OP-ED
“And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name: ‘Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!’” Clement C. Moore A Visit from St. Nicholas
Christmas is a joyful holiday for believers as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, rejoicing in the hope and promise of God’s redemptive work and victory over death through His Son Jesus Christ. We mark the holiday in many ways with many traditions, some old and some new. One is the practice of gift giving, a reflection of God’s gift, a baby born in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago, delivered in a cattle stall into the most humble of circumstances.
Part of this holiday gift-giving remembrance and celebration is the eagerly awaited arrival of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, bringing presents for all as he is towed through the air by his flying reindeer. This is a big event for those willing to join in the fun, watching and waiting for Santa and his team. He is even tracked through the sky every year by NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command). It seems those reindeer make pretty good time traversing the globe. Eager children everywhere hope to see Santa and his reindeer. As so begins our story… In 1945, Texas rancher Grady Carothers, inspired by his young son who wondered why there were no reindeer in Texas, decided to embark on an entrepreneurial adventure. His son’s wish became the seed for an enterprise that spread Christmas joy for years. Grady Carothers decided we needed some reindeer in Texas.
Reindeer, of course, are not native to Texas. They are found in the Far North and are closely linked to caribou. They are the same species and share the same scientific name – Rangifer tarandus. But while caribou are wild, and native to Alaska, reindeer come from Eurasia and are typically domesticated and considered livestock. Reindeer were imported from Siberia to Alaska in the 1890s where they are still kept by the native population.
Pondering his son’s question, and much to the chagrin of his slewfoot friends and neighbors, Carothers went to work in search of reindeer. With the help of his supportive wife and her trusty Royal typewriter, he began a letter writing campaign. Many letters were simply mailed general delivery to postmasters and other contacts in Alaska expressing a desire to acquire some reindeer. After repeated attempts with no luck, one bloke suggested he contact the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI). The DOI, along with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Alaska Reindeer Service, were the governmental bodies tasked with managing reindeer herds near and above the Arctic Circle. After some resistance, they were finally given a permit and the okay to purchase several reindeer.
In the summer of 1946, Carothers and his oldest son traveled to Nome, Alaska, almost 3,000 miles from home. From there they continued farther east for another 70 miles to the tiny village of Golovin where they bought six reindeer steers for $50 each. Once back in the Lone Star State, Carothers broke the animals to harness, and after some serious work was ready to launch his business into the first Christmas season.
Carothers began contacting schools, shopping centers, parade organizers, and local chambers of commerce offering his services. He ferried his charges from town to town and state to state, sometimes doing as many as three shows a day. With red harnesses, his Texas reindeer pulled Santa and his sleigh from Thanksgiving through Christmas for almost 30 years. At one time he had as many as six teams on the road.
Along the way, they had more than a few misadventures. One episode, found in the pages of a Portales, New Mexico newspaper from November of 1951 recounted a real-life reindeer problem when a critter named “Blitzen” broke his halter rope and scampered around Portales for two hours before he was recaptured. The runaway reindeer was “nabbed in a field in southwest Portales where he was found grazing contentedly with some dairy cows.”
Over the years, Carothers made an estimated 15 trips to Alaska, buying reindeer for replacements and breeding stock and transporting them to his ranch in Goldthwaite (Mills County, Texas). The reindeer were first flown by bush plane (typically two at a time) to Nome or Fairbanks, where they then flew home on a DC-3 cargo plane. After a time, it became more cost-effective to trailer the animals home from Fairbanks, which in itself could be an adventure. Jack Carothers, one of Grady’s sons, shared a remembrance with me from a reindeer-buying trip he made with his dad in 1954. That summer they loaded their empty trailer with watermelons, and traded melons for gas and groceries all the way up the Alcan Highway.
In later years Carothers moved to California, where he continued to put on shows and exhibit his reindeer. For a time, they were the featured attraction at Santa’s Village theme park in Lake Arrowhead. Later, after retiring from the reindeer business, Carothers drove the stagecoach at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park.
In an interview towards the end of his life Carothers said that “one of his fondest memories was when his reindeer pulled Santa Claus in a rose-covered sleigh in the 1955 Tournament of Roses Parade.”
Grady Carothers was a good man. And his exploits are still remembered and talked about around ranch house kitchen tables and smalltown lunch counters to this day. He passed from this earth on April 25, 2004, the day after his 98th birthday. His body was returned to his home state of Texas, and he was buried at Senterfitt Cemetery in Lometa.
Grady Carothers and his reindeer gave all they met a wonderful Christmas gift for many years. Who’d have thought you could bring reindeer to Texas…
