tracts signed and to the Rules
and Regulations of the Interior
Department of the United States
in whose charge the reindeer
were placed for distribution to
the natives.
Certain Laplanders had also
received loans of reindeer for
their services as instructors in
herding. Why this was done is
not known, as the first Lap
landers did not ask this.
In 1914 a corporation began
to buy reindeer. They bought
1200 deer from the Laplander
Nilima, who received a loan of
99 deer in 1901, and from this
built up the herd he sold In
this year the corporation began
io negotiate with the mission
having the herd loaned to them
at ^ller. which was the first
rebut or station and distribut
ing point, rod which was a key
point rn Port Clarence, one of
the few harbors on that coast.
The manager of the mission told
the president of the Company,
G. J. Lomen, that he had no
right to sell the reindeer fe
males. that it was against the
laws and regulations and also
against the contract the mission
had signed with the Govern
ment.
In 1915 the Corporation suc
ceeded in purchasing the herds
of the missions at Golovin and
at Unalakleet, both held for dis
tribution to the natives. In the
Golovin herd at that time there
were 2313 reindeer of which
1255 were still in the name of
the mission and 1053 had been
distributed to the natives. The
corporation assumed control of
the whole herd, taking charge
of the whole, although warned
in writing by the superintend
ent. in charge that such action
was against the regulations and
policy of the Government. The
taking over of the herd was
done during the time that Mr.
Snields, the Government super
Jiitendent, was absent on on
official trip at Barrow. In 1922
the Corporation rounded up over
the range of the Olson native
deer and took them into the
corporation herd, taking those
deer into their herd, where they
r.re to the present notwith
standing the vehement protests
of Mrs. Olsen whose former
husband, an Eskimo, earned
them.
There were about forty own
ers in this herd at one time,
natives who had from one deer
to more than 100. There are but.
four or five remaining at present
of the native owners.
The Teller Mission Herd.
In 1916 the Teller Mission,
overcome by the offer to pur
chase their deer, sold their
holdings to the Corporation. The
natives took their deer out and
kept them at the west end of
the lands occupied by the herd,
end on which were the buildings
of the Government, the station
at Teller, and this herd was
called the California herd, on
California Creek and west of
Lost River. The shelter cabins
on the Agiapuk and at other
places, erected by the Govern
ment for the reindeer work, and
for holding their deer there
were in the eastern part which
was taken by the Lomen Cor
poration. In 1918 the Spanish
Influenza swept the peninsula
killing over 1200 natives from
St. Michael to Cape Prince of
Wales. The Superintendent,
Walter Shields died of it. The
Reindeer Service was demoral
ized. Many of the best herders
died. Immediately the California
herd began to disappear into
the Teller-Lomen herd at Teller,
where the Corporation began to
assume charge of them. In the
Corporation count in 1921 ap
pears 850 females, and 648
fawns, with a total of 1498 deer,
cf which 47 belonged to Igloo
native herd, estrays from the
east, 3 were from Wales at the
•vest and 6 were from the herds
to the south. No males were
shown which is a notable con
dition. In 1921 the agent of the
Corporation in charge at Teller
issued a letter to the natives
saying that they, the natives,
should put their deer in the Cor
poration herds, that other herds
•were not properly taken care of.
The natives say that the: “Lo
mens come and ask permission
to put our herds together say
ing that we Eskimos will not be
able to look after our herds
properly, and also saying that
if we do not that one of the
herders of the California herd
will be punished for it.”
The Lomen Corporation took
control of the whole herd and
have held it to the present time.
In 1916 the record shows that
46 native owners owned 1047
reindeer, while the mission own
ed 595 deer.
In 1928 there are 24 owners
listed in the Teller herd called
Co-owners, a name coined for
the native owners who own
reindeer in the corporation
herds, in distinction to' the deer
classed as estray. There are list
ed in their report:
Lomen Reindeer Cor
poration • •.2939
Co-owners (Deer held
by Lomen from ori
ginal herd).619
Estray owner deer
(Mostly Igloo) . -..1930
Total 5483
Notes on the statement show:
“Some 280 deer were butchered
in the Teller herd belonging to
estray owners, these to be ex
changed.” The names of owners
of these deer are not given. “173
fawns marked to Lomen Rein
deer Corporation in October and
December 1927 are credited to
herd expense.”
This shows that three round
ups were made, and two of them
probably for butchering, but no
full butchering account is made.