Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1921-07-14

Wrepared by the National Geographic Sc
ciety Washington, ID. CO.
A new meat has been reaching Amer
lean tables during the last few years
a food that as yet comparatively few
American palates have had the op
portunity to compare with their ia
miliar roast beef, mutton and pork
1t is the meat of reindeer, and II
comes not from a foreign country but
from our own Alaska.
Within a single generation, Cupid
and Vixen" and comet" and
"Prancer," those semi-mythological
companions of rudy Saint Nick
which spring into action with the
very first remembered syllables of the
Famous Christmas poem, have become
the staple live stock for the Far North
west of the American continent. San
la Claus may use a motor truck or
even an airplane in making his city
deliveries, but in Alaska the reindeer
is coming into its own.
In Europe and Asia the reindeer was
domesticated in prehistoric times. Not
so in America, where this species of
the deer family, the Cervidae, were
known as caribou, and are still so
known, to distinguish them from the
domesticated and imported animal.
The first importation, consisting of
only 49, reindeer, was landed at Teller,
Alaska, on Independence day, 1892.
During that year and the decade fol-
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
iraft animals, steers, and are now
extinct.
From the outset the deer thrived.
md as the number increased, other
lerds were formed from the mother
erd at Teller. Roaming the frozen
wastes north and south, from Point
'arrow to the Alaskan peninsula, there
re today more than a hundred herds,
ggregating about 100000 deer. It is
that during this period more
nan 100000 have been killed for food
nd skins; so that In less than thirty
ears the Increase has been more than
yo hundred fold.
Although the Alaskan reindeer in
lstry is still in its infancy, it is rap
~ becoming firmly established. The /
indeer is not, however, highly pro- {
ic. The female deer usually gives 3
rth to but one fawn year, and If t
ere are twins, one of the young is \
,ely to die. $
Reasons for Rapid Increase.
Inc rapid Increase is due to two Il
cts; One is the remarkable hardi.
cd of the fawns, which only a few r,
urs after birth are strong and fleet e
loot The contrast between the b
f-rellant reindeer fawn and the y,
ak, knobby-kneed colt or calf is
king and has much to do with the
dency Of reindeer herds to increase ca
idly In spite of low birth rate.
the social worker would say, the m
mt mortality is slight. TO
he other factor in the rapid in Ii
ise, and an illustration of the fact s1t
early fecundity is not entirely a DIR
'lcal trait, is the remarkable fact of
yearling reindeer frequently re- Els
luce. &c
ne reindeer has been aptly named. so
I'll ungulate, ruminant, and gregar-
animals, it is one of the most in
ocular in the selection Of its food. spt
pastures during the summer on tar
er MOSES, lichens, mushrooms or
e, and grasses. It's typical home 2
apland. In the Lapp tongue the dis
reno means pasturage, so that 25
word reindeer" means an animal of
pastures. During the long winter the
deer subsist entirely upon moss. tim
h abounds on the vast tuadras II
Mills Of Alaska, so that the deer chs
has almost unlimited grazing do
for his herds. con,
Plenty of Moss for Food. enc
has been estimated that there ser,
10000 square miles of this dry, haui
like moss in Alaska-enough II
ng land for 100000 deer. This the
OF pasturage is suitable for no to q
animal except, il may be. the IL a
OK; hence these thousands of to II
e miles of Arctic Alaska. were In d
for the reindeer, would prove this
lcaily yaiueless and could not Tn
rmanently inhabited. cate,
re is only one drawback to this ears
alton; Inevitably the reindeer are
the coast in summer. TO escane is
warns of mosauitoes and ~ u,t A.. 4,