The Eskimo Bulletin, 1898

The Eskimo Bulletin was an annual newspaper published by missionary Tom Lopp in Wales, Alaska during the 1890s and early 1900s. The 1898 issue's front page carried three stories of significance for Alaska at the turn of the century--a gold discovery on the Seward Peninsula, the arrival of Lapps to tend reindeer, and the story of an impressive reindeer drive by Lopp and Native herders hundreds of miles to rescue whalers caught in the ice near Barrow.

Click on the banner to learn more about the newspaper, and click on the stories to learn more about these three events.

 

For more on Wales and Tom and Ellen Lopp, the missionaries who published The Eskimo Bulletin, see:

Eskimo Bulletin, 1898
"The Only Yearly in the World"

Tom Lopp, missionary and teacher at Wales, launched the annual Eskimo Bulletin to help teach local Eskimos English and to keep mission supporters informed about his far off mission. The paper, which he termed "The Only Yearly in the World," bore a price of $1, not so much to raise money--mission friends got issues for free--but to keep down the demand from curio-seekers.

On the inside pages, Lopp provided local news from the Eskimo settlements of western Alaska. These items must have seemed pretty exotic to their Lower 48 readers. Lopp reported, for example, that because of the scarcity of seals in the spring, the price of boot soles advanced from 2 to 7 bits of lead. He also wrote of the success of whale, walrus, and even squirrel hunts; trade with Siberian peoples; and the travels, marriages, and illnesses of local residents. Ad-loo-at, a local Native carver, produced woodcut illustrations, while he and other Natives did typesetting.

The press broke after Lopp had printed the first page of the 1898 issue. He mimeographed the other pages of that issue. He and mechanically-minded Eskimos eventually repaired the press. Lopp left the press behind when he departed the Wales mission in 1902. A teacher at Wales in 1905-06 later used the press to produce a 2-page monthly called the Midnight Sun.

Eskimo Bulletin, 1898
"Neakluk River Gold Find"

Golovin Bay, Alaska, May, 10

"Pay dirt, yielding one dollar to the pan of the surface, has been discovered along the Ne-ak-luk River. The few whites within fifty miles of this river have already staked claims. Should they prove as rich as the indications promise, there will undoubtedly be a great rush to the Ne-ak-luk from St. Michael this Summer.
The miners making this discovery have utilized the tame reindeer throughout the Winter. Many sled journeys have enabled them to examine the country between here and Port Clarence and locate small gold bearing streams, which may prove as rich as any yet discovered in Alaska"

This news story appeared on the eve of one of the greatest gold discoveries in American history. The Ne-ak-luk, i.e. Niukluk, River find in 1897 produced the important Council City mining camp. The news story's reference to prospectors using reindeer between Golovin and Port Clarence undoubtedly alluded to a party including Rev. Nels Hultberg which left Golovin for the west in late December 1897. On this trip Hultberg apparently found good prospects on what would become known as Anvil Creek. Hultberg fell ill, but relayed the information to three fellow Swedes, who would become famous for their discovery on Anvil Creek in September, 1898. Their discovery led to the great Nome gold rush.

Eskimo Bulletin, 1898
"Lapps and Finns Coming"

This news story heralded the arrival of more than 100 Lapps, Finns, and Norwegians to raise reindeer in western Alaska and train Eskimos as herders. It was part of a plan by Sheldon Jackson, head of the U.S. Bureau of Education, that brought reindeer to Alaska and promoted reindeer herding by Alaska's Natives. By 1898 Lopp had worked on the Bureau's project for more than 5 years on the Seward Peninsula. He oversaw the management of the first herd of reindeer imported from Siberia and helped train the first Eskimo reindeer herders.

But Lopp opposed the presence of these Scandanavians. He wrote in this issue of the Eskimo Bulletin that the plan "is much ridiculed here" and complained about "intemperate habits" among the newcomers. He trumpeted the 1898 reindeer drive to Barrow by Eskimo herders (see "40 tons of Meat Driven North") as proof of the ability of Native herders. In an editorial he wrote: "What the U.S. Bureau of Education expects to accomplish by bringing so many Laplanders to Arctic Alaska, is an enigma to all who are personally acquainted with the destitution, need, and possibilities of the Eskimo race."

His criticism of Jackson's management of the government reindeer program in the early 1900s would play a role in Jackson's removal. Lopp would later become the Bureau's head of Alaskan operations. During nearly 15 years as leader of the Bureau in Alaska, Lopp would greatly expand reindeer ownership among Alaska Natives. While accomplishing this, he also struggled to limit reindeer ownership as much as possible to Natives, a task greatly complicated by substantial holdings by Lapp herders, some of whom later sold to the Lomen Brothers to create the dominant reindeer company of the 1920s and early 1930s. In retirement, though, Lopp continued to promote Native ownership, and helped to enact legislation in the late 1930s which forbid non-Native reindeer ownership.

Eskimo Bulletin, 1898
"40 Tons of Meat Driven North"

When word reached Washington, D.C. that whaling ships were caught in the ice near Barrow in the fall of 1897, President McKinley's cabinet directed that a rescue be attempted. Fearing that the whalers could starve, the government decided that reindeer should be driven north from Seward Peninsula to furnish meat to the whalers. The Eskimo Bulletin lavished praise on the Revenue Cutter Service's Lieutenant D. H. Jarvis for organizing the operation. Editor Lopp modestly understated his own role and that of the mostly teenaged Eskimo herders he had trained who actually handled the herd of over 400 reindeer on their 700-mile trek north, which included a 40-mile crossing on the shifting ice of Kotzebue Sound. Below is an extract from the Eskimo Bulletin story.

"The skill and good judgment displayed by Lieut. D. H. Jarvis who commanded the novel Overland Relief Expedition to Pt. Barrow, reflects much credit upon the U.S. R.C Service. Landing Dec. 17, at Cape Vancouver, south of the mouth of the Yukon, . . . he secured dog sleds and pushed on to Norton Sd. . . .

Obtaining reindeer, sleds, and drivers they hurried on [from Unalakleet] to Charlie's (Antisarlook) place near Cape Nome. Arranging with him to loan and accompany his herd, Lieut. Jarvis dromve on to Port Clarence.

From here he went to Cape P. of Wales, where he arranged with the mission and Eskimos for the loan of their deer (301).

It was with hesitancy that Mr. Lopp consented to take charge of the herd and herderson this expedition which would necessitate an absence of several months from his family and mission; and to be responsible for the safety of the young herders and for the deer which they were loaning at a sacrifice.

To drive a herd of deer 700 miles in an untried and doubtful undertaking. Most of the Eskimos said the snow would melt, and the cows have calves long before the deer could reach Pt. Barrow, but the young men were not easily discouraged.

After Charlie's herd arrived [near Wales] the two herds were combined and started on their long tramp Feb. 3. Eighteen deer were harnessed to sleds after the manner shown in the cut. Feb. 6 Lieut. Jarvis left the herd and traveled ahead on and along the coast ice.

Finding Kotzebue Sd. jammed full of great ice fields by the recent northerly winds, it was determined to risk driving the deer across rather than spend 12 to 15 days driving around the sound. Working the herd over the 40 miles of ice fields and mountainous piles between Cape Espenberg and C. Kruzenstern required two days and nights".