The Nome nugget., 1902-01-11
an Introducing Reindeer Into 
 Northwestern Alaska.
THE COST TOO GREAT
'To Bring the Domesticated Animals From Lapland or Southeastern Si- beria-Can Be Far More Cheaply Obtained Across Boring Straits.

When Dr. Jackson first conceived his idea to stock Alaska with dOmesticated reindeer he hardly anticipated all the difficulties he ,haS since met with in carrying his plan into execution. A smaller man would long since have given it up in disgust, but he has stuck to his self-imposed task, and as he is very far from being One-idea man and as the proposition was never simply a fad with him, his determination and persistence, in spite of the obstacles he aound in his way, deserve high praise. An his generalship or management, however he has been at fault.
 Manifestly the easiest way,to procur deer in numbers for Alaska was to bring them right across the straits .from here from the Tchutchese, or Chowchuan, reindeer .nomads. The short water route over which they wonld have to be transported would not alone make it cheaper, but it would
 
 of all the deer purchased. It was Dr.. Jackson's first intention to buy all the deer for Alaska right there, and quite n number oftthe dOmesticated deer now in Alaska avereFbought there, but the process must have been too slow for fhim. He found the ChOwchuan, as a rule, more or less averse to the selling sof their deer. They are a very coz -servatiye, self-sufticient and indepenl- .ent race of people, and naturally did mot take very kindly right away to such radical innovation as to barter their deer to the white man and have nhem shipped across the water, the deer which have been their pride for -ayes, and O. which to own the largest Unu nbers their one ambition. Time and continuous, effort were absolutely necessary to educate them up to it. If Alaska is ever to be stocked with large herds of these animals they will have to come through these self-same Chow schnau. In short these practically hold the key to the whole situation. To 'bring deer'to Alaska from Lapland or even from Southeastern Siberia, as it has been done, in the first place, entails too large an outlay for transportation, and then the large mortality of the deer en route br ngs ,the average cost of every deer landed in safety in Alaska so high as to cause the belief to spread that we are spending more for the deer than they seally,ever will be worth to us. This. otcourse, would soon discourage back ding and stop appropriations by con- ,gress. Therefore, right through it. would have been better generalship in .Dr. Jackson if he had continued to con .0entrite all his means and efforts to sobrain the deer from the ghboring coast. This splitting of his forces and spending his means in Lapland or Southeastern Siberia has tended 10 protract his ultimate success. If the same money spent there had been tlaid outrightly in the establishing ol better trade relations with the Chow- echuan nomads and in means to further facilitate the reindeertrade with them Alaska would own large herds of deer rtoday, and a steady annual influx of lmore,would.have been created. Then. too, the climatic conditions of North eastern Siberia are the same as ours in Alaska; the deer, therefore, are al- ready fully acclimated. Later, when the time should come to improve the sbrced. it'will be soon enough to send to .LapIand and the different parts of Si- .beria for the best stock to cross.breed . with.
 When. therefore, Dr. Jackson in the winter 'of l897-98 tried to make the Dawson relief agitation an opportunity to further the reindeer proposition in Alaska he made grave mistake. The 4fizzle that was made of it all by the war department, after spending close .on to $5Oo,0O0 in sending to Lapland '. dor deer and heraers, served largely to \ bring his work into disrepute, and to set people against.it. All further ap- appropriations by congress for the intro duction of dOmeslioated reindeer into
 Alaska, no doubt, would have been
 stopped, at least for while, if it had
 not happened during the same winter
 4hat successtnlrelief, with the help ol
 reindeer, was broughrto the hundreds of shipwrecked ~haaers at Point
 Harrow. This expedition, under the zauspipes of the treasury department
 and under the leadership of Captair
 Jarvis and Dr. Call, assured and paril!
 snecessitated the further full sup
 port of this department t" Dl
 Jackson in bis operations, and