REINDEER IN ALASKA. 17 



the Territory (54,899) only about 25,000 live within the area to 

 which reindeer grazing applies, and only about 15,000 within the im- 

 mediate reindeer districts now holding herds. The Eskimo and 

 Indian population alone is about 25,000. 



The reindeer of the Eskimos furnish meat and skins for the most 

 part to the owners, but a portion of the surplus is sold in local min- 

 ing camps or in white settlements. The Lapps and other whites 

 likewise have a similar sale for a limited portion of their surplus, 

 but for the most part the Lapp has depended upon a market for his 

 reindeer in the sale of breeding stock to other whites. 



In marketing locally the reindeer are usually driven to the town 

 or camp where sale is to be made and there slaughtered. Usually 

 long drives are necessary, and they are generally undertaken in the 

 early part or middle of the winter. The white man is largely a 

 beginner in the industry and is looking toward its larger develop- 

 ment and to an outside market, the opening up of which has just 

 begun (PL VIII, Fig. 2). 



Transportation in northern Alaska during the winter is almost en- 

 tirely by dog team (PI. I, Fig. 2) and in summer by boat. Horses 

 are used to some extent in the interior. The new railroad between 

 Seward and Fairbanks should prove a vastly important factor in 

 establishing the reindeer industry in the interior. Aside from the 

 railroad, transportation between the United States and northern 

 Alaska is by boat and limited to the summer and fall months. Dur- 

 ing the winter most of Bering Sea is covered with pack ice, so that 

 navigation is impossible. 



Development of regular markets and better means of transporta- 

 tion and marketing are particularly necessary at this time to place 

 the reindeer industry on a proper basis, and the establishment of a 

 definite cash market for his surplus stock will greatly encourage the 

 Eskimo as well as the white man to adopt improved methods of 

 management. 



BY-PRODUCTS. 



Up to the present time by-products from reindeer have been to a 

 large extent neglected. Some hides, which are used in the manufac- 

 ture of leather goods, have been exported, and in a few instances the 

 horns have been shipped to be used for making knife handles and 

 similar articles. The hair is of value for stuffing life preservers and 

 filling horse collars, but has been little used for these purposes. In 

 the slaughterhouses the blood and viscera have been thrown away, 

 whereas they might be used for making meal for dog food. There 

 105932°— 22 2 



