Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1921-06-03

I ;cr r Alaskan Herde
a.fA s4l& eNsn ...e. ~ $50
Prepared by the National Geographic So
stsy; ysraiasson, 2, ,S2. sSH1,,ss;.
lean tables during, the last few years,
q food that as yet comparatively few
American parates have had the OPP
portunity etes icompdrer with their. fa-
miliar roast..beef, mutton and pork.
It is the meat. of reindeer. and it
comes not from, a foreign country but
from our own Alaska.
; Within Single generation. Cupid
] and ';pikea,- 4 ulsds Connect s-and
"prancels%, those semtmytbotogicai
/. fompaniops .Sof rudy Sssaafpt s,Nssl l.cikk
? very hfst Remembered sylifiBles. Of the
, famous~C Christmas pUeffE hive becorrfe
|, the staple live. stock fora the sEars North
west Of the American soptinent. .tSanI
10 Claus may use, a motor truck or
even en- hirplane in making his city
deliveries. but in Alaska the reindeer
is coming into its own.
Tn Europe ana Asia the reindeer vas
domesticated in prehistoric times. Not
so In America, where; this species Of
the deer family, the Cervidae, were
known as caribou, and are still $50
known, to distinguish. them. from the
domesticated and imported animal.
! The first Importation, consisting Of
only 1872 reindeer, was landed at Teller,
Alaska, on Independence. day, 1892.
During that year and the decade folr
lowing, LIS more were imported from
Siberia and landed on the shores Of
Port Clarence bay. The reindeer I'M
ported from Norway in 1898 were all
draft animals, steers, and are now
extinct. , a a..4
From the outset the deer thrived,
and as the number Increased, other
herds were formed from the mother
herd atHTeiler.f Roaming the frozen
wastes north and south, from Point
Barrow to the. Alaskan peninsula, there
are today more than a hundred herds,
aggregating about 100000 deer. It is
estimated that during this period more
than 100000 have been killed for food
and skins so that in less than thirty
years the increase has been more than
two hundred fold. x
Although the Alaskan reindeer In.
dustry is still In Its infancy, 1t is rap
Idly becoming firmly established. The
reindeer IS not, however, highly pro.
life. The female deer usually gives
birth to hut, one fawn a year, and II
there are twins one of the young is
tflikely to die. 50
4 f7sasons for Rapid increase.
The rapid Increase is due to two
facts: One Is the remarkable hardi
hood Of the fawns, which only a few
hours after birth are strong and fleet
of foot. The contrast between the
self-reiihnt reindeer fawn and the
weak, knobby-kneed colt or calf is
lsriking and has much to do with the
Il tendency of reindeer herds to increase
4 rapidly in spite of low birth rate
y Az the social worker would say. the
& infant mortality is slight.
The other factor in the rapid In
a crease, and an illustration of the fact
that early fecundity is not entirely 9
i tropical trait, is the remarkable fac
that yearling reindeer frequently re
produce.
4 The reindeer has been aptly named
OF all ungulate. ruminant. and gregar
ious animals, 1t Is one of the mos
particular In the selection of Its food
1t pastures during the summer OF
a tender mDssesa lichens,, mushrooms
4 elsas,s and grasssk ITS typical hom'
Is Lapland. In the Lapp tongue tn,
word 'reino" means pasturage, so tina
the. word reindeer means an. ANNA
that pastures. puring the long .winte
the deer ,subsist entirely upon moss
. which, abopnds on the. vast tundra
, and bills Of Alaska, so that the deer
man has almost unlimited graEin
land for. his herds. ~
e.. & Pisnty II Mos ri Food,
Il It has been, estimated that Their
!, are 100000 square miles Of this dry
, cofal-iike moss in Z Alaska- -etioug
/. grazing land for 5000 900 deeF. Thi
class Of pasturage is suitable for n
other animal except, II may be, tn
musk-ox hence these thousands Z
i square miles of Arctic Alaska, wer
l.if Atr 1bb 1he<reindeer. would prov
, practically valueless and could ne
be permanently Inhabited.
81 There IL only one drawback to TIL
!. caicuiati6l fiesitabiy inc fendel
seek, the coast In summer. to oscar
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