Alaska Reindeer Service (ARS) was established for the benefit of the U.S. state of Alaska by Congressional action on 3 March 1893. The ARS was an integral part of the educational system of northern and western Alaska. The superintendent of education of Alaska Natives had general supervision of the work. The district superintendents in northern and western Alaska were supervisors of the reindeer industry within their districts. The first annual expenditure for the period of 1893-94 was US$5,998.
The establishment of the ARS was the earliest Governmental action providing, by the introduction of a new industry, practical vocational training adapted to community needs, guaranteeing assured support, and resulting in training indigenous peoples into independence. The purpose of the ARS was to accomplish the general distribution of the reindeer among the villages as rapidly as the Inupiat could be trained, by means of a system of apprenticeship, to care for and use the reindeer, resulting in the ultimate establishment of the reindeer enterprise upon a self-supporting basis, for the Inupiat of the Seward Peninsula. "Sheldon Jackson commissioned Sami herders from Norway to move to Alaska and teach apprentice Alaska Natives herding techniques, such as driving and milking reindeer, building and using corrals, marking ears, and working herding dogs."
The ARS affected a vast area: the northernmost station was Point Barrow; the southernmost station was at Ugashik; the westernmost station was near Cape Prince of Wales; and the easternmost station was at Tanana.
During the summer of 1890, Dr. Sheldon Jackson, General Agent for Education in Alaska and Presbyterian Minister, accompanied the revenue cutter Bear, Capt. Michael A. Healy, commanding, in its annual cruise in Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean visiting all the important villages on both Alaskan and Siberian shores.