614 REINDEER IN ALASKA. 



extended trip of inspection of the missionaiy .stations and Government 

 schools in Alaska in the summer of 1890," Dr. Sheldon Jackson was 

 impressed with the fact that the natives in arctic and subarctic Alaska 

 were rapidly losing- the sources of their food supply. Each year the 

 whales w^ere g'oino- farther and farther north, beyond the reach of the 

 natives, who had no steamships in which to pursue them; the walrus, 

 which formerly had Ijeen seen in herds of thousands, were disappear- 

 ing-; the seals were becoming- exterminated, and in winter the Eskimo 

 had to tramp 15 to 20 miles out on the ice before he could catch one. 

 The modern hunter, with his steam launches and rapid-fire guns, had 

 found the w^hales, walrus, and seals such easy pre}^ that he was ruth- 

 lessly destroying- them. Also the wild caribou, that the native had 

 easily captured before, had been frightened away and was rarely seen. 



Not only was the P^skimo losing his food, but w^hat in an arctic cli- 

 mate is no less important, his clothing as well. The whalebone, the 

 ivory tusks of the walrus, the seal skin, and the oil had given him 

 means of l)arter with the Siberian traders across the strait, from whom 

 he obtained reindeer skins to keep him warm in winter. 



Dr. Jackson saw that unless something was done at once the United 

 States would have to choose between feeding- the 20,000 and more 

 natives or letting them starve to death. The latter course was impos- 

 sible, the former rather expensive, as supplies would have to be carried 

 some 8,000 miles from Seattle. The more enterprising Siberian, liv- 

 ing-" on the opposite side of the strait under practically the same condi- 

 tions of arctic cold, got along- very nicely, as he had great herds of 

 domestic reindeer to fall back upon when game was scai'ce. The same 

 moss which covered so man}- thousands of miles of the plains of arctic 

 Siberia was seen everywhere in Alaska. The tame reindeer of Siberia 

 was practically the same animal as the wild caribou of Alaska, changed 

 by being domesticated for centuries. Could not the Eskimo be made 

 self-supporting by giving him reindeer herds of his own? 



On his return to the ITnited States in the winter of 1891 Dr. Sheldon 

 Jackson, in his annual report to Congress, asked for an appropria- 

 tion to provide the money for importing a few deer. Congress was 

 not convinced of the wisdom of such action, but several private per- 

 sons were so interested that they placed $2,000 at Dr. Jackson's dis- 

 posal to begin the experiment. The first deer were brought over that 

 year. It was not long, however, before the Oovei-nment realized the 

 importance of the movement, and in 1891 appropriated the sum of 



« Dr. Sheldon Jackson first visited Alaska in 1877, in the interest of schools and 

 missions. He made a second trip in 1879. Other visits followed, and since his 

 appointment as jjeneral ajjent of edncation in Alaska in 1885 he has made annnal 

 visits to the Territorv. 



