Protection for the bald eagle came slowly. Not until 1940, when the Bald Eagle Act was signed, was the killing of bald eagles in the lower 48 states prohibited. In Alaska, a bounty was in effect from 1917 to 1945 and again from 1949 to 1953. More than 100,000 eagles were killed, each pair of feet bringing from 50 cents to $2. Finally, in 1953, the Territorial Bald Eagle Bounty Law was repealed in Alaska, making the indiscriminate killing of bald eagles illegal.