REINDEER IN 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 Dr. Seymour 
Hadwen, chief veterinarian and parasitologist, with his assistant, 
Dr. George F. Root ; 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 of 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. 
