REINDEER IlSr ALASKA. 3 



have been made to Seattle and distributed to large cities in various 

 parts of the United States, where the meat has met with favor and 

 sold at good prices. 



Previous to 1920 the reindeer industry in Alaska had been handled 

 under the crude methods of the original herders and without the 

 benefit of any definite scientific investigation or oversight. It had 

 become increasingly plain to the white owners that troubles were 

 developing among the herds which called for investigation and 

 remedy such as is afforded other branches of the modern live-stock 

 industry. As a result, in July, 1920, under authorization of an ap- 

 propriation by Congress, the Biological Survey established a rein- 

 deer experiment station at Unalakleet, on the shore of Bering Sea, 

 60 miles north of the port of St. Michael, and provided ample equip- 

 ment for laboratory and other investigational purposes. The staff 

 of experts in charge of the work undertaken were Dt. Seymour 

 Hadwen, chief veterinarian and parasitologist, with his assistant, 

 Dr. George F. Eoot ; and Lawrence J. Palmer, in charge of grazing 

 investigations, assisted by Herbert W. Johnston. 



The research staff was instructed to make a close study of the 

 parasites and diseases o*f reindeer and of methods of combating them ; 

 and also to study grazing conditions, forage plants, and herd man- 

 agement over as wide an area as practicable. Another experienced 

 field man, Donald H. Stevenson, as reservation warden of the 

 Aleutian Islands Bird Reservation, was given headquarters at Una- 

 laska and instructed to make a careful reconnaissance of the many 

 islands in that group to determine their availability for reindeer 

 grazing and fur farming. In addition, O, J. Murie, an experienced 

 field naturalist, was stationed in the interior, with headquarters at 

 Fairbanks, to study the caribou herds of that region, which for many 

 : years have been of the utmost importance as a source of meat supply 

 to the prospectors and miners over a vast territory remote from 

 ordinary supply points. The conservation of these native caribou 

 herds is a matter calling for serious attention, and the information 

 resulting from this investigation will be invaluable for use to that 

 end. 



An additional reason for the caribou work is to locate the most 

 readily available source of supply of the largest caribou bulls to be 

 used to interbreed with reindeer and thus grade up the size and vigor 

 of the latter. The carcasses of reindeer shipped from Alaska have 

 an average weight of about 150 pounds. Large woodland caribou 

 are much heavier and many of the bulls are reported to weigh well 

 above 300 pounds dressed. I am convinced that by the use of these 

 bulls, and with proper methods of selection exercised among the 

 breeding stock of the herds, the weight of reindeer carcasses can 

 be practically doubled within a few years. 



