Marooned in the Arctic: The True Story of Ada Blackjack
Evans Point Herald Island IS I and Cape Varing Gieleton River Wr a nge Cape Hawaii Chukchi Sea South Harbour Cape Blossom Boy Banks Island Wrangel Island Point Berge Come on a Victoria Island SPERIA ALASKA Cape RUSSIA UNITED STATES Pacific Ocean CANADA
WRANGE GELL IS LAN detached peak IN THE BEGINNING ADA DELUTUK WAS BORN on May 10 1898 in the remote settlement of Spruce Creek eight miles from the small village of Solomon Alaskal As a child she listened to stories passed down by her ancestors Some of the tales taught her about stars in the sky Others told about Nanook the polar bear the ani mal most feared by Eskimos From an early age Ada developed a dread of being eaten by a polar bear and forever trapped in its stomach Imaginary fears turned into real troubles when Ada was eight years old Her father died of food poi soning and her mother sent her and her sister Rita to a Methodist mission school in Nome Ada had another sister Fina but it's not known when she was born or where she lived during this
Leaving home at such an early age Ada never learned the traditional skills of her people skills she would desperately need in the future such as hunt ing trapping fishing firing a gun living of the land and building a shelter Instead she was introduced to the skills that white society valued She learned to read and write at an elementary level to speak Eng lish rather than her native Inuit language to read the Bible and to pray She also received training in cleaning cooking sewing and basic hygiene The one Eskimo trait she did develop was the ability to sew animal furs into clothing Like most Eskimo girls Ada married young at the age of 16 The couple moved to the Seward Peninsula After several gold rushes had emptied the mines there the community had turned into a sup plier of reindeer meat The processing of huge herds required a great deal of manpower Perhaps Ada's husband Jack Blackjack went to the Seward Penin sula to find such work He had previously worked as a hunter and a dogsled driver The marriage did not go well Not long after the wedding Ada realized her husband had a cruel streak She endured Jack beating her and starving her for six years because she wanted to protect their three children After two of them died the causes are unknown Jack deserted her leaving her and one son alone Ada struggled with the devastating loss of her children and with caring for the surviving boy Ben nett who had
When Bennett was five years old Ada divorced her husband before he could return and mistreat her again She and her son moved to Nome Alaska where her mother then lived Ada and Bennett made the entire 40 mile trip on foot When the child was too tired to walk his mother carried him After reaching their destination Ada eked out a living by cleaning houses and sewing clothes for miners But Bennett needed medical care she could not afford so she placed him in the Jesse Lee Home for Children a Methodist orphanage that accepted both parentless children and those whose parents could not care for them often because of their own illness such as tuberculosis the most prevalent and most dreaded disease in Alaska at that time Victims had to be placed in sanatoriums to lessen the spread of the disease thus forcing their children into orphan ages Ada's driving focus became finding a better pay ing job so she and Bennett could be together again One evening when Ada was on her way home from cleaning a house E R Jordan the police chief stopped her as she walked by the station He had known Ada most of her life and was familiar with the circumstances of her marriage and with Bennett's medical condition He knew she needed money for her son's care so he mentioned to her that a group of men were headed to Wrangel Island a remote and uninhabited Arctic island almost 600 miles north of Nome surrounded by the Chuchki Sea The men were recruiting Eskimos to go with them to sew fur
