Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-09-24
INTRODUCTION In ALASKA URGED
Dr.. Sheldon Jackson's Views of
Their Power of Endurance.
USE IN GOLD TERRITORY

been stationed in Siberia with the consent
of the Russian government for the purpose
of making purchases of reindeer. Every
year additions are being made to the herds
now owned by the United States, which
now number about 800 and which are
herded at different points from which they
are supplied to the various government sta
tons in Alaska. About 300 were bought
especially for the expedition that was sent
out last winter to relieve the shipwrecked
whalers in the Arctic sea. The doctor and
his assistants had the charge of procur-
ing the large herd of reindeer that was
intended for the expedition to the gold re-
gions as relief measure for perishing
miners last winter.
DIR. Jackson is fast demonstrating the
fact that the reindeer is by far the most
serviceable animal in the frozen regions Of
that northern cline. 1t is to the far north
what the camel is to the sandy deserts of
| the tropics. 1t is a remarkable fact that
| the greater the degree of cold the better
| the reindeer thrives. Last winter party
| of them made a days Journey with the
temperature at seventy-three degrees below
zero. On a long journey a dog team can
not haul through uninhabted country
enough provisions to feed themselves. y
deer with 30 pounds on the sled can travel
up and down the mountains and over the
mountains, without a road or trail. from
one end of Alaska to the other, living
the moss found in the country where he
travels. In four months travel of 1900
miles last winter the deer turned out
at night to find their own provisions, eN-
cept upon a stretch Of the Yukon valley, a
distance of forty miles.
Important to Miners.
The great mining interests of central
Alaska, 1t is claimed. cannot realize their
fullest development until the domestic rein
deer are introduced in sufficient numbers
| to do the work of supplying the miners with
provisions and freight, and giving the
miner speedy communication with the out
side world. 1t now takes from fifty to
sixty days to carry the mail between
Juneau and Circle City. With the estab-
nshment of relay stations at suitable dis
tauces, the reindeer teams will carry the
same mail in four or five days.
The reindeer is said to be equally i'm
portant to the prospector. Prospecting at
a distance from the base Of supplies Is now
impossible. The prOspector can only go as
far the loG pounds of provisions blank
cts and tools VIII last him and then he must
return. With ten head of reindeer, packing
100 pounds each, making half ton Of sup
plies. he can be gone for months, penetrat-
| ing regions hundreds of miles distant, his
| deer grazing wherever night finds him.
The possibilities are 80 great, that in days
| to come, DR.. Jackson says, it will be
matter of surprise that the utilization of
| the deer was not vigorously pushed at the
start.
| The first introduction of domestic rein
| deer into Alaska was made in 1892 in order
| to provide a new food supply for the Eski-
mo- From that has grown the knowledge
of the general utility of these animals,
which are destined to become the only
| luton of the question of reasonable land
| transportation and rapid communication be-
| tween mining centers hundreds Of miles
! apart in subarctic Alaska. Laplanders have
| been imported for the purpose of herding
! and training the deer. DR.. Jackson says eg-
perience justifies the wisdom of the expert
,1.Tl,- IL, l,ntr H.
| ing and skill the knowledge and methods
! learned by their people through centuries
| of experience and observation. The Lapps
are admitted to possess the most improved
| methods in handling reindeer and they are
considered invaluable.
Reindeer's Endurance.
| practical demonstration Of the ability
| Of the reindeer to traverse any part of the
| country under the most unfavorable cir
cumstances. with temperature at times
| lower than has been experienced by some
OF the arctic expeditions, was given some
| time ago. party with nine slcdS and sew
euteea head of reindeer were sent out to
test the capacity Of this hardy end swift
animal for winter travel in Alaska. Native
| trails and well known sections of the coun-
| try were ignored, In order to show their
| ability to go anywhere. The course. while
! Travelled by compass. was a Zigzag one in
| order to better learn the extent and the
| abundance of the moss pasturags. Scaling
nigh mountain ranges, shooting down pre-
| cipitous declivities with tobogganing speed
ploddtng through valleys flied with deenly
| drifted snow, laborinusly cutting way
through the man-high underbrusn of the
Forest, or steering across the trecke3s trun-
da never before trodden by the foot or
white man; gliding over the hard crusted
snow, or wading through slush two feet
deep on imperfectly frozen rivers unknown
TO geographers, were the experiences of the
trip
While crossing a barren mountain range
they were overtaken by that dread specter
or arctic regions, a Russian poorga or arc
tic blizzard. Neither man nor beast could
stand against the blast The reindeer were
blown down and the loaded sleds overturn-
ed The men, throwing themselves fiat
CHUNG to one another and to mother earth
to keep from being blown away Stones
and pieces of crushed ice flew by darken-
ing the air. A lull coming toward evening,
with great difficulty a little coffee was
made, after which the storm broke With
renewed fury during a night, which. to the
travellers clinging to the earth with desDer-
alton, seemed endless After the storm
passed away the temperature fell to T3 de-
grees below zero, causing even the reindeer
to break loose from their tethe-s and trarnn
ceaseiessly around the tents for warmth
A Struggle for Life.
The struggle for life was had, however.
when the party reached the Yukon, and,
contrary to Information, found no moss
for the deer. Through falling snow. some
of 1T from two to four feet deep. the party
with desperate energy pushed ahead day
and night for food and life A continuous
march for four days and three nights was
had, until a native hut was reached, where
food was procured for the deer Five of
the deer dropped dead during this most
trying part of the Journey. The trip lasted
little over four months, in which time
about 1000 miles was travelled, the longest
ever recorded in any land as made by rein
deer.
The result Of this trial trip has convinced
missionaries miners traders and others re-
siding in northern and central Alaska that
domestic reindeer can do for them what for
centuries they have been doing in Lapland.
DIR. jackson claims that the reindeer are
a necessity for the development of the new
mines and the supply of sufficient food for
the miners The more rapidly domestic
reindeer can be introduced into that coun-
try the more rapidly new sections can be
visited and developed.
The Gold supply.
The doctor is inclined to be optimistic In |
regard to the gold supply of Alaska, and |
does not share with the views of those
who say that the yield Of the precious |
metal "a falling off IJa