Tuktoyaktuk (Feb 13/06) - When the wind picks up along the frozen flat land of the Delta, it's hard to see your way home.

For Inuvialuit elder and bowhead whale bone carver James Raddi, patrolling the North in his youth preserved memories of travelling by dog sled through what he calls the blow.

James Raddi, an Inuvialuit elder and master carver, says a pile of bowhead whale bones disappeared off Herschel Island in the 1960s. It was a big pile, measuring 200-feet long. - John King/NNSL photo

Raddi was a special constable for the RCMP and patrolled a stretch of ice between Herschel Island and Old Crow in the early 1960s.

"I had to bring rations to an old man and his wife living towards the mountains in a cabin close to the Firth river," said the carver.

"We would camp there and make sure we didn't get caught in the blow," Raddi said.

The old man, named Roland Sadyook, told the carver a story of a pile of bowhead whale bones that would bring great wealth to generations of Inuvialuit.

"The old man said: 'Jim, the whalers have started coming and they boil the whales on their ships. They don't know what to do with the bones, so they throw them into the ocean,'" recalled Raddi.

According to Raddi, the whaling captains agreed to dump all their bones in one place on Herschel Island.

When Raddi ventured to where Sadyook told him he could find the pile, there was nothing to be found. "But they had all disappeared," Raddi said. "They had been taken. There was not a bone left."

The old man told Raddi the pile was 200-feet long, 20-feet high, and more than 20-feet wide. Where they went, nobody really knows for sure.

Today, bowhead whale bones are a rare find, as most of the good finds have been scavenged over time from beaches.

"Their bones are hard to find now at all. You can't find the big pieces of bone," Inuvialuit carver James Raddi said.

Around Herschel Island there is always a fog and strong wind, explains Raddi. "The blowing wind clears the bones out and the salt in the fog cleans the bones, washing away the oil and blood away. The wind blows through the bones and makes them white and shiny."

David Roland, the grandson of Roland Sadyook, now lives in Inuvik and says his grandfather was a great hunter and trapper.

"He was never short of food in the winter," Roland said.

"My grandfather was a quiet man. He didn't talk too much. He hardly talked to his wife."

Roland said his grandfather never told him about the bowhead whale bones, but adds the story is true because his grandfather never spoke lies.

Raddi hesitated when asked who he thinks might have stolen them.

"The crew and officials of the Johnny Macdonald icebreaker took the bones," Raddi said.

The icebreaker, a ship built in 1960 and operated by the Canadian Coast Guard, was in the Arctic the year Raddi says the bones disappeared.

According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the ship delivered supplies to Eureka in 1962. It's quite possible that the ship could have scooped up the bones on its way. "They had no right to take those bones. Now I get orders from all over the world, but I have no material. I have no bones," he said.

In Tuktoyaktuk, Mervin Gruben's family has a long and rooted history in the area. Gruben says Raddi's story of Roland Sayook could be forgotten.

"There's no carvers his age left. All our elders are gone," Gruben said of Raddi. "His story could very well pass away with him. You can't read these stories anywhere."

Gruben is saddened when pondering the mystery of the bowhead whale bones. "They could have washed away."

Raddi doesn't think so, but admits he is getting older and his memory sometimes fails him.