THE GAME. RESOURCES OF ALASKA. 
471 
have been exterminated, but the traffic in wild game already is a 
matter of serious moment and difficult to regulate. 
Besides serving as food, some of the animals are of local value 
for their skins, the whites having adopted many of the articles cus¬ 
tomarily used by Indians, as skin clothing, bedding, and footwear. 
Most Alaskans, although enjoying the sport, pursue game with 
utilitarian purpose, yet not a few hunt in regular season purely for 
the enjoyment of the outing, and by such the game is greatly valued, 
since it makes life more tolerable in a country where diversions are 
limited. 
The game of Alaska has a very real money value. Each indi¬ 
vidual animal is part of a great interest-bearing capital. If all the 
game in Alaska were brought together in one large inclosure the 
animals so gathered would far outnumber those of the largest stock 
farm in the world. Assuming it possible to market such a herd 
a large sum of money would be realized. But a stock raiser does 
not market his entire herd unless retiring from business. He sells 
only the annual increase in order that the herd may maintain itself 
and assure an unfailing future income. Viewing the matter solely 
from a business standpoint a similar conservative course should be 
pursued with our stock of wild game, the extermination of which for 
the sake of immediate returns is absolutely indefensible. 
In addition to its inherent value game is of great pecuniary im¬ 
portance to the country it inhabits on account of the money spent 
there by visiting sportsmen. Not only are substantial revenues 
derived through the direct sale of hunting licenses, but considerable 
sums are distributed in the payment of traveling expenses and in the 
employment of guides, packers, boatmen, and others. To Alaska 
and Alaskans such considerations are not without importance, for the 
development of this northern Territory will in the long run require 
the utilization of every resource. If lands unsuitable for mining or 
agriculture can, by reason of the wild game inhabiting them, be 
made a part of the permanent resources of the country, they have a 
substantial value. If properly husbanded the game becomes a per¬ 
petual source of pleasure and profit, whereas if it is ruthlessly sacri¬ 
ficed to immediate desires the region now made attractive by it will 
lapse into a comparatively uninteresting and useless waste. 
Passing from general considerations, the several kinds of game resi¬ 
dent in Alaska may be considered, with brief descriptions of the coun¬ 
try they inhabit and a few words regarding their numbers, habits, 
and recent history. 
MOOSE. 
The Alaska moose (Alee americanus gig cls) is the largest existing 
land mammal in America and the largest member of the deer family 
