Red Elk Speaks

As many know, the whites have used a number of things we NA used for healing, etc.  Band-aids and surgery staples and aspirin being but a few.
ARE you aware of what actually brought the whiteman’s way into the frozen North?  What caused the Inuits’ speeding into “white ways?”

Most think guns, liquor.  NO!  Was guns and ELECTRICITY!

This telling is how it all came about up there :

“SIDEWHEEL SALLY”

For an Eskimo she was a “looker.”  Her name and parents’ name long forgotten, even by “The People.”
She was born after the Russians came (guns).  They, tho, on the coast…she, well inland.

It’s told her parents had perished when she was not far into her teen years.
Left alone, she had to do what she could to survive.  This led her into the life of a “Snowshoe Rabbit  (Prostitute).”

Over time, she worked her way to the coastal area and ended up at Seward.
Here she first saw whiteman’s electricity.  Unflickering Bright Lights that were on the stern and sidewheelers of the period.  Sailing vessels carried no electric.  Whites were just coming during this time…seeking gold.

These bright, smokeless lights came to be such an attraction to her that one night she snuck aboard a soon to part Sidewheel steamer.  A stowaway.  Aho?

Well, in time, she was found out.  The crew kept mum, so the officers knew nothing about her.
For crew and her it was a “handy agreement”.  “Bed” fed.  Aho?
During this time she learned about the lights and what was involved to “make them go” (Generator).

She was DETERMINED to bring this back to her People.

When docked in Seattle she searched for a small generator…Even “worked” (by sidewheeler) her way to San Francisco, looking.
She WAS good-looking and crews gladly payed well for her “services.”
With her goal in mind, she saved.

It’s told she only had to make 3 trips to have enough….and she found a small generator somewhere in California.  This she promptly shipped up with her to Seward.

In all her travels she observed the ship’s running lights.  She, an Eskimo, (who are known for OBSERVATION) noted there were 2 lights on the mast while at sea.  One Green.  One Red.  She noted it was the Red one that was the one that stood out in fog and snow, etc.  With that knowledge she bought, too, a Red “Globe”.  This also came with her…as well as all needed to hook the Electricity to the bulb/globe cover.

When landed in Seward she sought out several like-minded “girls.”  32 or 34 it’s told.

Knowing no trees existed in her deep snowland, she had 3 30 ft. poles cut….bought a team of dogs, made a travois of 3 poles, hooked that to her team, and loaded all the things needed on it.  Then the crew headed out.  They “worked” their way to her people.

Once there, many men traded both hides and labor.  Over time the BIGGEST IGLOO was made.  A GIANT (none before this, or after, that large, has been made).
Word is it was “more then 90 ft in diameter”  and had  MANY ‘Bed Ledges’.

This close to the Bering Sea between a number of distant villages.

The whites, by then, were making their way up.  The locals, too, where often out, alone, hunting (Prudhoe Bay area, I think).

She had her 3 poles erected as a tripod with the “LOOK FOR THE RED LIGHT” Light atop.

It cut through blizzards and mists like a sword.  Drawing many men to it.  Aho?

Well, her profession introduced Electricity to the Eskimos.  In time lighting the villages of today.  Helping to bring the Inuit into “civilization” (and, sadly to me, their downfall).

Originally, Whale Oil was used to run the generators….but eventually diesel fuel was shipped in. As it is so even now.  Aho?

Well, Sidewheel Sally got rich…and eventually the Whorehouse melted into oblivion….It’s said, “By all the “activity” within”.  Aho?

So, there you have it.  Not Guns and Liquor, but Guns and ELECTRICITY!

(As an aside, once again whiteman has “stolen” from the Indians.  DUPLICATING her Tower and Red Light.

YOU see these, in “modern form”, today, all across the world :  CELL Towers, Airport Towers, etc..  Aho?

(Well, that’s what I’VE been told)      ( :

Ho.   re

(WS)