The Yupik word for a white person is gussuk, pronounced how I spelled it and I don't remember if I spelled it correctly or not. It can be used in both derogatory or the opposite manner!
I wouldn't doubt the cabs per capita figure. With Bethel being the hub of the Y-K Delta there were villagers flying in constantly for shopping and entertainment. When I was there Albania and Yugoslavia was still under communist rule and most of the cab drivers were Albanians and Yugoslavians! At the time there was what was called a local option law in AK where the town could vote on wet, damp or dry, concerning liquor sales. Although many of the villages were dry, Bethel opted for damp, which meant one could bring it in for their own consumption from Anchorage, but there were no sales of liquor in town. Many of the cab drivers supplemented their income, by bootlegging beer or liquor to townfolk or those flying in from a local village at a sizeable mark-up! An interesting place, to say the least! Also when I lived there, there was one Korean restaurant that opened a year or two before I moved out and after the communist curtain fell, there were a number of Russians that moved there.
To keep on topic with the original thread, great idea Mike to have a winch along! Definitely sounds like the way to go! I do use a battery powered sawzall for quartering out elk and it works like a champ for that chore!
