622 REINDEER IN ALASKA. 



1)0 iiiaiiitaincd, excoi)t iit an enormous expanse, roindetn' teams that 

 re(|uire no beaten I'oad.'^, and that at tlie close of a day's work can l)e 

 turned loose to t'ora^'e for themselves, are essential. The introduction 

 of reindeer into Alaska makes possil)Ie the development of the mines 

 and support of a million miners. 



The reindeer is to the far north what the camel is to desert regions, 

 the animal which God has provided and adapted for the peculiar, 

 special conditions Avhich exist. The greater the degree of cold, 

 the better the reindeer thri\es. Ltist winter a party with a reindeer 

 team made a day's journey with the temperature at 73"" l)elow zero. 

 On a long- journey thi'ough an uninhabited country a dog team can 

 not haul sutHcient provisions to feed themselves. A deer with '200 

 pounds on the sled can travel up and down the mountains and over the 

 plains without a road or trail from one end of Alaska to^the other, 

 living on the moss found in the country where he travels. In the four 

 months' travel of 2,000 miles, from Port Clarence to the Kiiskokwim 

 Valley and back, by Mr. W. A. Kjellmann and two Lapps, with nine 

 sleds, 1890-07, the deer were turned out at night to find their own 

 provisions, except upon a stretch of the Yidvon Valley below Anvik, a 

 distance of 40 miles. 



The great mining interests of central Alaska can not I'ealize their 

 fullest development until the domestic reindeer are introduced in suf- 

 ficient numbers to do the work of supplying the miners with provi- 

 sions and freight and giving the minei- speedy connnunication with 

 the outside world. 



The reindeer is equally impoi'tant to the prospector. Prospecting 

 at a distance from the ])ase of supplies is now impossible. The pros- 

 pector can go onl}^ as far as the 100 pounds of provisions, blankets, 

 and tools Avill last, and then he must return. With ten head of rein- 

 deer, which he can manag(> single handed, packing 10«) pounds each, 

 making half a ton of supplies, he can go for months, piMieti'ating 

 regions hundreds of miles distant. 



FUTURE OF REINDEER INDUSTRY. 



Even if no moi-e reindeer are imported from Siberia, if the present 

 rate of inc;rease continues, doubling every three years — and 

 there is no reason why it should not — within less than twenty-tive 

 years there will ])e at least 1.(>0(),(H)0 domestic reindeer in Alaska. 

 This is a consei'vative estimate* and allows for the deer that die from 

 natural causes and for the many that will be slaughtered for food. 

 In thirty-tive years the muuber may reach nearly 10,000,000 head and 

 Alaska will l)e shipping each year to the TnitcHl States anywhere 

 from 500.000 to 1,000.000 reindeer carcasses and thousands of tons of 

 delicious hams and tongues. At no distant day, it may l)e safely 

 predicted, long reindeer trains from arctic and subarctic Alaska 



