Hazel Felton wrote “Putting Up Fish on the Kenai: A Guide to Processing Alaska Salmon in the Cook Inlet Tradition.” Felton, a Dena’ina Athabascan originally from Kenai and a shareholder of CIRI, Kenai Natives Association and Salamatof Native Association, Inc., created this “how-to” manual for smoking and jarring one of Alaska’s most prized resources while honoring her mother, Rika Florence Murphy.
“Her fish was always the best around,” said Felton.

Felton is the special projects manager in CIRI’s real estate department, where she manages ANCSA entitlement and all land and property tax related issues. In addition, she provides technical, research and logistics support for real estate projects. In the early 1990s, Felton was instrumental in the repatriation of 83 Alutiiq individuals whose remains had been taken from
Yukon Island and Cottonwood Creek during the 1930s.

Felton has a special connection to the land she helps maintain at CIRI. She was born and raised on a homestead located on the Kenai Peninsula where her family has been fishing for decades, beginning with her grandparents in the 1920s and 1930s. The family’s summer home on the south side of the Kenai River was simply and affectionately referred to as “Waterfront,” and still is today.

The idea for the book, “Putting Up Fish on the Kenai,” was sparked by friends who had limited out on silver salmon in the summer of 2000. They asked Felton to walk them through the Cook Inlet canning techniques; four days later, the team had processed 42 cases.

During the marathon canning session, a conversation began about introducing Cook Inlet canning techniques to urban youth who don’t always have the opportunity to learn such traditions. The Cook Inlet Tribal Council’s Summer Youth Camp, located on the Kenai Peninsula in Ninilchik, seemed the perfect place.

“I saw kids making dream catchers as a part of the cultural program and thought, if there’s going to be a camp in the Cook Inlet region, they should be exposed to the Cook Inlet way of doing things,” said Felton. “One of the things we know how to do is put up fish!”

“Putting Up Fish on the Kenai: A Guide to Processing Alaska Salmon in the Cook Inlet Tradition,” by Hazel J. Felton and published by The CIRI Foundation is now available for purchase.

The 96-page paperback book contains many photos to illustrate the process, as well as historic and contemporary pictures. It retails for $19.95, with proceeds from its sale going to The CIRI Foundation to support the Foundation’s cultural programs and scholarships. It is available at select bookstores, through Alaska Northwest Books (907) 278-8838, or by contacting The CIRI Foundation directly at (907) 263-5582.