APPENDIX E. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF A PURCHASING STATION IN SIBERIA. 



Department of the Interior, 

 Bureau of Education, Alaska Division, 



Washington, D. C, January 10, 1895. 



Sir : With reference to the establishment of a temporary purchasing 

 station for reindeer on the Siberian side, it is objected, first, that it 

 would be dangerous to jilace a large supply of barter goods in the care 

 of a few men among a barbarous people so far removed from any pro- 

 tection that the barter goods would tempt the cupidity of the natives, 

 who would have no hesitation in killing the men in charge in order to 

 obtain possession of the supplies. 



In reply permit me to say that while this objection has seeming force, 

 yet experience has disproved it. In 1865-1867, in the attempt to extend 

 the Western Union telegraph lines across Siberia, Lieut. C. L. Macrae, 

 George Keunan, and Eichard J. Bush, with small parties of white 

 men, were stationed at various points in that portion of Siberia, the 

 two extreme stations being 2,000 miles apart. They traveled between 

 the stations freely, sometimes only one white man in company with the 

 natives, without molestation. Upon one occasion when they were all 

 absent their quarters were entered and robbed. 



In 1878-79 the explorer A. E. Kordenskjold, on the steamer Vega, 

 wintered on that coast. During the winter individuals of his party 

 made long trips alone with the natives in safety. 



Again, in 1885, a whaler, the Baric of Napoleon, was wrecked off the 

 coast of Siberia. Four of the crew reached land in safety, but three of 

 them died from exposure during the following spring. One survivor, 

 J. B. Vincent, lived two years in safety with the natives, and when he 

 was rescued Congress voted .f 1,000 for the purchase of presents to be 

 distributed among the natives of that section for their good care of 

 these whalers. 



Last winter a small whaling schooner, with a very small crew, win- 

 tered on Plover Bay on that coast. The natives could easily have killed 

 them all and taken their provisions, but no attempt was made to molest 

 them. 



The same class of people reside on the Alaska coast, and when it was 



proposed to establish schools we were informed by everyone that had 



any information from that region that it would not be safe to leave the 



teachers exposed in the Eskimo villages. So much was said on this 



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