Edward W. Nelson
The U.S. Army Signal Service stationed Edward W. Nelson (1855-1934) at St. Michael in 1877. Spencer F. Baird, assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, secured the appointment for young Nelson, who although in his early 20s was already a recognized ornithologist. In addition to his duties as a weather observer, Nelson was instructed to gather information on the geography, zoology and ethnology of the area. Nelson spent four years at St. Michael. After the first year, he frequently hired others ot take his weather observations while he traveled and collected artifacts. Nelson traveled by dog sled, skin boat and government ship investigating territory from the mouth of the Kuskokwim River to Point Barrow, Islands in the Bering Sea and part of the coast of Siberia. By the time he left St. Michael in 1881, Nelson had collected more than 10,000 items. He compiled his information into a 518-page study, The Eskimo about Bering Strait (1899).Nelson contracted tuberculosis while in the North and never lived in Alaska again. But he continued to be interested in its affairs, corresponding with other naturalists working in Alaska, promoting passage of the Alaska Game Law in 1925 and helping develop policies for Alaska's reindeer industry.