Reindeer in Alaska 



145 



of bringing deer from Lapland. Only 

 once have reindeer been brought from 

 Europe for Alaska, and that attempt 

 was unsuccessful, not because the rein- 

 deer could not live in their new home, 

 but because of the wretched transpor- 

 tation given them from Seattle to their 

 Alaskan destination. 



In December, 1897, rumors were 

 started that American miners in the 

 Yukon Valley were in danger of starva- 

 tion. Congress appropriated a large 

 sum for their relief, and commissioned 

 Dr Sheldon Jackson to go to Norway 

 and Sweden to purchase 500 reindeer 

 broken to the harness, with sleds, har- 

 ness and drivers, for hauling supplies 

 from the head of Lynn Canal to the 

 destitute miners, 1,000 miles away. 



Dr Jackson reached Europe in Janu- 

 ary, purchased 526 trained deer, gath- 

 ered 68 Lapp drivers with their families, 

 embarked them all on one ship, and 

 sailed for New York from Trondhjem, 

 February 4. Only one deer died on the 

 voyage of 24 days, though the trip was 

 a most tempestuous one and the deer 

 in pens on the deck were drenched day 

 and night by the seas that broke over 

 them. At New York special trains met 

 the expedition and carried them across 

 the continent to Seattle without the 

 loss of a single deer. Then the troubles 

 began. The supply of moss brought 

 from Norway became exhausted, and 

 the deer did not like the grass of Seattle. 

 There was delay in securing a vessel to 

 transport the expedition to the head of 

 Lynn Canal, and further delays at Lynn 

 Canal and no moss to be found there. 



Nearly 300 of the reindeer died of 

 starvation before the moss fields at the 

 head of the Chilkat River, about 50 

 miles from Lynn Canal, were reached. 

 The remaining 200 were too weakened 

 to endure the long journey to the Yukon 

 Valley, and the relief expedition had to 

 be abandoned, but fortunately not be- 

 fore the country had learned that the 

 miners in the Yukon had abundant sup- 



plies, and that the relief expedition had 

 been unnecessary. 



The Laplanders who had been brought 

 over were distributed among the rein- 

 deer stations and employed to teach the 

 natives. 



RELIEF OF WHALERS AT POINT 

 BARROW 



The first forcible realization of the 

 wisdom of the government in stationing 

 reindeer herds in Alaska came to the 

 American people in the winter of 1897- 

 '98. In the fall of 1897 word was re- 

 ceived that eight whaling ships had been 

 imprisoned in the ice near Point Bar- 

 row, and that the 400 American seamen 

 aboard were stranded without food for 

 the long winter till the ice should open 

 in July. No vessel of relief could get 

 within 2,000 miles of the party, or 

 nearer than Denver is to Boston. There 

 was no known method by which pro- 

 visions could be dragged overland. If 

 the government had not five years be- 

 fore commenced the introduction of 

 the reindeer, most of these 400 men 

 would have starved to death before help 

 reached them. Fortunately there were 

 large herds of reindeer at Cape Nome 

 and at Cape Rodney, over one thousand 

 miles by land from Point Barrow, or 

 farther than Chicago is from New York. 

 The government hurried the revenue 

 cutter Bear north from Seattle, carrying 

 three brave volunteers — Lieut. David 

 H. Jarvis, Lieut. Ellsworth P. Bertholf, 

 and Dr Samuel J. Call. The three men 

 were landed December 16, 1897, at Cape 

 Vancouver, obtained some dog teams 

 from the natives, and commenced their 

 dreary journey of 2,000 miles through 

 the Arctic night to Point Barrow. They 

 collected about 450 reindeer from the 

 herds at Rodney and Nome, and then, 

 with reindeer instead of dog sleds and 

 with Mr W. T. Lopp, agent of the 

 American Missionary Society at Cape 

 Prince of Wales, and Charley Arisar- 

 took, a native, and several herders, they 



