In 1890 a settlement was established on Herschel Island at the height of the Beaufort Sea whaling period. The number of residents was estimated at 1500 making it the largest Yukon community at that time. Currently it is a territorial park which is open only seasonally.
The day we arrived it rained. Many of the buildings on the island are set up as museums. One such building had an extraordinary collection of whale bones. Here are some whale vertebra. The plate like circles are intervertebral discs.
The most interesting phenomenon on the island was a massive solitary bull muskox who stood in the rain and watched as we circled him - but not too close. The challenge was to get a good look at him but not disturb him. He looked lonely.
The muskox (Ovibus moschatus) is an arctic mammal. It is called umingmak in Inuktitut. Today's muskoxen are believed to have migrated from Siberia to North America between 90,000 and 200,000 years ago. The Alaskan population was wiped out by hunting in the late 19th century. Starting in 1935 muskoxen have been successfully re-introduced to Alaska. The current world population is between 80,000 and 125,000 with an estimated 47,000 living on Banks Island.
Muskoxen have a two-layered coat. The soft underwool beneath the longer coarse outer hair is called qiviut. Qiviut is stronger and warmer than sheep's wool and softer than cashmere wool. Through the years I have obtained many native produced items made of knitted qiviut. There is nothing better than light, soft and warm.
Toward the end of our visit we were able to see this off the coast.
No it is not a ship but an oil drilling platform part of the activity we saw on the map of Beaufort Sea in Ulukhaktok.
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