| Summary: | Lomen Reindeer Corporation. PH Coll 328.30 In 1914, the Lomen family purchased 1,200 reindeer from Alfred Nilima, a Lapplander living in the Kotzebue Sound area. By 1918, the Lomen brothers had purchased 6,268 deer from Lapp herds and the native missions at Teller and Golovin. Between 1914 and 1929, the Lomen Corporation bought 14,083 reindeer at a total cost of $236,156.00. The Lomen brothers came to monopolize the reindeer industry. The empire they established involved thousands of reindeer and included corrals, slaughterhouses, cold storage plants, refrigerated ships and retail stores where herding supplies are sold. They also controlled three of the most important shipping posts. At the peak of the commercial reindeer industry, the Lomen Brothers sold 50,000 reindeer carcasses between 1927 and 1930. With the passage of the 1934 Reindeer Act on September 1, 1934, which restricted ownership of domestic reindeer in Alaska to Natives only. The Lomens sold their large herd to the government at a low price in 1940.
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