Photographer, Edward Nelson, sent a report to Lomen
Brothers Photography regarding finding a "party of about twenty-five people, from Sledge Island, who had been starved out [starving] at home and were camping there, living on the tomcod and crabs which were abundant." By tying bait of dead fish to the end of lines fastened to small sticks secured in the snow banks, once sunk to the bottom of the ocean through a hole in the ice, they were able to catch the crabs. According to Nelson's report, they were surviving well on their crab catch. This depicts a time when the Eskimos had to be resourceful in subsisting on whatever became available to them. The whaling industry depleted the number of bowhead whales to near extinction, which was the Eskimos' primary food source. Although this is a posed photograph Nelson staged to go with his report to Lomen Brothers in 1896, the equipment, clothing and other items were in use during this time period.
Picture Caption: Photograh by Edward Nelson,1896, Lomen Brothers Photographers, Seward Peninsula, Alaska. Print is located on page 20 of website.
