The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-17
MEN WHO HANDLE FURS.
SAVANNAH HEADQUARTERS FOR
THE SOUTHERN TRADE.

An Industry that Aggregates Many
Where the Southern Furs Come
from and Where They Gothic Mar
ket Here the Same as that in the
East.
Few people know the volume of trade
in furs in Savannah. 1t is a quiet, unob-
trusive industry, and yet it aggregates
between $4,000 and 100000 annually.
The great bulk of southern pelts go TO New
York from this port for direct expectation
to London and Paris. The fur trade of
this section is considered Of such import
ance that eastern exporters and foreign i'm
porters send agents here to look after it,
and there are agents here now to canvass
the situation to see if the dealers can antici-
pate the probable receipts
The fur producing animals in the south
are the black bear, beaver, otter, raccoOn,
fox, mink AID wild cat. In the parlance of
the trade the ripening process with these
animals has more than begun, and from
Jan. ! to JAN Is they 'ripen." 1t is one of
the wise provisions of nature that the ami
mails in question are not fur bearing in the
heated term. and the skin is not so thick.
As the colder season approaches the relt
thickens and the fur begins to grow out,
frightening as the cold increases until the
full perfection of the fur growth is reached,
after which, as the season grows warmer,
the animal begins TO shed its fur, the pelt is
reduced in thickness, and with its summer
suit on the animal is more comfortable, but
his pelt lessons in value, SO that the skilled
trapper does not want to catch it, and only
the amateur hunter will train his gun
upon it.
SAVANNAH A BIG MARKET.
There are four houses in Savannah deal
ing in furs: Messrs. II. Myers g. Bro,
LeeRoy Myers & Co., NJ. Y. Henderson and
Samuel Stern. The market for furs is as
good here as in the east, as furs always
command good prices. Savannah is the
collecting point for the trade of South
Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and that
fact is recognized by the exporters who
keep an eye on the fur trade of this section.
A MORNING NEWS reporter in interviews
with fur men has taken some pains to col
lect information regarding the prices paid,
and they correspond very closely with the
eastern market. In fact, New York is glad
to get southern pelts at Savannah prices,
which correspond with eastern prices, and
pay the freights.
There are quite number of beaver pelts
brought to this market. They command
from 81 to 50 80 as to quality. They come
fact that the beaver is not yet extinct. In
fact a furrier said yesterday that it has
only been few years ago that these In
dustrious ANIMALS, by dammlng up some of
the streams in Southwest Georgia, did an
unsanitary job that was felt in the increase
of types of fever in that section.
THE BEAR FUR TRADE.
A bear skin well furred will bring all the
way from Sc to 50, according to size. The
black bear is very plentiful in the swamp
regions of South Carolina, Georgia and
Florida, but he is hard to get out of the
swamp, and there are not a great many
taken.
The otter skin is always in good demand
Even during the summer season his pelt is
worth from 80 cents to IS, and at this time
the price ranges from So up to 50, accord
ing TO size and quality. The tide water
otter skin, which is Drowned by the brack-
ish water in which the animal disports and
feeds, does not command as high price as
the fresh water otter, but the difference in
price is not great.
The fox pelt, which brings from 10 cents
to Is cents in summer, commands from 25
cents to 80 cents at this season of the year.
This alludes to the pelt Of the gray fox, it
being very rare that red fox is caught in
this latitude.
Raccoon skins, which command only from
5 cents to 10 cents in the summer months,
are now worth from 10 cents to 40 cents as
to quality, and large well furred raccoon
pelt is worth more as to size and condition.
THE SLY MINK.
Mink skins are only worth from IS to IS
cents each. Time was when no lady's wi i
ter dress was complete without mink fur
trimming and mink muffiers, and mink skins
readily brought from 81 to 81 so each some
eight or nine years ago. AT that time Paris
81 a. IL,
settled upon the mink. No lady was con-
sidered fashionable without her outdoor
costume was well furred with mink,
and many lady Of fashion
wore furs of the s. common black
house cat, and was none the wiser, for the
trappers we're unable to catch enough
minks to supply the demand. 1t is related
that when the mink fur craze was at its
hight the firm of Boswitz Bros, in New
York, and Detroit fur house cornered the
market, buying up all the mink skins in the
country. Mink pelts then readily COM
manded from 81 % to So so each, but the
fur was of too somber a hue to suit the dash
ing Partisan belle, and the Detroit house,
seeming the danger, sold out its entire stock
at good profit. The next day the bottom
dropped out, pelts declining 81 each, until
now from % to % GEMS is considered the
top Of the market.
WILD CAT FURS.
In the summer wild cat skins are quoted at
from 10 to Is cents, but they are now quoted
at from 90 to 80 cents, just double. South
ern skunk pelts are worth from 10 to 20
cents; opossum, 5 to 10 cents each. Fur
riers attach no market value to squirrel
and rabbit pelts, which fiud no market in
Savannah Flint deer skins are worth %
cents per pound, and large number are re-
ceived in this market.
''What do you think the dressed buckskin
is worthg' asked dealer of the reporter,
and then the dealer answered his own
question by stating that the Indian dressed
buckskins readily command from 81 % to
81 80 per pound. These dressed skins come
from the Florida Everglades, and are
dressed by the Indians, who, painstnkingly,
and by process known only to themselves,
dress and cure the bucks hide employing
in the process smoke, which gives the soft
buckskin Of commerce the rich golden hue,
which none but the aborigines can give it.
There used TO be quite local trade i'll
alligator skins for expectation to England,
and the hides, green sailed, of five feet and
upward commanded from 65 cents to 81 So
each, but the trade has Stacked off, and
there has been no unusual demand for
them this season.
The fur season in the south begins with
the approach of the colder months and
ceases with the beginning Of the early
spring. Furriers say that from the tim o
pelts are ripe, which in this latitude is
oh he Of no