Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-14
REINDEER IN ALASKA,
Progress of the Work Carried on by the
Education Bureau.
A Colony sf Lapps Have Left Their:
Homes for Alaska-The Disfrt.
button of the Reindeer.

Information has been received at ths-
bureau Of education that william A. KEEL
mann and party of Lapland emigrants have
arrived In Alaska This is another step.
In the matter OF the introduction OF do
mesticated reindeer in Alaska In this con-
! nection the bureau Of education sought to
| enlist the services OF some intelligent Nor
wegian or Swede. accustomed to the meth
DDS employed in the care Of reindeer in lap
land. and in December. 1893. notice was
sent to the Scandinavian papers OF the
United States that the department wished
to secure the services of men acquainted
| with the management Of reindeer
The Scandinavian papers entered very
heartily into the project and gave their
space without compensation About $50
| replies were received. From among this
| number, largely upon the recommendation
of Prof Rasmus ID. Anderson, William A.
kje,mann of Madison, Wis, was selected
| as the next superintendent of the reindeer
station. Mr.. kjelmann is Norwegian,
] thirty-two wears of age, Of robust health
| and excellent habits.
A Colony Of Lapps.
Mr.. Kjelmann was at once sent TO lap
land for the necessary Laps and their
dogs. He succeeded in persuading a COL
ony Of seventeen Laps to migrate to
Alaska with their dogs and sledges. The
|
| Alaska on June IL. With them Is the Rev.
! I. l.. Brevig. a Norwegian pastor, who has
been appointed teacher OF the school at
| Port Clarence.
AS the congressional appropriation Of 3D.
900 for the importation of reindeer into
| Alaska during the fiscal year 1S93-ls94 had
| been expended. IL became necessary to APP
peal once more to benevolent individuals
| for the funds necessary to defray the ex-
penses Of the Importation OF the Laps.
| For this purpose s. 62lO have been re-
| ceved and expended.
Ii Is hoped by those interested that the
| present colony of Lapps may find such ad-
! vantages in Alaska that they will become
permanent citizens of the United States,
and will attract to Alaska an emigration
from Lapland. where the restrictions thrown
| around the reindeer Industry have created
| great dissatisfaction. From year to year
| as Eskimo young men leave the reindeer
stations fully competent to take charge OF
| herds, the industry will naturally increase,
| IL Is thought. and the herds become more
and more distributed throughout the coun-
| try until that whole northern region shall
De covered with them: as similar regions
| Of Siberia and Lapland are now covered
Al the Missionary stations.
1t Ii now proposed to take another step
forward In the progress of the reindeer
| movement As the first herd was pur-
chased by the government from private
funds contributed for that purpose. II 10
proposed by the bureau to give 100 head OF
reindeer to each OF the following mission
airy stations: The Congregationalists at
| Cape Prince Of Wales; the Swedish Evan
gelical Church at Galov;n Bay; the Roman
Catholic Church OF the Yukon river, and
the Presbyterian Church. at ST. Lawrence
Island. With the increase OF the herd. IL Ii
proposed to offer a similar number of REIN
deer to other Christian denominations that
/ work In that region and VITO may wish to
| receive and care for them. DIR. Sheldon
Jackson. a United States general agent Of
h adj IN Ia hag
| Harris, commissioner OF education. that the
presence Of the herd has attracted very
great attention from the natives. and that
that delegations did not visit and inspect
| the herd, some of them coming from three
and four hundred miles inland for that pur-
pose. The herd. IL Ii stated. IL an object
lesson which has created q strong desire on
the part of the natives for the time when
they can have herds OF their own
Experience Va. Theory.
It was persistently said at the beginning
that. In the first place, owing to the super
stition Of the Siberian natives. live deer
could not be purchased; in the second
place, that the habits Of the deer were such
that they could not stand transportation:
In the third place. that the environments In
Alaska would be SO different from those OF
Siberia that they would not thrive; and, In
the fourth place. that the Alaskan dogs
| v ould scatter and destroy the herd Each
one Of these objections has been dis
proved by actual experience. and now the
| whole subject resolves itself into a question
| of time and money. IL liberal appropria-
| lions can be had from Congress, II In said.
the work Of introduction and distribution
| will go forward with great rapidity. II.
however. the appropriations are TO continue
| small. the success will be none the less sure.
| but the progress much slower. The present
and ever Increasing scarcity of the food
| supply of the region, IL is thought. makes
| IL important that the work be pushed as
! rapidly as is consistent with thoroughness.
| When IL became apparent that no appro-
priation could be secured from the Fifty
| first Congress. an appeal was made In sew
eral OF the leading newspapers OF the coun-
try. including The Evening Star, as well as
In a number OF the leading religious news
| Papers OF the country, for contributions to
this object. The response was prompt and
| generous; s.. iJG were received
As the natives Of northern Alaska and
Siberia have no knowledge Of the value OF
/ money, tt became necessary TO change the
| above sum into barter goods. which was
| done. These were expended for twenty REIN
| deer in 1881, III in 1892 and a number Of
others since. and In the pay of interpreters
and herders and In provisions for the herd.
L