42 
ALASKA. 
arctic and subarctic Alaska can support 9,000,000 reindeer, fur¬ 
nishing a supply of food, clothing, and means of transportation to 
a population of a quarter of a million. Providence has adapted 
the reindeer, continues Dr. Jackson, to the peculiar conditions of 
arctic life, and it furnishes the possibilities of large and increasing 
commercial industries. The flesh is considered a great delicacy, 
whether fresh or cured. The untanned skin makes the best cloth¬ 
ing for the climate of Alaska, and when tanned is the best leather 
for the bookbinder, upholsterer, and glove maker. The hair is in 
great demand, by reason of its wonderful buoyancy, in the con¬ 
struction of life-saving apparatus. The horns and hoofs make the 
best glue known to commerce. With Alaska stocked with this 
valuable animal, enterprises would be developed amounting to 
millions of dollars annually. 
Reindeer will also be found very useful in transportation. Dogs 
have been used for this purpose, but they are slow and must be 
burdened with the food for their own maintenance. Provisions and 
freight brought from the south and landed in Alaska are with 
great difficulty transported to the mining regions. During the 
winter of 1895-96, Dr. Jackson says, mongrel Indian dogs cost 
$ioo to $200 each for transportation purposes, and the freight 
charges ranged from 15 to 20 cents per pound. Trained reindeer 
make in a day two or three times the distance covered by a dog 
team, and at the end of the journey, can be turned loose to gather 
their support from the moss always accessible to them. One 
drawback to their introduction appears to be a disease which 
attacks the hoof, due to the damp soil, d here are now five herds 
in Alaska, one at Cape I nnce of \\ ales, one at Cape Nome, two 
at Golovin Bay, and the central Government herd at the Teller 
reindeer station, Port Clarence, including 1,175 head. 
