Omaha daily bee., 1884-12-02
TRAPPING IN WISCONSIN,.
The Fur Business of tho Past aud
What Remains of IL,

There's money In the fur business, i
you understand it" said an old fur trade,
to q Florence News reporter. AZ usot
to think l Understood it, until l got LEFT
on the market several times. The mar,
ket last winter was bad aud uncertain,
and 1t looks slim for the coming season
care there plenty of fur.boaring ami
mails in the woods2'
go ask the Kichi Manitou (Chippews
for Big Cody, but l don't think there
are. Last winter the market set In high
and SGT Everybody to trapping. This
served to exhaust tho crop in the woods
and run down the market. / sold 40C
pounds of beaver at SO a pound last win
ter, and could have bought it for 81. sc
two months afterwards. Hansen, of
Milwaukee; Periolat & Ullmann, of Chi.
cago; Percy, of Oshkosh, and Fox, OF
Green Bay, get almost all the fur bought
by the traders in this region at present. ;,
The fur-bearing animals, once plenti-
full, are of course, becoming scarcer with
each succeeding year. They still re-
present many families, and are of all
sizes. Probably the most valuable is the
silver gray fox, a few of which are still to
be found. Their pelts are worthfrom $40
to 500. The cross fox is worth from IS
to So, and the red fox only 81, These
skins arc used for trimmings, robes, etc.
Beaver are quito plentiful and are most
successfully trapped by the Indians.
Prime pelts are worth 81 a pound dried.
They weigh are from one-half to three
pounds. Large ones are very scarce. A
local buyer purchased 3, 300 pounds one
winter, and only had one skin that
weighed three pounds. The fur is dark
and is used for coats, caps, gloves, etc.
The trapping of beaver is q great art, and
is successfully accomplished by few. The
Indians trap them different from the
whites, and keep their mode a sacred
secret. The trap is set in the water near
the animals houses and arc visited every
two or three days. Small growthpopular
nakes the best bait. The otter is worth
prime from So to SIP. They are plenti-
full. One was ehot at Armstrong Lake
the other day by Messrs. Godshsll and
Coleman. The fur is dark and is used
for gauntlets, gloves, trimmings, etc.
Otter are generally caught in traps get at
their slides on the banks of rivers or
lakes whore they go to play. These
slides are visited about every seven days
by the animals. Fish or meat makes
good bait. Fisher fur Is much the same
as otter, worth about the same, of the
same color, and is put to about the same
uses.
The martin Is worth from 70 cents to
81 and brought $l4 ten years ago. j..
+. Shafer, who is an old fur buyer, sold
a very fine brush martin for $50. The
fur is dark and from it many caps and
sacks are made. The beautiful dark fur
of the mink has decended low In the
scale of prices from Its altitude of $l5
during war times to a mere pittance ut
present. It now sells from 10 to GO cents.
The fur makes beautiful trimmings and
durable sacks. They are caught intraps
set in the water and in desd-falls. Pat
ridge or squirrel make good bait. The
martin, spoken of above, Is caught in
very much the anne way as a mink.
Bear skins range from So to $40. j. f.
Shafer, while west last winter, saw "a
splendid grizzly pelt and offered $25 for
it, but was laughed at, it being worth
much more. NoYes Brothers bought q
bears pelt eight feet In length a short
time ago. Bruin is caught IN traps or
deadfalls set in swamps or around old
lumber camps, and baited with fish or
meat. The skins are used for robes,
mats, etc. Deer hides are worth from
20 to 40 cents a pound dried and
weigh from two to eight pounds
Two winters ago Noyes Brothers sold
1880 pounds of deer skins, or about $3.50
worth, in n lot. They were purchased
of hunters and Indians in this vicinity.
The skins are used to make gloves, nit
tens, suits, etc. Muskrat is not very
valuable, but is much used. Lynx are
worth from SO to 81. Skunk is worth
from % cents to 81, black being the
most valuable. OF all the animals IA fox
Is the hardest to catch. 1t will dig
under a trap and spring 1t, then steal the
bait. The wolf Is about as cunning as a
fox, and many are poisoned. The In
as before stated, would be far the
most successful trappers were they not so
incident. All they care for is a bare
and beyond tho necessilies thew
do not care. They manage to work at
or hunting about four hours
each day and two days each week, unless
bad luck compels them to further exert
themselves.