Harrington history

Twenty-five animal heads and furs have been on display in the Harrington Public Library since June of 1973. The late Louis Schutz was a Harrington farmer who enjoyed game hunting when he was not busy keeping his farming operations going. He began game hunting in 1946 and made two trips to Africa, trips into British Columbia, the Yukon and Alaska.

“More Trophies for Schultz Collection. The trophies from the species of the deer and antelope families will include the mounted heads and horns; the elephant ivories, 12 pound ones, will be shipped whole; less than 12-pound tusks may be carved there into small trinkets. News to us, the elephants’ feet have gone the route of the waste-paper basket! The ponderous front feet of these mammals are skinned out, tanned and made into roomy, strong wastepaper baskets! The sable and zebra hides will be tanned for robes, rugs or similar articles. The processing and disinfecting of these heads, hides, horns, etc. is done in Africa after which they will be shipped to Seattle for tanning, finishing and mounting. Mr. Schultz has had other taxidermy work done at Seattle. It will be about two months before these trophies arrive. However, this week, Mr. Schultz learned of a shipping company that includes Beria, Africa, on its itinerary.”

“Native ‘Sally Rands’ in Daring Dance. While hunting was the primary motive for the trip far into the jungle, there were interesting sidelines for this party of Americans. One of the most colorful, unusual and daringly sensational, was a dance by a tribe of natives, for which Mr. Guex arranged. Mr. Schultz’s description of this weird South African event would make a cast of scantily-clad ballet dancers seem puritanically modest; it would out-step a group of Western dancers; outlast the stubbornest marathon and out-rhythm the timpani section of the noisiest orchestra.” (Part I of Hunting)

“Turner, Schultz Bag Kodiak Male Bears. Harold Turner and Louis Schultz returned home Sunday morning following a bear hunt to Alaska. The Harrington hunters left here by bus for Seattle, thence to Anchorage by NW Airlines, and on to Kodiak with a bush pilot plane. They had planned to reach their destination by Friday, April 13, but the schedule was fouled up a bit, and they had to make an overnight stop at Homer, on the Seward peninsula, so the last part of their trip was made on Friday, the 13th, with 13 passengers aboard the plane. ‘I’m no longer suspicious of Friday the 13th,’ says Louie. Hunters from boats have killed the bear in such numbers that the animals have been forced back into the high inland area where this hunting party had to go. They walked inland through ice that was starting to thaw and soft snow up to their waists. They spent nine hours in hard traveling by foot. Both Turner and Schultz killed male bears of the Kodiak species; each weighed about 1500 pounds. The trophies from his kill are the brown bear skins which will be made into rugs, and the heads which will be mounted. The eruption of the volcano Katmai on the mainland, sprinkled Kodiak, as well as the mainland, with a residue that killed vegetation and animal life, except the bears. A few caribou, snow-shoe rabbits and ptarmigan have been started again on the island. The party went into the island at the west end by way of Giga Bay. They report the season is too early for female bears to be out of hibernation. The cubs are too young to follow their parents, so Mama Bear is still baby-sitting. They saw many papa bears basking in the returning sunshine of the northland. Ray Hall was the bush pilot for the party. Tollefson (brother of Mrs. Harvey Thompson of Davenport) and Pininell were the guides. The Harrington men returned by plane and bus. Traveling time by bus from Seattle took more hours than the plane flight out of Alaska.” (Citizen: 4-27-1951)

“Louis Schultz Adds Grizzly to Game Trophy Collection. Louis Schultz left Harrington June 25 (Friday) headed for British Columbia, looking for grizzly bear. The season on these bears closed June 30. Joining forces with William Lucht of Spokane (brother of Chris Lucht) in the Natal section of the Crow’s Nest and with Gordon Eftoda as guide, these hunters sought their game. They found the grizzly bear on a ‘slide’ at a range of about 200 yards. Louie bagged his, a good-sized animal about six-and-a-half feet. He also killed a big black bear, the hide of which he secured for Mrs. Fred Stenzel, to fulfill a promise, an she plans to have the hide made into a rug. The grizzly, as well as other bear, are very thin, Louis says, and probably weighed 300 pounds, but would weigh 500 pounds in the fall. Rains were melting the snow fast up there and the rivers were full of rushing water. Louis brought home the hide and head of his grizzly and the head will be added to his collection of wild-life trophies. Louis returned home last week Thursday evening, July 1. Louie has bagged game from the rugged wilds of Alaska and Canada to the jungles of Africa.” (Citizen: 7-09-1954)

“Schultz Adds Polar Bear to Room of 47 Trophies With Four Other Bear. Louis Schultz, an avid hunter who has bagged big game in the thick of African jungles, has now added to his ‘zoo-like’ recreation room a trophy from the frigid north-top of the world – an 11-foot polar bear, shot on the ice cap just off Pt. Barrow, Alaska. From Louie’s log of events on this recent trip, he provides the Citizen with the following story: ‘I went from Spokane by NW airlines to Seattle March 30, thence by Pan-American Airlines the same day to Fairbanks, Alaska. I remained there over Monday to get an Alaskan hunting license. April 1, via the Wein Airline, I flew to Pt. Barrow and arrived there the same day at 11 a.m. This airline makes three trips a week to Barrow. The temperature was 10 below zero at Pt. Barrow. Mr. Gregory met me at the airport and took me to the village. The bush pilots had the planes warmed up, so we left immediately for a flight out over the polar ice cap (about 1:30 p.m.). We saw three polar bear, within an hour of flying. Mr. William Neimi, partner of Eddy Bour (the firm manufactures down clothing and sleeping bags) and Mr. Tony Sulak both from Seattle were there. They had the seven-day period before I arrived. They had the misfortune of having a plane break through the ice near a lead, or open water. The pilot and plane went down. Mr. Sulak was rescued by Mr. Gregory and Mr. Neimi who were already down on better ice. Mr. Sulak lost all his expensive picture equipment and a rifle. He was in ice water for 20 minutes (eight minutes is the longest anyone ever survived in water of this temperature). This happened on Friday, March 28 and I arrived there April 1. Mr. Sulak who was in bad shape was in a native hospital. Niemi, in helping pull wet clothes off Sulak, froze his right hand and the hand was bandaged, but otherwise he could get around. Just what caused the accident no one will ever know. As in coming down for the landing, the plane swerved toward the open lead and thin ice, and broke through. It is a miracle the man is alive – thanks no doubt to the insulated underwear he was wearing which held trapped air and also kept water away from his body. I made four trips out over the ice cap, flying about six hours a day and out from Pt. Barrow 80 or 90 miles. All told I saw about 20 bear, several females with yearling cubs. Some eight-foot singles, traveling alone. They are great travelers, never still, always on the lookout for seal along the open leads. The large bear I shot on April 4 was feeding on a dead whale frozen in a pressure ridge. There were four bear feeding; from the signs, they had been having the time of their lives. The average temperature while I was there was 10 degrees below zero; same at noon as in the morning. The sun had no power; the winds about 20 miles, or more, were always from the Northeast. I took some pictures but it was difficult due to the extreme cold. A parka and Eskimo footwear are a must up there, north of the Brooks range of mountains, for north of these mountains is where the Arctic actually starts. Will Rogers, Jr. flew to Pt. Barrow with other men, no doubt to visit the monument of his father, a few miles south and west of Barrow.

They attended a native dance which we also saw that evening before we left Barrow. The hunt over, I was quite happy to have had the good luck of taking the largest polar bear, taken from there in quite some time (so the bush pilots at Barrow told me). I was ready to go south of the Brooks range into a warmer clime. So we left Barrow April 5 (Saturday). Nieme and I went to the airport in a jeep. Sulak was picked up by plane from the hospital. He was still in bad shape. We arrived at Fairbanks in three hours, flying. There the climate is much different from Barrow. The snow was almost gone and the people were expecting the annual ice break on the Chena and Nenana any day. There was lots of excitement; everybody but me it seemed was buying one dollar tickets for the ice breakup’.”

“Neime and Sulak went on from Pt. Barrow by PAA, to Seattle. They had a couple hours layover at Fairbanks and were to arrive in Seattle at 5 the next morning. I had to lay over at Fairbanks. Next day I took the Alaska Airlines to Anchorage, where again,P I had to lay over until the next day when I flew Pacific Northern to Kodiak where Loryn (my grandson) met me.’ ‘I spent two days with Loryn and will say he was glad to see me. He introduced me to the Maurice Briggs who have been in the post office for 20 years, and at one time resided at Harrington. Loryn and I were guests of Mr. Briggs at the Rotary Club where we met other fine people. At that meeting the original Alaskan flag, designed and made by Mr. Benson, was presented to Rear Admiral Hine of the 17th naval district. This could well be an historical event’. ‘After taking pictures of Loryn and the Briggs, I flew PNA to Anchorage, then after a short wait, by NW Airlines to Seattle in a few hours. This trip into the Arctic and the hazards while up here will always stand out for me as a trip never to be forgotten.–Louis Schultz’.”

“The Citizen quizzed Mr. Schultz a bit more about this hunt. The bear was given the ‘rough skin’ treatment at the spot; later Eskimo women finished skinning out the head and paws and fleshed it. ‘They did a good job,’ Louie says. The hide was flown from Barrow to Seattle, at a cost of $24. Pt. Barrow is about eight miles east of Barrow and is the northernmost point of land on the continent. There is a huge pile of stones that make the point. About eight miles southwest from Barrow is the monument for Will Rogers (who was killed in 1935 over the Alaskan expanse of ice). Louie says, after you fly over the Brooks Range, northward, there lies a flat expanse, snow-covered this time of year, but during July and August a veritable garden with tundra and wild flowers. Come October, the snow and ice covers the area again. Mr. Schultz, also a fishing enthusiast tells of lake trout that weigh 36 pounds and are plentiful! Caught in the lakes north of the mountains. A weather and radar station is at Barrow. About 500 Eskimos and 50 whites live there. In recent years, herds of moose have been working north and are feeding on the tundra north of the Brooks range. Caribou are increasing in numbers, partly due to the killing off of wolves which prey on these animals. Mr. Schutz’ bush pilot flew low over the Roger’s monument so Louie had a good look at it. ‘My, but I was glad to get home’, says this hunter. ‘That northern cold is pretty hard to work in.’ Displayed on the walls of Louie’s reliquary are 47 trophies (besides the waterfowl) of which 17 were killed in Africa. The new polar bear will join his cousins: two grizzlies shot in British Columbia; a Kodiak bear from Kodiak, Alaska; and a big black bear.” (Citizen: 4-18-1958)