The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1897-11-26
-ALASKA'S NEW FLYERS
Reindeer May Garry Uncle Sans
Mails in the Northwest.

Reindeer May Garry Uncle SAM
Mails in the Northwest.
and Can Draw Three Hundre,
POunds-Best Kind of Draush
Animal for the Frozen Zone
| Their Meat Is Delicious and Thei
Skins Furnish Fine Clothing
Mans Best Friend I'm the Gold Re.
giOns-New York Corporation, 4
Is Said, Purposes Buying Half o
the Government Herds.
SEATTLE, Wash, Sept. 18.-EverI
new country has it's own method O.
| transit and transportation, more or les!
| rapid. according to the conditions
Japan and China and India have thu
| jinrikisha, or 'rickshaw, as it is called
| by the Occidentals. Bullock teams are
all the rage in South Africa. The Els
kimo and Lapp traverse their Arctic
SHOWS in sledges drawn by strings o.
| dogs. Moose are harnessed to sleighs
in the Hudson Bay district, occasion.
ally, but their gigantic strength and
| general cussedness make them undesir-
able as draught animals. Camels have
| to hump themselves wherever Arabs
| are prevalent, and elephants constitute
the trunk line in the countries between
Hindoostan and China. Ostriches are
the record breakers in various portions
| of the Dark Continent, and even zebra
have been driven in harness by dare
devil natives. Teams of CRATES were
exhibited from time to time by the late
lamented P. T. Barnum. Llamas are
the favorite beasts of burden among
the Andes. The burro is peculiar to
the southwest corner of the North
American continent, and the mustang
is inseparably associated with the Lone
Star State.
Reindeer. for Alaska.
Kriss Kringle and certain Northern
races have done something to exploit
the reindeer, but it has remained for
Alaska to demonstrate all his numer-
Gus possibilities. For many years the
Alaskans, both whites and Indians
have used the reindeer for a multitude
of purposes, and during the past four
years Uncle Sam has taken a hand at
developing the usefulness of this little
| understood animal.
Congress, in 1893, made 4 small ap-
preparation for the purpose of Intro
ducing' the reindeer into Alaska AS a
matter of fact, the Alaskan Indians
had been driving reindeer for several
years. but it was necessary to use the
| magic word introduction" to get the
bill through the Senate and House.
Long before that, too, the reindeer
sledge was the most popular means of
| locomotion in Lapland. But Congress
| must always be unique.
Invaluable to the Lapps.
ITO the Laplander," writes a man
| who has travelled through most north
ern countries, 1.-The reindeer is invalua-
BILE, being. in fact, his horse, his
OK and his sheep in one animal
AS a draught animal it's speed
| endurance and particular adaptation
| to travelling on snow render it mos
valuable to people dwelling in the
| frozen ATTITUDES. 1t has been known tc
run at the rate of nearly nineteen
miles an hour, and it is not unusual
| for it to travel $50 miles in nineteen
| hours. The weight ordinarily drawn
| by it in Lapland is 240 pounds, but it
| can draw 900. Its meat forms delicious
| food for man; it's skin is valuable, and
| the milk of the herd is often the prin-
cipal support of the owner and his
| family"
In view of these facts, naturalists
| long ago opined that the reindeer
would flourish like a green-goods game
| in our own frozen zone. Properly cared
| for, they said the herds would multiply
rapidly. Uncle Sam, always with an
| eye to the main chance, realized that
| reindeer breeding was promising in
| FAINT industry, and determined to be-
| come it's foster father. So the Senate
| and House put their heads together
and authorized the Alaskan expert
ment.
Bought Deer from Russia.
A few hundred reindeer were pur-
| chased from the Russian Government
and transported from Siberia to Alas
ka. They were placed in charge OF
Keepers at Fort Clearance, in the lower
| Yukon region And then the fun be-
gan.
Report after report reached Congress
| that the animals were not thriving as
well as might have been expected under
| the circumstances. Congress- through
number of committees, favored all
sorts of schemes for the Improvement
| of the industry. The matter was
placed under the jurisdiction of the De-
partment of the Interior, and the Sec
| rotary thereof was urged to do his ut
most for the encouragement of his sub
| ordinates. The keepers themselves de-
SPARED, and soon it began to look as if
the experiment would prove a failure.
Stirred Up the Keepers.
Then the Secretary of the Interior
adopted drastic measure. He notified
the head keeper of the reindeer ranch
that unless the herds were increased, in
| stead of diminished. the ranch would
| be abolished ard, consequently the
head keeper and his assistants would
lose their comfortable beths. That set