124 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



at my disposal ; but from the above it seems safe to assume that on the 

 1st of October, 1903, there were 7,000 reindeer in Alaska. This is a 

 remarkably successful showing; and even if no more were intro- 

 duced, Alaska could be stocked from the present herds. At a rate 

 of 40 per cent annual increase there would by 1910 be upward of 

 70,000 reindeer in Alaska. It is probable, however, that there will be 

 a greater percentage of losses as the number increases for the reason 

 that they must be scattered more and more among the inexperienced 

 natives, who can not give them the same care they have so far had 

 under Government supervision, and, with the increase, more will 

 probably also be slaughtered for food. There should be no cessation 

 in the importations for several years to come. It will take many years 

 imder the most favorable circumstances to fill the territory with all it 

 can support. Doctor Jackson estimates in his report for 1895 that 

 there are 14,000 square miles of deer pasture in Lapland, and that 

 there are 23 reindeer to the square mile. On the same basis he also 

 estimates that it will require 9,000,000 head to stock Alaska. Of 

 course, this is only tentative. Lapland is more densely populated 

 than Alaska is ever likely to be, and fewer deer will supply the wants 

 of the people of Alaska. 



PRACTICAL TESTS. 



The first notable example of the endurance of reindeer in Alaska 

 and their adaptability to winter travel was a trip made in the winter 

 of 1896-97 by W. A. Kjellmann while he was superintendent of the 

 Teller reindeer station. He left Port Clarence in the middle of 

 December, 1896, and traveled southward to the Kuskokwim River, 

 about 1,000 miles distant, and returned to the station April 25, having 

 accom})lished 2,000 miles through a rough and barren country, in the 

 worst season of the year, the reindeer obtaining their living from the 

 moss which they dug out from under the snow. 



The second practical demonstration of the value of reindeer was 

 made in the winter of 1897-98, when a relief expedition in charge 

 of Lieut. D. H. Jarvis, of the Revenue-Cutter Service, was sent 

 overland to the shipwrecked whalers at Point Barrow. The expe- 

 dition was a success, and the leaders in it. First Lieut. D. H. Jarvis, 

 Second Lieut. E. P. Bertholf, and Surg. S. J. Call, were awarded 

 gold medals and the thanks of Congress. On December 16, 1897, 

 Lieutenant Jarvis and his companions started from a point some 

 300 miles south of St. Michael and proceeded northward, first with 

 dog teams and later partly with reindeer and partly with dogs. Some 

 distance above Nome the herd of a native, Charlie Antisarlook by 

 name, was secured. Charlie had been an apprentice at the Gov- 

 ernment reindeer station and had become a skillful manager of the 

 deer. At Cape Prince of Wales a herd of nearly 300 animals, belong- 

 ing to private parties, under the management of W. T. Lopp, was 



