The destruction of the whale and walrus has taken away three-fourths of the ordinary food supply of the Eskimo population, and that population to-day on the Arctic coas tof Alaska is on the verge of starvation. The large canneries will soon take away the fish supply. The introduction of tame reindeer from Siberia into Alaska thus has a twofold importance: (1) As the establishment of a profitable industry. (2) As a relief of a starving people, a relief that will become more and more valuable as the years roll round, a relief that once established perpetuates itself. This project is wiser than to pauperize the people of Alaska. The revenue from that country warrants this attempt to make these people self sustaining. The lease of the Seal Islands by the United States Treasury Department to the North American Commercial Company, on the basis of 100,000 skins, ought to yield a revenue of about $1,000,000 annually. Under the old lease the revenue was $317,500 annually. The extending to Alaska of the benefits of the agricultural bill ap proved August 30, 1890, would give for the year ending June 1890 1891 1892 $15,000 16,000 17,000 48,000 From the act establishing agricultural experiment stations approved July 2, 1862, the sum of $15,000. The joint resolution would therefore carry for the year ending June 30, 1892, $93,000, and for the following year, $33,000. The committee report therefore this joint resolution with the following amendments and recommend that it pass. In line 4, page 2, after the word "to" insert "give any assent required by either of said acts, and to." In line 4, page 2, after the word "benefits" insert "and provisions." In line 6, page 2, after "Territory" insert " of Alaska." In line 7, page 2, after the word "acts" add "in like manner as for any other Territory." APPENDIX. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, SIR: I have the honor to inclose, for the information of the Senate, a copy of a letter from the Commissioner of Education, of date December 5, 1890, and also a copy of a letter from Dr. Sheldon Jackson, United States general agent of education in Alaska, to the Commissioner, of date November 12, 1890, relative to the impoverished and destitute condition of the native inhabitants in Alaska, consequent upon the destruction of their sources of livelihood by the whaling-fishery, seal-hunting, and walrus-hunting industries, and suggesting the establishment of an agricultural and mechanical college and the instruction by means of the same of the natives in the rearing and management of the domestic reindeer for their support, the same to be introduced from eastern Siberia and northern Europe. Very respectfully, The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE. GEO. CHANDLER, Acting Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C., December 26, 1890. SIR: On the 5th instant I had the honor of transmitting to you a report from Dr. Sheldon Jackson, general agent of education for Alaska, in which he stated that the Eskimo of Arctic Alaska were on the verge of starvation, and recommended that we avail ourselves of the benefit of the several acts of Congress for promoting instruction in agriculture and the mechanic arts, and thereby provide a way of introducing into Alaska the domesticated reindeer of Siberia. On the 15th instant you very kindly transmitted the above communications to Congress for such action as might be necessary, and on the 19th instant a joint resolution was introduced into the House of Representatives authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to extend to Alaska the benefits of the act approved March 2, 1887, creating "agricultural experiment stations," and of an act approved August 30, 1890, for the better support of agricultural schools in the several States and Territories. If this very desirable legislation is granted, and under its provisions a suitable school is established, it will be a comparatively easy matter to purchase in Siberia a herd of domesticated reindeer, transport them to Alaska, and give instruction in their care and management. This would be a great step forward in lifting the native races of that boreal region out of barbarism and starting them toward civilization, a step from the grade of wild hunter to the grade of herdsmen who live on domesticated cattle, and besides this, furnish an article of exportation and commerce. The native tribes on the Siberian side are thriving with their herds of reindeer. It seems that all northern Alaska is filled with moss meadows (tundra) which furnish the very food that the reindeer requires. Once started, the business would grow into large proportions, and the most serious problem that threatens Alaska will be solved. Since the subject has been agitated a number of calls have been received by this office for information with regard to it. I would, therefore, respectfully request permission to publish in a small pamphlet the inclosed report of Dr. Sheldon Jackson with accompanying papers. Respectfully, yours, The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, D. C. W. T. HARRIS, Commissioner 3 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, D. C., November 12, 1890. DEAR SIR: In advance of a full report of operations in Alaska, I desire to call your attention to the need of legislation by Congress in order to secure for Alaska the benefits of the acts of Congress in 1887 and 1890 to promote instruction in agriculture and the mechanic arts. And I do this now (1) Because it is the short session of Congress, and whatever is done should be done at once; and (2) Because of the starving condition of the Eskimo on the Arctic coast of Alaska, which condition will be relieved by the proposed legislation (Appendixes A and B). From time immemorial they have lived upon the whale, the walrus, and the seal of their coasts, the fish and aquatic birds of their rivers, and the caribou or wild reindeer of their vast inland plains. The supply of these in years past was abundant, and furnished ample food for all the people. But fifty years ago American whalers, having largely exhausted the supply in other waters, found their way into the North Pacific Ocean. Then commenced for that section the slaughter and destruction of whales that went steadily forward at the rate of hundreds and thousands annually, until they were destroyed and driven out of the Pacific Ocean. They were then followed into Behring Sea, and the slaughter went on. The whales took refuge among the ice-fields of the Arctic Ocean and thither the whalers followed. In this relentless hunt the remnant have been driven still farther into the inaccessible regions around the North Pole, and are no longer within reach of the natives (Appendixes C, D, and E). As the great herds of buffalo that once roamed the western prairies have been exterminated for their pelts, so the whales have been sacrificed for the fat that incased their bodies, and the bone that hung in their mouths. With the destruction of the whale, one large source of food supply for the natives has been cut off. Another large supply was derived from the walrus, which once swarmed in great numbers in those northern seas. But commerce wanted more ivory, and the whalers turned their attention to the walrus, destroying thousands annually for the sake of their tusks. Where a few years ago they were so numerous that their bellowings were heard above the roar of the waves and grinding and crashing of the ice fields, this year I cruised for weeks without seeing or hearing one. The walrus as a source of food supply is already practically extinct. The seal and sea lion, once so common in Behring Sea, are now becoming so scarce that it is with difficulty that the natives procure a sufficient number of skins to cover their boats, and their flesh, on account of its rarity, has become a luxury. In the past the natives, with tireless industry, caught and cured for use in their long winters great quantities of fish, but American canneries have already come to some of their streams, and will soon be found on all of them, both carrying the food out of the country and, by their wasteful methods, destroying the future supply. Five million cans of salmon annually shipped away from Alaska-and the business still in its infancy-means starvation to the native races in the near future. With the advent of improved breech-loading firearms the wild reindeer are both being killed off and frightened away to the remote and more inaccessible regions of the interior (Appendix K), and another source of food supply is diminishing." Thus the support of the people is largely gone, aud the process of slow starvation and extermination has commenced along the whole Arctic coast of Alaska. Villages that once numbered thousands have been reduced to hundreds-of some tribes but two or three families remain. At Point Barrow, in 1828, Captain Beechey's expedition found Nuwuk a village of 1,000 people; in 1863 there were 309; now there are not over 100. In 1826 Captain Beechey speaks of finding a large population at Cape Franklin; to-day it is without an inhabitant. He also mentions a large village of 1,000 to 2,000 people on Schismareff Inlet; it has now but 3 houses. According to Mr. John W. Kelly, who has written a monograph upon the Arctic Eskimo of Alaska, Point Hope, at the commencement of the century, had a population of 2,000; now it has about 350. Mr. Kelly further says: "That Kavea country is almost depopulated owing to the scarcity of game which has been killed or driven away. The coast tribes between Point Hope and Point Barrow have been cut down in population so as to be almost obliterated. The Kookpovoros of Point Lay have only 3 huts left; the Ootookas of Icy Cape 1 hut; the Koogmute has 3 settlements of from 1 to 4 families; Sezaro has about 80 people." Mr. Henry D. Woolfe, who has spent many years in the Arctic region, writes: "Along the seacoast from Wainright Inlet to Point Lay numerous remains of houses testify to the former number of the people. From Cape Seppings to Cape * * * *The reindeer have long since been driven away. (John W. Kelly, in Ethnographical Memoranda Concerning the Arctic Eskimos in Alaska, A. D. 1889, page 9.) Krusenstern and inland to Nounatok River there still remain about 40 people-the remnant of a tribe called Key-wah-ling-nach-ah-mutes. They will in a few years entirely disappear as a distinctive tribe." I myself saw a number of abandoned villages and crumbling houses during the summer, and wherever I visited the people I heard the same tale of destitution. On the island of Attou, once famous for the number of its sea-otter skins, the catch for the past nine years has averaged but 3 sea otter and 25 fox skins, an annual income of about $2 for each person. The Alaska Commercial Company this past summer sent $1,300 worth of provisions to keep them from starving. At Akutan the whole catch for the past summer was nineteen sea otters. This represents the entire support of 100 people for twelve months. At Unalashika both the agent of the Alaska Commercial Company and the teacher of the Government school testified that there would be great destitution among the people this winter because of the disappearance of the sea otter. At St. George Island the United States Treasury agent testified that there was not sufficient provision on the island to last through the season, and asked that a Governmunt vessel might be sent with a full supply. At Cape Prince of Wales, Point Hope, and Point Barrow was the same account of short supply of food. At the latter place intimations were given that the natives in their distress would break into the Government warehouse and help themselves to the supply that is in store for shipwrecked whalers. At Point Barrow, largely owing to the insufficient food supply, the death rate is reported to the birth rate as 15 to 1. It does not take long to figure out the end. They will die off more and more rapidly as the already insufficient food supply becomes less and less. INTRODUCTION OF REINDEER. In this crisis it is important that steps should be taken at once to afford relief. Relief can, of course, be afforded by Congress voting an appropriation to feed them, as it has so many of the North American Indians. But I think that every one familiar with the feeding process among the Indians will devoutly wish that it may not be necessary to extend that system to the Eskimo of Alaska. It would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, and, worse than that, degrade, pauperize, and finally exterminate the people. There is a better, cheaper, more practical, and more humane way, and that is to introduce into northern Alaska the domesticated reindeer (Appendices F and G) of Siberia, and train the Eskimo young men in their management, care, and propagation. This would in a few years create as permanent and secure a food supply for the Eskimo as cattle or sheep raising in Texas or New Mexico does for the people of those sections. It may be necessary to afford temporary relief for two or three years to the Eskimo, until the heards of domestic reindeer can be started, but after that the people will be self-supporting. As you well know, in the Arctic and subarctic regions of Lapland and Siberia the domesticated reindeer is food, clothing, house, furniture, implements, and transportation to the people. Its milk and flesh furnish food; its marrow and tongue are considered choice delicacies; its blood, mixed with the contents of its stomach, is made into a favorite dish called in Siberia "manyalla"; its intestines are cleaned, filled with tallow, and eaten as a sausage; its skin is made into clothes, bedding, tent covers, reindeer harness, ropes, cords, and fish lines; the hard skin of the forelegs makes an excellent covering for snow shoes.* Its sinews are dried and pounded into a strong and lasting thread; its bones are soaked in seal oil and burned for fuel; its horns are made into various kinds of household implements-into weapons for hunting and war and in the manufacture of sleds. Indeed I know of no other animal that in so many different ways can minister to the comfort and well-being of man in the far northern regions of the earth as the reindeer.t The reindeer form their riches; these their tents, Their robes, their beds, and all their homely wealth supply; Under favorable circumstances a swift reindeer can traverse 150 miles in a day. A speed of 100 miles per day is easily made. As a beast of burden they can draw a load of 300 pounds. They yield a cupful of milk at a milking; this small quantity, however, is so thick and rich that it needs to be diluted with nearly a quart of water to make it drinkable. *Kennan's Tent Life in Siberia, page 188. + Without the reindeer the Laplander could not exist in those northern regions: it is his horse, his beast of burden, his food, his clothing, his shoes, and his gloves. (Du Chaillu's Land of the Midnight Sun, vol. 2, page 199.) It has a strong flavor like goat's milk, and is more nutritious and nourishing than cow's milk. The Lapps manufacture from it butter and cheese. A dressed reindeer in Siberia weighs from 80 to 100 pounds. The reindeer feed upon the moss and other lichens that abound in the Arctic regions, and the farther north the larger and stronger the reindeer. Now, in central and Arctic Alaska are between 300,000 and 400,000 square miles (an area equal to the New England and Middle States combined, together with Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois) of moss covered tundra and rolling plains of grass that are specially adapted by nature for the grazing of the reindeer, and is practically useless for any other purpose. If it is a sound public policy to bore artesian wells and build water storage reservoirs, by which thousands of arid acres can be reclaimed from barrenness and made fruitful, it is equally a sound public policy to stock the plains of Alaska with herds of domesticated reindeer, and cause those vast, dreary, desolate, frozen, and stormswept regions to minister to the wealth, happiness, comfort, and well-being of man. What stock raising has been and is on the vast plains of Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, reindeer raising can be in northern Alaska. In the corresponding regionsf o Lapland, in Arctic Norway, and in Sweden and Russia are 27,000 people supporting themselves (besides paying a tax to the government of $400,000, or $1 per head for their reindeer), and procuring their food and clothing largely from their 400,000 domesticated reindeer (Appendix H). Also in the corresponding regions of Siberia, with similar climate, soil, and environment (and only 40 miles distant at the straits), are thousands of Chukchees, Koraks, and other tribes fed and clothed by their tens of thousands of domesticated reindeer. During the summer I visited four settlements of natives on the Siberian coast, the two extremes being 700 miles apart, and saw much of the people, both of the Koraks and Chukchees. I found them a good-sized, robust, fleshy, well-fed pagan, half-civilized, nomad people, living largely on their herds of reindeer. Families own from 1,000 to 10,000 deer. These are divided into herds of from 1,000 to 1,500. One of these latter I visited on the beach near Cape Navarin. In Arctic Siberia the natives with their reindeer have plenty; in Arctic Alaska without the reindeer they are starving. Then, instead of feeding and pauperizing them, let us civilize, build up their manhood, and lift them into self-support by helping them to the reindeer. To stock Alaska with reindeer and make millions of acres of moss-covered tundra conducive to the wealth of the country would be a great and worthy event under any circumstances. But just now it is specially important and urgent from the fact, stated in the opening of this report, that the destruction of the whale and walrus has brought large numbers of Eskimo face to face with starvation and that something must be done promptly to save them. The introduction of the reindeer would ultimately afford them a steady and permanent food supply. AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. Passing from northern Alaska, with its adaptation to reindeer raising, we find the whole southern coast, stretching for thousands of miles, to possess a temperate climate. This is due to the "Kuro-siwo" or "Japan current" of the Pacific Ocean. In this "temperate belt" it is probable that there are areas of greater or less extent that are adapted to agriculture. At least it is known that there are small farms or vegetable gardens on Kodiak and Afognak Islands, on the shores of Cook's Inlet and in southeastern Alaska. It is also known that wild berries grow in great profusion and abundance in many sections. But no intelligent and continued experiments have been made to test the agricultural and horticultural capabilities of the country. Until a quite recent period (1867) the European population were fur-trading Russians. They were followed by fur-trading Americans, and more recently by the gold seekers. No one expected to remain long in the country, and there has been no incentive to carry forward intelligent experiments in agriculture. As early as my first report to the Commissioner of Education (1885) I called attention to the fact that there was a very wide diversity of views concerning the agricultural and horticultural capabilities of Alaska, and necessarily very great ignorance; that no systematic effort intelligently prosecuted had ever been made to ascertain what could or what could not be raised to advantage; that it was of very great importance, both to the people of Alaska and the country at large, that careful experiments should be made, extending over a term of years, to ascertain the vegetables, grains, grasses, berries, apples, plums, trees, flowers, etc., best adapted to the country; the best methods of cultivating, gathering, and curing the same; the planting and grafting of fruit trees; the development of the wild cranberry; cattle, hog, and poultry raising; butter and cheese making, etc. In 1886 my recommendation was |