IIG INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



ANNUAL REPORT KOTZEBUE REINDEER STATION. 

 By Dana Thomas. 



KoTZEBUE, Alaska, July 1 , lOOJ,.. 



Dear Sir: I herewith transmit to you my annual report as super- 

 intendent of Kotzebue reindeer station for year ending June 30, 

 1904. 



The past season has been a prosperous one with us. Ver}^ httle 

 extremely cold weather and light snowfall; as a result we have only 

 lost about 7 per cent of this year's fawns, as against 20 per cent last 

 season. In midwinter we were given the pleasure of a visit from 

 Doctor Lind, supervisor of reindeer in Alaska. He inspected our 

 herd and reported the same in ''best possible condition." 



The early coming of the cold last October and the freezing-in near 

 mouth of Kowak River of the river steamer John Riley with a num- 

 ber of people on board, gave us an opportunity to sell a number of 

 male deer belonging to mission and Nilima. A few were used for meat, 

 but the majority were desired as sled animals. Although our supply 

 of latter animals was limited, and we could easily have sold double 

 the number that were available, we did not increase the price, but 

 sold all of them for the price quoted previous to the cold weather. 

 Without a single exception, all of the purchasers of deer were satis- 

 fied with them. One man took 800 pounds of supplies 200 miles 

 up Kowak River, helping the deer over the hardest places in the 

 trail, sold a portion of supplies at Riley Camp, and freighted balance 

 over divide to Koyukuk River; after reaching there sold his deer 

 for $35 more than he paid for it at the mission. 



The use of deer as sled and pack animals is greatly growing in 

 favor among mining men, and the only criticisms from anyone 

 come from the danger of deer being killed by dogs. That objection 

 will be removed within a few years, when the country will be stocked 

 with sufficient deer to enable everyone to dispense with dogs as 

 beasts of burden. Personally I was not particularly enthusiastic 

 over the reindeer when I first landed here two years ago, but I am 

 "wiser to-day than yesterday," and have not the slightest doubt 

 now but that the introduction of domestic reindeer into Alaska will, 

 within a few years, be the main source of the greatest good to not 

 only the natives but the whites as well. I venture the assertion 

 that the reindeer will in the near future bring more wealth and happi- 

 ness to the people of this district than all the gold and silver that 

 is delivered from Alaskan mines. 



Inclosed find table showing ownership of reindeer in my care 

 at this date. 



Most respectfully, Dana Thomas. 



Dr. Sheldon Jackson, 



General Agent of Education in Alaska, Washington, D. C. 



