620 REINDEER IN ALASKA. 



was dela}^ in securing a vessel to transport the expedition to the head 

 of Lynn Canal, and further dela3^s at Lynn Canal and no moss to be 

 found there. 



Nearly 300 of the reindeer died of starvation after reaching the coast 

 of Alaska, because of the failure of the Government to have readj^ 

 suitable arrangements for pushing the herd from the seashore to the 

 moss fields at the head of Chilkat River, 50 miles distant. The remain- 

 ing 200, weakened by starvation, were driven to the Yukon Valley l)y 

 easy stages, and the relief expedition was abandoned, but, fortunately, 

 not before the country had learned that the miners in the Yukon had 

 abundant supplies and that the relief expedition had been unnecessaiy. 

 The Laplanders who had been l)rought over were distriljuted among 

 the reindeer stations and employed to teach the natives. 



This expedition to Lapland was in no way connected with the gen- 

 eral plan of introducing domestic reindeer into Alaska. The reindeer 

 procured by it were all geldings trained to harness. The reindeer for 

 breeding purposes have all ])een brought from Siberia. 



REIJEF OF WHALERS AT POINT BARROW. 



The first forcible realization of the wisdom of the Government in 

 stationing reindeer herds in Alaska came to the American people in 

 the winter of 1897-98. In the fall of 1897 word was received that 

 eight whaling ships had been imprisoned in the ice near Point Barrow, 

 and that the 400 American seamen aboard were stranded without food 

 for the long winter till the ice should open in July. No vessel of 

 relief could get within 2,000 miles of the party, or nearer than Denver 

 is to Boston. There was no known method by which provisions could 

 be dragged overland. If the Government had not Hve 3'ears before 

 commenced the introduction of the reindeer, most of these -iOO men 

 would have starved to death before help reached them. Fortunately, 

 there were large herds of reindeei' at Cape Nome and at Cape Rodne}', 

 over 1,000 miles l>y land from Point Barrow, or farther than Chicago 

 is from New York. The Government hurried the revenue-cutter Hcm'^' 

 north from Seattle, carrying three ])rave volunteers — Lieut. David H. 

 Jarvis, Lieut. Ellsworth P. Bertholf, and Dr. Samuel J. Call. The 

 three men were landed December 16, 1897, at Cape Vancouver-, obtained 

 some dog teams from the natives, and conunenced their dreary journey 

 of 2,000 miles through the arctic night to Point Barrow. They collected 

 al)out 450 reindeer from the herds at Rodney and Nome, and then, with 

 reindeer instead of dog sleds, and with Mr. W. T. Lopp, agent of the 

 American Missionary Society at Cape Prince of Wales, and Charlej" 



«For twenty years the revenue-clutter Bear has been engaged in Arctic work. It 

 has saved the Hves of hundreds of wrecked whalers, and contributed more to the 

 comfort and safety of the settlements along the Alaskan coast tjian any vessel in the 

 service. 



