122 INTRODUCTION Oh DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 

 REINDEER IN ALASKA. 



The name of Dr. Sheldon Jackson is inseparably connected with 

 the introduction of reindeer in Alaska. It was due to his initiative 

 that the work was begun and it is due to liis persistent, unflagging 

 efforts that it has been continued. When he first began, his efforts 

 were greeted with scoffing and ridicule. Elaborate arguments were 

 adA^anced to prove that reindeer could not thrive in Alaska and that 

 the attempt must end in certain and disgraceful failure. But he fol- 

 lowed his plans undismayed. He succeeded at length in convincing 

 Congress that it was the cheapest and easiest way of preventing the 

 starvation of some thousands of Eskimos. Now the work has ad- 

 vanced so far as to prove beyond peradventure that reindeer will 

 thrive in Alaska. The Eskimos are learning to handle them; the 

 herds located in various places in the Territoiy are increasing fast; 

 the white people who have seen the progress of the work have learned 

 to appreciate the deer, and the voice of the scoffer is now but seldom 

 heard. Some day a monument will be erected to Dr. Sheldon Jackson 

 to commemorate this feature of his work and the benefits he thereby 

 conferred on the natives. 



The story of their introduction is most interesting. I will briefly 

 note the salient points, derived chiefly from Doctor Jackson's reports 

 on the subject. 



Doctor Jackson visited arctic Alaska in 1S90 for .the purpose of 

 establishing schools, a task which had been assigned to him by the 

 Commissioner of Education. He found the Eskimos more in need of 

 food than of schools. They were slowly dying of starvation and dis- 

 ease. Their condition had been changed for the worse by the influx 

 of the wliite man. The relentless hunt of the whale and the walrus 

 in steam vessels had largely' reduced the number of these animals, or 

 else they were driven beyond the reach of these poor people with the 

 appliances at their command to pursue them. Thus their main food 

 supply was lost. The fur animals had been hunted until well nigh 

 exterminated, and the Eskimo could obtain but few furs to barter 

 for food. The wild caribou, or reindeer, wliich had roamed over the 

 tundra, were also killed off or driven away. Add to this the corrupt- 

 ing influence of the introduction of intoxicants and the vices of the 

 wliite man, and it wifl be seen that their condition was pitiable. 



In casting about for means to help them, it occurred to Doctor 

 Jackson that the introduction of the reindeer would meet their wants. 

 So soon as the deer were sufliciently numerous it would give them a 

 permanent food supply and forever settle the question of starvation. 

 He realized also that there were many and formidable obstacles to 

 such a scheme. It was a task that it would take many years to 

 accomplish, and the Government and people must be converted to 

 the plan before it could be undertaken at all ; and it meant that the 



