A day at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks

Day 17 – Sunday, August 9th

Up early because we wanted to take full advantage of the gourmet breakfasts here at the Seven Gables Inn. While not quite gourmet, it was delicious!

Our second full day in Fairbanks. We are so grateful that we pushed it to get to Alaska earlier than our plan. This meant that we got our chance to dig in a little deeper in Fairbanks. HOWEVER, it is raining as we eat breakfast and we try to figure out what adventures the day might bring. It is disappointing to have the weather get in the way, but we are ready to go and explore anyway.

The University of Alaska at Fairbanks is quite a place. We decide to head over there is much to do. In the end, we spent the whole day there.. The first thing on our agendas was The Large Animal Reach Station. Cows and horses you guess? Nope, this place is a center that does research about caribou, reindeer and musk oxen. Although it was sprinkling as we started, another couple and us braved the weather with a highly enthusiastic guide, named Kari, who spent the next hour with us showing us “the nursery” with mom and baby caribou and musk oxen. Our guide was born in a small village and has a degree in biology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She had been engaged in some of the observational research as a graduate student, sitting for hours in the cold, recording in minute detail what the animals were doing. She got the “short straw” and got to take the tour group out in the rain, which she said was a great deal, because the animals didn’t mind the rain at all. We continue to marvel at these amazing animals, and are glad that some dedicated animal researchers are committed to their survival. Although musk oxen are native to Alaska, they were hunted out of existence here. Then, after a number of years, a group had 36 young calves brought from Greenland to the research station and from there to an isolated island off the coast. When they had multiplied, the surplus animals were used to reestablish additional herds along the western and northern coasts of Alaska. As part of their research, scientists have found that musk oxen can be at temperatures as low as 80 below without it putting any apparent strain on their bodies!

After this tour, we drove by The Alaskan Museum of the North at the University, which was supposed to be closed, but to our glee it was open. It is housed in a striking new building that is supposed to resemble a glacier. We ended up settling in there for six hours. Wow! What a fine museum. Not only great fine art, but also lots of super displays teaching the Native Peoples and their ways of life. We got to see a video that in which Native elders talked about the impact of the Alaskan Highway on the Native people whose villages the road went through or near. Very interesting with really a mixed result for those people. As in the lower 48, one of the biggest problems was the introduction of alcohol.

One of the most interesting exhibits at the museum was the room dedicated to listening. The university had placed a variety of sensors around the stat, including seismometers. The signals were sent back to the museum where they were translated into tones and colors. Of course, the minor earthquakes were very low frequency tones that shook the room. It was an amazing experience to sit there and absorb. Dick asked one of the attendants if the sounds changed much. "Oh, yes." Yesterday when it was so foggy, the room was almost silent except for the earthquakes."

But the most mind blowing exhibit was one entitled “Forced to leave” about the forced relocation into internment camps of Japanese Americas in Alaska, as well as 881 Aleut men, women and children from the Aleutian Island. We were very familiar with the Japanese-American internments but had heard nothing of the forced relocation of the Aleuts. These American citizens were pulled from their homes “for their own good” by the American government which feared an invasion of the Aleutian Islands by the Japanese. They were allowed to carry even less than the Japanese-Americans as they were herded onto ships. The first village evacuated was burned before people could even retrieve their most prized possessions. For the next three years they were kept in horrifying conditions in abandoned canning factories and mining camps in Southeast Alaska. From the more arid, open-spaces of their island homes, they found themselves in dark, damp forests. Their shelter was totally inadequate for the conditions, food was supplied at levels less then needed to maintain health, and many of the water supplies were contaminated. Over 10% of them died from lack of health care, illnesses, and exposure. (A comparison was made of an Alaskan prisoner of war camp for German soldiers. These prisoners had adequate housing, food, and medical care.) This situation with the Aleuts was all kept a secret for security measures. They were gone from their homes for 3 years and when they returned, American soldiers had destroyed and looted their homes and churches! Disgraceful! But also shocking that, even though we knew quite a bit about the Japanese forced relocation, we had NEVER heard anything about these other American citizens. Totally innocent people who were never suspected of or any reason to spy or commit un-American activities. Many Aleut young men enlisted and served in the U.S. military during the war. These people felt very betrayed by these breaches of their constitutional rights. We read many of the materials and watched an hour long video in disbelief! In 1988-1990, when the U.S. Government made reparations to the Japanese Americans who were forced into camps, these Aleuts were also included, but because they are in smaller numbers and are in a remote location, they got much money and much less press. The U.S. government has never apologized. The state government of Alaska has issued a formal apology for its part in the action. We were powerfully moved by these stories.

We ended our visit to the University going to the Georgeson Botanical Gardens. It is a beautiful garden filled with flowers, trees and veggies. But it is also a research institute and experimental gardens where they’re looking at which plants can withstand the crazy cold weather they have here. A sign showed that the coldest it had been recorded in the garden was 65 below zero. Yipes! We saw some of the giant cabbages growing, as well as many other wonderfully looking flowers and trees. A lovely stop! And the sky had cleared up, so no more rain…..which had also cleared out the smoke.

We ended the evening with a dinner that we cooked up at the Bed and breakfast which featured fresh wild Alaskan shrimp, and gorgeous veggies, all for the local farmer’s market. Now that’s good eating!

This is as far North as we will get. You can tell it is north when among the tourist info are a lot of tours (day trips) that will get up north of the Artic Circle, actually only about 200 miles for here. We won’t make it on this trip, but that is really far north!