The following are public statements provided at hearings held in Fairbanks and Anchorage the 17^th and 18^th of October 1969 prior to the passage of ANCSA. They provide the reader with some of the issues and concerns discussed prior to the passage of ANCSA.

STATEMENT OF WALTON AHMAOGAK (spoken)

My name is Walton Ahmaogak. I am President of the Arctic Slope Native Association. I want to tell you about my life in Prudhoe Bay.

My father was Roy Ahmaogak, Ll.D., who was a great leader of the Inupiat Eskimos. I am the eldest of thirteen children. We were raised for a number of years in Prudhoe Bay. We had our winter house at McIntyre Point, about five miles from the Discovery Well. For many years now I have been trying to get an allotment where our house was, filing first in 1963, but the government won't approve my request.

When we lived at Prudhoe Bay we camped, trapped, hunted and fished all around there, going to our favorite places to catch fish and game according to their habit. We had two meat cellars, located underground. It takes 2 or 3 weeks with 2 or 3 men to chip out the room.

We had graves at McIntyre Point over there. My grandmother was buried by our fish camp up the Kukparuk River, about 50 miles. The Oil Companies covered the grave with gravel for a path.

One of our neighbors was the Sarah Kunaknana family. Their place was on the Sag River and their house and meat cellar is still there about one half mile from the Prudhoe Bay camp. She tried to get an allotment there but the government turned her down.

Every five miles or so between Barrow and Barter Island there were two or three families along the coast, something like the farmers. This is the way we harvested our crop from the land.

There are many rivers that go inland and our people traveled up these rivers for their livelihood.

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