THE GAME BREEDER 



Reindeer Going to Water. 



PROPAGATION OF REINDEER IN ALASKA. 



By Carl W. Gross. 



The price of beef and lamb can do all 

 the soaring they want to. In a very few 

 years we will be eating reindeer meat, 

 anyway, so what's the use of crying if 

 the price of the other stock breaks the 

 skylights. Reindeer meat is just as lus- 

 cious, if not more so, and certainly as 

 nourishing as beef or lamb. To keep the 

 Eskimos out of mischief, the govern- 

 ment brought 170 reindeer from Siberia 

 to Alaska in 18^3 and today there are 

 approximately 85,000 up there. They 

 are not being killed off right and left, 

 either. Uncle Sam won't stand for that. 

 He wants them to breed in great num- 

 bers before that is done, so a large sup- 

 ply will always be on hand. Experts 

 estimate that there is room for at least 

 ten million in Alaska under present con- 

 ditions. By present conditions I mean 

 that if nothing special is planted for 

 them, there is enough wild moss for that 

 many to feed on, while if scientific means 

 of propagation and agriculture are Em- 

 ployed, ways and means will be found 

 for millions more. 



The introduction and growth of this 

 reindeer business is remarkable as well 

 as romantic. It grew out from the 

 idea to investigate the Eskimo of the 

 region north of the Aleutian Islands, as 

 nothing was known of their conditions 

 up to 1890. Therefore in this year Dr. 

 Sheldon Jackson, general agent of edu- 

 cation in Alaska, together with Capt. M. 



A. Healy cruised the Arctic Ocean and 

 in the Bering Sea, visiting all the prin- 

 cipal settlements on both the Alaskan 

 and Siberian shores. They discovered 

 that^the natives of Siberia were happy 

 and well to do, while the Eskimos of 

 this section of Alaska were unhappy 

 and half starved because all they had 

 to live on were whale, seal and walrus, 

 which they had a hard time to catch. 

 The reason for the Siberian's prosperity 

 was reindeer. Both sides of the Bering 

 Sea and Arctic Ocean had the same 

 climate and soil. From these reindeer 

 the Siberian natives had flesh and milk 

 for food, the skin provided clothing and 

 bedding and they could also be used as 

 carriers from one village to another. 

 Both thought the government should 

 therefore introduce reindeer in Alaska. 



Dr. Jackson brought this matter before 

 the Commissioner of Education in 1890. 

 It was endorsed by him and brought be- 

 fore Congress. Pending the congres- 

 sional appropriation. Dr. Jackson brought 

 the matter before churches and public 

 societies. In this manner he raised 

 $2,146, with which he bought sixteen 

 reindeer in Siberia and transported them 

 to Alaska. These never entered the rein- 

 deer industry, however, because they 

 were all males. The next year a few 

 more were imported and in 1893, Con- 

 gress, realizing the importance of the 

 movement, appropriated six thousand 



