Kauffman's Alaska Journal 2009

June 22nd, Haines, Alaska Jun 22, 2009

June 22nd, Haines, Alaska

Today we woke up to very cloudy skies, and it drizzled a bit off and on. The temp was about 57 all day long. At least there was no wind, so it felt warm enough with just my light rain jacket on. We didn’t get many outdoor pictures because of the grayness.

We did go visit two very interesting museums though this afternoon. The third museum we decided to skip. It was the Hammer Museum. Yes, hammer as in nail and hammer. I took a picture of the giant hammer on the outside of the building.

I have to say right now, that all the animal pictures showing up today are stuffed, not wild ones on the road or anything. They were posing, so we could get good shots, instead of bear butts, or the back view of a porcupine☺

The first one we went to was about the native Indians of this area, the Tlingit. I have some information signs in the picture section about their social standing within the tribes, and some Indian armor. I didn’t know Indians had any armor.

The Tlingit were known for their blanket making and other weavings. It was almost a lost art, but it is catching on again now. It takes almost a full year of work to make a full blanket, and that is working 8 hours a day on it. They use the wool from the area goats. In the spring the goats lose their undercoat. It snags on bushes as they pass by. The women go out and pick it off the bushes while they are berry hunting. If they are lucky, a man will have killed a goat, and they could get lots of it that way.

They spin it out by rolling it between their fingers and against their thigh until they get the right weight and thickness. Then they use a thin fiber from a tree (I can’t for the life of me remember which one), and twist that fiber into the yarn to make it stronger. They die the fiber in various colors using natural dies.

These blankets were cherished by the people, and mainly only owned by the “upper class” in the tribes. They were not used for sleeping, but for wearing. They also made aprons that the men used for special ceremonies.

The Tlingit were also known for their basket weavings. I have no idea how they wove such intricate and small patterned baskets. The woman who was at the front desk was telling us that over the years she had done leather work, cloth weaving, beading, etc. and managed to sell her products. She took a class in the basket weaving the Tlingits did, and said no one would ever buy that product from her. She said it was very hard to get weave that small and get it tight enough to stand upright and be even all around.

After we left that museum, which is called the Sheldon Museum, we headed over to the Bald Eagle Museum. As soon as we walked in, they started a talk by the head of the museum, an older fellow in a wheel chair. He mentioned that he had broken his back, but didn’t say how.

Anyway, he was so interesting to listen to. There was a boat load of people that had gotten off one of the cruise ships, and a lot of them were in the museum, so he timed his talk to as much time as they had. We got to stay after they left and talk to him more. We could have listened to him forever.

He told a little bit about all the animals in the valley that we are now staying in. The Bald Eagle is very special to the area, because every fall and winter, some 4,000 eagles come and stay in a three square mile area. This is very unusual, but there is enough food for them here, because of a special feature of the valley. Two rivers come together, and the water is forced into another river at such speed that the friction of the meeting keeps the water warm enough that it doesn’t freeze. That means that salmon who didn’t get to spawn in the fall, can do so in the winter, and plenty of them do. Enough to feed the eagles all winter. The salmon swim under the ice up the river and can spawn in the warmer waters there. Of course after they spawn, they die. About 80% of the salmon that die after spawning go to feed the animals in the streams, and about 20% of them rot, and their remains, and high nutrients, feed the baby salmon when they hatch.

Then he went on to the salmon. They had models of the different salmon on the wall. On one side was how they look when they are growing up, and building up weight and strength to make it up river to spawn. It takes about 5 years for salmon to do that. Once they are big enough, on the way up the rivers, they change color, and they also change their mouths. Before they enter the rivers, they feed on Krill, so they have no use for teeth. They are just little nubs in their mouths. Once they go to breed, the teeth start to grow, and by the time they reach where they need to spawn, they have a full set of teeth. They don’t use the teeth to eat with. In fact once they start the trip, they can’t eat at all. But they use their teeth to defend themselves to be able to get to the spawning place. Then they die. I have before and after pictures above of the silver salmon.

He went on to tell about how all the animals fit together in the valley and need each other to be able to live. He talked about the moose and how they have to grow the big antlers every spring and gain enough weight by fall to attract a female. A female will only breed with a big, strong and full antlered male. They also need the extra weight to make it though the winter. But after mating in the fall, they drop their antlers so they don’t have to drag an extra 70 or 80 lbs around with them. The antlers that they drop, feed the beaver and a few other small animals and are full of good protein for them.

He showed us examples of the different bears. We had learned the difference between the grizzly bear and the black bear in Yellowstone. The black bear has shorter and more curved nails, and a straight head profile. The grizzly bear has longer but not as curved nails, a “dish” or scooped bridge of the nose, and a hump on it’s back. They call them brown bears up here. In this valley, because it is so perfectly balanced, they grow bigger than grizzlies in the lower 48. They can be between 1,000 and 2,000 lbs.

The color of the black bears was interesting to me. Those of you who know me through cat breeding know how I love color genetics. Well, the black bear is very much like our seal Ragdoll cats. They have the plain black, and then a mutation of the black to cinnamon or brown, and they also have a dilute factor. He didn’t call it a dilute factor. He said it was some white in them that could change the black into blue, and the cinnamon into a pale color (Fawn and Lilac in the cat world). They had examples of the black, the cinnamon and the fawn, but not the blue. I would dearly loved to have seen the blue. I looked closely at the hair on the Fawn one, and it wasn’t striped like in the silvering gene in cats. It must have been the dilute factor.

Another interesting animal was the examples of the fox. The red fox is natural for the area, but for many years all over Alaska they have had fox farms where they raise foxes for their coats. They have been experimenting with color, and now have the silvering gene in the foxes and can produce red and silver and the black and silver. They are now in the wild from some of them escaping the farms. I have pictures of the three colors. You have to look closely at the left hand side in the back for the silver/black fox.

After the others left, he was telling us about how nature takes care of the animal world. He took the example of the five members of the weasel family. All five of them have different habits that allow them to live together and not encroach on each other’s habitat so they can all eat. Some live mainly in the water, some on the land and some underground.

When we were in Yellowstone, one of the rangers was telling us about bringing the wolves back to Yellowstone and how it was improving the balance of all the animals from cutting down on the coyote to improving things for beavers. This was much the same thing. I find it fascinating.

Well, that’s the lesson for today kids☺ It is suppose to rain harder tonight and then sprinkle again tomorrow. As long as it doesn’t pour rain, I don’t care. Sometimes it’s easier to see things on the water when the sun isn’t glaring on it. Keep your fingers crossed for whales and other sea animals to make themselves available for us. It should be a fun, but long day tomorrow.

Linda