Cottage industry pays off for Eskimo women: rural women knit scarves, hats and more using Musk Ox wool and sell it to a co-op for cash that helps provide income for families.

• Author: Watkins, Gerry

Eskimo women who live in remote Alaska wilderness regions owe a thank you to Arctic Explorer/Anthropologist John J. Teal Jr.

Teal domesticated the musk ox, opening up a whole new world to these women of the North.

It's a rare occasion when two desperate needs can come up with the same winning solution. During the 1940s-'50s, the native wild musk oxen were making a comeback from near extinction. At the same time, coastal Alaska villages faced debilitating poverty and needed outside help to meet basic needs.

The Harvard/Yale anthropologist established the Institute of Northern Agricultural Research in order to create a supplementary source of income for them using an animal or plant native to the region. He decided the musk ox best suited his purpose.

A GROWING PRESENCE

Musk oxen thrive in Alaska's open tundra and well-vegetated terrain. Scientists believe this short-legged, massively built animal that resembles bison wandered across the Bering Strait on a narrow land bridge to North America nearly two million years ago. They multiplied in Alaska's windswept and in-hospitable land, but had been hunted almost to extinction by the l850s. The animals had been re-introduced during the 1930s from Greenland.

Teal determined to domesticate the musk ox in order to complete his project He captured his first animals during a Canadian expedition in 1954, and established a herd for the University of Alaska Fairbanks, which he managed for many years. After a decade of research, Teal's Musk Ox Project situated the state's first musk ox farm near Palmer, in Matanuska Valley.

Ankle-length guard hairs protect these animals against severe sub-zero temperatures. Beneath that outer coat there's a light brown, soft but dense undercoat known as qiviut, pronounced kiv-ee-ute, meaning "down" or "underwool" in the Inupiat Eskimo language. Adults shed from four to six pounds during spring, allowing harvesters to comb or pull large puffs of the downy wool from the oxen.

Farming the animal for its renewable fiber assures the project a lifetime of the desired wool. The undercoat is processed and spun into exquisite yarn. Eight times warmer than sheep wool and very lightweight, qiviut is one of the finest natural fibers known to man. It's often referred to as "the cashmere of the North."

THE PROJECT'S ORIGINS

Knitting began in 1968 when a textile specialist for the project brought a supply of the rare yarn to Mekoryuk, the only village on Nunivak Island. Eskimo women took...