Northwest History. Alaska. Famine.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1936
• Subjects: hunger; Far North; wolf packs; Point Barrow; Alaska; the Arctic barrens; Arctic ocean shore; Demarcation point; Charles Brower; King of the Arctic; whaling station; dog team; the bureau of Indian affairs; Juneau; Frank Daugherty; Alaskan-Canadian boundary; food shortage; Henry W. Greist; commercial reindeer company; Kotzebue; the Baird and Endicott mountains; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Indian; Pacific; Barrow; eskimo*
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/91172

Hunger Spreads Over Far North In Wake Of Mighty Wolf Packs. Hunger Spreads Over Far North In Wake of Mighty Wolf Packs BARROW, Alaska, May 24 (AP) Hunger spread over the arctic barrens today behind wolf packs which struck down game by the thousands during the winter and spring. Authorities here said the number of reindeer, caribou and wild sheep killed by the ever-increasing wolf packs could not be positively determined, but that the number was so great it brought threat of famine to part of 300 Eskimos and a few whites scattered along 400 miles of Arctic ocean shore between Point Barrow and Demarcation point. Charles Brower, "king of the arctic," who operates a trading post and whaling station here, dispatched a dog team loaded with supplies for the Demarcation point region to relieve the condition. Indian Bureau Reports The bureau of Indian affairs at Juneau ordered relief measures taken after receiving a report from Frank Daugherty, bureau superintendent at Barrow, who returned from a six-week dog sled trip to Demarcation point, which marks the Alaskan-Canadian boundary. Brower estimated that no less than 4000 reindeer fell prey to iwolves in, the region, during, the winter, and Daugherty, too, attributed the food shortage to inroads by the wolves. Caribou Fall Prey Dr. Henry W. Greist, surgeon-missionary at the Presbyterian mission, told of the Eskimos' tales to him of wolves killing caribou and reindeer and of a scarcity of wild sheep which until lately were plentiful. Heavy ice during the winter cut off seal fishing in many places, contributing to the suffering of Eskimos, who relied on these for fuel and food. Commercial reindeer companies, running herds in the Kotzebue area on the northeastern coast, likewise reported to the authorities at Juneau that wolves, which have increased rapidly, took heavy toll of the reindeer and drove many herds into the Baird and Endicott mountains, which stretch east and west across northern Alaska.