16 BULLETIlSr 1089, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE, I 



The brisket is removed by cutting through the ribs along the car 

 lages, and the abdominal muscles go with it. The cut follows t\ 

 flanks up to the stifle joint. The backbone is removed entire, t'e 

 heads of the ribs being disjointed at their points of attachment. Te 

 front leg is cut off at the elbow joint and the hind leg at the stij,5. 

 This leaves two sides with the shoulders and hams attached. Lair 

 the sides are cut into three pieces, leaving the hindquarters, ribs, a i 

 shoulders. The reason for cutting the legs so high is to save tfe 

 sinews. The back sinew, which is the most valuable in the body,s 

 removed from the long muscles of the back and the back fat is taka 

 off. The saving of the sinews is important, since they are valuale 

 for sewing purposes, the market value of a set from one animal beii|, 

 in 1921, about $1.50. This method of cutting up a carcass is got 

 when at a reindeer camp or out in the hills. It can be done on te 

 ground in a cleanly manner and a knife is the only instrument ^ 

 quired. 



Utilizing natural cold storage. — A deep layer of permanently f ro;^ 

 earth and underground ice along the coast of Alaska offers natui 

 cold-storage facilities so readily available in a large part of te 

 Territory that it is surprising so little use has been made of it. Ira 

 few instances small storage rooms have been made by hewing est 

 chambers in this frozen layer, but so far as can be ascertained tp 

 only large storage room in use is one made by the Bureau of Educ- 

 tion at Point Barrow. In many places on the Seward Peninsula a i 

 elsewhere the frozen layer is composed of crystalline ice free frca 

 impurities. Its depth has not been ascertained by the authors, tjl 

 shafts have been sunk in it to a depth of 20 or 30 feet. Covering te 

 ice usually is a laj-er of soil one or more feet in thickness. In soie 

 places there are frozen beds on hill slopes, so that the storage roo]| 

 constructed in them could be entered on a level through a tunnel a: I 

 thus obviate any danger of flooding from surface water or melting. 



In such a bed of ice the problem of keeping meat should be a simjp 

 matter. In another paragraph it has been recommended that reindtr 

 be slaughtered after the cold weather has set in. Frozen carcasfp 

 could then be packed into one storage room at a time, which coi;i 

 then be carefully sealed. Double doors and sawdust will be necessajr 

 to insulate each room thoroughly. In this way it can be confident j^ 

 predicted that meat can be kept almost indefinitely and at a triflif 

 cost. 



Marketing and transportation. — The market in Alaska for reir 

 deer meat is as yet largely local and therefore limited by reasij 

 of the small and scattered population and the generally poor trai 

 portation facilities. Of the total native and white population i 



