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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЧЕРВЕНЬ 2009 29 Kozaks in Alaska by DMZ In the 1920s, A. Honcharenko’s accounts about Alaska, published in Lviv’s ne wspapers, were an exotic read for Ukrainians. Honcharenko had arrived in Alaska via New York, after stopping in Philadelphia to marry an Italian woman. Settling in Alaska, he was among those who influence William H. Seward to purchase the territory from Ru ssia. The Russians did not particularly like Alaska; when they sailed near its coastline, they preferred to stay on board their ships, sending the Kozaks in the crew out in their chaikas to make deliveries to those on land, most of whom were Kozaks anyway. When the Americans finally bought Alaska in the latter half of the 19th century, the Russians left, but the Kozaks stayed. Ukrainians, in fact, have touched this wilderness on top of the world throughout the centuries. Kozaks exiled to Siberia by the cza rs ventured to Alaska’s Kamchatka and beyond. Another Ukrainian, Jur i j F. Lysianski, was a ship captain in the fleet of Captain Bering (after whom the Bering Strait was named). In the 1820s, when Canada was negotiating its boundaries with Russia, the diplo mat signing for the Russians was actually a Ukrainian — Petro Pol i tyka (aka Pierre de Poleticus), who wrote (in French) an extensive diary about his diplomatic career. American President John Quincy Adams called him “that Ukrainian.” So the Ukrainian impact was pretty strong; some contem - porary authors even suggest that some of the words of Alaska’s Indians have a Ukrainian origin. It was in the summer of 2007, that Alaska was invaded by a new group of Ukrainian Kozaks — ten members of my family. Alaska (one of the 50 states that my husband had promised to show the children and grandchildren) seemed like a good place to go to escape the hot and humid Phila - delphia summer. So we did some research, followed up with some reservations, and took off on July 4. After a brief layover in Chicago, we arrived in Anchorage, which was to become a home - base from which we would venture here and there. Kozak Houses on Wheels We spent a restful night in a hotel whose manager was originally from New Jersey, a pattern we would see again and again as we encountered numerous people who had come to Alaska from somewhere else. The following day, we picked up three RVs. Per the Encyclopedia Britannica , by the way, it was the Scythians in Ukraine who first adapted the wheel to t ransport their domiciles, and our RVs were the descendants of these houses on wheels, but with American innovations. Each had a range, a microwave, a refrigerator - freezer, a water tank, a gas tank, tables and benches, full bathroom with shower, sleeping qu arters for eight, clothes cabinets, pockets for maps, and more. Conveniently,
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