in the rolling
countryside, and a few glimpsed the Arctic fox scavenging
trash on Main Street.
August 14, 2001: St. Matthew
Island and Hall Island
During disembarkation from the
Clipper Odyssey, passengers were warned to be on the
look out for possible stray polar bears. The beach was empty
except for a gray whale skeleton, but the spongy tundra
provided a rich habitat for brown lemmings, foxes, and
various sea birds including the McKay bunting. Wildflowers
were plentiful as well. In the afternoon, Harriman
participants enjoyed a Zodiac tour around the steep cliffs
of Hall Island to view an incredible array of sea birds and
curious Steller sea lions.
August 15, 2001:
Gambell
As Harriman participants landed
on the pebble beach at Gambell, curling waves crashed
against their Zodiacs. Local residents on four-wheelers met
them on the beach and gave participants rides into town.
Others walked the 3/4 mile route through a neighborhood
where white whale bones were stacked high in yards for use
in crafts and construction. In town, many Harriman
participants visited the Coop to purchase walrus ivory
carved by the skilled local carvers. Later, Harriman
participants gathered at the community center where they
watched traditional Yu'pik dancers.
August 16, 2001: Teller,
Little Diomede Island, and Russian Waters
Harriman participants arrived in
Teller just as the town woke up and the postmaster raised
the flag outside the post office. Sled dogs stretched in the
mud near their shelters. Teller residents, dressed in floral
patterned kuspuks, performed dances in the town community
hall. The Clipper Odyssey next dropped anchor between
Big Diomede and Little Diomede Islands and passengers
watched as a herd of walruses swam across the narrow
passage. After landing, groups of Harriman participants
joined local guides to explore the Little Diomede's rocky
paths that ran along cliffs. Participants observed many of
the trappings of Little Diomede subsistence life: stretched
walrus skins, meat drying on lines, nets for catching
auklets, whale bones, walrus skulls and tusks. Diomede
dancers also performed for Harriman passengers in the gym of
the Little Diomede School. Late that night, the Clipper
Odyssey crossed into Russian waters, then sailed north.
At 11:37 p.m., when the boat crossed the Arctic Circle,
passengers who had gathered on the bridge cheered and
clapped.
August 17, 2001: Cape Dezhnev
and Lorino Village, Russian Far East
The coldest morning to date
found the Clipper Odyssey anchored in the bay near
the steep cliffs of Cape Dezhnev, Siberia, where they could
glimpse North America from Asia. On shore, Harriman
participants hiked soft soil bluffs to explore the former
village of Naukan, a former Eskimo village, that is
thought to have been inhabitated for 2,000 years. Villagers
were forceably resettled from the site by the Soviet
government in the 1950s. Visitors hiked the rocky slopes
inspecting housepits, meat caches and a Soviet built
monument/lighthouse, noting the mix of traditional and
modern in the abandoned village: modern dishes, appliances
and clothes lay in traditional stone house pits, fuel cans
were strewn among the bones of whale and walrus.
In the bright afternoon
sunshine, passengers were greeted by enthusiastic members of
the Chukchi village of Lorino, including the governor.
Chukchi women dressed in traditional brown, beaded costumes
stood in a line beating skin drums in a gesture of welcome.
The beach was crowded with townspeople selling crafts. Women
and children performed dances and men rowed by in biadarkas.
After the dances, the town was presented with a gift of
school supplies. Then some Harriman participants hiked the
steep sand hill to explore the town. They walked the muddy
streets among leaning electric poles, dog yards, and
Soviet-era apartment buildings. In the distance, a fox farm,
once the town's livelihood, stretched out across the rolling
Siberian hills.
August 18, 2001: Itygran
Island and Yanrakino Village, Russian Far
East
In the early morning sunshine,
Harriman participants explored "Whale Bone Alley," a rocky,
bone-strewn beach on Itygran Island. They walked in the
frost-covered vegetation among bowhead whalebones that stood
like naked, bleached tree trunks. This was an archaeological
site from the 1300s; the bones were most likely erected as
part of an ancient ceremony. While some participants hiked
into the rolling hills, others took a walk along the beach.
At the end of the beach, explorers found the headless
carcass of a walrus they speculated was killed for its
tusks.
In the afternoon, Clipper
Odyssey passengers landed at the small Chukchi Eskimo
village, Yanrakino, near the freshly butchered carcass of a
whale. Villagers met the Zodiacs with drumming, whale meat,
and a small market of traditional handicrafts. Locals
entertained passengers with dancing, games of jumping over
sleds, and wrestling. After presenting the village teacher
with school supplies and clothes that passengers had
collected, Harriman participants took an opportunity to walk
through the town, examining the quaint, single-family homes,
introducing themselves to the local people and playing with
the town's many curious children. The day ended with a dog
sled race on the beach.
August 19, 2001: Nome and
Anchorage
Disembarking the Clipper
Odyssey for the final time, Harriman Expedition members
said their good-byes to the crew and boarded school buses
for a tour of Nome. On the tour they saw the cemetery, the
prison, the school, and the tundra, littered with rusting
equipment from abandoned gold mining operations.
In the afternoon, the group flew
from Nome to Anchorage. A farewell dinner was held at the
Anchorage Museum of History and Art. Harriman participants
toured the collection, and compared the painted scenes with
the landscapes and wildlife that they had just encountered
in person. After concluding remarks, a Native Alaskan band,
PAMYUA, performed for the group.
(top)
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Log
Entries
July
21, 2001
Seattle, WA
July
22, 2001
Prince Rupert,
British Columbia
July
23, 2001
Ketchikan
July
24, 2001
Wrangell Island
July
25, 2001
Tracy Arm & Juneau
July
26, 2001
Tourism Industry, Skagway
July
26, 2001
Skagway
July
27, 2001
Sitka &
Raptor Center
July
28, 2001
Glacier Bay
July
29, 2001
Yakutat Village
July
29, 2001
Yakutat Bay &
Hubbard Glacier
July
30, 2001
Kayak Island
July
31, 2001
Cordova &
Valdez
August
1, 2001
College &
Harriman Fjords
August
2, 2001
Prince William
Sound
August
3, 2001
Kenai Fjords
National Park
August
4, 2001
Homer
August
5, 2001
Surprise Bay
August
6, 2001
Triplets &
Kodiak Island
August
7, 2001
Geographic Harbor
August
8, 2001
Semidi Islands
& Chignik
August
9, 2001
Unga Island
August
10, 2001
Unimak Island
August
11, 2001
Unalaska/
Dutch Harbor
August
12, 2001
St. George Island,
Pribilofs
August
13, 2001
St. George &
St. Paul Islands,
Pribilofs
August
14, 2001
St. Matthew &
Hall Islands
August
15, 2001
Gambell, Saint
Lawrence Island
August
16, 2001
Teller, Port Clarence &
Little Diomede Island
August
17, 2001
Cape Dezhnev &
Lorino, Russia
August
18, 2001
Itygran Island &
Yanrakino, Russia
August
19, 2001
Nome
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