“Golden Fleece of the Arctic”

Every spring the musk ox begins to shed his wool undergarment in such great quantities that early explorers were astonished to see the low bushes and shrubs of the tundra festooned with masses of what looked like filmy cobwebs. This wool has been called the “golden fleece of the Arctic.” One pound of it, spun into a forty-strand thread, will stretch for twenty-five miles!

Some authorities think that musk ox fleece even exceeds cashmere wool in quality. Only four ounces of this “golden fleece” is required to make a featherweight sweater, yet it will keep a man comfortable even in the coldest weather. This “golden fleece of the Arctic” is valued at anywhere from $35 to $50 a pound.

Domestication

As far back as 1880 the suggestion was made that perhaps musk oxen could be domesticated. Thus they would be a source of large amounts of milk and meat. However, in recent decades it was realized that such use of the animals would be like ‘killing the goose that laid the golden egg,’ because great possibilities were seen in the use of the warm woolen undergarment.

The need to provide Eskimo people with some kind of employment, combined with a potential market for musk ox wool, sparked a domestication program.

The domesticated musk ox is sleeker in appearance owing to the care that the keepers give their shaggy coats.

Each season wool is lifted, not sheared off them, eliminating the unkempt look of wild musk oxen during the shedding stage. It is believed that a healthy musk ox will yield wool for at least twenty years, with some producing more than six pounds yearly. Eskimo villagers are learning the new art of knitting this fine wool. Many Eskimo women knit a scarf sixteen inches wide and forty-eight inches long, weighing a bit less than an ounce!