THE AMERICAN-SC AN BIN AVIAN REVIEW 
357 
used for meat and skins, 
accounts for the amazing 
increase of the Alaska 
reindeer herds. The orig¬ 
inal stock of 1280 animals 
have multiplied in less 
than thirty years to a 
grand total of 350,000. 
Of this number about 
100,000 have been slaugh¬ 
tered, leaving about 250,- 
000 reindeer in Alaska at 
the present time. 
Americans of Norwe¬ 
gian descent have been 
the first white men in 
Alaska to recognize the 
great possibilities of the 
reindeer industry. About 
eight years ago they began 
to purchase herds from 
Lapps and missions who 
wanted to dispose of their 
holdings, and ever since 
individual herds have been 
passing into their hands. 
The largest reindeer own¬ 
er in Alaska to-day is a 
syndicate, Lomen and 
Company, composed prin¬ 
cipally of American Nor¬ 
wegians, and headed by 
Judge G. J. Lomen. Lo¬ 
men and Company own about 30,000 deer, or about 15 percent of the 
total stock in the country. About 70 percent is owned by a thousand 
Eskimos; the Government owns 4 percent, and the remainder is dis¬ 
tributed among a few Lapps and missions. 
The reindeer owned by Lomen and Company are divided into six 
herds, at Kotzebue, Buckland, Teller, Golovin, Egavik, and Nunivak 
Island. The company has a big slaughter house at Nome and several 
smaller ones, all with cold storage plants, and it may be said to be on 
a big production basis. Several thousand steers are slaughtered annu¬ 
ally and shipped to the United States by way of Seattle. Judge 
Lomen claims that the reindeer industry is now the most rapidly grow¬ 
ing industry of Alaska, and that, figuring on a basis of present prices 
A Racing Animal, a Cross Between a Reindeer and a 
Domestic Caribou. The Racing Record for Reindeer 
in Alaska Is 10 Miles in 27 Minutes and 20 Seconds 
