320 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 



No action was taken, and, fearing the results of further delay, 

 Doctor Jackson made a pubhc appeal for funds in 1891. 

 The prompt and generous response enabled him to com- 

 mence the purchase of reindeer in Siberia, and their intro- 

 duction into Alaska at Teller, in 1892, when 171 animals 

 were transported. In 1893 the United States Congress ap- 

 propriated $6,000 for the introduction of domestic reindeer 

 into Alaska. The management of this appropriation was 

 intrusted by the Secretary of the Interior to the conmiis- 

 sioner of education, as the work of introducing domestic 

 reindeer into Alaska, and the instruction of the natives in 

 the arts of herding, harnessing, driving, etc., was made part 

 of the scheme of industrial education maintained by the 

 government in Alaska. 



Between 1892 and 1902, when the importation of rein- 

 deer from Siberia ceased altogether, the total number of 

 animals imported was 1,280. The present abundance is due 

 to the prolificness of the reindeer. The statistics covering 

 the years 1892 to 1904 showed that the increase of the rein- 

 deer herds progressed at an average rate of forty-five per 

 cent per annum, doubling the total once in two and one- 

 third years. 



Doctor Jackson stated that the objects of the reindeer 

 industry were: ''To convert the nomadic tribes of fishers 

 and hunters in Northwestern and Central Alaska into raisers 

 of reindeer; to change their occupation from the precarious 

 pursuits of hunting wild animals and of taking the fish from 

 the waters of inland rivers to that of herders and teamsters; 

 to elevate a people who, in their wild, uncivilized state, are 

 the prey of unscrupulous, transient immigrants into a self- 

 supporting race, not enemies but friendly allies and auxil- 

 iaries of the white man." 



It was realized that, as the reindeer is the only draft 

 animal in arctic regions that is able to secure its own food 

 while on a journey, the question of cheapness and speed 



