St. Michael Missions Trip Pt. 8 Stebbins

The second day we were in St. Michael we had a small break in the afternoon to go 11 miles away to Stebbins, another Yupik village on the same peninsula as St. Michael. Stebbins is the larger of the two villages. St. Michael is about 400 in population, Stebbins 800 or so. Stebbins is a neat little village, a couple things stand out about it. First, you notice someone must have planned for all the houses and building to be laid out in a neat grid. The streets are for the most part pretty straight and the houses all spaced evenly apart from one another. St. Michael looks less planned in comparison. I still never got the logic of the street system in St. Michael. Most likely because

their logic developed their streets from the foot paths that followed the path of least resistance or went wherever due to need to go there. Interesting enough, Stebbins being bigger and having a few more amenities like the Native Store (much bigger than the AC) and a real Post Office, two amenities are not present here. A sewage system and a water system. Don't know how they missed out on those two things when St. Michael enjoys both.

So, the honey bucket is still a reality in this village. All the honey buckets are brought from the houses to little collection containers around town for someone to haul the contents away. In fact we saw the man who takes the collection containers to be emptied by towing them behind his 4-wheeler. We noted that he drove very slowly. We also noticed he was very lonely, probably because he didn't have much of a sense of humor.

While we were in Stebbins we checked out the Assembly of God church there. This is where missionary legends lived and ministered. Harriet Brown spent many winters here. John Covlasky also ministered in Stebbins and helped B.P. Wilson and Ken Andrus construct the original building in 1961. John Covlasky would travel by boat when weather permitted from St. Michael to Stebbins to minister in the days before there was a road and snowmobiles were very reliable.

While we were there a young Yupik lady showed up and asked if we wanted to get inside the building as we were showing it lots of interest. She had a key! So, we went in to inspect it. Small. The living quarters were pretty small. There was a little kitchen with a "vintage' electric range and a refrigerator. Winters might be pretty long in such a small place. By the way, click on the picture of our group standing in front of the church and see the address. I don't know if that is the real address or not!

A ways off from arriving in Stebbins we were met with a rather distinct pungent odor. We surmised this was a honey bucket village, but something told me this was a smell of a different kind. It was different. Herring. LOTS of herring drying everywhere. This last picture is me standing (up wind) in front of racks and racks and racks of drying herring. Two weeks it takes to dry herring due to their tremendous oil content, at that in a pretty constant stiff breeze right off the Bering Sea. If I thought St. Michael had a lot of king salmon on racks, Stebbins had those beat ten to one on herring. Didn't see much salmon drying in Stebbins.

The herring are just split open whole and left whole. They are then woven very skillfully into braids of dry beach grass. It is fascinating to see. I couldn't do it that way to save my life. They acted like it was no big deal. So there are hundreds of little herring sticking out from these braids of grass by their heads. The residents really like their herring.

On this trip half the team went to Stebbins. The next day the other half of the team went the 11 miles into Stebbins. I wish I had gone the second day as sometime early that day the villagers of Stebbins spotted a pod of beluga whales near shore in the Bearing Sea and were able to harpoon one and bring it ashore. Our team were able to watch them butcher it up. I haven't seen pictures of this yet, but will attempt to include them if I do.