Walter Cook Sr.: Interview Outline: Section 5 Planes delivering mail to Kiana and ordering clothes from a catalog Tape Reference Number: H2002-09-05 Walter Cook Sr. talks with Bill Schneider, Hazel Apok, and Eileen Devinney in Kiana, Alaska on February 27, 2002.

Walter Cook: There, I remember in the early '50s, our mail planes, I think they only come one -- one time, once a week, Wien. Wien. Wien Airlines made all the mail run. And then as their planes get a little - two, three planes. Then they started bringing in mail in twice a week. And then later on three times a week, plus passengers. Small aircraft plane. But when they first started, why they usually only come once a week and bring mail.

And I remember we -- Blankenship, Robinson Blankenship used to be a Postmaster, and I usually go check mail in them days. I remember we used to have them Sears-Roebuck catalogs them days they send out. And you order from those catalogs, you gotta wait one whole month to Seattle in order to get your -- your order. Clothing, mostly clothing that we used to order in them days.

Hazel Apok: What's the story about this one old man, he ordered from -- they told him he could have a woman from that catalog, and --

Walter Cook: Yeah, I think this is from -- it was a guy from Selawik, there was a story that I heard, well, one day this -- there was two people there. One -- one younger guy, told him, well, you - looking in catalogs, and then that old man start looking around for the prettiest woman on -- on the catalog there. He never -- he never worry about clothes, he just want to find out the best looking woman. And this guy, this younger guy there told him, if you -- if you -- if you make an order out, that woman is going to come in about a month. So he wrote an order, he used a order blank and filled out the papers and how much clothes cost and stuff like that, and mail them out. And then that guy coming once in awhile, the guy that wrote that order form. That old man would ask him "I wonder when is my orders going to come? I'm wondering when that woman is going to come."

And then one day, he went to the Post Office and he had a COD. It wasn't very much, probably just clothes, you know. And he brought em home. And that guy that ordered, wrote an order for him walked in, too. And then he said, just ordered the clothes because there's no woman. There is no woman. And that happened in Selawik. Must have been somewhere around the early '50s, too. Or early '40s. And that's one of the stories I hear often all the time, especially from those people -- people over at Selawik over there.

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