Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-12-25
$4,000 REINDEER
GRAZING IN ALASKA
Animals Now Staple Stock of
Northwest, Natives Own
ing Many Herds.

All the Santa Clauses coming to the
United States can be supplied by
Alaska with Vixen and "Prancer
reindeer to carry their packs, accord
ing to a survey which shows $4,000
animals now grazing there
Carl J. Lomen of Teller. Alaska,
one of the pioneer reindeer ranchmen,
reports the rise OF the reindeer in the
last 80 years in a communication to
the National Geographic Society.
Within a single generation. Cupid
and Vixen and Comet and Prancer.
those semi-mytholOgical companions of
Iuddy St. Nick, which spring into ac'
ton with the very first remembered
FyllableS of the famous Christmas
poem. have become the staple live
stock Of the far Northwest of the
American continent. Santa Claus
may use a motor truck or even an air
Hlane in making his city deliveries,
but in Alaska the reindeer is coming
into its own.
THE first importation, consisting of
only 1862 reindeer. was landed at Tel
Ter, 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.
From the outset the deer thriVed,
and as the number increased, other
herds were formed from the mother
herd at Teller.
THE reindeer is not, however, high
1y prolific. The female deer usually
gives birth to but one fawn a year.
and If there are twins one Tor BOTH Of
the young is liable to die
Fawns Progress Rapidly.
THE rapid increase is due to the re-
markable hardwood of the fawns.
which only a few hours after birth
are strong and feet Of foot. The con.
trast between the self-reliant reindeer
fawn and the weak. knobby.kneed colt
or calf is striking, and has much to do
with the tendency of reindeer herds
to increase rapidly in spite OF a low
birth rate. AS the social worker
would say, the infant mortality is
slight.
ut has been estimated that there
are 10000 square miles of dry, coral
like moss in Alaska-enough grazing
land for 100000 deer. This class
of pasturage is suitable for no other
animal except il may be the musk OK;
hence these thousands of square miles
of Arctic Alaska, were it not for the
reindeer, would prove practically val.
ueless and could not be permanently
inhabited
There is only one drawback to this
calculation: Inevitably the reindeer
seek the coast in Summer, to escape
the swarmS of mosquitoes and to lick
up the salt deposited by the ocean
waters. The Lapps have a saying
that mosquitoes make the best herd
Nrs in Summer time
"The Bureau of Education, acting
under the Department of the Interior,
FIRST introduced the reindeer into
Alaska, not as live stock proposition,
but primarily to assist the Eskimo
fwho. like the Indian, is the ward of
the Interior Department., and the in.
du5try has been developed by that
department.
Owned BY Eslimoes.
THE Eskimos own approximately
10 per cent of all the deer in Alaska.
when the white man began to hunt
The whale, the wairus and the seal in
the Berfng Sea and Arctic Ocean, he
became q competitor of the Eskimo.
The white mans facilities for bagging
this game soon put the Eskimo at a
hopeless disadvantage. Fortunately
the Government awakened to the me-
cessity Of providing these wards with
q means Of livelihood in lieu Of what
fhey had lost.
"Dr. Sheldon Jackson was the pi-
bneer In realizing the possibilities of
fhe reindeer industry for this purpose.
We appealed to Congress, but did not
await its action. The first reindeer
brought to Alaska were purchased
with funds raised by him through pri.
@ate subscription. The Government
In 1892 appropriated $4,000, the first
Of a series of annual appropriations
made to continue the importations.
THUS 1t came about that the Blu
feau Of Education first fostered the
reindeer industry as a means OF vo-
cational education for 10000 Eskimos
who otherwise would have had to be
supported or left to starve
THE meat of the deer is not 'gamy'
IN flavor. 1t has been most aptly de.
Ecribed as having a flavor between
that of beef and mutton. The animal
Us butchered by modern methods, after
which the carcass Is frozen with the
hide on and shipped to distributing
points in the States, principally Sc.
attic and Minneapolis. There It is
kept in cold storage until sold for
food"