The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-07-07

dttion equal to the number furnished.
At every station the selected natives
are trained as Apprenticeship the treat
ment of the deer. On an average, five
years tuition Is needed before an Es-
autmau becomes thoroughly trained
herder. The apprentice. during the
five-year period. is clothed and sup
ported either by the government. the
mission station to which he Is attached
or by deer owner in whose service he
may be employed. and is also allowed
the loan Of two femals deer year,
upon which he may place his mark
and consider them as his private prop
erty. subject to the government regu-
lations regarding slaughter and sale.
1t is estimated that at the present at
least four hundred natives are obtain
ing their support from reindeer. These
are held by their owners under agree
ment with the government of the Uni
ted States, by the terms of which the
female deer may not be killed for meat
nor sold to anybody but the. govern
ment. though surplus male deer may
be sold for meat or transport
In the last fifteen years 1850 REIN
deer have been imported into Alaska.
The herds have regularly increased at
the rate Of As per cent annually. In
that period 1O.261 fawns have been
born In. that country. and. deducting
all that have been sold. butchered. or
died. there remain S.1S9. In 1892 con-
gress. being satisfied of the success of
the experiment. voted $4,000 to aid it.
and it has voted further sums each
year since. granting $4,000 a year
since 1900. The profits Of reindeer
working In Lapland and Siberia are
enormous. so much so that DR.. Jack
son. when he first went seeking the
animals travelled fifteen hundred miles
along the Siberian coast before he
could induce a native to part with any
of his stock. 4 doe which will cost
its owner less than dollar year for
the first four years will at the end of
that time sell at the mines for $50 or
800 for meat. while if it is trained to
the sledge 1t will be worth twice that
much. The deer are prolific. and after
they are two years old will add fawn
to the herd every year for ten years.
Because Of their timid and gregarious
habits they are easily hsrded, and one
man can easily manage thousand of
them. The COWS yield a cupful of rich
milk. of about the thickness of cream,
and the flesh is as succulent as good
beef.
Apart from the general utility of the
herds. special example of how bene-
fetal they are was afforded in the win
ter of 1S97-'9S. when some fourteen
San Francisco whalers were frozen
fast in the ice foes in Beaufort Sea
north of Alaska and near Point Barrow
with no means of relief and the GER
tainty Of their $50 men starving. AS
a last resort. two hundred reindeer
were assembled at Cape Prince of
Wales and driven distance of eight
hundred miles over a barren country,
with the thermometer at OTTO so de-
grees below zero. arriving at Point
Barrow with the addition of as fawns,
In time to save the starving sailors
The animals fed on moss all through
this arduous journey and by slaughter
ing them all, as they were needed, a
trgedy was averted.
In Alaska there are twenty five thou
sand Esquimaus and Indians; in Lab
rador only about six thousand. There
fore scheme of one fourth the mag
nitude would be ample. Apart from
the dog. which through its wolfish
strain. Is Enthusiastically and vicious,
the reindeer is the only draft animal
in Arctic climates that is able to make
long journeys, while 1t has the furth-
err advantage of being able to secure
its own food while on journey. Its
cheapness. . speed and endurance