Lomen Company was an Americanmeatpacking industry, founded in 1914 by brothers Carl J. Lomen and Alfred Lomen in the then Territory of Alaska. Carl Joys Lomen was an American entrepreneur and photographer. He was known as The Reindeer King of Alaska, because of his role in "organizing, promoting, marketing, and lobbying for the reindeer industry" in the first decades of the 20th century, as president of the Lomen Company.
The Lomen brothers invested in the purchase of Reindeer,The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations herds, and between 1920–1929, they built a huge Slaughterhouse
Then they proceeded to dominate the export market of reindeer meat and skins for the United States, making inviable the competition for the
Inuit small farmers, the Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada and the United States . Between 1914 and 1929, Lomen has acquired 14,083 reindeers, at the total cost of US$ 236,156.00.
In 1926, in conjunction with Macy's, Lomen developed a clever marketing campaign to publicize its main product: the reindeers. Santa Claus in a sleigh pulled by reindeers, The Lomen brothers forged letters published in newspapers, where children asked for the presence of Santa and his reindeers in some cities. It was from there that the reindeer-drawn sleigh became one of the traditions associated with the American Christmas.
The Lomen Company, however, began to have trouble with the lobby of Cattle producers, who Lobbying to impose barriers to the promotion and sale of reindeer meat. Before that happened, in 1929, with the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the market for Lomen's products began to decline. The final blow was given on September 1, 1937, when the Reindeer Act transferred the possession of all Alaskan reindeer herds to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (and, therefore, into the hands of the Inuit), paying $3 or $4 per head the Lomen's herds was then acquired by the U.S. government for the gross amount of US$ 720,000.00.
In 1997 a court decision allowed to non-natives to acquire reindeer herds in Alaska.
SO NOW YOU KNOW WHERE SANTA CLAUS GOT HIS REINDEER FROM !!!
When you work in Santa Claus,Ind, you hear about these stories all of the time. From what I heard about Carl & Alfred, they were I think 4th or 5th cousins off the far side of the Kringle family tree. Always doing off the wall stuff. Kris got wind of their business venture and had a long heart to heart talk to both of them. Long story short, Kris actually bought the entire herd from them and started a Reindeer santuary up toward Northern Alaska. Don't quote me on this, but that's what I heard from the big guy.
