In 1937, villager Paul Vlassof wrote about his community: “Tatitlek is a little village located halfway between Valdez and Cordova. I think it is the nicest little place in Prince William Sound.
A view toward the Alutiiq village of Tatitlek, on Prince William Sound, from McDonald’s Island, 1930.
Tatitlek School, 1930. HISTORICAL ALBUM OF (BUREAU OF EDUCATION, BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS) SCHOOLS IN ALASKA, 1924–1931, VOL. 2 NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION PACIFIC ALASKA REGION, ANCHORAGE, ALASKA, RECORD GROUP 75, BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS BOX #234, FOLDER 05/04/08(2).
My home is halfway surrounded by trees, while out in front is the water and an island about a mile and a half long. There are about sixteen houses and about eighty-five people living there. My people make their living by hunting, fishing, and trapping. In the winter, we have dances every Friday and Saturday, and quite often we have our school programs. In the summer, it gets so warm that most of the people do their cooking outside their houses. The government schoolteacher governs the village with some help from a person from the village. There are no electric lights here, so we use gas lamps for light. Most of the houses have radios, which we listen to to pass the time in the evenings. So whenever you get to Tatitlek, drop in to one of the houses and see what kind of entertainment you get.”
In spite of the fact that Etta was in Tatitlek without her husband at her side, she had a successful year. In her Teacher’s Efficiency Record, her “success as a village worker” and her “ability to overcome difficulties” were rated “very good.” This report was issued on her eighth wedding anniversary.
At the end of the school year, Etta was transferred to Old Harbor on Kodiak Island.
On June 11, 1931, a radiogram was sent from the Office of Indian Affairs in Juneau to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C.: “Request transfer George S. Wilson present salary from Old Harbor to Kaltag with transportation effective entrance on duty and transfer of C. Foster Jones from Kaltag to Old Harbor same salary with transportation effective entrance on duty. Also transfer of Mrs. Etta E. Jones from Tatitlek to Old Harbor transportation effective September first at salary of $1,620 per annum less $240 for school term. These transfers requested in order to place two teachers at Old Harbor as scheduled, retaining only one at Kaltag. As Wilson is unaccompanied, we can place him at Kaltag making it possible to place Mr. and Mrs. Jones together at a two-teacher school.”
A letter to Etta soon followed.
June 17, 1931
United States Department of the Interior
Office of the Secretary
Washington
Mrs. Etta E. Jones of Alaska
Madam:
You have been appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, upon the recommendation of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, an Assistant Teacher, Grade 6d-g, in the Alaska School Service of the Indian Service, at a salary of $1,620 per annum less $240 per annum for quarters, fuel, and light, effective on the date of entrance on duty, but not earlier than September 1, 1931, by transfer from Teacher, Grade 7d-g, at $1,800 per annum less $240 per annum for quarters, fuel, and light. New position. Employment and payment limited to the period of the school year. You are still subject to the provisions of the Retirement Act.
The Secretary has also approved the allowance of traveling expenses in accordance with existing orders and regulations, from Tatitlek, Alaska, to Old Harbor, Alaska. This transfer is not for the convenience of the employee.
Respectfully,
J. Atwood Maulding
Chief, Division of Appointments, Mails and Files
Through the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
Order No. 2472
Etta and Foster were reunited after a year’s separation and would be together for the next eleven years. Before going to Old Harbor on Kodiak Island, Etta and Foster spent time with friends in Tanana, Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Seward. From Seward, Etta wrote to her mother and her sister, Marie, to share news of their reunion and express hopes for a long, happy life together.
Seward, Alaska
July 20, 1931
Dear Mother and Dump:
Well, here we are at Seward. It is a dull, rainy Sunday and I seem to have no ideas at all. We came in on the train from Anchorage Friday evening, and our boat does not leave until Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. But time goes quickly. There are many little affairs of business to be attended to.
Seward is much like Valdez in its setting, with high snow-capped mountains all around. The little town is on an apparently land-locked bay. The rain seems quite natural. It doesn’t seem to inconvenience very much, like Juneau. One doesn’t get very wet in it. This cool moist climate is a relief after the dry, hot, dusty Interior. Tanana was very hot before I left, and we almost suffered from the heat in Fairbanks and Anchorage. Nellie Grandison took us for rides in her car in Fairbanks, and in Anchorage friends took us over all the automobile roads of which the town boasts, about thirty miles. We both like Anchorage. It wouldn’t surprise me to find myself living there sometime. Foster liked the town well enough to patronize the bank, which surprised me. He opened an account there, and bought U.S. Steel through them.
Most of our fellow travelers on the Yukon River steamer came with us as far as Seward, and there we parted. The Los Angeles school marm and her sister from Nome stopped off at McKinley Park for a week. They had intended to stop only overnight and join us again at Anchorage, but the fascination of the park was too much for them (at $15 per day each for living in a tent).
It takes about three days to go from here to Kodiak, and there we shall probably have to take a small boat to get to Old Harbor. As you say, Mother, I am seeing something of Alaska. I missed a good chance to see more of it. I have always wanted to go over the Richardson Highway by automobile from Fairbanks to Valdez, but as the stage fare is $100 and I couldn’t connect with any private cars going over, I had given up the idea. The night before we left Fairbanks, I learned that Jack Coats was in town, husband of Dump’s friend in Chitina. I had just received a letter from Mrs. Coats, forwarded from Valdez, in which she said she had made arrangements for her husband to drive me from Valdez to Chitina if I would only visit her for a week or two. So in Fairbanks, when I learned he was there, my plan was suddenly made to go with him to Chitina, from there to Cordova over the Copper River Railroad, the most beautiful of them all, and join Foster again either in Seward or Kodiak. It would have cost much less, and there would have been over 300 miles of superb scenic highway. Of course, that was not considering his plans, but, drat the man, I could not locate him anywhere. Nellie helped me look for him. We found his car and his hotel and his friends, but we could not find him, and our train left at eight the next morning. So the Richardson Highway, Chitina, and the Copper River Railroad I still have to look forward to.
We bought an Underwood portable typewriter in Anchorage, so from now on you will not have to strain your eyesight trying to read my scrawl. I may get time to write in Kodiak or on the boat. They tell us we get mail only once a month in Old Harbor, but I think it may be as it was in Tatitlek, which was whenever a small boat goes to the town of Kodiak. There is also a government radio station at Kodiak town.
Love to all,
Tetts
Dump: From Anchorage I mailed you Mary Lee Davis’s latest book on Alaska. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Are you still wanting a silver fox? I saw some good ones today and can get you