104 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



My experiences with reindeer during this year have been various 

 and to my satisfaction. In my mind there is no doubt but that the 

 deer industry wUl prove to be a jiermanent one in Alaska. It is 

 the means by which our beloved Government has done and will 

 do the natives of Alaska the most possible good. The herder is 

 taught the practical lesson of helping himself. He does not live on 

 charity; he works and earns his living, and is taught to depend 

 more and more on his own resources. True, there are only a few 

 as 3'et who have had the opportunity to get herds and to learn to 

 take care of them, but when one stops to consider the short time the 

 deer have been in Alaska an honest observer is forced to acknowledge 

 great advancement. 



At Unalakleet there are at present not less than 30 Eskimos who 

 live wholly b}' the deer industry, and fuUy half that number who 

 are indirectly benefited by their relatives having deer. At Golofnin 

 there are 20 Eskimos who have their living directly from the herd 

 at that place. And so it is wherever there are deer. StUl, it seems 

 to be the pleasure of some people to announce, not onlj^ as far as 

 they themselves reach, but do it also through tlie agency of news- 

 papers, that not one Eskimo gets his livelihood out of the deer, and 

 that the deer prove to be a source of great expense and a waste of 

 money, since they — the deer — are of no practical value. Of course, 

 any sound-minded person can reason that such statements are not 

 true, but nevertheless they are bound to influence the public to some 

 extent, and for that reason I feel it nw duty to prove by these state- 

 ments of facts that such announcements are simply the productions 

 of a few jealous and envious ones. Many have not power of com- 

 prehension enough to counterbalance such false reports, but in their 

 turn repeat and assure what they have heard as gospel truth. 



Again, it is very common to hear that the reindeer are all right 

 for the table, but further than that they are of no value. Well, stop 

 and consider the matter. There are many examples of the times of 

 Mr. Kjellman and Doctor Gambell and others when the deer proved 

 sufhciently well their utility to the ]5ublic to establish for themselves 

 a credit which justly belongs to them, but which they never received. 

 Those things of the past are already on record for those who are 

 earnestly seeking the truth to find it. But suflPice it here to quote 

 omy my own experiences of the past winter. One trip, which de- 

 manded forty-five days for its accomplishment, was successfully 

 done before Christmas. In all we traveled about 1,000 miles under 

 adverse conditions, and 4 out of 7 deer made the return trip with 

 us, hauling a load of from 100 to 200 pounds. If dogs should have 

 gone that same way, they could not have hauled their own provision 

 for the time and much less anything for their drivers. The deer 

 hauled the whole load for the driver, its o^vn provision being picked 



