Alaska Reindeer Seen as Gourmet Item
. •. Whoa Dancer, Blixen, and Prancer!
By Ward Sims
MEKORYUK, Alaska UR—Some
43.000 herded reindeer are giving
Alaskan natives from Noatak to
the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta a
measure of economic stability
they’ve never known before.
And a new experiment in mar
keting reindeer meat in the south
48 states promises to bring rein
deer herding up from a marginal
to a profitable operation.
Under the Reindeer Act of 1937,
the federal government restricts
the ownership of reindeer to na
tive Alaskans.
Now, along the coast of the Arc
tic Ocean and the Bering Sea and
on desolate Nunivak Island, there
are 19 herds of reindeer, compris
ing approximately 43,000 animals.
Here at Mekoryuk on Nunivak
Island, a modern slaughtering and
refrigeration plant was constructf
ed in 1944 to handle the 15,000
deer which grazed on the island
under the watchful eyes of their
native herders.
Nunivak Island produced
130.000 pounds of reindeer
About 90 per cent went to com
mercial outlets in Alaska, two
Alaska Native Service Hospitals!
and to Bureau of Indian Affair!
boarding schools. -|*rj
Approximately 10 per cent was
shipped to the 48 states south. A
full-grown steer will weigh about
130 pounds dressed.
Within the past few weeks, the
Bureau of Indian Affairs negotia
ted a contract with a Seattle firm
for the sale of 25,000 pounds of
prime reindeer steaks.
The fresh-frozen steaks will bf
packaged in cellophane and flown
to Seattle direct from Nunivak
Island. The wholesaler will pay
40 cents a pound.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs,
which keeps a fight watch on all
reindeer operations, believes the
reindeer meat will sell readily as
a gourmet item at a price com
petitive with the better grades
of beef, such as sirloin steak.
Of the 19 reindeer herds tend
ed by the, natives along Alaska’s
West Coast, four are privately
owned.
In addition, there are four vil
lage-owned herds, t#o govern
ment-owned and operated herds;
and nine government-owned herds
on loan to individuals.
The largest herd, some 5,000
animals, ranges in the Golovin
area, under the watchful eye of
owner Sigfried Aukonkag.
I" the individual borrows a herd
from the government. Atjhe end
increase as the nucleus of a new
In recent years there has been
permit
e native
reindeer
atic and
of white
i a flfr
ustry.
dent and
tnd Mer
would prepare their animals for
the market.”
Unlike their counterparts in the
U.S. southwest, Alaska’s Arctic
cowboys cannot use horses or ve
hicles in herding over the mus
keg and snow-covered tundra of
the far north.
During the summer months they
plod afoot through nearly im
passable muck after their charges.
During the winter months, they
use a dog sled, and that means
running a good share of the time.
The reindeer’s eagerness to join
caribou herds whenever they see
one makes the work doubly hard.
There are about 500,000 wild
reindeer and caribou in all in
Alaska.
Putting notions of Santa Calus
and Rudolf aside, I sampled rein
deer steak once in Nome.
It has the same texture and a
flavor comparable to beef. It is
not marbled with fat as beef,
hence leaner. But it is not gamy.
Sprinkled lightly with bread
crumbs, dotted with butter and
then broiled, it is fork-tender and
very, very delicious.
Herders sometime eat nothing
but reindeer for days on end.
I’ll take one for my freezer any
day.
Erroneous Report That
“Jackie” Did the Twist
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. UP
—A night dub owner’s case of
mistaken identity led today to cir
culation of an erroneous report
that Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy
danced the twist in the club here
Friday night.
“You just missed Jackie Ken
nedy.” John Phelan, owner of
the Golden Falcon Lounge, told
a newsman who walked Into the
dub at 12:15. am.
Phelan said two men entered
the dub about 10:30 pm., identi
fied themselves as Secret Service
agents, and looked over the room
before bringing a party Into the
dflb.
tPhelan said he saftr Mrs. Ken
nedy doing the twist and once,
when a spotlight -was thrown on
the dance floor, the two men
ordered him to turn it off and
told him they wanted no pictures
or publicity.
At Palm Beach, White House
press secretary Pierre Salinger
told a news conference:
“It was a cheap effort by a
night dub owner to use the First
Family for publidty purposes. It
is totally untrue. She (Mrs. Ken
nedy) was home all evening.”
Phelan could sot be reached
later for additional comment.
Kenny Miller, an entertainer at
the dub, said at first “1 would
swear” it was Mrs. Kennedy,
later, he said if it was not she,
it was “an identical twin.”
Some patrons at fhe dub also re
ported they had seen Mrs. Ken
nedy, but apparently were just
[repeating reports circulating
around die room.
MAZE OF TWISTS . . .
BOSTON UP — A 19-year-old
college girl employed as a tem
porary clerk in the south postal
allex, demonstrated the twist, the:
new dance craze, for several hun
dred co-workers.
Soon the vfhole department was|
a haze of twisting postal clerks.
Enter the boss. “Step that
twist,” he shouted.
“You are a disturbing influ
ence” he told the girl. “You're
fired.
•. mo - v -5f
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; *%• d
ANG Christmas Benefit
Dance to be Held Tonight
Tonight at 9 at the Armry, the
Nome National Guard is holding
a Christmas Benefit Dance. The
drill hall has been decorated and
stage set for the live entertain
ment.
A list of neeedy families has
been drawn up by the Armory
Board. These families will re
ceive Christmas baskets on Sun
day, paid for by half of the net
proceeds from the dance. The
other half will be used to in
stall a permanent public addresss
system in the Armory which will
be available for all functions.
Contributions have been made
for the basket distributions and
the door prize by several busi
ness people: the Board of Trade,
N.C. Co., Bering Sea Club, Drug
Store, and Lester Keller. Nome
Hardware donated an Xmas Tree.
Three drawings for the door
prizes will take place at midnight.
The prizes are gift certificates for
$25, $20 and $15.
President’s Father
Taken off Critic*! last
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (A
—President Kennedy’s father was
taken off the critical list at St.
Mary’s Hospital here today.
However the medical bulletin
which said 73-year-old Joseph P.
Kennedy’s “'general condition is
no longer critical” also said it is
impossible to predict the extent
to which he will recover from
the effects of a stroke suffered
-Tuesday. His right side is partly
paralyzed and his ability to speak
restricted.
White House press secretary
Pierre Salinger issued this medi
cal statement at a noontime brief
ing after consultation with the
elder Kennedy’s doctors. After re
viewing Kennedy’s illness, it said:
“In the last 24 hours he has
shown considerable improvement
. . the prognosis as to survival
is good, but the degree of func
tional recovery is unpredictable.’’
Chief Red Cross Delegate’s
i|» — The body of Georges Olivet,
Swiss Chief international Red
Crocs delegate in Katanga, was
found today in a shallow grave
near Camp Simonet in EUsrfbeth
ville. The bodies of two of his
assistants — a Dutchman and a
Belgian woman—also were found.
Both U.N. and Katanga author
ities claimed during the past week
that they were unaware of the
whereabouts of the three. 1
A U.'N. spokesman said the am
bulance obivously was hit by (ba
zooka and machine gun fire in the
fighting between Katangan and
U.N. forces.
“I do not know how it came
to be there,” he said. “The bodies
were in a ditch nearby end had
been loosely covered with earth
and scrub.”
Air Force Goes Into
Action . . . Yule tide
Groceries Will Be on Time
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, III. '
UPt — Military authorities took
emergency action early today to
prevent thousands of Army and
Air Force (personnel in Alaska
from missing their Christmas din
ner.
A ship carrying the Yuletide
groceries became trapped in ice
! yesterday just off Anchorage. The
deadline was almost at hand for
distributing the turkeys and other
fixings to such far-flug points
as Fort Wainwright, above the
Arctic Circle, and remote radar
stations.
Headquarters of the Military
Air Transport Service here told
the story:
Army Maj. Oscar Peterson,
chief of purchasing for the Mili
tary Subsistence Supply Agency
at Seattle, received an urgent plea
for help at 1 a.m. He was given
just four hours to round up the
14 tons of replacement groceries.
Merchants in the Seattle-Ta
cosna area were routed out of
bed. The frantic shopping spree
soon was in full swing. A C-124
Globemaster was readied at Mc
Chord AFB near Tacoma. Trucks
hauled almost 30,000 pounds of
variouB grocery items to the air
base.
The harried officers kept tele
phone lines buzzing with the ar
rangements, and they met the
deadline.
The giant plane, Christmas din
' ner supplies aboard, took off right
: on schedule at 4 a.m., on the 716
hour flight to Elmendorf AFB at
I Anchorage.
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Biggest Santa Load . . .
WASHINGTON UR —• The Post
Office Department said proudly
yesterday that its blue-dad Santas
are carrying out the largest, most
successful delivery of Christinas
mail in history.
In the first 20 days of Decem
ber, 9.5 billion pieces of mail
passed through their hands
This was 5.7 per cent more than
last year and receipts were up
about $5 million to $172.1 mil-1
lion.
The total incoming and out
going mail handled for the Christ
mas season should easily exceed
11 billion pieces, the department
said.
71 Persons Die as Train
Jumps Trestle in Italy
CATANZARO, Italy «* — At
least 71 persons were killed to
day when a railway car jammed
with Christmas shoppers and
workers snapped loose from the
end of a train and plunged 100
feet into a river bed, police re
ported.
At least 33 persons were in
jured, many seriously.
The last car of a three-coach
train broke loose on a trestle and
crashed into rocks at the foot of
a river embankment.
The train was jammed with
travelers heading to Catanzaro
for work, school and last-minute
Christmas shopping.
Mickey Mantle Takes
A. L. Slugging Crown
BOSTON UF> — Mickey Mantle
of the New York Yankees won
the American League slugging
crown for the third time in 1961,
the official averages released dis
closed.
Mantle collected 353 total baaes
in 514 official times at bat fpr
a slugging mark of .657. Norm
Cash of Detroit was second with
.662 followed by Jim Gentile, .646.
Mantle also led in 19665 and 1956.
Despite 61 homers, a record
for one season, Roger Maris of
the Yankees finished fourth in
the slugging competition with
.620. Maris captured the title in
1960.
Harmon KiHebrew of Minne
sota wound up in the No. 5 spot
with a .606 percentage. Then came
Rocky Colavito, Detroit, .580, Spy
Sievers, Chicago, .537, Leon Wag
ner, Los Angeles and A1 KaUne,
Detroit, .515, and A1 Smith, Chi
cago, .506.
A slugging average is deter
mined by dividing a player's of
ficial times at bat into his total
bases.
Best Wishes . . .
WASHINGTON W> — Soviet
Ambassador Mikhail Menshikov
says he hopes the New Year will
bring a settlement of “meat, if not
all” of the problems between East
and Weal.
The Ambassador was in a Jovial
mood as be spoke with newsmen
after what he described as a
“routine* call on Undersecretary
of State George Ball.
“I take this opportunity to give
my best wishes to all the Ameri
can people,” the white-haired en
voy said.
;
British Comet Jet
Crash Kitts 27 Persons
; ' ANKARA, Turkey <f) — A Brit
ish Comet-4 jet airliner Thurs
day crashed and burned shortly
after taking off from Ankara Air
port, killing 27 of the 34 persons
aboard.
Four Americans were among
the seven survivors. It was be
lieved they were the only Amer
icans aboard.
All the survivors were sitting
in a rear section of the cabin' that
came through the crash almost
intact.
The British European Airways
jet was flying from London to
Tel Aviv, Israel.
-———■■■ ■ .... ■ •:
"NOEL** . . .
SAWTRY, England UB — Mrs.
R. Fielding, a Christmas card
dealer, says a woman customer re
turned to exchange a card she had
bought for a brother with this
explanation: “My brother's name
is Fred, tout the card says Noel.”
Two-Way Radio Equipment
WASHINGTON OB — Starting
the day after Christmas, pilots will
have to have two-way radio
equipment when they fly into or
out of airpogts that have control
towers operated by the federal
government.
Of the 6,900 airports in the
United States, 475 have federally
operated towers.