Miner W. Bruce 



Reindeer Herder; Showman, and Collector 

 For the Field Columbian Museum 



by James W. VanStone 

 Curator of North American Archaeology and Ethnology 



I 



n 1892 Domesticated Reindeer were brought from 



northeastern Siberia to the Port Clarence area on Sew- 

 ard Peninsula, Alaska (see map) through the joint 

 efforts of the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, first General Agent 

 of Education in Alaska and a Presbyterian missionary, 

 and Captain Michael A. Healy of the U.S. Revenue 

 Marine Service. This program, supported by the U.S. 

 Bureau of Education, was intended to provide Alaskan 



Eskimos with a new source of food. During the second 

 half of the nineteenth century, commercial interests had 

 indulged in unrestricted killing of whales, walrus, and 

 seals, so these traditional food sources had suffered a 

 serious decline. There was also a small market for the 

 meat and skins of the reindeer and it was hoped that the 

 Eskimos could derive a cash income from their sale. 



The first deer were landed by the U.S. Revenue 



Reindeer herders at Port Clarence. The man at the right may be Miner Bruce. 



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