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Show THE REINDEER IN ALASKA. I The Geographic Magazine gives a most inter- $ esting account of the reindeer industry in Alaska. Ml! It is about the most catching stock-raising prop- M osition that has appeared, since the old rage for 9,1 stock-raising, on these interior table lands was j j first presented. The reindeer ranching in Alas- ka began in 1891 when Dr. Sheldon Jackson Kg brought the first herd of sixteen reindeer across Bf Bering Straits from Siberia and started his ranch H ' I they call it colony at Unalaska, on the bleak I f Alaskan coast. The experiment was sneered at t ' by doubters, but so was the possible discovery of 1 1 America, the utility of the telegraph and even I now there are doubters touching the benefits j of vaccination. When mankind was created the isame impression doubtless prevailed that came with the first wagon, a brake was essential. Ever since nothing has been believed, until it has been so thoroughly proven that the doubters have become be-come ashamed. Dr. Jackson is the General Agent I of Education in Alaska. In 1890 he made an ex tended journey of inspection to the missionary stations and government schools of Alaska and a y great fear came upon him lest the natives of Alas- I. ka would soon lose the sources of their food sup- ply. The sea-thieves were exterminating the seal j and walrus and the whales were retreating fur- I ther and further north beyond the reach of the jj natives. The wild caribou had become timid boll bo-ll fore the hunters, and had fled until it had be- rjj come a rare thing to see one.. The native was not iot only in danger of losing his food but his cloth- ''M ing. Formerly he had been able to trade his j ivory tusks and whalebones with the Siberians til for reindeer skins out of which he made his clothing, but with the disappearance of the wal- i I rus and the whale he had nothing to trade. j Dr. Johnson saw that something must be done If! or the United States would soon have to feed 1 and clothe 20,000 natives at points as far north of 1 1 Seattle as Liverpool is from New York. The Si- iu! berian across the sea got along very well for he l had his herds of domestic reindeer which are m food, clothing, pack animal, cow and saddle animal for the North-men. He saw tnat around him was I I 400,000 square miles of territory on which not 'i . one of our domestic animals, not even a goat, can find food to exist upon, but the whoie area Is cov-v I ered with the long, fibrous white moss which is I the reindeer's food. The reindeer is the same animal as the wild caribou of Alaska, except that he has been domesticated for centuries and is what a shrewd and wise and laithful shepherd dog is to a gray wolf. The doctor believed the ' experiment of stocking Alaska with reindeer ( might be made a success, so on returning to the I United States ho asked in his report for a small j sum from Congress to begin the experiment. Con- ' gress could not see its way clear to make the ap- l propriation but private individuals made up a I purse of $2,000 and with that the first sixteen IvJ head were purchased and the little old revenue i cutter Bear brought them over. This was in U 1891. The deer thrived exceedingly on their new I range. Then Congress grew more generous and I since then has made annual appropriation J amounting in all to $158,000. Laplanders have been imported to teach the natives how to care ' for the animals, a better breed uas been obtained, sj some 1,000 altogether have been imported, and i. the Alaskan herds now number six thousand, not- ! withstanding that many have been killed for food. There is plenty of feed in Alaska for 20,000,000 reindeer and the raising of them is a great industry. indus-try. A fawn during the first four years does not m cost its owner to exceed $1.00 per annum. hi It readily brings $50 for meat, and if trained to , I the sled or for packing, brings double that sum. They are very prolific, last year torty-eight were born to fifty and only five died and three of these , j; by accident. They cost in Siberia $4.00 each in " ' trade, the Siberians will not sell ror money, espe- cially the owners of the Tunguse stock. It is a J pity that there is no feed that they can live upon J in lower latitudes lor they are most valuable an- 1 imals, good pack animals, good saddle animals and fine driving animals. A pair of them can pull P' a load of seven hundred pounds at the rate of f thirty-five miles a day and keep it up indefinite- i ly, while in a spurt they can make fifteen to twen- ty miles an hour. They work nights as well as days. On the caravan route frpm Ola to Kolima ll river the Russians have substituted reindeer for horses at a saving of $60,000 per annum. The United States government loans reindeer to the mission stations and worthy individuals, the contract being that the number loaned shall be returned in from three to five years. In 1894 the mission of Cape Prince of "Wales was granted 100 deer. The mission has paid back the loan and now has over 1,000 head of its own deer and many of the males have been sold to families and butchers. The herders earned $600 last year in carrying freight to mining camps. Tho wisdom and beneficence of establishing herds of reindeer in Alaska was strikingly shown in 1897. Word came that at fleet of whale ships, with 400 men on board was ice bound near Point Barrow and destitute of food. Relief by sea or land seemed impossible. But the government hurried the little revenue cutter Bear to the north with three volunteer devoted men Lieutenant David H. Jarvis, Lieutenant Ellsworth P. Bartholf and Dr. Samuel J. Coll, to attempt a rescue. They were landed December 16th at Cape Vancouver, 2,000 miles from Point Barrow. There they obtained ob-tained some dog teams and started out through the Arctic night. i'rom the reindeer herds at Rodney and Nome they secured 450 reindeer and then with reindeer in lieu of dogs and accompanied accom-panied by Mr. W. T. Lopp and Charlie Arlsar-took, Arlsar-took, a native, and several herders, through the blizzard and the night, pushed on, driving the deer before them. In three montns and twelve days, on March 29th, 1898, they reached the destitute des-titute sailors just in time to save them from death. It was a marvelous feat, and it was but a just appreciation and courtesy lor Congress to give to them a vote of thanks. Since then a herd of reindeer has been kept at Point Barrow. The conclusion is that the development of interior Alaska can only be made possible through the help of the reindeer. It Is believed,, too that In a few years ships will come into our Pacific ports, loaded wth Alaskan venison with as much regularity reg-ularity as cattle trains now enter Kansas City, Omaha and Chicago. |