a One hundred and eighty deer killed at Point Barrow for food; 66 lost or killed en route.

Of the above, the following are the property of the Government: At Unalaklik, 623; at Teller Station, 11; at Golovin Bay, 100; at Point Barrow, 118; at Point Hope, 48; at Circle City, 144, making a total of 1,044.

From the commencement of the introduction of reindeer into Alaska in 1892, it has been my constant study to devise some method for procuring larger numbers of reindeer during the season. During the experimental trip of 1891, two months were spent on the revenue cutter Bear in procuring 16 head. The following year 167 were secured, being the largest number purchased within any one year in Siberia. During 1893, 1894, and 1895 the very best that we were able to accomplish in a season was the purchase of from 120 to 125 head. In 1896 a partial agreement was effected with a private party to procure and bring over from Siberia to Alaska reindeer at a fixed price per head, which resulted in a total failure, not one being secured. In 1897, in continuation of the policy of trying different methods for procuring the reindeer, Mr. John W. Kelly, Mr. Conrad Siem, and Mr. A. St. Leger were sent to Siberia to remain during the winter. A small, cheap frame house was erected, and they were furnished with necessary barter goods required for the purchase of reindeer. During the fall their success was such as to encourage the hope that a practicable method had been found of procuring the reindeer in large numbers, several hundred of the deer being purchased and either delivered or placed in herds where they could be reached the following summer during the few weeks that the ice allows the access of ships to the coast, when a vessel would be sent to transport them to Alaska. It appears, however, from the statements of the purchasing agents that during the winter jealousies and feuds broke out among the different native villages which precluded any further trading, and so endangered their lives that the following July they felt compelled to go on board a whaler and leave the station.

Upon my visit to the place early in August I was able to trace and secure but 100 head of the several hundred which had been bought. After the employees had abandoned the station the natives seemed to have appropriated whatever they could lay their hands on, including the deer in the herd. Under the circumstances it was not thought expedient to carry this experiment further, and the station was closed. It is probable that the next method will be to try and arrange with some Siberian firm of standing and character to purchase deer for the Government. Possibly Russians will succeed better in bartering with the natives for deer than Americans. The 161 head of reindeer which I brought from Siberia in August were turned over to Mr. W. T. Lopp, to replace in part those that the Government had borrowed for the Point Barrow relief expedition.

PRIVATE REINDEER ENTERPRISES.

The sudden influx of large numbers of miners into central Alaska, and the difficulty of procuring supplies and provisions at the mining camps, called public attention to the necessity of introducing the reindeer as a factor in freighting and transportation. During the years when the natives had occasion to travel from village to village, their journeys were comparatively short and time was no object, consequently it made no difference whether they were a week or a month on the road, and dog teams served a useful purpose. So during the days of the fur trade the few fur traders in the country, with their homes on the river supplied with provisions by an annual trip of a steamer, could manage to get along comfortably with dog transportation. But in the increased and more rapid development of the country the need of better transportation facilities was recognized. The experiments of the Government had already demonstrated the value of the reindeer, and three or four private enterprises were at once started, the details of which have been difficult to obtain. From newspaper reports I glean that a Mr. G. Lewis, of Montreal, acting in the interest of the Reindeer Transportation Company of Vancouver, shipped 42 reindeer from Norway on the steamship Hecla, reaching New York February 1, 1898. They were consigned to a Mr. J. G. Scroggs. Seven died on the trip across the ocean, and 29 in crossing the continent. But 6 lived to reach Skagway, and of those but 2 reached Dawson.

At Skagway I was informed that in November last Mr. David O'Neil, an Arizona miner, before going into the Yukon, visited Norway to procure a herd of reindeer for use at the mines. Not finding in eastern Lapland as large deer as he wanted, he continued up the coast to Tromsoe, then traveled into the interior across Nor way and Sweden to Archangel, Russia, on the White Sea; from thence 480 miles northeast to Petchora Bay, Arctic Russia, where he is said to have found reindeer weighing from 500 to 600 pounds, trained both in hauling and packing. He purchased a herd of 2,000 head, costing about $12 apiece. With 34 selected deer he started for Hamburg, Germany, a journey of 1,800 miles across the country. Twenty-three days were consumed in crossing the Atlantic, during which time a number of them died; others died in crossing the continent, so that when Skagway was reached only 1 deer out of the 34 was left, and that one died before he could be gotten off the wharf.

The poor success in transporting the 34 deer so discouraged him that he telegraphed to Russia to sell the remainder of the 2,000 that he had purchased. It is to be regretted that these enterprises were not more successful, as the deer are so greatly needed in Alaska. The failure, however, was not due to any insuperable difficulties in the way of transporting them from Lapland, or to any inability of the reindeer to endure long voyages, as was proven when, a month later than Mr. O'Neil's expedition, the United States commission to Lapland transported 539 reindeer from Lapland, twenty-six days at sea and across the continent to Seattle, with the loss of but 1.

I have been informed that in the above private expeditions sufficient moss was not brought with the deer, but an attempt was made to accustom them to live on hay and grain while en route.

NO DOMESTIC REINDEER IN CANADA.

Last winter, while the Government and private parties were looking to Lapland for reindeer, a report was started, and found credence in some quarters, that it was unnecessary to go to Lapland, as the reindeer could be purchased better in Canada. Not having heard that there were any domestic reindeer in Canada, a letter was addressed to the Hon. George M. Dawson, LL. D., director of the geological survey of Canada, which elicited the following reply:

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA,
Ottawa, May 21, 1898.

MY DEAR SIR: I have your note of May 17, asking about supposed settlement of Lapps and domesticated reindeer in the vicinity of Hudson Bay. The report which has reached you is, however, quite erroneous, as nothing of the kind exists either there or on the Labrador coast, not even in connection with the Moravian missions of the last-named locality. I am much obliged for the copy of your interesting report on the reindeer, duly received. Yours, truly, GEORGE M. DAWSON.

HOW REINDEER WILL SUPPLEMENT THE STEAMBOAT AND RAILROAD IN ALASKA.

The following quotation, which is a clear and concise statement of the value and extent of reindeer transportation, is from a circular prepared by Hon. W. T. Harris, Commissioner of Education. Dr. Harris writes:

be.

Whatever may be the development of transportation by river or by railroad in Alaska, the reindeer will prove a useful auxiliary by rendering possible a ready distribution, even for long distances from the terminus. For instance, the steamers that visit the Upper Yukon unload their goods at the terminal points. From these terminal points in the winter the reindeer can convey provisions and other supplies to the miners 20, 40, or 100 miles or more, as the case may If a railroad should be made from Skagway, or from Prince William Sound, or any other point, into the interior, at its terminal point various reindeer expresses make possible the distribution of the freight from the railroad to distant points in various directions from the ter minus. They would likewise collect freight for the terminus. Meanwhile the reindeer can not be used as a substitute for the river or the railroad in the carrying of freight, any more than horses or oxen can be used for that purpose, because, while the amount of freight carried by the reindeer in the winter time is considerable, it would take 10,000 reindeer to carry 1,000 tons, while one freight train or one large steamboat might carry the entire amount. It is in the distribution from terminal points and the collection for terminal points that the reindeer will be useful.

Another point of great usefulness is the light work of carrying the mail. Great speed for small loads is the favorable condition. With relays of 25 miles each, the possible speed in winter time of reindeer expresses, carrying a light load of mail, is 200 miles a day. If a route can be found, such as the Dalton trail is said to be, from Haines to Fort Selkirk or Circle City, the relays of reindeer could carry the mail in three days to Dawson City and in four days to Circle City. Return mail should be brought back in the same period. Supposing a railroad should be built to Dawson City or Circle City, the reindeer would not be useful in traversing the country over which the railroad passed, but he would be very useful in connecting the terminus of the railroad in the winter time with places down the Yukon River. Even the military camp at Weare, near the month of the Tanana, could be brought into communication with the War Department by reindeer express to Circle City, taking two days for round trip, and from the military camp near the mouth of the Tanana once a month to Point Barrow, requiring four days out and four days back, would keep the whole country in possession of the news regarding the fate of sailors caught in the Arctic seas and the missionaries who live in that remote region. A similar four-days express twice a month would bring the same news from Cape Prince of Wales and the missionary stations north and east of that point, and also those on the lines south and west and those on the Yukon. Another one three days out from the new military post at Weare would give the same information regarding St. Michael and numerous missionary posts south and southeast of that point. During the summer time the boats on the Yukon will bring the great bulk of freight up to the different distributing points.

ESTIMATES AND SUGGESTIONS FOR DISTRIBUTING REINDEER IN ALASKA, AND INDUCEMENT FOR LAPLANDERS TO BECOME SETTLERS AND HERD OWNERS.

The Lapps brought over from Lapland as teachers for the Eskimo apprentices, and also as the basis of the reindeer development in Alaska, are inquiring in what way they, as well as the Eskimo, can secure herds of their own. From the commencement of the instruction of the native men in the management of reindeer, the Bureau of Education has recognized the importance of securing the cooperation of the various missionary societies at work in Arctic and sub-Arctic Alaska. Again I quote the Commissioner of Education:

It is evident that the missionary stations furnish the only safe centers for the location of herds and the establishment of schools of instruction in the rearing of the reindeer and in the training of them to harness.

As already mentioned, the missions ascertain the capable and teachable youth among the natives. They are able at any time to furnish a list of the natives in their vicinities noted for good character. At each of these stations 20 or 30 youth, selected from a village population of 300 or more, can be put in training as herdsmen and teamsters. No matter how large the Government appropriation should be, therefore, it would be necessary to connect the reindeer instruction and the establishment of permanent herds in northwest Alaska with these missionary

stations.

Let small herds be loaned to each missionary station as a Government aid in the nature of an outfit of industrial apparatus. The report of the Indian Burean shows that the United States Government furnished 10,000 head of stock for the period of 1890-1896 for one Indian agency (the Blackfeet), and that seeds, implement, stock, wagons, harness, in large amounts, have been furnished to other agencies. These donations are certainly more justifiable than donations made to prevent the savage people from starving, for they are given, in the form of apparatus, for the instruction of these peoples in the industrial arts and in the practice of thrift. All these things prevent starvation. Just as in the agricultural colleges of the several States the Government money is used to pay for the stock of the model farm, which is used as the apparatus for the instruction of the pupils, so the reindeer herd is used as apparatus loaned to the missionary stations for the purpose of instruction of the natives. But an average of five years' apprenticeship is needed for the full training of apprentices in the management of reindeer. Persons who have been brought up to the care of neat cattle and horses or sheep only have not thereby acquired the art of managing reindeer, for this requires special apprenticeship. With the first herd (that of 1892) Siberian herdsmen were procured to give instructions in these arts; but the degree of success was so small that in 1894 five families of Laplanders were obtained to take their place. The Laplanders, being a civilized people and devoid of the superstitions which embarrass the Siberian natives, have attained a higher degree of skill in the management of this animal, and also show greater ability in teaching others what they know. Next alter the obtaining of the reindeer the most important point, therefore, is the procurement of skilled herdsmen and teamsters from Norway and Sweden. It is of little use to give a herd of reindeer to a missionary station unless a skilled teacher goes with it.

The furnishing of the properly trained Laplander is one of the chief items of expense in the introduction of reindeer into northwestern Alaska. A salary of $500 a year is necessary for each, and the distribution of the herd at the different points on the seacoast and in the interior is possible only in so far as the Government is able to send these experienced herdsmen and teamsters. In the course of eight or ten years there will grow up a supply of thoroughly educated natives, who will render it unnecessary to depend any longer upon Lapland and Finland for teachers. But it is hoped in the meanwhile that there will be some migration from Scandinavia of families of herdsmen and teamsters.

To best accomplish the above, I would respectfully recommend the following general plan, which embodies the suggestions made by Mr. William A. Kjellmann from his own personal experience in the work, both in Alaska and in Lapland, in the latter of which he was born and brought up.

Loan each mission association 100 deer for five years on condition (1) that two Lapp families are kept in charge of the herd, the mission furnishing food, clothing, etc., and the Government paying the salaries for the Laplanders; (2) that at least four native men are kept and trained to the work; (3) that the mission receive 80 per cent of the net increase of the herd and the two Laplanders in charge 20 per cent, this 20 per cent to be held back by the Government in case the Laplanders should not become herders or teamsters; (4) that one of the Laplanders at each station occupied be appointed manager so far as herding and breaking in and the movement of the herd is concerned, the Lapp manager to report yearly to the Government inspector on his visit about the increase and general condition, etc., the mission station also reporting to the inspector.

RELIEF OF THE WHALERS IMPRISONED IN THE ICE NEAR POINT BARROW.

The relief of the whalers imprisoned in the ice at Point Barrow last winter was conducted under the auspices of the Treasury Department, yet as the principal means of relief were the reindeer herds taken from Prince of Wales and Cape Nome and driven over to Point Barrow, and as those herds were a part of the fruit of the work of the Interior Department in introducing domestic reindeer into Alaska, it seems proper that some account of that expedition should have a place in this report.

Through the courtesy of the Secretary of the Treasury and Capt. C. F. Shoemaker, chief of division of Revenue-Cutter Service, I have received copies of the original reports of the officers in command of the relief expedition. From these reports and from other reliable sources I have secured the following account of the situation of the whalers and their relief by the Government expedition in charge of Lieut. David H. Jarvis, of the Revenue-Cutter Service.

On the 8th of September, 1897, the steam whalers Orca, Capt. A. C. Sherman; Jesse H. Freeman, Captain Humphreys; Belvedere, Capt. M. B. V. Millard, and the schooner Rosario, Capt. Edwin Coffin, were caught in the slush ice to the eastward of Point Barrow, the northernmost point of the North American Continent.

Early on the morning of the 9th the danger was so great that the captains of the four ships had a consultation as to the best method of working their vessels out of the ice. The young ice was forming fast and a heavy ridge of old ice remained along the coast. The only method of escape seemed to be by blasting a canal

through the ice ridge a distance of about a mile and a half. A portion of the crew was at once set at work making cartridges weighing 5 pounds each, of blasting powder, gunpowder, and tonite powder, the latter of which was taken from the darting and shoulder bombs. These cartridges were placed on the ends of long poles, shoved under the ice, and exploded. A thousand pounds of powder were used and three days and nights consumed in making the canal. The remaining men of the crews were employed in sawing and poling the ice out of the canal. The fresh ice, however, formed so rapidly that the steamer Orca, in forcing its way through the canal, broke its rudder, and, becoming unmanageable, was taken in tow by the steamer Freeman. The captain of the schooner Rosario was afraid to attempt the passage through the canal, and hoped that the ice might open and afford the vessel a safe refuge in a lagoon near by. This hope, however, was not realized.

After getting through the canal the three steamers lay to until the Orca had repaired its rudder, and then steamed south 45 miles through increasing heavy ice to the neighborhood of Sea Horse Islands, which were reached September 22. On that date the steamer Orca, which was in the lead during the breaking and forcing of the ice, was caught between two immense ice floes, which wrenched the sternpost and steering gear completely out of place and hurled the wheel through the pilot bouse, the officers and crew taking to the ice for safety. Many of the officers and crew passed over the ice to the steamer Freeman. Shortly after the Freeman herself was caught in the ice jam and all on board took refuge on the ice. The steamer Belvedere, which had reached open water, immediately steamed back into the ice and rescued the officers and crew of both vessel. The wind blowing a gale from the westward forced both the old and young ice landward, and nothing was left for the Belvedere but to move with it, doing which the ship succeeded in getting into Pearl Bay, the heavy ice grounding outside and making a refuge behind it.

The Belvedere now had its own crew of 45 men, the 43 men from the Orca, and the 49 from the Freeman. Abandoning all hope of getting out of the ice, on the 23d of September the sailors commenced sledding provisions from the ship over the ice to the Sea Horse Islands, a distance of 3 miles. The water was pumped out of the casks to lighten the ship and the bulkheads were torn down for the purpose of making houses on shore. The blacksmith commenced making cooking stoves from the coal-oil drums, and others were set to work cutting a canal through the ice to enable the ship to get in behind the islands for greater safety, all the arrangements being made to winter at that spot. While these arrangements for camping on shore were going on, Mr. Charles H. Walker, fifth mate of the steam whaler Orca, volunteered, with a couple of natives, to go across the ice to the steamer Orca and save all the provisions they could, agreeing to make a signal upon his safe arrival at the vessel. The Orca was lying 12 miles away, with the ice between the two ships full of holes and the pressure of the heavy ice constantly making large cracks in the new ice.

On the 29th of September, failing to see any signals from the Orca, Mr. George F. Tilton, with four natives, was sent to learn the fate of Mr. Walker and his companions. After six hours' hard work the ship was reached and Mr. Walker and his men were found well and busy saving provisions. The ship was nearly full of water, and the provisions had to be fished out with long-handled bow hooks. In the meantime both ship and ice were drifting all the time. While engaged in securing the provisions a peculiar tremor was felt, the ship careened slowly over on its side and gradually slid under the ice floe and was soon completely hidden from sight. The men, having escaped to the ice, at once commenced sledding the provisions they had saved to the south sand spit of the Sea Horse Islands, which were about 3 miles to the westward. The moving of the provisions consumed two days. Some Eskimo were secured in the neighborhood with two teams of dogs, and on the sixth day all the food saved from the Orca was safely put on the steamer Belvedere. While the work of saving provisions from the steamer Orca was going on, some Eskimos boarded the steamer Freeman to help themselves to the provisions which had been left in that vessel when the sailors took to the ice. While engaged in looting the ship they accidentally dropped a lighted lamp, which set fire to the vessel, and it burned to the water's edge.

On the 3d of October Captains Millard, Porter, and Sherman, after consultation, determined to send to Point Barrow for help. Stephen Cottle, second mate of the Belvedere, and the four or five men of the steamer Freeman volunteered to go. It was a trip of 65 miles on foot, and it took three nights and two days to make it. Mr. Charles D. Brower, superintendent of the Liebes Whaling Station, at once dispatched his assistant, Alfred Hopson, with six dog teams, to the rescue of the whalers, arriving at the steamer Belvedere on October 7. Forty men with provisions were immediately sent to Point Barrow, some of the men being so sick and feeble that they had to ride the entire distance. The trip was made in four days.