24 BULLETIN 50, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



breeding animals the domesticated deer decrease in size and otherwise 

 degenerate. The native animals are superior in size and vigor. They 

 are not of so wild a nature as to make their domestication impracti- 

 cable and might at least be used to infuse new blood into the herds of 

 tame deer. 



It may be worth while to note in this connection that in the two 

 northern counties of Sweden, Norrbotten and Vesterbotten, compris- 

 ing C3.000 square miles, the Lapps own 230,000 reindeer. Large herds 

 are also owned in the north of Norway and in Finland. 



That portion of Alaska north of the Yukon River and the western 

 half of the Territory is the region best suited to the reindeer, and 

 it is also the section in which other agricultural opportunities are 

 the most meager and conditions for home making least favorable. A 

 development of the reindeer industry can therefore be had without 

 encroaching on districts where other lines of farming are more feas- 

 ible. 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 moun- 

 tains of the Alaskan Range and of the Alaska Peninsula. Its ex- 

 istence not only permits the occupancy of vast regions that would 

 otherwise be practically uninhabitable, but it makes possible the pro- 

 duction of a food supply of large economic importance. 



In the great herds of caribou (wild reindeer) that have grazed 

 and are yet found in considerable numbers in regions north of the 

 Yukon River, migrating from there to the mountains of the Alaskan 

 Range and down into the Alaska Peninsula, we have a strong inti- 

 mation from nature that animal husbandry is feasible in Alaska. 

 By building on nature's foundation, a great domestic-animal in- 

 dustry may be established independent of what may be accomplished 

 by introducing cattle and sheep. The reindeer subsist on the native 

 herbage, principal^ 7 the reindeer moss, winter and summer, and 

 require no shelter and little care beyond being restrained by a herder 

 from wandering. The meat is of excellent quality, and the skins are 

 valuable. Little attempt has thus far been made in the Territory to 

 use the deer for dairy or transportation 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 Pen- 

 insula. From that district the herds are scattered as far north as 

 Point Barrow, on the Arctic Ocean, south to points on the Alaska 

 Peninsula, 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, instructors, 



