REINDEER IN ALASKA." 



Bv (tii.bkut 11. Grosvenou, 



Editor N(tti(iii(il ( icfK/nijililc Magazine. 



Twelve years ago Dr. Sheldon frackson hroiiglit his first h(U'd of 16 

 reindeer across Bering Strait from Si))eria and started his reindeer 

 coh:)ny at Unalaska, off the bleak coast of Ahiska. Many then smiled 

 at the experiment ;ind dechired his plan for stocking the great barrens 

 of northwestern Alaska with thousands of the animals which for cen- 

 turies had been indispensable to the natives of Lapland and Sil)eria 

 was impracticable and wasteful of time and good money. But the 

 experiment prospered from the very first. Other reindeer, number- 

 ing nearly l,fK)() in all, during the succeeding years were ])rought over 

 from Siberia. To-day there are nearly 6,()()(> head in the various herds 

 distributed along the Alaskan coast from Point Barrow to Bethel. 

 The existence of the 80,000 natixes of northwestern Alaska, as well as 

 the success of the miners who arel)eginning to throng into the interior 

 of the Territory in the far north, are dependent upon thes(^ domestic 

 reindeer; their clothing, their food, their trans})ortation, their uten- 

 sils, and their shelter are all furnished them ])v the I'lMudeer. 



The reindeer entcn-prise is no longer an experiment, although still in 

 its infancy. There are 400,000 sipiare miles of barren tundra in 

 Alaska where no horse, cow, sheep, or goat can find pasture; but 

 everywhere on this vast expanse of frozen land the reindeer can find 

 the long, fibrous, whit(> moss which is his food. There is plenty of 

 room for 10,000,000 of these hardy animals. The time is coming 

 when Alaska will have great reindeer ranches like the great cattle 

 ranches of the Southwest, and they will be no less profitable. 



The story of the inception and growth of the reindeer enterprise in 

 Alaska is very interesting and is not generally known. During an 



« Reprinted by jwruiissiDu from the Natioiiiil (.ieographic Magazin*;, Vol. XIV, 

 No. 4, April, 1903. 



613 



