The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1920-02-05
new SOURCE OF
FOOD SUPPLY
Suggestion Made That Musk Ok
Be Added to National
Bill of Fare.
VAST HERDS IN THE NORTH
Practically a Permanent Supply Of
Beef Assured by Domestication Of
the Animal, According to
ViIhjaImur Stefansson.

misunderstanding already done
remarkably well in reindeer farming
In Alaska, Uncle Sam is to be asked
now to try his hand with musk oxen,
to the end that the national meat bill
may be cut down and permanent
supply of. beef ensured. Explorer
Vilhjalmur Stefansson brought back
from the arctics a story of great pos
sibilAes in the way of meat produc-
| ton. He told this story to members
of the Canadian parliament in Otta-
wa, and has also laid his facts and
conclusions before some of the Wash
ington officials. Both governments
will be asked for appropriations to ex-
tend the reindeer industry and to at
tempt the domestication of the musk
| OK.
AS Stefansson sees it, there are at
least a million square miles Of natur-
al grazing ground in the sub-arctics,
suited in every particular to the needs
and tastes of the northern caribou
and the still more northern musk OK.
Vast herds of these animals, in the
wild roam over the so-called "barren
lands" Why not take them under
protection, turn their feeding ranges
into ranches and abattoirs and ship
the meat to the hungry folks down
south? The territory is Canadian,
but the hunger and high cost of liv-
ing are international; therefore, let
the two countries cooperate in a
scheme of conservation.
Reindeer Meat Liked.
Alaska and Labrador have proved |
that the reindeer can be domesticated |
into a public meat producer. Deer |
meat has been shipped from Nome
and other Alaskan points to Seattle,
Minneapolis Chicago and even to
New York, and people who have
bought it have asked for more. Stef-
ansson now suggests that the business
be taken up seriously, its herding and
ranching extended to the great
prairies of the Canadian North, and
the supply of meat to the whole con-
tinent begun on a really commercial
basis. But he ventures still farther
and urges a similar experiment with
the musk oxen.
Now, the musk OK, being a peculiar
ly arctic animal, has never before fi@
ured in the American scheme Of mar
keting In its own country, however
1t is greatly valued fck its meats
sake, and explorers who have eaten
musk OK roasts up there say 1t is a
pity that the EskimOs should have q
monopoly of so good a diet The meat
is hardly distinguishable in taste, IT
seems, from regulation beef, and in II
nutritive value is quite its equal.
There is wool to be considered, too.
The average sized musk OK carries IL
pounds of just-as-go od-as-sheep's wool,
which it wears as a thick cold-proof
vest under shaggy hair tOpcoat. In
fact the musk OK is pretty nearly as
much sheep as cattle. 1t is two and
one-half or three times the size Of
sheep. running about 700 pounds, and
Is in that same proportion a more
prolific source Of raw material for
suits and socks.
Thick-set, with massive head and
short legs. the musk OK looks clumsy,
but is surprisingly nimble on its feet.
It travels usually in herds Of 25 or
30, and it's feed is grass, saxifrage
plants and dwarf willows. Stefansson
points out as an argument in favor
If his subpolar launching scheme, that
he musk OK needs neither to be
housed nor fed, being quite able to
lend for itself and even to protect
Itself against wolves.
Provides Beef Milk and Wool.
The habitat of this geological nom
lescript, which gives beef as tender
Is a prize steers, milk as rich as
Jersey cream and wool as good as q
sleeps, is the very stop country" of
America. The herds never come
arther south than halfway down the
oast Of Hudson bay, and they do not
% west Of the Mackenzie river. On
he north they roam along the arctic
coast and on the islands be-
ond There does not seem to be any
God reason, however, why the musk
x could not be kept successfully
within the nearer bounds of the "bar-
en- lands" or in Alaska, where trans
ortation facilities would be more
asily possible.
Nearly enough like the musk OK to
e a distant cousin, the woodland buff
alo is another denizen of the North
lat may some day be made the base
a new meat supply His habits are
)mewhat the same as those of the
rctic OK. but the country that he in
abits is an area of wooded land at
le extreme north of Alberta, west of
lave river Through the forests Of
lis region roam small buffalo herds,
hose total numbers probably do not
Iceed 500 head. They are the only
lrvivors in a natural state of the
,untless bison that once covered the
estern plains.