“Slim”
14 x 11”
From the lithograph collection originally drawn by oil lamp light in Chiniak, Alaska between the late 70’s and early 80’s, prior to being connected to “the grid.”
Imo “Slim” Trueman was an icon among Kodiak fisherman in the later half of the twentieth century. He brought his hard working and hard partying habits with him from Montana to the Alaska frontier. Slim found work on the boats that tendered the fish traps prior to statehood. The traps were large nets held in place with pilings driven into the seabed. They very effectively herded salmon into large corrals where they were trapped until the tender boats arrived and scooped up the live fish onto the decks of the scow for transport to the cannery. The traps were strategically placed along the shore where salmon travelled annually on their way to their spawning stream. Fish traps were outlawed with statehood in 1959.
Slim took advantage of his knowledge of where the fish travelled and set up setnet camps. These setnet sites were quite successful and Slim soon had several sites in and around Uganik Bay on the west side of Kodiak Island. The gill-net sites pioneered by Slim remain active today.
Slim was well known as a major party man. He liked nothing better than to buy the house a round of drinks, and again and again. The story goes that in 1962 Slim made over $250K (not adjusted for inflation) in June fishing sockeye, and just left in the middle of the salmon season heading for the Seattle Worlds Fair. He went up the Space Needle and bought multiple rounds at the bar. He partied hardy in Seattle through July until his wad of cash was depleted. Slim then borrowed money from the fish cannery for airfare and new nets to finish the season in Uganik Bay. I was not present for that party, but I have seen Slim in action, and I have no doubt the story is true.
I knew Slim as a dear old man who was always willing to share advice about fishing, or just about anything for that matter. I was a beneficiary of Slim’s generous counsel as a Uganik set-net fisherman in the ‘70s and ‘80s. He was a true pioneer character in the history of Kodiak.
RIP dear brother we will never forget you.
This limited edition print of a pen and ink sketch I did in 1982 in our remote cabin illuminated by kerosene lamps as we lived off the grid in Chiniak (end of the road).
Woody Koning