20 INTKODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



March 16, 1898, that he wanted me to reserve him 100 head of rein- 

 deer and all the Lapp drivers that could be spared bv the Government. 

 In the following June I was waited upon by Mr. Richardson and Mr. 

 Emerson, his associate, with the proposition that the Government 

 should not onlj^ sell them the reindeer needed to carry the mail on the 

 Yukon. l)ut also that Mr. William A. Kjellmann, .superintendent of the 

 reindeer stations, ])e allowed to take charge of the carrying of the mail 

 between St. Michael and the mouth of the Tanana. As the Govern- 

 ment had been waiting for an opportunity to give a practical test of 

 the utility of the reindeer in mail transportation, I agreed to their 

 proposition. Through a combination of circumstances Mr. Richardson 

 failed to meet Mr. Kjellmann during the summer at St. Michael or the 

 Eaton reindeer station and consunmiate the arrangement. 



In the spring of 1899 the North American Transixjrtation and Trad- 

 ing Comixmy, which had secured a contract for carrying the mail from 

 St. Michael to Kotzelnie Sound and Golovin Bay, sublet the same to 

 Mr. Kjellmann, of the reindeer station. About the same time Mr. 

 Richard Chilcott, of Seattle, secured a contract for carrying the mail 

 from Valdes to Circle City, Alaska, and at the suggestion of the Post- 

 master-General made application for a few reindeer for transportation 

 purposes. His agents delayed so late last fall in consummating the 

 agreement that the reindeer which the Government had to sell for that 

 purpose were otherwise disposed of. 



During the summer the new gold mines in the neighborhood of 

 Cape Nome had proved so rich that a large population had l)een attracted 

 to the vicinit}'. In order to furnish them with a winter mail, the Post- 

 Office Department entered into a contract with Mr. William A. Kjell- 

 mann to carry the mail during the winter semimonthly between Eaton 

 Reindeer Station and Nome Cit}'. 



REINDEER TRANSPORTATION OF TROOPS. 



The failure to complete arrangements during the summer of 1898 

 between Mr. Richardson, the mail contractor, and Mr. Kjellmann, in 

 charge of reindeer, was providential. Late in the fall gold mines 

 were discovered on Snake River, near Cape Nome, Alaska, and during 

 the winter there was a stampede to the new mines from St. Michael, 

 Kotzebue Sound, and the mining districts on the Lower Yukon that 

 received the information. The influx of a large population into a 

 region where there was an insufficienc}' of supplies and shelter required 

 the presenct^ of llnit(>d States troops to preserve the peace. An 

 application was made ])y Captain Walker, in conunand of the camp at. 

 St. Michael, to Mr. Kjellmann for transportation, in response to which 

 Lapps and reindeer were sent from Eaton Station to St. Michael, and 

 transported troops, with their tents, rations, and camp equipage, from 



