The Nome Nugget

Many Hear Carl Lomen Talk On Reindeer Industry

In the crowded Service Club at Marks Air Base Sunday night, Carl J. Lomen gave an interesting resume of the reindeer industry from its inception in Alaska to the present day and also gave advice as to the possible future of the industry.

Mr. Lomen told of the government project to furnish the Alaska native with meat and clothing through the planting of reindeer in Northwestern Alaska before the turn of the century.

He explained that the first experiments were unsuccessful in that the Eskimo had no knowledge of the methods of caring for domestic animals and the herds did not prosper until the government brought in a total of 1200 reindeer and some 30 Scandinavian Laplanders to take care of the herds.

The inducement, stated Mr. Lomen, for the Laplanders to come to Alaska was in allowing them to become owners of some percentages of the reindeer increase.

This went on for a number of years and the herds flourished until at one time there were an estimated million reindeer in Northwestern Alaska. Since there was a need for handling and marketing of the reindeer and the by-products, the Lomen family, father and four sons, interested themselves in the advancement of the industry by purchasing of some reindeer from the Lapp owners.

There was no change in the method of herding: the Eskimos were employed as herders under direction of the Laplanders as before, while the business of slaughtering, storage, and marketing was built up through untiring efforts of the Lomen family and their agents throughout the United States.

The reindeer business, as a food source for the United States, said Mr. Lomen, we believed was here to stay. But we were due for a complete surprise. The Interior Department announced that the reindeer industry was begun in Alaska for the benefit of the native and not the white man, so the Lomens were forced to sell to the government the business they had at great cost and effort built into a self-supporting industry.

Mr. Lomen went on to say that the transfer was made, and the reindeer were now under the Interior Department. The next several years saw the catastrophic decline of the reindeer in the Territory until today the number of reindeer can be tallied in just a few thousand.

Today, Mr. Lomen advised, the picture is different. there must be a change in the law which prohibits the white man from owning the reindeer and giving the reindeer industry a chance to survive. The youth of Alaska should be given some aid to assist in developing enterprise in Alaska.

Following the talk by Mr. Lomen, Col. H. Burkhalter, commanding officer of the air base here stated that in his opinion the army should take some interest in the reindeer as a means of winter transportation in addition to the food and clothing problems.

Miss Jane Sniffen, Red Cross representative for the Special Service on the base, stated that further informative subjects will be presented each Sunday evening.