Some things in Alaska do not change. From the Alaska Gold Rush until today, the Bering Sea is covered with ice ten feet thick from mid-September to early June. Then it is only ice-free for about 130 days. During those 130 days, everything heavy has to barged into Nome and all the villages along the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers. After the ice closes the rivers and Bering Sea, everything else has to come in by airplane.
[From THE HUMAN FACE OF THE ALASKA GOLD RUSH.]