The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1877-12-20
The Musk Ok in America.


You are doubtless aware that great
improvements have been made during
the last fifteen years in the manufacture
of that class of goods known as '' Worst
eds England and France have at
the present time millions of capital
invested in this branch of manufactures,
and in several localities it comprises the
chief occupation of the inhabitants.
In this country there are several large
mills engaged in the manufacture of
these goods, the demand for which is
largely in excess of the ability OF the
manufacturers TO supply, and which
have been wholly unaffected by the hard
times. The raw material of these goods
is the combing woods, mohair, the
feeces of the Angora and Cashmere
goats. By reference to the market re-
port of woods you will find that comb
ing woods are held at about thirty-ive to
fifty per cent. in advance of other
grades. The point of the subject to
which l wish particularly to call your
attention refers to the article known in
commerce as mohair, the supply of
which is very limited, being only pro-
duced in Angora, province of Asiatic
Turkey, and also in small amounts in
Thibet in Central Asia. The goats of
Thibet and Cashmere differ from the
Angora goat in that they produce an I'M
dergrowth of very fine and soft wool in
addition to the long fiber known as mo-
hair. England, owing to her peculiar
advantages, has monopoly of the pro-
ducts of both of the two sections of
country. The yield per head is very
limited, rarely exceeding three pounds.
A considerable number of the Angora
goats was imported into this country in
former years, but this has been stopped
by the distractions thrown in the way
by English agents in Turkey. The price
during the last few years has ranged
from one dollar to one dollar and
quarter per pound. 1t may not be
generally known that there is an animal
roaming over a large section of this
continent known as the musk OK, whose
fleece vies with the Cashmere and
Angora goat in adaptability for all
manufacturing purposes, and has a
length of staple far exceeding either of
them, and producing fifteen to twenty
pounds of mohair or long fiber and five
to six pounds of the undergraduates
may call it-equally as soft and fine and
much exceeding in length that of the
Cashmere goat. Its meat is also very
good for food. There has never been
any attempt to domesticate these ami
mails, perhaps, for the simple reason that
so littleis known of them, but from what
is known the chances of success are very
great. They combine to a marked degree
the peculiarities of the sheep and the
OK. They roam in small herds of from
ten to twenty-five, and spend the win
ters in the far North, living on moss
and other coarse vegetable matter,
which are secured by scraping away the
snow with their hoofs. The animals
come as far south as sixty degrees north
latitude in summer for the purpose of
giving the young the benefit of this low
latitude. :
My object in calling your attention to
this matter is, that the expedition now
being fitted out to go in search of Sir
John Franklin's papers might be in.
duced to take into consideration the
feasibility of bringing back with them
specimens of this species of animal.