It was from Minneapolis that the Lomen family emigrated to Alaska during the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush (1898). Based at Nome, they soon came to dominate Alaska's commercial and legal affairs, greatly influencing Alaska's role in the whaling industry, fur industry, reindeer trade, and politics right into the 1930s.

They even encouraged new forms of Native (Eskimo) scrimshaw for sale to tourists and established the infrastructure to market it in the Lower Forty-eight. Their ties with Minnesota remained strong and their business dealings involved many Minnesota entrepreneurs, politicians, and tradespeople.

Meanwhile, in the early decades of the 20th century St. Paul was the official home of the corporations that owned and controlled West Coast shore whaling operations from Alaska to California -- a close-knit community of ethnic Norwegians with intimate ties to the burgeoning modern whaling industry in Norway.