I took this picture on a trip to Brevig Mission. This is the bridge used to walk from the beach into town. The bridge is an old rail track, which we believed was for launching life boats. A group of kids were on the bridge to greet us.Brevig Mission is a located on the western end of the Seward Peninsula, about 65 miles north west of Nome. Brevig Mission is a Inupiak Eskimo village of about 325. It was started by a Lutheran missionary from Sweden named Brevig.
Brevig Mission made international news in the late 1990's when scientists exhumed a body from a grave site. They were looking for the 1918 Spanish Influenza virus. This virus is considered by some to be the most deadly virus of modern history. It killed an estimated 50-100 million people in 18 months. With recent fears of bird flu and other possible pandemics, scientists were trying to get a live sample of the virus to study. They found it in Brevig Mission among the graves of influenza victims. The virus was kept alive because the graves were located in permafrost or frozen ground.
p.s. I am updating my flickr site for the first time in almost a month. I have already added 20 pictures and should have another 50 or so up today.
3 comments:
I didn't know that, how interesting.
The bridge in Brevig has nothing to do with launching life boats. It was placed there in the early 1900s to haul supplies from barges to the the school/orphanage. A little cart was pushed along the track.
I live in the village part of the year - here are some photos!
http://dawnlincolnphoto.blogspot.com/2009/04/alaska-eskimo-village.html
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