INTEODUCTION OF DOMESTIC KEINUEEll INTO ALASKA. 25 



to confer with the general manager of the Russian Sealskin Company, 

 of St. Petersburg, with regard to the purchase of reindeer, I at once 

 telegraphed, asking that the cutter Beai\ which was read}^ to sail, 

 might be substituted for the Thetis o\\ the trip to Kamchatka, and that 

 1 might join the Thetis at Bering Strait, which vessel would then engage 

 for the rest of the season in the transportation of reindeer. Through 

 the kindness of the honorable the Secretary of the Treasur}" and the 

 hearty cooperation of Captain Shoemaker, R. C. S., Chief of the 

 Revenue-Cutter Service, this request was granted, and instructions 

 were sent to tlie commanding (officer of the Bear to receive me on 

 l)oard and convey me to Kamchatka and then coast northward along 

 the Siberian coast luitil the 21i.et!s should be met in the neighborhood 

 of Bering Strait. 



The Bear saik'd from San Francisco for Seattle on the afternoon of 

 the 5th of Ma3^ On the Stii, having completed arrangements with 

 Capt. B. Cogan for the transportation of freight and supplies to the 

 reindeer stations on Bering Sea, also Avith the J. S. Kimball Company 

 for the purchase of reindeer, 1 took the train iov Portland that 

 evening. 



On May 10, at the request of the Secretary of War, I called at the 

 First National Bank, of Portland, Oreg. , and completed arrangements 

 for the payment of the salaries of the Lapps upon my arrixal in 

 Alaska. I reached Seattle the same evening. 



On the 12th of Ma}' the Tj<'((r arrived at Seattle and found ordtn-s to 

 wait the arrival of dispatches from Washington. This meant a week's 

 delay in Seattle. In the meantime Capt. Francis Tuttle, R. C. S., 

 connnanding the Bear, receivijig news that his wife was dangerously ill, 

 telegraphed to the Treasury Department asking to ])e relieved from 

 the command of the Bear and allowed leave of absence to return to his 

 family. This resulted in another week's delay, while a captain could 

 be sent out from the Atlantic coast. 



On the evening of May 24 Lieut. Da\id 11. flarvis, R. C. S., the hero 

 of the Point Barrow relief expedition, arrived in Seattle to take the 

 command of the Bmr^ Avhich he did on May 25. 



At D.45 on the morning of the 26th the Bear raised anchor and 

 steamed away from Seattle. That night was spent at anchor at Port 

 Townsend. 



On the morning of the 2Tth, a gale raging outside of the Capes, the 

 captain delayed starting until the afternoon. At 2.20 o'clock we got 

 under way for Unalaska, in the Aleutian Islands. 



The morning of June 5 we raised land. At 3.15 a. m. Mount 

 Shishaldin, 8,953 feet in height, was sighted, clean-cut and beautiful 

 against the horizon, covered with a mantle of snow from peak to ])ase. 

 A cloud of vapor was floating lazily from the crater. At 6.30 Pogrum- 

 noi volcano, 5,875 feet high, came in sight. During all the forenoon. 



