14 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



During the spring of 1893, 79 fawns were born to tlie lierd at the 

 Teller Eeindeer Station, and during the summer 127 deer were pur- 

 chased in Siberia and added to the Alaska herd. 



At the expiration of his year's service Mr. Bruce resigned, and Mr. 

 W. T. Lopp, of Indiana, was appointed superintendent. 



During April, May, and June, 1894, 186 fawns were born to the herd, 

 of which 41 were lost by being frozen or deserted by their mothers. 

 During the summer I purchased in Siberia 120 head, which were added 

 to the herd. 



Siberian herders were employed at the beginning of the enterprise, 

 not because they were considered the best, but because they were near 

 by and were the only ones that could be had at the time. It w^as real- 

 ized from the first that if the Alaskan Eskimo were to be taught the 

 breeding and care of the reindeer, it was important that they should 

 have the benefit of the most intelligent instructors and of the best 

 methods that were in use. By universal consent it is admitted that 

 the Lapps of northern Europe, because of their superior intelligence 

 (nearly all of them being able to read and write and some of them 

 being acquainted with several languages), are much superior to the 

 Samoyedes deer men of northern Europe and Asia and the barbarous 

 deer men of northeastern Siberia. Intelligence applied to the raising 

 of reindeer, just as to any other industry, produces the best results. 



Therefore, when in 1893 it was ascertained that the herd at Port 

 Clarence had safely passed its first winter (thus assuring its perma- 

 nence), I at once set about securing herders from Lapland. There being 

 no public funds available to meet the expense of sending an agent to 

 Norway in order to secure skilled Lapp herders, I had recourse again 

 to the private benefactions of friends of the enterprise, and $1,000 was 

 contributed. 



Mr. William A. Kjellmann, of Madison, Wis., was selected as superin- 

 tendent of the Teller Reindeer Station and sent to Lapland for herders. 

 He sailed from New York City February 21, and landed upon his return 

 May 12, 1894, having with him seven men, their wives and children, 

 making sixteen souls in all. This was the first colony of Lapps ever 

 brought to the United States. They reached the Teller Eeindeer Sta- 

 tion safely on July 29, having traveled over 12,500 miles. Upon reach- 

 ing the station Mr. Kjellmann took charge, relieving Mr. W. T. Lopp, 

 who desired to return to the mission work at Cape Prince of Wales. 



In 1894 the Fifty-third Congress, second session, increased the rein- 

 deer appropriation to $7,500, and the same amount was appropriated 

 in the spring of 1895, at the third session of the same Congress. 



1895. 

 The accompanying report of Mr. William A. Kjellmann (Appendix B) 

 upon the conduct of the Teller Eeindeer Station and reindeer herd is 

 so full and satisfactory that I will not even attempt to summarize it, 

 but rather urge its careful reading. 



