HULL. 30] 



MISSIONS 



897 



native, counted 13 churches, a boarding 

 scliool, and 7 day schools, with a total 

 working force of 31. 



The Baptists also began work in 1886 

 on Kodiak id., under Mr W. E. Roscoe. 

 In 1893 a large orphanage was erected 

 on Wood id., opposite Kodiak, by the 

 Woman's Home Mission Society, its 

 sphere of influence now including a great 

 part of the Alaska peninsula westward 

 from Mt St Elias. 



The Metltodists, beginning also in 1886, 

 have now several stations in s. e. Alaska, 

 together Avith the flourishing Jesse Lee 

 Industrial Home, under the auspices of 

 the Methodist Woman's Home Mission 

 Society, on Unalaska id. 



In 1887 the Swedish Evangelical Union 

 of Sweden, through Revs. Axel Karlson 

 and Adolf Lydell, respectively, estab- 

 lished stations at Unalaklik on Bering 

 sea (Eskimo) and at Yakutat, on the s. 

 coast among the Tlingit. In 1900, in 

 consequence of an epidemic, an orphanage 

 was founded on Golofnin bay. The civ- 

 ilizing and Christianizing influence of 

 the Swedish mission is manifest over a 

 large area. 



In 1887 the Kansas Yearly Meeting of 

 Friends began work on Douglas id. , near 

 Juneau, through Messrs E. W. Weesner 

 and W. H. Bangham, chiefly for the 

 white population. In 1892 a school was 

 opened among the Kake Indians of Kuiu 

 and Kupreanof ids., under the auspices 

 of the Oregon meeting, and in 1897 

 another mission, under the auspices of 

 the California meeting, was established 

 among the Eskimo in Kotzebue sd. Here 

 also is now a large reindeer herd. 



In 1890 the Congregationalists, under 

 auspices of the American Missionary As- 

 sociation, established the Eskimo mission 

 school of Wales, at C. Prince of Wales, on 

 Bering str., under .Messrs W. T. Lopp 

 and H. R. Thornton, the latter of whom 

 was afterward- assassinated by some re- 

 bellious pupils. In 1902 the school was 

 in prosperous condition, wit.h more than 

 a hundred puyils and a herd of about 

 1,200 reindeer. 



In 1900 the Lutherans, under the aus- 

 pices of the Norwegian Evansrelical 

 Church, established an orphanage at the 

 Teller reindeer station, Port Clarence, 

 Bering str., under Rev. T. L. Brevig, as- 

 sisted by Mr A. Hovick, the missionaries 

 having charge also of the Government 

 reindeer herds at the place. It was at 

 Teller station that Rev. Sheldon Jackson, 

 in 1892, inaugurated the experiment of 

 introducing Siberian reindeer to supple- 

 ment the rapidly diminishing food supply 

 of the natives, as the whale had been 

 practically exterminated from the Alaska 

 coast. The experiment has proved a 

 complete success, the original imported 



herd of 53 animals having increased to 

 more than 15,000, with pi'omise of solv- 

 ing the problem of subsistence for the 

 Eskimo as effectually as was done by the 

 sheep introduced by the old Franciscans 

 among the Pueblos and through them the 

 Navaho. 



For Metlakatla, see Canada, West. 



Present Conditions. — It may be said 

 that at present practically every tribe 

 ofticially recognized within the United 

 States is under the missionary influence 

 of some religious denomination, workers 

 of several denominations frequently la- 

 boring in the same tribe. The complete 

 withdrawal of Government aid to denom- 

 inational schools some years ago for a 

 time seriously crippled the work and 

 obliged some of the smaller bodies to 

 abandon the mission fleld entirely. The 

 larger religious bodies have met the diffi- 

 culty by special provision, notably in the 

 case of the Catholics, by means of aid 

 afforded l)y the Preservation Society, the 

 Marquette League, and by the liberality 

 of Mother Katharine Drexel, founder 

 of the Order of the Blessed Sacrament, 

 for Indian and Negro mission work. The 

 Catholic work is organized under super- 

 vision of the Bureau of Catholic Indian 

 Missions, established in 1874, with head- 

 quarters at Washington. The report for 

 1904 shows a total of 178 Indian churches 

 and chajiels served by 152 priests; 71 

 boarding and 26 day schools, with 109 

 teaching priests, 384 sisters, and 138 other 

 religious or secular teadiers and school 

 assistants. The principal orders engaged 

 are the Jesuits, Franciscans, and Bene- 

 dictines, and the sisters of the orders of 

 St Francis, St Anne, St Benedict, St Jo- 

 seph, IVIercy, and Blessed Sacrament. 



Of the other leading denominations en- 

 gaged in Indian mission work within the 

 United States proper, according to the 

 official Report of the Board of Indian 

 Commissioners for 1903, the Presbyterians 

 come first, with 101 churches, 69 ordained 

 missionaries and a proportionate force 

 of other workers, and 32 schools. Next 

 the Methodists, with 40 ordained mission- 

 aries, but with only one school; Episco- 

 palians, 14 missions, 28 ordained mis- 

 sionaries, and 17 schools; Baptists, 14 

 missions, 15 ordained missionaries, and 4 

 schools — exclusive of the Southern Bap- 

 tists, not reported; Congregationalists 

 (American Missionary Association), 10 

 missions, 12 ordained missionaries, and 5 

 schools; i^nenrf.s, 10 missions, 15 ordained 

 missionaries, and 1 school; Mennonites, 5 

 missions, 6 ordained missionaries, but no 

 school; Mnradans, 3 missions, 3 ordained 

 missionaries, and no school. Statistics 

 for any other denominations, including 

 the Mormons, are not given. The mis- 

 sionarv work of each denomination re- 



Bull. 30—05- 



-57 



