Harry Moore

"I was born in Dillingham back in 1961. My folks came to Bristol Bay in 1948. They worked out of Clark’s Point Cannery on the Nushagak. My dad, Denny, started out commercial fishing out of Clark’s Point — he was able to talk his way onto a boat. While at Clark’s Point my mom, Jan, had her first child, Katrina, who was born in the old school house near the cannery. After their time at Clark’s Point they were able to apply for a GI Bill homestead.

My dad was a Marine during World War II and fought on Iwo Jima, and as part of the GI homestead program in Alaska, he was able to choose a section of land on Lake Iliamna, just outside of the village of Kokhanok, by about eight miles. That first winter on the homestead was very hard. They got there late in the season and had to move quickly to build a rudimentary cabin that was dug into the ground four feet, with a stack of spruce logs about four feet above ground level. A dirt floor and a sod roof that leaked– that was their first winter on the homestead! My Dad was able to fish in the summers and my mom put her nursing skills along with her education to work, eventually becoming the postmaster, magistrate and local emergency medical clinician. All out of their one room cabin.

My Dad continued to fish in the summers and mom kept the homestead going. Eventually they moved down river to Naknek around 1958. While there in Naknek, they continued in their endeavors, starting a small cannery, organizing a fisherman's union, starting a handset newspaper and growing their family with five girls and me….the youngest of the Moore girls.

Eventually, due to a heart condition that my dad developed, the family moved out to Seattle. Every year we would return to fish the Bay, Papa in his boat and Jan with the kids on the set nets. I was the youngest. Born in 1961 while they still lived in Naknek, Doctor Libby in Dillingham delivered me. The reason why I refer to myself as the youngest of the Moore girls is because of a true to life incident that occured: We were driving through Naknek, this literally happened, as a 13 year old teenager, I was in the back of the pickup driving up the hill in Naknek, near the Post Office, and I could hear somebody shout out, “Oh look, here come the Moore girls!” while I was in the back of the truck. As I aged, I became a little more comfortable with the concept– “Oh, I’m the youngest of the Moore girls.” But as a 13 year old, maybe not so much! Most people follow a calendar around, but my family follows the cycle of the salmon. Returning to the Bay every year."

—Harry Moore, Bristol Bay Commercial Fisherman

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