322 ANTSrUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1942 



Hand pumps were resorted to and the speed of the towing ship was 

 reduced until a stop was made in the lee of Sand Islands. Here the 

 barge was repaired, and on July 16, the journey resumed to Nunivak. 

 By early in the evening of that day, anchor was made on the east 

 side of the island, a few miles south of Cape Etolin. 



A number of Eskimos live on Nunivak Island, and through the 

 active interest of Carl Lomen, the well-known conservationist, of 

 Nome, Alaska, their cooperation was obtained, and the unloading of 

 the animals was completed on July 17. The head man on Nunivak 

 Island, well known as trustworthy by Mr. Lomen, had a radio receiv- 

 ing set. In order to insure additional manpower that might be vital 

 to success in unloading the musk oxen under adverse conditions, Mr. 

 Lomen broadcast a message to the island three times a week over a 

 lengthy period prior to the anticipated date of arrival. The weather 

 fortunately held good, which enabled the men to place the barge 

 well inshore. From this position gang planks were placed onto 

 dry land, and down these planks the crated musk oxen, one by 

 one, were shoved. Released from their crates, the animals soon took 

 to their new and permanent liome. A reconnaissance of the island 

 proved that the four musk oxen released in 1935 were definitely estab- 

 lished. A check of the island in 1939 revealed that the initial stock of 

 34 animals received at College from Greenland in 1930 had multiplied 

 to more than 60. 



Thus Alaska has her musk ox once again, after probably the long- 

 est and most hazardous journey in the history of transplanting any 

 mammal for restocking purposes. The total distance these animals 

 traveled was approximately 14,000 miles. But a sudden storm might 

 have wrecked all the fine work that was so vigorously and effectively 

 sponsored by Senator Norbeck and Representative Dickinson 6 years 

 previously — in fact, wrecked the whole venture and caused the loss of 

 human life. But such is the risk many enthusiasts in wildlife con- 

 servation are willing to assume. 



It is hoped that as the Nunivak herd continues to increase a surplus 

 will be produced. This will permit the restocking of other Alaskan 

 areas containing suitable habitat where this interesting mammal of 

 the bleak Arctic may live and breed and thus perpetuate its kind again 

 over much of its old range in that romantic territory. 



