ZGALLERY REINDEER USED HOW TO
ZGALLERY REINDEER USED DRIVERS

ZGALLERY REINDEER USED DRIVERS

In his вЂњThirteenth Annual Report on the Introduction of Domestic Reindeer into AlaskaвЂќ (1903), Sheldon Jackson described the trips on this route being made вЂњthrough a long winter night with the thermometer ranging from 20 degrees to 60 degrees below zero.вЂќ He stated that вЂњhardy Eskimo drivers вЂ¦ at the risk of their livesвЂќ carried the mail on the route, adding that they would sometimes be вЂњstorm bound in their snow huts for several days at a time.вЂќ The route from Barrow to Kotzebue was reportedly the longest and most dangerous in the world. The reindeer teams covered the distance from Nome to Candle in only eight days, roughly half the time required by dog teams.Дuring the winter of 1903-1904, reindeer were used on three mail routes -Teller to Wales (150-mile roundtrip), Teller to Igloo (130-mile roundtrip) and Barrow to Kotzebue (1,300-mile roundtrip).

Nome to Candle, a 520-mile roundtrip, in the winter of 1901-1902.

Michael, Eaton and Nulato, a 400-mile roundtrip, in the spring of 1900.

Eaton to Nome, a 480-mile roundtrip, beginning in March 1900.

Shortly thereafter, reindeer were used to carry mail on the following routes:

Michael to Kotzebue, consisting of three 1,240-mile, 60-day round-trips beginning Dec. The first known use of reindeer to move the U.S. Courtesy Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, PA.

ZGALLERY REINDEER USED HOW TO

Government, to teach native Alaskans how to raise reindeer. Klemetsen was part of a group of herders brought to Alaska from Scandinavia in 1898 under contract with the U.S. Nils Klemetsen starting with mail for Nome from Eaton Unalakleet River, March 1, 1900. Traveling between Post Office locations was so time-consuming and dangerous that for decades some offices in Alaska received mail only two or three times each winter. In summer, the offices could be reached by boat, but during the long, frozen winters - the period of вЂњclosed navigationвЂќ - travel was extremely difficult. Most of the offices were located along the coast or inland waterways. The discovery of gold in Nome in 1898 led to the establishment of new Post Office locations to serve the thousands of fortune-seekers who came to northwestern Alaska. Michael, south of the Seward Peninsula, to the Barrow Post Office, north of the Arctic Circle. Although JacksonвЂ™s vision of reindeer routes crisscrossing the territory never materialized, in the early years reindeer were used on several mail routes in northwest Alaska, from St. Jackson arranged for reindeer to be imported to Alaska from both Siberia and northern Scandinavia, accompanied by reindeer herders to teach the native Alaskans how to handle, care for and train the deer. Department of the Interior titled вЂњIntroduction of Domestic Reindeer into Alaska,вЂќ Jackson included a map showing вЂњproposed reindeer mail routesвЂќ crisscrossing Alaska Territory. Dogs also needed food to be prepared in advance and carried or cached along the route, whereas reindeer could feed themselves by foraging for lichen.

Dogsleds, the traditional form of wintertime transportation, could not carry as much weight as sleds pulled by reindeer. Sheldon Jackson, a Presbyterian missionary and the General Agent of Education for Alaska from 1885 to 1908, believed reindeer would be useful for transportation in winter.

Unlike caribou, which were native to Alaska, semi-domesticated reindeer were imported to Alaska in the 1890s. From 1899 to the early 1910s, reindeer helped transport mail to more than a dozen Post Office locations in northwestern Alaska, including several located north of the Arctic Circle. But few of us may know that reindeer also once helped deliver U.S. Many of us learned as children that reindeer help Santa Claus deliver toys to children worldwide on the night before Christmas.

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