"Along with commercial fishing, the Helmericks guide for hunters. In the fall there is a season of caribou, moose, and mountain sheep hunting, and in the winter, there is a season for polar bear hunting, and then in the spring and early summer, there is a season for walrus and caribou hunting.
During the mid-winter season, they take a trip into the States for a month or so, during which time Bud does lecturing and shows moving pictures of the Arctic and then in between times Bud does a considerable amount of writing. He is now completing his ninth publication of exploring the Arctic. He is well qualified for this writing, as he has spent over 20 years in the Arctic region.
Now that our party of six were all comfortably settled in the Helmericks' home, we started to do some planning on seeing more of the Arctic region, and inasmuch as only two or three of us could travel at one time in his private plane, we had to divide up our sight-seeing. The first day, Agnes, Bud, and I traveled by his plane to his nearest neighbor, who was 40 miles away. This was an Eskimo family by the name of Woods. He was about 55 years old, and his wife perhaps 50, and they had one boy in his 20s, who was still at home, and then they had another boy who worked some distance away for a branch of the government. The woods family also make their living by commercial fishing. Along with the fishing they dried and smoked white fish, which commands a premium price on the market, as it is always in demand at Barrow, Fairbanks, and Barter Island.
The Woods family were very pleasant and interesting people, and seemed to be very glad to visit with us. When we came to the little, crude cottage, which was only 100 feet from the river bank, I noticed upon entering the home, one of our Superior Barrel Pumps hanging on the entry wall. This, of course, attracted my attention, and there was then considerable conversation about this Barrel Pump. After a couple of hours visiting with the folks, Mrs. Woods prepared lunch, consisting of tea, coffee, bread, smoked fish, jam, and cookies, which all tasted very good. When we had completed our visit with the Woods family, we flew back to the Helmericks' home, arriving there about eight o'clock in the evening.
The next day, Bud, Yvonne, and I flew to Barter Island, a distance of about 225 miles east. Enroute, we passed over an old abandoned whaling station. Our entire journey from Bud's home to Barter Island was at an altitude of about 100 feet above the ground. The terrain all along the north coast of Alaska, for a distance inland from the coast of about 100 miles, is spotted with many numerous lakes and rivers. In fact, it looks like perhaps a third of the terrain in this area is water, and a good share of the balance is swamp."
