case. They have never appointed a missionary at St. Lawrence Island and they declined to accept a reindeer herd at Point Barrow on account of the expense accompanying it. (See explanation for this under Point Barrow.) It seems that Mr. Jackson was reluctant to give up his plan of cooperation with the Presbyterian Missionary Board at St. Lawrence and Barrow, and hoped that the successful experience with reindeer herds on the part of other missions would induce the Presbyterian Missionary Board to withdraw its objections and accept the herd on the usual conditions and support its quota of apprentices. Mr. Jackson kept the two herds in the name of the Presbyterian Missionary Board until 1905. Had the plan been adopted by the Missionary Board it would have saved to the Government the annual expense of supplies at those stations, namely, for Gambell an average of $2,250 a year, and for Barrow an average of $800 a year, and besides this expense for supplies it would have saved the cost of one-half of the expense for the superintending of the herd, or $600 a year at each place, or a total of more than $4,000 a year. In 1904, July 1, there were in the reindeer herd on St. Lawrence Island 60 adult males, 87 adult females, 65 fawns, making a total of 212. There were 4 apprentices owning 58 deer. The Government owned 154 deer. Severe storms during the winter of 1904-5 caused great mortality among the fawns born early in the spring season. In 1905, July 1, there were 64 males, 91 females, and 34 fawns, making a total of 189. Cost to the Government for supplies: 1904, $3,092.58; 1905, $888.72; 1906, $2,776.41. Cost to the Government for superintending herd: 1904, $3,274.29; 1905, $1,100; 1906, $600. Point Barrow (Presbyterian Mission).-In September, 1898, 100 deer were offered as a loan to the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions for their station at Point Barrow, the same number to be returned in September, 1903. The deer were left on the request of the United States agent, Sheldon Jackson, at Point Barrow by Lieutenant Jarvis, of the Revenue Service, who represented the Secretary of the Treasury in the settlement with the reindeer stations on the Arctic for reindeer borrowed by the Government for the relief expedition to Point Barrow to succor certain whaling vessels at or near that point imprisoned in the ice in the winter and spring of 1898. In August, 1899, 25 deer were given to Ojello, Eskimo herder at the station. Total deer at station, 125. The Presbyterian board declined the loan for financial reasons, and offered instead to render all the assistance in their power to the reindeer station by selecting good apprentices and making them selfsupporting so far as possible by teaching and directing them how to 1 gather at proper seasons and store native food (whales driven ashore, walrus, seals, wild birds, fish, etc.) in caches for winter use. In 1905, July 1, it had 169 adult males, 298 adult females, and 162 fawns, making a total of 629 deer. Number of deer belonging to 10 apprentices in 1905, 546; belonging to Government, 83. Cost to the Government for supplies: 1903, $814.99; 1904,$855.35; 1905, nothing. By the care of Mr. Spriggs, the present superintendent of the station, the native food supply for apprentices has been sufficient to support the 10 apprentices at that station with the aid of the Government supplies, amounting to ($814.99 in 1903; $815.35 in 1904, which have lasted over to end of the fiscal year 1905) $1,630.25 for three fiscal years, the same being an average of $543.42 per year, or $54.34 for each apprentice, which is less than a third of the average expense to the mission stations for deer apprentices, and about one-tenth the maximum cost to the Government for such apprentices. Cost to the Government for superintending herd: 1904, $1,500; 1905, $1,125. The number of apprentices is three times as large as the size of the herd (629) warrants, and is far larger than is advisable. This has happened through the fact that no information was received at this office which gave a clue to the plan of the mission until the summer of 1905. There were two years when the Government revenue cutter could not reach Point Barrow on its summer cruise on account of ice. In the following table (Parts I and II) the appropriations made by Congress for the Bureau of Education each year since its establish ment in 1867 are given, classified so as to show the specific object for which each sum was appropriated: Historical table showing the appropriations for the Bureau of Education, including education and reindeer in Alaska. • For stationery, blank books, freight, express, library, miscellaneous items, and extra clerical help. 15,350.00 4,000.00 10,566.00 4,000.00 |
