Atmaulluaq History - WOW

I had noticed that I hadn't posted anything about the history of Atmautluak, AK since I started writing in this blog. So I decided to start tackling it today. Atmautluak, AK is located in southwest Alaska in the Kuskokwim Delta.

Atmautluak is located about 18 miles northwest of Bethel. Our area is called the Akula area due to our Tundra location. When we travel on Yute Air, you'll hear them refer our villages of Nunapitchuk, Kasigluk, Atmautluak as tundra villages. Atmautluak was first settled in 1968. Some people moved from Nunapitchuk, AK because the fishing grounds were better and closer to Atmautluak. When I had interviewed Oscar Nick, the man who settled in Atmautluak first, he stated that they almost called Atmautluak Wassillieville. I got a crack out of that place name. Atmautluak sounds so much better than Wassillieville right now! The first school, which was BIA was built in 1974.
Atmautluak is situated on the Petmigtalek River. The community is composed of Yup'ik Alaska Natives with a few Caucasian teachers that are needed to come and teach from other places. The people continue to live a traditional hunting and fishing lifestyle The school sponsors a Traditional Dance Team that represents the community in Traditional song and dance.
There is two churches within our community of 365. We have the Moravian Church and the Russian Orthodox Church. There are no roads between the tundra villages so people travel on boats, snowmachines, and airlines. There are two grocery stores in town, one laundromat, one community building, a post office, a tiny Police office/jail, board walks, fish racks, smokehouses, steam houses, couple school buildings, one health clinic, and one National Guard Armory building.
Seasonal hunting and fishing are lifestyles of the Yup'ik Alaska Natives. During the summer we fish for salmon, whitefish, and pike to dry and store for the summer. The smokehouses are used for salmon and white fish to smoke. We store them for winter use, along with berries and greens we harvest from the tundra.
Right now they are jigging for Pike on the river, and I wish I was out there right now. The pike they dry or eat frozen with seal oil. Yum Yum..... I'm hungry.
I wanted to mention that we have a new grave site past a lake and slough, but the old grave site can be seen by the airport.

The picture above is of students' sleds that the school purchased for outside use. The school also has a set of ski's that are part of the P.E. program.