DAY 44 JUNE 30

June 30. Today we visited with the superintendant of the Yukon Flats School District. The district educates 270 students in ten villages, the largest being Fort Yukon. The big issues for the villages in having ten students in order to maintain a program in the village. Less than ten students means education via correspondence courses or relocation to another village. The schools provide much of the social structure to the village. During the long winter months basketball is the glue that holds many of the families together. After supper we discovered a sheltered picnic table perched on the bank of the Yukon River. It was very peaceful and reminded me of the Mississippi River. The Yukon is as much as two miles wide here at its northern-most bend. From here is bends to the southwest on its journey to the Berring Sea. The village is gearing up for its 4th of July celebration on Saturday repleat with many races. Then next week the fish (king salmon) may be running. Life in the Alaskan bush.