The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1895-09-12
FOX RAISING IN ALASKA.

From the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette.
Fox farming in Alaska, which has
assumed immense proportions, was
originated by Pittsburgher. In
1879 George Wardman was travel
ling about the coast in the steamer
Rush. He saw valuable black fox
skin sold for 5000, and conceived the
notion that farming The fox would
be profitable. He got Preach Tay-
lor, Thomas F. Morgan, and James
G. Redpath interested and a COM
pany was formed. The gentlemen
are agents of the Alaska Commercial
Company at st. George.
Morgan suggested as a place for
the experiment the Semedies group
of seventy rocky islets, sixty miles
wost of Kodiak, which produced
nothing but sea birds and sea lions,
and are uninhabited. At the sea is
lands of the Pribyioff group the
Alaska Commercial Company catch
from 1000 to 1,60O blue foxes every
winter. The black foxes are scarce,
while the blue fox is not nearly so
valuable.
During the winter of 1880 arrange
ments were made with an agent at
Kodiak to get some black fox cubs.
He secured half dozen, and while
he was away on business the natives
killed the cubs by kindness and by
overfeeding them. No more of the
cubs could be found, and no further
effort to carry out the scheme was
made until the summer of 1854,
when about twenty blue fox cubs
were caught. They were taken in \
steamer to Unalaska and thence in
chartered schooner, with q quantity
of seal meat, to the Semed dies Islands,
where they were released.
The islands are inaccessible ex-
cept in calm weather, which helped
the enterprise, as it kept poachers
and Indians from catching the stock.
At first it was difficult to get any
right on the land. The treasury de-
partment, however, addressed a
letter to revenue steamers and the
provisional governmet of Alaska, to
give their protection to the fox
farmers under the law protecting
squatters, and the company has not
been molested in it's enterprise.
The foxes eat eggs and catch birds
in the summer. They are also
adopts at killing sea lions, which
serve them for food. They are very
intelligent. They take the eggs in
summer and hide them in the thick
moss, which is like mattresses, and
leave them until they get hungry in
winter and can find nothing else to
eat. If they hid the eggs in the dirt
they would be unable to scratch the
frozen ground away from them in
winter, hence the wisdom displayed
in covering them with moss. The
foxes have been watched during the
months of July and August ON the
cliffs searching for eggs, and have
been tracked to their hiding places.
The blue fox pelt is valued at S15,
and as seals become scarcer 1t be-.
comes more valuable. ALI attempts
to catch black foxes have proved
failures, as they are 30 -searee- Ma
tives are hired to live ON the island
and watch the foxes. The latter are
trapped in certain seasons, killed,
and skinned. The csrcasses are
valueless, as the Indians, who will
eat almost anything, will not touch
the fox meat. The number has null
tiplied from twenty cubs to about
5000 foxes, and they have been
trapped every season since they
were large enough to be Of value
Mr.. Wardman sold his interest to
Byron Andrews OF Washington.
The company is 10 . fair way to
make large fortunes from fox farm
ing.