Ella Derbyshire's Snapshots

Arctic Sunlight by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Maniilaq Health Center Kotzebue Alaska November 30 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

Kotzebue's location 33 miles above the Arctic Circle doesn't give us 6 months of winter darkness. That only happens at the North and South Poles. On November 30 in Kotzebue, the sun was above the horizon for just over 3 1/2 hours. This photograph was taken at 2:45 in the afternoon.

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Alaska transportation by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Maniilaq Health Center Kotzebue Alaska November 30 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

There are a lot of cars and truck on the streets of Kotzebue these days, but ATV's and snowmobiles are still popular for everyday commuting.

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Maniilaq Health Center by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Maniilaq Health Center Kotzebue Alaska November 30 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

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electric truck? by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Maniilaq Health Center Kotzebue Alaska November 30 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

It gets really cold in Kotzebue. It gets so cold that oil turns to greasy sludge in the winter. And so,to start our cars and trucks and even ATV's, we have electric heaters to warm and thin the oil.

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granny's house by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

Family housing for the Maniilaq Health Center

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OTZ by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

The big white building in the center of this snapshot is OTZ, a major supplier of telephone service in the region. If you want to see real-time images of Kotzebue, OTZ has 2 web cams. Webcam#1 looks north toward the Post Office and the mouth of the Noatak River. Webcam 2 looks toward the airport.

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Post Office by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

The tan building top center is the US Post Office, Zip Code 99752. Kotzebue and all ten villages in the Northwest Arctic Burough have their own Post Offices, but none of us have home mail delivery. Most of us get out a few times a week, key in hand, to pick up our mail. The line at the counter is a great place to see folks and chat.

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Modern communication by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

We stay pretty well connected despite our extreme northern locale. Yes, we have satellite dishes around town. Note that they are all looking almost horizontally. No, we don't really have cell phone service yet, but we do keep trying. OTZ and GCI provide DSL and Cable TV service along with telephone service.

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Crowley Marine Service Tanks by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska Dog Sleds Wind Mills November 2007 by James Farrington

These big white tanks hold petroleum products barged to Kotzebue during the summer when the sea is free of ice.

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Windmills by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska Dog Sleds Wind Mills November 2007 by James Farrington

Our windmill farm is run by Kotzebue Electric Association, which was the first utility in Alaska to harness wind power. Windmills make a lot of sense in Kotzebue which has a lot of wind but little hydroelectric potential, and receives petroleum products only in the summer by barge. Our 17 turbine windmills are the largest array in Alaska, and they will provide almost 10% of Kotzebue's yearly electrical needs.

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Bering Air by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

Kotzbue is isolated from the rest of the world by tundra and water. There are no roads to Kotzebue from anywhere else, and so airplanes are a major part of life here. Bering Air is one of the airline companies that flies between the villages of the Northwest Arctic Borough. This is their terminal, and from here small commercial aircraft leave with cargo and passengers bound for places like Selawik or Kiana or Kivalina.

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Medivac Hangar by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

Kotzebue is about 500 miles north of Anchorage. Although the Maniilaq Health Center has a very good hospital, it is a small facility which lacks specialty services such as surgery and high-risk obstetrics. Patients who need medical care that is not available in Kotzebue are sent out, usually to Anchorage, for additional medical services. Many of these folks can and do fly on Alaska Airlines, but seriously ill or injured patients are flown south by Medivac. This hangar houses the Medivac plane.

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Water Tanks by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

These two big blue water tanks store water that was pumped down from Devil's Lake.

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Tech Center by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

The orange roof covers the Alaska Technical Center, fondly called the ATC. Within it walls, young people of the Northwest Arctic Burough learn job skills such as welding, carpentry and typing. The housing complex with its white walls and gray roof give the children from surrounding villages a place to stay while they are in Kotzebue.

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Schools by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

Here we see the peaked roof of the Kotzebue High School and the rounded roof of the June Nelson Elementary School. Our schools are important community centers and school sports events such as wrestling and basketball are popular with the general community.

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Kotzebue Fire Hall by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

The red tower on the left and the attached red structure house Kotzebue's fire department.

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senior center by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

There have been some recent changes in Kotzebue. The green building on the left is our new Assisted Living center. The tan building on the right is the Senior Center. The grey building behind the Senior Center houses the E-Z Mart and the new Game Center. The tall tan and red building is housing for Maniilaq Health Center employees.

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Summer transportation by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan The Rainbow Bridge, Selawik Alaska November 6, 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

Selawik is built on an island and along the banks of the two rivers that surround the island. Two bridges, one crossing each river, unite the town. The Rainbow Bridge connects the island to the west side of town. A lower bridge connects the island to the east side, where the airport is. In summer ATV's, each locally called a "Honda" regardless of the manufacturer, run along the boardwalks and the bridges, and boats are a common sight on both rivers.

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Winter transportation by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan The Rainbow Bridge, Selawik Alaska November 6, 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

Once Selawik's rivers and lakes freeze, the ATV's and boats get put aside, and snowmobiles become the main form of transportation. There are no cars or trucks or busses here. In case you wonder about emergency services, our ambulance is a sled pulled by a snowmobile in winter, or a wagon pulled behind an ATV in the summer.

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Boardwalk by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan The Rainbow Bridge, Selawik Alaska November 6, 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

Because Selawik itself is built on very boggy ground, building and maintaining a road system is a big problem. The folks of Selawik have found novel solutions to their transportation dilemma. All year long, the folks of Selawik get around on ATV's driven on these boardwalks that serve as roads. The boardwalks also carry pedestrian and bike traffic. In the winter, frozen rivers and lakes become highways for their snowmobiles, which can also transport them on branch-marked trails, across the frozen tundra.

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Christmas snowflakes by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan The Rainbow Bridge, Selawik Alaska November 6, 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

Christmas decorations are draped across this building. The big lighted snowflakes are up and ready to shine Christmas cheer to family and friends across the river.

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Shop by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan The Rainbow Bridge, Selawik Alaska November 6, 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

There are some small businesses in Selawik, but the town has no large industry. There is no hotel or shopping mall. You won't see any kind of chain restraurant. Many of residents of Selawik still live a subsistance lifestyle, hunting caribou and moose and fishing from the local rivers and lakes. Most of us enjoy picking and eating the excellent berries that grow on the tundra in and around town.

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Selawik Bible Baptist Church by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan The Rainbow Bridge, Selawik Alaska November 6, 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

The congregation meets here

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Crowley Tanks by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

These big white tanks will soon hold over 6 million gallons of petroleum products, all brought here by barges during the summer months when the ocean is free of ice. Although Alaska is famous for oil production, and Kotzebue is in Alaska, you won't see any oil rigs in this portrait of Kotzebue. We have no oil wells. And we have no oil refineries. Heating fuel, stove oil, gasoline, kerosene...all come here by sea, and are stored in the big white tanks to keep us well-fueled through the long, cold winter.

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Homes on stilts by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

You might wonder about the stilts beneath this apartment building and many of the other buildings that you see here in Kotzebue. We don't have trouble with high water, as I first thought on my arrival in town. All of the stilts that you see below our buildings help keep them above ground. Warmth from heated structures thaws the permafrost beneath them, and over time, the buildings settle deep into the tundra. Larger builings might have steel tubes filled with antifreeze or with freon. Their tubes are driven deep into the permafrost to distribute the heat. Looking elsewhere, you might notice some older structures that have a decidedly sunken look..

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Water Pipeline by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

Kotzebue, which is surrounded by salt water and brackish water, needs fresh, liquid water year-round. The Arctic tundra is frozen most of the year. This pipeline brings water from Devil's Lake into town. In the winter the water is heated at its source, and the thick insulation keeps the water from freezing in the pipe.

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Barges in Kotzebue Sound by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

Although this snapshot shows 2 barges, this panorama actually captured 3 barges. It was the arrival of the barges that motivated me to get to the hilltop for these photos.

Large freight can come to Kotzebue by airplane, which takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, or by barge which usually takes a month or more. Barges need open water, reliably present in only 3 months: June, July and August.

With no trees or car dealerships in the region, people rely on the barges to bring heavy, bulky items such as construction materials and large vehicles into town. Gasoline and fuel oil are also welcome barge cargo.

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Cemetery Hill by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

The view of Kotzebue from Cemetery Hill is very similiar to this panorama.

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fishnet by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

The round white floats across the water mark a fishnet, which would be catching salmon in July.

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Maniilaq Health Center by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

The big green roof shelters the hospital, ER and outpatient clinics.

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Ralph Wein Airport by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kotzebue Alaska July 22 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

There are no roads into Kotzebue from the Outside. But yes... there is a way to get to Kotzebue. Most folks fly in. Or you can go by barge or private boat in the summer. In the winter, beginning in mid-October when the water freezes, a long snow machine ride might bring you here.

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Out of Season by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kiana Alaska October 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

A boat waiting for breakup.

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Fishing jig by Ella Derbyshire from the GigaPan Kiana Alaska October 2007 by Ella Derbyshire

Ice fishing for mud sharks in the Kobuk River.

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