AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA. 



25 



and herders. Some of the missions are still in possession of herds, 

 and there are a few Government herds. No breeding deer are al- 

 lowed to be sold to whites. The Alaska division of the Bureau of 

 Education, United States Department of the Interior, has super- 

 vision of all the herds, the teachers of the Government school for 

 native children located nearest a herd having immediate charge. 

 One hundred carcasses of deer were shipped to Seattle in 1911 from 

 Nome, and the meat was sold at high prices. 



Thomas A. Powers, of Unalakleet (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 unsci- 

 entific management introduced by the Lapps and followed by the 

 natives. He expresses an opinion that the Government should, if 

 possible, appraise the deer held by the Lapps and missions, buy and 



Fig. 11. — Experiment-station flock of sheep, Kodiak, Alaska, September 23, 1911. 



distribute them to the natives, and then put the industry in charge of 

 a capable American cattleman, with a corps of able assistants, who 

 would handle it on a scientific basis. 



Mr. Japhet Linclerberg, president of the Pioneer Mining Co., at 

 Nome, Alaska, a recognized authority on reindeer, says the tundra 

 fires in destroying large areas of moss are a great menace to the 

 reindeer industry. These fires are very extensive all through the 

 interior, where the light precipitation and the peaty character of 

 much of the soil of the area permit them to smoulder and burn until 

 not only all the vegetation but much of the soil is destroyed. 



CATTLE AND SHEEP RAISING. 



A cattle and sheep raising industry "ties on" to the reindeer in- 

 dustry in south Avestern Alaska. The animal-husbandry experiment 



