Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-03-27

but to secure 800 picked deer, broken to
harness, necessitated the securing or
large section Of country, picking the
animals up here and there in small lots
Of three and four out Of herd.
TRAVELLED MANY MILES.
Mr.. Kjellmann and the six men who
had been out with him buying ranged
across Lapland from the coast eastward
2G5 miles over into Russian Finland. To
do this required Of these men over 5000
miles of reindeer travel. And this travel
was in a section from 8 TO 4 degrees Of
latitude north of the Arctic Circle and
during the Arctic night, when the sun
does not appear above the horizon from
November 18th 10 January 23d-3,OoO
miles Of reindeer shedding through long
reaches Of unsettled forests, over storm
swept mountains and along the edge of
dizzy preciplces. These journeys were
also made In Arctic midwinter, when
| billiards are of frequent occurrence
The mountain passes crossed and re-
crossed by these men during January
are as difficult and dangerous as the
Chilkoot Pass of Alaska.
Not only the securing Of the animals
but also of sufficient number of ex-
! pert reindeer drivers was successfully ac-
! complished. These drivers belonged to
! a non-progressive race, whose ancestors
( have occupied the same country as far
/ back as their history can be traced
/ whose young people have never been
I found among the emigrants floclIing 70
| America-a race that beyond all other
nationalities have chung TO their ancestral
/ homes. To these people we went, asking
! them to break up their homes. dispose
! Of their property settle up their affairs,
/ visit their parents or near relatives, per-
-. l.. fr,aa IN
/ in a few days load their wives and chill
/ dren into open sleds and cross the noun
| tains from 100 TO 200 miles in the teeth
/ Of a raging blizzard TO the seacoast, and
) there ship to land that they had been
! told was at the end of the earth. That
! under the circumstances 1l3 people could
be found willing to so was certainly Won
! derful.
WINTERS RAGING STORMS.
When the time came for them to jour
! ney so the coast the Arctic storm that
had been raging almost without cessa-
ton for three weeks, piling the snow in
| great banks along the fences, filling
lanes even full above fence-tops, and OBJ
literating all evidences Of tracks or
roads in the open country, had been
! gradually increasing in severity, until on
| the 26th and 9th of January 1t had turn
! ed into a blizzard, eliminating on the
1 2Sth in the worst day Of the season."
| The hotel where / was staying, a
| strong log building upon substantial
stone foundation in a sheltered spot,
! shook and trembled under the furious
| blasts OF the storm. Houses a block
/ away could not be seen at times through
| the driving snow. All traffic had ceased
! In the streets Of the village. And yet on
| the mountains, where the cold was much
! greater and the wind swept with the
! force OF q hurricane, in four bands, from
| widely different sections, over one hum
/ dred men, women, and children, and five
/ hundred reindeer were facing the biz
| Yard and slowly and laborlously forcing
| their way over the mountains to the sea-
| coast.
Meeting the Mayor of the village, anx-
| iously inquired how the Laps would get
| along ir this storm. Shaking his head,
! ne replied that II would be impossible 10
| travel. And / doubt whether any other
race than the Lapp, that is Graded in
| the snow and Injured from childhood 10
| exposure, could have done so. or any
| other animal than the reindeer brought
| them safely through the storm.
About noon. going 20 a window with
my pocket-knife scraping off the frost
| in order 20 get a sight Of thermometer
suspended outside, saw family through
| coming up the street, and soon after
| could make out sled with a man en-
cased I'm ice and snow. 1t was Mr..
| Kjellmann, his great fur-coat covered
! with snow, and his face and whiskers
coated with a sheet OF ice like mask.
! Towards evening a Lapp arrived with
| the news that the band from Maci had
| arrived, and had gone into camp in the
| mountains back of the village and two
| days later the other three bands arrived
safely within few hours OF one an
1 other.
on the 7th of January Lieutenant De-
wore chartered the cattle steamer Mani
! toban. Calling at Trondhjem, Norway.
on tho 23d Of January. the vessel took on
about 400 tons OF reindeer moss as forage
| for the deer. for two months. whilo en-
route from Lapland 10 Alaska.
| Bosokop was reached February ID. and