The Reindeer Industry in Alaska 
By John G. Holme 
The honor of being the pioneer in Alaska’s rapidly growing rein¬ 
deer industry belongs indisputably to Uncle Sam. He started the 
business thirty years ago, and it has flourished mightily ever since. The 
pioneers in the commercial development of Alaska reindeer were Ameri¬ 
can Scandinavians, mostly men of Norwegian descent. They are now 
the largest individual reindeer owners in Alaska, and it is not unlikely 
that they own the biggest herds in the world. 
The introduction of reindeer into Alaska was initiated with the 
importation from Siberia ol 
171 animals, which were land¬ 
ed on the shores of Port Clar¬ 
ence Bay on the nation’s birth¬ 
day, July 4, 1892. In the 
course of the next ten years, 
1109 more were brought over, 
the total importation being 
1280. In 1898 some reindeer 
were shipped from Norway 
to Alaska for the relief of 
starving miners at Circle 
City, but these were sled deer 
and contained no breeding 
stock. 
The purpose of the intro¬ 
duction of reindeer into 
Alaska was to make of the 
Eskimos a self-supporting 
people, the management of 
the herds and distribution of 
deer being made under the 
auspices of the Bureau of Ed¬ 
ucation, Department of the 
Interior. In order to teach 
the Eskimos reindeer farming, about sixty Lapps were brought into the 
country. These Lapps received for their own use a few deer on condition 
that after five years they should return an equal number of animals to 
Uncle Sam. They were allowed to keep any number in excess of what 
they had originally received. Both Lapps and Eskimos were forbidden 
to slaughter female deer during the time of their productivity a rule 
that is still in force. 
This wise policy of protecting the cows, while the steers have been 
Judge Lomen, the Reindeer King of Alaska 
