Polar bear story was met with skepticism

In today’s column I’ll share the polar bear incident, which occurred at Seven Mile Beach, where the Helgasons had a setnet site. It’s located about 35 miles from Terror Bay. The following story appeared in the Kadiak Times in the spring of 1981.

Clara and Leonard swear it was indeed a polar bear taken at Seven Mile Beach on Kodiak Island.

Folks still shake their skeptical heads when you mention it, but as far as Leonard Helgason and his mother, Clara Helgason are concerned, there was indeed a polar bear that ate salmon right here on Kodiak Island, Seven Mile Beach, among other places. The bear was felled by a rifle shot of a mighty hunter who came to be known as one of Kodiak’s great hunting guides: Kris Helgason, Clara’s husband, who died in 1977 (four years earlier). Today, Clara and Leaonard operate the Helgason bear camp located at Terror Bay,  nearly 10 miles west of Kodiak city. Clara, who holds the position of “cook, bottle washer,” and other titles, clearly remembers the day her husband blasted the “invader from the North.” 

Leonard, 14 at the time, recalls the incident with just as much clarity. It was a calm summer morning in Seven Mile, after a stormy Saturday, the day setnetters were supposed to take in their gear. Because of inclement weather, the setnetters left their gear out. The next day the wind died down alright, but one of nature’s fierce creatures was out to wreak havoc. Down the beach from the Helgason fish site was exuberant Finlander Charlie Ahonan. Charlie was in his skiff taking in his net, which contained salmon that hadn’t been picked yet. As he piled the net in his dory, Charlie noticed a huge bear ambling toward his tent onshore. The animal tore the tent to shreds while a stunned Charlie gaped at the scene of speedy destruction. 

The bear then headed toward the water, his sights set on Charlie, who began to unravel salmon from his net as the bear swam toward him. 

“He took the salmon and threw it at the bear. The bear grabbed the fish and went ashore,” says Clara, recounting the report she heard from Ahonan.

Fortunately, the bear was pacified by the “peace offering,”  Charlie excitedly started up his kicker and raced his dory toward the Helgasons’ cabin, making his escape. “He came to Pa, (Kris) because he knew my dad had a big 3.06 rifle,” Leonard said. 

The Helgasons were enjoying breakfast when Charlie came storming up the beach, shouting in broken English: “Come s’oot the bear. Damn thing tore my tent all to ‘ell,” recalled Clara. “We had him come up for coffee.”

After breakfast she, Kris and Joe (Jo Jo) Johanson (apparently a crewman)  accompanied the excited Finlander to his site. “I took my .22 with,” laughed Clara.

When the hunters reached the vicinity of Charlie’s camp site, Clara — sitting in the bow of the dory — “saw this white thing moving,” she remembered. “I said, ‘Charlie, what color is that bear?’ He says, ‘Oh, he’s kind of white.’ I said, ‘There’s something white over there,’” pointing to the grayish clay banks which exposed the white animal.

The arrival of the hunting party didn’t seem to scare the bear, which was trying to unearth a dead sea lion, buried in the gravel, notes Clara. While the animal pulled on the sea lion’s flippers, Kris shot him. “The bear took off, up the bank,” continues Clara, indicating that her husband didn’t see the animal for a couple of weeks. Fishermen in the area saw the bear come down the beach on a regular basis, morning and evening,” she adds.

“One weekend Jo Jo and Kris went down there (near Charlie’s site) and got him,” said Clara. “He was about eight feet, definitely a polar bear,” said Clara. “The head was more pointed than a Kodiak brown bear’s, and his nose was coal black. His claws were real long and had hair all over them.”

Kris, who had grown up in the northern part of Iceland, had seen many polar bears and compared the traits of those in his native land to the one he shot.

“Kris skinned the bear out and took it home,” said Clara, adding that “it blew up a storm the next day and nobody in camp had any salt to preserve (the bear hide.) But Kris took it into the ocean to wash it out. He managed to save its cape and head.”

The Helgasons moved to Seattle temporarily where Kris planned to have the cape tanned at Jonas Brothers Taxidermy Service. After storing the cape in his basement for several weeks, Kris went downstairs to get it. He discovered that the moths had gotten into the cape, said Clara. 

When Kris picked up the cape, gobs of hair fell to the floor, recalled Clara. “That was the end of the Seven Mile polar bear.’

The Helgasons’ account of the polar bear fell on many disbelieving, or, at best, skeptical ears. Among the skeptics was the famous Kodiak Island bear hunting guide Charlie Madsen, who guessed that Kris’ prize  must have been an albino Kodiak brown bear. 

However, eventually Charlie could sympathize with Kris’ situation. Charlie found a walrus at Uyak Bay, and when he mentioned it to Kris he said, “Oh, that must have been an old sea lion. It couldn’t have been a walrus — not on Kodiak Island,” laughed Clara. 

“Nobody knows how that polar bear ended up on Kodiak Island,” said Clara. “It’s a mystery.”

A post script to this story occurred in 1983 when a walrus showed up at Chignik Bay on the Alaska Peninsula. One of the Skonberg brothers was able to take a picture of the walrus. He sent the photo to the Kadiak Times. In one of the old Kadiak Times newspapers piled up by my office desk there should be the issue that featured the photo of the walrus. If I find it, I’ll share it with my readers.