REPORT OP MINER W. BRUCE. 



Teller Reindeer Station, 



Port Clarence, Alaska, June 30, 1803. 

 Dr. Sheldon Jackson, 



U. 8. General Agent of Education in Alaska. 



Sir : I have the honor to send herewith for your consideration my 

 report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, concerning the affairs of 

 the Reindeer Station, together with other matters that came to my 

 notice, some of which I trust may be interesting to you. 



My first impression of the selection made by you for the location of 

 the Reindeer Station, as viewed from the entrance to Port Clarence one 

 year ago, was a favorable one, and after a residence here of one year, 

 although within one degree of the arctic circle, I am fully couvinced that 

 a better selection could not have been made. 



Besides being within a few hours' sail of the point on the Siberian 

 coast from which reindeer are shipped, the natural lay of the country 

 makes it easy of access from all directions. This is a most important 

 feature, should it become necessary for any cause to drive the herd 

 away, or for the distribution of reindeer to different points on the coast 

 and into the interior, as is contemplated in the future. 



It is located on the only good harbor between Golovin Bay and 

 Kotzebue Sound, and the fact that the whaling fleet rendezvous here 

 causes natives to come annually from the different settlements many 

 miles away, thus affording them an opportunity to see the reindeer and 

 get acquainted with the object contemplated ; and there are other 

 features which another location might not afford. 



The location of the Reindeer Station is a beautiful one, and when 

 viewed in midsummer is very picturesque. It is situated on the main- 

 land, on the north side of what is known as Clarence Bay or Port Clar- 

 ence, a body of water of about 20 miles east and west, and 5 miles 

 north and south. The water on the south side washes upon a narrow 

 sand spit, taken out from the mainland in a sort of semicircle, the 

 western end of which curves toward the northwest until it approaches 

 within about 2 miles of the coast, thus forming practically a landlocked 

 harbor, within which vessels find a safe and quiet anchorage from the 

 often rough and turbid waters of Bering Sea. 



Mountains rise abruptly from Cape Prince of Wales, the most west- 

 erly point of this continent and about GO miles east of the station. 



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