Evening star., 1898-03-05
NOT THROWN AWAY
Collecting the Lapps and the Rein
deer.
DR.. JACKSON DISCUSSES HIS MISSION
Benefit That viii Accrue to the
Alaska Colonists.
g RING THE HERD

DR.. Sheldon Jackson. who was sent to
Norway as the agent of the War Depart
ment for the purchase Of reindeer and the
hire Of Laplanders for use in sending re-
lief to the miners in the Yukon gold re-
gion, was at the War Department today
for the purpose of reporting the results of
his mission.
Have you seen the statement of the
Secretary that the relief expedition to
Klondike has been abandoned?" he was
asked.
Yes, read it In the papers,"
Your expedition then was In vain?"
"Oh, no. No one can but rejoice that
there has been found sufficient food In the
Klondike to keep the people from starv.
ing. While / do not know the further
plans Of the Secretary of War, yet judge
that the herd will be used for furthering
some of the exploring parties which the
government was proposing to undertake
when went abroad. But If not utilized by
the government they can be sold and made
available for helping the transportation
companies, which will be an important
thing.
duction Of these Lapps as permanent COL
onists In Alaska is the most important
event of the past year in connection with
that country. They are recognized as the
most intelligent, expert and experienced
reindeer drivers in the world. The mines
OF Alaska cannot be fully developed with
out reindeer transportation, and 1t is to
these hardy Lapps that all employing REIN
ueer VIII be compelled at least for some
years to apply for their drivers. Coming to
Alaska they will as speedily as possible
work into the business of owning and rais-
ing reindeer herds for themselves, and
give promise OF permanency to the new in
dustry OF raising reindeer, which is being
paced in the country. l think that the
Secretary of War did wisely in procuring
and bringing these Lapps and reindeer to
tnls country. ! greatly admire his fore
sight and broad statesmanlike views of the
necessities of the situation in Alaska that
made him willing to undertake the untried
responsibilities of procuring and bringing
TO this country herd of trained reindeer.
and l greatly rejoice, on his account as
Well as my own, that it has proved 40
great success.
A Great Benefit to Alaska. g..
while the Secretary was looking to the
relief of the destitution he has .builded
wiser than he knew The destitution be-
irg relieved, he has been instrumental ir
securing and. placing in Alaska this valu-
able colony of Lapps. They, as said before,
Will play no unimportant part in the de-
Veiopment OF the mines and the resources
OF that country. Then another important
point gained by the success of the expedi-
ton has teen to show to transportation
companies and private parties who may
desire to secure trained reindeer for the
fIrtherance Of their business that 1t is
possible to successfully procure and bring
TO this country reindeer and drivers from
Lapland. 1t is true that two or three pri-
vate expeditions have lost heavy per-
centage of their deer in crossing the At
Lant1c, but l am Informed by steamship
al hot fhnHy 4.lr-
cautions In securing suitable food for the
deer while en- route. My experience for the
past six years In bringing reindeer from
Siberia to Alaska, and this more difficult,
because longer experiment, of bringing
them from Europe has demonstrated to
my own satisfaction that with ordinary
care and good judgment the reindeer is
transported as easily as any other animal"
Gathering the Herd.
In conversation with a Star reporter
DIR. jackson gave some interesting partictl-
lars about the difficulties he experienced in
procuring the animals. He said he had
seven men searching through northern
Lapland from the coast to the boundary
line of Russian Finland for a long time
looking for suitable animals.
IF 1 could have bought a whole herd at
cne transaction he said. "it would have
been but little trouble. But requiring pick
ed deer, trained fo harness, necessitated
h
herd, and covering large area of terri
tory. This required on the part of this sew
eral men travel amounting in the ag-
gregate to 5000 miles. This 5000 miles of
reindeer shedding was made in a region from
three TO four degrees of latitude north Of
the Arctic circle, and during the arctic
night when the sun does not appear above
the horizon from November 1S to January
S-3OOO miles of shedding through long
reaches of unsettled forests, over storm
swept mountains and along the edge of
dizzy precipices in the darkness of night.
The work was also done in the middle of
the arctic winter, when fearful storms rage
almost constantly.
THE reindeer thus purchased were as
sembled in four different sections of the
country. about 120 miles from the sea.
With them were the Lapp drivers and their
families. making four bands of people, ag-
gregating lib in number, and four bands
OF reindeer. aggregating 538. In addition
to these were number of Lapps and their
to see their friends Off. The 18th and 9th
OF January were set for their starting for
the coest For three weeks a storm had
been raging without ceasing. All signs Of
reads were obliterated by the driving snow.
That storm on the day for starting had
turned into regular blizzard. 1t seemed
impossible that any human being could
cross the mountains and face the Storm
Upon one of those days. the mayor of the
village calliI upon me. 1 inquired the
probability of their being able to travel
Wnen ne INFORMED me that no one could
face that storm and live. And yet these
four bands of over 100 people. men. women
and children. some of them babes less than
a year old, did face that storm and did
cross the mountains in open sleds, 120
miles to the coast
The Ocean Trip.
"A portion of the way across the ocean
we had a very rough trip, encountering
severe gale that lasted nine days. The
captain of the ship. who has followed the
seas for forty-two years. and the first on
Ger twenty-four years, testified that they
had never experienced a worse storm. One
of the ships boats was wrenched from the
davits and thrown on deck, so badly stove
In that 1t had to be broken up. TEe figure
head at the prov of the ship was knocked
on and carried out to sea. Great iron
stanchions were twisted off, and some OF
the two-inch plank around reindeer pens
on the hurricane deck were bspken in
pieces. During those nine days The 130
deer ON the hurricane deck were swept by
waves or drenched by spray SO that prob
ably they were not dry a single hour. Ono
day the waves Swept the deck 80 badly
that the men were not allowed to venture
out to feed the deer. Yet the deer stool