ALASKA. 



15 



they should have the benefit of the most intelli- 

 gent 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 permanence), 

 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 superintendent of the Teller Rein- 

 deer Station and sent to Lapland for herders. He 

 sailed from New York city Feb. 21, and landed 

 upon his return May 12, 1894, having with him 

 7 men, their wives and children, making 16 souls 

 in all. This was the first colony of Lapps ever 

 brought to the United States. They reached the 

 Teller Reindeer Station safely on July 29, having 

 traveled over 12,500 miles. Upon reaching the 

 station Mr. Kjellmann took charge, relieving Mr. 

 W. T. Lopp, who desired to return to the mission 

 work at Cape Prince of Wales." 



From these small and careful beginnings is 

 growing up what promises to be one of the great 

 industries of this great and resourceful district. 

 The original purpose in 1890, to provide a new and 

 more permanent food supply for the half-famish- 

 ing Eskimo, has not been lost sight of. The Es- 

 kimos are a hardy and a docile race, their chil- 

 dren learn readily in the schools, and they are to 

 be a great factor in the development of the land. 

 In the meantime, " the discovery of large and valu- 

 able gold deposits upon the streams of arctic and 

 subarctic Alaska has made the introduction of 

 reindeer a necessity for the white man as well as 

 the Eskimo. Previous to the discovery of gold 

 there was nothing to attract the white settler to 

 that desolate region, but with the knowledge of 

 valuable gold deposits thousands will there make 

 their homes, and towns and villages are already 

 springing into existence. But that vast region, 

 with its perpetual frozen subsoil, is without agri- 

 cultural resources. Groceries, breadstuffs, etc., 

 must be procured from the outside. Steamers upon 

 the Yukon can bring food to the mouths of the 

 gold-bearing streams,, but the mines are often 

 many miles up these unnavigable streams. Al- 

 ready great difficulty is experienced in securing 

 sufficient food by dog-train transportation and 

 the packing of the natives. The miners need rein- 

 deer transportation. 



" Again, the development of the mines and the 

 growth of settlements upon streams hundreds of 

 miles apart necessitates some method of speedy 

 travel. A dog team on a long journey will make 

 on an average from 15 to 25 miles a day, and in 

 some sections can not make the trip at all, be- 

 cause they can not carry with them a sufficient 

 supply of food for the dogs, and can procure none 

 in the country through which they travel. To 

 facilitate and render possible frequent and speedy 

 communication between these isolated settlements 

 and growing centers of American civilization, 

 where the ordinary roads of the States have no 

 existence and can not be maintained except at an 



enormous expense, reindeer teams that require no 

 beaten roads, and that at the close of a day's work 

 can be turned loose to forage for themselves, are 

 essential. The introduction of reindeer into 

 Alaska makes possible the development of the 

 mines and the support of a million miners. 



EATON REINDEER STATION. 



" The introduction of reindeer is opening up a, 

 vast commercial industry. Lapland, with 400.- 

 000 reindeer, supplies the grocery stores of north- 

 ern Europe with smoked reindeer hams, 10 cents 

 per pound ; smoked tongues, at 10 cents each ; dried 

 hides, at $1.25 to $1.75 each; tanned hides, $2 to 

 $3 each, and 23,000 carcasses to the butcher shops, 

 in addition to what is consumed by the Lapps 

 themselves. Fresh reindeer meat is considered a 

 great delicacy. Russia exports it frozen, in car- 

 loads, to Germany. The Norwegian Preserving 

 Company use large quantities of it for can- 

 ning. The tanned skins (soft and with a beauti- 

 ful yellow color) have a ready sale for military 

 pantaloons, gloves, bookbinding, covering of 

 chairs and sofas, bed pillows, etc. The hair is in 

 great demand for the filling of life-saving appa- 

 ratus (buoys, etc.), as it possesses a wonderful 

 degree of buoyancy. The best existing glue is 

 made of reindeer horns. On the same basis 

 Alaska, with its capacity for 9,200,000 head of 

 reindeer, can supply the markets of America with 

 500,000 carcasses of venison annually, together 

 with tons of delicious hams and tongues, and the 

 finest of leather." 



There has been some opposition to the experi- 

 ment, brought about in part by the failure to 

 carry supplies to the Klondike in the winter of 

 1897-'98. The purchase of several hundred deer 

 in Lapland and their shipment across the Atlantic 

 and the continent, and by steamship again from 

 Seattle to Haines mission, and the dying of a 

 large percentage of them at that point before and 

 after their transfer from the War Department 

 to the Department of the Interior, has very little 

 bearing upon the work as it is being carried out 

 in northern and western Alaska. 



At the very time that the cry of starvation was 

 raised in the newspapers concerning the miners on 

 the Klondike, another cry went up that a large 

 number of whalers at Point Barrow were caught 

 in the ice, and unless they got relief, many would 

 starve to death before spring. Accordingly, the 

 revenue cutter Bear was outfitted and sent off to 

 give relief. She landed a party of three officers 

 Lieuts. Jarvis and Berthoff and Dr. Call. Un- 



