INTKODUCTION' OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 17 



NEW KEINDEKR STATIONS ESTABLISHED. 



In view of the failure of the annual mail and food suppl}' to reach 

 Barrow in the fall of 1903, it was decided to establish an additional 

 reindeer station at the southern edge of the summer ice fields on 

 tlie Arctic coast, and Wainwright Inlet was selected. Ahlook 

 with 140 reindeer, Shoudla witli 55, and Paneoneo with 25, Eskimo 

 henk'rs at Point Barrow, with a total of 220 reindeer, have been 

 sent to stock the new station. Mr. John H. Kilbuck, of Kansas, who 

 had been fifteen years in Alaska, was placed in charge of the new 

 station, and last summer l)uilding material and supphes were for- 

 warded to that point. Building material was also forwarded for a 

 new reindeer station to be established in the neighborhood of Hope 

 (Kivilenj^a River), midway between Bering Strait and Point Bar- 

 row. Electoona with 11.3 reindeer, and Otpelle with 22, have been 

 sent to open this station. 



The above stations will be of much assistance in operating the 

 winter reindeer mail route, which has been established by the Post- 

 Office Depal'tment at Washington, between Kotzebue and Barrow, 

 a round trip of about 1,500 miles above the Arctic Circle. The 

 reindeer herd at Barrow was divided into three herds — one remain- 

 ing at Barrow, the second being sent to Wainwright, and the thu'd 

 to Point Hope, the three places being on the Arctic coast. 



With the rapid increase of the herds, arrangements have been 

 consummated for the establishment of two additional central sta- 

 tions; the one at Bettles, in the interior of Alaska, north of the 

 Arctic Circle, on the Koyukuk, the great northern tributary of the 

 Yukon River, 720 miles to the eastward of Nome, and the other 

 at Copper Center, about 105 miles north of Valdez, on Prince William 

 Sound. Mr. W. T. Lopp, superintendent of the northwestern section 

 of the reindeer herds in Alaska, will take charge of the driving of 

 the herd of 300 reindeer this winter (1904-5) from Unalaklik to 

 Bettles, in which he will be assisted by three Finlanders (Messrs. 

 Adolph Saari, Marelius Jensen, and Charlie Raisanen) and two or 

 three trained Eskimo herders. Mr. D. W. Cram, of Minnesota, 

 has been appointed teacher of the school at Bettles and superin- 

 tendent of the reindeer herd at that place. The herd of 300 head 

 for Copper Center will be driven from Bethel, in the Kuskokwim 

 \'alley, in charge of Mr. H. E. Redmyer, assisted by Finlanders 

 Messrs. Louis Karbum, Erick Lampela, and John Wuori, Peter J. 

 Hatta (Lapp) , and Eskimo drivers. 



To replace the reindeer sent from Unalakleet to the new station 

 at Bettles, Mr. W. T. Lopp drove 300 reindeer to Unalakleet from 

 Wales and Teller. 



S. Doc. 61, 58-3 2 



