152 



The Journal of Heredity 



all the territory north of the Yukon 

 River, is the region best suited to the 

 reindeer, and it is also the section in 

 which other agricultural opportunities 

 are the most meagre and conditions for 

 home making least favorable. A develop- 

 ment of the reindeer industry can there- 

 fore be had without encroaching on 

 districts where other lines of farming 

 are more feasible. The white reindeer 

 moss {Cladonia rangiferina) is found in 

 all the arctic region of Alaska, on the 

 Seward Peninsula and the tundras of 

 the western portion of the territory, and 

 in the mountains of the Alaska range and 

 of the Alaska peninsula. Its existence 

 not only permits the occupancy of vast 

 regions that would otherwise be prac- 

 tically uninhabitable, but makes possi- 

 ble the production of a food supply of 

 large economic importance. 



LITTLE CARE REQUIRED. 



The existence of great herds of native 

 caribou that have grazed, and are yet 

 found in considerable numbers in re- 

 gions north of the Yukon River, and 

 in various other parts of the peninsula 

 as well, indicates clearly the kind of 

 animal husbandry feasible in that part 

 of Alaska. By building on nature's 

 foundation, a great domestic animal 

 industry may be established in regions 

 where the climate does not favor the 

 introduction of cattle and sheep. The 

 reindeer subsist on the native herbage, 

 ])rincipally the reindeer moss, winter and 

 summer, require no shelter and little 

 care beyond being restrained by a herder 

 from wandering. The reindeer meat is 

 of excellent quality, and the skins are 

 valuable. Little attempt has thus been 

 made to use the deer for dairy' or trans- 

 portation purposes, as is done in Europe. 



The larger proportion of the reindeer 

 now in Alaska are within 200 miles of 

 Nome, and nearly one-half of all are on 



the Seward Peninsula. From that dis- 

 trict the herds arc scattered as far north 

 as Point Barrow on the Arctic Ocean, 

 south to points on the Alaska Penin- 

 sula, and eastward up the Yukon River 

 to Tanana, which is about midway 

 between the Canadian boundary and the 

 west coast. 



At present the individual ownership 

 of reindeer is restricted to Eskimos and 

 Indians, with the exception of a few 

 Lapps who were brought in with the 

 original importations as caretakers, in- 

 structors and herders. Some of the 

 missions are still in possession of herds, 

 and there are a few government herds. 

 No breeding deer are allowed to be sold 

 to whites. The Alaska Division of the 

 U. S. Bureau of Education, Department 

 of the Interior, has supervision of all 

 the herds, the teachers of the govern- 

 ment school for native children located 

 nearest a herd having immediate charge. 

 In 1911 one hundred carcasses of deer 

 were shipped to Seattle from Nome, and 

 the meat sold at 75 cents a pound." 



INCREASE NOW SLOW. 



Thomas A. Powers, of Unalakleet, 

 Alaska (near St. Michael), in a letter to 

 the writer dated August 16, 1912, says 

 the increase in number of reindeer is 

 only one-half that of cattle, due, he 

 thinks, to the unscientific management 

 introduced by the Lapps and followed 

 by the natives, and to permitting the 

 latter to dispose of young deer. He 

 expresses the opinion that the govern- 

 ment should, if possible, appraise the 

 deer held by the Lapps and missions, 

 buy them and distribute to the natives, 

 and then put the industr}- in charge of a 

 capable American cattleman, with a 

 corps of able assistants, who would 

 handle it on a scientific basis. "The 

 reindeer industry is, as you know,* in 

 its infancy," he concludes, "and, not- 



'The reindeer is milked by the Lapps once or twice a day, furnishinj^ only a cupful at a lime, and 

 this "comes hard." The milk is so thick that it must be diluted for drinking; it is correspond- 

 ingly rich, but has a strong flavor and odor, somewhat like the milk of goats. Butter from it 

 tastes like tallow, and is little used, but mucli cheese is made. The does are fresh in the sjiring, 

 when they i)roduce their fawns, one or two in numl)er. In Alaska the animal is rarely milked. 



'^Up to the present, local markets in Alaska have been able to usi- all the reindeer meat available, 

 butchers buying the animals dressed at about 25 cents a pound. Reindeer may i)rofitably be 

 killed at the age of seven or eight, when they have outlived their greatest usefulness for trans- 

 portation purposes. They arc broken at the age of two. The average Alaskan carcass weighs 

 about 130 pounds, dressed. 



