The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-12-16
THE REINDEER OF ALASKA.
Furnish the Means of Transportation
in the klondike.

in the kJ0ndike.
VIVA v hat ever may be the future of traffic
IN the extreme north, il appears from all
existing accounts that the immediate
present offers no more satisfactory
means of getting about than that af-
forded by the Alaska reindeer. With
dogs worth a couple of hundred dollars
each, and with the necessity that exists
for carrying sufficient provisions to
keep them in good heart, the outlook for
dog sledging is not particularly prom
Using.
The reindeer, on the contrary, is ma
tive, and as nature makes very few blum
dcrs, its proper subsistence is provided
for. Alaska has, it is said, sufficient
supply of reindeer moss to feed 1,000,-
Goo of these animals. AS this is the only
food necessary for them it remains sim
ply incumbent upon their owners to
provide them with a comfortable shell
ter
Some years ago, through the instru-
mentality of DR.. Sheldon Jackson,
whose labors in this direction have been
indefatigable, a herd of reindeer was
introduced into Alaska. Quietly and
without any flourish of trumpets the
work of caring for and breeding these
animals has been going on, and the herd
of between so and IS had increased in
1894 to something like $50. There are
now on the Alaska reindeer fagms m}
than 1000 fine reindeer. Laplanders
We're brought to care for them, special
pains being taken to secure those who
We're skilled in the management and
breeding of these creatures. The re-
suits have been in every way satisfac-
tory, and the project is now we'll adj
vanCed to start a line of reindeer eN-
press from some accessible outside
point to the mining camps of the KiOn-
dixie. The reindeer is the only animal
that can be safely entrusted with the
carrying of passengers and properties
over this inhospitable region, Dogs
will starve or freeze without the utmost
care, and are kept up at great expense.
Railroads would be showed under and
biockaded. but the reindeer, the Gold
Weather Express the "Arctic Flyer"
the North Pole Blue Line with mus
Giles of whipcord and alertness that is
almost human, scales heights. crosses
icy water courses and skins over soft
snow like nothing else in the line of
transportation that can be furnished.
There is record in Sweden of REIN
deer having covered 600 miles in 48
hours.
The reindeer as a general utility ami
NAL can scarcely be surpassed. Its
milk is really cream. bearing several
parts of water before being reduced to
the consistency of ordinary cows milk.
Valuable as th0 reindeer is during it's
lifetime, it is scarcely less so when dead.
It is rarely killed for food, as ii is worth
too much to use up in this way. but
when the necessity arises for slaugh-
tering the creature. as must occur in the
case of old ones. or for other reasons,
this animal is available from the tips
Of its horns to the ends of its curiously
shaped toes. Its flesh is highly es-
teemed. its skin is the most valuable
article known for warmth, and even the
Ilood and bones furnish substances
both useful and ornamental Nothing
is thrown away. not even the contents
of the stomach. Thread and bow strings
and gloves are obtainable from this
fragment of universal usefulness.
DR.. Jackson and his supporters
buildcd much better than they knew
when they introduced the reindeer into
Alaska.
In the same connection it may be
said that the GROWERS and grumblers
who believed that the government was
squandering money when il purchased
this section of northwest icineSs are
changing their minds with great rapid
ity, and many of them are setting their
faces Klondikeword.-N. Y. Ledger.