James Magdanz

(SHUNGNAK, ALASKA) – Napoleon Black is a small man, made smaller by the vastness surrounding him. He was standing, quietly, sipping hot coffee. Before him, vapor still rising in the cold air, was a pair of lungs, a pool of blood and a bit of hair. Around him were the tracks of hundreds of caribou. One answered his rifle and stayed behind. Napoleon Black is a hunter, good with a gun and tough enough to survive in a land few people ever visit. His home for sixty years has been Shungnak, a small Eskimo village on the Kobuk River in interior northern Alaska. His land is a roadless wilderness, his water comes directly from the river, beautiful mountains frame his sunsets, wild animals roam free and-until recently were his for the taking. Now, through no action of his own, he is being pressured by another world. All of America wants Alaska. Congress is apportioning her resources. The state is struggling for her land. The Natives are choosing allotments. Private citizens want hunting rights and homesteads.