Reindeer in Alaska 



'37 



From a photograph by 13. P. Bertholf 



Traveling Deerback Through Deep Snow 



The Tunguse deer cost nearly $7.50 

 apiece. By the addition of the Tunguse 

 breed it is hoped that the Alaska stock 

 will be improved and toughened. 



The reindeer cow gives about one 

 teacupful of very rich milk, nearly as 

 thick as the best cream, and making 

 delicious cheese. Mixed with a little 

 water, the milk forms a refreshing drink. 

 The Siberians and Laplanders save the 

 blood of slaughtered deer and serve it in 

 powdered form. From the sinews tough 

 thread is obtained. 



REINDEER EXPRESS 



The Alaskan reindeer can hardly 

 equal the speed of the Lapland deer, 

 which Paul du Chaillu* describes as 

 making from 150 to 200 miles a day, 

 and sometimes 20 to 25 miles down hill 



*"The Land of the Long Night," Paul du 

 Chaillu. Chas. Scribner's Sons. 



in a single hour. A pair of them can 

 pull a load of 500 to 700 pounds at the 

 rate of 35 miles a day and keep it up 

 weeks at a time. W. A. Kjellmann 

 drove his reindeer express one winter 

 95 miles in a single day. 



Reindeer teams during the past win- 

 ter carried the United States mail from 

 Nome to Candle City, on the Arctic 

 Ocean, a distance of 260 miles. The 

 teams had heavy loads of passengers 

 and freight and made the distance in 

 eight days. Dog teams would have re- 

 quired fifteen to twenty days for the 

 trip. 



The reindeer can travel at night as 

 well as in the daylight, and thus during 

 the long Arctic night when dogs are 

 inefficient transportation is always pos- 

 sible with a reindeer team. 



The reindeer make good packers in 

 summer. One hundred and fifty pounds 

 is a fair load. They also can be ridden 



