| Summary: | Dr. Greist Says It's A Gamble If Food Supplies Reach The Eskimos. Dr. Greist Says It's a Gamble If Food Supplies Reach the Eskimos Barrow, Alaska, Aug. 18.—(/P)—Dr. Henry W. Greist, Presbyterian medical missionary, said today delays made it a "gamble" if food supplies for Eskimos starving along the coast east of here would arrive before the ice pack closes in for the winter. "A message from Capt. C. D. Pedersen, San Francisco trader now in the Herschel island area," Dr. Greist said, "reports many people will starve on Barter island, barring the arrival of ample relief." Estimates are that approximately 500 Eskimos are short of food in the stricken area, with Barter island, 275 miles east of here, Demarcation and Herschel islands the worst affected. One Eskimo died ten days ago. "Captain Pedersen said he had offered to land $5,000 worth of food to supply the area all winter," Dr. Greist reported. "He made an offer to Indian bureau offices at Juneau." A small food supply which the coast guard cutter Northland landed here last week has been forwarded by Frank Daugherty, reindeer supervisor. The Northland was rushed here from Nome with first word of the crisis. Additional supplies are aboard the North Star, which left Seward a week ago, bound across the Gulf of Alaska and through the Bering sea here. It was to pick up more supplies at Nome, which were being sent there from Seattle on the Derplay. "It's a gamble now, however, whether the supplies can be gotten to the area by boat this season," Greist said. "The ice closes in along the coast early next mouth."
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