120 REPORT ON THE INTRODUCTION OF 



Exhibit C. 



H. R. THORNTON ON THE REINDEER HERD- 



Cape Prince op Wales, Alaska, May 22, 1S93. 

 Dear Sir : It affords me pleasure to express my sense of the successful result of 

 the experiment of introducing domesticated Siberian reindeer into this section of 

 Alaska. 



American whalers have made millions out of the whales of these waters — the nat- 

 ural support and property of the Eskimo — it is only just that our Government should 

 ward off the starvation not improbably produced by killing off the whales, by giviug 

 the Eskimo an opportunity of cultivating an equivalent food supply in reindeer. 



The skins of the reindeer are indispensable for winter clothing and bedding, and 

 the pleasant drive Mrs. Thornton and I took behind your pair of deer in March con- 

 vinces me of their great value to these people as draft animals. They were here six 

 clays, I believe, unmolested by our 150 dogs; so there seems to be no great difficulty 

 on that score. 



Very truly yours, 



H. R. Thornton. 

 Mr. M. W. Bruce, 



Superintendent Teller Beindeer Station, 



Fort Clarence, Alaska. 



Exhibit D. 



JOHN A. DEXTER ON REINDEER HERD. 



Golovin Bay Silver Mine, Alaska, June 14, 1S93. 



My Dear Sir: During my visit to the reindeer station last winter, which was 

 extended much beyond the time I had expected it would be before I left home, I had 

 an opportunity to get an insight into the reindeer question, and learn many things 

 about this useful animal that were not only a surprise but a sort of gratification to me. 



Since my return home I have had time to think it all over, and the more I think 

 of it the more firmly I am impressed with the importance of the movement, not only 

 to the natives, who, the Lord knows, need something to relieve them from their 

 destitute and suffering condition; but it seems to me it can be made a matter of 

 pecuniary profit to civilization, and convert the boundless wastes of Arctic Alaska 

 into the field of a valuable industry. 



During the past two winters I have spent in this country I have traveled over a 

 large extent of territory, and my means of traveling has been by dogs. They have 

 always been the best I could procure, aud until I saw what a deer was capable of 

 doing, I thought them a superior animal for Arctic traveling and the only one that 

 could be used for that purpose. While I am still of the opinion that dogs are not 

 only valuable, but perhaps essential for certain purposes, and will always be used 

 by the Eskimo to a greater or less extent, I see many ways in which the reindeer 

 are superior, and can be made to take their place as a valuable substitute. 



In the number of trips I made with reindeer while at the station, and especially 

 the one to Cape Prince of Wales, their capacity for traveling was fully and satisfac- 

 torily demonstrated. On that trip our teams traveled right along with the dogs, 

 apparently with little fatigue, and you and I rode all the way and were comfortable, 

 while the natives with the dogs were obliged to walk or run most of the time. 



The pleasure I experienced on this trip was greater than any I have ever enjoyed 

 before in my frequent journeys in Alaska, but I shall always regret that part of it 



