INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTICATED REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



Department of the Interior, 



Bureau of Education, Alaska Division, 



Washington, D. C, March 1, 1894. 



Sir: I have the honor herewith to transmit to you my third annual 

 report on the introduction of domesticated reindeer into Alaska. 



In accordance with your instructions, I left Washington on the 13th 

 of May, 1893, reaching Puget Sound six days later. On the 20th of 

 May, by permission of the Secretary of the Treasury, I joined the IT. 

 S. revenue cutter Bear at Port Townsend, which sailed on the 20th. 

 While awaiting the sailing of the vessel, I was able to secure two adult 

 and four young collie dogs, to be used in herding the reindeer. 



After a stormy passage of twelve days we dropped anchor in the 

 harbor of Unalaska. While at anchor the Alaska Commercial Com- 

 pany's steamer Bertha arrived from San Francisco, with twenty-three 

 missionaries for the Swedish, Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, Church 

 of England, and Moravian stations in northern and central Alaska. 



At 4 o'clock on the morning of June 12 the steamer Bear got under 

 way for Siberia, and on the 15th reached and entered heavy fields 

 of ice. On Friday, the 16th, having forced its way through the ice, 

 the steamer at noon came to anchor off Eutoxia's Village, at the foot of 

 Bald Mountain, one of the headlands of Plover Bay. Arrangements 

 were made last season with Eutoxia, a native trader, for the purchase 

 of reindeer through the winter and to have them in readiness for ship- 

 ment upon the arrival of the Bear. The whalers, however, had reached 

 the Siberian coast in advance of the Bear, and Eutoxia and other 

 natives, with whom we expected to deal, were found to be intoxicated. 



The next day the captain steamed over to St. Lawrence Island, where 

 I inspected the school building. Returning again to the coast of Sibe- 

 ria, the ice becoming very heavy, the fog very dense, and the roar of 

 the breakers distinctly audible, the captain concluded to drop anchor. 

 Late in the afternoon, the fog having lifted, the anchor was hove and 

 the ship went a few miles to the westward, coming to anchor 3 miles 

 east of Bald Mountain. Lieut. Jarvis was sent ashore, and on the 

 morning of the 19th returned with ten reindeer, which were taken 

 aboard. Anchor was again hove, and at 6 a. m. the ship got under way 



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