Report of Supt. Walter C. Shields, northwestern district.. Report of Supt. Walter H. Johnson, western district.. Report of Asst. Supt. John H. Kilbuck, western district. Report of Supt. Arthur H. Miller, southwestern district.. Report of Supt. Charles W. Hawkesworth, southwestern district.... Section 2. Reports by physicians: Report of Dr. James P. Mooney, Juneau... Report of Dr. Daniel S. Neuman, Nome.. Report of Dr. Frank W. Lamb, Nulato.. Report of Dr. F. H. Spence, Barrow.. ILLUSTRATIONS. Plate 1. A, United States hospital for natives, Juneau.. 2. A, Reindeer feeding through snow; B, Judging the sleds, Igloo Fair. Page, Frontispiece. 16 17 32 33 32 5. A, The new cannery, Metlakatla; B, Oats on farm, at Klukwan.......... 7. A, Teachers and Eskimos leaving the U. S. S. Bear; B, U. S. mail 3333 REPORT OF THE WORK OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION FOR THE NATIVES OF ALASKA, 1916-17. PART I. GENERAL SUMMARY. The work of the Bureau of Education for the native races of Alaska has been carried on in accordance with the terms and purposes of Congressional appropriations for their education, medical relief, and for the extension of the reindeer industry among them. In the schools, emphasis has been placed upon instruction in matters pertaining to health, industrial training, gardening, and commercial education. Effort has been made to improve living conditions in the villages, to lessen the death rate, and to render the natives better able to meet the changing conditions with which the advancing civilization of the white man has confronted them. Sixty-eight schools were maintained with an enrollment of 3,666, and an average attendance of 2,172. Four superintendents, 1 acting superintendent, 111 teachers, 5 physicians, and 10 nurses were employed. The school buildings at Noorvik, Shaktoolik, and Port Moller were completed during the year. A teachers' residence was erected at Hydaburg. The erosion of the bank of the Yukon River made necessary the taking down of the Fort Yukon school building, which will be rebuilt at a greater distance from the river. The region surround ing the village on Golovin Bay, in northwestern Alaska, is barren, and it was with difficulty that the Eskimos could support themselves in that location; they, therefore, migrated to a tract on the northern shore of Norton Bay, where they have an abundant supply of fish, game, timber, and reindeer moss for their herds. The school was reestablished within this tract which was reserved for the natives by Executive order. A wireless telegraph station was established at Noorvik, in Arctic Alaska, which enabled this remote settlement to communicate with civilization. The Bureau of Education encourages the establishment in native villages of cooperative mercantile stores, financed by native capital and conducted by the natives themselves, under the supervision of the teacher of the local United States public school. In no other way can the natives so readily acquire self-confidence and experience in business affairs. These stores demonstrate the advantages of cooperation, and the annual dividends received by the stockholders are practical evidence of the benefits of thrift. Such enterprises are in successful operation at Hydaburg, Klawock, Klukwan, and Metlakatla, in southeastern Alaska; at Tyonek, on Cook Inlet; at Atka, on one of the Aleutian Islands; at Gambell, on St. Lawrence Island; at Wales, on Bering Strait; at Noorvik, on the Kobuk River, in Arctic Alaska; and at Wainwright, on the Arctic Ocean. The auditing of the affairs of the four enterprises in southeastern Alaska made in January, 1918, by a representative of the Bureau of Education showed that these companies had conducted a business of $96,762.89 during the previous 13 months. The annual business at Atka, Gambell, and Wainwright approximated $15,000. One of the most beneficent functions of the Seattle office of the Alaska Division is its transaction of personal business for the natives when such assistance is desired. Formerly it was possible for the natives in remote villages to dispose of their valuable furs and other commodities to local traders only, with the result that the natives received low prices and were constantly in debt to the traders. Within recent years the natives, even in the remotest regions, have availed themselves of the increased facilities of the mail service and send their furs to the chief of the Alaska Division in Seattle, who, through the Seattle Fur Sales Agency, sells the furs to the highest bidder. From July 1, 1912, to June 30, 1917, these sales of furs, ivory, whalebone, etc., have amounted to $42,166.40; in addition, cash amounting to $9,980.80 has been received from natives of Alaska for the purchase and shipment of supplies. During this period, their deposits in Seattle banks have realized them $624.76 interest. By direction of the Secretary of the Interior the supervision of this business is made part of the official duty of the chief of the Alaska Division and he is under bond for the faithful performance of the same. Action was again taken to put in operation the industries in Metlakatla, on Annette Island. A lease was entered into with cannery operators of Seattle, Wash., of a site for a salmon cannery, and of fish trap rights within Annette Islands Reserve. The lessees guarantee the payment during the season of 1917 of not less than $4,000 for fish-trap privileges. The cannery is to be operated for five seasons beginning with 1918. For the cannery and fish-trap privileges during these five years the lessees guarantee the payment of not less than $6,000 per annum. Except in a few instances where skilled labor is required, only native inhabitants of Annette Issand are to be employed. It is hoped that the annual income to the Metlakatlans from the leases will enable them at the end of the period of the lease to purchase all of the lessee's interests and operate the cannery themselves, under the supervision of the Federal Government. A local cooperative company has rehabilitated the sawmill which is now furnishing lumber for the cannery building as well as for other buildings in the village. Six thousand dollars of the bureau's funds were expended in installing a water system to furnish drinking water for the village, and limited water power for the cannery and sawmill. For the fiscal year 1915-16, Congress appropriated $25,000 to provide for the medical relief of the natives of Alaska; in addition, $19,000 of the appropriation for the education of natives of Alaska was used for that purpose, making a total of $44,000 for medical relief during the year. The appropriation for medical relief was increased from $25,000 to $50,000 for 1916-17, but as none of the education appropriation was used for medical relief the total expended for that purpose during 1916-17 was only about $6,000 more than during the previous year. A well-equipped hospital was maintained at Juneau with a physician in charge and three nurses in attendance; the small, improvised hospitals at Nulato and Kanakanak were continued; the hospital at Kotzebue was not in operation during the year, owing to lack of funds and the difficulty in finding a properly qualified physician willing to go to that remote station. In addition to the employment of physicians and nurses, in several of the Alaskan towns arrangements were made for the treatment of natives in hospitals and by physicians upon the request of superintendents or teachers; teachers at stations remote from a hospital, physicians, or nurses, were furnished with medical supplies for use in relieving minor ailments. Plans were made in the summer of 1916 for the establishment of a small hospital at Akiak, on the Kuskokwim River, and material for the erection of a hospital building at that place was purchased in Seattle. Great difficulty was experienced, however, in securing transportation for the building material and hospital supplies to this isolated place. One of the two vessels which it was possible to secure proved unseaworthy, and was unable to reach its destination. It had to return to Seattle with its cargo undelivered and part of it in a damaged condition. It was then too late to secure another boat to make the voyage during the short season of open navigation remaining. Consequently it was necessary to postpone the erection of the hospital at Akiak until the following year. THE REINDEER SERVICE. The appropriation of $5,000 for the distribution of reindeer among the natives and the training of the natives in the care and management of reindeer was used to establish new herds and to support |