THE REINDEER MAN

Taranaki Daily News, 13 April 1935, Page 21 (Supplement)

THE REINDEER MAN

HIS FIVE YEAR PLAN. ANDREW BAHR’S GREAT TREK. Andrew Bahr’s trek is ended. He has led his reindeer to their new home. This little wrinkled Laplander, over whose head more than 60 winters have passed, has added his almost unknown name to the list of legendary heroes. He had become almost a legend since, more than five years ago, he set out to lead a herd of reindeer over 2000 miles of the Arctic Circle to a destination near the mouth of the Mackenzie River, where a settlement of Eskimos dwell near the shores of the Arctic Ocean, hardly removed from starvation. From time to time during the five years since he set out on December 16, 1929, from Elephant Point in Western Alaska with his herd of 3000 reindeer fragments of news of his progress have reached the outer world. By none were they received more eagerly than by the 15,000 Eskimos on the Kittigazuit Peninsula, whose plight could be remedied only by the arrive! of this sufficient food supply. The tidings were bound to be fragmentary because for long periods the Reindeer Man and his herd disappeared altogether from sight and knowledge. After the first few months, though the route had been mapped out beforehand, the position of the herd could only be found by aeroplanes. During the last two years food was dropped to the herdsmen by the Canadian planes sent out to find them every fortnight. From every point of view it has been a tremendous trek, of which Andrew Bahr was the supreme organiser. He set out with 3000 selected animals, taking with him three other Lapps and six Eskimos as herdsmen, and 53, sledges drawn by trained reindeer to transport equipment and supplies.

THE LEADER OF THE HERD.

From his own profound knowledge ho added a finishing touch to his team. He trained a handsome buck reindeer to serve as leader of the herd, knowing that if he could control this king among them he could always manage the herd. But there was an unexpected snag in this device. A rival buck grew up to might and power when the journey was halfway through, and challenged the hitherto acknowledged leader. The animals had several minor scrimmages, and it was clear that a crisis was approaching, so one day, when the temperature was 70 degrees below freezing, Andrew pitched camp, called his herdsmen together, and separated the rivals from the rest of the herd. The herdsmen believed there was nothing for it but a fight between the two reindeer to settle the leadership. But the little Reindeer Man thought otherwise. He knew that if he once allowed them t<? battle it might be a fight to the death and he would lose both, leaving the herd without a leader. They must not fight; but how to prevent' it? Only the Wizard of the North knew the way. He led the animals aside, and by some mysterious inspiration, drawn from the depths of his knowledge of these wild creatures, he prevented a struggle. The older buck stepped back into the herd to allow the younger to become leader. On those minutes of suspense the success of the expedition hung, and the story of Andrew’s intervention will become part of his legend. There are many other parts of it which will never be told, as in those five years the herd moved eastward, fording streams and circling lakes and packs of ice. Bitter blizzards,, bore down on them as they made their way across the Continental Divide and through a -pass hardly ever used. When the herd came to the Mackenzie River the current threatened to carry many of the reindeer‘away. The Reindeer Man saved every one. It is the most astonishing part of his story that he led the thousands of reindeer through that icy wilderness without losing one. ■ , . L They travelled only during the winter months, when the tundra is covered with snow and ice and the gales are sweeping down from the Pole. During the sum r mer Andrew camped and raised the reindeer young, which, by the following winter, were strong enough to romp along beside their mothers. If this trek were merely a remarkable example of courage and leadership it would, make history, but it is more than that. The 3000 reindeer he has given to the Eskimo settlement will, By their establishment in it, become a perpetual and sufficient source of food supply to these people who hitherto have had. to live precariously by fishing and trappmg fox. Under normal conditions the reindeer herd will double in .number about every three years, so that there will be animals for food, for clothing, and for use as beasts of burden. The reindeer lives sparely and is completely suited to Polar conditions. . No wonder that when the herd arrived a frostbitten driver, who had been travelling day and night for nearly a week, leaped out from his dog team sledge to shout to the people of the neares wireless station: “Send „the word; Andrew Bahr has saved us.” The frozen North knew it, and the world now hears of it.