52 INTRODUCTION OP DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



we learned that no hand car belonging to the section had that day gone 

 west of the town, but that a hand car had been in from the nearest sec- 

 tion house. Having one more witness that a dog had been seen on a 

 car that day determined me to try and catch the thief. This was accom- 

 l^lished with a borrowed hand car and four men and a Lapp, as no train 

 or other means of transportation could be secured. It was already 

 dark in the evening before we had gone the 20 miles and the section 

 house was reached, where we found all hands playing cards, and after 

 a few indirect questions had been answered the dog was found to be 

 in the house. On a definite demand for the stolen dog it was i^roduced. 

 The thief made the excuse that he had bought the dog of a boy for 25 

 cents, and as we had no time to remain there and bring suit we let the 

 fellow off after giving him some fright, so that he will henceforth 

 probably abstain from going off with another man's dog. 



At 11 o'clock in the evening we came to the railroad station, and left 

 there the next morning for Harvard, where we arrived in the afternoon, 

 and spent the night there until the 27th, when we continued to Helena, 

 Mont. We had to sj)end the night again at Helena, and there we were 

 transferred to the Northern Pacific Eailroad the next day. After con- 

 flict with the agent at Helena, he being unwilling to furnish food for 

 the Lapps, we were taken into another car and proceeded to Horse 

 Plains, arriving there on the 28th. Here we had to stop again on 

 account of washouts. The washouts were not repaired until the 30tli, 

 when we started for Herron Station, a few miles west. There we 

 stopped again until the 31st of May, when we proceeded a few miles 

 and reached Clarks Falls in the evening; thence we proceeded again 

 the same night, and advanced steadily, though slowly, until we finally 

 reached Seattle, Wash., the 1st of flune, late In the evening. I pass 

 over all the annoyances, disputes, and trouble on this journey. I tried 

 in every way possible to secure provisions for the Lapps and dogs from 

 the railroad company, but was only partially successful. 



The 2d of June we were transi^orted from the railroad station to 

 the steamer UmatiUa, destined for San Francisco via Victoria. The 

 weather was fair, but one of the Lapps was quite sick. He was not 

 seasick, but apparently suffering from the heat, dust, and atmosphere 

 of the railroad car, which doubtless had had their influence upon the 

 lungs accustomed to the fresh mountaiii air. In Victoria I i^rocured 

 some medicine, and his health was much better when we arrived in San 

 Francisco the 4th of June, having been fifteen days on the way from 

 Madison, Wis. 



As indicated by your lett'er of May 1 from Port Townsend, I tele- 

 graphed from Seattle to Messrs. S. Foster & Co., No. 28 California 

 street, San Francisco, and announced our departure. Accordingly, a 

 gentleman met us on the dock and brought us to a comfortable hotel 

 called Sailors' Home. The brig TT^. R. Meyer, which was to take us to 

 Alaska, being under repairs on our arrival, we could not go on board 



