Official record of goods exchanged with outside settlements. Maintained by Marcus Cole, because he used to be an accountant and this is the closest thing to a spreadsheet he’s touched in two years. He’s not okay about it. Please don’t ask.
Active Trade Partners
Craig (Sháan Séet) — Primary Partner
Distance: 25 km by water. Contact frequency: Monthly visits. Relationship: Strong. Craig is our lifeline and our neighbor. Population approximately 180, with significant Tlingit community maintaining traditional practices that have been invaluable to everyone in the region.
What we send:
Smoked salmon (our primary export — Jim’s smokehouse output exceeds our needs during peak runs). Dried seaweed. Fresh-harvested shellfish (seasonal). Medicinal plant preparations (Dr. Tanaka’s growing pharmacopoeia). Hand-carved tools (Jim Taggart, when he’s in the mood).
What we receive:
Metal tools and hardware (Craig had a hardware store; inventory is finite but they’re rationing well). Rope and cordage. Seeds (they have a larger agricultural operation). Medical supplies (aspirin, bandages — finite stock, used sparingly). Knowledge — this is the most valuable thing Craig provides. Their traditional knowledge program has taught us more about surviving here than every recovered book in the Archives combined.
Current exchange rate: 1 kg smoked sockeye ≈ 1 spool fishing line ≈ 5 aspirin tablets ≈ 1 hour of traditional skills instruction. These rates are approximate and negotiable. Dale disputes all of them on principle.
Klawock — Secondary Partner
Distance: 30 km by water. Contact frequency: Quarterly. Relationship: Developing.
What we send: Smoked salmon, shellfish, hand-drawn maps (Linda’s — they’re in demand, which Linda finds gratifying in a way she tries to hide).
What we receive: Potatoes (they grow well there), goat milk and cheese (they have goats — WE WANT GOATS), woven baskets, and news from settlements further north.
Outstanding negotiation: We have been trying to acquire two goats for six months. Klawock is not currently willing to reduce their herd. Dale has proposed “just taking them,” which the Council has rejected on the grounds of (a) ethics, (b) diplomacy, and (c) we do not have a boat large enough to transport goats, a logistical problem Dale has not considered.
Hydaburg — Knowledge Partner
Distance: 45 km south. Contact frequency: Twice yearly. Relationship: Respectful, cautious.
Hydaburg is a Haida community that has maintained traditional practices through and beyond The Correction. Their self-sufficiency predates the collapse. They trade with us but they don’t need to — they do it, as their delegation head put it, “because we remember what it’s like to be hungry and new.”
What we send: Labor (we’ve sent work parties to help with their fishing operations). Salvaged electronics (Greg’s specialty). Whatever they ask for.
What we receive: Cedar weaving instruction. Fish trap construction knowledge (this alone has increased our harvest by an estimated 30%). Canoe-building guidance. Stories.
The Council has resolved that trade with Hydaburg is never to be calculated in ledger terms. What they give us cannot be measured in kilograms of fish. We are in their debt in ways a trade ledger cannot capture, and Marcus has noted this officially.
Pending Trade Contacts
Noyes Island
Population: 4 (as of last radio contact). They have books. A lot of books. Somehow, a retired librarian from Ketchikan ended up on Noyes Island with what she describes as “the essentials,” which turned out to be approximately 400 volumes covering botany, medicine, engineering, history, and fiction. She is willing to lend. We are trying to establish a regular boat route but the crossing is exposed and dangerous.
Kodiak
Population: ~600 (as of last radio contact). Too far for physical trade, but we exchange information via shortwave. They have similar challenges (bears, rain, isolation) on a larger scale. Their agricultural program is more advanced. Greg maintains a weekly radio schedule with their communications officer.
Inventory Snapshot — Day 830
Smoked fish reserves: 340 kg (adequate for 6 weeks at current consumption; target is 8 weeks)
Dried seaweed: 45 kg
Root vegetables (stored): 80 kg potatoes, 30 kg turnips
Preserved berries: 60 liters (mixed)
Salt (harvested from evaporation): 15 kg
Firewood (split and stacked): Approximately 4 cords (adequate for 3 weeks of heating and cooking)
Fresh water reserves: 2,000 liters in rain barrels (plus unlimited creek access)
Fuel (gasoline, Dale’s boat): Approximately 40 liters. Declining. Not replaceable. The Council has discussed this. Dale has refused to discuss this.
Medical supplies: Low. Aspirin: 23 tablets. Bandages: adequate. Antibiotics: 0. This is the number that Dr. Tanaka worries about most.
A Note on Currency
We don’t have money. We tried, briefly, in Month 4 — Dale proposed labor vouchers, the Council debated it for three meetings, and then everyone just went back to bartering because it was simpler and didn’t require trusting Dale’s math.
The de facto unit of exchange is the smoked sockeye fillet. It is portable, universally valued, calorie-dense, and doesn’t expire quickly. It is, in many ways, a better currency than the U.S. Dollar ever was, because you can eat it when the economy fails. Which, as we’ve learned, economies do.
Internally, the settlement operates on a contribution model: you give what you can, you take what you need, and if someone isn’t pulling their weight, we talk about it at a Council meeting, which is its own form of punishment. Public accountability is more effective than any currency system. Ask the guy who tried to skip fish-smoking duty three weeks in a row. He will not make that mistake again. Bev spoke to him.
Trade inquiries from outside settlements can be directed to the Council via shortwave radio (frequency available at Craig relay station) or by kayak. If arriving by kayak, please announce yourself from the water. The last unannounced visitor startled the Commissioner, which startled everyone else, and the resulting chaos set the firewood stack back by two days.