The Long Walk of 1949: How Nunamiut Families Traveled to Anaktuvuk Pass

In early summer 1949 several Nunamiut families broke camp at Sulupaat, near the mouth of April Creek in the Killik (Killiq) River valley, and started east on foot. Their dogs carried the loads. The trek, known as the Long Walk, took more than two weeks and covered nearly a hundred miles, to Tulugaq Lake in the Anaktuvuk (Anaqtuuvak) Valley, where another small group of families waited. The account comes from the National Park Service's Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve.

Route map of the Long Walk.

Who went, and why

The families of Maptigaq Morry, Inualuuraq Hugo and Homer Mekiana (Mikiana), with their married and unmarried children and grandchildren, made the trip. The Park Service calls it a pivotal moment in recent Nunamiut history. It joined the last independent Nunamiut families into one group, and it was the first big step in a transition, lasting more than a decade, from a nomadic life to a relatively settled one in a permanent village.

Two people's memories carry the story.

Amos Morry's route

Amos Morry described the trip in an interview with Grant Spearman. The families had lived at Sulupaat that spring, when a flu epidemic moved through and many people died, among them Aahaaliq, Peter Morry and Chris Hugo. After the burials, the group set out. Along the way:

• The river called Agiagiaq was in flood and could not be crossed until the water had gone down a little.
• Everyone carried loads on their backs, and the dogs carried loads too. The families had no spare gear to weigh them down.
• They killed caribou for fresh meat as they went.
• At Narvagvak they pitched camp and found C rations left behind by men of the war. The food was sound and they ate it, and they got caribou there too. A baby was born while they stayed.
• At Qalutagiaq there were so many caribou that they stopped and made camp.
• Food began to run short when they reached Tulukkaq. The trail and the campsites have been marked.

Rhoda Ahgook's trail life

The Park Service says the best way to capture what the Long Walk was like is the account of Rhoda Tatqavina Morry-Ahgook, a Nunamiut elder who recorded her memories in the spring of 1999. She was a teenager in 1949, the daughter of Maptigaq Morry.

Why they went. Her father was the first who wanted to move to Anaqtuuvak Pass. All winter he said the family had to join the Tulugagmiut, whose families wanted him with them, and eventually everyone shared the wish to pack their belongings by dog over the summer. They had not gone sooner because of the flu epidemic.

What they carried. Bedding, a little coffee, sugar and tea, and ammunition. Most of the supplies ran out, except a small stash of coffee and tea. Beds were caribou skin, one laid fur-down as a pad and another fur-up on top, and sleeping bags were made of two skins sewn together. Her father made them, as the Killiq people always had. Flour was bought for them and used for dough. Honey and peanut butter in big containers counted as riches.

How the dogs worked. Every dog wore a pack. The caribou bedding went on the packs, then the water buckets and the stove, a five-gallon can, or two joined end to end. The heat wore holes in them, and her father patched the holes with hammered metal. A dog also carried the day's lunch, prepared in advance because he did not want to spend time hunting for food.

Dog-packs, in the Park Service's words, are among the simplest and most useful things the Nunamiut make. They also serve as duffel bags for extra clothing and pelts, as winter storage for choice caribou bones that will be crushed and boiled for grease, and as an equipment bag hung on the back of a sled.

On the trail. Rhoda made sourdough pancakes each morning from a starter carried along, and her father woke everyone early. Lunch was usually half-cooked caribou with tea. The group traveled together, resting about half an hour at a stop, or about an hour when they caught caribou, which they cut up for the next meal and for the dogs. A person always walked in front of the dogs so they would not chase caribou, though on smooth ground one or two dogs might lead.

Making camp. Each family had a wall tent. Hers was a five-panel Tallimalik, larger than a four-panel Sisamalik. They lit smudge fires against the mosquitoes, using willow branches, and put them out fully before leaving. Fly swatters were made of willow, or whittled from a case-gas crate by her father. Her father and Amos quickly pitched the tent, staking it with willow and rocks, and Rhoda cut willow branches for the floor, a habit she keeps. Dogs were tied with sharpened willow stakes or willow poles, and fed and watered often from bowls cut from five-gallon cans. Her father said dogs were like human beings and must never go thirsty.

What the story preserves

The Park Service calls Rhoda's account interesting and instructive: a way of life, it says, already drifting into memory.

Sources

• National Park Service, Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve, The Long Walk: The Origins of Anaktuvuk Pass; rewritten in hubnx's own words.