“An Alaskan Moment” for October 5th, 2020

Download or Stream the first episode of “An Alaskan Moment” for the week of October 5th, 2020.
https://apradio.org/mp3/2020-10-05-analaskanmoment-a.mp3

Welcome to
An Alaskan Moment
from Aleutian Peninsula Broadcasting in Sand Point
apradio.org
This week in Alaska History:
October 5, 1913 – A storm at Nome caused damage of one million dollars.
October 6, 1869 – The Fort Wrangle post office was established. The name later changed to Wrangell.
October 7, 1911 – The Ruby Record, a weekly newspaper, was established.
October 8, 1915 – William A. Egan, who became a three-term governor of the State of Alaska, was born in Valdez.
October 9, 1923 – The MV Kennecott, Alaska Steamship Co. freighter, went to pieces on the Queen Charlotte Islands on her maiden voyage from Alaska.
October 10, 1951 – Fire destroyed the Lathrop Building in Cordova, a $500,000 loss.
October 11, 1915 – The river steamboat Tyconda burned at Anchorage; all 10 persons on board escaped.
This week in Alaska History compiled by Robert N. DeArmond of Sitka
Courtesy of the Alaska Historical Society

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Now for your poem.
In 1963, Margaret Mielke was chosen as the first Poet Laureate for Alaska.
“An Alaskan reader, 1867-1967”
Published by Meredith Press in New York, 1967

The Moose Kill, by Margaret G. Mielke

This is something I would have the boys remember:
The moose kill in Alaska each September.
The annual trip by dory to horizon land
Across the water, where the pastel mountains stand;
Leaves of copper scaled and shiny
On the sponge-moss ground.
The padded oars, the queer excitement of no sound.
The sporting of the animal against a distant space,
Our beating temples, and the moose’s homely face,
The long, long aim and quick, quick shot, releasing blood,
The work of men and knives and axe that turn it into food.
The heavy quarters that with pride we load
With provider’s knowledge that the meat is good.
This knowing that when snow is crowding white
There will be roasts and steaks and stews at night.
The journey home, the benching on home shore,
The lifting of the quartered meat again, the chore.
The pride and climax of getting what we went for;
The wife’s one look, knowing whom it’s meant for.
Then the hunting stories, the telling and the swapping:
Sawing steaks and cutting roasts, and then the wrapping.
The final storing in the locker that is cold;
The neat and packaged moose now looks like gold.
There is not a chance the boys will not remember—
No one could forget moose season in Alaska in September.