REPORTS ON
BROWNBEARS
AND REINDEER
The use of reindeer meat in Alaska
will not become general for many
years, says Governor Riggs in his re
port on the Alaska game law, submit
ted to the secretary of the United
States department of agriculture at
Washington. Governor Riggs deals
with the reindeer and the “brown”
bear in his report, and gives interest
ing information in connection with
these anmals. The report in part fol
lows:
“A great deal of stress has been
laid on the possibility of supplanting
the use of game by that of reindeer,
now being successfully raised. This
idea is no novelty, and is gradually
being worked out, but the use of rein
deer meat will not become general in
Alaska for many years. At Nome and
on the Seward peninsula, and even as
far up the Yukon river as Marshall,
reindeer meat is becoming one of the
staple articles of diet, but the herds
are not yet of such size as to allow
wide distribution of meat.
“As a member of the Alaskan engi
neering commission I endeavored to
procure reindeer meat for the construc
tion camps at Nenana. Freight rates
on live deer, original cost, attendance
and feed en route, and slaughtering
and dressing, brought the price of the
dressed carcasses to approximately 50
cents per pound for the whole car
cass. Beef was being landed in Ne
nana at that time for 31cents per
pound for the whole carcass, hence
the cost of reindeer meat was prohib
itive. The cold storage barge company
refused to quote a rate on dressed rein
deer, as all their facilities were in use
for the transportation of beef. Natur
ally they did not desire to enter into
any business other than their legiti
mate line.
“There are now approximately 120.
000 reindeer in Alaska. The surplus
of the herds is being used in their im
mediate vicinity, and small shipments
are beng made to Seattle from Nome
on an attractive freight rate. Ship
ments of reindeer have been made
from Seattle to San Francisco and to
St. Paul, where the meat has been
sold as a luxury. Eventually herds
will slowly move into other parts of
Alaska and serve a most useful pur
pose in relieving the drain on the
game supply. Reindeer can not be
driven readily from one part of the
country to another, as many so fondly
imagine. The drift of a herd is slow;
the country is either mountainous or
full of swamps; and reindeer moss, es
sential as reindeer forage, is not
found everywhere. An experiment is
about to be made of crossing wild
caribou with the domesticated deer
in an attempt to break up the game
species.
“ ‘Brown’ bears are included among
the game animals in the present Alas
kan law, and as such receive protec
tion under the terms of the law. I
concur with the general opinion of
the residents of Alaska, that all bears
should be eliminated from the list of
game animals, and that protection
should be withdrawn from them.
‘Brown’ bears on Kodiak island have
killed domestic stock and menace the
possibilities of establishing stock
raising as an industry. At present
cattle have to be kept in fenced areas
because of the danger from bears.
It will be difficult to establish stock
raising anywhere in Alaska where
‘brown’ bears exist. When salmon
run up the rivers bears feed on them,
and thus, to a certain extent, reduce
the supply. Bears have killed and
mangled many people in the woods,
and this source of danger to life and
limb should be removed. The exter
mination of bears, therefore, would im
prove the possibilities of developing
Alaska.
“I have made an investigation to
ascertain the opinions of sportsmen
and others outside of Alaska for the
purpose of understanding their rea
sons for wishing to continue the pro
tection of these bears. They assert
that where bears menace bona fide
stock-raising they should be destroyed.
On the other hand, however, they in
sist that many of the reports of bears
injuring men are exaggerated, and
that while many reports have proved
true, yet, considering the proportions
of deaths and injuries to men by bears,
as compared with the numbers of peo
ple who traveled in the regions where
bears exist, it must be true that dan
gerous bears are most exceptional, and
that the chances of injury from them
are very much less than from acci
dents from numerous other natural
causes. They admit that bears kill
salmon, but believe that the toll of
salmon thus taken is not of much sig
nificance ift reducing the supply. They
believe that the greater part of the
regions inhabited by bears is a wil
derness, where the animals can do no
harm, and that the reported dangers
and damages by bears do not apply to
much of the area where they live; that
if protection, were withdrawn from
bears and their skins were thus com
mercialized it would soon lead to the
extermination of the animals in the
coast regions; that the profit accru
ing from trading in these skins would
then cease, and an asset most valu
able to Alaska would be lost forever;
| that Alaska and British Columbia will
prove the last refuge of the big ‘brown’
bears; that previous to the war from
$15,000 to $20,000 was spent by Out
side sportsmen each year in Alaska
for the sport of hunting these bears,
and that in the future the money to
be expended for this purpose will
largely increase. They also assert
that by thus attracting outsiders to
the country, many of whom are
wealthy and interested in the wilder
ness, an occasional one will invest in
the resources of the country, as some
have done already; and that people
who have hunted bears sometimes
write books and thus advertise the
country and make it known by report
to others. Thus, indirectly, they be
lieve the bears will prove to be an
increasingly valuable asset to the coun
try, one which it would not be to the
advantage of Alaska to destroy, and
one which can be maintained by pro
' ^_______
'
tection so long as parts of Alaska re
main a wilderness.
j “Alaskans do not understand the
term ‘brown’ bear. 1 am reliably in
formed that it is intended to signify
|the groups of bears including both the
| big coast brown bear and grizzlies,
j which recent studies have demonstrat
ied to be more or less closely related.
“The other bears are included in
the^term ‘black’ bear, which includes
the true black bears, cinnamon1
(‘brown’) bears, and glacier bears. All
these have short claws, and all climb
-trees, while the bears included as
j ‘brown’ under the law have long claws
and do not climb trees.
“The cinnamon bears of the black
| group are constantly confused with
'the ‘brown’ bears under terms of the
haw. In order to avoid this confusion
the law should use terms which would
accurately specify the bears included.”
•-«►
One of the aerial propeller boats
that left Whitehorse a short time ago
for the headwaters of the Nausutlin
'river met with misfortune while navi
I gating Thirtymile river, and is now
lying at the mouth of the Hootalinqua.
The party operating the boat is wait- j
ing for help either to make repairs to |
the craft or build a new one before
proceeding on their way.
It’s the flavor and the grain which
make the bread at the City Bakery
famous.
MILLS OF LANCASHIRE
CAN SUPPLY DEMANDS
LONDON, June 15 (by mail).—It
has come to the attention of the Ameri
can Chamber of Commerce in London
that an impression may exist in the
United States that due to wartime di
version of mills, the Lancashire cot
ton industry will have all it can do
now to supply British and Dominion
markets and that the trade Lancashire
formerly enjoyed in other oversea
countries will now fall to the United i
States.
Lancashire is not seriously handi
capped in any way, says the Chamber
of Commerce. As one reliable au
thority states, so far there has been ,
no demand which Great Britain has!
not been able to supply.
....11 —————ii ■■■■■■. mil ■ ■ ii.ii ■—■■■. i
L. WALN, Prop.
WHERE YOU GET
COMFORT AND SERVICE
And the Rates Are Right.
CORDOVA, ALASKA
■-Empress
I TONIGHT ONLY 1
I JACKIE SAUNDERS I
I With her clever pal dog “MUTT in I
I “A Bit of Kindling” I
(Humor and Pathos)
1 SUNDAY ONLY ; |
TWO SHOWS—7:30, 9:00
I BEAUTIFUL I
1 IN THE MASTERPIECE |
g An Extraordinarily Fine Picture jp
|§ ADMISSION 35c CHILDREN 15c LOGE SEATS 50c
The Burkhardt
Hand Laundry
and Bath
Burkhardt Flats
Neatly Fitted up with Large
Porcelain Tubs. Everything
Clean and Sanitary. Open All
Night. Phone 61—three rings. *
CITY BAKERY LUNCH ROOM |‘
Special Carefully-Prepared Lunch served from 11:30 a. m. Our Fine
French Rolls with every meal
Big Variety of Pastries and Cakes, Always Fresh
Sanitary Machinery of Latest Model. Patent Brick Oven. Best Ma
terials used by Expert Workmen, producing our Famous Cream Loaf
Best Coffee in Town
French Bread Rye Bread
|| GOODRICH Shoes I
i outwore Six pairs of his”
>i —
He is an old timer—been in Alaska for 21 -
years—and just back in the States. He
was visiting the Goodrich Factory and we
asked him, of course, if he ever used our
Goodrich “Hi-Press” Boots and Shoes
while he was up there, and he said—
I1 “Say, those are some shoes you people make,
i Why, I remember one time when my part
ner and I went over the hills and I wore a
pair of your Goodrich White Pacs. He
didn’t! And he wore out six pairs before
we got back—I still wore my first pair.”
I There’s the result of making Goodrich
Rubber Footwear thew^way,—IN ONE
SINGLE PIECE—rubber tough as steel—
no leaking, no peeling, no half-soling. And
they’re comfortable—feel like old shoes
before you’ve worn them 24 hours.
We make all kinds,—shoes, boots, shorts
and hip, for mining, fishing, logging, pros
pecting, etc. They always have “The Red
Line ‘Round The Top.”
THE B. F. GOODRICH RUBBER CO
AKRON. OHIO 118 Kiiio-SFATTTR *
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