/--7/5

THE LIBRARY
OF

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

U^

LOS ANGELES COUNTY
FREE LIBRARY

636.9 U.S. Bureau of education

14th Annual report on

introrinction of doraestio
reindeer into Alaska.
1904. 1

REFERENCE

C/, 5. (^f/^J^^JL^ <(-.c.<!e

58th Congress, { SENATE. J; .. J Document

Sd Scssfof/. \ 1 No. 61.

FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT

ON

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER
INTO ALASKA,

WITH

MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS,

BY

SHELDON JACKSON, LL. D.,

GENERAL AGENT OF EDUCATION IN ALASKA.

1904.

January 4, 1905. — Referred to the Committee on Territories and ordered
to be printed with maps and illustrations.

WASHINGTON:

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

1905.

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

In the Senate of the United States,

Decemher 12, 1904.
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Interior be directed to transmit
to the Senate the report of Dr. Sheldon Jackson upon ' ' The Intro-
duction of Domestic Reindeer into the District of Alaska" for 1904,
with maps and illustrations.

Attest: Charles G. Bennett, Secretary,

H. M. Rose, Chief Clerk.

[indorsement.]

Department of the Interior,

Decemher I4, I904.
Respectfully referred to the Commissioner of Education for immedi-
ate compliance with the request contained in the within resolution,
with the return of this paper.

Thos. Ryan, Acting Secretary.

. U^ Department of the Interior,

(T^ Bureau of Education,

oo\ Washington, D. C ., December 15, 1904-

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge, by reference from you, a

copy of a resolution adopted by the Senate of the United States on

^ December 12, 1904, " directing the Secretary of the Interior to trans-

^T^mit to the Senate the report of Dr. Sheldon Jackson upon ' The Intro-

'^'^fc^^ duction of Domestic Reindeer into the District of Alaska' for 1904."'

In compliance with said resolution, I have the honor to forward

herewith the report of the United States general agent for education

in Alaska on the subject and covering the period named.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. T. Harris, C(,

The Secretary of the Interior.

' DISCARDED

4 letters of transmittal.

Department of the Interior,

WasJiinofon, December 16, 190^.
Sir: I am in receipt of Senate resolution of the 12th instant —

That the Secretary of the Interior he directed to transmit to the Senate the report of Dr.
Sheldon Jackson upon '"' The Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into the District of Alaska."

In response thereto, I have the honor to transmit herewith copy of
a letter from the Commissioner of Education forwarding the report
indicated in the above-mentioned resolution, together with its
accompanying maps and illustrations.

Very respectfully, E. A. Hitchcock, Secretary.

The President pro tempore. United States Senate.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page.

Action of the United States Senate 3

Action of the Secretary of the Interior .' 3

Letter of transmittal, Commissioner of Education to Secretary of the Interior 3

Letter of transmittal, Secretary of the Interior to the United States Senate 4

Annual report of Sheldon Jackson 9

Tabulated statement of reindeer imported from Siberia, with increase from

1 892-1 902 9

Prolificness of the reindeer 9

Increase by birth of fawns, 1S93-1904 10

Reindeer sold, butchered, und died, 1S92-1904 10

Tabulated statement showing proportion of sexes in the reindeer herds 10

Loan of reindeer to religious denominations 11

Tabulated statement of reindeer loaned 12

Reindeer apprentices 13

Tabulated statement of apprentices, with their holdings 16

Establishment of new reindeer stations 17

Proposed new stations in near future 18

Reindeer mail routes 18

Finn teachers and herders 18

Chain of relay stations 18

Congressional appropriations, 1894-1905 19

Expenditure of appropriation for the j'ear ending June 30, 1904 19

Table, increase of reindeer, 1892-1904 20

Table of ownership of reindeer 20

Table, reindeer belonging to the Government 20

Table, individual ownership of reindeer, 1904 21

Personnel 22

Condition of stations 23

Cruise of \Yilliam Hamilton, Ph. D 26

Cooperation of Treasury Department 28

APPENDIX.

Request to the Secretary of the Treasury for transportation of agents of the Bureau

of Education on revenue cutters 31

The Secretary of the Treasury grants permission for the agents of the Bureau of

Education to travel on revenue cutters 32

Letters of instruction to assistant agent of education in Alaska 32

Itinerary of William Hamilton, Ph. D., assistant agent of education in Alaska 34

5

6 TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page.
Extracts from daily journal from Unalaklcct to Bethel and return, November and

December, 1903, by Carl O. Lind, M. D., general superintendent, central division. . 54
Memoranda concerning reindeer route between Bethel and Copper Center, Alaska,

by the United States Geological Survey, May 3, 1904 78

Annual report :

Teller reindeer station 79

Gambell, St. Lawrence Island 81

Eaton reindeer station 95

Cape Prince of Wales reindeer station, Wales 106

Golofnin reindeer station 114

Bethel reindeer station 115

Kotzebue reindeer station ._ 116

Reindeer in Alaska, by Prof. C. C. Georgeson, special agent in charge Alaska agri-
cultural experiment stations (reprinted from Professor Georgeson's report on

reindeer and caribou to the Department of Agriculture) 117

Reindeer song 30

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Subject.

Photographer.

No.

Blankenberg

do

Wm. Hamilton.

Chilkat canoe under sail

Chilkat dancing party

Episcopal Church, St. James Mission, Yukon River

Episcopal Home, St. James Mission, Yukon River do

Erosion of the banks of the Yukon River i do

Eskimo children, Golofnin Home Klnne

Eskimo children, Unalakleet

Eskimo school boys, kyak racing (noon recess)

Eskimo orphans, Norwegian EvangeUcal Lutheran Mission ' Tappan Adney .

Eskimo sewing class, Kotzebue '

Fairbanks, city hall Wm. Hamilton .

Fairbanks, main street do

Finlander, teachers and herders

Fort Gibbon, Yukon River 1 Wm. Hamilton.

Golofnin Home Kinne

Hoonah, native village of

Indian houses on the Yukon Wm. Hamilton .

Klinquan

Presbj'terian Industrial School, Sitka, Wm. A. Kelly, superintendent E. W. Merrill. . .

Rampart, Yukon River, wharf and store Wm. Hamilton.

Reindeer: !

Arrival of Laplanders at Bethel '

Herd at Golofnin Bay Kinne

Herd at Unalakleet

Herders' houses near Bethel, Kuskokwim Valley 1

Tautook and deer I Kinne

Wasely and Tommy skinning reindeer

Steamer on Yukon river Wm. Hamilton .

Terlimgna and husband. Teller j Tappan Adney .

ThUnget children entering Presbyterian Mission School, Sitka

Thlinget children trained m Sitka school

" Wooding up" a steamer on Yukon River Wm. Hamilton.

Bishop Innocent and group of school children, Sitka

Reindeer marks '

General map of Alaska '

Sketch map of reindeer stations and routes of travel

1

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
.33,34
P. 28
P. 28

FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA*

Department of the Interior,
Bureau of Education, Alaska Division,

Washington, D. C, Decemher 15, 19O4.

Sir: I have the honor to submit the fourteenth annual report on
the introduction of reindeer into Alaska. Annual reports more or
less full have been received from all the stations. These reports show
that on the 30th of June, 1904, there were 8,189 domestic reindeer
in Alaska, of which number 2,284 were fawns, born during the spring
of this year.

These 8,189 reindeer are distributed in 12 herds at 11 central
stations.

A review of the statistical tables is full of encouragement. Table I
shows in detail that between the years 1892 and 1902 1,280 reindeer
were imported from Siberia into Alaska; and that from -these im-
ported deer and their fawns, commencing with 143 in 1892, the deer
have increased in 1904 to a grand total of 8,189.

Table I. — Increase from 1892 to 190 J^.

Year.

1892.
1893.
1894.

IS;)').
1896.
1897.
1898.
1899.

Imported

from
Siberia.

171

124
120
123

161
322

Total in
herd.

143

323
492
743
1,000
1,132
1,733
2,394

Year.

1900.
1901.
1902.
1903 .
1904.

Imported

from
Siberia.

Total.

29
200
30

Total in
herd.

2,692
3,464
4,795
6, 282
8,189

1,280

8,189

Table II shows the prolificness of the reindeer. The statistics cov-
ering the years 1892 to 1904 show that the increase of the reindeer
herds progresses at an average rate of 45 per cent per annum,
doubling the total once in 2 J years. Thus in 1907 the total num-
ber of reindeer in Alaska should be 16,000; in 1909, 32,000; in 1912,
64,000; in 1915, 128,000. The increase by birth of 1,877 last year
made a good showing; the increase of 2,284 this present year makes
a better snowing, and if the same percentage of increase is continued

10 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

until 1915, the number of fawns born that year should number approx-
imately over 38.000. This ever-increasing annual birth of fawns will
settle favorably many important questions in the development of
Alaska.

Table II. — Increase of jawns, 1S9S to 1904-

Year.

Balance
from

previous
year.

Fawns
surviving.

Per cent of

increase of

herds by

fawns.'

1893 . -. '

143
323

492
743
1,000
1,132
1,733
2,394
2,692
3,464
4,795
6,282

79

145

276

357

466

625

638

756

1,110

1,654

1,877

2,284

.55

1894

44

1895

.56

1896

49

1897

46

1898

,5.5

1899

37

1900

32

1901

41

1902

4S

1903

40

1904

36

Total fawns surviving

10,267

Average annual increase of herds by fawns, 1893-1904, 45 per cent.

Those who have loans of reindeer are allowed, under the super-
vision of the local agent in charge of the reindeer, to kill for their
own use or sell to outsiders surplus male deer from their own herds.
This method enables a herder to provide a support for his family.
No female deer are allowed either to be killed or sold, except under
special circumstances, when they can be sold to the Government for
the establishment of new herds, without impairing the productivity
of the herd.

Table III. — Number of reindeer sold, butchered, or died, 1892 to 1904-

1892 28 I 1899.

1893

1894

1895

1896

1897

1898

299

23 ! 1900 487

96

538

1901

148 ' 1902 353

100 1903 290

1904 377

"334

185 I

Table IV. — ShowiTig sex of reindeer in herds, 1904-

station.

Adults.

Fawns, 1904.

Total at

Male.

Female.

Total.

Male.

Female.

Total.

station.

1

598

Kotzebue

Wales

Gambell ..

402
60
225
257
297
249

717
87
469
382
403
388

482 ,

1,119 :

147 i

694

639

700

637

150

7-39

112
' 198

120
171

232
369

65
379
285
284
297

66
307

714

1,488

212

Teller

192

187

1,073
924

145
157

139
140

984

Eaton

934
216

Bethel

280

459

152

155

1,046

Total.

1,770

5,307

956

912

8,189

u 246 of these deer -vere killed in the relief expedition to the whalers at Point Barrow.

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 11

Table IV shows that the number of male deer sold is not in excess
of the efficiency of the herd.

In the establishment of reindeer stations in central and northwest-
ern Alaska in 1892, the Bureau of Education found that in order to
secure the best results and greatest permanency to the herds and
largest success among' the natives it was necessary to avail itself of
the existing mission stations.

These mission stations have been located, in the light of a great
deal of experience, at such places as furnish natural centers for the
native population and at the same time afford the best facilities for
communication with the United States in the short summer season.

They not only have the advantage of being located in important
centers of the native population in the north and west, but they
bring with them certain other advantages which the Government
may use for its purposes of instructing the natives in the English lan-
guage and in the arts of civilized life. In the first place, the mission
station is a very effective center for the spread of the use of the English
language among the natives, educating not only the children who
come to its schools, but also the adult population attending its relig-
ious services or coming into any business relation with it whatever.

At each mission station there is constantly going on a process of
selecting the trustworthy natives, those ambitious to learn the civ-
ilization of the white men, those ambitious to hold and increase prop-
erty. The missions are able at any time to furnish a list of the natives
in their vicinities noted for good character. At each of these stations
20 or 30 youth, selected from a village population of 300 or more, can
be put in training as herdsmen and teamsters. No matter how large
the Government appropriation should be, it would be necessary to
connect the reindeer instruction and the establishment of permanent
herds in northwest Alaska with these missionary stations.

In view of the above advantages, small herds of 100 reindeer each
have been loaned to several stations belonging to different denom-
inations as a Government aid in the nature of an outfit of industrial
apparatus. The report of the Indian Bureau shows that the United
States Government furnished 10,000 head of stock for the period of
1890-1896 for one Indian agency (the Blackfeet), and that seeds,
implements, stock, wagons, harness, in large amounts, have been fur-
nished to other agencies. These donations are certainly more justi-
fiable than donations made to prevent the savage peoples from starv-
ing, for they are given, in the form of apparatus, for the instruction
of these peoples in the industrial arts and in the practice of thrift.
AU these tilings prevent starvation. Just as in the agricultural col-
leges of the several States, the Government money is used to pa}" for
the stock of the model farm, which is used as the apparatus for the
instruction of the pupils, so the reindeer herd is used as apparatus

12

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC RP:INDP:ER INTO ALASKA.

loaned to the missionar}^ stations for the purpose of instruction of the
natives. But an average of five years' apprenticeship is needed for
the full training of apprentices in the management of reindeer.

These herds have been loaned on the condition that they be used
as apparatus for the instruction of natives in the art of herding deer
and training them to harness, and on condition that after five years
the Government may take from the herd a number of deer in good
condition, equal to the original number furnished, the stations retain-
ing the increase.

Reindeer loaned.

Station.

Number
loaned.

When loaned.

When due.

Wales (Congregational)

Golofnin Bay (Swedish Lutheran)

Tanana ( Kpiscopal)

Nils Klemetsen

Barrow (Presbyterian)

Gambell, St. Lawrence Island (Presbyterian)

Teller (Norwegian Lutheran) '

Nulato { Roman Catholic)

Bethel ( Moravian)

Nils Persen Sara

Ca rmel (Moravian)

Per M. Spein

Kotzebue ( Friends)

Alfred S. Nilima

Unalakleet (Swedish Lutheran)

Ole O. Bahr

118
.50
50
100
100
70
100
100
88
100
88
100
9o
V9
100
100

Aug., 1894
Jan. 16,1896

do

July 1, 1902
Sept., 1898
July, 1900
Sept. 1,1900
Mar., 1901
Feb. 20,1901
July, 1901
Feb. 26,1901
July, 1901
Sept. 2,1901
July, 1901
July 1,1903
July 1, 1901

Gift.
Returned.

Do.
July 30, 1907.
Returned.
June 30, 1905.
Aug. 31, 1905
Mar., 1906.
Feb., 1906.
June 30, 1906
Feb., 1901.
June, 1906.
Sept., 1906. V
June 30, 1906.
June .30. 1908
June 30, 1906.

REINDEER AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE CIVILIZATION OF THE

ESKIMOS.

The President in his recent message to Congress calling attention
to the changed conditions which have come to the natives of Alaska
with the advent of large numbers of white men in their country
emphasizes their need of attention, especially in the w^ay of industrial
schools and hospitals.

This raises the question, how can the natives of Alaska be made
valuable helpers and assistants in the development of the country by
white men now there engaged in mining, and in doing so provide a
good support for themselves and families ?

Any successful method of accomplishing such desirable results
must keep clearly in view the aim to prepare the natives to become
a help to the immigrants who come from the States for the purpose of
conducting mining operations. There are two things which the
native may be taught to do which will enable him to help the immi-
grant: First, he may be taught how^ to create a supply of cheap food;
second, he may be taught how to supply a cheap transportation by
means of reindeer. It is known that in the river valleys certain
garden vegetables may be produced in large quantities even up to
the Arctic Circle and for 50 miles bevond it. The native knows how

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 13

to take fish from the rivers and from the sea for his family use, and
with proper training can be made an eqiialh' successful fisherman
for the market.

The experience of the past twelve years has proved that he can
also become skillful in raising reindeer for food. With the gradual
disappearance of the caribou and moose in sections of Alaska, and
the difficulty and expense of bringing beef and mutton from the States
to the inland mining camps, it is of great importance that the Eskimo
be trained to raise reindeer with which to supply the immigrant miner
with fresh meat.

When in the winter of 1897-98 400 sailors engaged in whaling were
imprisoned in the ice off Point Barrow and in danger of perishing with
scurvy and starvation, they were saved by the reindeer herd driven
by Eskimos from Bering Strait to Point Barrow and slaughtered for
food.

Already 65 Eskimos (nearly all of whom have served a five years'
apprenticeship learning the business) own 2,779 deer. Reindeer
multiply rapidly. From the 1,280 Siberian reindeer imported
between 1892 and 190.3 and from their natural increase 10,267 fawns
have been born in Alaska.

The Eskimo has always been skillful in driving dogs, and now,
under instruction, he is proving equally skillful in driving reindeer,
and upon various occasions, when the opportunity has offered, has
invariably demonstrated his ability to successfully transport with
reindeer mails, freight, and passengers between mining camps.
Under contract with the Post-Office Department the United States
mail has been carried by reindeer teams on the four postal routes
between St. Michael and Kotzebue, Eaton and Nome, Teller and
Deering, and Kotzebue and Point Barrow (this latter being the most
northern mail route in the world). With the increase of reindeer and
trained native teamsters such service will become universal in north-
ern and central Alaska.

When the native has thus become useful to the white man by sup-
plying the markets with fish and fresh meat, and when he has become
herdsman and teamster with reindeer, he has not only assisted the
white man in solving the problem of turning to the use of civilization
the vast territory of Alaska, but he has also solved his own problem.
If useful to the white man as a self-respecting and industrious citizen,
he has become a permanent stay and prop to civilization, and his
future is provided for.

The conclusion resulting from tliis is that the native must be taught
in school how to speak EngUsh, and be trained in industrial schools
in the simple arts of agriculture and of reindeer herding and teaming
with a view to provide cheap food and cheap transportation for the
use of the immigrant.

14 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEP:R INTO ALASKA.

To accomplisli such training it is important that an increased num-
ber of small industrial schools shall be established at centers conven-
ient to the native population.

At these schools, in addition to elementary instruction in the
English language, there should be given special instruction (a) in
making fish nets and in adopting improved methods of catching and
preparing fish for family use and for sale ; (h) in the care and raising
of reindeer, and in their breaking in and use in transportation; (c)
wherever the conditions of soil and climate will allow, in the cultiva-
vation of hardy vegetables.

While destitution is not at present very widespread among the
natives, yet it may be wise to have at each of these schools a small
supply of food and clothing to afford temporary relief for very special
cases of destitution. The principal of the school can be made a
bonded officer of the Government and be charged with the care and
distribution of such supplies without additional expense to the
Government.

The Secretary of the Interior has again and again called the atten-
tion of Congress to the need of hospitals for the natives. These
should be provided for at once. But when the hospitals are erected
they will necessarily be accessible to comparatively limited areas.
In addition to the proposed hospitals, very important service may be
rendered and a greatly increased number of natives benefited by the
employment of a physician in connection with each of the industrial
schools. This plan has been in successful operation at several of the
missionary stations in Alaska.

REINDEER AND THE MINER.

While the original purpose in the introduction of domestic reindeer
into Alaska was to assist in the civilization of the natives and to help
them to a better and more certain method of gaining a livelihood, 3'et
the reindeer will prove equally important to the white man who may
seek a home or engage in business in subarctic Alaska.

In the development of the rich mineral resources of that region the
miner will find the reindeer and the Eskimo herder and teamster the
connecting link between himself and the resources of nature — for
his comfort and for his profit.

The ordinary white man is unwilling to undergo the drudgery of
herding in that rigorous climate, and unwilling to work for the small
compensation that is paid for such services. He can do better. His
directive ability can be more profitably employed as merchant and
manager of transportation, in employing and directing the trained
Eskimo herders and teamsters.

With the increase of domestic reindeer in Alaska it will become
possible for white men to own large herds, but the men that will do

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 15

the herding; and teaming; will always be Eskimos, Laplanders, and
Finlanders.

Thus the Eskimo, trained as herder or teamster, will prove valuable
to the white man, and the white man in turn, as director and
employer, will be valuable to the native.

Already the reindeer have given evidence of some of the ways in
which they will prove an important factor in the development of the
great north region.

As the reindeer is the only draft animal in arctic regions that is able
to secure its own food while on a journey, the question of cheapness
and speed will bring it into universal use.

They will carry passengers, mails, and freight between the mining
camps and the trunk railways that will yet penetrate Alaska.

Now, the object of the reindeer enterprise is to accomplish this very
purpose — namely, to convert the nomadic tribes of fishers and hunters
in northwestern and central Alaska into raisers of reindeer; to change
their occupation from the precarious pursuits of hunting wdld animals
and of taking fish from the waters of inland rivers to that of herders
and teamsters; to elevate a people who in their wild, uncivilized state
are the prey of unscrupulous, transient immigrants into a self-sup-
porting race, not enemies but friendly allies and auxiliaries of the
white man.

REINDEER APPRENTICES.

To fit the natives to become the helpers of the white man in the
development of Alaska, the Government, through the Bureau of
Education, has established in a number of places the training of young
men in the raising, care, and management of reindeer as an industrial
branch of the public school system of central and northern Alaska.

Bright young Eskimo men are selected and placed in these schools for
a period of five years under skillful Finn or Lapp instructors who driU
them in the business. The apprentice during his five years of framing
is supported and clothed either by the Government, the mission sta-
tion, or a herder, according as he is employed by one or the other of
these parties. In addition to food and clothing he is allowed the loan
of two female deer per year upon which he may place his mark and
consider the herd as his private property, subject to Government con-
trol with reference to slaughter and sale. After the close of the second
year of apprenticesMp these deer are retained in the general herd
under the care of an experienced Lapp or Finn and under the super-
vision of the mission station with which the herder is connected. This
general supervision extends for twenty 3'ears. This extended period
of tutelage is to create in the young Eskimos thrift and the reindeer
habit — to teach them to preserve and accumulate their herds, to keep
them in groups for self-protection, encouragement, and emulation,

10

INTKODlKrnON OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

and to exercise a paternal oversight over them in their new civih-
zation.

If, however, during this period of twenty years the herder indulges
in a protracted season of intemperance, abandons or otherwise fails
to care for the herd, the Government is at liberty to dispossess him
of its loan and the increase thereof and reloans the same to other
parties who may give evidence of making a better use of the loan.
This works no injustice to the individual herder, as the herder during
the five years of his apprenticeship has had from the Government or
missionary station regular food and substantial clothing, far better
than he would have had if he had remained away from the herd.
The same is true after the years of his apprenticeship are ended; he
will continue to receive food and clothing from his herd instead of the
Government. When an apprentice becomes a herder he is expected
to secure the support of himself and family by the sale of surplus male
deer to butchers and miners, and expected to train some other appren-
tice. In most cases this subapprentice is some member of the herder's
family. There are now 39 Eskimo herders who have served an appren-
ticeship of five years or more supported at the different stations.
The herders have 61 Eskimos now under training as apprentices who
do not own any deer. As many of the herders have families of grow-
ing children and relatives living with them, it is estimated that at
least 400 natives are now obtaining their support from the deer.

The reindeer are held by their owners subject to the conditions of
a written agreement with the United States which prevents the
slaughter of the female deer for meat and the sale of female deer to
any other party than the Government, and insures the instruction
of apprentices in the arts of training and breaking the deer to har-
ness. Surplus male deer are allowed to be sold to miners or others
for meat or transportation purposes.

Number of apprentices, with their holdings.

Station.

When

estab-
lished.

Total
deer, 1904.

Number
of ap-
pren-
tices.

Number
of deer
owned
by ap-
prentices.

Teller

1892
1894
1896
1897
1898
1900
1901
1901
1901
1901
1902

1,073
1,488
924
984
598
212
546
. 500
714
216
934

5
9
9
5

10
4
2
2
6
3

10

351

Wales

389

310

292

474

Ganibel!

58

Bethel

21

20

Kotzebuc .

219

Eaton . .

645

Total ....

8, 1S9

05 1 2.779

INTKODUCTION' OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 17

NEW KEINDEKR STATIONS ESTABLISHED.

In view of the failure of the annual mail and food suppl}' to reach
Barrow in the fall of 1903, it was decided to establish an additional
reindeer station at the southern edge of the summer ice fields on
tlie Arctic coast, and Wainwright Inlet was selected. Ahlook
with 140 reindeer, Shoudla witli 55, and Paneoneo with 25, Eskimo
henk'rs at Point Barrow, with a total of 220 reindeer, have been
sent to stock the new station. Mr. John H. Kilbuck, of Kansas, who
had been fifteen years in Alaska, was placed in charge of the new
station, and last summer l)uilding material and supphes were for-
warded to that point. Building material was also forwarded for a
new reindeer station to be established in the neighborhood of Hope
(Kivilenj^a River), midway between Bering Strait and Point Bar-
row. Electoona with 11.3 reindeer, and Otpelle with 22, have been
sent to open this station.

The above stations will be of much assistance in operating the
winter reindeer mail route, which has been established by the Post-
Office Depal'tment at Washington, between Kotzebue and Barrow,
a round trip of about 1,500 miles above the Arctic Circle. The
reindeer herd at Barrow was divided into three herds — one remain-
ing at Barrow, the second being sent to Wainwright, and the thu'd
to Point Hope, the three places being on the Arctic coast.

With the rapid increase of the herds, arrangements have been
consummated for the establishment of two additional central sta-
tions; the one at Bettles, in the interior of Alaska, north of the
Arctic Circle, on the Koyukuk, the great northern tributary of the
Yukon River, 720 miles to the eastward of Nome, and the other
at Copper Center, about 105 miles north of Valdez, on Prince William
Sound. Mr. W. T. Lopp, superintendent of the northwestern section
of the reindeer herds in Alaska, will take charge of the driving of
the herd of 300 reindeer this winter (1904-5) from Unalaklik to
Bettles, in which he will be assisted by three Finlanders (Messrs.
Adolph Saari, Marelius Jensen, and Charlie Raisanen) and two or
three trained Eskimo herders. Mr. D. W. Cram, of Minnesota,
has been appointed teacher of the school at Bettles and superin-
tendent of the reindeer herd at that place. The herd of 300 head
for Copper Center will be driven from Bethel, in the Kuskokwim
\'alley, in charge of Mr. H. E. Redmyer, assisted by Finlanders
Messrs. Louis Karbum, Erick Lampela, and John Wuori, Peter J.
Hatta (Lapp) , and Eskimo drivers.

To replace the reindeer sent from Unalakleet to the new station
at Bettles, Mr. W. T. Lopp drove 300 reindeer to Unalakleet from
Wales and Teller.

S. Doc. 61, 58-3 2

18 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

And to replace the deer sent from Bethel on the Kuskokwim
River to establish a herd at Copper Center, Dr. C. O. Lind will
transfer 330 head of deer from Unalakleet to Bethel.

LIST OF REINDEER STATIONS THAT SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED

DURING 1905.

North of the Arctic Circle, Point Lay, Thetis Coal Mines, and
Corwin Lagoon. South of the Arctic Circle, Deering. On the Yukon
River, Tanana, Anvik, and Koserefski. On the Kuskokwim River,
Quinhagak and Ougavik.

REINDEER MAIL ROUTES.

During the past winter the United States mail was carried by
reindeer between Teller and Wales, a round trip of 140 miles, and
betw^een Teller and Igloo, also a round trip of about 140 miles.

Fourteen round trips to Wales and ten round trips to Igloo, aggre-
gating 3,300 miles, were made during last winter on these two routes.
A winter mail was also carried by reindeer north of the Arctic Circle
between Kotzebue and Barrow, a round distance of 1,500 miles.
These three mail routes are all in northwest Alaska. Freighting
with the reindeer was done at several of the mission stations, for
miners and others, and a few of the miners purchased and used
reindeer for packing and sledding on their prospecting expeditions.

Mr. William T. Lopp, formerly a Congregational missionary at
Wales, has been appointed superintendent of the reindeer herds
from Barrow south to Gambell, on wSt. Lawrence Island.

FINN TEACHERS AND HERDERS.

As the Finlanders are considered the most intelligent reindeer
breeders in the world, arrangements were consummated last spring
with Mr. J. H. Jasberg (himself a Finn), of Hancock, Mich., to select
and hire from the large Finn population in northern Michigan eight
men thoroughly acquainted with the management and care of rein-
deer. These men w^ere distributed as follows: Messrs. Saari, Jensen,
and Raisanen for Bettles; Messrs. Karbum, Lampela, and Wuori
for Copper Center, and Messrs. Albert Lahti and Sigfrid Sotka for
Gambell, St. Lawrence Island.

CHAINS OF STATIONS.

As early as 1896 it began to be evident that in the distribution
of the reindeer it was important that there should be chains of
herding stations, about 100 miles apart, with intermediate relay
stations along important lines of travel for reaching the native popu-
lation. Map No. 2 shows the progress that has already been made

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 19

ill that direction. The lull circles represent existing reindeer sta-
tions with the date of their estabhshment. Half circles represent
])i'()posed stations in the near future. The first important line was
from Cape Prince of Wales east along the northern coast of Bering
Sea to Unalakleet, 350 miles; the second from Cape Prince of Wales
north along the Arctic Ocean to Point Barrow, 8.50 miles; the third
was from Unalakleet south along the east coast of Bering Sea to
Carmel on the Nushagak River, 300 miles; the fourth from Unalak-
leet eastward to Nulato in the Yukon Valley, 150 miles (this
line will be extended from Nulato up the river 705 miles to Fort
Yukon) ; the fifth from Kotzebue Sound eastward to Bettles on the
Koyukuk River, 400 miles; and the sixth from Quinhagak at the
mouth of the Kiiskokwim River eastward to Copper Center north of
Prince William Sound, between 400 and 500 rniles. These trunk
lines of reindeer travel will furnish increased facilities for reaching
and civilizing the native population and for the white men in the
development of the resources of the country.

Congressional appropriatmis for the introduction of domestic reindeer into Alasl-a

from Siberia.

1894 $6, 000

189.5 7, .500

1896 7, .500

1901 $2.5, 000

1902.... 25,000

1903 2.5, 000

1897 12, 000 1904 2,5, 000

1898 12, 000

1899 12, 500

1900 2.5, 000

1905 25, 000

Total 207, 500

Expenditure of appropriation, "Reindeer for Alaska," 190Jf.
Amount appropriated S25, 000. 00

Salaries of six employees 8, 624. 29

Supplies for stations 5, 515. 70

Freight 778. 21

Traveling expenses 2, 246. 96

Printing of annual report (1,000 copies) 547. 98

Photographs and electros for report 28. 70

Purchase of 265 deer in Alaska, at $25 per head 6, 625. 00

Outstanding liabilities 550. 00

Balance 83. 16

Total 25,000.00

20 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

Increase oj reindeer from 1892 to 190Jf.

Year.

To bal-
ance
from

previous
year.

Fawns
surviv-
ing.

Pur-
chased
during
summer.

Total, '

October '

1.

Sold,
butch-
ered,
died.

Carried

forward

October

1.

1892 . '

171
124
120
123

171

346

.588

891 1

1, 100 '

1,466

1,918

2,693 ;

3,179 1

4,002 '

5,148

6,672 1

8,566

28
23
06
148
100
" 334
185
299
487
538
353
390
377

143

1893

1894

1895

1896

143

323

492

743

1,000

1, 1.32

1,7.33

2,394

2,692

3,464

4,795

6,282

79

145

276

357

466

625

638

756

1,110

1,654

1,877

2,284

323

492

743

1,000

1897

1898

1899

iei'

322
29

200
30

1 , 1.32
1,7.33
2, .394

1900

1901

1902

1903

2,692
3,464
4,795
6,282

1904

8,189

a 246 deer were killed in the relief expedition to the whalers at Point Barrow.
Table showing oumership of reindeer.

Name of station.

Barrow

Wainw right .

Hope

Kotzebue. . .

Wales

.Gambell

Teller

Golofnin

Unalaklik...

Eaton

Nulato

Bethel

Total.

2,321

2,304

8,189

<> Eleven of these are sled deer o^^'ned by white miners.
Deer belonging to the Government.

Station.

Number
loaned.

Number
under
direct

control.

Total.

Barrow

95

ito'

408'

21

412

63

22'

95

Kotzebue

194

.194

Wales

160

Gambell

70
100
100
100
100
100
188
188

70

Teller

508

Golofnin

121

TJnalaklik

512

Eaton

163

Nulato

100

Bethel

310

Carmel

188

Total

1,140

1,181

2,321

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

21

Ownership oj reindeer in Alaska, 1904

Owner.

Adults.

Fawns.

Grand

Male.

Female.

Total.

Male.

Female.

1 Total.

1

total.

POINT BARROW (ARrTIC).

1

i

95

Mission

29

James Brower, jr

AhlooK ( Kskinio)

Shoudla ( Kskimo)

Toktuk and Panigeo (Eskimos).

Scgevan

Paiieoneo

Powyun (apprentice)

I'ngawishak (apprentice;

Ingnoven (apprentice)

Subapprentices, 2

Total.

KOTZEBUE (ARCTIC).

Mission

Nelima

Electoona (Eskimo)

Otpelle

Okomon

Oghoalook

Minungon

Munnok

White miners

Total.

WALES (BERING STRAIT).

Government

George Ootenna (Eskimo)

Thos. Sokwena (Eskimo)

Jas. Keok ( Eskimo)

Stanley Kivyeargruk (Eskimo).

Jos. Enungwouk (Eskimo)

Frank lyatunguk (Eskimo)

Peter Ibiono (Eskimo)

Ohbook (Eskimo)

Eraheruk (Eskimo)

Mission

Number at Port Clarence ,

Number outside the pen ,

Total.

GAMBELL (ST. LAWRENCE ISL-i^ND).

Government

Mission

Putlkinhok (Eskimo).

Sepillu ( Eskimo)

Penin ( Eskimo)

Oonmonkok

Total.

Government

Mission

Albikok (Eskimo)

Dannak (Eskimo)

Seki'oglook (Eskimo).
Serawlook (Eskimo).
Carrook (Eskimo)

Total.

GOLOFNIN.

Mission ,

Nils Klemetsen

Tautook ( Eskimo)

Constantino ( Eskimo) . . . .

Taktuk (Eskimo)

.Aniahktoolik

John (Eskimo)

Albert (Eskimo)

179

4

28

60

114
59
22
29

130
41
51
12
9
5
1
1

112
108

164
160
108
21

120

64

27

48

62

15

13

2

6

1

319

160
98
50
88
93
24
21

1

498

4

68

186
■jj"

1,119

255
92
70
26
15
6
5

469

142

93

71

17

17

9

5

3

272
134
122
29
26
14

158

65

5
185
70
5.5
45
37
34
30
13

0

598

39 !

36

75

239

37 1

48

&5

245

26

24

50

158

6 1

/

13

34

1 !

1

2

1

1 i
11 ..

2

3
11 .

0

2

2

5
11

121 :

232

482

112

120

232

714

160

98

50

88

93

24

21

7

7

1

842

4

93

1,488

212

255 1

84

69

1
153 !

408

206 ;

55

53

108

314

129 1

30

32

62

191

48 ;

11

13

24 •

72

44

12

19

31

10

6 ..

1

1 '

1

6 ..

1

6

379 ! 1,073

370
223
N2
43
39
19
10

22

INTKODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

Ownership oj reindeer in Alaska, IOO4. — Continued.

Owner.

Adults.

Male.

Female.

Total.

Fawns.

Male. Female.

Total.

Grand
total.

GOLOFNiN— continued.

Benjamin, Eskimo. . . .

Peter (Eskimo)

Mrs. Dexter (Eskimo).
Government

Total.

UNALAKLEET.

Government

Ole Olsen Balir

Okitkon ( Esldmo)

Tatpan ( Eskimo)

Stephan Ivanoff (Eskimo) . .

Bikongan (Eskimo)

Moses Koutchok (Eskimo)..

Total .

Government

Mission

Nallogoroak ( Eskimo )

Mary Andrewuk (Eskimo) .

Koktoak (Eskimo)

Angolook (Eskimo)

Sagoonuk (Eskimo)

Accebuk (Eskimo)

Avogook (Eskimo)

Amilcravinik

Frank Kauchak (Eskimo) .
Sakpillok (Eskimo)

Total.

NULATO (YUKON- VALLEY).

Mission .

BETHEL (KUSKOKWIM).

Government

Mission

Waseby (Eskimo)

Robert (Eskijno)

Tommy (Eskimo)

Henry "(Eskimo)

Sara (Lapp)

Spein (Lapp)

Total

Grand total.

133
78
25
44

14

297

29
37
10
117
11
17
11

135
4
4
1
1

280

1,891

382

159
120
47
53
21
1
2

403

26

100

30

140

19

24

20

11

7

6

2

3

22

182

5

7

2

2

124

109

459

639

292

198

72

97

35

3

3

700

145

55
137
40
257
30
41
31
18
11
11
3
3

637

22

323

9

11

3

3

192

176

739

135

139

155

285

120
82
25
41
13
1
2

21
924

284

89
23
101
16
17
18
9
6
6

66

135
6
5
2
2
91
66

307

3,137 ! 5,307

1,085

1,047 2,284

412
2*0
97
138
48
4
5

63

226

63

358

46

58

49

27

17

17

5

5

934

216

22

458

15

16

5

5

283

242

1; 046
8,189

. PERSONNEL.

United States generel agent education in Alaska: Sheldon Jackson.

Assistant agent: William Hamilton.

General superintendents: Central division, Carl O. Lind, M. D.,
Unalakleet, Alaska; northwestern division, William T. Lopp, Wales,
Alaska.

Local superintendents: Samuel R. Spriggs, Point Barrow; Dana
H. Thomas, Kotzebue; W. T. Lopp, Wales; Ludvig Larson, Teller;
Edgar O. Campbell, M. D., Gambell (St. Lawrence Island); O. P.
Anderson, Golofnin; C. O. Lind, M. D., Unalakleet (Eaton); Adolf
Stecker, Kuskokwim; Julius Jette, Nulato; G. S. Clevenger, H. E.

INTKODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 23

Redniyer, Copper Center; J. IT. Kilbuck, Wainwright; D. W. Cram,
Bettles.

Special agent: J. H. Jasberg, Hancock, Mich.

Lap and Finn teachers: Alfred Salmonsen Nilima, Kotzebue;
Per Nilsen Bals, Nulato; Nils Klemetsen, Isak Anderson Bango,
Teller; Albert Lahti, Sigfried Sotka, Gambell; Anders Johnson,
Unalakleet; Nils Sara and Per Spein, Bethel, Kuskokwim Valley;
John Wuori, Louis Karbum, Erick Lampela, and Peter Hatta, Copper
Center; Adolf Saari, M. Jensen, C. Raisanen, Bettles.

Eskimo lierders and a j)2)r entices. — Point Barrow: Ahlook, Shoudla,
Brower, jr., Tokpuk, Panigeo, Segevan, Paneoneo, Powim, Ungawi-
shok, Lignoven. Kotzebue: Electoona, Otpelle, Ohamon, Ogliva-
lek, Minungon, Munuok. Cape Prince of Wales: George Ootenna,
Thomas Sokwena, James Keok, Stanley Kivyearzruk, Joseph Erung-
wouk, Frank l3^atunguk, Peter Ibiono, Okboak, Eraheruk. Gam-
bell (St. Lawrence Island) : Putlkinhok, Sepilla, Pinink, Oonmookok.
Teller: Allikok, Dunnak, Sekeoglook, Serawlook, Coxrook. Golof-
nin Bay: Tautook, Constantine, Taktuk, Ahmahkdoolik, John,
Albert, Benjamin, Peter, Mrs. Dexter. LTnalakleet herd: Okitkon,
Tatpan, Stephan Ivanoff, Bikongan, Moses Koutchok. Eaton herd:
Nallogoroak, Mar}^ Andrewuk, Kotoak, Angolook, Sagoonuk, Acce-
buk, Avagook, Amikravinik, Frank Kauchak, Sakpillok. Nulato:
Stephen Annu, Alexander Kulana, John Rorondelel. Kuskokwim:
Wasili, Robert, Tommy, and Henry.

STATIONS.

Kotzebue. — The past season at this station has been a most pros-
perous one. There was very little extremely cold weather and the
snowfall was light. As a result a verj?- small percentage of this year's
fawns was lost. In midwinter Doctor Lind inspected the herd and
reported it in the best possible condition. Early in October, 1903,
a river steamer was caught in the ice near the mouth of the
Kowak River with a number of people on board. Thus opportunity
was given to the station to sell some surplus male deer and relieve
the destitution of those on board. Many of the deer bought were
used for transporting the owner and his property to the nearest
camp. One man, after hauling 800 pounds of supplies over 200 miles,
disposed of his deer at a profit of S35. The use of deer as sled and
pack animals is growing in favor among the miners in this section.

Wales. — The winter of 1903-4 was a favorable one for the deer.
From September to December the temperature was not above freezing
nor below zero, and during the rest of the winter the weather never'
got warm enough to melt the snow, though the coldest was only 25°
below zero. The result was that there was no ice Qir^^^^p>^ss and
so the deer could obtain their food easily. A Q<mt.raat h^caVbeen

24 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

made to sell 168 female deer to the Government and deliver them
at the Teller remdeer station sometime during the winter. Con-
siderable difficulty was experienced in attempting to separate the
deer to be sold from the rest of the herd. Finally it was deemed
advisable to drive the entire herd to Teller where there were better
facilities for dividing it. The trip was made in safety and the deer
delivered in good condition.

Gamhell (St. Lawrence Island) . — The winter was an unusually mild
one and the herd did well until the spring, which the Laps report
was a hard one for fawning. The grazing ground of the herd has
been changed owing to the fact that they have been feeding too long
on the same range, and also on account of the increase in the size of
the herd. The new range is about 35 miles from the station in the
center of a fine moss pasture entirely unused. ^Several deer have
been damaged during the year by loose dogs. However, in each
case the owners of the dogs were compelled to make restitution.
Mr. Thomas Richards proved himself to be a most able assistant to
Doctor Campbell at this difficult and dangerous station.

Teller. — The mission obtained the contract to carry the mail from
Teller to Marys Igloo and from Teller to Cape Prince of Wales. The
round trip to each place is about 140 miles. Serawlook, an appren-
tice, made 14 trips to Marys Igloo and 10 to the Cape, covering about
3,300 miles from November 1 to June 1 with reindeer. The majority
of white people in the neighborhood ridiculed the idea that reindeer
could bring the mail through on time and compete with dogs. It
was also considered very unwise by them that a native should drive
the mail. However, results were a surprise even to those who
believed in the deer. Serawlook always made good time and on
many trips exceeded the best time made by crack dog teams under
most favorable conditions. One round trip was made in twenty-
seven hours, three hours faster than the best dog teams had ever
made it.

Golofnin. — Mr. Anderson reports that the year has been a xerj
successful one. The number of deaths in the herd from disease or
accident has been very small. Several were sold for the meat mar-
kets at Nome and Council City. A contract for freighting goods
was successfully filled, which is expected to open a new field of use-
fulness for the deer in the future. The most trouble met with at
Golofnin has been due to the carelessness of miners who leave their
camps without taking sufficient caution to completely extinguish
their fires. The moss on which the reindeer feeds, being dry as
tinder, burns very rapidly, and unless the fire is checked at once
considerable pasturage may be destroyed.

Eaton (Unalakleet post-office). — During the year a permanent
division of the herd was effected, Messrs. Bals, sr., and Ole O. Bahr

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 25

each having charge of one division. To separate the herd it was
found advisable to build three corrals; thereby the work was
done in less time and with much more accuracy. During the vcar
Doctor Lind made an extensive tour of inspection of most of the
herds. The round trip from I'nalakleet to Bethel, Kuskokwim,
lasted from November 9 to December 23. The deer finished the
trip in excellent condition, onh' one being lost. During the winter
an opportunity was unexpectedly presented to demonstrate in a
more special wa}' the utility of the reindeer to the white population
of Alaska. A contract was taken to haul 7 tons of freight from the
Fish River to the Innuchuk country-, over 100 miles distant. The
freight was carried safeh' to its destination in spite of a heavy
storm which was raging at the time. Some men traveling with dogs
arrived thirty-five hours later, thus proving conclusively the supe-
riority of deer over dogs.

The Unalakleet herds did very well during the year. The deer
have had good pasture and w^ere seldom prevented from getting at
the moss b}' an icy crust forming over the snow. Although the two
herds were never less than 20 miles apart, the herders had consid-
erable difficulty in keeping the deer from strolling from one herd
to the other. During the fawning season the weather was most
beautiful and the death rate among the fawns in both herds
exceptionally low.

The health among the herders has been excellent. All the appren-
tices have done very well in their work and are liighly thought of
by the chief herders. At Unalakleet there are at present not less
than 30 Eskimos who live wholly by the deer industry, and fully
half that number are indirectlv benefited bv their relatives havins:
deer.

Bethel, Kuskokwim Valley. — It will be remembered that on Feb-
ruary 5, 1903, two herds of reindeer in charge of Nils P. Sara and
Per M. Spein were sent from Unalakleet to strengthen the herds
in the Kuskokwim Valley, and that owing to a combination of cir-
cumstances Messrs. Sara and Spein with their reindeer were detained
with their herds for ten months in the neighborhood of Andreafski
on the Yukon River.

November 7, 1903, Dr. C. O. Lind, accompanied by Nils Bals,
a Lapp, and Nallogoroak, an Eskimo, left Unalakleet with reindeer
teams for the herds at Andreafski, reaching the reindeer camp of
Messrs. Sara and Spein on the 23d.

On November 26 a start was made with the families and herds
of Sara and Spein for the Kuskokwim Valley (southwest Alaska),
which was finally reached December 3.

Messrs. Sara and Spein were at once given charge of all the herds
in the Kuskokwim Valley, taking the places of Messrs. N. P. and
P. N. Bals, who had left the Ku:5kokwim for L'nalakleet.
S. Doc. 61. 5S-3 3

26 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

Upon the return of Dr. C. O. Lind to Unalakleet, December 22,
Mr. Nils Persen Bals was placed in charge of herd No. 2, at Unalak-
lik, on Norton Sound, and his son, Per Nilson Bals, was given charge
of the Roman Catholic herd at Nulato, Lower Yukon Piver.

THE CRUISE OF DR. WILLIAM HAMILTON, ASSISTANT AGENT.

The annual visit of inspection of United States public schools in
western Alaska and the tour of the Yukon River with a view of ascer-
taining the points at which it would be advisable to establish public
schools was made by Dr. William Hamilton, the assistant agent.
The following is an abstract of his itinerary :

Leaving Washington June 8, Dr. Hamilton joined the U. S. S.
Thetis at Honolulu for the arctic cruise. From Honolulu the Thetis
proceeded direct to Unalaska, where she arrived July 14. While the
Thetis was coaling and making repairs to her machinery, Doctor
Hamilton inspected the public school at Unalaska, conferring with
the teachers and members of the local school committee and authoriz-
ing needed repairs to the school building.

On July 25 and 27 the seal islands St. George and St. Paul were
visited. The schools on these islands, by the terms of their contract,
are under the control of the North American Commercial Company,
the lessee of the islands.

On July 30 the school and reindeer station on St. Lawrence Island
were inspected, and Doctor Campbell and Mrs. Campbell, the teachers,
were received on the Thetis for passage to the mainland, where, after
three years of continuous residence on the island, they were to enjoy
a well-earned vacation.

At Nome, July 31, the Thetis took on board mail matter for the
remote schools on the shores of Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean, and
then proceeded to St. Michael, near the mouth of the Yukon, where
Doctor Hamilton left the vessel.

At St. Michael Doctor Hamilton made arrangements for the stor-
ing of the lumber for the new schoolhouse until the arrival of the
carpenter who was to erect the building, increased the membership of
the local school committee, and completed the arrangements for the
opening of the new term of school in September.

On August 7 he left St. Michael on the steamer Roclc Island for the
long journey up the Yukon River. Among the passengers were Mr.
H. E. Redmyer and his assistant, who were to have charge of the
transportation of a herd of reindeer from Bethel to Copper Center,
and many consultations were had regarding this important under-
taking.

At Ikogmut (Russian mission) Mr. Redmyer's party left the steamer
to commence the overland part of their journey. A United States
public school was opened at Ikogmut October, 1904.

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 27

Kosorefsky (Holy Cross Mission) was visited on August 10, and
interviews were had with the teachers in charge of the school at that
place.

The E})iscopal mission at Anvik was visited on August 1 1 , and a
consultation had regarding the opening of a public school at this
place.

A short stop was made at Nulato during the morning of August 13.
A teacher for the coming term was appointed and statistics obtained
regarding the reindeer herd at this place.

On August 15 the Rock Island left the Yukon and entered the
Tanana River, continuing its voyage to the towns of Chena and
Tanana, on its upper waters. Young as these two towns are, they
have already become incorporated and manage their own schools
and other local affairs.

Returning to the mouth of the Tanana River, Doctor Hamilton
left the Rocl: Island, which continued her vo^'age down the river to
St. Michael, and awaited the arrival of the steamer Sarah, en route to
Dawson. During this stay he visited the neighboring Episcopal
mission of St. James. It is the intention of the Bureau of Education
to extend aid to the school in connection with this mission.

In the village of Tanana Doctor Hamilton found an experienced
teacher, who was subsequently placed in charge of a new school at
Rampart.

On September 1 the steamer SaraTi arrived at Tanana, and Doctor
Hamilton went on board for passage to Dawson. During the after-
noon of September 2 the Sarah arrived at Rampart. Miss Parke,
the teacher, at once went ashore, and with the assistance of a newly
organized local school committee, arrangements were entered into for
the opening of school.

Historic Fort Yukon was reached on the morning of September 4.
The teacher appointed by the Bureau of Education to open the school
at this place had not yet arrived.

After cautiously and successfully passing through the troublesome
region known as the Yukon Flats, the Sarah tied up at Circle City
wharf on September 5. Tliis once prosperous metropolis of the
Yukon Valley is now almost deserted, as the result of a stampede to
the Fairbanks mining district. However, there are many native
children in the vicinity of the town, and it is proposed to reopen a
public school at Circle City in the near future.

Near the mouth of Miller Creek is the town of Eagle, the last of the
settlements on the American side of the international boundary hne
between Alaska and British Columbia. This important point, the
location of the United States custom-house and army post. Fort
Egbert, is incorporated and manages its own school affairs. Beyond
the limits of the incorporation is a native village and it is the intention

28 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

to organize a school for the benefit of the cliildren in this settlement.
From this point it is hoped to reach with school privileges the Ket-
chumstocks, a tribe inhabiting the interior country near the sources
of Copper River.

A short distance above Eagle the steamer passed beyond the one
hundred and forty-first meridian and entered British Columbia.

At Dawson Doctor Hamilton remained two days, during which
time he spent many hours in the public schools of Dawson, becoming
acquainted with the principal and teachers, and observed the methods
used.

Leaving Dawson on the steamer SelMrJc September 9, he arrived
at White Horse at the foot of White Horse Rapids, the limit of river
travel and the northern terminus of the White Pass and Yukon Rail-
way. From this place Doctor Hamilton reached Skagway over the
White Pass and Yukon Railway on September 14.

From Skagway he proceeded to Sitka, where he repeatedly visited
the three public schools and consulted with the members of the local
school committee.

He left Sitka on September 29, and arrived at Seattle October 4.

Having completed his business with the firms in Seattle and San
Francisco who had furnislied the season's supplies for the work in
Arctic Alaska, Doctor Hamilton left San Francisco on October 12,
arriving at Washington five days later, completing a tour of inspec-
tion which had covered about 14,500 miles.

COOPERATIOX OF THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

I take this opportunity to express my thanks for the cooperation
of the honorable the Secretary of the Treasury and of Capt. Charles
F. Shoemaker, Chief of the Revenue-Cutter Service, in granting trans-
portation on the revenue cutters to the assistant agent of education
and to teachers for remote points on the shores of Bering Sea, inac-
cessible by commercial vessels.

The cordial assistance rendered by Capt. Oscar C. Hamdet, com-
manding U. S. S. Thetis, and the numerous courtesies extended by
him and by the officers attached to that vessel to persons in the
employment of the Bureau of Education were especially appreciated.

All of which, with accompanying papers, maps, and illustrations,
is respectfully submitted.

Sheldon Jackson,
General Agent of Education in Alasl-a.

The Commissioner of Education.

2 ■ :::

No. 2.

CHILKAT DANCING PARTY.
Ph<)t(>y:rai)h hy BlankunbtTg.

No. 3.

EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ST. JAMES MISSION, YUKON RIVER.

No. 4.

EPISCOPAL HOME, ST. JAMES MISSION, YUKON RIVER.
riiiitiiKraphs by Win. Haniilton. I'll. I).

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No. 10.

ESKIMO OUTDOOR-SEWING CLASS, FRIENDS' MISSION, KOTZEBUE, ARCTIC OCEAN.

No. 11,

CITY HALL, FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, 1904.

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FORT GIBBON, YUKON RIVER.

No. 15.

ESKIMO CHURCH AND CONGREGATION. SWEDISH EVANGELICAL MISSION, GOLOFNIN.

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STORE AND STEAMER LANDING, RAMPART.

No. 21.

ARRIVAL OF LAPLANDERS AT BETHEL.

No. 24.

REINDEER HERDER'S HOUSE, KUSKOKWIM VALLEY.

HERDER'S HOUSE NEAR BETHEL, KUSKOKWIM VALLEY.

No. 26.

WASELY AND TOMMY, ESKIMO APPRENTICES, SKINNING A REINDEER, BETHEL.

No. 27.

STEAMER ON THE YUKON RIVER.
Photographs by Will. Ilaiiiilton, I'll. I).

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WOODING UP A STEAMER ON THE YUKON RIVER,
riidtographs by Will. Hainiltnn. I'll. D.

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APPENDIX.

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29

Reindeer Song

Laplandish Song

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And the road how long!
Come, let merry song
Shorten now our way.

II: Fly, my reindeer, hear,
"Wolves are howling near! :||

3 Ah, yon eagle see!
Could I with him hie,
Like the cloudlet fly
From all sorrow free,

||:Then my heai't would rove
Unto thee, my love! :||

30

FROM SOUTHERN WORKMAN.

REQUEST TO THE SECRETARY OF TIIE TREASURE' I'OR TRANSPORTATION
OF THE AGENTS OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION ON THE REVENUE
CUTTERS.

Department of the Interior,

Bureau of Education,

Washington, D. C, March 16, 1904.

Sir: I have the honor respectfully to invite your attention to the
fact that for fourteen seasons past, through the permission of the
honorable the Secretary of the Treasury and the courtesy of the chief
of the Revenue-Cutter Service and of the captains commanding the
cutters cruising in Alaskan waters, the agent of the Bureau of Educa-
tion has been able to establish and inspect schools and reindeer sta-
tions on the shores of Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean.

As many of these schools and stations are remote from civilization
and can not be reached by the regular lines of passenger steamers,
this Bureau has depended for the continuance of its important work
in these distant regions upon the cooperation wliich has been freely
given during many years by the Revenue-Cutter Service.

The assistance of the Revenue-Cutter Service is again desired for
the coming season, and I therefore respectfully suggest that, if it
meets with your approval, a letter be written to the honorable the
Secretary of the Treasury, requesting, if compatible with the rules
of his Department,

First. That he will kindly instruct the commanding officers of the
revenue cutters in Alaskan waters to extend to Mr. William Hamil-
ton, assistant agent of education for Alaska, such facilities as will
assist him in his w^ork of inspection and will not interfere with the
duties of the revenue cutters.

Second. It will be of especial assistance if the commanding officer
of the U. S. S. Thetis can be instructed to conve}^ the agent of this
Bureau to Gambell, on St. Lawrence Island, either while the vessel
is on her w^ay north from Dutch Harbor or by making a trip from
Nome at such time as shall be convenient for said commanding officer.

Third. That the commanding officer of the Thetis be instructed to
conve}^ from Nome to Point Barrow and St. Lawrence Island the
mail for these remote j)laces.

Fourth. That the commanding officer of the Thetis be authorized
to extend to teachers at places remote from courts of law (where the

31

82 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

only semblance of Government control is the authority exercised by
the captains of the revenue cutters) such protection as he can ; also
that he be requested to lend his influence to prevent encroachments
upon the reindeer herds fostered b}^ the Government in northwestern
Alaska.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. T. Harris,

Commissioner.
The Secretary of the Interior.

THE SECRET.\EY OF THE TREASURY GRANTS PERMISSION FOR THE
AGENTS OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION TO TRA\^EL ON THE REVE-
NUE CUTTERS IN AL-ASKAN WATERS.

Treasury Department,

Office of the Secretary,

Washington, May 2, 1904-
Sir: Respectful!}' referring to your communication of March 16,
last, you are informed that the commandino; officer of the U. S. S.
Thetis (which vessel is expected to leave Honolulu, Hawaii, about the
1st of July, next, for Dutch Harbor and Point Barrow) has been
directed to carry into effect the requests made in j^our communication
above referred to.

He has been further informed that it is expected that all fuel pur-
chased or expended on behalf of the Department of the Interior shall
be paid for by the representative of that Department.

Respectfully, L. M. Shaw ,

Secretary.
The Secretary of the Interior.

LETTERS OF INSTRUCTION TO ASSISTANT AGENT OF EDUCATION IN

ALASKL\.

Department of the Interior,

Bureau of Education,
Washington, D. C, June 4, 1904.
Sm: With the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, you are
hereby detailed to inspect the public schools and industrial schools
in Alaska during the coming summer.

The Secretaiy of the Treasury has granted n\j request that j'ou
may be permitted to travel upon the revenue cutters during the dis-
charge of 3'our official duties. You will join the U. S. S. Thetis at
Honolulu and proceed northward upon that vessel. As occasion
offers, you will secure transportation upon other vessels in Alaskan
waters.

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC Rp:iNDEER INTO ALASKA. 33

You are directed to visit and inspect, as far as possible, the follow-
ing schools in western and northern Alaska: Unalaska, St. Michael,
Unalakleet, Golofnin, Teller, Port Clarence, Cape Prince of Wales,
Kotzebue, and Gambell (St. Lawrence Island). Upon your return
from the Berino; wSea region you will visit and inspect, as far as possil)le,
the schools in southeastern Alaska.

Your actual necessary expenses on tliis tour of inspection (railroad
and sleeping-car fare, steamship fare, and subsistence) will l)e paid
from the appropriation "Schools outside incorporated towns, lUaska."

Y'ou are authorized and instructed on your journey across the con-
tinent to stop at all places where you have business in the interests
of your work to transact.

Very respectful}}", yours,

W. T. Harris, Commissioner.

Mr. William Hamilton,

Assistant Agent of Education in Alasl^a,

Washington, D. C.

Department of the Interior,

Bureau of Education,

Washington, D. C, June 8, 1904.
Dear Sir: After inspecting the public and industrial schools in
Alaska designated in my letter to jou of June 4, you wiU make a tour
of the Y'ukon Valley, visiting the leading native villages, and where
the school population is sufficient in number to justify the establish-
ment of a school 5^ou are authorized to arrange for the erection of
necessary school buildings and the selection of a suitable teacher.

Where you arrange for a building, keep in mind that the combined
cost of a school building and teacher's residence is not to exceed
$3,000.

In the majority of places selected for schools it is probable it will
be necessary to construct the buildings of logs, and on that account
it may be possible for you to arrange with some responsible trading
company to erect the log buildings at a much lower price than frame
buildings would cost.

Where you fail to find a suitable teacher in the community, tele-
graph this Office, in order that the teacher may be sent from the States
in time for the opening of school in the fall.
Very respectfully, yours,

W^. T. Harris, Commissioner.
Iklr. William Hamilton,

Assistant Agent of Education in Alaska,

Washington, D. C.

34 INTRODTTCTTOK OF BOMERTTO KEfNDEER INTO ALASKA.
ITINERARY OF WILLIAM HAMILTON, PH. D.

Department of the Interior,
Bureau of Education, Alaska Division,

Washington, D. C, December S, lOOJf..

Sir: In compliance with 30111- instructions to join the U. S. S.
Thetis for the annual visit of inspection of United States public
schools in western Alaska, and to make the tour of the Yukon River
with a view of ascertaining the points at which it would be advisable
to organize schools, I left Washington on June 8, arriving at San
Francisco five days later.

On June 16 I left San Francisco on the steamer Ventura, which
entered the harbor of Honolulu on the morning of June 22. The
Thetis was not there when the Ventura arrived, but returned to
Honolulu from a short cruise to Midway and Lisiansky islands a
few days later.

While the Thetis was taking on coal and stores for the arctic
cruise we enjoyed many courtesies from friends in Honolulu and
visited manj^ places of interest on the island of Oahu. On the morn-
ing of July 3 the Thetis steamed out of the harbor of Honolulu with
Dutch Harbor, on the Aleutian Islands, as her objective point. The
roster of the officers of the Thetis was as follows: Capt. Oscar C.
Hamlet, commanding; execiitive officer. First lieut. Charles E.
Johnston; navigator, Second Lieut. Ernest E. Mead; Second Lieut.,
Francis R. Shoemaker; Third Lieut., Hiram R. Searles; chief engineer,
Levin T. Jones; assistant engineers, William L. Maxwell and W. E.
Davis; surgeon, Samuel J. Call, M. D.

For several hours after leaving Honolulu we skirted the palm-
fringed shores of the island of Oahu. Toward evening we headed
northward, and the wooded shores gradually disappeared below the
horizon.

For the first two days we were in the track of the steady trade
winds and good progress was made. On the third day the wind
died down; then for three days we glided ovei the -smooth seas of
the doldrums. Next came the fresh breezes of the north Pacific,
and once more, with all sails set, we proceeded rapidly northward.
On July 13 we encountered the fog that almost constantly hangs over
the waters adjacent to the Aleutian Islands. At slow speed, the fog
whistle sounding, the steamer felt her way along. Sometimes,
steaming through the fog, we came suddenly upon flocks of whale
birds resting upon the smooth waters, that fled at our approach
with a mighty fluttering of wings. Night fell before we sighted
land, and, desiring to go through Unimak Pass and enter Bering
Sea by daylight, at 10 p. m. the captain headed away from land,
and during the darkness of the night we stood off and on at a safe

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC KEINDEER INTO ALASKA. 85

distance from the dan<>;eroiis rocks of the islands. At dawn on the
14th the Tlietis headed for Uiiimak Pass once more, the fog still
hiding everything from view. Fortunately, al)ont 6 o'clock, through
a sudden rift, the navigating officer caught a glimpse of a headland,
which he rightly judged to be one of the capes at the entrance of
the pass. Then the inevitable fog closed down again, and through
its clammy folds we steamed cautiously toward land. Soon the
Scotch Cap light, with its group of buildings, was sighted, and we
steamed through ITnimak Pass into Bering Sea and turned westward
toward ITnalaska Harbor. Feeling our way from one dark, fog-
wreathed headland to another, during the afternoon we Entered
Unalaska Bay, and at 5 p. m. tied up at the Dutch Harbor wdiarf.

The TlietU remained in this sheltered harbor for nine days, making
repairs to her machinery and taking on a supply of coal. During
this time I inspected the public schools in the neighboring village
of Unalaska, and had frecjuent consultations with Mr. and j\frs.
William A. Davis, the teachers, and w4th Mr. N. Gray and Dr. A. W.
New^hall, the members of the local school committee.

On July 24, the repairs completed and the bunkers full of coal,
the Thetis resumed her cruise. By the courtesy of Captain Hamlet,
the Right Rev. Innocent, who recently had been appointed to the
oversight of the Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska, and the Rev.
R. J. Orlolf, of the same church, were received on board. Bishop
Innocent was making his first visitation to the churches in his vast
diocese, and was desirous of taking this opportunity to reach the
Russian churches on the seal islands St. Paul and St. George.

After rounding Cape Cheerful, one of the capes at the entrance
to the bay, w^e ran into the fog. On the next day, when, according
to the calculations of the navigating officer, we should be very near
St. George Island, under a slow bell the vessel felt her way through
the fog with the utmost caution. The lead w^as kept going contin-
uously; every three minutes there w^as a blast from the fog whistle,
and sometimes through the impenetrable fog came the answering
echoes from the precipitous cliffs of the islands. Startled sea gulls
came wheeling out from the nust; tide rips indicated the prox-
imity of a headland, and in the offing we caught sight of a faint
line of breakers and heard their dull roar. Toward afternoon the
fog lifted, and it was possible to locate the village on St. George
Island, a cluster of wdiite buildings on the grassy hillside. Soon
after the anchor w as dropped a boat from the village came alongside,
in which w^ere Major Clark and Mr. Chichester, the Treasury agents
on the island, Father Kedrovsky, the Russian priest, and a number
of natives w^ho desired the services of the ship's surgeon. For the
next few^ hours Doctor Call w^as an exceedingly busy man, pulling
teeth and prescribing for many and various ailments. No ship

36 INTRODUCTTON OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

had visited the island for many weeks; the mail whih the Thetis
brought and the news from the outside world were eagerly received
by our exiled friends. Bishop Innocent went ashore without delay
in order to hold services; the pealing of the bells of the little church
on the hillside that greeted him when he stepped ashore came out
to us over the gloomy waters. We could see the natives flocking
to church from all directions.

The following morning a party from the ship went ashore and
witnessed a "seal killing." This work is done entirely on land,
and has been reduced to a science. The only persons permitted
to kill and skin the seals, to the number of the annual quota pre-
scribed by the Treasury Department, are the stalwart Aleuts of the
islands, who, by life-long practice, have become experts in their
profession.

The first step in the process is to segregate from the main herd
some of the j^oung male seals up to the age of 4 years. This is easily
accomplished, as it is the hal^it of these ''bachelor" seals to congre-
gate upon the mossy ground in the rear of the "rookeries," the
groups of seal families that fringe the beach. Crawling between
the rookeries and the bachelor seals, the Aleuts drive the latter
inland toward the killing ground. Not more than 5 or 6 miles are
accomplished in a day, as the seals travel laboriously on land and
easily become overheated, thus impairing the quality of their skins.
Kainy or overcast weather is chosen for this driving whenever pos-
sible. The seals are often allowed to rest overnight in order that
they may thoroughly cool off. Occasional whistling by their guides
prevents them from straying. In the morning the seal killers appear
with their long clubs and sharp knives. Small groups of 20 or 30
seal are separated from their companions and the slaughter begins.
Any seal which to the ejes of the experienced officials appears to be
either above or below the specified age or weight is allowed to scamper
off to shore, and plunging into the waves goes rapidly on its way
rejoicing. The less-fortunate seals are killed by a sharp blow on
the head from a heavy club, which fractures the skull and produces
instant death. The men with the clubs are immediately followed
by the skinners, who with great dexterity divest the carcass of its
valuable skin. The wives and daughters of the natives linger near
and carry away to their homes large pieces of seal meat and blubber.

The skins are taken to salt houses and salted down under heavy
pressure; then they are tied in bundles of two each, with the fur side
inside, and are ready for shipment. Formerly the company leasing
the seal islands was permitted to kill as many as 100,000 seal per
annum. Pelagic sealing has so reduced the number of the seal that
during the current year the North American Commercial Company,
the present lessee of the islands, is limited to 15,000.

INTKOmTOTTON OF BOMESTH^ KETNDEER INTO ALASKA. 87

At 5 o'clock oil the inoniiii<i; of »Iuly 27 the Tlntls \fo{ under way for
St. Paul Island. The fog still hung over the sea and a heavy ground
swell prevailed. Again there was cautious navigation and careful
sounding. About noon a faint line of surf could be distinguished,
and as we neared land the barking of the seals was heard. The waters
shoaled rapidly and soon the dark cliffs inclosing Lukanin Bay, to
the northeast of the village of St. Paul, could be made out. Cau-
tiousl)^ following the dimly outlined cliffs, toward evening the village
was reached and anchor was dropped about \h, miles from shore.
The fog whistle had given the villagers notice of our approach and
soon a boat came out to the ship bringing Mr. W. J. Lembke, Treas-
ury agent in charge of the Seal Islands, and some of his friends.
Here again the mail was eagerly received. Later in the evening
Bishop Innocent and Father Orloff went to shore, the latter to resume
charge of his church and the former to hold services and to make the
accpuxintance of his people.

At 9 p. m. the Bishop returned to the ship and without delay
anchor was weighed and once more we glided into the all-enveloping
fog with St. Lawrence Island as our objective point.

For the next two d&js, we steamed steadily northward seeing
nothing except fog. The navigating officer had not been able to get a
glimpse of the sun since we left Dutch Harbor on July 24; he had
been compelled to depend entirely upon dead reckoning. The swift,
irregular currents w^hich prevail in shallow Bering Sea make naviga-
tion in its fog-ridden waters a matter of great difficulty.

During the morning of July 30, the dark cliffs of St. Lawrence Island
loomed up. This cheerless, desolate island is treeless and destitute of
vegetation of any kind save grass and reindeer moss which, as pasture
for the herds of reindeer, redeem it from absolute worthlessness. It
is girded by a line of monotonous cliffs and there are few landmarks to
aid the navigator. It was difficult to tell just what part of the long
coast line we had sighted. The navigator in Bering Sea must be
gifted with a sixth sense, and from a glimpse of dark rock seen for an
instant through a rift in the fog must be able mentally to construct a
whole coast line.

By good fortune we made the village of Gambell, near Northwest
Cape, and came to anchor about a mile from shore. Vigorous blasts
from the fog wliistle soon brought out Dr. Edgar O. Campbell, who is
the public school-teacher, medical missionary, and superintendent of
the reindeer herds on the island. I accompanied Doctor Campbell
back to the village and extended to him and Mrs. Campbell a very
kind invitation from Captain Hamlet to come on board the Thetis for
a voj^age to the mainland, where the Thetis would leave them for three
or four weeks wliiie she continued her cruise to Point Barrow and
return them to St. Lawrence Island when on her wav south.

38 TNTRODUOTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

During eight months of each year St. Lawrence Island is an island
in the ice-bound sea, absolutely inaccessible from the outside world.
During the short season of open navigation in midsummer the only
visitors to the island are a few of the arctic whalers on their way to
and from the whaling grounds beyond the Arctic Circle, the revenue
cutter bringing the annual mail, and the schooner delivering the sup-
plies for the school and reindeer station. Doctor Campbell and Mrs.
Campbell had been for three years constantly on this desolate island.

Captain Hamlet's invitation was eagerly accepted. While I in-
spected the school and Government property at the station Doctor
Campbell and Mrs. Campbell hastily made preparations for the sum-
mer's outing, and during the evening accompanied me back to the
Thetis. Tlu'ee of the native boys from St. Lawrence Island were also
taken on board and entered upon the ship's roster as berth-deck boys,
with a view to promotion if their services were satisfactory. Three
boys from Unalaska who were given similar employment on the
Thetis during the summer of 1903 were by this time good seamen.
The opportunity thus given to the natives to advance themselves is
most praiseworthy and can not fail to be an incentive to all the
Eskimo young men with whom they come in contact.

At 9 p. m., July 31, the Thetis dropped anchor off Nome, and early
on the following morning we received on board several sacks of mail
for St. Lawrence Island and for the isolated settlements on the shores
of Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean, also many letters, magazines,
and newspapers for the ship's company.

At noon of same day we were again underway, steaming southward
through Norton Sound en route for St. Michael, 60 miles north of the
delta of the Yukon River. In approaching St. Michael it is necessary
to give a wide berth to the mud flats making out from the delta of the
Yukon. The harbor is unsafe in bad weather, both from want of pro-
tection and shallow water, the depth at the usual anchorages, 2 or 3
miles from shore, ranging from 3 to 4 fathoms only. Wlien the sea
rises it is frequently necessary to shift anchor or head out into deep
water. The first ocean steamers from Seattle or San Francisco,
making their way through the ice fields of Bering Sea, usually arrive
at St. Michael about the end of June. From that time until the clos-
ing of the harbor by ice in October, St. Michael is the place of transfer
of passengers and freight from the ocean-going vessels to the light-
draft, stern- wheel steamers which ascend the mighty Yukon and its
tributaries to the mining settlements on theu- shores. Until the
completion of the White Pass and Yukon Railway, from White Horse,
at the head of river navigation, to Skagway, on Lynn Canal, St. Michael
was the only base of supply for the Yukon Valley and the outlet for
its trade.

Wliile waiting for the departure of the river steamer, with the aid

TNTRODTTrTTON (>K DOMESTIC KETNDEER INTO ALASKA. 89

of Muj. AV. L. Buck, V. S. Army, and Mr. Lawrence M. Schiinj^, (tur
local school coniniittec for wSt. Michael, I nuuk' arrangements for the
storing of the lumber and materials for Die ])ublic school l)ui](Hng
that was to be erected at St. Michael dui-ing tlie summer, and for tlie
opening of the new term of school in September. On August 3, Mr.
Iledley E. Redmyer and his assistant, Mr. Ilatta, wlio are to transport
a herd of reindeer from Bethel to Copper Center, arrived on one of
the ocean steamers. At St. Michael we purchased additional supplies
needed for this expedition and luid many consultations regarding
their enterprise.

At 2 o'clock on the morning of August 7. the river steamer RocJc
Island, Capt. A. E. Le Ballister, commanding, started on her voyage.
Sometimes it is necessary for the river steamers, whose draft of only
4 or 5 feet renders it dangerous for them to encounter the 60 miles of
open sea between St. Michael and the mouth of the Yukon, to wait at
St. Michael for many days before it is safe for them to make this .trip.
Soon after leaving St. Michael the Rocic Island encountered heavy
cross swells, the last trace of a gale that had disturbed Bering vSea
some da^^s before. The little flat-bottomed steamer tossed about in a
wonderful manner, snapping one of the hawsers which connected
her with a barge piled with hundreds of tons of heavy freight. To
properl}' secure the cumbersome barge was a serious task for our
crew; however, by heading into the protected waters under a sheltered
bluff this was successfully accomplished. About noon the swell died
down and the rest of the trip through Bering Sea was made in smooth
water. At 4 p. m. we anchored just north of Cape Romanof to wait
until liigh tide before attempting to cross the shoals which bar the
entrance to the mouth of the Yukon. At 6 o'clock on the following
morning we entered the Aphoon mouth of the Yukon delta. The
natives compare the delta of the Yukon with its mouths to a human
hand and have given the name Aphoon (thumb') to its northernmost
channel.

What the Mississippi is to the central portion of the United States,
the Yukon is to Alaska. Tliis great inland waterwa}', flowing tluough
the heart of the vast northwestern section of the continent, has ren-
dered it possible for the explorer to penetrate its remote fastnesses
and make known to the world the untold wealth there held secret for
unknown ages. The Lewes and Pelly rivers, which at Fort Selkirk
unite to form the Yukon, have their sources in the lakes held between
the mountain ranges of British Columbia, within 40 miles of the arms of
the north Pacific wMch penetrate southeastern Alaska. Tliis Amazon
of the north does not reach salt water until it has entered the Ai'ctic
Circle and turned southward to pour its muddy flood into Bering Sea,
more than 2,000 mfles from its source. With its tributaries, it drams
more than 600,000 square miles of territory and is said to discharge

40 TNTRODITCTION OF DOMESTTO REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

into Bering Sea one-tliird more water than does the Mississij)j)i into
the Gulf of Mexico. In its upper course it has sawn in twain the gran-
ite w^alls of the mountains whicli barred its progress; in its lower
courses its rapid current undermines the mudd}", forest-clad banks,,
sweeping along on its surface down to the sea the trees which it has
overturned. Wlien this driftwood reaches Bering Sea the great cur-
rents sweep it northward, distributing it along thousands of miles of
treeless coast as far as Point Barrow, thus providing fuel and build-
ing material for many an Eskimo village. The mud which the
fukon deposits forms the treacherous bars and flats which extend
into Bering Sea far out of sight of the low-lying land.

During the short season of navigation in midsummer the waters of
the Yukon are plied by many large, flat-bottomed, well-equipped
steamers carrying hundreds of passengers and thousands of tons of
provisions and mining material for the busy settlements along the
riv&r and its tributaries. As the traveler is borne along, an ever
varying panorama is unfolded before Mm. Along its vast reaches
the banks of the river are covered with timber; here and there
appears a treeless, grassy meadow, once the bottom of a lake which
has been drained by the encroachment of the stream, now a favorite
grazing ground for moose. In order to avoid the swift current in
midstream, the steamer often hugs the shore near enough to hear
the songs of the birds and to distinguish the flowers and moss that
carpet the lianks. In this land of paradoxes, while glaciers sleep
between the mountains and snow rests on theu summits, a luxuriant
w^ealth of wild flowers colors the valle3^s at their feet. Toward the
end of September the scene changes; before the chilly blasts of
Autumn the buds fly to the soutliland, the prospector betakes him-
self to his cabin, the native to his hut, and in liis retreat in the
mountains the bear settles into his winter-long sleep. Soon every
stream is locked in ice, every mountain is white from base to summit,
snow lies deep above the withered flowers, and the great w^hite silence
broods over all.

From dawn until dark on August 8 we steamed thi'ough the Yukon
delta, its low-Mng, distant banks covered wdth w^iUow^ and cotton-
wood and fringed with bleacliing driftwood. Many sand banks pro-
jected from the muddy water. A few gulls that had stra3'ed in from
Bering Sea were the only signs of life. Early in the day w^e passed
a flourishing settlement of natives who support themselves by cutting
wood and selhng it to the river steamers. Tliis was the fu'st of a long
series of wood camps which are found at frequent intervals ah the
way from the mouth of the Yukon to the head of navigation more
than 2,000 miles above. The selling of wood to the steamers, employ-
ment as deck hands and as stevedores on the wharves, are industries
which, together wdth packing supplies to the mines and selling dried

INTRODUCTION OF DOMP:ST10 REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 41

!• h as (]()<:; food in the winter, will support the tluiftiest of the Yukon
natives for many years to come. Each of the crew of stalwart native
boys on our steamer received S60 per month during the four montlis
of navigation. Several of them expected to secure employment from
trading companies and from army posts during the winter also.

At 1 a. m., August 9, we passed the mouth of the Andreafski River,
181 miles from St. Michael. At this station many of the river steam-
ers of the Northern Commercial Company go into winter quarters.
The small native village at Andreafski does not at present contain a
sufficiently large number of children to warrant the establishing of a
United States school at that place.

In a heavy rainstorm, at 2 o'clock on the morning of August 10,
we arrived at Ikogmut (Russian Mission). At Ikogmut there is a
Russian church, a trader's store, and a native village. A United
States school was opened there last October. Here we landed Mr.
Redmyer, who during the coming winter will transport a herd of rein-
deer from Bethel, on the Kuskokwim, to Copper Center, which is to
be a new station for the reindeer industr}^. From Ikogmut Mr. Red-
myer will follow the portage between the Yukon and the Kuskokwim,
the first step in his long journey through the heart of the Alaskan
wilderness. We left the party with their dogs and bales of supplies
a forlorn-looking group on the sodden shore, but Mr. Redmyer is an
experienced explorer and was not daunted in the least b}^ this some-
what inauspicious commencement of the land part of his expedition.

On the river bank some miles above Russian Mission is a group
of desolate cabins going to rack and ruin, a reminder of an unsuc-
cessful attempt to carrj^ the United States mail from tliis point to
Katmai, on Shelikof Strait, 350 miles distant. Here the contractor
with his outfit was landed by the river steamer. The attempt to
penetrate the fearfully rough, unexplored country to the southward
proved too arduous an undertaking, and after suffering great hard-
ship the contractor abandoned his project.

At Holy Cross Mission (Koserefsky) the results of successful mission
work are more apparent than at any other point along the river.
Here the Roman Catholic Church has maintained a mission since
1886. A range of hills shelters the group of mission buildings. On the
level land between the mission buildings and the river are cultivated
fields, where the painstaking missionaries and their native assistants
have had great success in raising vegetables. Their vegetable garden,
under the care of the native boys, in 1902, yielded 500 bushels
of potatoes and 600 good solid heads of cabbage. Turnips, ruta-
bagas, cress, and other rapidly-maturing vegetables grow in abun-
dance. At Koserefsky there is a flourishing boarding school under
the charge of the Jesuit Fathers and another for the girls in charge
of the Sisters of Samt Ann. The boys are instructed in carpentering,

42 INTRODUCTION <>F DOMESTIC BKINDEER INTO ALASKA.

blacksmi thing, gardening, and farm work; the girls, in cooking, house-
hold work, and needle work. Tlie Bureau of Education assists in
supporting the school by assuming the salaries of two teachers, sup-
plying the text-books needed, and pajang for the fuel used in heating
the schoolrooms. The school enrollment during the term ending
May 31, 1904, was 110. Father Luchesi, Brother Markham, and
Brother O'Hare took pleasure in trying to give me an idea of the
work, but I regret that I did not have time to make a satisfactory
visit to the school. The Yukon cruise is a stupendous one, allowing
only short stops at each place. After we had been on shore about
half an hour vigorous blasts from the Rocl: Island's v/histle brought
us hurrying on board.

The mission at Anvik, maintained by the Protestant Episcopal
Church, was our next stop, on the morning of August 11. I had time
for only a fl^^ing visit to the Rev. John W. Chapman, Mrs. Chapn^an,
and Miss Bertha M. Sabme, all veterans in the noble work of uplifting
the natives of the Yukon Valley into Chi'istian civilization and self-
support. The school at Anvik does not 3^et receive aid from the
Bureau of Education, but it is probable that assistance will be
extended in the near future.

Nulato, where we arrived at 3 o'clock on the morning of August 13,
is a point of considerable interest. It was the remotest trading sta-
tion maintained on the Yukon River by the Russian-American Fur
Company, the agency thi'ough which Russia held Russian America
until the transfer of the country to the United States in 1867. In the
early days Nulato was the scene of considerable friction between the
natives and the Russian traders. The natives resented the intrusion
of the white men, and on several occasions destroyed the improve-
ments made during the summer by the Russians and abandoned by
them during the winter. In 1851 Lieutenant Barnard, a member of
the British expedition in search of Sir JoTin Franklin, arrived at
Nulato. In the course of his investigations he desired information
from an influential cliief ; instead of requesting an audience with him,
Lieutenant Barnard sent for the chief. This action the chief con-
sidered an indignit}^, and he determined to obtain satisfaction for the
insult. At the head of a band of warriors the infuriated chief at-
tacked the trading post, set fire to the adjoining native village, and
shot with arrows the inhabitants who attempted to escape from their
burning huts. Lieutenant Barnard and the Russian in command of
the post were killed as they were rising from their beds to repel the
assault. Lieutenant Barnard's grave is seen a short distance to the
rear of the two or thi'ee dilapidated log buildings which are a reminder
of the once flourishing post. In these days the Nulato natives are
peaceful enough; many of them are members of the Roman Catholic
Chui'ch, which maintains a mission in the village, and some of the

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEEK INTO ALASKA. 48

most promising young men are apprentices in the reindeer herd w liicli
is under the care of the mission. The Bureau of Education assists
in bearing the expense of the school in connection with the mission.

On August 15 we readied the settlement on the north bank of the
Yukon opposite the mouth of the Tanana River. As one approaches
this important point the numerous buildings of Fort Gibbon, one of
the largest army posts in Alaska, are seen; then follows a strag-
gling row of log buildings along the edge of the blufl", flanked by the
warehouses and stores of the North American Trading and Transpor-
tation Comjniny and the Northern Commercial Company. This
small settlement has three names: Gibbon, Weare, and Tanana.
Since the discovery of gold in paying quantities on the creeks and
tributaries of the Tanana and the establishment of the towns of Ghena
and Fairbanks, this settlementj at the junction of the Tanana and
Yukon rivers, has become an important point for the transferring of
freight and passengers from the larger steamers to the smaller boats
which with difhculty ascend the shallow, rapid, tortuous Tanana River.
Hundreds of tons of freight and crowds of passengers are sometimes
congested at this primitive settlement, which has absolutely no good
accommodations for a large number of travelers.

During the evening of August 15 w^e left the wide river and with
difficulty threaded our way between the sand bars which block the
entrance to the Tanana. The swift-flowing Tanana, with its drift-
laden current and frequent sand bars, is a trial to the soul of the river
captain who is compelled to push his long steamer and cumbersome
freight barge around its abrupt curves. The Roclv Island seemed to
brace herself for the struggle, and panted and throbbed like a thing of
life. Many a time her crew of native boys had to land and by pulling
on a hawser swing the prow of the barge out of the swift current and
around a sharp bend. By dint of hard work we reached the town of
Chena, at the junction of the Tanana and Chena rivers, on the evening
of August 20. On the way we passed the steamer Oil City, with a
broken shaft, helplessly tied up to the bank. Her decks were black
with miners and others flocking to Fairbanks, the most recent mining
Mecca. We also left behind many small, flat-bottomed boats which
men were laboriously poling against the swift current. The town
of Chena is built on a plain, an excellent site for a town, but it is
at present eclipsed by the larger settlement of Fairbanks, 12 miles
up the Chena River. A railway from Chena to the gold-bearing
creeks is projected. The town of Chena became incorporated in
December, 1903. At the time of our visit it had a population of
about 400. After making repairs to the macliinery, the Roch Island
proceeded up the Chena to Fairbanks. This short trip of 12 miles
w^as the most difficult piece of navigation accomplished since leaving
St. Michael.

44 INTRODUCTION Of DOMESTIC REINDP^ER INTO ALASKA.

Fairbanks, the distributing point for the most recently discovered
gold fields, almost in the center of Alaska, is on the Chena River, about
12 miles from its junction with the Tanana. The discoveiy of gold
in this district was made by Felix Pedro and others in 1898, but it was
not until the autumn of 1902 that the stor}^ of the rich strike was told
to the outside world. During the following winter many miners
from Circle City, Fortymile Creek, and Dawson, attracted by the
talcs of gold, flocked into the Tanana Valley over the winter trails.
The following summer the river steamers brought crowds of eager
prospectors from the outside. Fairbanks has become the metropolis
of central Alaska, and contains large warehouses and stores canying
ample stocks of provisions, groceries, machinery, hardware, and mis-
cellaneous merchandise adequate to supply all the requirements of the
district. In summer, steamboat service is maintained with St.
Michael and Dawson. Conditions for mining are better here than in
other sections of northern Alaska. Timber and water abound; on
accoimt of the comparatively mild climate the mining season is longer
here than it is elsewhere; vegetables are grown with great success, and
prosperous truck farms are seen on the river banks as one approaches
the town. About 5,000 persons have flocked into Fairbanks; they
live in the log buildings of the town on the south bank of the river,
or in tents in the suburbs on the north side. In the outskirts of the
town is a large hospital, which was erected by Bishop P. T. Rowe, of
the Protestant Episcopal Church. There are three saw mills in Fair-
banks, and they were kept busy both day and night in order to keep
pace with the demand for lumber for the erection of the houses which
must shelter the crowds of incoming people from the rigors of the
rapidly approaching arctic winter. Carpenters^ wages at the time of
our visit were S15 per da,j.

On account of the heavy freight charges on all commodities, living
expenses are high. Flour cost $6 per sack; beans, 15 cents per
pound ; beef, 50 cents per pound ; cliicken and turkey (cold storage) ,
$1 per pound; pork, 80 cents per pound; butter, $1.50 per roll; hay,
7 cents per pound. In some quarters alarm was felt lest the few
American steamers which ascend the shallow Tanana would not be
able during the short time remaining before the river would be locked
in ice to bring into the town supplies sufficient to feed the tlii'ongs that
continued to pour into it. In order to provide an additional source of
supply, b}^ an arrangement between the customs officers of the United
States and Canada, the steamers of the White Pass and Yukon Com-
pany and other Canadian steamers \\ ere given the pri^nlege of engag-
ing in the Tanana trade until the close of the present season, provided
that a convoy was put on board each steamer at Eagle. It is esti-
mated that the output of the Fairbanks district will reach $1,500,000
this season.

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 45

Upon my return to the mouth of the Tanana, August 26. I left the
steamer i?oc^' Island, which continued the voyage down the river to
St. Michael. While awaiting the arrival of the Sarali, en route from
St. Michael to Dawson, I was tlio guest of Maj. Arthur Williams,
commanding officer at Fort Gibbon. It is a pleasure to avail myself
of this opportuntiy to express my appreciation of the cordial hos-
pitality extended to me by Major Williams and the other officers
attached to the post.

During this stay I visited the St. James Mission, of the, Episcopal
Church, on the river bank about 3 miles above Fort Gibbon. I
regret that I did not meet the Rev. Jules L, Prevost, who is in charge
of this mission, but I had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with
IMi's. Prevost and Miss Mason, who, among other duties, teaches
the school. The mission station is an attractive group of buildings
on the bluff overlooking the river. The settlement consists of a very
tasteful church, school, and residence building for the missionaries,
and a neatly built native village of 40 or 50 houses. It is probable
that m the near future the Bureau of Education will extend aid to
tliis school.

In the village of Tanana I found an experienced teacher, Miss Emily
B. Parke, whom I appointed to organize a school at Rampart, a mining
settlement on the Yukon, 50 miles above Tanana. ^Miile I was
delayed at Tanana the steamer Susie arrived. Among her passengers
were ^Mi*. and Mrs. D. W. Cram, who were on their way to Bettles,
on the Koyukuk, at which remote pomt the Bureau of Education
is starting a school, and whither during the winter of 1904-5 a herd
of reindeer will be driven from the Bering Sea coast, thus forming
a new center of the remdeer industry. At Tanana Mr. and Mrs.
Cram awaited the arrival of the httle steamer Koyukuk, which would
carry them to their destination. They were in good spii'its, and
looked forward with enthusiasm to theu- pioneer work in that primi-
tive region.

On September 1 I left my kind hosts at Fort Gibbon and went
on board the steamer Sarah for transportation to Dawson. The
Rock Island, on which I had made the first part of the river cruise,
is one of the older, wood-burning steamers of the Northern Commer-
cial Company, and several times a da}^ we had to tie up to the bank
a~nd wait while the native crew carried man}' cords of wood from
the bank to the steamer to feed the greedy fires with material to
speed us on our ^vsly. These stops, however, frequently were inter-
esting, affording opportunity to visit fishing camps and summer
villages of the natives, or to wander over some flower-carpeted glade
or wooded hiUside. The Sarah, one of the largest and best equipped
of the river steamers, is furnished with the latest oil-burning machin-
ery, and stopped only at a few of the larger settlements just long
a. Doc. 61, 58-3 5

46 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

enough to land freight and passengers, and then sped rapidly on
her way.

Above the point where the Tanana enters the Yukon the scenery
becomes bolder; the mountains approach the river, the banks grow
precipitous, and the steamer glides up a series of canyons where the
river has broken through the Rampart Mountains. The mountain
sides covered with birch, willow, and cottonwood glowed with the
rich tints of autumn, and their rugged summits were powdered
with freshl}^ fallen snow. The air was crisp and exhilarating, and
all nature was bathed in brilliant sunshine.

During the afternoon of September 2 the Sarah tied up at Ram-
part, the distributing point for the Rampart mining district, a
typical Yukon River town. These little settlements along the river
are few, and sometimes many hundreds of miles apart; they consist,
for the most part, of the same elements. The largest and most
conspicuous buildings, usually at the head of the wharf, are the
store and warehouses of the trading company; a straggling row of
log cabins following the edge of the bluff are the homes of the miners,
who, during the open season, live out on the gold-bearing creeks,
man}^ miles distant from the village. The agent of the tradmg
company, a United States commissioner, a postmaster, and perhaps
a physician form the nucleus of the permanent population. Some-
times there is a group of mission buildings, church, school, and dor-
mitories, where are found faithful, self-denying workers and clean,
bright-looking native children, a contrast to the filthy, unkempt
urchins from the huts of the neighboring native village, with its
howling dogs and accumulated filth.

Urgent requests had been received by the Bureau of Education
for the opening of a school at Rampart. Miss Parke, the recently
appointed teacher, left the steamer at this point and, with the assist-
ance of the members of the school committee whose services were
requested, we at once made arrangements for the renting of a build-
ing for the use of a school until a permanent building could be erected.
At 6 p. m. the Sarah was again under way.

During the morning of September 4 we sighted the stockaded
log buildings constituting Fort Yukon, a prominent place in the
early history of the Hudson's Bay Company. This westernmost
of the posts of the Hudson's Bay Company was founded in 1847,
and was the remotest point to which its indefatigable pioneers had
penetrated. The present site was chosen in 1864. The older fort
was situated a mile higher up the river, but was abandoned on account
of the encroachments of the stream, whose strong current had
dangerously undermined the banks. Fort Yukon was supposed
to be west of the international boundary line between Russian
America and British Columbia, but its exact latitude and longitude

INTKODUCTIOJI OF DOMESTIC KEINDKKK INTO ALASKA. 47

had not been ascertained. The traders of the Russian-American
Fur Company, for the most part, confined their operations to the
settlements along the lower reaches of the Yukon, seldom ascending
the river beyond Nulato. Every spring the energetic Scotchmen
of Fort Yukon were accustomed to descend the river about 300
miles to a point near its junction with the Tanana, where they met
the assembled Indian tribes and ])iu"c]iased their stores of bear,
marten, otter, mink, and fox skins before the tardy Russians from the
lower river, delayed by the swift current and masses of drifting ice,
could arrive at the rendezvous. The withdrawing of the Russian-
American Fur Company after the transfer of the country to the
United States inaugurated a new order of things. Several Ameri-
can companies established trading posts on the lower river, from
one of which a small party succeeded in ascending the river and
wintered at a point opposite the Tanana River.

In the following spring, when the traders of the Hudson's Bay
Company paid their annual visit to their accustomed rendezvous,
their right to trade within the territory of the United States was
fiercely contested. In the spring of 1869 San Francisco capitalists
proposed to transport to St. Michael on the deck of a sailing vessel a
small steamer which would ascend as far as Fort Yukon, trading
with the tribes along the banks. These liiovements rendered it
extremely desirable that the position of Fort Yukon should be
officially determined, and occasioned the first action on the part of
the United States to ascertain something of the interior of the vast
region recently purchased from Russia. During the summer of 1869,
by direction of the Secretary of War, Capt. Charles P. Ra3'mond,
of the Engineer Corps, ascended the Yukon River to Fort Yukon to
determine whether it was in the domain of Great Britain or was
included in the district of Alaska. Fort Yukon was found to be
within the territory of the United States, and it was subsequently
abandoned by the British company.

•In October, 1904, the Bureau of Education established a school
at Fort Yukon to provide school facilities for the cliildren of the
large tribe of natives who spend most of the year in this vicinity.
From the Rampart Mountains to Circle City, a distance of between
300 and 400 miles, the river traverses the level stretches known as
the Yukon Flats. Innumerable islands intersect, the wide, shallow
channel; countless sand bars and mud flats, blind sloughs, and
shifting shoals form a perfect maze. Four feet draft is perilous;
anything beyond that makes progress impossible. At some remote
period this region was the bottom of a great lake, of which the Ram-
part Mountains formed the western barrier. Into this lake the
Porcupine, Birch, and smaller streams emptied their sediment.
After the river had cut its way through the Rampart Mountains,

48 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

thus draining the lake, the enormous quantity of silt deposited by
these streams remained as the flats of to-day. Many river steamers
haA^e come to grief on these shoals; high and dry on a sand bar,
the victims of merciless mosquitoes, impatient passengers frequently
spend many* days of monotonous delay; here and there are the tim-
bers of some wrecked steamer left to bleach eternally under the
scorching sun of midsummer and the fierce blasts of winter.

In remote ages this region must have been the habitat of large
numbers of mammoths; their huge bones, tusks, and teeth are found
in great abundance in the flats and the adjacent country.

On the plateau forming the eastern boundary of the Yukon Flats
lies Circle City, once the metropolis of the Yukon Valley. Before
the discovery of gold in the Klondike region of British Columbia,
gold had been found in paying quantities on Birch Creek and other
streams wholly within the territory of the United States, and Circle
City was the result of the stampede that followed these discoveries.
On this plateau, overlooking the river, almost under the Arctic
Circle, was built the largest town of log buildings in the world.
Thousands of miners, many of them having brought their families
with them, wintered here. In order to beguile the tedium of the
long winter, the exiled people introduced into this northern wilder-
ness many of the refinements of civilization; conspicuous among
these was a Avonderfully well-selected library of several thousand
volumes. The stampede to the Klondike depopulated the town;
the public school that the Bureau of Education had established
had to be closed on account of lack of pupils; the fine library found
shelter in one of the buildings of the Episcopal Mission; the windows
of the cabins were boarded up, the doors securely fastened, and Circle
City became a silent, almost deserted city. Since that time Circle
City has been filled up several times only to be emptied out again
when new gold strikes were made. Its hundreds of empty log
cabins form a picture of desolation. Several of the cabins which
have been deserted by the white men are now occupied b}^ natives
who have moved into them from their camps on the neighboring
streams. Conspicuous on the edge of the bluff overlooking the
Yukon are the buildings of the mission which the Episcopal Church
maintains at this place. The Bureau of Education will probably
assume the salary of the teacher and the supplying of text-books
for this school.

Circle City is now the starting point for the winter trail from the
upper Yukon across the countr}^ to the Fairbanks district.

At the mouth of Miller Creek is the town of Eagle, the last of the
settlements on the American side of the international boundary line
between Alaska and British Columbia. It is the point of supply for
the diggings on Miller Creek, Seventy-^Iile Creek, and other streams.

TNTRODITTIOX oK DoMF^TK' KKINI)7':t:K IXT(» ALASKA. 4*.>

The United States ciistoni-liouse and the army jiost. Fort P^frhert,
make Eagle an important point. It is an ineor{)orated town and
manages its own school affairs. The spiritual and educational needs
of the natives in the neighboring village are cared for by the mission-
aries of the Episcopal Church. Aid to this school also will in all
probability be extended b}- the Bureau of Education. From this
point it is hoped to reach with school privileges the Ketchumstocks,
a tribe inhabiting the interior country near the sources of Copper
River. At Eagle, about midnight September 6, I met and consulted
with Mr. F. E. Willard, who was on his way to take charge of a public
school at Fort Yukon. The steamer LavelJe Young, on which he
was a passenger, was densel}' crowded with men and women eager
to reach Fairbanks before the closing of the river by ice. In every
available place temporar}' bunks had been constructed and even
these were not nearly sufficient to accommodate the crowd. The
floor of the dining saloon was covered with sleepmg forms, each
wrapped in its blanket, and it was almost impossi])le to take a step
without stirring up some human chrysalis.

Early on the morning of September 7 we crossetl the international
boundary line and entered British Columbia. A long, straight path
6 feet wide cut through the timber on the mountain side renders the
course of the hundred and forty-first meridian very distinct.

Dawson, 1,600 miles from St. Michael by river, is the terminus of
the American river steamers. It is the metropolis of the famous
Klondike district. The motley aggregation of tents and log cabins
of the days of the Klondike rush has become a great commercial
center with all the conveniences of a modern city — good hotels,
schools, churches, hospitals, waterworks, telephone service, fire
department, newspapers which daily publish telegraphic dispatches
from all over the world, stores and warehouses filled with groceries,
dry goods, hardware, machinery, and household goods of every
description. Since 1S98 the annual output of gold from the creeks
that empty into the Klondike River, a tributary that enters the
Yukon through the suburbs of Dawson, has averaged more than
SI 5,000,000. The tide of travel which ebbs and flows through
Dawson is considerable. The records show that during the ten
months commencing December, 1903, 4,177 persons arrived at
Dawson and 6,581 left. At an average of SI 00 per ticket, the fares
from this travel w^ould aggregate more than 81.000,000.

The schools of Dawson are remarkably fine. The government
provides generously for their support; liberal salaries are paid to
the teachers, and thus the service of thoroughly efficient people
are secured; the schoolrooms are attractive and furnished with

50 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

modern apparatus. The Avisdoin of providing thus hberall^' for
the schools can not be too higlily commended.

During the season of open navigation the steamers of the White
Pass and Yukon Company ply on the rivers and lakes between
Dawson and White Horse, at the foot of White Horse Kapids, the
lunit of river travel and the northern terminus of the White Pass
and Yukon Railway, which connects the interior country with
Skagw^a}^ on the coast. In winter a 4-horse stage line is maintained
between Dawson and White Horse. Each sleigh is provided with
an ample suppl}^ of fur robes and has accommodations for 10 passen-
gers, 1,000 pounds of baggage, and 1,000 pounds of freight. Relay
stations are maintained ever}^ 20 or 25 miles, at W'hich fresh horses
are furnished. Passengers travel during the daytime only, stopping
overnight at well-appointed road houses along the route. Hereto-
fore the line of winter travel for a long distance followed the tortuous,
ice-bound surface of the river and was interrupted during several
weeks in the autumn w^hile the ice was forming and in the spring
during the breaking up of the ice. Recentl}" the Canadian government
has completed a direct overland road from White Horse to Dawson.
The distance between White Horse and Dawson by this route is 327
miles, and the average time between these places is from five to five
and one-half days. In summer the average time from White Horse
to Dawson by steamer is from thirty-two to forty hours, and the
average through time from Seattle to Dawson, from five to six days.

I left Dawson for W^liite Horse on the White Pass and Yukon
steamer SelkirJc September 9.

In its up])er courses the Yukon River is a very different stream from
the wide, drift-laden flood that sweeps down to the sea between the
low-lying, forest-clad banks of the delta. For the most part it is a
narrow, swift, winding stream hemmed in between bare walls of
granite or basalt. The hills are seldom at a great distance from
the river. Even the color of the w'ater had changed; the brown,
mud-laden flood had given place to waters of a grayish hue, thick
with the volcanic ashes which the White River, draining a volcanic
region, had poured into the main stream. For miles the steep,
sandy banks are honeycombed by thousands of nests of martins,
which breed in this north land during the short summer. These
upper stretches of the river mark the limit of the salmon's long
travels from the sea. Up the river, over shoals and battling their
way against rapids, these beautiful fish travel in pairs, until here,
thousands of miles from salt water, their strength sapped by the
long journey, the salmon deposit and fertilize the spawn. The
parent fish then die, having fulfilled their mission. Their carcasses
furnish the favorite food of the bears. During the autumn months,
through a field glass, the sluggish bears which have come down to the

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 51

riverside from their homes in the moun tains frequently may be
seen feasting on the hundreds of dead salmon lying on the sandy
shore.

This part of the river is famous in the annuls of the Hudson's
Bay Company, the powerful wedge with which British civilization
cleft its way from ocean to ocean. Fort Selkirk, near the junction of
the Lewes and Felly rivers, is a reminder of those early days. This
pioneer post planted in the northern wilderness was the scene of
frequent hostilities between British traders and barbarous natives.
In ISol the Chilkats. one of the coast tribes of southeast Alaska,
instigated perhaps b}' the jealous Russians, appeared before Fort
Selkirk in force. Resistance on the part of the factor of the Hud-
son's Bay Company and his two assistants was useless. The natives
entered the stockade, bound the white men, plundered the store-
houses, and wantonly destroyed hundreds of dollars' worth of valu-
able goods, which it had taken many months of incessant labor to
])ring into that remotest outpost. Then they departed, after setting
fire to the fort. Two blackened chimneys are all that remain of old
Fort Selkirk.

In later days Fort Selku'k has been the center from which Bishop
Bompas, of the Episcopal Church, has spread Cliristian civilization
among the natives of that region.

At 5.30, September 13, the steamer Selkirk arrived at the town of
Wliite Horse, 2,200 miles from St. Michael, the head of river navig-a-
tion, a short distance below the Wliite Horse Rapids, which form
an impassable barrier to the further progress of the river steamers.
From Wliite Horse there is one passenger train a day to Skagway.
It had left before the Selkirk arrived and we spent the night in White
Horse. The large warehouses along the river front contained thou-
sands of tons of freight for the interior wliicli had accumulated at this
point, and it seemed doubtful if all of it could be carried to Dawson
by the steamers before the closing of the river by ice.

The Wliite Pass and Yukon Railway, between Skagway and White
Horse, 112 miles in length, was the first railroad built in the Far North.
The work of construction was commenced in June, 1S9S, by a syn-
dicate of British capitalists to afford access to the gold fields of
the Klondike region. From its starting point at Skagway, the rail-
way follows the trail over the White Pass, the route taken by thou-
sands of miners in the days of the Klondike stampede. The success-
ful construction of this railway in that high latitude, thousands of
miles from its base of supply in the States, was a great feat of engi-
neering.

Before the work commenced, the carcasses of more than two thou-
sand horses winch were scattered along the line of the miners' trail
were collected and burned with kerosene. For miles the roadbed had

52 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

to be cut in the face of the soHd rock by men lowered into position and
supported by ropes; steel bridges had to be built over roaring torrents
and deep gulches; almost insuperable difficulties of grade had to be
overcome; in attempting to lower Lake St. Louis 3 feet, tlie entire
lake washed away causing widespread damage. The railroad was
completed in June, 1900. It is stated that the cost of constructing
certain sections of the road exceeded $250,000 per mile. Its total
cost was about S5, 000, 000. The traffic of the road has been so great
that it paid nearly $2,000,000 profits during the first two years of its
operation and it continues to pay increasingly large dividends. Snow-
sheds and snowplows keep the line open during the winter, and traffic
is rarely interrupted hj the tremendous storms of that liigh latitude.

The passage from salt water to the head of river navigation for-
merly involved weeks of incessant toil of the severest description:
packing supplies over steep mountain passes; clambering over huge
bowlders; wading across swift, ice-cold torrents; shooting seetliing
rapids; fighting millions of gnats and mosquitoes; sleeping on the
damp ground above the eternally frozen subsoil wherever overtaken
b}" the darkness of night. Now, in a comfortable, well-equipped train,
the passenger is whirled along beside the shores of the lakes, over
gorges and across rivers ; from the observation car he gazes upon the
magnificent scener}^ that meets the eye at every turn, and reaches
his destination in a few hours, refreshed and delighted.

At Skagway, on the evening of September 14,1 took passage on the
steamer Cottage City, arriving at Juneau at 3 o'clock on the following
morning, Both Skagway and Juneau are incorporated towns which
manage their own school affairs ; according!}^, I did not linger in either
of them.

I was fortunate enough to find the U. S. S. RusTi at anchor off the
town of Juneau . On September 1 5 , by the courtesy of Captain Kilgore,
I went on board that vessel for passage to Sitka, where we arrived on
the 17th.

During my stay in Sitka I repeatedl}' visited the three public
schools and consulted with Hon. John G. Brady and Mr. Edward
de Groff, the president and secretary of the local school committee for
Sitka.

On September 29, I left Sitka on the steamer Georgia, making con-
nection at Juneau on the following day with the steamer City of
Seattle, for Seattle, where I arrived on October 4.

Having completed my business with the fu-ms in Seattle and San
Francisco, who had furnished the season's supplies for our work in
arctic Alaska, I left San Francisco on October 12, arriving at Wash-
ington five da^'s later, completing a tour of inspection wliicli had
covered about 14,500 miles.

I desu'e to express m}^ appreciation of the numerous courtesies
received from Capt. Oscar C. Hamlet, commanding the U. S. S. Thetis,

INTRoDr^rTrON of DOMKSTIO reindeer into ALASKA, • 53

from Capt. AV. F. Kilgorc, cominandin<2; the U. S. S. Rush, and from
the officers attached to tliose vessels.

T have the honor to be, yqyj respectfully,

WiLLLVM IL\MILTOX,

Assistant Agent of Education in Alasl'a.
Hon. W. T. Harris,

Commissioner of Education.
(Through Sheldon Jackson, general agent of education in Alaska.)

ANNIL\X REPORT, NULATO REINDEER STATION.

NiiLATO, Alaska, October 7, 1904-
Dear Sir: Inclosed please find the annual report of the Nulato
reindeer station, for the year 1903-4. I inspected the herd during
the latter da3's of September and found the deer in very good
condition. They are located at the foot of Hotel Mountain or
Hodo'oye, one of the higher summits of the Kayar range, about 25
miles southwest of Nulato. We expect to bring back the herd to its
former winter quarters 2 miles below Nulato, toward the end of
November, but the reindeer moss there availal)le will hardly last over
two months, so we contemplate moving them again in February to
some better pasture in the Kayar region.

The herder actually in charge, Per Nilson Bals, has renewed the
contract for one 3'ear, under the same conditions as before, and tliree
copies of the agreement, which he and I signed, will be sent to Unala-
kleet by next mail.

Statistical report, reindeer herd. Xnlato, lOOJf.

Name of ownor, Mission.

Old deer and fawns of 1903:

Male 38

Female 109

Died or killed ' 12

Fawns born, 1904:

Male 32

Female 34

Died 6

Total fawTis living 66

Tetal deer living 213

Apprentices, 1903-4. — ^Vlexander Kul'ana Dimoska, August 15,

1903, to February 15, 1904, six months; March 15 to June 1, 1904,
two and one-lialf months. Martial Ketsegeyak, May 1 to October 1,

1904, five months. Roger Kedelor, February- to March 15, 1904, one
month; June 1 to August 28, 1904, tliree months; October 1, 1904.
Neduruslet, April 1 to April 30, 1904, one month.

Respectfull}', yours,

Julius Jetti, .S". J.
Dr. Sheldox Jackson,

Washington, D. C.

54 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

EXTRACTS FROM THE DAILY JOURN.IL KEPT ON THE JOURNEY FROM
UNALAKLEET TO BETHEL AND RETURN, IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER,
1903.

By C. O. LiND, M. D., General Superintendent Central Division.

The first week of November, 1903, lias been a real busy one at the
remdeer station at Unalakleet. Nils Bals and myself have had our
hands full in repairing of sleds, harnesses, tent, etc., for the long and
difficult journey we are just ready to begin. A young Lapp, by name
Per Sara — a son to Nils Sara, whom we are about to move from
Andreafski, on the Yukon, to Bethel, Kuskokwim — has been helping
us a little with the preparatory work for the privilege of going along
to meet liis parents. The Sara family was broken up in Norway' the
winter of 1898. Father and mother departed then from tlieu- native
land, taking the smaller children along with them to Alaska, but
leaving some of the older boys behind on the European soil. Per
Sara is one of said boys, who had just arrived from Lapland a couple
of months earlier to rejoin his parents and other inembers of the fam-
ily in far-oft" Alaska. He could speak neither English nor Norwegian.
Nallogoroak — the straight one — a native herder at Unalakleet, who
also is to join the party for Kuskokwim, has been busy at the herd
the last few days. He came down to the village in time for an early
start on Saturday morning, November 7. Sleds loaded and all read^^;
the 4 deer from the Mission herd were here also, but 3 more deer
wliich were to be brought down from Ole Bahr's herd failed to come
until late in the afternoon the same day. Naturally we would not
begin our journey late Saturday evening, so it was decided to wait
until MondaA" morning, November 9.

Monday morning found Nallogoroak, Per Sara, Nils Bals, and
myself, with 7 deer and as many sleds, with provision, tent, neces-
sary clotliing for the trip, all ready. FareweU was taken on the ice
near the mouth of Unalakleet River. Almost the whole village pop-
ulation was there to say good-bye. Mrs. Bals and Mrs. Lind fol-
lowed us about a mile farther, and then a final farewell was taken,
and the real travel had begun.

The day has been a beautiful one; clear, bright sk}^, with a south-
westerly wind which was quite cold. Having traveled about 18 or
20 miles till 3.30 p. m., we were forced to retrace our steps 3 or 4
miles to a creek just passed, the reason being that the mountains
come right to the water's edge and there terminate with an almost
perpendicular wall, leaving no beach at all. The surf had piled the
ice m big hummocks, over which it was impossible to travel, and out-
side of these the ice was not safe, so the best tiling and the only tiling
was to go back to the nearest place where it was possible to gain an
access to the tundra. This we did, and reaching the place darkness
overtook us; so our first camp was made. Due to the fact that we

INTRODUCTION OK DOMKSTIO RETNDKER INTO AF.ASKA. 55

have no stove (this article is to be })uieliase(l in St. Michael), the
herders felt disinclined to put np the tent overnight. The whole
camp consists of a bonfire, aronnd which we sit making con"ee and
are trying to thaw ont our bread and butter which is to serve for
supi)er. It is dark and cloudy this evening. The wind is increasing
in strength and velocity. After supper and evening prayer we all
went into sleeping bags among some small willows near the creek.

Tuesday, November 10. — The rough road of yesterday had been
rather severe on two of our sleds, so before starting out this morning
they had to be repaired. At 8 o'clock we started off over the almost
snowless tundra. Our progress was of necessity ver}^ slow, having
to cross at least half a dozen little creeks on our way, filled with willow
bushes which had to be cut down to allow of passing. At 12 noon we
arrived at Galsovia, a small native village, about 30 miles from Una-
lakleet, w^here we stopped for a cup of tea. In the afternoon we had
a better trail along the shore and could travel better. Camp was
made at 4.30 p. m. on the beach about 10 miles farther south. Nal-
logoroak and I made the camp while Bals and Sara went off to stake
the deer. Unfortunately no moss was to be found for several miles,
it all being burnt. The wind is blowing hard to-night and it is snow-
ing some. It is only by repeated pounding of my hands that I can
hold the pencil while writing these lines. At 8 o'clock we all retire
in the tent to-night.

Wednesday, November 11. — The morning hours passed by unusually
fast to-day, not because we were more tardy than usual, but because
of disadvantages for which w^e are not responsible. Mr. Bals went
out in search of better feeding ground for the deer at 4.30 a. m. For-
tunately he found a small patch of moss which had not been destro3^ed
by fire, where he left the deer while he himself returned for breakfast,
which was ready and waiting. After our morning meal Nallogoroak
and Sara went to bring the deer, Bals was investigating the strength
of the ice and picking the way, while I loaded the sleds and made
everything in readiness at camp. It was 10 o'clock before Bals
returned and we could go onward. Our way over the new ice was
certainly not without risk, but should we have followed the tundra
it would have taken probably all day to make the next village,
Tlicketawik, which we now reached at 12.30 p. m. There we stopped
for cofi"ee and lunch about an hour and a half. The weather being
rather threatening, j\[r. Bals did not feel like going auA^ farther; but
I i)ursued a different line of reasoning, thinking that if a storm
should set in soon we had better go on as far as possible and get to
St. Michael, where we woidd not be so dependent on the going or com-
ing of the ice. So onward we went about 10 miles more during the
afternoon, to Wood Point, where we arrived at 4 }). m. and made camp
for tlie nijrht. It is cold to-night. A strong westerlv wind is blow-

56 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC HEINDKKK INTO ALASKA.

ing, penetrating anj'tliing and everything in its way. We are all
gathered around a big fii-e on the beach while eating our supper.
One side is actually getting stiff from cold while the other is roast-
ing. The clouds have disappeared and it is a starlight, beautiful
evening. We all retire to our sleeping bags at 7 o'clock.

Thursday, November 1.2. — Immediateh' after we had retired last
night steps of a man were heard outside the tent, and the next moment
a voice asked in Eskimo, ''T\lio is here?" As no one answered the
inquiry, another question followed in English, " Wliat kind of a place
is this?" I told the man at once who we were and what we were, and
asked him, if he had any dogs to tie them up immediately, because
our reindeer were feeding in near proximity to the tent. "I have
dogs, but they are all tied," ansAyered the man. However, not trust-
ing what the man said, I asked my tliree men at once to arm them-
selves with guns and run for the place where the deer were. Mean-
while I went out to the stranger, who stood just outside the tent trying
to tie one of his dogs, while the rest were running loose in the bushes.
One dog was already missing, and all the deer were gone and could
not be found anywhere. Finalh', about 10 p. m., the herders re-
turned from the mountains, fortunately^ having found the deer, all in
apparently good condition. But the missing dog not being found,
we dare not leave the deer and so decided on taking turns to watch
all night. Armed with my shotgun, I took the first turn for two or
thi'ee hours. Luckily no one else needed to take anj turn, because
before the termination of the first hour the dog was found. Our
stranger then started off for his sled, which was left some distance off
on the ice. To see that he really got away with his dogs I followed
to find the sled. Owing to the man}* hummocks on the ice, it took
us a long while to find it, in fact so long that I began to doubt the
integrity of the man's statement. On my return to camp, about
midnight, the moon just rolled over the mountains in the east and
gave a bright light on my lonely path. In camp all had gone to
dreamland, and none heard me join their band that early hour of 1
o'clock.

The day has been a beautiful one, with a light westerly wind. Due
to the disturbances of last night, we did not leave camp until 0 a. m.
At noon we arrived direct!}' opposite St. Michael, on the south side
of St. Michael Baj'. Mr. Bals and I walked into the village to buy
a stove and some other things needed for the trip, wliile Sara and
Nallogoroak continued about 3 miles farther to make camp and
wait for our return in the evening.

After having had a little lunch we proceeded to business, but a
stove which was fit for the journey could not be had until the next
morning. Capt. C. Y. Malmquist, the Northern Commercial Com-
pany's agent, invited us for the night and treated us most ro^^ally.

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 57

Bals returned early, but I sat up until about 10 p. m., engaged in
writing letters to the dear ones at home.

Friday, Novemher 13. — About 9 o'clock this morning I got the
stove, shells, and cartridges that we wanted. At 11.30 we were all
gathered again in our camp. The two men there were well, and so
were the deer. A quick luncheon was taken, and half an hour later
the sleds were packed, deer harnessed, and oft' we went in a southerly
direction along St. Michael Canal. In all we traveled about 15 miles
during the afternoon, and to-night we are more cozHy fixed than
usual. Our tent is placed in a bunch of bushes near a little creek.
We have a nice stove in it, and can now keep both the food and our-
selves warm and comfortable wliile eating. Another tlnng which
gives us great comfort is the fact that we are now so far away from
human habitation that we are not apt to be bothered by dogs any
more. The snow is deeper south of St. Michael, making the uneven
tundra better adapted for travelmg.

Saturday, Novemher 14- — God in His mercy has given us another
most glorious day. The sun has been as bright as it is possible
for it to be so far north at this time of the year. We left camp
at the hour of 8 this morning and traveled in a southerly direction
all day until 3.45 p. m., when we again made camp, this time
at a point exactly opposite Cape Romanoft" and about midway
between said cape to the right and the mountain range on the left.
Our tent, like last night, is placed among some small willows in a
little creek. The distance from our last camp I judge to be about
20 or 21 miles. The snow is deeper for almost every mile we travel
southward. Still, as yet there has not been enough to liinder our
progress. An easterly wind has blown all day, and to-night it is
very cold, but we are comfortable in our tent with the stove. A sad
accident happened to-day when coming down some steep lulls.
The sleds rolled over and our stovepipes were knocked apart, and
it was nearly impossible for us to repair the damage with the means
at our disposal. Supper is over and the dishes are washed, so we
are ready to retii'e about 8 o'clock.

Sunday, November 15. — Another most beautiful day. When the
herald of the day majestically appeared on the mountain tops in
the southeast we had already breakfasted, loaded our sleds, and the
caravan was slowly but surely advancing over the desert of snow.
The same southerly course has been kept to-day, and this evening
we are about 20 or 22 miles nearer our destination. True, we can
not compete with the Overland Flyer, nor any other flyer, but we
are moving steadily onward. Toward evening a strong northerly
wind started to blow, stirring up the snow considerably. As our
company was not in sight of any place suitable for camping, we had
to move onward for about thii-ty-five or forty minutes, until finally

58 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

a little creek was reached in Avliich some willows grew. It was
certainly not a favorable camping place, because not a stick of dry-
wood could be found any^vhere; but fortunately we carried some
sticks of dry wood on our sleds by wliicli to start the fu-e, and then
we dry the willows about as fast as they burn. In thought of
to-morrow, we have tried to dry some sticks in advance, but it seems
almost hopeless. iStill we are happ}^, and thankful for the shelter the
tents afford us. After havmg walked a whole day over the uneven
tundra, in 8 or 10 inches of snow, it seems like a paradise in the tent
Hu! how the wmd is howling outside to-night, and how it tears and
tugs at the place of our habitation. Soon, however, we will all
be in our bags and then the wind will bother us very little. ^Ir.
Bals has alread}^ turned in, and is snoring away as if he were going to
Kuskokwim in a single night.

Monday, November i^.- -The day has not been so full of favors
as the sixteenths have generally been to me. Somehow tilings have
been a little contrary to-day; but we can not alwa^'s sail in fair
winds. Due to the fact of our less suitable camp of last night, we
fuiished our duties late. During a stormy night, with floppmg of
the tent and rattling of the stove pipes, etc., the night's rest was
greatly disturbed.

At 4 a. m. I was up to see what kind of weather it was, but it being
very dark and cloud}^, I again crept into my sack and slept soundly
until 7 o'clock, and no one else woke before being called. Having
to contend with poor wood, it took a long time to get breakfast
ready, so before we got away from camp it was about 9 o'clock.
The wind was raging and the snow flpng so that ^^'e could see
but a short distance ahead. Our course has been a little to the
east of south, along the foot of the mountains to the left, while the
Yukon flats, we know, are to the right. Were it not for the hills,
it would be impossible to travel at all on a day of tliis kind. Several
times had we to stop and cut our way through brush in small creeks
which were of necessity to be crossed. No one had a desire to stop
for lunch to-day. All were anxiously struggling along, expecting
to arrive soon at a river valley, where, according to information, a
good camping place was to be had. About 4 p. m. we arrived
at the expected place, hungry and tked from the day's druggies.
Truly this is a good place. We had plenty of wood and water and
good shelter from the raging wind. Indeed it is so comfortable here
that I much fear we shall not be able to get away to-morrow.
The wind has been a little south of east and continues the same
to-night. Nunapikloak (plenty crooked) is the name of the river
on which we are camped to-night, and only about 10 miles away
from where we were last night.

Tuesday, November 17. — Another day which has not been what

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC UKINDKEK INTO ALASKA. 59

one would call a perfect success. Our last camp was really so good
that it took us a long time to get away from it. Then having gone
only a short distance this forenoon, Nallogoroak ^\ent astray after
some ptarmigan, and after a while the whole party was delayed over
half an hour waiting for him; but when he finally came, he brought
four birds. About noon Bals and I stopped to make tea, and had
it all ready when Sara and Nallogoroak came, again having been
after birds. This time Nallogoroak had shot three more birds,
which were added to our stores. Sara had broken his sled, which
accident took us fully an hour to repair; and on account of it
we were not able to get to the good camping place of which we had
previously thought. Darkness came on, and forced us to stay among
some small wallow bushes, on the open tundra. The wind has blown
hard all day, but the weather has been, and still is, clear. One
thing that bothers us exceedingly much to-night is the stove pipes.
Because of the constant flopping of the tent, they jerk ofT so often
that it is aJl one man can do to just stand and hold them in place,
while I try to prepare the ptarmigan for supper. The distance
traveled is only about 16 miles.

Wednesdaij, November 18. — The morning of the day was rather
dark and threatening in whatever direction one could look. The
heav}^ wind that had been blowing from the south the last few days
had brought mild weather, and the snow, to our great disappoint-
ment and hindrance, had almost entirely disappeared during the
night. Fortunately, we had only 5 or 6 miles to the portage at the
head of Pastolik River, where we were to change our course to the
east, in order to gain entrance to the portion of the countrj^ drained
by the Clear River.

We left camp at 7 a. m., and at 11a. m. we had fuially toiled
over the mossy nigger heads and reached the summit of the divide.
To our great help and happiness, there was more snow on the east
side of the mountains. The afternoon has been more in our favor,
so we have been able to make up partly for the unfavorable morning
hours. After crossing the divide our course has been winding along
in a similar manner to the creeks. On a little divide between two
small tributaries to the Clear we are comfortably camped this eve-
ning. This is a well-sheltered place, with plenty of dry wood. We
arrived here at 4 p. m., and have supper over at the early hour of
6 o'clock. Being nice and warm, it would be a pleasure to sit up for
a while chatting, but as we do not understand each other, but to a
very limited degree, I find it more profitable to turn into the sleeping
bag and prepare for an earh^ start to-morrow.

Thursday, November 19. — Surely we had an early start this morning.
Breakfast was over at 6 o'clock and half an hour later we were trudg-
ing up a big mountam, winding along the course of a creek. It has

60 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

been one of the most beautiful days a person could wish to see. It
has been clear and cold, but not too cold, just right to make it agree-
able to travel. No wind of an}- kind has been felt all day. Again we
have suffered for want of snow. The hills are practically bare.
About 2 o'clock this afternoon from the top of the mountain we
could see the hills 8 miles west of Clear. According to Mr. Bals's
statement, we should 3-et be fully 2.5 miles away from the village.
I am ver}- tired and sore all over my body this evening, from that con-
stant shpping from off every ' ' nigger head ' ' that happens to be in one's
way. It is really a wonderful thing that one does not break off arms
and legs at the " roll overs " one makes over these stumbhng blocks in
the way of every step.

Friday, November 20. — Before 7 a. m., our little caravan was moving
along over hills and valleys, and at 3 p. m. camp was made about 5
miles west of Andreafski. When comfortably located for the night,
with hand bag and ni}" medicine bag on back, I started for the village
to find Spein and Sara, whose herd and families we came purposely to
move. Bals had instructions to come after them in the mornmg in
company with the other two men. If Spein and Sara had carried out
their instructions and gone up the Yukon at freeze up (for us to follow
until they were reached), tliis would have been just the proper pro-
cedure. However, as soon as we arrived, I was met with the unpleas-
ant news that they had not yet left their last summer's camp. The
consequence of this simply means several days delay. Now we have
to go back up the Andreafski River about 12 miles, and then from
there start anew.

I was very hospitably received by Mr. and Mrs.Petre — the Northern
Commercial Company's people — and given a good supper and a warm
bed. The day has been most beautiful but quite chilly.

Saturday, Novemher 21. — After breakfast Mr. Petre accompanied
me out in the viUage to see the sick people. One case of severe type
was found and several cases with minor ailments, for which medicines
and advice were given. At 11 o'clock a. m., Bals, Nallogoroak, and
Sara, jr., arrived with the deer. At once we proceeded to take an
inventory of our provisions and to lay off stores for the return trip.
Three days ago we had the misfortune to break our coffee kettle when
roUing about in the hills, so we had to buy a new one, together with
some extra strong stovepipes. Because of the little snow the sleds
roll over almost ever}^ rock and knoll and we do not know what
moment our most essential articles of outfit may get damaged or
probably ruined. Purchases made, lunch taken, and provisions
stored, the time had already advanced to 1 p. m., when we started in
search of the herd and herders camp. The whole day had been dark
and snowy, but toward evening it became far worse. It grew so thick
in fact, that we could not find the herder camp, although I knew

INTRODrCTlON OF DOMESTIC KKINDPJEK INTO ALASKA. ()1

exactly where it ought to he. We searclied for it in vain until nearly 5
p. m., when it l)ec'ame so dark and stormy that it was hard to make
our own camp. After some extra exertions we had succeeded in pick-
ing out a place for both ourselves and the deer. Eight o'clock in the
evening, and the wind is still howling and shaking the bushes violentl}^,
but we have a perfect shelter. It concerns us very little now what
weather and wind there ma}^ be until the morning, when tlie hunt for
the herders is to begin anew.

Sunday, November 22. — Last night was peaceful, and at daylight,
8 o'clock, we were all out on snowshoes in every direction looking
for tracks of deer and people. Because of yesterday's snowstorm all
searching seemed to be made in vain. I went to the place where the
herders had their camp last fall and where they were said to be now.
The place was found without difficulty, but they were there no more.
We had been to the very spot last night, but could not recognize the
place now since the camp was moved. The four of us reconnoitered
the country in different directions all forenoon in search of the new
camp, but it was to be found nowhere. In the afternoon we started
off for Andreafski again, searcliing as we went along. And this
evening we are again camped a short distance away from the village.
During our return some tracks were found on the river at one place,
which seemed to indicate that the herd had been driven toward the
Yukon. Tliinking over our conversation with Mr. Petre about the
herders we are inclined to think that he might have misunderstood
the Lapps — who all speak English very poorlj-, or not at all — and so
misdirected us. Instead of their being on the main Andreafski
River we might be entitled to the belief that they are now 12 or 14
miles up the main Yukon, because that would correspond with the
instructions that the Lapps already had. To-morrow morning, if the
weather permits, we are going up the Yukon said distance, to see if
any trace can be found of the lost ones. The daj" has been cloudy
with a northeasterly wind. No snow has fallen and it is very mild
weather, almost thawing.

Monday, Novewher 23. — Breakfast was over at 5.30 o'clock, and a
little after 6 o'clock we were on our way toward the village of Andreaf-
ski once more, to investigate if the herd and Lai)ps were not up the
Yukon. Upon our arrival most of the people were yet asleep. For-
tunately some natives had just come down the river some 20 miles,
but they had no knowledge concerning the sought ones. From such
information our minds were naturall}' undecided again as to the pro-
gramme for the day. Bals thought it better to go home again, but, of
course, such an act coidd not be done. The herd nuist l)e found.

In a few minutes the whole village was astir because of the presence
of reindeer. Some of the natives at home in Andreafski declared
that they knew where the Lapps had their camp. Picking out the one
S. Doc. til, 58-3 6

62 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO xVLASKA.

native who seemed the brightest, and paying him $2, he followed to
show us the place. We had, however, not gone many miles before we
found that he led us to the same place we had been to previously
several times. It would be of no use to go there again, so having
gone about 9 miles, we stopped. It was about 11 o'clock. Nils Bals
and the Andreafski native made an excursion off among the hills to
the southwest to see if the herd was driven across the Yukon to the
west of Andreafski. Nallogoroak watched the deer and made tea
while Per Sara and myself went in a northeasterly direction to the
hills on that side of the Andreafski River, a distance of about 3
miles. The whole distance was searched most carefully, but not a
sign of a human being was seen anywhere, nor that of a deer.

Having arrived at the foot of the hills we followed them hrst in an
easterly direction about a quarter of a mile, and finding that way
practically impossible for either man or beast we returned and went
northwesterly along the hilfs, and after having plodded through loose
snow, knee-deep, for about a mile, I saw something that looked like an
old track of a man. Although old and snowed over it was a source
of encouragement. With lighter steps and hearts beating with
hope we continued through brush and snow^ a couple of miles when
suddenly one of my feet was caught in a ptarmigan snare. From
that place there were signs of people having walked several times, so
our hopes were renewed. Following said trail we were led over the
hills sloping toward Andreafski River and into the valley of another
river which is running parallel to the former and emptying its waters
into it near Andreafski village. On the opposite hills w^as found a
nice little bunch of spruce, and in the midst of it were the long-sought-
for Lapps. So well were they hid that it would have been hard to
find a better place of refuge from an enemy. They had said in
Andreafski that the}' were in exactly the same place where I visited
them last fall, and here they are 6 or 8 miles away from that place.
What is worse still is that they are not even in the same river valley.
It is in Nils Sara's tent I write these lines while Per Sara and younger
brother have returned to bring Bals, Nallogoroak, and the deer. It
was quite interesting to witness the meeting of Per Sara with his
parents. Per is a man of 20 summers, and as he has been parted from
his parents several years I expected to see a very touching meeting.
This, however, did not come off according to expectations.

The whole ceremony consisted in the following: Father and mother
retaining their sitting position on the floor. When Per entered the
tent, he first turned to his father and placed his right hand on the
old man's back. In return the father touched his son in a similar
manner with his left hand. Plis salutation of his mother was done
in exactly the same way. Brothers and sisters were touched by Per's
left hand instead of the right; otherwise the ceremony was the same.

INTKODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. (')3

Very few words were spoken the next ten or iil'teen niiniiles, and
then Per went oil to pilot the other two men with the deer into the
hidden camp.

Per Spein is away in search oi" a road to (hive the Jicj'd up tlie
Yukon. This is liis second chiy out, l)ut is expected home to-night.
I hope he will come, so we can get ready to leave camp day after
to morrow. Oin- driving deer were let loose to join the herd imme-
diately on their arrival this afternoon.

Tuesday, Novemher 21^. — ]\Iost of the forenoon to-day was spent
in packing sleds and getting harnesses and lassos in trim. Every-
thing seems to go very slowly. All the men started for the herd
at noon to lasso driving deer for the trij) from here to Bethel. This
was not a small item of the preparator}' work, since we will have
need of at least 25 such deer. The day has been most beautiful
and quite cold. As it looks to-night, there is good reason to hope
for a beautiful da}^ to-morrow. The moon is bright and the whole
heavens set most magnificently with the lesser lights of the night.

Wednesday, Novemher 25. — The last night's rest was certainly
very poor. Some of the people in camp have been working all
night — at least they have pretended so — and made a lot of noise. At
4 o'clock I was up and prepared breakfast, and at 7 a. m. Bals,
Nallogoroak, and myself were ready to bring the deer for a start
on the long and difficult journey. Per Sara had now joined his
parents and continued in their company. But all those people
needed at least four more hours in which to get ready. When we
came to take our deer two of them had broken loose. The one
was soon caught, but the other one ran for the mountains. This
was unfortunate, but had it ended the mishaps of the da}^ we could
have considered ourselves fortunate. Michael and Martin Sara —
two lads of 16 and 10 years, respectively — had gone to l)ring the
herd in our way, to be driven \>^ Bals, Nallogoroak, and myself,
with the said Michael. Sara and Spein, with families, should follow
us closel}^ after. Bals had his two deer all ready, so he drove on,
while Nallogoroak and I got hold of the runawaA^s.

Because of the one deer which went to the mountains we had one
more sled than deer, so we arranged for putting two sleds after one
deer until we could reach the herd. This would have worked well
for a few miles, but to our great mortification one of the deer given
us refused to work at all. It was not broken to work at all, and
when, after a hard struggle, we finally got the harness on, it simply
lay down. It was already a couple of hours since Bals had gone
with the herd, and Nallogoroak and I began to understand that
these efforts were all in vain. The Lapps were not ready, and appa-
rently did not care whether they got away to-day or to-morrow.
Then I started at once in pursuit of the herd to stop it until enough

64 INTRODUCTION OF DOMPZSTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

driving deer could be procured and lor all then to start at once.
I took thi'ee sleds with me after two deer — one old sick deer and the
other one the poorest of the lot that had come from Unalakleet.
Such was my rigging up for the trip — certainly not very encouraging.
Nallogoroak was left behind to join the Lai)ps with his load of pro-
visions and tricky deer. After three hours' hard work I reached the
herd and with it Bals and the two Sara bo5's. The}^ had gotten into
a heavy forest of spruce, birch, and alder, through which we had to
cut our way for about a mile.

For this work I came just in time, and at 1.30 p. m. we were
through at the foot of a big hill and small brush as far as we could
see in the direction we wanted to go. There we stopped for tea,
butter, and bread, and after a quick luncheon, Bals and I, with axes
in hand, started off either to find or to make our way tlii'ough the
brush. Some searching and some cutting made a fair road for a
couple of miles and enabled us to get out on one of the branches
of the Andreafski River to the east of the village. It was ah'eady
3 p. m. when we returned to the foot of the hill where the driving
deer and our sleds had been left. The herd was still up on the moun-
tains from which we had begun to make our way, so we concluded
it best to look for a camping place for the night aiid await the arrival
of Nallogoroak with the Lapps. As Nallogoroak had nearly all
our provisions on his sled, our sup[ er was very meager this evening.
Just at dusk I was up on the mountains to look if the ones waited
for had not come, but not one could be seen, nor a sound heard.
The two Sara boj^s shared Bals's and my own scant supper and have
now to sleep with us, the one in N.'s sleeping bag, the other in my
big deerskin parka and tucked down between his brother and myself.
Nallogoroak is certainly all right where he is with all his provisions
in the Lapps' company, but it is sad not to be able to make a better
day out of the first out. Delay after delay, and the precious time
passing without any results from our efforts. To-night we are not
more than about 6 or 7 miles away from their old camp, and not all
here, so naturally our to-morrow, if God grants us it, will also be
lost to a certain extent. The day has been calm and cloudy till
near e\wning, when it cleared up under a light easterly breeze, which
is genth' shaking the sides of our dwelling, just sufficient to remind
us of the fact that we live in a tent. About 8 p. m. the moon and
stars are bright, making it a beautiful night to travel. Maybe the
rest of our company will arrive sometime during the night.

Thursday, 'November 26 (in the morning). — At 3.30 this morning
I was up and started the fire and prepared what little we had for
breakfast. This minute — 6.30 a. m. — Bals started off in search
of a way again, while I stay at home till daylight and then intend
to go in a different direction. The boys are up on the mountains

INT.RODUCTIt)N OF DOMESTIC) REINUKKK INTO ALASKA. 05

to feather the herd and to see if our company lias not conic and
camped somewhere in our vicinity. As I sat in the tent wondering
what had become of the herders or what the reason might be for
such a delay and waste of time, a well-known voice from the outside
was heard. It was Nallogoroak, who, in the early morning, took a
stroll about in the wilderness to see if he could find Bals and me.
He had, in Sara's and Spein's companj^, arrived during the nightly
hours, but had taken another divide, so they had come down to the
river about H miles below us. There they had made camp and all
was well. The deer which went to the mountains was caught and the
one which fussed so in the morning was gradually trained and became
a good deer. So now, on Thanksgiving Day morning, the number is
full in both people and deer.

Thursday, November 26 (in the evening). — The morning promised
a beautiful day and the promise has been made good. No clouds
have hid the sun from our view to-day, and no wind of any kind
has been felt.

Nallogoroak, Michael, and myself went after the herd where it was
grazing before Bals's return. But in spite of all rushing and hurrying,
it got to be 10 o'clock before we reached Sara's camp with the herd
and our four sled deer and loads. There everything was perfect com-
fort and ease, joy and happiness, as if a thought of moving had never
entered their minds. At that place we now took two more sled deer,
and at 11 a. m. Bals, Nallogoroak, Michael, Martin, and I started to
move the herd toward the mountains east of xVndreafski delta, at a
point where the Yukon rolls its w^aters just at the base of the moun-
tain. It was c{uite a task, since several miles of the way had to be
cut thi'ough bushes. What inade it specially hard to find the way
was that the country is so level and the bushes so high that one can
not look over and pick the best way. Bals and myself in the lead
with an ax, each went along breaking the trail. The herd followed,
and closely after it came Nallogoroak with our loads. Moving
slowly but surely along, we reached the foot of the mountains, a dis-
tance of about 7 miles, at 3 o'clock p. m. There we stopped to have
a well-earned cup of tea with some bread and butter. After lunch we
traveled again, in the moonlight, another 5 miles, and at 6 o'clock we
made camp just on the bank of the mighty Yukon. We have not
had a glimpse of Sara and Spein with aU their sleds until this moment.
They^ having followed our trail are now, nearly 8 p. m.. making their
camp beside us. Yes, this is the day our friends in the States enjoj^
their delicious turkey. We feasted on a can of roast beef for Thanks-
giving dinner, and I declare that a better dinner could not be served
in the most luxurious dwelling in our land than this one enjo3-ed
in an 8 by 10 tent put up on the bank of the Yukon for tliis festive
occasion.

QQ INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINEEER INTO ALASKA.

Friday, Noveinber 27. — The day lias been a very beautiful one. A
light northeasterly breeze has been l)lo\ving and it has Ijeen quite
chilly, but not disagreeably cold. We began our preparations for the
day's journey at 5 a. m., and at 8 o'clock all the sleds were packed and
stretched out in a line on the Yukon. Nallogoroak and Bals went up
on the mountains after the sled deer and the herd, while I walked ahead
a distance of Si or 4 miles to an Indian village. The purpose was
twofold, the chief one being to find out the exact way to travel, and
secondly, to see if any dry fish could be procured. Nallogoroak had
not been himself for several days because of not having had anj^ such
food. On my way I met a native who gave me quite good directions
to follow. That is, he made a drawing in the snow, because not a word
of his language was understood by me. That same drawing I repro-
duced at once on a paper for future reference. Having arrived at the
village the same inquiries were made, and again an Indian drew a
map on the snow, and, when he had finished, I reproduced that one also.
Upon comparing the two they were found to be exactly alike. Fish,
however, could not be bought, because they seemed not to understand
exactly what I wanted. The herd was expected to come directly
after me, but again there was quite a little waiting to be done. Not
until 11 o'clock did it arrive. Nallogoroak had then come nearly
an hour before. He was able to get 5 dry and moldy salmon at 20
cents a piece, and 5 white fishes at 10 cents.

It is needless to state that we had a happy Eskimo in the crowd the
remainder of the day. For some unknown reason, the young Sara
lad was not accompanying the herd to-day. On that account I had to
take his place to drive on the herd for the da}'. Bals went ahead and
Nallogoroak followed as usual close after with our provision, tent, etc.
If we had a late start, we made it good by the better traveling during
the afternoon. No doubt a 20 miles distance lies between us here and
where we were camped last night. We made camp at 4 o'clock. All
has gone well except that I got a heavy blow on my left big toe in run-
ning against a stump during one of my deer's wild outbursts in trying
to run awa}^. Now I sit in my sleeping bag having snowy applica-
tions to my swollen black and blue, not toe only, but foot. Sara and
Spein have not showed up at all, and it will soon be 8 p. m. Likely
they will not be able to catch up to-night.

Saturday, November 28. — This day has been a perfect day. True
it is that the morning was a little foggy and dark, but it soon cleared
up and a northerly wind has been blowing, and still continues, only a
little stronger this evening. Last night after we had gone into sleep-
ing bags and slept for a while fSara and Spein came. It must have
been about 10 o'clock when they reached here. And on that account
they were, as usual, not ready again in the morning. Two new driving

INTRODCrCTION OF DOMESTIC KEINDKKK INTO ALASKA. (')7

doer wore taken out of the lierd, one for Sara and one for Nallogoroak,
to relieve two others which stood the trip less well. To the ])roj)a-
rations of to-day was added the cuttino; and loading of as much dry
wood as we could possi])ly take along, because after our last night's
camp is left, there %vill be no chance of getting any wood, probably of
any description. l)efore we get near Bethel.

All was ready and the drive began at 8.30 a. m. As we were now
across the Yukon and all its sloughs and brush, the vast tundra lay
open before us. A due southerly course was taken by the compasss
and we have traveled all day according to it. It happened that a
series of small lakes or ponds lay exactly in our way. These lakes —
some of which were as much as 2 miles in length — are very nice to
travel on, and between them is the best of feeding groimd for the
deer. It is certainly" well to have the feed, but at times it gives us
much trouble. The deer want to feed all the time, and as soon as we
reach such a place of moss they at once set off and spread out, so that
it becomes very hard to gather them again, for the next pond. Natu-
rally such trouble delays us, but still we are fortunate to have placed
about 25 miles behind us to-day. Camp was made at 5 p. m., when
we had traveled an hour and a half by moonlight. The deer began to
be hungry, and Michael's voice as w^ell as ni}' own gave out entirely,
so we were forced to camp before we had otherwise intended. No
wood of any description is to be found for miles and miles, and the
tundra is so level that hardly a knoll is seen anywhere. Sara and
Spein arrived two hours later and made camp by our side, and all are
ready to retire at the hour of 9.

Sunday, Novemher 29. — The day's march began at 7.45 a. m. That
means, of course, we who escort the herd; the others, as usual, did
not get ready at such an early hour. Having made about 20 miles, we
made camp at 4 p. m., and are comfortably^ situated to-night. But
at tliis hour — 7 o'clock — the rest of our crowd has not yet come. I said
we were comfortably situated. By comfort here is simply meant a
few small willow bushes, in which the tent could be securely tied.
Wood for fuel has all, like last night, to be supplied from what we
have on the sleds; consequently we need to bo ver}" careful in case it
should happen to be bad weather and a lay over be necessitated.
The day has been cloud}' and quite a strong northerh wind has been
blowing all da}^. All mountains have now sunk completely below our
horizon; so the compass is now our only guide when the sun is hid.

Just after our noon lunch of crackers and tea, I ha])pened to slip on
a niggerhead and unfortunately sprained my right ankle, and was thus
disabled to run and chase the herd, but had to sit on the sled and bark
as much as the organs of voice would allow. The ])ain is yet very
acute and it is certainly well if I can sit and juni]) and jar on the sled

68 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

at all to-morrow. The herd is doing excellently w(>ll. It is hard to
drive over these vast mossy fields since we are only two — Michael
and I — to chase.

Monday, Noi^emher 30. — At 11 o'clock last night the Saras and
Speins turned into camp. At 3 o'clock this morning when I woke
up hearing laughter and talk in the Lapp's tent, I feared we had over-
slept, but the matter of fact was they had not yet retired, nor did the}^
do so that night. Still they caused us considerable delay in getting
ready this morning. When the herd was brought at S o'clock some
new sled deer had to be caught for Sara. This performance took
them nearly an hour. Then Per was to take Michael's place to help
me drive the herd to-day. We had, however, not traveled more than
4 or 5 miles when we were fully convinced that it was an impossibility
to make any headway if we had not some more and l)etter drivers.
The deer began to scatter and eat everywhere. Per was too heavy
for so much runnhig, and I being disabled by yesterday's accident to
the extent that I had to sit on the sled and could do no more than
drive after the herd and bark in place of the dogs. Two poor dogs
were supposed to follow the herd, but they were not acquainted with
Per and so they soon returned to the camp. At 11 o'clock we were
tired and disgusted over the result of our labor, and so we stopped
to make tea and wait for Spein and Sara to come. When our lunch-
eon was over the ones waited for came. Per and Michael and one
dog at once followed with the herd, and at 4 o'clock we made camp,
fully satisfied of having traveled some 20 miles, and to our great sur-
prise all the rest of our part}^ came to camp with the herd half an
hour later.

The weather has been very dark and threatening all day, with a
northeasterly wind blowing hard. It started to snow this evening,
but it soon stopped again. What should we do if an old-fashioned
blizzard should start to sweep this level country, which affords no
shelter at all, especially as there are some small children. One in
the party is onl}^ 3 months old and another about H or 2 years.
It certainly behooves us to hurry on to more hospitable regions.

Tuesday, December 1. — At 6 o'clock this morning we were all ready
to start on our journey, but to our sorrow it began to snow very heavily,
so we did not dare to leave camp before daylight. A couple of hours
later we started off in spite of the snow and did well. About 10
o'clock the snow ceased to fall, but it has remained very cloudy and
dark all day. A northeasterly wind has been blowing from morning
till night. We have traveled fast and far. After having gone a
couple of miles we struck ice. It was a lake, the length of wliich
must have been at least 10 miles. On the latter was less snow, but
still we did exceedingly well there also. Having reached the distant
shore of the second lake we began to look about for a place to steep

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. (\\)

some tea, but there was no shelter from the cold, penetrating wind,
nor was there any wood of any kind, and as we could not afford to
burn any of the wood we carried along, we simply continued on our
way without tea.

Soon we came to an Indian village — 2.30 p. m. Nallogoroak hav-
ing gone before to have all dogs chained or closed in, I went also to
iiupiire about the best way to Bethel and to learn how" far we were
from there.

Nfinachfira gaiuut was the name of the place. How far it was
from Bethel in miles no one knew, but they used to travel there in a
day with a good dog team. To our surprise we met a wliite man by
the name of Twitchel in this lonely place of the north. A guide was
hired to go with us to Bethel that we should be able to get there with-
out any necessary loss of valuable time. That man I sent with Nal-
logoroak to go with the loads on the trail ahead, while I went after
the herd, wliich Bals meanwliile had driven in an entirely different
direction from what w^e should go. Some time later we had success-
fully driven the herd around the village to the southeast, but we
wanted to go farther east still, and to do so we had to cross another
lake. That proved to be a xerj hard task, because the ice was glare.
One of the male deer belonging to Spein who had been limping on
three legs all the wa}" from Andreafski and was really in a miserable
condition fell on the ice and walked ver}^ poorly after that fall. The
best that could be done under the circumstances was done, in that
Spein and Sara stopped to butcher it, while the rest of us drove on
with the herd to catch up with Nallogoroak and the guide, who were
a consideralile distance ahead. Having accomplished this, we camped
at 4 o'clock at the side of this lake. Possibly we can reach Bethel to-
morrow if we get an early start.

Wednesday, December 2. — Four o'clock we were preparing breakfast
and at 7 our sleds were loaded, but as usual Spein and Sara were not
ready and the herd had strolled off a long distance during the night,
and it was not brought l)ack before 9 o'clock; then another driving
deer had to be ciiught for Sara. When at last we were off we were
fully determined to make Bethel our next camp; but on account of
hard traveling over 10 miles of glare ice and then a heavy snowfall
and thick weather we have not been able to accomplisli our aim. At
1 o'clock we arrived at a little village which is said to be half way
l)etween where we camped last night and Bethel. ^Vll of us were
hungry and tliii-st}^ so we stopped for tea. While tea was made, I
took a walk into the village and met there a native b}* name George
Spear, wlio had been educated at Carlisle, Pa. He is now doing evan-
geUstic work here among his own people. George seems to ])e a very
inteUigent and practical man. The old council house, in which the
people have had their heathen festivals and dances, is now turned

<l) INTKODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

into a meeting house where he reads to the other natives the hfe-
giving word of God. One hour was very} pleasantly spent there
among the natives while tea was prepared in the camp and the deer
had theu" lunch. George then followed me back to the herd — in fact
the whole village population followed to see the '' tutm-tii," as they
call the reindeer. Then we also had to arrange for a new guide to go
on with us, because the one we had had worn out liis shoes and
wanted to return. At 3 o'clock Sara and Spein also arrived, just as
we were ready to go on with the herd. For about tliree hours we
traveled well, but then the deer wanted to eat, so we concluded we
had better stop overnight and wait for vSara and Spein, who again
had gotten far behind. If any more snow should happen to fall they
might not be able to find our trail. It is now 10.30 p. m., and our
Lapps have not yet come. Where are thej^?

Thursday, December 3. — Safe and sound are we all now at Bethel.
All delays and all disappointments belong now to the past. Sara
and company had not arrived when we began to drive the herd
this morning at 7 o'clock. But we could not wait, so we marched
on, and at 11 o'clock a. m. the herd was grazing 3 or 4 miles from the
village of Bethel, while Bals and myself drove down to the mission.
How pleasant it was to meet these dear friends and missionaries at
Bethel. Never will the feelings that were experienced at that
moment be forgotten. Those hearty handshakes and the pleasant
faces and kind words of welcome impressed me deeply.

Dinner was served in ^Ii". Stecker's home. It was the best dinner
I think I have ever eaten. The afternoon was spent in talking
about deer, missions, and natives. Bals returned to the herd with
our sled deer before supper, and will not return until in the mornhig.
Spein and Sara also arrived a little before dark. So now all the
herders and 400 deer are safe at the destination.

The wmd has been the same, only a little more easterly, and c[uite
strong. It has been very dark. The sun has not been seen for, I
think, six days.

Friday, Decemher Jf. — The da}' has been a very interestmg one.
I have visited all the three missionary families and learned about
the conditions under which they work here for the uplifting and
betterment of the part of humanit}' which has come mider their
care. As stated, the missionary force is made up of three families —
Adolphus Stecker, the missionary in charge; Joseph Weinlick, the
school teacher, and Mr. Heinz. Two native helpers are employed
in the work. Both of them have received their education at Car-
lisle, Pa. The one is George Spear, who has already been introduced;
the other is David, who is living at Bethel and makes trips to neigh-
boring villages. The missionaries and myself were out on an excur-
sion this afternoon to see the herd, but as it had gone several mUes

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEEK INTO .\LASKA. 71

farther away, wo had all to return without seeing it. The da}' has
been very eloudy and dark, with a northeasterly wind blowing (|uitc
hard. A little snow fell also in the forenoon. Mr. Steeker and I have
been talking about making a trip up to the mission herd, which is nearly
100 miles away, but for various reasons it does not seem possible to
go there. The river is so very swift that as yet it has not frozen,
sa3^s Mr. Steeker, and the mountains are said to be almost impass-
able. But should I go there I w^ould run a great risk of not being
able to return to Unalakleet in time to meet the apjiointments in
regard to Mary's case with Lindseth. And if I do not return in time,
Mary would not bo able to do anything in the matter. So all tilings
considered, it is bettor that this herd which we brought be loft in
Mr. Stecker's charge right here, and he take it up to the mission herd
as soon as the conditions be favorable. As far as we are able to ascer-
tain just now, not a single deer was lost on that long and trouble-
some journey, and no accident happened except when the sick deer
fell and hurt itself.

Saturday, December 5. — This day has reached its end in much the
same way as yesterday. The snow has fallen tliickly all day, and
the wind has kept up its speed pretty well. The barometer has
nothing good to prophesy. We have now decided to leave next
Monday morning for Unalakleet.

Sunday, December 6. — This has been a more than usually pleasant
day. We gathered in the little chapel twice during the day, and were
greatly blessed by reading the old, but ever new word of Life. ^Ul the
Lapps, except Mrs. Sara, came to church, and w^ere made acf[uainted
with the missionaries. They all stayed for dinner and returned to
the herd again before dark. Preparations were made for our start
toward home in the morning. After church this evening a man
came down from the neighborhood of the Bethel reindeer herd and
told us that their herders, with nine deer, were just commg down
to-morrow. So after all I might get a chance to see some of the
herders before our return. The weather has boon a little better
to-day.

Monday, December 7. — Somehow the night was almost sleepless.
At 5 o'clock I was uj) looking and waiting for Nallogoroak and Bals,
W'ho w^ere to come from the herd with our deer. Iloiu' after hour
passed and no one came. Dinner was partaken of early so as to
be in readiness to travel as soon as the Bethel hordeis and my own
men came. Two o'clock in the afternoon, Betlu^l herders came
with nine deer. Their deer, were in a most excellent condition.
The herders were v(My nice and intelligent young men. They gave
also a favorable report about the present condition of the herd,
but several deer had died during the summer and early autumn.
Their trip down had been very difficult because, as Mr. Steeker had

72 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

said, there was no ice as jet. It had taken them seven days to reach
the station, although they had very Hght loads. I am very glad
that we did not make an attempt to go there, because it would onl}^
have resulted in the wearing out of the few sled deer we now have
and a delay so great that I most certainly would come too late to
Nome. As Nallogoroak and Bals had not returned at 2.30 ]). m., I
sent some boys with a letter to B. to remind him that it was this A^ery
day that we intended to start for home. The boys had not been gone
long, however, before Nallogoroak came with thi-ee deer. Of coiu'se
it was too late then to go anywhere to-day, so he w^as directed out
on the tundra to where Bals was waiting with the other four deer,
and there to stake them all and return with B. to sleep at the mission
over night. The reason for the delay was said to be that the herd
had gone so far away that it took the boys nearl}^ all day to find it.
Late this evening some travelers came to the village from up Kusko-
kwim River, and one of them brought the letter which I wrote to
Mr. Stecker from Andreafski last fall, in which he was informed as
to the plans of moving the herd. The weather has been very misty
to-day, especially in the afternoon.

Tuesday, Decemher 8. — Five o'clock I was up to see what kind of
weather it was and to call my men to get the deer. But thej^, Mr.
Bals and Nallogoroak, had already gone after them. The morning
was calm, bright, and beautiful, promising a nice day. In spite of
their early start, Bals and Nallogoroak did not return until 8.30 a. m.
At 9 o'clock all was ready — two sleds loaded with wood, one with
provision, and one with clothing, then one sled remained for each
of us to ride on during the return. Farewell was taken and off we
went quite speedily, taking a northwesterly course toward home.
The whole day was calm and beautiful, but toward evening it began
to grow cloudy. Camp was made about 22 miles away from Bethel,
a little beyond a village by name Nesboangloakmut. We are very
comfortably situated in the shelter of a willow bush, and have enjoyed
our supper greatly because we had no lunch to-day on account of the
late start. The wind begins to blow furiouslj^ now, late in the
evening, and everything seems to indicate bad weather.

Wednesday, Decemher 9. — Last night was ver}^ stormy. We could
not keep the tent standing ver}^ well, but had to get up and raise it
twice during the night. At 3 o'clock the wind died out a little,
and before 6 a. m. we were ready to start the da^^'s march. Just
as the deer were harnessed up and we held the reins ready to go, the
wind came fearfully strofig and the snow with it. In such weather
we could not think of traveling, so we made an attempt to put up
the tent again. That undertaking was quite difficult, but fuially
we succeeded in getting shelter, and then we remained until 10 o'clock,
when we started off again. The wind had then gone down a trifle,

INTKODUCTiON UF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA, 73

but still it was pretty stormy. Many a time duiiiig the da}' have
our sleds been blown sidewise and even rolled over. The snow has
also continued to fall throughout the day. Toward evening we began
to see signs of our trip here on the 1st instant. From that we under-
stood that we had found our own trail again. Pleasant discovery,
indeed. We made camp again at 4 p. m., just by the side of a lake,
and are sheltered partly by a bush and partly by a little knoll. Had
it been light enough for two hours more, we would have come to our
old camp of November 30. It seems now that oiu- return would be
accomplished much easier than our coming, and naturally so.

Thursday, December 10. — It was raining all of last night and this
morning and most of the forenoon. The snow is fast disappearing.
The tundra is now practicalh' bare, but b}^ dividing our loads on all
the sleds and walking ourselves the travel has gone well just the
same. The long lakes in our course have helped us greatly, and we
are satisfied this evening of having traveled about 25 miles during
the day. Before 3 o'clock it became so dark that we had to begin
to look for a camping place, but as none could be found we con-
tinued on our wa}' more by feeling than seeing until 5 o'clock, when
we found a few small willows, which afforded very little shelter, but
there is no choice here. After the tent was tied to the sleds and
bushes we cut a lot of small bushes a foot or two high and tied them
together in bundles and then fastened with rope these bundles on
the windward side of the tent. Hardly were we settled in camp
before it began to rain again, and it still kept on at bedtime, or
rather sleeping-bag time. About two da3^s' journey from here are very
few lakes to cross, so it certainly looks bad to have to drag over the
heaA'y moss fields without any snow. As we are lightly loaded we
hope to manage it, but naturally the progress must be very slow
if this weather continues. Hu! it is lonely out here; the ceaseless
wind tearing and shaking our little home, if an^^thing, more furiously
than ever as the hours go hj. It is by the wind's lullaby and a con-
stant fear of the tent blowing over that we crawl into our bags
to-night. ''But joy cometh in the morning."

Friday, December 11. — After a very stormy and rainy night the
firmament cleared off and it was brighter than ever. The same
wind continues, but it is perfectl}^ diy and much colder than yes-
terday. The little bit of snow that is left is now crusted and the
niggerheads are covered with frost, so that the sleds slide quite
easil}^. On account of this pleasant change of weather we have
traveled well to-day, probably 25 miles or more. Our camp to-night
is better than it was last night. We are located near a little creek,
with sufficiently steep and high banks to give us shelter from the
wind. If we get one more real good day, I hope to reach the creek
through wliicli we gain exit from the tundra and across the Yukon.

74 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

Saturday, December 12. — At 6 o'clock, while yet dark for about
three hours, not seeing where to go, but having taken our course
by the compass and then noting the wind, we went on accordingly.
It was snowing and blowing all forenoon, so we could not see any-
where. Somehow Mr. Bals seemed to favor a more westerly course
than what we should have, and every once in a while I had to call
him and try to explain my view on the matter. It helped for a while,
but soon we were back again in_the same old direction.

After tea, at 12.30 o'clock, the sky cleared for an hour, so that
we could see and fully recognize where we were. We were so near
that the trees along the Yukon were plainly visible, and had we not
gone so much to the west in the forenoon it would have been an
easy matter to reach that river to-day. After being shown so exactly
where to go we happily continued, but had to make camp at 4 o'clock
in some willows. We were not able to find the timber, because it
began to storm very hard. The sleighing is getting better and bet-
ter the nearer we come to Andreafski. If this weather continues,
we might get plenty of snow for the use of our snowshoes, which
hitherto have been almost useless.

Sunday, December 13. — The night was very stormy. Our tent
blew over at midnight. Nallogoroak and myself were thus given a
little extra exercise in getting our home safe again for habitation. As
it was Sunday to-day, we made no rush in the morning. It was
nearly half past 8 before we left camp. Fortunately we soon found
our old trail agam, on which we could easily fuid our way across the
Yukon. At the early hour of 2 p. m. we had reached the nearest
moss-covered hill to Andreafski, on the east side, or about 6 or 8
miles distant. Here we made camp again and stayed overnight.
The whole day has been clear, cold, and calm. The possibility of
getting home by Christmas is becoming greater every day. In another
week of such travel we hope to be in St. Michael, and then we are
only 60 miles from home.

Monday, December 11^. — To-day has been a pleasant one. No
special difficulties have been encountered besides the ordinary trials
of trail life, and in fact they have been less than usual.

As the deer were feeding quite far from our camp last night, and
it being a dark and cloudy morning, it took until 8 o'clock before
we got started. The trail to the village was good, and in a couple
of hours we were in Andreafski. Our provision stored there was
again received and packed by Bals and Nallogoroak, while I visited
and administered medicine to some sick people. When this was
done, Mr. Petre invited us all to dinner.

At 12.30 p. m. the march began anew. Mr. Bals thought we should
follow the river some 25 or 30 miles up rather than go over the
mountains, as we did in November. Ten or 11 miles were easily

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. i .)

covered (luring the short afternoon. We have plenty ol wood and
good shelter as long as we travel in among the mountams. A north-
erly wind has been blowing all day, but not liard.

Tuesday, December 15. — All days can not be equally bright, nor
can we be equally successful every day. As stated yesterday, we
chose to follow the river instead of going higher up among tlie moun-
tains. All went well as lar as we knew the river j)erfectly, but soon
we came beyond that liinit, and we traveled all forenoon not accom-
])lishing more than '^ miles. The snow^ became looser and deeper
the farther up we came, and no possibility to get off from the river
either, l)ecause of timber and brush. About noon we reached a
place where the moimtains were tolerably steep, and there was not
so much brush on the side but what we could make our way through.
Once more we were on the mountains, wdiere reuideer travelers really
l^elong. In pure delight we made at once a big camp fire and had
our tea. The afternoon has been nmch more profital)le to us than
the forenoon was, but still the day's accomplishment is not by any
means what it ought to be.

It has been dark and snowy all day, but not too much so for
one to travel with comfort. The wind has been northeasterly and
very gentle. The great fear we had a few days ago on the Yukon
tundra, that all the snow should go away and we have to come home
in boats, has proven itself groundless. A good lesson, indeed, ''not
to worry for to-morrow." Never could the snow be more nearly
right for traveling than wdiat it is just here where w^e have gone
to-day. On account of darkness Ave were obliged to make camp a
little before 3 p. m.

Wednesday, December 16. — So another day with its struggles and
pleasures is over. While yet .quite dark this morning we were off on
our homeward march, and at 3 p. m. camp was made exactly on the
same spot as in the evening of November IS. If w'e had gone the best
and shortest w^ay, tliis place could have been reached at noon and
to-night we could have been near the portage, where exit is made to
the plains again. But Bals got lost to-day and would not go the A\^ay
Nallogoroak and I said, now proven to be the right one. The day
has been beautiful. No wdnds.

Thursday, December 17. — This day has been the brightest one we
have had on our return trip. All the clouds had disappeared this
morning. The air was fresh and it was cold. As the morning, so the
da}- has continued to be. Cam}) was left at 7 o'clock. At tea time
we had just reached the summit of the divide which separates the
headwaters of the tributaries of Andreafski and those of Pastolik
River. There is no language by wdiich to describe the s})lendor of
such a noon hour. On the one side is the vast level tundra, which
from the mountain tops looks like an ocean of snow. As far as the eye

76 INTRODUCTION OK DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

can reach there is not a break, not an elevation. On the other side is
a deep basin inclosed by mountains of various sizes and shapes.
Back of these again are other peaks which rival each other in raising
their hoary heads toward the heavens, and, though it be only the
Arctic December sun which illuminates their mantle of snow, the
splendor is unexcelled. Never can tea be drunk in a more luxuri-
ously prepared crystal palace, and never could it taste better than it
did in this big and great palace of nature prepared by God Himself.
We could not but feel grateful for being privileged to view this scene
in the splendor of noon. At 4 o'clock camp was made among some
low alders on the slope toward the sea. We are now about halfway
between Andreafski and St. Michael.

Friday, December 18. — This has also been a beautiful day, but very
cold. There was a light northerly breeze all day, and as we traveled
right against it our noses were quite troubled in that they had a
tendency to turn white and hard as soon as they were left to them-
selves for a few moments. Still none of our party had any serious
results from this fact. This evening our camp is just in line with a
little knoll on the sea, the name of wliich is unknown. Cape Romanoff
could be seen a few minutes before dark.

Saturday, Deceryiher 19. — Camp was left before 7 o'clock this morn-
ing and we have traveled quite well all day, and are to-night camped
a few miles to the east of Cape Romanoff and in a direct line with it.
To thaw out our frozen meat was specially difficult this evening,
because we have no more wood on our sleds and here is nothing to be
had but very small and green willows that can hardly warm them-
selves, much less anything else* It seems colder to-night than it has
at any time since we left home.

Sunday, December 20. — St. Michael,. 10 p. m. At last we are here
after a pretty hard day's tramp. The trail on the coast from Pikmik-
latik to St. Michael was most excellent, but the moss fields were far to
the east of our course, and we being desirous to reach St. Michael
to-day made use of a portion of the niglit to accomplish our task.
The weather has been beautiful to-day also, but it became foggy in
the evening, and before we knew it Mr. Bals was lost and could not be
found. Of course Nallogoroak and I could not stop and search in
such a fog. So we continued on to our destination well knowing that
Bals would show up there either this evening or in the morning. He
had some food on his sled and also sleeping bag, so in reality there
was no danger and we tried to not worry about him.

Monday, December 21. — I spent last night without sleep, partly
because of Bals being missing and ]^artly because of fear of dogs.
At 7 o'clock a. m. I started off across the bay for St. Michael to see if
Bals had come there, and wliile I was gone Nallogoroak should watch

INTKOUUCTION OK DOMESTIC KEINDKKK INTO ALASKA. 77

Oil the canal and on the tundra to see if lie could see Bals coming and
stop liini till my return.

On my arrival at the Northern Commercial Com))any's place
Bals had not yet come, hut shortly after hrcakl'ast he also came. He
had heen sleeping on the tundra, 2 miles away I'rom our canij), and
claimed his errand was to look Tor me. It may he so, hut chances are
that it was something else. We returned to camp at 11 o'clock and
got ready for our journey toward Unalakleet. To-night we camp
ahout 5 miles away to the south of Tlicketarrik. It has heen snowing
all day to-day and a cold northerly wind has heen hlowing. In
St. Michael we had the opportunity to communicate with our dear
ones at home by telegraph, and to our great pleasure and comfort
they are all well.

Tuesday, December 22. — Because of great darkness we left camp
later to-day than w^e usually do. The ice we have traveled on to-day
was very bad. Some of the deer broke through. Three of our sleds
are not provided with steel runners, and on the salt ice, with slush on
top, they slide as heavily as if one were dragging over gravel. One
of our deer got tired and refused to walk, so on that account I had to
take that one sled also on top of my own and let the deer go loose.
By 6 o'clock we made camj) near Galsovia — a native village about 30
miles from Unalakleet — hoping this to be our last camp before reach-
ing home.

Wednesday, December 23. — Early, while yet dark, we prepared for a
final break-up. The sleds were repacked so as to leave one of them at
Galsovia until another time, and thus enable our one tired deer to
travel loose. The trail was good, and in a couple of hours we had
reached the well-knowai Devils Gulch. There the deer were given an
hour's rest while Nallogoroak and I took the sleds down that steep
and rocky hill and placed them in order again on-the ice below. At
that time two dog teams overtook us, and as deer and dogs do not
travel well together, we allowed the dogs to go ahead a mile or two.
Ten miles farther on is a coal mine and that we reached at 1.30 p. m.
We stopped for tea and gave the deer another hour's rest, and at 5.30
o'clock camp was made. * * * g^^^^ ^^j^^g time our tent and stove
were not needed to make us comfortable for the night.

We are home once more among our dear ones. All is well. Christ-
mas preparations are all finished and we have arrived to join in the
festivities.

Very respectfully, C. O. Lind,

Superintendent.

Dr. Sheldon Jackson,

Wasliington, D. G.
S. Doc. 61 , 58-3 7

78 introduction of domestic reindeer into alaska.

memoranda concerning reindeer route between bethel and
copper center, alaska.

Department of the Interior,
United States Geological Survey,

Waslnrifjton, D. C, May 3, 1904.

Dear Sir: I inclose the two Alaskan maps, with the proposed
rontes ])racticable for reindeer indicated in red from Bethel on the
Kuskokwim, to Copper Center on the Copper. Tlu-ough the crest of
the Alaskan Range I have indicated three passes within a distance of
40 miles, which are numbered respectively 1.2, and 3. The southern
or No. o, which makes a great bend to the south, is the one used b}^
Mr. Spurr; but I find on consultation that the others (1 and 2), which
are both shorter than the southern, are also perfecth' practicable for
reindeer, having beeii used by pack horses. Mr. Spurr says that the
Kuskokwim Indians know and make use of these passes.

Having passed the Alaskan Range and gotten into the Sushitna
Basin, at the suggestion of Mr. Eldridge who has ascended the Sush-
itna and reports the going fine for pack and sledge animals on the high
ground between the Talkeet and the head of the Sushitna and an
easy passage to the Copper, I would recommend the upper or northern
route, and do not believe I should take the southern unless compelled
to drop down to some post at the mouth of the Sushitna for supplies,
etc., in case of emergency.
Very truly yours,

F. C. SCHRADER,

Geologist.
Dr. Sheldon Jackson,

United States Bureau of Education,

Eighth and G streets NW., Washington, D. G.

Chicago, III., Aipril 27, 190^.

Dear Sir: I have delaj^ed answering your favor of April 6, but
it arrived in due time, also the map, for which accept my thanks.

In measuring the distance from Bethel to Copper Center by the
upper route and the lower, I find the distance to be about the same both
wa3"s. and if I were to take a herd from one place to the other I should
surely select the lower route. It has many advantages, such as known
territory, moss, and mostly timberless, as well as easy to resupply
necessities. The upper route may be good, but no one knows what
there may be, except that it is a timbered countiy and therefore slow
to travel through without a trail of any kind; then, too, there may be
wolves encountered and other unknown or unforeseen ol)structions.
My plan would be to send a small supply of food to Bethel and the

INTEODUCTION <>F DOMESTIC KK1N13EKK IMTO ALASKA. 79

hulk ol it to .\usliai;"ak Mission now in tlic suninuT l)y schooner; then
1 would l)e on the <2;rouiu! hy Deceniher \ ') or so, and start the herd
I'roin Bethel with a h^i2;lit sui)ply and make a fast run to Nushagak,
where I woukl iind a resupply, rest a httk', and then start for the real
trip up the Koiehak to lliannia Lake, follow that body of water to
Clark Lake, from where I would cross to Cook Inlet and travel on the
sea ice up to the head of the bay, to Knik village, then follow Knik
River up to the lake, and then cross to Copper Center. The advan-
tage w ould still be larger by having a little sup])ly ])laced at Cook
Inlet, about at Toyonok ^Mission.

There are so many advantages in being able to travel on rivers and
lakes that they can not be described, and a herd can be driven twice
as fast on a lake as on land, because there is no food to tempt the
animals to linger. They can be driven on a trot the whole day and
at night brought to the shore, where they will be busy feeding over
night and will not have time to roam about and scatter, but will be
ready in a bunch for the next day's travel.

Well, Doctor, these are only my personal views, and the man who
goes can surely do as he pleases and pick his own way.

Yours, truly,

Wm. a. Kjellmanx.
SiiELDox Jackson,

Washington, D. C.

ANNU.VL REPORT FROM TELLER REINDEER STATION.
By T. L. Brevig, iu charge.

Teller Keixdeer Station,

Jnhj 14, 1904.

Dear Sir : I hereby submit the annual report from this station for
1903 and 1904.

During the summer, fall, and early winter the herd was kept north
of Grantlv Harbor, on Sunset and Rock creeks. In January it
was removed to the usual wdnter cj[uarters on the Agiapuk River.
The hoof disease raged in the herd, causing many deaths, especially
among the faw ns. In ^lay the herd was moved across the bay near
Bering, and is now 4 miles southwest of Bering, where it has dry
ground and good pasturage. The fawning season w^as favorable, 379
surviving the season of 1904. Mrs. Brevig and children left for the
outside July 12, as her health made it necessary for her to get a change.
October 12 Mrs. G. Weeks and Miss H. Naas arrived, after a most
hazardous and trying tri]) from Nome to Teller, to help me during
the winter; but failing health nuide it an absolute necessity for me
to go outside, so Mr. A. Howick ollered to stay during the winter, and

80 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC KEINDEER INTO ALASKA.

I left the station October 14, Teller October 17, and arrived in Seattle
October 28.

wScliool was kept regularly all winter and spring, report of which
has been sent you b}^ the teacher. Miss Naas. On my return, July 3,
I noticed great progress, especially in ability to speak English. Carv-
ing and drawing was also taught, besides sewing, housework, etc.

The health of all has been good. In June^, 2 children, a girl 15
months and a boy 4 years old, brother and sister, were taken into the
home, the mother dying from consumption, and the father, a white
man (they were legall}" married), gave them into our care.

Wood is now so scarce that we have to depend entu'ely on coal for
fuel. In February, 166 female deer were delivered from the herd
at Cape Prince of Wales and accepted. Two females broke loose
from their fastening before the}^ were turned over to Mr. Howick and
ran back to the Cape herd, making the total 166 instead of 16S.

Through Mr. Frank Kleinschmidt the mission o))tained the con-
tract to carry the mail from Teller to Marys Igloo and from Teller to
Cape Prince of Wales. The round trip to each place is al)out 140
miles. Serawlook, a mission apprentice, made 14 round trips to
Marys Igloo and 10 round trips to the Cape, or about 3,300 miles,
from November 1 to June l,with reindeer, generally driving double,
or with two deer to one sled. The majority of the white people ridi-
culed the idea of reindeer bringing the mail through on time or com-
peting with dogs, also of having a native drive the mail. Results
were a surprise, even to thos(^ who believed in the deer. He always
made good time and on many trips exceeded the best time made by
crack dog teams under the most favorable conditions of travel. One
round trip was made in twentj-seven hours, three hours faster than
the best dog team has ever made it in the last five winters. Some
trips were made in thirty and thirtA^-two hours. The longest time
required 36 hours.

The trips to the Cape were also made in all kinds of weather and
alwa^'s under unfavoral^le conditions of travel. Scarcity of moss
along the coast, rough ice, and heavy trails, make a detour into the
mountains necessary. The average time on this route was four days
for the round trip.

During the winter Sekeoglook's apprentice, Ehrnak, was discharged
on account of disobedience and unfitness for becoming a deerman.
Kozetuk was also suspended for disobedience, but as he promised to
become a good deerman (he had served three and a half years) and
always been a good worker, he was on my retiu-n to the station, on
promise of obedience in the future, again taken in as an apprentice.

I arrived at the station July 3 on the Charles Nelson, and will
remain at the station until the beginning of September.

Mr. Ludvig Larson came in with me and w^ill take my place and in

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

81

the future render the necessary reports, accounts, etc. Subjoined
please find account of goods for herders, deer account, etc.
Very respectfully, yours,

T. L. Brevig.
Dr. Sheldon Jackson,

General Agent of Education for Alaska,

Washington, D. G.

ANNUAL REINDEER REPORT, GAMBELL, ST. LAWRENCE ISL.\ND, ALASKA.
By E. O. Campbell, M. D., in chaigo.

Dear Sir: Permit me the honor herewith to submit m}^ third
annual report of the reindeer herd at this place, for the year ending
June 30, 1904.

Ownership.

Apprentices,
graduate.

SlPd
deer.

Bucks.

Does.

Fawns,
1904.

Sleds.

Pulks.

Har-
ness.

TJureau of Kduration

21
1.-.
,H
2
1

49
13
12
8
4
1

46'

10
6
2
1

5

4

11

Prosbvterian Mission

10
2

\
2

ITiti kin' hok

Aug. i.lQOo
Sept. 1,1905
Aug. l,190f)
May 1,1908
do

SO jiir lu

I'o lit a

f>"n moo' kOk

Im iiiing' ;1n

IMnt; ow'i vi

Sept. 1,1908

Total

18

42

87

C5

5 I 4

11

Grand total, 212.

The winter has been an unusually mild one, and the herd did well
until the spring, which the Lapps report as a hard one for fawning.
We lost 14 fawns from various causes, and two were killed by dogs
from the village 15 miles away. Some of the fawns were from
mothers born in 1903, also from mothers only a j^ear old, born in
1902.

When this is carried through the three or four generations, the
progeny become so weakened as to readily succumb to slight changes
or inclemencies in the weather, and the mothers' instincts seem not
to be fully developed, for they sometimes desert their offspring.
The herd is now on entirely new ground, inspected partially by
Per Larsen Anti and Sepillu two years ago. Near this place we
hope to find some means of erecting another winter camp. It will
be about 35 miles from the station, but in the center of a fine moss
pasture entirely unused. A move of some kind has become neces-
sary from the long feeding on much the same range and from the
increase in the size of the herd. We expect to kill a number of males
in July and August and experiment a little in the curing of meat.
Anti reports St. Lawrence Island as too marshy for the continued
lassoing connected with milking and cheese making. The marshes

82 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

and bogs soften the leg bones to such an extent in the summer that
many broken legs would be the result of much chasing a herd. This
seems to us quite reasona])le, though we know, too, the Lapps here
took no pains to secure dried stomachs of deer, the rennet of which
is a necessary element in the Lapp process of making cheese. Anti
saj^s the Lapp women do that sort of work and the poor man
smiled a sad smile because he had no wife. We have saved up a lot
of reindeer horns and hoofs, waiting for recipe and apparatus for
making glue.

A corral is much needed, especially in the fall, when marking and
castrating time comes, and when the fur is best for clothing. Rea-
sons above mentioned.

We should also feel very grateful for some good dogs from the
mainland. If Lapp dogs can not be found or procured, perhaps
you could get some genuine Scotch collies, which I think could
stand the climate and surely have the necessary intelligence.

THE APPRENTICES.

We wish we had more cause to speak encouragingly on this sub-
ject. Whether the fault is with ourselves or with the boys, we can
only state things as we see them. There have been no open breaks
nor any attempts at violence, owing to the efhcient management
of Mr. Thomas Richards, to whom we have largely committed the
care of the Lapps and herders ; but there is constantly present a desire
to deceive. If the boys were alone and entirel}^ away from the influ-
ences of the old men of the village they would do very well, but I know
that the old men are counting on a big killing of deer as soon as the
boys' time is out. No one here seems to grasp the idea that any
one ever does an37^thing for them but to further his own ends, and
except for the single element of fear of the powers of the United
States Government vested in the revenue cutters, there is no authority
over them apart from their own thinking — verily the traditions of
the elders. We found a promising 3'oung boy last summer, an orphan
from Plover Bay, Siberia, who wanted to become a herder. His
guardian gave consent, with full know^ledge, but in the winter w^hen
we took the boy, "Pung aw ii' yi', " into our own home for the school,
and to remove him from the filth and vermin of the guardian's home,
the guardian objected, and had we not been firm about it would have
taken him. We had five children with us in our home all winter,
and he was the best one. He did his chores prompt!}' and well,
and seemed eager to learn. Many, many times he would draw away
from the other boys and quietly come into the kitchen where he could
watch Mrs. Campbell.

Physical fear of Richards has made the larger boys more careful
in their treatment of the Lapps, and the same thing induced an
increased activity on the part of the Lapps, so that the boys have

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 83

made considorablo progress in learning to l)reak and drive the sled
deer. We allowed them to come in as often as they chose, provid-
ing they woidd drive deer, until they got to neglecting the herd,
when regular times were set. Per Larsen Anti is an excellent deer
man, and possesses the qualifications of a shepherd. He knows
the personalit}' of nearly- every deer in the herd. Were he only
a mariied man his worth and influence would be far greater. In
our opinion Christian homes are the foundations of all stal)le govern-
ments and enduring civilization. Ole Pulk has been far from
satisfactory. With a strong-minded American or Lapp constantly
in the camp, he might do good service, but as it was we thought
best to remove him Maj^ 1, since which time lie has lived in the
Beach House with Mr. Richards. Richards has been able to tell the
boys of the eagerness of the young men on the mainland to secure
herds of reindeer, and that has had a good influence on the boys,
so that they have conducted themselves much more satisfactorily
during the last few months. Shut in on an island of small popula-
tion, ideas are narrow, and onl}^ become broadened by contact
with those from outside. Seeing more outsiders and removed from
the influence of the old men ol the village, with an efficient teacher
among them, the six boys we have would compare well with any
herders I have read of. We hope to have some women in the camp
this winter, a much-needed element, and a most necessary one before
the camp will become a home.

One of the boys is very anxious to secure a wife from some other
people. The people here are intermarrying to such an extent that
the whole village is like a large family, and unless steps are taken for
their relief they will soon be gone.

Another matter under this head demanding 3'our most careful
consideration is the future of the boys who graduate. What pro-
vision is to be made as an initial outfit for the young herder at the
time of his graduation? What is to be given him beyond his 50
head of deer? There is no market for meat here like there is for
herders on the main land, neither an}' stores where a herder could
secure needed supplies by purchase or in trade. There is no freight-
ing to be done for miners nor other means of earning money, and at
the same time preparation has to be made for weather perhaps
severer than most of the herds meet on the mainland, because there
is no protection from the severe winds so frequent here in winter.
Tents can not stand, nor do they suffice for protection. Fuel is
another serious problem on account of an absence of timber. Drift-
wood is onh' found along portions of the north side, and the beach
is allotted among the different houses, so that each one has his
claim, and for another to take wood from any place but his own is
considered and treated as "claim jumping."

84 INTKUUUCTION OK DOMESTIC HKINDKKR INTO ALASKA.

I would respectfully recommend that each l)oy graduating he given
a rifle and a shotgun with 200 rounds ol ammunition for each,
cooking utensils, bedding, a few articles of household furniture, rope
and sled (wood and steel runners) , a good supply for one year of cereals
and vegetables especially, some good clothing, and a cabin, to be
located after consultation and agreement with the superintendent.

THE SCHOOL.

This is the most promising and encouraging feature of our entire
work. We deny that we are discouraged — that we have the blues
or any form of liver complaint — as some may infer from certain
statements in our report. That we have made mistakes and that
the work has sufTered by them we admit. That others could have
done better we most firmly believe, but by the grace of God we are
what we are, and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall
hammer away until something breaks. ^

Dr. Arthur J. Brown, a most careful, practical, business-like sec-
retary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, says it will
take two or three generations to make good strong characters of
the Filipinos. Similar testimony could be produced in regard to
work among any people so far lost as these. While education can
never produce character, it will most effectually banish superstition
and devil worship, and we can see these things are fast losing their
hold on the younger people on the island.

To more fully appreciate the attendance on school during the year
it will be necessary to bear in mind the census figures, which are
as follows:

Census figures, Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, January 15, 1904.
Ago:

Under 6 —

Boys 14

Girls _ 13

6 to 14—

Boys 29

Girls 20

14 to 21—

Boys 30

Girls 10

Mon 00

Woinon ?4

Total 250

Widows , 12

Full orplians 9

Half oiplians 39

Now from this population, increased by the arrival of 19, the
entire population of the small village at Southwest Cape, in the first

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC KKINDKKK INTO ALASKA. 85

week of April, we liad an enrollment of fi7, two of whom were boys
belonging to Southwest Cape and came only during April. Further,
the three younger reindeer a])prentices did not come into school
until Thanksgiving, and many of the boys were away more or less
during April for the whaling season. Notwithstanding all this and
the fact that the school is composed of savage pagans we have the
following record of attendance for one hundred and thirty-four
days from October 1 to April 30 :

Daysabsent 0 0 0 0 11112 2 2

Timostardy 0 12 8 0 12 8 12 3

Number of pupils. . 14 (5421421 12 3—40

The average attendance for the year was 01, more than treble
the attendance in 1900. We have pursued the same policy of making
the school the most attractive place to be found on the island. The
magazines you have sent did most excellent service, and we trust
you have sent a fresh suppl}^ for the coming winter, ^lany of the
illustrations were used in teaching new words and have been the cause
of many questions.

Mrs. Campbell assisted me the entire 3'ear, taking six classes in
the morning and four in the afternoon, though she had more other
work than she could do. The crowded condition of the schoolroom,
the as yet uncontrolled habit of studying aloud, and the necessar}^
confusion from two classes reciting at the same time, when seated
side b}^ side, made teacliing a great difficulty, and 3'et we are pleased
to consider ourselves privileged in being permitted to be a light in
the darkness here. Appended is the programme of our daily exer-
cises and on another sheet an epitome of the class work covered by
each grade. Two of tlie older bo3^s came tliis 3^ear onh^ because I
insisted so strongly and promised them they need not come any
more. But the school has more attractions for them now and thc}^
are anxious to go to Carlisle, only the parents are holding them back.
No one has yet gone from here to America and all are afraid to make
the start. We shall be so glad when the first one has gone and can
come back and tell others what he has seen. There is more need
of work among the women and girls than among the men and bo\'s,
and we should be so glad if a new and separate building could l)e
put up and a lady assistant emplo^^ed so the school coidd be divided.
There are six or eight cliildren who should be admitted this year, but
we do not feel like carr3dng the additional burden, nor have we seats
for them.

We believe the size of the school and the interest manifested
would justif3' the erection of another schoolroom and the em])loy-
ment of a lady primar3' teacher.

86 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

COITIISE OF STIUV, 1903'-4.

A class: Seven girls and o boys. Appleton's Heading Chart to
No. 27. Counting, adding, subtracting up to 10. Copying on
board and slate. Changing printed to written letters. Parker's
Arithmetic Chart to No. 9. Naming objects and conversation.

B class: Eight girls and 3 boys. Appleton's Reading Chart.
Counting to 100; adding and substracting to 15. Parker's Arith-
metic Chart. Seat work, copying. Dictation of words learned.
Conversation, naming objects.

First grade: Thi'ee girls and 10 bo3"s. Part of McGuffey's First
Reader, daily. C3t's Primer to page 100, daily. Parker's Arith-
metic Chart to page 17, daily. Penmanship twice; drawing once a
week. Dictation; reading lessons, twice a week. Spelling, oral,
written, daily. Sewing cards for girls.

Second grade: Five girls and 4 boys. Cjt's Primer completed,
dail}'. C\t's First Reader to page 66, daily. Prince's Arithmetic,
Book I, page 37. Spelling, oral and written, daily. Dictation, stories
and reading lessons, twice a week. Penmansliip twice, drawing
once a week. Conversation. Sewing cards for girls.

Third grade: One gui and 8 boys. Balwin's First Reader com-
pleted. Cyr's Second Reader, daily. Parker's Arithmetic Chart,
daih^ Prince's Ai'ithmetic, Book II, to page 21. Penmanship
twice, drawing once a week. Conversation. Spelling, oral and
written, daily.

Fourth grade: Eight bo3^s. Appleton's Second Reader, complete.
Balwin's Second Reader to page 60. Milne's Elements of Arithmetic
to page 74, daily. Penmanship twice a week. Drawing weekly.
Spelling. Dictation, writing some reading lesson, twice. Letter
writing. Conversation.

Fifth grade: Seven bo3^s. Appleton's Third Reader to page — .
"How to Talk" Language to page — . Milner's Elements of Aiith-
metic to page — . Barnes's Geography and Map Drawing. Drawing
once a week. Penmanship twice a week. Spelling, written and
oral, twice a week, with a home-made dictionary of words learned.
Journal, weekl}', writing of events. Conversation, correction of
sentences. Singing, naming of States and capitals.

Wednesday evening class: Twenty-one 3'oung men. Reading,
"Story of the Gospel." Explanation of wording, writing them on
blackboard; map talks; board illustrations, talks on geography,
etc. Singing. Playing of games, and tea.

BUILDINGS.

In July we began the construction of the long-hoped-for hospital.
The lumber was not dry, and some of it was yet to come on the

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC R?:INDP:ER INTO ALASKA. S7

sup])]}- schooner, which (Hd not roach us until August 28. But wo
sharpened up the tools on July 22 preparatory' to the buikling, and
made some cold chisels. With the help of some of the boys, ohsorved
July 27 as ''Bell Founders' Day," removing the heavy bell from the
roof and refitting the collar to prevent a severe rocking whenever
the bell was rung. Jul}^ 28 was "Blacksmiths' Day," because we
made some necessary tools; Jul}^ 29 was "Stonemasons' Day,"
because spent in getting out stones for foundation. The next lew
days were devoted to the "County Association of Architects,"
because plans for the new building were drawn, the scale being
one-twelfth inch to an inch. August 3 actual work began with
six men helping me. The services connected with the laying of the
corner stone were held August 6. Work was continued untU the
26tli, w^ien we could go no farther until we knew if more lumber
should come. Notwithstanding the continual vigilance necessary
to the best w^ork and to make the lumber go as far as possible, the
work with the men was very pleasant and I am sure profitable to
them. They learned much English and also the use of some of the
carpenter's tools. The square and level have come, to those that
worked wath me, to mean something very definite and exact, and
they also learned a little of the wliite man's use of diagrams and plans.
As mistakes were made, each one had his share of the jocular query,

"What's the matter with , asleep?" at which all would laugh,

and right glad were they when the}" found opportunity to laugh at
the Im-ed carpenter. The addition consists of the hospital, IG by 16,
separated from the main building by an entry which has been used
all winter as a much-needed reception room and w'ash room. In
the shed adjoining is a storeroom, a bathroom, and coal bunkers for
the schoolroom. The wash room and bathroom may be called a
part of the hospital equipment, cleanliness constituting a better
medicine than all the drugs obtainable. The bathroom was used
a great deal.

Our plan w^as for four to go to the lake one-fourth of a mile away and
get water, which we put in a large tank in our kitchen stove. When
the water was hot the boys filled up the bath tub and two of them
had their fun, when two more put in more hot water and washed off
all the dirt the w^ater would hold; so with hot water, plenty of soap and
wash rags and towels the four came out, if not white as the snow,
improved at least 300 per cent, the usual returns expected from
expenditures in Alaska.

The walls of the building have double air spaces, and the roof and
floors single ones, making, as w^e know from experience, a much
warmer room than if the walls had been put against each other. As
soon as the Laura Madsen came and the su2)plies were piled under

88 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC RKINDP:ER INTO ALASKA,

cover we made haste with two boat crews to move the reindeer camp
house to a better place, where it would be nearer to moss. This was a
hard, tedious piece of work. The house was torn down in a light
rain, the lumber loaded on two boats, which had to be j)ortaged from
the sea to a lake, then towed along the lake beach for 2 miles and dis-
embarked. Eveiything was then carried on the backs of our people
over the spur of a hill about 1 mile to the shore of Nan nook Lagoon,
where it was again put in boats and taken about 2 miles from the sea to
a good location. Nan nook Lagoon is navigable for large ships, but
the entrance is so shallow, only whale boats can get in. The house
was reerected, the walls packed with deer moss, the roof allowed air
space with an outside covering of 4-inch flooring and a good coat of
paint. A shed was also built over the doors and bunks put in both
the boys' room and the Lapps'. By the time this was done the rough
fall weather had come and the sea was so stormy we could not
launch a boat.

We made a trip to the summer camp of the herders, gave them a
list of deer to be marked for each apprentice, and killed a deer for
meat, as our food supply was getting short. At last we dismissed
most of the boys and let them walk home, w4th instructions to return
for us when the weather moderated. But the weather did not mode-
rate and at last we had to walk home and leave the boats and most of
the camp outfit. Fortunately my dogs had become lonesome and
came to hunt us up, so we cut up some canoes, improvised harness,
borrowed a deer sled and "mushed" 17 miles over lakes, rivers,
swamps, and mountains to Gambell. Besides Mrs. Campbell and our
two small Eskimo boys, were two Eskimo women and another little
boy to whom the trip was anything but plaj^, though all stood it well.

Two weeks later Mr. Richards took a crew and put up a small
winter cabin on the shores of another lagoon, to give room for a change
of the herd. There should be more of these houses at different places
over the island.

The beach house was repaired where some robbers had broken the
door during Air. Egan's absence two years ago, and the floor braced
up to allow coal to be placed in the shed. The entire house is nothing
but a shell and will not answer for either dwelling or storehouse. We
think it could best be utilized hj removal to the village, placing it on
a proper foundation for use as an assistant's residence.

With the use of a few large timbers, the entire building could be
moved intact, by means of large blocks and tackles now in possession
of the people.

We have spoken of the need of winter quarters for the herders, who
have no means of securing them themselves and could not be blamed
if they deserted their herds and came in to the warm houses of their

INTKODrCTION OF DOMESTIC KKINDKKK INTO ALASKA. 89

faiiiilics ill the village. In view ol the fact that the lives of the people
of this station virtually dej)end on two harvests of seal and walrus,
the failure of either of which would throw the inhal)itants into a
famine, it would seem highly proi)er that a good suj)pl3' of stajjle food
products should be kept here continually, and a proper building
erected for the purjiose. When the ice comes in the early winter, seal
and walrus are usually c{uite plentiful. Between November 1 and 15,
1903, 111 seals were killed, and from November 28 to December 10,81
W' alruses, the cold weather enabling the people to keep the meat. This
catch, with the few killed during the winter, supplies the larder until
about the time of the breaking up of the ice in spring, when another
catch is made which tides them over the summer. Ducks, fish, and
eggs, with whale meat and skin, complete the diet, added to a small
amount of white man's provisions obtained in trade for whalebone,
ivory, and fox skins. Last year there was between $30,000 and $40,000
worth of these valuable articles taken from St. Lawrence Island, for
wliich the people did not receive much more than one-fifth or one-sixth
that amount. This year one of the boys brought me a bundle of
whalebone asking me to weigh it for him, which I did and found it con-
tained 14 pounds. The same bundle was weighed aboard one of the
whalers and the weight announced as 9 jiounds, and the bov given
a new .44-caliber Winchester rifle — $84 for $12. Rather large gain
to cover handling. Sometimes a good trade is made to make a good
impression and the man is caught for a large deal as well as many
of his friends, for ever^'one tells everyone else of the trade he has made.
This is a well-known advertising scheme in the business world, but
sadly successful among a people so ignorant of the true value of what
they get. It this connection I would say I do not believe the Govern-
ment teachers and missionaries in Alaska are getting the lowest rate
obtainable, l)ut our isolation puts us in a position where we can not
have a choice. Many of the present evils of trading will disappear
when the school gets a larger hold on the people, and those now in
school have grown to years of maturity. We should be verv glad,
indeed, to see a stanch, stifl' backboned Christian business man here
for trading alone. It would pax. But it is hard to have one kind of
teaching going on all winter, and the direct antagonist coming with
the ships in great power in the spring. Whisky or other alcoholic
drink is still used as a trade or prostitution inducer, though not so
op(Mily as in former years. The method often practiced now is for
the party of the first part, white, Portuguese, or negro, after trade,
adultery, or prostitution to place the liquor in reach and go away. If
it is taken he does not give it, and so escapes the letter of the law.
Words well-nigh fail to express the discouraging tendency such actions
have on our work.

\)0 INTRODITCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDP:p:R INTO ALASKA.

Many of tliem can not see why the white men should have anything
to say about what the Eskimos shoiihl (k), for the Eskimos were here
long ago. Arguing in this manner they resent the use of their young
men as reindeer boys; the killing of their dogs when chasing the deer;
the regular attendance of children at school; the punishment of dis-
tiu-bers or criminals; and, in short, any interference. Some are
awakening and becoming willing to be taught and led — a little way.
When asking one of the most influential men here if he would not send
his boy out to school he told his boy, " Yes, if the white speak strong"
(i. e., insists or urges). Let the authorities compel payment for that
$2,000 or $2,500 worth of bone taken under false pretenses, stolen,
and the miluence of the action will be very great indeed.

ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES.

Mr. Thomas Richards has done efficient service in the preservation
of order and instilling into the minds of the people a wholesome fear
of the Government — fear being at present if not the only at least the
most effective means of controlling them. Though the people here,
and Eskimos in general, have to pay large sums for "treatment" by
their native doctors, the only evidence I have that anyone is grateful to
me for the medicine given or surgical relief is the fact that they are
coming to ine more than formerly, and I see less of the native doctors'
charms worn. They do not carry anything for use nor perform any
manner of work, but I am sure to hear some one say, "No pay.'"
They have a custom here that the man who gets a whale shall give
grown people on the beach when the whale is landed one or more slabs
of bone, the value of which may range from $2.50 (a small slab) to
$450 (being the market price of 10 large slabs of whalebone), and yet
he will see that you give him some return.

Everyone on St. Lawrence Island is assured of a house, food, and
clothes, if enough can be gotten, whether he gets them himself or
another one is the successful man. I^ast spring the whaling barken-
tine Morning Star, Capt. James Tilton, took four men from King
Island for the cruise. Returning in the fall Captain Tilton could find
no one on that island, and not knowing the cause he concluded to get
us to take them here or carry them on to San Francisco. Upon con-
sulting with our people four homes were ojiened to them and all winter
they fared as well as anyone here. From these men I obtained the
census of King Island, which shows 80 males and 57 females, they
having gone over the people house by house. In this connection it
may also be interesting to give a com}>arison of a few words from
eachlano;uao:e:

INTRODUCTION OK DOMESTIC REINDKKK INTO ALASKA.

91

Englisli.

He is afraid

Abdomen

Above

Adult

Adam'sajiple

Again

Aim (gun)

Air (atmosphere)

Alive

All

All right

Alone

And

Angry

Ankle

Arm

Arrow

Ashes

Asleep (he is) ...

Aunt

Avvay-go

Point Barrow.

(?rk sC rok

nId'zC)

tot' p6 kini' no

o"' nCn

top' ko t6

soo' ](■

leh o Ok' tok

selo

In' fl 6 roo 6

cM (lot

ghoong W choo

kis' SI m6

-loo -lo(5

ki nflng' 0 roo 0

sing (?ng' nOr in

tol Ok

kok' 0 roo

Ok o rt^

sin Ik tok

Ot yo or On Og (5 roo 0
pi C ghiu

Kings Island.

to loks' rO tok

iie"^ dzn'i k

pd ghlm' nfi

Ong oon

tok khloot

soo 1 1

oo mekh' tok

se Ifi

to gong e Ifik

noong 66k' hie ok tok ..

a a

ke ze' mo

-166 -166

ki noong 0 ro ok tok

sing eng nit

tellfik

kok u rook'

kob le' nilk or Ok tl n'l ..

se nekh' tok

OtseQ'gtl

0 we tin or 0 ghol 6 goiu

St. Lawrence Lsland.

0 leng'ok.

Ok' sfi.

ko 10 Ong 0.

Ong to 0 ne' In.

eg ulehl kog u rOOk.

0 hl;'i mCmg.

kha nfi go te Cik.

sla.

66ng an' 66 vO.

kl mtik 16 ko.

O'O.

kl zi ri hok n mv'i.

hl66-hl66.

66 w66 me v66k I6k sing

elh hot.
t6 k6 6 ghOt.
to' hlik.
ho wut.

gOr' en nu ghut.
kO vOkli' tok.
An-y a nfi.
0 we tin or 6 ghol 16 kl.

The great similarity is noticeable even in so sliort a list of words as
the above, and many apparent differences would vanish were we pos-
sessed of a fuller knowledge of all the languages. For instance, the
word "ankle" is sing eng' ner in, in Point Barrow; sing eng nit, in
King Island j- and sing' eth hut, in St. Lawrence Island. This in
our language refers to the constriction of the leg at the place where
the boot straps — seng' it — are fastened, which would also be the
word used if we were speaking, "My ankle is broken.'* But the
bones and flesh composing the ankle joint would be more properly
interpreted, to ko 'o ghwot.

There is a set time and a certain sign for beginning eveiy game
pla^^ed by cliildren or old people, and woe to the one who presumes
to break the prescribed rules.

When the sun l)egins to change his course and moves with ever-
lengthening strides across the narrowed southern arc, the sages of
the land call upon the young scions of the house to get small billets
of wood, about 6 inches long and 2 inches in diameter, to whicli is
fastened a small piece of walrus rope some 18 or 20 inches long. This
is used as a bat for knocking small stones or lumps of snow or ice.
When the ice comes a walrus is killed and the meat is drawn over the
ice; two large whale vertebra- or other objects are set up some 30 or
40 feet apart as goals, and three or four couples of bo^^s as partners
begin throwing rocks at the goals to upset them. The rules are
much like those governing the Scotch game of cjuoits or our American
game of horseshoes.

When a whale is killed the boys make small canoes and play with
them in the house only, and throw darts with a piece of cortl attached,
having a loop in the end, which is caught over a small peg in one side
of the dart. With only one v.hah^ the dart may be thrown only away
from the sea, but with two whales the dart may follow any dii-ection.

^2 INTRODTCTION OK DOMESTIC KEINDPIER INTO ALASKA.

Also when a whale or a bal:)y walrus is killed they make a sort of
bolos sling, the balls of which are made of rolls of old w^alrus skin
about an inch in width, and begin the favorite game of handball. In
this a large ball about 5 inches in diameter is made of beautifully
pieced red and white sealskin, and stuffed with deer hair. Usually
the boys and young men are pitted against the girls and young
women, and playing begins in the first patch of ground showing
through the snow. As the days lengthen and the nights are so light,
one could read all night; playing often continues all night, and during
May and part of June sleeping is done in the daytime.

Tw o whales killed permit the use of toy canoes on the snow of the
beach. Toy canoes made of a mitten, with its inner edge for the
bottom, are used when a female walrus and her baby are killed. The
same sign indicates the use of the sling, but the stones may not be
thrown toward the sea unless two walruses and babies are killed.
These slings are of the same pattern as that with which David killed
Goliath, and are used with great skill by some.

No rules govern the playing of the white man's games, so checkers
and dominoes go on all winter.

GENERAL DEPORTMENT AND MISCELLANEOUS.

We have had very little trouble with the people this year; indeed,
the longer we stay the more do we seem to be a sort of house of guard-
ians for the population. It is true we have to pay for every small
thing done, but this is both our own wish and teaching, and would
be expected by a people so poor and sick as these.

One big man last fall attempted to compel me to pay him his own
price for helping to land the goods. He was furious for a w^hile,
threw off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and threatened a messenger
I sent for Richards, but soon cooled off, and is now quite friendly and
apparently grateful for relief from severe pain. He, with many
others, would be greatly benefited by a vegetable diet, being sufferers
from a form of scurvy due to an excessive meat diet.

In December Miu kok, an Indian Pointer living here, a most
troublesome fellow indeed, became enraged at his wife and hit her
over the head with a big block of wood, cutting a frightful gash.
Richards sent for him and some of the older men, delivered them all
a good lecture, and^put Miu kok in charge of the old men; to be kept
until the arrival of the Thetis. It w^as the same man who on several
occasions threatened Mr. Doty and Doctor Leri'go, one time nearly
breaking in the door with stones. He and his brother also beat me
on the beach in the spring of 1902, w^hen the Indian Point boats
arrived. The people here would be glad to see these tw^o removed.

Indian Pointers are a hard lot, tyrannical and overbearing, even
to the forcing of tribute from the St. Lawrence islanders. One

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC RPHNDEER INTO ALASKA. 93

of them took some 15 or 20 pounds of ivory from Ifkowan, father of
Sepillu, one of our herders, and others are continually threatening
and intimidatint]; our people into giving of anything the Indian Point-
ers want. I called at Asshoonu's house one day just in time to abort
an attempt of this kind by the son of the old Indian Pointer chief,
Koworrin, who threatened to fight Asshooku if ho did not give up
some whalebone. These people always bring li(|uor with them, too,
for there is no restriction as to trading such stuff on the Siberian
coast.

In February one of the men, Hokh ko okh, drove his dog team too
close to the sled deer which were staked out not far from the camp,
causing one to break loose and run away, while another was so badly
bitten it was thought for a while we would have to kill it, but we
brought it to the station, housed it in the deer shed, and nursed and
doctored it for two months, when the weather had so moderated and
the snow sufficiently uncovered to permit of his being sent to the
herd, where he is doing finel5^ The man was impressed into provid-
ing deer moss for the deer as long as it was in hospital, and we shall
set a fine upon him as soon as the Thetis comes.

In May, three dogs, nearly starved, belonging to a lazy fellow
named Koloo ku, went to the herd, over 15 miles, chasing it and
killing one fawn and so injuring a second that it died. The boys
killed all his dogs, which so enraged him he said w^e should have to
pay for them and he would kill some deer. He had previously
threatened the boys and tried to intimidate them, so Richards took
him outside my house, where the conference was being held when
he demanded pay for his dogs, intending to take him down to the
Beach House and explain things to him; but on the way he attacked
Richards, who, how^ever, was too much for him, and put him in irons,
from which he was released on the word of the old man who holds
vassalage over him. On tliis case also we are waiting the coming
of the Thetis.

There has been considerable liquor made here this winter, and
some traded from the whalers, but we do not despair of its final
extermination.

The medical work has increased and demands much of our time.
It would seem to us as right for the Government to furnish a supply
of medicines as it is for the surgeon of the revenue cutters to do
such work, and no one would think of questioning that.

We feel much encouraged this year. There are beginning to be
seen signs that the seed sown has fallen into good ground. Some
blades of grass are even showing, and in due season we shall reap
if we faint not.

A great moral and physical improvement in the condition of the
people would result from a du'ect and specific order from Washington
S. Doc. 61, 58-3 8

94 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

to commander of the revenue cutter calling here, to enforce and
direct a thorough clearing of the village grounds of the hones and
vile rubbish, so profuse on every hand, and the designation of cer-
tain places where such garbage shall be thrown.

There are enough men and women, boys, and girls here to make
short work of the job, and I am sure all would feel proud of the result
and be incited to a like cleansing of house, person, and soul.

Trusting the work of the, year may meet with your approval, that
you will not spare us j^our valued suggestions and counsels, and that
you will sustain us with continued mention before the throne of Him
who holds us all in the hollow of His hand, I beg leave to subscribe
myself

Your obedient servant,

Edgar Omer Campbell,

Superintendent St. Lawrence Island Station.
Dr. Sheldon Jackson,

Washington, D. C.

Vital statistics,

June 30, 190^.

Population of Gambcll :

Deaths — Continued.

Under 6 years —

Bovs

Adult male

1

14

15

Infant female

1

Girls

6 to 14—

Total

5

Boys

30

Population at Poo wo'wa

luk,

Soutii-

Girls

14 to 21—

20

west Cape:

Under 6 years —

Bo3's

Girls

23

3

Boys

Girls

1

1

Adults —

0 to 14—

Men

67

Bovs

1

Women

83

Girls

1

Total

255

14 to 21—

Boys

2

Widows

12

Girls

1

Orphans

9

Adults-

Half orphans

37

Men

Women

5

9

Births:

Males

10

Total

- . . .

19

Females

2

12

Widows

2

Total

Orphans

1

Deaths :

Half orphans

2

Infant males

3

Grand total

274

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 95

ANNUAL REPOIIT OF EATON REINDEER STATION.
By Carl O. Lind, M. D., General Superintendent Central Division.

Unalakleet, Alaska, June 30, 1904.

Sir: I have the honor to submit to your consideration my annual
report of the work which has devolved upon me as suj)ervisor of the
reindeer herds and apprentices in Alaska for the )^ear wliich termi-
nated June 30, 1904.

Early m the morning of July 25 the pleasure was granted us to
welcome ^li'. Hamilton, the assistant agent of education for Alaska.
His stay with us was brief, but the time was well spent. As the
mission at Unalakleet had previously had the promise of a herd of
deer, tliis promise was acted upon. ^Ir. Bals, sr., was appointed
chief herder for one of the herds at Unalakleet, wliile Ole O. Bahr
still was to hold that position over the other herd. As yet there
was but one herd, but on Mr. A. E. Karlson's suggestion it was
decided that it be divided into two and kept separately. It was
also decided that Mr. Bals, jr., should go to Nulato to fill the place
to be left by Isaac Bango. As I had previously received an offer
of appointment from Dr. Sheldon Jackson to the position which I
now hold, Mr. Hamilton confirmed the same.

Bals, jr., was willing to go to Nulato at once, and as soon as the
necessary preparations were made he left Unalakleet to go from
St. Michael with the fii'st boat of August. Upon Bals's arrival at
Nulato, Bango returned and came to Unalakleet. The instructions
in regard' to his being sent to Port Clarence arrived after he had
reached Unalakleet. He not being willing then to lay out the money
for his journey, I having no more to expend, he was delayed at
Unalakleet until September 21, when he decided to go on his own
risk. During Bango's stay at Unalakleet we received a letter from
the local superintendent at Port Clarence to the effect that no
Lapp was wanted at that place. But after all, when having had
repeated instructions from headquarters as to his sending, and
Bango at last being willing to lay out the money for his fare, I let
him go in the evening of September 21. On September 23 I received
a telegram from the Commissioner of Education to dismiss Bango
for the year. I acted upon the instructions immediately, but that
letter must not have reached Bango until the local superintendent
Brevig and Bango had formed an acquaintance and liked each other
quite well. So Mr. Brevig wrote Doctor Jackson about his satis-
faction with the Bango family, and a second telegram was received
from Doctor Jackson on November 9, the sa^me day I had left for
the Kuskokwim, that Bango coidd continue in service. I having
already gone, Mr. K. J. Hendrickson, the missionary in charge, wrote
IVIr. Brevis and Bango to that effect.

96 TNTKODUCTION OK DOMP^STIO REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

According to instructions received, I left Unalakleet on August
26 en route for Andreafski to see the herders, Spein and Sara, who
had been left in Andreafski Valley last winter, after a vain attempt
to reach Bethel, Kuskokwim, and also to arrange for their provisions
until in the winter, when they were to be moved to their destination
on the Kuskokwim. I arrived at Andreafski on August 31 at 10
o'clock a. m. A boat and a native were hhed, lunch prepared, and
in a little over three hours I was at the herders' camp, 12 miles up
the Andreafski River.

Mrs. Per Spein had given birth to a child only four days previously,
and there she lay with the infant, having very little to eat and no
milk, this article not even to be had in Andreafski. An order was
taken for provisions for both families for three months' time, which
I promised to send them from St. Michael. The herd was inspected
and found in good condition. The feeding ground near Andreafski
is most excellent, and the deer had been doing very well. At 6
p. m. the same day I was back again at Andreafski, and as the
steamer Leah, the boat on which I came up, was there yet, I bought
some provisions and sent back to Mrs. Spein for her use, until the
order from St. Michael could have time to arrive. Mr. A. Stecker
was informed by the letter, which was sent by George Fredericks,
who w^as just ready to go to the Kuskokwim in regard to our plans
for moving the herd in the early part of the winter. The next morn-
ing, September 1, the steamer Rock Island steamed in on her way
to St. Michael, and on September 2, at 10.30 a. m., she arrived at St.
Michael. The orders for provisions were filled at the military post
and the goods freighted up the river on the Northern Commercial
Company's boats, and that same evening I arrived at Unalakleet
aboard the mail steamer Meteor.

The 2d day of September the mission herd was counted and
marked.

In the middle of September J. T. Lindseth brought suit against
Mary Antisarlook, one of the chief Eskimo reindeer owners, to
recover, as he said, money which he had paid on her account; also
for work which he claimed to have done in Mary's employ. Though
late in the season, Mary and I had to leave Unalakleet for Nome
on the 9th of October, there to report upon the summons. Ice had
then already begun to form on the Unalakleet River, making it very
hard to get out to the open sea in one of the small native schooners
of the place. A strong northerly wind was blowing, which, before
we were able to reach the outer end of the channel of the river,
had driven the water- out so that we were not able to get over the
sand bars. There we hung, and had to be content from 2 o'clock
p. m. till after 9 in the evening, when we fuially got away en route
to St. Michael. The next morning, October 10, we arrived, and in

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 97

the evening were able to avail ourselves of the last chance to get
away aboard the steamer Elh, bound for Golofnin and Nome. The
r2th of October we landed at Nome. We arranged our business by
placing the case in the hands of Mr. A. J. Briiner, attorney at law.
A telegram which was received from the Commissioner of Education
with request to have the trial postponed until the summer of 1904,
was presented, but as the plaintiif and his law3'er were not willing
to listen to it, the trial was set for February 1 to 10, 1904. October
15 we boarded steamer Ohio, and the next evening we landed in
St. Michael. But all of our baggage was left aboard; though some
of it was valuable, we were refused the landing of it. The next day
the Ohio left St. Michael without sending a particle of baggage ashore,
and, as we have learned later, she took it all to the States. On the
promise of having either the Meteor or the Sadie to take us home,
we waited and waited for two days in St. Michael, and then suddenly
the bay froze up during the night of October 18. For Mary to walk
home was out of the question, so I had to leave her in St. Michael
while I walked home, a task which took four days to accomplish.
Mary was sent for later, when the ice became strong enough to
travel on. ♦

Immediately upon my return from Nome, October 22, I had cor-
rals made for counting and separating the herds. Ole Bahr was to
have charge of his own, together with those belonging to Okitkon,
Tatpan, Moses, Episcopal Mission, Stephan Ivanhoft, Bikongan
(Bigone), Moses Kautchak, Jacob Kenik, and the Government,
while the following herds were left in N. Bals care: Unalakleet
Mission, Nallogoroak, Mary Antisarlook, Kaktoak, Angalook, Sagoo-
nuk, Accibuk, Avogack, Amikr Avinik, Frank Kautchak, and
Sakpelliok.

Since many of the fawns had to be separated from their mothers,
it was (juite hard to keep them in the difTerent corrals untU the work
was finished. In fact, we had to let all the deer out on the fourth
day of our work, whUe one more corral was constructed, that we
might thereby be enabled to do the work quicker. By having
three corrals instead of two only, as has always been the custom,
we could do fully twice the work in a day. It was a perfect success
after the third corral was finished.

To rectify any mistake which possibly had been made in the first
day's count, we intended to recount the one herd after our return
from Kuskokwim, but for two reasons it was not done. First, it
was rather late in the season to lasso the female deer; and, secondly,
my time at home was short and well occupied by correspondence
and preparation for the trip north, etc.

On the morning of November 9 I left Unalakleet in company with

98 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

Nils Bahr and Nallogoroak, who were to make the round trip with
me to Bethel, and Per Sara joined our company to meet his parents
in Andreafski. We found the herd and herders near Andreafski
on the 23d of November. On the 25th the onward march l)egan
with the herd toward Bethel, Kuskokwim, which place we success-
fully reached without any accidents, and all in an excellent condition,
on December .3d. As far as we were able to ascertain, not one deer
was lost. True, one old male deer, belonging to Spein, fell on the
ice when crossing a lake and hurt itself so that we found it best to
kill the same, but that deer ought to have been killed before, because
it had been sick nearly a year.

Adolph Stecker, the local superintendent at Bethel, took the charge
and responsibility of the herd and herders right then and there,
and was to take them on to their special feeding ground, 100 miles to
the east, as soon as climatic conditions would allow. Thus I was
free to return so as to be on time for Lindseth's and Mary's case,
which was set for trial February 1 to 10. A report was obtained
about the herd and herders at Bethel, which was really encouraging.
Some deer had died from various causes during the summer, but in
December all were well and thri-^ing. As there was no Laplander
at the herd after Bals left, the native herders had all the responsi-
bility, and they had proven themselves fully capable of doing their
work. The best of feelings existed l)etween the local superintendent
and the herders, as well as among the herders themselves. These
herders have taken much to the deer and they love their work.

According to a letter from Mr. Stecker, the herd wliich we had
brought from Andreafski and the Lapps all reached the Bethel rein-
deer station on January 8." Mr. Bals, Nallogoroak, and myself
started on our homeward journey on the morning of December 8,
and on the 23d of December we safely arrived at home, Unalakleet.
Some of our deer had then made the round trip from Unalakleet to
Bethel and back and traveled easily 30 miles the last day out.
Between Andreafski and Bethel those deer were traveling loose with
" the herd, but all the rest of the time and distance they pulled their
load of from 100 to 200 pounds over a very poor trail.

On January 23 I started for Nome to be there in Mary's defense.
Mary, her husband, and two witnesses from Unalakleet left here a

«Wlien Wasely and Tanny were here, only Mr. Spein went up with them; the herd could
not go; it was no worse on the ice nor tundra, ifr. Spein, Robert, and Henry came down
again just at Christmas ; so we had the Lapps all here ; only the two boys were with the deer.
They left December 29, and have come to their homes January 8 all well. I will mark the
Government's division, to take only females, down in the book.

We are without any news from the outside. December 15, the two boys here named were
the ones that came down at the time we were there. Spein only followed them at the time,
but then they returned and all went up to their camp. — Written by A. Stecker, Bethel,
January 18, 1904.

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 99

few days earlier, so as to be sure to come on time. In Golofnin I took
Rev. O. P. Anderson with us as a witness, and continued onward to
Nome, where we arrived in the evening of January 31. Mary and
lier party arrived there the same day. To our sorrow, we found
that the date had been changed and the trial set for the 29th of Feb-
ruary instead of between the 1st and the 10th. Mr. Bruner, our
attorney, went with me to Hon. Alf. S. Moore, and after hearing with
what costs and trouble a journey like ours was undertaken he kindly
changed the date and asked to hear our trouble on February 15.
Meanwhile I intended to make a trip to Port Clarence, but as I ought
to visit Cape Prince of Wales also at the same time and as it was not
possible to make both places in the eight or nine days given, I did not
go at all; and it was well that I did not, because the days passed
rapidly by under the burden of some very important work before the
15tli. The 15th came and the 16th also, and in the evening of that
day the jury closed by sending in a verdict for the defendant. Mary
was considered free from all Lindseth's claims and Lindseth never
had been employed by Mary. And thus Mary, with her herd, was
saved from ruin.

Just as the business for which we had come to Nome was finished,
it was my intention to go to Teller and Cape Prince of Wales, as
Doctor Jackson had suggested, but conditions developed which
entirely changed my programme. An opportunity was unexpectedly
presented to demonstrate in a more special way the utility of the
reindeer to the white population of Alaska and at the same time to
earn quite a little sum of money for the herders. It was the question
of taking a contract to haul 7 tons of freight from Fish River to the
Imachuck country. This was my position : Either I should take the
contract or else the deer would not have a chance to demonstrate
what they could do and how much they excel dogs, horses, and mules
when difficult traveling is in question. But should I take it, my orig-
inal plan must of necessity undergo a complete change. Time would
not allow me to go by way of Port Clarence and Cape Prince of Wales,
but I would then have to go back to Golofnin and there gather as
many deer as possible and go on to the destination of the freight, and
then continue my way north to Cape Blossom, wliile the herders were
to return to Fish River after their second loads, and then meet two
more men from Unalakleet, who were to bring 15 or 18 deer from
that herd to join the Golofnin deer and men in their work. It was
only after a great deal of consideration that I dared to tackle the
matter — not for fear of not being able to carry it tlirough, but because
of the revolution such an undertaking would cause the scheduled
plan of my travel. But finally, together with O. P. Anderson from
Golofnin, T signed the contract and agreed to take 3 tons of oats and
4 tons of ha}^ across the Seward Peninsula from Fish River to Chicago

100 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

coal mine on the Kiigruk River. At once we returned to Golofnin,
and on the 27th of Februar}^ IS deer with as many sleds were stretched
out on Fish River at the mouth of Neukluk. Two thousand seven
hundred pounds of oats made up our first loads, together with our
camp outfit and provision, making about 200 pounds per deer. And
so our journey began. The snow was deep and loose on Fish River,
making it very hard traveling, and storm followed upon stomr, so that
out of the ten da3's it took us to reach Chicago Creek nearly four were
spent idly at camp. The deer travel just as well and almost better in
bad weather, but we could not see where to go, and for two days it
was so fearfull}" cold that had we been out it would have been an
impossibility not to freeze.

Upon reaclung our destination, the 8th of March, we unloaded at
once and began the preparations for an earl}'^ break-up the next day,
and in the morning of March 9 the two Golofnin herders, who were
to continue freigliting, were sent back with their 14 deer and as many
sleds, while Tautook, the herder, Pjarak Rock, our guide, and nwself,
with four deer, continued our way toward Candle, Kewalik, and Cape
Blossom.

Saturday, March 12, we safely arrived at that place in good condi-
tion, in spite of a fearful storm which had been ragmg. Some men
that traveled with dogs had been on their way from Candle nine days,
having been laid up by snowstorms unable to travel, and arrived at
Kotzebue thirty-five hours later than we. Deer are the best.

The deer were staked out for the night and we ourselves were well
taken care of by Mr. and Mrs. Dana Thomas, who are in charge of the
Kotzebue Mission. A very unfortunate tlung happened there, in that
some dogs had during the night of our arrival gone out to the deer
and killed one belonging to Tautook. This is the only accident met
with on all my travels durmg the season.

Monday, the 14th of March, after a visit to the school, we intended
to go to the herd, but the weather changed our plans. Instead of
traveling we spent the day very pleasanti}^, much the same as on
Sunday in the school. In the forenoon the work of the school was
enjoyed and in the afternoon we devoted between two and a half to
three hours to a talk on the subject of hygiene, to which not only the
school children were invited but the grown population of the village
as well. The evening was given to Rock for preaching to his own
people and in their own language. Hardly anj^tliing could be of
greater pleasure to a servant of the Lord than to see with what an
interest and eagerness every word #emed to be grasped by liis
audience.

The following morning we left the mission for the Kotzebue herd,
which was on the mainland about 25 or 30 miles away. Tile morning
was bright and beautiful, but it was hard traveling because of a lot of

INTRODUCTION OK DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASkA. 101

loose snow which we had to plod through. This, together with the
fact that the way was unknown to us, took us all day and part of the
dark evening to get there. The next morning, March 16, we insj)ected
the herd and found it in good condition, exce])ting the fact that there
were no sled deer. Seeing that one of our deer was killed and tlie
other ones had made such a long and hard journey before, one
coidd not expect them to make the return tri]), so I asked for fresh
driving deer. They were given wilHngly, but as 1 said there were
hardly any of that kind. The consequence was that one of the lot
was only a year-old male fawn which was broken paitly, and one
3-year-old deer which we had to break ourselves as we traveled; a third
one had gone the long wa^^ from Point Barrow and arrived at Kotzebue
only a few weeks previously. So with one deer which was really a
fresh driving deer, one fawn which we drove only half a day on the
trip, one unbroken deer, one which had traveled from Barrow a short
time before, and one Golofnin deer which we wished to return, we
started south al^out noon that same day.

At Kotzebue, as in Kuskokwim, I found peace and harmony
between the local superintendent and the herders, as well as among
the herders themselves. I had a long talk with the herders and for
the short time the^^ have had the deer they have taken so much to
them that they would not be without them for any price. Frank
Nilima, the chief herder, had also the highest of compliments for the
Eskimo herders as well as for the place. It certainly is an ideal deer
camp. It is well sheltered and there is an abundant moss suppl}^ for
the deer, and wood and water of the best quality for the herders.
Fish and game are also plentiful. Isaac Hatta, a Laplander, has been
staying with Nilima for some time and was there at the time of my
visit. Now, having heard that there were two Eskimo boys, Orpelle
and Electoona, or Electure as he is also called, staying some 60 miles
or so up the coast toward Point Hope with a herd of reindeer, I made
arrangement with said Hatta to go and bring those two boys to the
Kotzebue herd at once before the fawning season began. Said boys
had left Point Barrow early in the fall, en route for Kotzebue, with
some 130 deer together, but never came farther than Cape Cavalino,
where they stopped with some other natives and squandered their
herd. By letter from Dana Thomas" I am informed that above boj's

«Apkil 15, 1904.
Dr. C. O. LiND,

UnalaMeet, Alaska.
Dear Doctor: Hope that you reached home safel}' and found all W(>]1 there. Isaac
Hatta left for upper coast a few days after your departure. The Barrow boys did not wish
to come, but finally agreed to do so and reached mission during my absence at Candle on
April 3. I found them at reindeer camp upon my return. The two had 123 deer upon
arrival here. Sixteen had died or been killed since leaving Barrow. Deer in very bad con-
dition and natives pretty hard up — in fact, they haven't anything that they need and have

102 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

arrived in Hatta's company with 123 deer on the 3d of April. Sixteen
deer had been killed since they left Barrow and the living ones were in
a very poor condition. The herders were also in want of tent, stove,
provisions and all. Mr. Thomas reports also cold weather and a loss
of one-tliird of the fawns at the time of the letter.

The march toward home, as said, began on the 16th and after five
and a half days' traveling we had reached the mouth of Neukhik on
the Fish River, with the deer, as stated above. During that same
time some men were there who traveled with dogs and it took them
almost twice the time to cover said distance. At Neukluk, however,
a three days' delay occurred because of rain which made the deep
snow so soft that one could not travel by any means. On the 26th we
succeeded in getting away, and after a very hard day's tramp we
reached the Golofnin herd nearly at midnight, and there again the
weather bound us another day.

The Golofnin herd was also in a most excellent condition. It was
beyond doubt the best herd I have seen tliis winter. Their feeding
ground for the winter was also an ideal place. The herders are doing
very weU. They show interest in their work, and there is no reason
why the native herders should not be able to take care of that herd at
any time. Their nearness to Nome and Council markets is a great
advantage to that herd. The sum total for which reindeer meat was
sold from said herd during the past year exceeds $1,500.

From Golofnin, Rock and I continued to Unalakleet, where we
arrived on April 1, after forty-nine hours, traveling.

The Unalakleet herds have also done very well during the past year.
During the time while Bals went with me to the Kuskokwim, Okitkon
(Eskimo) had charge of the mission herd and did well. All the boys
have done very well in their work and they are highly thought of by
the chief herders. After the division of the herd last fall, the one of
which Bals had charge was driven to North River, some 6 to 10 miles
up, while Bahr took his herd to the usual place on South River. At
these respective places they have been kept until the first part of
April, when they began to move toward the grounds for summer
pasture. Ole Bahr had already begun to drive his herd toward Cape
Denbigh when I returned from the north, so I met him with that

had to supply them with tent and food, etc., buying at Candle what we could not supply
from our mission stock. Recent letters from Doctor Jackson speak of the probabilitj' of
herd being established at Point Hope next season, so that these boys can then return there.
With best wishes for the prosperity of your mission, I remain,
Most respectfully, your friend,

Dana Thomas.

Unalakleet, Juiie 22, 1904-
Doctor Jackson: I inclose above letter of interest from Dana Thomas at Kotzebue. It
is sad that so many fawns die, but I hope that the later fawns have been able to survive.'

C. O. LiND.

INTRODUCTION OB^ DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 103

herd 16 or 18 miles north of Unalakleet. Bals was going toward the
seashore about 6 miles north of Unalakleet village for the summer,
and there he is now.

Although the herds have never been less than 18 to 20 miles a})art,
the herders have had some trouble in keeping the deer from strolling
from the one herd to the other. They have all liad good pasture and
no trouble with snow or any icy crust has been encountered during the
past winter. The fawns began to come on April 13. The weather was
most beautiful, and the death rate among the fawns in both herds has
been exceptionally low. Since some time before the fawning season
began the herds have never been alone. Two and sometimes three
men have been watching by day and by night, so it is certain that no
fawns have died from want of care on the herders' part.

The health among the herders has been most excellent the past
year. Not only at Unalakleet, but at all the stations visited, the
herders have been well and happy, with only one exception^ — John
(Eskimo) at Golofnin, was suffering from pneumonia, and as it was
his third attack he is naturally very much weakened and might not
be able to stay with the herd and do as well as he at first promised.

The natives in general are quite well if we except the old chronic
tubercular and rheumatic cases which are found in every village.
Six deaths have taken place in our village of about 300 inhabitants
during the year, but in return we have been blessed with 16 births,
and out of these 15 are living and thriving w^ell.

Among the other improvements of the village we now have the
pleasure of counting a new school building, for which the w^hole vil-
lage population seems to be really thankful. Several natives who
know Doctor Jackson have specially expressed their thanks to him
because of all the interest he has shown for their advancement. In
this connection allow me also to express our gratitude on behalf of
the Unalakleet Mission for the assistance in getting that new and
nmch-needed schoolhouse for the boys and for the medicines which
were left for my use among the natives.

The Government buildings have been used but little t-he past year
and are all in good repair. One of the cabins near the telegraph
station was by my permission used by the Signal Corps men at the
station as a store for their supplies a portion of the winter. The
herders, when they come for their provisions, never care to stay in
a room on that side the river, but they ahvays go to some native to
stay instead. One special trouble we have encountered the past
year was at Eaton, As no one has been living there, travelers have
been breaking in and made their home in the big building. After
the first time I found it we left one small cabin open in which trav-
elers could stay if they wanted, but still they were not satisfied to
leave the other building in peace.

104 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

My experiences with reindeer during this year have been various
and to my satisfaction. In my mind there is no doubt but that the
deer industry wUl prove to be a jiermanent one in Alaska. It is
the means by which our beloved Government has done and will
do the natives of Alaska the most possible good. The herder is
taught the practical lesson of helping himself. He does not live on
charity; he works and earns his living, and is taught to depend
more and more on his own resources. True, there are only a few
as 3'et who have had the opportunity to get herds and to learn to
take care of them, but when one stops to consider the short time the
deer have been in Alaska an honest observer is forced to acknowledge
great advancement.

At Unalakleet there are at present not less than 30 Eskimos who
live wholly b}' the deer industry, and fuUy half that number who
are indirectly benefited by their relatives having deer. At Golofnin
there are 20 Eskimos who have their living directly from the herd
at that place. And so it is wherever there are deer. StUl, it seems
to be the pleasure of some people to announce, not onlj^ as far as
they themselves reach, but do it also through tlie agency of news-
papers, that not one Eskimo gets his livelihood out of the deer, and
that the deer prove to be a source of great expense and a waste of
money, since they — the deer — are of no practical value. Of course,
any sound-minded person can reason that such statements are not
true, but nevertheless they are bound to influence the public to some
extent, and for that reason I feel it nw duty to prove by these state-
ments of facts that such announcements are simply the productions
of a few jealous and envious ones. Many have not power of com-
prehension enough to counterbalance such false reports, but in their
turn repeat and assure what they have heard as gospel truth.

Again, it is very common to hear that the reindeer are all right
for the table, but further than that they are of no value. Well, stop
and consider the matter. There are many examples of the times of
Mr. Kjellman and Doctor Gambell and others when the deer proved
sufhciently well their utility to the ]5ublic to establish for themselves
a credit which justly belongs to them, but which they never received.
Those things of the past are already on record for those who are
earnestly seeking the truth to find it. But suflPice it here to quote
omy my own experiences of the past winter. One trip, which de-
manded forty-five days for its accomplishment, was successfully
done before Christmas. In all we traveled about 1,000 miles under
adverse conditions, and 4 out of 7 deer made the return trip with
us, hauling a load of from 100 to 200 pounds. If dogs should have
gone that same way, they could not have hauled their own provision
for the time and much less anything for their drivers. The deer
hauled the whole load for the driver, its o^vn provision being picked

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 105

up by itself wherever and whenever we stop. No shelter is needed.
When the most furious wind sweeps its path, the deer simj)ly faces
it with an open mouth and with an expression of satisfaction and
joy. Another very practical feature with the deer is its inexpensive-
ness compared with other beasts of burden used and which are not
adapted for the countr}^. The cost price of a good dog is about as
high as that of a good reindeer, but then for every day the dog is
worked, or not worked, if he shall remain a good dog he will cost his
owner 20 to 30 cents for food. Counting at 20 cents a day, which
is cheap, the feed for one dog costs S73 per year plus all the trouble,
and then, at the best, the owner has only a d-o-g, which if he should
need a piece of extra provision would afford ver}^ tough meat. As
soon as the wind blows a little, the dog can not travel; especially
is this so if the wind happens to be in the face. The deer does not
mind the wind in the least, from whatever direction it comes; it
rather enjoys travelhng against the wind. The deer never costs its
owner 1 cent for feed. It causes much less trouble, and when it has
served in hauling its master or his belongings it might serve as the
greatest delicacy to satisfy his well-developed appetite.

As to the gentleness of the deer, let me state from my own expe-
rience that you can make it what you want it to be. Deer can do
work which neither dogs nor horses can do, and m.ules, if they can
do it at all, only under comparatively great expense. We have
this winter been freightmg 7 tons of goods from Fish River to Chi-
cago Creek on the Kugruk River. On that distance the road leads
up a very hard river to travel, across three high and difficult moun-
tain passes, the dreaded Death Valley and the valley of Koyok
River, and down the Kugruk, a distance of 40 to 50 miles. On the
road dogs are out of the question at once, because of the food, as
they would have all ihej could do to haul their own provision. The
horse would cost too much and could not b}^ an}^ means stand the
exposure. The mule would be impracticable also on account of its
expense, and then the feet would not hold on the crusted snow on
the divides; and where the trail is not solid it can do absolutely
nothing. On the other hand, the deer need not haul 1 pound for
itself; it costs nothing for feed; it faces all weather, and makes its
way where the driver can hardly walk without snowshoes. It goes
uphill and downhill alike. Trail or no trail, it will haul its 200
pounds or more day after day; yes, week after week. You might
have to lay up for storms when you can not see where to go or when
you can not face the wind, but it can not be placed to the discredit
of the deer.

After these .simple facts are known, who is not able to see and
understand that the deer is of value even to the white man who
comes to Alaska. And if of value to him, how much more are they

106 TNTRODDCTIOISr OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

not worth to the people for whose special benefit and enhghtenment
our Government has placed these animals here?

I liighly appreciate and wdsh to express my gratitude for every,-
thing done for my comfort and pleasure by the faithful workers
at Bethel, Kuskokwim, Kotzebue, and Golofnin. I also wish to
express my thanks to Mr. Karl J. Hendrickson, Unalakleet, for the
many services rendered during my absence from home.

A. J. Bruner, attorney at law, Nome, Alaska, has, by his great
services in so nobly and freely defending and freeing Mary Antisar-
look, deserved not only my thanks but that of all who love liberty,
truth, and justice.

Trusting and hoping for success in the noble work of educating
the natives of Alaska, I remain.
Your obedient servant,

Carl O. Lind.

Dr. Sheldon Jackson, D. D.,

United States General Agent for Education in Alaska.

ANNUAL REPORTS, CAPE PRINCE OF WALES REINDEER STATION.
By Hugh J. Lee, in charge.

Wales, Alaska, June 30, 1904-

Sir: The winter of 1903-4 was a good one for the deer. From
September 15 to November 15 the temperature was not above freez-
ing nor below zero, and during the winter there was no weather
warm enough to melt the snow, though the coldest w^as only 25°
below zero. The result was that there was no ice on the moss, so
that the deer could obtain their food easily. There was very little
snow until February and March, so that in the early part of the
winter the deer did not have to dig for their food.

During the summer of 1903 some of the native herders contracted
to sell to the Government 168 female deer and to deliver them at
the Teller reindeer station sometime during the winter.

In December the herders began to prepare for the delivery of these
deer, and started in by the hobbling method to separate them from
the rest of the herd. This is the method often used in transferring
them in the summer time. When about 40 of the deer were hobbled,
the boys found that the feet on several of them were frozen on account
of the stopping of the circulation, and they had to be killed ; so they
let the others go and came back and reported to me.

We had no corral into which to drive them for separating the herd,
and I suggested making one with willows, but the boj^s said they
had tried that in the past and the deer would break them down so
that they could not be used.

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 107

The boys suggested the postponement of the dehvery until warm
weather, l)ut I told them that we had agreed to deliver them during
the winter and we must carry out our agreement.

They said the only way was to drive the whole herd to the Teller
reindeer station, where they could have the advice and assistance
of the Laplander there, for the herders at the cajie have never had
the benefit of instruction from the Laplander, so that all they know
of the deer business is what they have picked up themselves. During
my first season here a Lapp, w^ho was married to a native woman,
visited the village and spent a few days with the herders in the
deer camp. The boys told me that they learned more about the
deer in those few days than they ever knew before.

When we reached Teller with the herd it was in early February,
and the Laplander showed the boys how to handle the deer and
separate those to be sold from the rest. On account of storms this
work took over two weeks, as they had to handle the deer very care-
fully on account of the danger of killing the unborn fawns.

The 168 were separated from the others, but 2 escaped back
into our herd and returned to the herding grounds, about 40 miles
northeast from the cape. Those 2 deer are still in the herd, and
1 of them has given birth to a male fawn, so that we have those
to be dehvered with the others bought from the herd this summer.

On account of the lack of a corral I have never been able to enu-
merate the deer in the herd durmg my two years as superintendent,
but I learned in Teller last winter that the herders there always make
corrals of willows, and I contemplate making a corral in that w^ay
tliis fall and marking and enumerating the deer, for there are plenty
of good willows at the winter feeding ground.

During the year 66 of the mission deer have been slaughtered and
42 have died or been injured so that they had to be killed; also, 48
of the deer belonging to the herders have been slaughtered and 35
died or killed on account of injuries, making 191 deaths during the
year, with 166 dehvered in Teller, a decrease in the number of 357,
and during the spring 374 fawns were born.

Inclosed find a tabulated list of the owners and the number
owned by each m this herd on June 30, according to the tally kept
in the herder's log book.

Hugh Lee, Superintendent.

Dr. Sheldon Jackson,

Washington, D. G.

Wales, Alaska, August 1, 1904.
Sir: I have spent the past week at the Cape reindeer camp
just south of Tin City. While there they strengthened the old corral,

108 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

made of drift wood; marked 134 deer for the Bureau of Education;
counted the herd; cut out and marked 398 deer for the new herd
at Shishmaref; and estimated the number of deer belonging to
each individual herder. The fawns had not been marked for two
seasons, and the 80 females sold by Stanley, 38 by Thomas, 33 by
George, and 17 by James, which were sold to the Bureau of Educa-
tion last February, were taken from the herd regardless of ear-
marks. This made it necessary for James, Frank, and myself to
estimate the approximate number of deer each herder owned in the
herd at present.

I inclose the tally of 1,391 deer we drove inside the corral and an
estimate of the few deer outside.

On July 30 we took out of the main herd all the deer belonging
to Thomas Sokweena, Joseph Enungwouk, Frank lyatunguk, John
Sinnok, Harry Karmun, and Walter Kiyuktuk, and sufficient number
of mission deer to make a herd of 398. They plan to keep on the
south side of Shishmaref Inlet this winter.

I purchased for the Bureau of Education 97 mission deer and 37
private deer. In marking these we used the aluminum button
markers you mailed me. We are all well pleased with them. They
are especially suitable for marking a Government or mission herd,
as they do not mutilate the ear so as to prevent re-marking with an
earmark when given out to apprentices. The earmarks, we think,
are preferable for the individual herder. They enable them to
recognize the deer without roping them. This ear marking is too
often done irregularly, carelessly, with a sheath knife. Mont-
gomery Ward & Co., Chicago, have a cattle punch which I think
would answer admirably. By using half of dies Nos. 1, 4, 5, and 6
in the inclosed description a great variety of regular earmarks
could be made. Holes punched or cut .through the ears of deer
generally tear out and can not be recognized without roping the deer.

The importance of the midway relay stations or herds between
Kotzebue and Barrow, which you speak, of in your letter of June 28,
can hardly be overestimated. I hope your plans in this direction
can aU be carried out this winter. In no other way can we have a
satisfactory and speedy reindeer mail service. In this connection
I wish to emphasize the importance of the Government encour-
aging the training of more sled deer by the Eskimo herders. This
might be done by offering a price ranging from $45 to $60, according
to age, size, speed, etc., for well-broken deer.

I suppose Doctor Hamilton will l)e able to give me much informa-
tion in regard to the work you have planned, which you have not
been able to give by mail. I am anxiously awaiting his arrival.

The schooner Fortuna arrived here July 15 and finished discharging
July 21. The new building is almost sheathed all over and roof

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 109

partiall}^ shingled. We had the assistance of Mr. Olson until July
30, when he had to go to Tin City to join the schooner Laura Aladsen,
bound for Kotzebue and northern points. We are using 8 native
workmen now and can probalily use more in a few days. Mr. Evans
seems to have everything well in hand and is giving all his time in
directing the work.

The Fortuna is now at Tin City dischargmg. The Laura Madsen
saUed for Kotzebue last night. The Thetis has been reported as
having reached Nome, and will no doubt be here in a few daj^s. This
will enable me to reach Point Hope as soon or most likely before the
Madsen. The Madsen has a S5,000 outfit to discharge at Cooper
whaling station before landing the schoolhouse.

I have been recently told that there is a chance to have the
Nome-Kotzebue mad come via Wales. The herders here could
handle such a route to advantage. We have been over the route
and know what it is. They could place relay sled deer, or two more
herds, along the route and arrange for a quick service. By the use
of relay deer they could make the trip from Wales to Deering in
four days if necessary. If you can give them any information or
suggestions in regard to securing contract for such a route it will be
appreciated.

The route from Teller to Wales is better adapted for dogs than
deer most of the winter, but the Eskimo boy Sarilook made a splendid
record with deer on this route last winter.

A canoe load of Shishmaref natives are here at the cape trading.
They are very anxious to have you give them a school next year.
The name of their settlement is Keyiktuk. If a school is put there
they say some of the families living just north and south of there a
few miles will move in. I think it a splendid location for a school
and hope you can put one there next season. I shall investigate it
more fully tliis winter.

Hoping to hear from you as often as possible, I am, very truly, yours,

W. T. Lopp.

Dr. Sheldon Jackson,

General Agent of Education in Alaska, Washington, D. C.

REPORT OF W. T. LOPP, SUPERINTENDENT OF REINDEER STATIONS AND
SCHOOLS IN NORTHWESTERN ALASKA.

Wales, ^Vlaska, October 11, 1904-
Sir: As we have but one more chance to send inaU, I will now try
to give you a brief general report of the summer's work.

On June 4 ISIr. A. N. Evans, teacher for Wales, and I left Seattle
on the splendid steamer Victoria, and arrived at Nome June 12.
Three days later, we left Nome on the gasoline schooner Augusta C.
for Cape Prince of Wales and way pomts. Our two days' experience
sleeping on sacks of potatoes in the hold of tliis small, frail craft,
S. Doc. ()1, 58-3 9

110 INTEODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

bumping and jarring through the ice, with a can of meat, bread,
and black tea, served occasionally on a small improvised table,
furnished with one knife and fork and spoon, all served to remind
us that we were now entering the Arctic life, where, as Captain Jarvis
says, "If you are subject to miserable discomforts, or even if you
suffer, it must be regarded as all right and simply a part of the life."
As for myself, the anticipation of giving the Cape Eskimos a complete
surprise helped me to forget my own discomforts.

On June 18, about 1 a. m., just as the midnight sun had risen
above the horizon in the north, we rounded the cape and came
within sight of the village. The shout of Ta rah me! Ta rah me!
(a sliip ! a ship ') which went up from the people among whom I had
spent ten years, caused me to tremble with excitement. By the time
we were anchored, canoes were alongside of us and we were kept
busy shaking hands.

Upon reaching shore we found that civilized food was scarce in
the village. Walrus steak, seal liver, whale skin, ducks, and other
Arctic luxuries made up the principal part of our bill of fare for a
few days until we could go to York and get supplies.

Before the arrival of the school building on the schooner Fortuna,
July 15, I was able, by travehng 230 miles in canoe, to visit the Port
Clarence herd once and the Cape herd twice.

Mr. Olsen, the carpenter for Barrow, etc., arrived here June 27,
and Air. Alseth and his assistant, Mr. Finley, on July 6. Previous
to their arrival and the mail with the invoice of the lumber and
building material, Mr. Evans and I had considered the advisabilit}^ of
making two houses of the building — the schoolhouse near the old
mission school building and the residence in the north end of the
village. After estimating the additional lumber required for such
a change we concluded to make no changes in the original plan of the
building.

Just before leaving Seattle I received an urgent request from the
American Missionary Association asking me to look after the man-
agement of their herd and herders at this place. On July 9 I took
charge of the herd and divided my time between the herd and school
building until the arrival of the Thetis. After repairing the corral,
built just south of Tin City in the summer of 1900, we marked 134
deer purchased for the Bureau of Education, counted the entire
herd (1,488), "cut out" and marked a herd of 398 for Sliislunaref
Inlet, and marked the big herd remaining.

As but little or no marking or castrating had been done for two
years, tliis prolonged and continued handling in the corral materially
told on the condition of the herd. In "roping" the deer some of the
fawns were brained. The lasso accidentally jerked a young horn off
and a piece of skull 2 inches in diameter with it. These had to be

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. Ill

killed. Most of them happened to be male fawns. Their skins were
prime for winter clothing and their meat was marketed at York for
25 cents per })ound. Before leaving the reindeer camp 1 advised the
herders, as an experiment, to castrate about 20 fawns during the sum-
mer. The Lapp and Siberian custom is to wait until they are 1, 2,
and 3 j^ears old. I know' of no good reason why we can not follow
the practices of stockmen in the States in regard to this, especially
because reindeer mature so young. Most of the yearlings have fawns.

The supply schooner Viking got on the Cape Prince of Wales shoal
here on the evening of August 4 and came ashore a total wreck. With
the exception of a few staples like sugar and beans, sufficient supplies
were saved to supply the necessary wants at the Cape.

On August 6 the United States revenue cutter Thetis, Capt. O. C,
Hamlet commanding, made a hurried stop here, and I made a hasty
departure for the northern points in my district, a trip of seventeen
days. With Captain Hamlet as host, and Mr. and Mrs. Kilbuck,
Messrs. Collier, Washburn, and Hutchinson, of the United States
Geological Survey, and Doctor Driggs as fellow-sharers in his hospi-
tality", my time aboard was spent most pleasantly.

On the night of August 7 we came to anchor off Cooper Whaling
station at Point Hope. On the following morning, in company with
Surgeon Call, I visited the whaling stations and the settlement sur-
rounding them, and was informed that there was a school population
in that vicinity of 30 to 40. We selected a good location for the
building near the stations, in case it should be decided to locate the
building so far from the Point Hope settlement. Walking down the
beach to Point Hope proper, we visited the mission and the Point
settlement and returned aboard about 2 p. m. Doctor Driggs, of the
St. Thomas Mission, seemed to think that their board could be
depended upon to look after the educational wants of the fast dimin-
ishing Point Hope settlement. As the sliip was getting under way,
I sent letters of instruction ashore by natives to Mr. Olsen, the car-
penter, and Mr. Henry Konig, better known as ''Cooper," to have the
house landed at the site we had selected near the whaling stations.

On the night of August 10 we reached Point Barrow'. The whal-
ers w'ere all anchored or tied up to the ice w^aiting for an off shore
wind to make a passage for them around the Point. Rev. S. R.
Spriggs and Doctor Marsh came aboard about midnight and got their
mail. On the following morning I accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Kil-
buck ashore in a skin boat. We found them all busy at the mission
reading or answering their mail. We looked over the ground for a
suitable site for the new school building. Mr. Spriggs accompanied
me aboard about noon and the captain kindly steamed down the coast
15 miles and anchored off the reindeer camp, enabling me to go ashore
with Mr. Spriggs and liis herders to see the herd. The deer looked

112 INTKODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

very well. On account of having so large a proportion of spotted
and white deer, it was the most beautiful herd I had ever seen. When
the Cape and Synrok herds were selected from the Government herd
at the Teller station in 1894 the herders naturally selected all the
spotted deer they could get. Likewise when parts of these same
herds were returned from Barrow in 1899-1900 the herders at that
place chose to keep the spotted and white deer there. The deer born
in this northern latitude seemed to be considerably smaller than those
born farther south. Before returning aboard a few deer were "roped"
and some milk obtained for the captain's mess.

After returning aboard from the herd the ship proceeded to get
underway. As we bade Mr. wSpriggs farewell we could but appreciate
the fact that his courtesy in accompanying us to the herd must now
cost him a 15-mile walk home, facing a bracing wind.

On the following morning (August 12) we anchored off Wainwright
Inlet or Point Collie. Repeated blasts from the ship's whistle failed
to bring any natives off. They probably considered the wind too
high. Only 2 tents and 5 deserted winter igloos were visible.

Our next stop was at the coal mines near Cape Lisburne to pick up
the United States Geological Survey party.

On the evening of the 13th w^e came to anchor off Cooper station,
where the schooner Laura Madsen was discharging lumber and sup-
plies for the school building. Finding that the windows, doors, hard-
ware, and lumber could not be properly or safely cared for without
a temporary building, we concluded to put up the frame and outside
of the school building. Captain Hamlet kindly oft'ered me an officer
and 5 men, including one of the ship's crew who had been acting as
carpenter since leaving Honolulu. We found a very fair carpenter
On shore in the person of Mr. George Marlen. We employed him and
Mr. A. J. Allen and Joseph Frairo to assist on the building. Lieu-
tenant Shoemaker volunteered to go ashore and take charge of work
until the cutter should return from Kotzebue.

Dr. John B. Driggs came aboard here to go to Kotzebue. The
doctor came to Point Hope fourteen years ago, and was now going
outside for his second yearly vacation.

We anchored off the Kewalik, on southeast side of Kotzebue Sound,
on the afternoon of August 16. Here United States Commissioner
Bos(|ui, who had been the guest of the ward room since leaving Nome,
and Doctor Driggs were transferred to the coasting stt'amer Corwin.

On the 17th the vessel steamed about 15 miles to the westward
and anchored off Alder Creek to water ship. In order to save time
while the ship was taking water, I took passage that same evening
on the Saidie for the Kotzebue Mission, where I had a very pleasant
two-day visit with Mr. and Mrs. Thomas and their people. The herd
was 50 or 60 miles away^ so I was unable to visit it. Mrs. Thomas

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEP:R INTO ALASKA. 113

had a very interesting summer school for the river Eskimos who were
camped on the fishing grounds about the mission for the sunnner.

On the 19th the Thetis got underway for Point Hope and came to
anchor oft" Cooper's Station about 2 p. m. the following day, making
three consecutive Saturdays the cutter had anchored at this j)lace.

Lieutenant Shoemaker and his crew had made a good showing.
They had the frame of the l)uilding up and ready for the rafters. No
work was done on the building Sunday, but on Monday Captain Ham-
let sent extra men ashore and consideral)le showing was made naihng
on outside sheathing, the ceiling joists over the schoolroom, and saw-
ing the rafters. A fierce, raw^ w^ind was blowing, so no attempt was
made to nail the rafters in position. Lieutenant Shoemaker reported
that Mr. Marlen was a very fair carpenter, so before leaving we
arranged with him and Mr. Konig to complete the frame and outside
of the building and store the lumber and hardware inside of it.

On the evening of August 23 we anchored at Cape Prince of Wales.
Here Mr. Collier and his assistants, Messrs. Washburn and Hutch-
inson, and myself left the cutter, and Doctor and Mrs. Campbell, w^ho
had been making a summer visit at the Cape, came aboard to return
to their home on St. Lawrence Island.

Since returning here I have put in the time assisting in the work at
this station. The new building is almost ready to occupy; the paint
is almost dry; the benches are being put down, and w^e hope to have
school open next Monday, October 17. We have had a season of
stormy weather for the past two weeks. Sixteen canoes have not
returned yet, but most of them will probably arrive before the open-
ing of school, so that Mr. Evans can begin with a full school.

The natives who have returned from Nome think our new building
is much nicer than any house they saw there. The old mission build-
ing, which cost the American Missionary Association .|.3,000, now"
looks like a "shack." Mr. Evans is planning to have a "house-
warming," or ah va pa le za uk tuk, as the natives call it, one night
this week.

Last week I planned to go either to Kotzebue or Port Clarence, l)ut
the w^eather prevented my going either north or south. It now looks
as if navigation is al)out closed and that in the future I shall have to
travel by sled.

As needed changes suggest themselves to me, I shall write you from
time to time in regard to them. Hoping to hear from you often this
winter, I am.

Very truly, yours, , W. T. Lopp,

Superintendent of Reindeer Stations and Schools

in Northwest Alaslca.

Dr. Sheldon Jackson,

General Agent oj Education in Alaska, Washington, D. C.

114 INTEODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

ANNUAL REPORT GOLOFNIN REINDEER STATION.
By O. P. Anderson, in charge.

Dear Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report of
the reindeer station at Golofnin:

The herders are Nils Klemetsen and wife, Tautook, wife and two
apprentices, Amahktoolik and Simon.

Constantine with Lowry, apprentice, Taktuk with family, and
Harold, an apprentice.

The mission apprentices are John Pomerstchuk, Albert Angotok,
and Benjamin. These are now all married, and have gotten their
wives from the orphanage. They have all been in good health, with
the exception of John, who was sick last winter for some time.

The herd is doing well. There are of course some deaths from
different causes, both external and internal, and from accidents.
We have sold some for the meat market, both at Nome and at Coun-
cil, and I have given the herders a chance to sell some deer to pay
their provision.

Last winter we had a contract of freighting some goods into the
Imachuck with reindeer from our herd and from the herd at Una-
lakleet. Although they were met with the most severe snowstorm
of the season, they made it a success. This proves that the reindeer
can do a great service where horses and dogs can not be used. This
might open a field of transportation with the deer in years to come.

The worst enemy to the reindeer industry is the fire caused by
careless miners going through the country. We have been fighting
this enemy for two weeks this summer. It has been very dry, and
the moss has burned like powder, and before the storm it swept the
mountains very fast. A good rain came to our assistance and made
an end to it.

Mr. Klemetsen has marked 19 female deer with the Government
mark, for provision gotten through A. E. Karlsen. Tautook has done
the same with two female deer for provision gotten at Unalakleet.

At the orphanage we are all well. We had 35 children in the home
last winter and during the school year. The school is growing every
year, and it is in need of school benches. The teacher will be disap-
pointed if the benches do not come this summer.

A new teacher has been sent up here by the board of the missions.
Her name is Anna Hagberg, from Chicago, 111. She has studied at
North Park College.

My wife, who has been teaching school for five years, will now
devote her time to the home and the mission work.

Best greeting from us all.

Yours, truly, O. P. Anderson.

Dr. Sheldon Jackson,

General Agent of Education in Alaska, Washington, D. C.

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 115

ANNU^M. REPORT BETHEL REINDEER STATION.

Bethel, Alaska, July 26, WOJ^.

Dear Sir: Since I wrote to you from the ship about the arrival
of the Finns, I have received your letter of April 22, announcing
the coming of Mr. H. E. Redmyer.

We arrived at Bethel July 22 with all the Finns, but could not
take all our ])ro visions at once, therefore I sent the Finns down to
Quinhagak for the second load (with some natives) , and then I will
giv(^ thoni tlieir provisions and take them to the deer. Mr. Karbum
has 5 children, and we think it impossible that they can all go to
Copper Center in winter. Their children have been bom in the
States and have not even seen deer; traveling just in the coldest
time of the year is too dangerous for them. I have made arrange-
ments for them to stay here over winter. If the Government pays
for rent, stove, and wood, the other things Mr. Karbum will pay from
his salary.

Next year we can either send them out to Valdes, or Mr. Karbum
can come back and stay on the Kuskokwim. I will wait for your
directions.

The men like Alaska very much — coming up the river, seeing the
many places with so much grass. Oh! they just wanted some cows
and start right in here. It is just like Finland, they always say.

Now, with the Lord's help, we will do all we can to get them to
the deer and start them for Copper Center.

From our deer I can give encouraging news. They have increased
to 500.

Fawns.

Male.

Female.

Herd

154
79
91

40
44
47

48

"35

bu

"13 dead, ''11 dead.

How many of these fawns belong to the native herders I could not
learn.

I thank you very much for the reading matter and school supplies.
The latter is needed and the former always very welcome. Mr.
Joaquin will go to the Yukon to-morrow and take our mail along.
I close now with all good wishes to you, and remain.

Yours, truly,

Adolf Stecker, Superintendent.
Rev. Doctor Jackson,

Washington, D. C.

Two of the Finns have asked you to have some of their pay sent
to their families in Michigan. I hope that can be done, as they are
anxious to help their families.

IIG INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

ANNUAL REPORT KOTZEBUE REINDEER STATION.
By Dana Thomas.

KoTZEBUE, Alaska, July 1 , lOOJ,..

Dear Sir: I herewith transmit to you my annual report as super-
intendent of Kotzebue reindeer station for year ending June 30,
1904.

The past season has been a prosperous one with us. Ver}^ httle
extremely cold weather and light snowfall; as a result we have only
lost about 7 per cent of this year's fawns, as against 20 per cent last
season. In midwinter we were given the pleasure of a visit from
Doctor Lind, supervisor of reindeer in Alaska. He inspected our
herd and reported the same in ''best possible condition."

The early coming of the cold last October and the freezing-in near
mouth of Kowak River of the river steamer John Riley with a num-
ber of people on board, gave us an opportunity to sell a number of
male deer belonging to mission and Nilima. A few were used for meat,
but the majority were desired as sled animals. Although our supply
of latter animals was limited, and we could easily have sold double
the number that were available, we did not increase the price, but
sold all of them for the price quoted previous to the cold weather.
Without a single exception, all of the purchasers of deer were satis-
fied with them. One man took 800 pounds of supplies 200 miles
up Kowak River, helping the deer over the hardest places in the
trail, sold a portion of supplies at Riley Camp, and freighted balance
over divide to Koyukuk River; after reaching there sold his deer
for $35 more than he paid for it at the mission.

The use of deer as sled and pack animals is greatly growing in
favor among mining men, and the only criticisms from anyone
come from the danger of deer being killed by dogs. That objection
will be removed within a few years, when the country will be stocked
with sufficient deer to enable everyone to dispense with dogs as
beasts of burden. Personally I was not particularly enthusiastic
over the reindeer when I first landed here two years ago, but I am
"wiser to-day than yesterday," and have not the slightest doubt
now but that the introduction of domestic reindeer into Alaska will,
within a few years, be the main source of the greatest good to not
only the natives but the whites as well. I venture the assertion
that the reindeer will in the near future bring more wealth and happi-
ness to the people of this district than all the gold and silver that
is delivered from Alaskan mines.

Inclosed find table showing ownership of reindeer in my care
at this date.

Most respectfully, Dana Thomas.

Dr. Sheldon Jackson,

General Agent of Education in Alaska, Washington, D. C.

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC KKINDKKK INTO ALASKA. 117

KEEN DEER AND CARIBOU.

By C. C. Georgeson, M. S.
Special agent in charge oj Ahtihi Agricultural Experiment Stations, Office 0} Experiment

Stations.

[Reprint from Agriciiltiinil Report.]

Tho reindeer of Europe and Asia and the caribou of America are
usually considered to belong to one and the same species, Bnngifer
tarandus, thouo;h some distinguished scientists recogiMze seven differ-
ent species. For the j)urposes of this article they may be considered
as one.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.

The reindeer constitutes one of the several genera into wliich the
deer famih' is divided, and, considered from the standpoint of its use-
fulness to man, it is by far the most important member of this family.
Its range in the wild state, though extensive, is confined to northern
latitudes. On the American continent it is found from the shores of
the Arctic Ocean along the Alaskan range, even below the boundary of
the United States in the west, and in the east through Labrador to New
Brunswick and Newfoundland, while on the plains it does not reach
down so far. In Newfoundland, which is as yet but thinly settled, and
the settlements located chiefly in the south and southeast portion of
the island, there are still large herds of caribou, which feed in summer
on the barren highlands of the north and in winter migrate to the
wooded districts in the south. Caribou, it is reported, are likewise
still found in the liilly districts of New Brunswick and adjoining dis-
tricts. In the interior of Alaska caribou is the most important game
animal, though it is rapidl}^ disappearing from the regions most fre-
cjuented by the prospector and miner. In the Kenai Peninsula cari-
bou are still found, but they are scarce. Its range is here almost
identical with that of the moose. Both occupy the woods in winter
and in summer both seek relief from mosquitoes b}' going to open
ground, the caribou seeking the mountains, while the moose is more
inclined to go to the grassy meadows along the seacoast to escape the
pest. In the interior of Alaska there are still large regions unexploited
where caribou are found in numbers, but they are scarce along the
trails. In fact, they are nowhere numerous, except in the foothills of
the range in which Mount McKinley is the principal i)eak. Small
herds are scattered all through the northern plains of the continent to
the Arctic Ocean.

In Europe it is found in the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, and
Russia in the same regions as the domestic reindeer. In the Scandi-
navian range it extends well down toward the south, and in Russia it
is said to be found throughout the whole length of the Ural Moun-
tains, but not in the Caucasus. It is likewise found throughout the

118 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

whole ol' northern Siberia and in the mountains as far south as lati-
tude 52°. Reindeer are especially numerous in eastern Siberia, in
Kamchatka, and in the region bordered by the Sea of Okhotsk, where
they are largel}^ domesticated. They have been imported into Ice-
land, where they have escaped from domestication and now run wild
in great herds. They are found in Greenland, and, more wonderful
still, in Spitzbergen, a group of islands in the Ai'ctic Ocean nearly
400 miles north of Norway, stretching from latitude 76° 30' to 80° 30'.
Sportsmen have killed reindeer there by the thousand. This is, of
course, a long way north of the northern limit of tree growth. The
forest of more southern latitudes is here represented only by willows
a few inches high. There are some flowering plants, but the principal
vegetation consists of mosses and lichen, on which the reindeer feed.
In short, the range of the reindeer and caribou is bounded by the
isothermal line which determines the character of the vegetation on
which they feed. The}^ apparently prefer a species of lichen {Cla-
donia rangiferina) , which for this reason is commonly called " reindeer
moss," but they eat also other cryptogams, and they are very fond
of muslu'ooms. In summer they browse much on willows and other
brush, as well as grass.

In a former epoch the reindeer inhabited all of Europe, even down
to the Mediterranean, having apparently been driven south })y the
advancing ice. Its remains have been found in France and elsewhere
in continental Europe and in Scotland and in Ireland.

TWO RACES OF CARIBOU.

It may be noted here that in America there are two races of the
caribou, commonly named after the range they occupy. One is caUed
the Woodland caribou, and occupies the southern limit of the range;
it feeds largely on grasses, and migrates southward in summer. The
other, which is known as the Barren Ground caribou, follows the
receding cold weather to the northward in summer, and goes to the
woods, when it goes there at all, only in winter. The two differ in
size, the northi^en type being the larger; they differ also in the antlers,
which in the northern type are more palmated — that is, flattened —
than in the southern t}^e. These and other slight differences may be
sufficient to separate the species — they are certainly varieties; but it
is worth noting that no one thinks of erecting new species among our
domestic cattle. And yet there are more marked differences between
a Jersey and a Galloway, for instance, or a Merino sheep and a Black-
faced Scotch, or between a racer and a Shire horse, than between
these groups of the reindeer.

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC RKTNDEEK INTO ALASKA. 119
DESCRIPTION.

Reindeer varj^ much in size. An abundant food supplj^ is an
important factor in their development, as in the case of other animals.
Again, breed — perhaps we should call it race — characteristics are
another factor influencing size. In some portions of Siberia the rein-
deer is much larger than in Lapland. Some domestic deer in that
region stand 5 feet high, can carry 200 jiounds on their backs, and
are quite generall}' used for riding. There is more variation in size
among the wild deer than among domesticated ones, the largest being
found among the former; but, on the other hand, taking a large
number, the domesticated deer will average larger than the wild.

Compared with other members of the deer tribe, it is not a graceful
animal. The head is large, muzzle broad, neck short, set low, and
usuall}^ carried horizontally. When the animal walks the top line
of the neck is below that of the back. The withers are high, reaching
above the line of the back; shoulders rather lieaA^y, with prominent
shoulder points, though when the animal is in good condition they
blend pretty well with the thick base of the neck. The back is nar-
row, rump sloping; hind quarters light; (lank low and quite full;
underline nearl}' parallel with the back. In the fawns the legs seem
disproportionately long, but in the mature animal they appear, on
the contrary, rather short; the forelegs are straight, but the hind
legs are crooked and spreading outward from the hock as if to brace
the hind quarters and prevent their wabbling sidewise. The feet
are large, and the hoofs spread when pressed against the ground — a
provision of nature wliich aids the animal to get over soft snow
or mud.

In color the caribou is grayish brown, darker in summer, lighter
in winter; and wliile this, too, is the prevailing color of the domestic
reindeer, the latter vary more than the wild ones, some being spotted,
others almost white. All are lighter on neck, shoulders, and belly
than on the back. The coat is exceedingly thick, longer in winter
than in summer, and under the neck the hair is some 5 or 6 inches
long, but there is no mossy undercoat such as tnost animals indige-
nous to arctic latitudes have. One peculiarity of the hair of the Alas-
kan caribou is perhaps worth mentioning, as I have not seen it referred
to elsewhere, and that is that most of the hairs are more or less
flattened, not c^dindrical; the cross section is oblong, and in some
cases they are as much as three times broader than thick. More-
over, the individual hairs are sinuous, the wave lines being on the
edges of the hair, so that they do not appear wavy when viewed on
the edge. The hair is exceedingly brittle and breaks off readily
w^hen handled. For this reason caribou and reindeer skins do not
make good rugs. They litter the floor continually with broken

120 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

hair. The summer skins are better in this respect than the winter
skins. The hide is thick and impervious to water to a marked degree,
and by a certain mode of tanning practiced by the Lapps it can be
made perfectly impervious. On the face and lower part of the legs
the skin is particularly thick and durable, for which reason the Lapps
use these portions for footwear.

A unique characteristic of the species is that both males and females
have horns or antlers. They shed them annually in March and
April, after which a new pair immediately start to grow. The young
animal has cylindrical horns — nearly straight — which grow to a
foot or more in length the first summer, but as it grows older the
horns become palmated and curve outward and backward, and
prongs, or branches, increase in number annually up to the age of
seven or eight years. From that time the prongs decrease in number
until in old animals there may be only a few points on the outer
ends of the horns. In the prime of life one or both horns produce
prongs which reach down over the face, called ''brow antlers." The
size of the antlers varies with the size of the animal. Antlers of
females are smaller than those of males. Occasionally a pah' of
antlers is found measuring 4 feet in length and weighing as much
as 40 pounds, but this is extreme; half of these figures more nearly
represents the average. It is not easy to see just what function
they fulfill in the animal economy. They appear to be a hindrance
rather than a help in the struggle for existence. It must be a vast
drain on the system to furnish nourishment for their rapid and pro-
digious growth, and they are tender and of little use for defense
during the summer months while growing. They are at this season
covered with skin, wliich is abundantly supplied with blood vessels
and a fine coat of hair, when they are technically said to be "in the
velvet." They are full grown about the time the breeding season
begins in the fall of the year, and then the bulls use them freely on
each other, but otherwise they are not often used for either defense
or offense; instead, they strike their antagonist with their fore feet.
The horn is soft, spongy, and not strong. Nor does the animal use
the antlers in digging away the snow to reach the moss underneath,
according to the observations of reindeer herders and others; this
is done with the feet and nose.

The writer has not learned if any of the modern dehorning fluids
have been used to suppress the growth of horns on domestic reindeer,
but it would appear to be a subject worth experimentation. So
far as known, the natural life of the caribou is about fourteen years,
as is also the case with the reindeer. It does not reach its prime until
six or seven years old.

/

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 121
DOMESTIC REINDEER.

We have no means of knowing when reindeer were first caught and
tamed by savage man. They were doubtless first captured and con-
fined witli a view to having a food supply handy. Later he also
found that his fieet-footed captive could be made to draw him over
the snow, and this is as far as he has reached to-day. They have
been domesticated for ages by the Lajilanders, or rather by that por-
tion of them who live a nomadic life, for most of the Lapps are fisher-
men and farmers. The reindeer is also domesticated by the Mongol
tribes of Siberia, but to what extent is not fully known. It is known,
however, that individual owners in that region hold herds of 15,000
animals or even more. One interesting feature of the deer in that
region is that certain breeds or races of them are larger and much
more powerful than the Lapland deer, and, in consecjuence, are of
greater service to man. This is especially true of the breed of deer
kept by the Tunguse tribe in eastern Siberia. It was to introduce
these large deer into Alaska that Lieut. E. P. Bertholf, of the United
States Revenue-Cutter Service, visited Siberia in 1901, and, as we
shall see, succeeded in landing about 250 head of them at Port
Clarence.

The reindeer people, whether they live in Lapland or in Siberia, are
all nomadic. They have to be. The deer, which live in large herds,
must be moved from place to place in search of pasture. The people
consequently have no fixed abode, but live in tents, both winter and
summer. They take the reindeer to the woods in winter and drive
them to the mountains and open tundra in summer. Some of the
people have log houses for winter use, located at various points on
the range; others live in tents always. This is, of course, not condu-
cive to a high state of civilization. Herding deer is in most respects
like herding sheep. They must be kept together to prevent their
straying off and becoming lost ; they' must be protected from wolves
and other predaceous animals, and the sick ones and the fawns must
be looked after. In return for this care the reindeer supplies nearly
all the frugal wants of its owner. The meat is his chief food; from
the milk he makes cheese, or, in winter, he keeps it in frozen chimks
for use in coffee or for cooking, or it is evaporated and kept that way,
or it is made into butter; the blood is saved and eaten; the fat is
used for food, for candles, and for making footwear and clothing
waterproof; the skins are used lor tents, for clothing, for mats and
blankets, for boots, for lassos, for straps, and for thongs; the bones
and horns are used for tools and utensils and, together with the hoofs,
are used in boiling glue; and the animals are his burden bearers and
motive power while they live. By the aid of the reindeer their owners
maintain an existence where they otherwise would starve.

122 INTRODUCTION Oh DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.
REINDEER IN ALASKA.

The name of Dr. Sheldon Jackson is inseparably connected with
the introduction of reindeer in Alaska. It was due to his initiative
that the work was begun and it is due to liis persistent, unflagging
efforts that it has been continued. When he first began, his efforts
were greeted with scoffing and ridicule. Elaborate arguments were
adA^anced to prove that reindeer could not thrive in Alaska and that
the attempt must end in certain and disgraceful failure. But he fol-
lowed his plans undismayed. He succeeded at length in convincing
Congress that it was the cheapest and easiest way of preventing the
starvation of some thousands of Eskimos. Now the work has ad-
vanced so far as to prove beyond peradventure that reindeer will
thrive in Alaska. The Eskimos are learning to handle them; the
herds located in various places in the Territoiy are increasing fast;
the white people who have seen the progress of the work have learned
to appreciate the deer, and the voice of the scoffer is now but seldom
heard. Some day a monument will be erected to Dr. Sheldon Jackson
to commemorate this feature of his work and the benefits he thereby
conferred on the natives.

The story of their introduction is most interesting. I will briefly
note the salient points, derived chiefly from Doctor Jackson's reports
on the subject.

Doctor Jackson visited arctic Alaska in 1S90 for .the purpose of
establishing schools, a task which had been assigned to him by the
Commissioner of Education. He found the Eskimos more in need of
food than of schools. They were slowly dying of starvation and dis-
ease. Their condition had been changed for the worse by the influx
of the wliite man. The relentless hunt of the whale and the walrus
in steam vessels had largely' reduced the number of these animals, or
else they were driven beyond the reach of these poor people with the
appliances at their command to pursue them. Thus their main food
supply was lost. The fur animals had been hunted until well nigh
exterminated, and the Eskimo could obtain but few furs to barter
for food. The wild caribou, or reindeer, wliich had roamed over the
tundra, were also killed off or driven away. Add to this the corrupt-
ing influence of the introduction of intoxicants and the vices of the
wliite man, and it wifl be seen that their condition was pitiable.

In casting about for means to help them, it occurred to Doctor
Jackson that the introduction of the reindeer would meet their wants.
So soon as the deer were sufliciently numerous it would give them a
permanent food supply and forever settle the question of starvation.
He realized also that there were many and formidable obstacles to
such a scheme. It was a task that it would take many years to
accomplish, and the Government and people must be converted to
the plan before it could be undertaken at all ; and it meant that the

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 123

modes of life of the Eskimos must be changed to some degree from a
hunting to a pastoral life.

On his return to Washington he advocated an appropriation by
Congress for the purpose of purchasing reindeer in Siberia and trans-
porting them to Alaska. The proposition was new; it took time to
convince Congress of the practicability of the plan, and the first bills
to that end failed to pass. Meanwliile Doctor Jackson, fii-m in his
conviction, and with the approval of the Commissioner of Education,
to whom likewise much credit is due for his cordial cooperation,
appealed to the public tluough the press — described the condition of
the Eskimo people and asked the aid of charitable persons to inaugu-
rate his scheme. "The response was prompt and generous." He
received something over $2,000, and b}" the aid of a revenue cutter in
arctic w^aters, assigned by the Secretary of the Treasury to transport
the deer, he proceeded to procure the fu'st reindeer from the semi-
savage tribes in Siberia.

This first importation consisted of only 16 head. They were landed
in Unalaska in the autumn of 1891. During the summer of 1S92 he
made five visits to Siberia and purchased and imported 171 head of
reindeer. These were landed at Port Clarence, where, on the 29tli of
June in the same year, an institution for their breeding was established
and named after Hon. H. M. Teller, Senator from Colorado, who had
taken much interest in the enterprise.

In 1893 Doctor Jackson purchased in Siberia and added to the
Alaska herd 127 deer, and 79 fawns were born to the herd already
imported. In the same year Congress made the first appropriation
for tliis work — "$6,000, to be expended under the direction of the
Secretary of the Interior, for the purpose of introducmg and main-
taining in the Territory of Alaska reindeer for domestic purposes."
Siberian herders were employed at fu'st, but it was soon realized that
the Lapps were the best teachers for the Eskimos, and so in 1894 seven
Lapp herders were brought over from Norway. For their traveling
expenses Doctor Jackson again had to call upon private beneficence.
He also hired a superintendent of the work, Mr. W. A. Kjellmann,
who proved himself most efficient. The work was now fairly started,
and Congress increased the appropriations.

In the meantime there was a steady progress in the growth of the
herd. Some importations were made every year, except in 1896
and 1897. The average increase in the herd for ten years has l)een
42 per cent. This is not the percentage of the fawns born, but the
percentage of fawns wliich lived tlu-ough the year in which they were
born.

This includes, among the killed for the year 1897, 180 deer driven
to Point Barrow to feed the starving whalemen and 66 which were
lost or killed on the way up there. I regret that I have no later data

124 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

at my disposal ; but from the above it seems safe to assume that on the
1st of October, 1903, there were 7,000 reindeer in Alaska. This is a
remarkably successful showing; and even if no more were intro-
duced, Alaska could be stocked from the present herds. At a rate
of 40 per cent annual increase there would by 1910 be upward of
70,000 reindeer in Alaska. It is probable, however, that there will be
a greater percentage of losses as the number increases for the reason
that they must be scattered more and more among the inexperienced
natives, who can not give them the same care they have so far had
under Government supervision, and, with the increase, more will
probably also be slaughtered for food. There should be no cessation
in the importations for several years to come. It will take many years
imder the most favorable circumstances to fill the territory with all it
can support. Doctor Jackson estimates in his report for 1895 that
there are 14,000 square miles of deer pasture in Lapland, and that
there are 23 reindeer to the square mile. On the same basis he also
estimates that it will require 9,000,000 head to stock Alaska. Of
course, this is only tentative. Lapland is more densely populated
than Alaska is ever likely to be, and fewer deer will supply the wants
of the people of Alaska.

PRACTICAL TESTS.

The first notable example of the endurance of reindeer in Alaska
and their adaptability to winter travel was a trip made in the winter
of 1896-97 by W. A. Kjellmann while he was superintendent of the
Teller reindeer station. He left Port Clarence in the middle of
December, 1896, and traveled southward to the Kuskokwim River,
about 1,000 miles distant, and returned to the station April 25, having
accom})lished 2,000 miles through a rough and barren country, in the
worst season of the year, the reindeer obtaining their living from the
moss which they dug out from under the snow.

The second practical demonstration of the value of reindeer was
made in the winter of 1897-98, when a relief expedition in charge
of Lieut. D. H. Jarvis, of the Revenue-Cutter Service, was sent
overland to the shipwrecked whalers at Point Barrow. The expe-
dition was a success, and the leaders in it. First Lieut. D. H. Jarvis,
Second Lieut. E. P. Bertholf, and Surg. S. J. Call, were awarded
gold medals and the thanks of Congress. On December 16, 1897,
Lieutenant Jarvis and his companions started from a point some
300 miles south of St. Michael and proceeded northward, first with
dog teams and later partly with reindeer and partly with dogs. Some
distance above Nome the herd of a native, Charlie Antisarlook by
name, was secured. Charlie had been an apprentice at the Gov-
ernment reindeer station and had become a skillful manager of the
deer. At Cape Prince of Wales a herd of nearly 300 animals, belong-
ing to private parties, under the management of W. T. Lopp, was

INTRODUCTION OK DOMERTIO REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 125

secured, and Mr. Lopp volunteered to drive them to Point Barrow,
a distance of 800 miles. They were to be used for food to succor
the 300 whalemen who had been frozen in at that point without
sufhcient provisions. The hardships of this trip through a barren,
unpeopled country, with the temperature from 20° to 50° F. below
zero, and blizzards raging much of the time, can be better imagined
than described. The undertaking was a success. That the deer
could be driven through such a country in large number, find their
own food, arrive safely at the destination, and there drop a large
number of healthy fawns is evidence of the value of the reindeer
to people who live in the Arctics. Dogs nuist carry their food with
them; reindeer scrape the snow away and feed on the moss thev
find underneath. Numerous other tests have been made, though
less severe. Reindeer have been employed to carry the mail for
several winters between the settlements scattered along Bering Sea.
In short, it has been proved to the satisfaction of every fau-minded
person who has taken the trouble to post himself on the subject that
reindeer are an unqualified success, both as a means of transporta-
tion and as a source of supplies for most of the necessities of life
in that region.

TUNGUSE DEER.

In that portion of northeastern Siberia which is contiguous to the
Sea of Okhotsk lives a tribe known as the "Tunguse ])eople.'' Rein-
deer l^reeding appears to be their main industry, and their deer are
of a much larger type than those found either in Lapland or Kam-
chatka. To introduce a stock of these deer in Alaska Lieut. E. P.
Bertholf , of the Revenue-Cutter Service — the same gentleman who had
accompanied Lieutenant Jarvis on the expedition to Point Barrow —
was sent to Siberia in the spring of 1901. He traveled from New
York to St. Petersburg and 6,000 miles across Russia and Siberia
to his destination. It was an eventful and interesting trip. A few
quotations from his report to Doctor Jackson, published in the lat-
ter's report for 1901, will serve to give an idea ol the kind of deer
he was after and the way the natives use them :

These Tungiise deer were big fellows * * * anj {[jpy stuck to tlieii' work steadily.
Notwithstanding the difBculties, we made excellent time; and by 2 p. m. we had gone
some 12 miles, including 7 miles of road breaking. Here we came upon a tea caravan
of 40 sleds and 100 dT'cr that had been stalled for three days by the storm. * * * Tijp
deer in this part of the countrj' are very much donusficattd and tame, and when th<y are
allowed to feed the drivers never tether them, but turn them loose to wander as they will.
When ready for a start one man rounds the deer up and drives th( ni to camp, whei-e the
rest surround them and inclose the herd with a long liide line, which is stretched along
between the men. The animals stand very (juietly while some of tiie drivers pick up the
halter hnes that have been trailing in the snow, and the deer are then led to the different
sleds and harnessed. I never saw an occasion on our whole route when it was necessary
to lasso a deer. When traveling the driver uses a switch with which to touch up a lazy
deer.

S. Doc. tjl, 58-3 10

12() INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALA>KA.

Again he says:

The Tunguse deer arc certainly magnificent animals, for they can carrv a full-grown
man several miles through ver}- deep snow. In fact, when we were sighted from this
camp, two Tunguse came out to meet us, riding deer that at times sunk in the snow nearly
to the sh ^ulder. The Tunguse who own reindeer do not remain long in one place, for they
are of necessity wanderers, being obliged to shift camp frequently to keep their deer on
good feeding ground. In these shiftings about the deer are utilized not only as draft, but
as pack animals, particularly when the snow is deep.

Speaking of theii- use for freighting, he sa3^s :

During the winter over 1,000 sleds leave Ola at different times, bound for Cemechan,
in caravans of about 100 each. With a caravan of about 100 sleds belonging to one outfit
there would be about 10 men, each man managing a train of 10 sleds, he driving the head
team, while the other teams are tied by their halter lines to the sled in front. As each
sled has two deer, and each train extra deer for emergencies, it will be seen that some 2,500
reindeer are used on this caravan route. Fifteen poods (540 pounds) per sled makes a
total of at least 15,000 poods (270 tons) ; and as the difference between the cost of the deer
caravans from Ola and the old horse caravans from Yakutsk, both bound to the same
place, is $4 a pood, over $60,000 is saved to the Government yearly by the establishment
of this deer caravan route from Ola to the Kolima River.

Concerning their use as pack animals, he says:

During my travel in the winter I had seen the reindeer used extensively with the saddle,
especially in deep snow: but while I had noted their occasional use as pack animals, it
was by no means general. Now, however, in the summer, I found they were used entirely
as beasts of burden. In wnnter, when sleds can be used, two deer draw a load of from 15
to 20 poods, or from 540 to 720 pounds, thus transporting from 270 to 360 pounds per deer.
That amount is not considered excessive, and the animals plod along with such a load
day after day. When used as a pack animal, 150 pounds are considered the proper weight
for the pack, though some animals can carry 200 pounds and more.

After much trouble Lieutenant Bertholf succeeded in purchasing
428 head of these large deer, and a sliip was chartered to bring them
to Alaska. However, owing to rough weather, 174 of these deer died
or were killed on the voyage, and only 254 were landed at Teller Rein-
deer Station, Port Clarence.

TRAINING THE DEER.

Reindeer are naturally wild, and it takes much time, patience, and
skill to train them so they can be handled without much trouble.
Their wildness is in large measure due to the fact that they are usually
bred in large herds, and individual animals are therefore not accus-
tomed to be handled by the herders, who confine their attention in
this respect to the few trained sled deer. The training begins when
the deer is 3 years old. Generally the stoutest males and geldings
are selected. Females are also trained, but they are smaller and less
enduring. The training begins b}" lassoing the selected animals, thus
separating them from the herd. The poor beasts are much scared,
and jump about in frantic efforts to escape. The trainer advances
hand over hand on the rawhide lasso till the head is reached. Thev

INTRODUCTION OK DOMESTIC RKINDKKK INTO ALASKA. 127

are then sometimes given a little salt, ol' wliicli they are loiul: lliev
are then led al)()ut for some time or tied to a j)ost to accustom tliciii
to confinement and, the lesson over, again released. This is lepeated
day b}' day, and when sufliciently tamed they are harnessed and in
the same manner gradually accustomed to draw light loads. This
takes a long time and persistent work. They should not be woiked
before they are 3 years old. At 6 or 7 they reach their prime and then
gradually decline.

In regard to driving them, Lieut. D. H. Jarvis makes the following
observation in his re])()rt :

All hands must be ready at the same time wlien starting a deer train, for just as soon as the
animals see the head team start they are all ofl' with a jump, and for a short time keep up a
very high rate of speed. If one is not quick in jumping and holding on to his sled, he is likeK'
either to lose his team or to be dragged along through the snow. They soon come down to a
moderate gait, however, and finally drop into a walk when tired.

DEER HARNESS.

There are at least three ways of harnessing deer — one in Siberia and
two in Lapland. Lieutenant Bertholf makes the following observa-
tion on the Siberian method :

They are harnessed in pairs by a very simple arrangement— a plain loop of rawiiide about
2 inches wide that goes over the off shoulder and between the forelegs. These loops are
made fast to a single piece of rawhide that goes over the bent saphng on the front end of the
sled runners, allowing it free motion. This makes both deer pull together, for if one gets
ahead the other's hind legs hit against the sled and he is spurred on.

That is, the animal pulls by the left shoulder, the loop or strap
referred to passing over the withers and between the legs, as when
one ties a sash over the shoulder. The trace is fastened at the right
side, at the elbow of the right fore leg; the hind legs are thus both on
the left side of the trace. The animal can not pull straight, but must
of necessity advance somewhat sidewise. It appears like a barbaric
and primitive, not to say cruel, way of working them.

Another method used in Lapland is not very different, but yet an
improvement. A broad strap of rawhide is placed over the neck;
the two ends being lashed together, they are drawn in between the
fore legs and fastened to the trace, which passes out between the hind
legs and is secured to the sled. The deer thus straddles the trace, and
the pressure of the pidl comes on the neck just in front of the shoulders
and on the brisket.

A more modern style of harness is now also much used in Lapland.
Lieutenant Jarvis describes it so fully that I will quote him again,
this being the manner in which the deer he used on his Point Barrow
trip were harnessed :

They are harnessed with a well-fitting collar of two flat pieces of wood, from which a slK)rt
trace goes back on each side to the ends of a breast piece, or swingletree, that fits under the
body. [It is held up by a strap over the back.] From the center of this a single trace runs

128 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.

I)ack to the slod, either between or on one side of the liind l(>g.s. In the wake of the legs this
trace is protected with some soft fur, or the skin will be worn through with the constant
chafing. Generally there is a single line made fast to the left side of the halter, and with this
the animal is guided and held in check.

In Lapland, as in Alaska, there is seldom more than one animal
hitched to a sled.

SLEDS.

There are two forms of sleds used in Alaska. One is called a " pulka."
It is a style which has been used in La])land for centuries. It is about
7 feet long and 2 feet broad, pointed in front and square in the back,
and generally rounded underneath so as to greatly resemble a boat.
It has the desirable merits that it pulls easily and does not sink into
soft snow. The front half is covered with deerskin stretched over
bows. In this receptacle the baggage of the traveler is placed. A
partition in the sled makes it a closed box. Access is had through a
square hole in the top closed by a tight-fitting lid. In the back half of
the sled is an upholstered low seat with back rest. It takes much
experience to keep the seat, as the sled rolls from side to side. The
other form of the sled is like the dog sled, or hand sled, in common
use. It varies very much, as it is largely homemade; it is 9 feet long
and 2 feet wide, built of thin slats to make it as light as possible, and
inclosed by a railing about a foot high.

PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION OF DEER.

The object in introducing the deer is to familiarize the Eskimos
with their use and to induce them to breed and to handle them. To
this end the following plan has been adopted: The Teller reindeer
station has been made the headquarters for the Government herd.
A general superintendent and the other necessary employees have
been stationed here. A number of expert Lapp reindeer men have
been employed, who have the handling of the deer and also act as
teachers to the Eskimos. The most intelligent young men from the
various villages along the coast have been selected as apprentices to
learn the art of breeding reindeer. They enter into an agreement to
remain from two to five years or until, in the judgment of the super-
intendent, they have acquired sufficient skill to handle a herd.
Meanwhile they are given rations and clothing and get a nominal
pay in deer. If they show a lack of interest or are too dull to learn
they are dismissed. When capable to handle them the Government
will lend them a few deer, from which they can have the increase,
but must return within five years the original number loaned. This
gives them a nucleus for a herd. The Government also lends herds
to mission stations on the same conditions. According to Doctor
Jackson's report for 1902 there were then 60 individual owners ot

INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDPJKK INTO ALASKA, 12U

roindeer in Alaska, 44 of whom wore Eskimos. Some of tlie mission
stations have Lapp herders, who teach the natives, and where tliis
is the case these missions become in effect powerful assistants to the
Government. This appears to the writer to be an excellent plan.
It helps the missions and at the same time hastens the acquisition
of skill among the natives, which is a prime ol)ject. By lending
deer to those natives only w^ho have taken an interest in the matter
and w^ho have learned to handle them the danger of loss from care-
lessness is reduced to a minimum. The deer owners soon become
important men in their respective neighborhoods, and others w'\\\
strive to emulate them. The ownership makes them independent
of the ordinary methods of making a living; it teaches them self-
respect and self-reliance. The deer also bring in mone}-. The meat
on one of them is worth from $50 to SlOO at the mines, and sled deer
are worth upward of $100 each.

DISEASES OF REINDEER.

The reindeer is subject to several diseases, and it is very prone to
accidents. In every herd, therefore, there is a certain annual per-
centage of losses which seem to be inevitable. One of its afflictions
is known as the hoof disease. It begins with a lameness, follow^ed by
a swelling near the hoof, though the swelling may appear higher up on
the leg or even on other parts of the body. The swelling is followed
by the formation of pus, which may result in a running sore, followed
by gradual recovery after several months; or the disease may become
systemic, when the animal usually dies. Dr. F. II. Gambell, super-
intendent of the Eaton reindeer station, writes as follows on the
subject:

My belief is that the disease originates in the bones, generally near the articulation: that
the inflammation is due to pus-producing germs, which find lodgment in the devitalized
bon; ; that gradually the pus "works" to the surface, causing an open sore; that at this
time the trouble is localized, but later nniy become sj-stemic.

Doctor Gambell has noticed a craving lor calcium salts, and
advances the theory that the disease is due to lack of vitality, owing
to the great strain upon the system to grow the antlers in so short a
time. It might be inferred that giving them access to lime in some
form would have a tendency to remedy the evil, but no experiments
on that point are reported.

Reindeer are also subject to another trouble, designated as liver-
and-lung disease, from which it appears that many have died in the
Government herd. No remedy has been reported.

They are prone to accident, and many deer break their legs,
their necks, or their backs while nmning about or while fighting
wdtli each other.

130 INTRODUCTION OF D()MP:STIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA.
IMPROVING THE BREED.

It appears to the writer that much could be ch)ne in the way of
improving the size and strength of the animal, and therefore its use-
fulness, by breeding them up. The laws of breeding which hold
sway in the development of cattle, sheep, and hogs, must likewise
be applicable in the breeding of reindeer. As has been noted, many
of the wild deer are larger than the domesticated, probably because
in the former case nature has applied her laws of the survival of the
fittest, and the strongest males of the herd, as a rule, have become
the sires of the herd. Under domestication these laws could be
applied to even better advantage and doubtless with good results.

The abortion of the antlers, which under domestication are not
only utterly useless, but a decided disadvantage to the animal,
is another line in which exi)eriment might be tried with interesting
results.

REINDEER AND AGRICULTURE INCOMPATIBLE.

The zone of the usefulness of the reindeer lies wholly outside that
in which agriculture is possible. It lives chiefly on the lichen and
herbage indigenous to the region where no agricultural plants will
grow. It will not thrive in the warmer regions where agriculture is
practicable, and it can not live on the kind of forage which we feed
to cattle and horses. Wherever the ground can be cultivated its
place will be taken by the horse and ox. But it is by far the most
useful animal for the region north of the agricultural belt. It is
the means of transmuting a vast amount of vegetation into meat
and skins necessary to the support of the Eskimos.

INDEX.

Page.

Ajrricultnre and reincU'or !•><'

Anderson, ( ). P., report 1 1-f

Andreaf^^ki 41 . W

Annual report of Dr. Sheldon Jackson 9-28

Antisarlook, Mary, lawsuit V)r()nght against '.H>-M7

Verdict in her favor '. is. 9**

Anvik 4:^

Apprentices, rules concerning l-i-Ki, 128

Xuniber of, with their holdings lt>

At Teller 80

At Ganibell 82-84

At Golofnin 1 14

Appropriati(jns for introduction of reindeer into Alaska 19

Bals and Ole Bahr, herders in charge of deer at Unalakleet 24. 95, M7, 102

Bango, Lapp, reappointed at Teller 9.5

Barnard, Lieutenant 42

Barrow, ownership of deer at -1

Herd inspected by W. T. Lopp - 1 1 1

Bert holf, Lieut. E. V. , expedition to Barrow 1 24

Through Siberia 1 --^

Bethel, ownership of deer at --

Arrival of C. O. Lind and inspection of herd 25, 70, 98

Report of superintendent H*^

Bettles, establishment of station at 1 '

Brevig, F. L. , report of ' •'

Employs Bango 95

Bruner, A. J., attorney •'^; 10^

Building.", St. Lawrence '^^

Unalakleet If ^^

Hope 113

Call, Doctor - - -^5

Expedition to Barrow 1 -"1

Campbell, Dr. E. O., trij) to mainland on Thetis 37,38

Report of - - - '^l"^-*

Caribou {st'e Reindeer) 11 < -130

Chilkats, destroy Fort Selkirk 51

Circle City - - - - -^^

Commissioner of education; forwards reindeer rejiort to the Secretary of the

Interior "^

Requests Secretary of the Treasury for transportation on revenue cutters. .U

Letters of instruction to Dr. William Hamilton 32, 33

Telegraphs to postpone trial of Mary Antisarlook 9/

ISl

132 INDKX.

fage.

Copper Center, station establii^heil at 17

Reindeer route to 78

Corrals, used in counting deer 97, 107

Counting deer 97, 107

Cram, I). W., appointed 17

En route to Bettles 45

Cruise of assistant agent '. 2t)-2S, 34-53

Dawson - 49

Diseases of reindeer 129

Eagl e - - 49

Eaton, ownership of deer at 22

A nnual report of superintendent 24, 95

Buildings 1 03

Education. {See Schools.)

Eskimos, civilization of (.sre Natives) 1 2-16

Ethnological notes, by E. O. Campbell 90

Expenditures of appropriation, ' ' Reindeer fur Alaska, 1904 " 19

Fairbanks 43-44

Fawns, increase by 10

Difficulty in counting 97

At Unalakleet 103

Finlanders, as teachers and herders 15. 17, 18

At Bethel 1 15

Fort < iibbon 45

Fort Selkirk, destruction of 51

Fort Yukon 46, 47

Freighting. (.SW' Reindeer. )

Gambell, ownership of deer at 21

Rejjort of superintendent 24, 81-94

Gambell, Dr. F. H., on hoof disease 129

Georgeson, C. C, report of 117-130

Gold, on creeks and tributaries of Tanana - 43

At Fairbanks 44

At Circle City 48

( ►utput of Klondike region 49

Golfonin, ownership of deer at 219

Inspected by C. O. Lind 102

Report of superintendent 24, 1 1 4

Government, deer belonging to 20

Hamilton, Dr. William, cruise of 26-28

Instructions to 32, 33

Itinerary of {-ve Itinerary ) 34-53

Harness 127

Harris, Dr. \V. T. (/See Commissioner of Education.)
Herders. {See Natives and apprentices. )

Hobbling deer UUi

Hope, Point, station established at 17

Visit of W. T. Lopp Ill

Horses and mules compared with reindeer 105

Hospitals, need of 14

Hudson Bay Co. , at F( )rt Yukon 46

Abanilons post 47

Massacre at Fort Sekik 51

indp:x. 133

Page.

Ikofrmnt ( Russian mission ) 41

Illus^trations 7

Increase from 1892-1904, tal)lt's showing: 9, 20

Industrial schools 14

Use of reindeer in 11

Innocent, Rt. Rev., received on l)oard lln'tix 85

Instruction, letters of 82, 88

Itinerary of Doctor Hamilton:

Leaves Honolulu 84

Tiiaiaska and St. (leoriie Island 8.5

Seal killing .8H

St. Paul and St. Lawrence 87

St. Micliael 89

Starts on Yukon trip 89

The Yukon descrilied .89-40

I kogmut 41

Koserefsky 41

Nulato 42

Tanana 48

Fairbanks 44

Fort Gibbon, St. James ]\Iis.sion, Tanana 45

Rampart, Fort Yukon 46

Circle City 48

Eagle 48

Dawson 49

White Horse 51

Skagway, Juneau, Sitka, and San Francisco 52

Jackson, Doctor Slieldon, annual report 9-28

Connection with introduction of reindeer into Alaska 1 22-124

Jarvis, Lieut. D. H. , relief expedition to Barrow 124

(Quotations from 1 27

Jasberg, J. H. , appointed 18

Jetti, Julius, report of 58

Karl)um, Louis, at Bethel 115

Kilbuck, John H., placed in charge of "Wainwright 17

Arrival at Barrow Ill

Kjellman, W. A., letter concerning route from Bethel to Copjier Center 78

Trip of 2,000 miles 124

Koserefsky 41, 42

Kotzebue, ownership of deer at 21

Inspected by C. O. Lind 101

Visit of W. T. Lopp 112

Report of superintendent 28, 1 l(i

Kuskokwim. {See Bethel.)

Laplanders, as instructors : 15, 128

At Kotzebue - 101

Instruct herders at Wales 107

Brought to Alaska 123

Lee, Hugh J. , rei)ort of 106

Lind, C. O. , tour of inspection 25

Extracts from journal 54-77

Report 9.5-106

Appears in court •"'• "' ■ ■'•'^- •'•'

134 INDEX.

Lind, C. (\, tour of inspection — Continued. Page.

Arrives at Metliel 98

Arrives at Kotzebue 1 01

Arrives at Golof nin 1 02

Arrives at Unalakleet 102

Lindseth, J. T. , brings suit against ^Mary Antisarlook 96

Case lost 99

Liquor trading S9, 93

Loans of deer, table showing 12

Lopp, W. T., appointed superintendent 17, 18

Letter of 107

Eeport of 109

Trij) to Barrow in 1897 125

Mail carried by reindeer teams (.sw Reindeer).

Miners and reindeer 14

Mission stations, cooperation of 11, 129

Loans to - 12

Moss, destroyed by lires - 24. 114

Nallogoroak, trip to Bethel 98

Natives, as assistants in development of Alaska 1 2-16

Nunil)er obtaining support from deer 16, 104

Given employment on Thetis 38

Employments on Yukon 40-41

As herders 9,s. 101,102

Health of 103

Kilima, chief herder at Kotzebue - 101

Nulato, ownership of deer at 22

Massacre in 1851 - -12

Report of superintendent '3

Personnel of reindeer service 22

Physicians, employment of 1-1

Post-Office Department, mail routes established by 13, 17

President's message calls attention to Alaska 12

Prices at Fairbanks -1-1

Rampart '^

Redmyer, H. E. , to drive herds to Copper Center 17

En route to Bethel '- ">9. 41

Reindeer and cariboi; - 1 1 1 -1 30

Important factor in the civilization of the Eskimos 12-16

Ability to travel 105

Antlers 1-0

Description of : 119

Diseases of 129

Dog teams compared with reindeer teams 24, 25, 100, 102, 104, 105, 1 14, 116

Domesticated 121

Freighting -vvith 25,99,100,105,114,116

In Siberia 126

Geographical distribution of 117

Harness 127

At industrial schools 11

Introduction by Doctor Jackson 122

Loans of 12

Mail carried by 13, IS, 24. 109

Marking of 108, 1 10

INDEX. 135

Reimleer and caribou — Continued. )-„>.'.■.

For n)iners 14

Nund)er sold, butchered, or died 10

Ownershij) of -jl

Plan of distribution TJS

Practical tests of 124

Rules and regulations concerning 10, 12, j.'i, it;, 128

Sale of male deer 1(», 24. 1 II. 11»), 129

Sale of deer in herds 10

Sleds 129

Training of 126

Reports, of Doctor Jackson 9-28

Of stations 2:]-2>>

Of superintendents, at Bethel ] 1 ,5

At Eaton 9.5

At Gambell si- 94

At Golofnin 114

At Kotzebue 116

At Xulato 53

At Teller 79

At Wales 106

Request to secretary for transportation 31

Richards, Thomas, assistant to Doctor Campbell 24

Efficient management of apprentices s2, 83

Preservation of order 90

Attacked by a native 93

Rowe, Bishop, P. T., hospitals erected by 44

Rules and regulations {see Reindeer).

Ritsh, r. S. S o2

Russian-American Fur Company on the Yukon 47

Russian Mission (Ikogmut) 41

Salmon 50

Sara and Spein sent to Bethel as herders 25

Stay in camp 60

Attempt to reacli Bethel 96

Arrive at Bethel 98

Schools, industrial schools 14

At Unalaska 35

At St. Michael .39

At Andreafski 41

At Koserefski 41

At Anvik 42

At Xulato 43

At St. James 45

, At Rampart 46

At Fort Yukon 47

At Dawson 49

At Skagway, Juneau, and Sitka 52

At Teller 80

At Gambell 84-86

At Kotzebue 100

At Unalaskleet 103

At Shishmaref 109

At Hope Ill

At Golofnin 114

136 INDEX.

Page.

Schrader, F. C, concerning route between Bethel and Copper Center 78

Seal, killing of 36

Secretary of the Interior, action of 3,4

Senate, U. S., action of 3

Seravvlook, apprentice, drives mail teams 24

Sex of deer in herds, table showing 10

Shishmaref Inlet, new herd at 108

School needed at 109

Siberia, visits of Doctor Jackson to 123

Expedition of Lieutenant Bertholf 125

Signal Corps, use building at Eaton 103

Sitka 52

Sleds 128

Stations, reports of 23-26

Established 17

That should be established 18

Chains of 18-19

W. T. Lopp's opinion of proposed stations 108

Sleeker, A. , receives Doctor Lind 70

Informed of plans to move herds 96

Receives herd at Bethel 98

Report of 115

St. George Island 35

St. James Mission 45

St. Lawrence Island 37, 38

Report of station on 81-94

St. Michael 38

St. Paul Island 37

Sul )apprentices 16

Superintendents, appointed (see Reports ) 17

Tables, increase from 1892-1904 _ 9, 20

Increase of fawns 10

Number of deer sold, butchered, or died 10

Sex of deer in herds 10

Reindeer loaned 12

Number of apprentices with their holdings 16

Congressional appropriations 19

Ownership of deer 20

Deer belonging to Government 20

Ownership of deer in Alaska 21

Tanana 43

Teller, ownership of deer at 21

Report oi' superintendent 24, 79

Thetis, U. S. S 34

Thomas, Dana, entertains Doctor Lind 100

Annual report of 116

Training of deer 127

Transmittal, letter of 3

Transportation, request for 31

Treasury Department, cooperation of 28, 52, 113

(icants permission for transportation 32

Tunguse deer 125

Unalakleet, report of herd at {see Eaton ) 102-103

Unalaska 35

INDEX. 137

I'liKC

Vegetables, grown at Koserefsky 41

Wainwright, station estal)lishe(! 17

AVales, ownership of deer at 21

Report of snperintendent 28, 106-1 13

Mail route to 109

Walrus, fish, etc «9, 91, 92

White Horse 51

White men in Alaska 14

Value of deer to lOo, 1 16

White Pass and Yukon Railway 51, 52

Willard, F. E. , en route to Fort Yukon 49

Yukon River described 39

o

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