The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1860-01-25
WHOLE NUMBER GIG.
ents the savage Hyperboriaus as wearing

ents the savage Hyperborians as wearing
he skins of wolves. The ancient Greeks
lid not employ furs as srlicles of apparel
The northern cOnquerors introduced the
fashion into Europe about the year 500, A.
D. In $40, sables were first used in Italy,
by Totils, King of the Visgoths. The
Welch employed furs as articles of dress in
$40, when Howell Dda began 10 reign
Godfrey, of Boulogne, and his followers on
their crusade to the Holy Land, were robsd
in the Costiest of furs-probably ermine and
sable. Charlemagne contented himself with |
the plain fur Of the otter. Henry the First
Of England wore iurs, and we learn that
when distress and poverty came upon him,
be was obliged to exchange them for Welch
flannel. Marco Polo relates that in 1852
the tent of the Cham OF Tartsry, which he
slept beneath, was lined with ermine and
sable. The rage for furs arrived at such aD
extent in 1887, that Edward the Third pro-
hibited their use to all persons whose 10.
come was less than one hundred pounds
year. The aborigines of America, 10 the
northern latitudes, wore furs rudely ornH.
mented, when frat discovered, and their de.
scendants do to this day. At one period, the
north of Asia alone supplied the known
world with the most valuable, though the
Scythians,, inhabitants of modern Sweden,
exported furs to limited extent to the ma
tions of Southern Europe. Now, in addition
to Russia. in Europe and America, the Hud.
sons Bay Company, Greenland traders, and
our own hardy hunters and trappers, supply
the market. From all these sources, large
and valuable amounts of furs are annually
obtained. China and Japan vie with the
countries Of Europe and America in the use
of rare and costly furs. Many expeditions
have been sent out by England, Russia ant
. France. in search o turs. In Captain Cook
=. last voyage TO the northwest coast Of fAmer
lea, "trading for furs" formed an importan
!. feature of the expedition. The French es
- tablished, at on early date, trading posts o.
;s the st. Lawrence, and throughout the Ca
Il madam Provinces, making Montreal the
!, headquarters. The British Hudson's Ba
:, Company was chartered by Charles the Sc,
g. ond, in 1910, and Immediately erected tra
y, ing. houses on the shores Of that bay and
10 tributary rivers. In 1887, the famous Nor
~. West Company was created, the warehou5
m of which were 10 Montreal and Quebec.
no A few years after, a new association
-; British merchants formed the Mackinaw G.
,,r and established factory at MichilmAc
,bo nae. In 1910, John Jacob Actor formed
-. association, with four gentlemen, under I
tho firm of the Pacific Fur Company, and est
or lished fortified trading post at the mo
g., of Columbia river, or that company and
-, results, the late beloved Washington Erv
,oa he whose fur.collared portrait is 80 fan
NJ lar to the world-has given US in his "As
ria," full and interesting history.
inn Astor did more for the fur trade in this COZ
, 70 try than any person before or since his tit
-, In 1919, Mr. C. G. Gunther estabishe
al. store for the manufacture and sale OF (,
Tho in this city, in the neighborhood of the
;,b. he now occupies in Maiden Lane, and
q of continued in the business for over f
o.. years, circumstance worthy of MOTTO,
bicb these days, when scarcely another busin
o;vo firm of any kind in the entire country
existed so long, while many thousands b
risen and fourished, and passed away
tho half the number Of years. The largest
:. If porium for furs in the world is doubt
of Moscow snd, opropos of this last ma
, tho city, we recently learned from one who
Tho present at the first Worlds Fair in Lon
,d !. in 1851, when the furs from Moecow fol
.na Exposition were being unrolled, be OBJ
:. 70 ed that each fur contained swans {
4 tho one end of which was lightly corked.
,ced inquiriug Of the Russian gentleman wht
4. :, the furs in charge, he was informed tha
!, ,.- quills contained liquid quicksilver, and
,o,or a certain preventive of the attacks OF m
o,;.. Next to Moscow, as q fur emporium, C
,o.,. St. Petersburgh, then London, Leipsic
i ,ha 10 this country, New York is the gres
mart, and Maiden Lane the street wher
t.Lon most do congregate. BARRY GRI