The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-04-02
RAISING OF FOXES.
The Government to Lease the
Aleutian Islands.
A Bill Now Tntr duced Into Con
greSSs
Worth From 81 to $40, and There Are
Thousands Animals Are
as Tame and Quiet
as Dogs.

stS Logs
From The State Journals Special Cor.
Washington, Apr. Fox raising as an
industry is the newest interest to ap-
peal to congress. The silver interests,
the manufacturers, the cattle raisers
and the horny handed farmer have
had Their their causes pleaded with
impassioned eloquence but anew cause
has arisen, and when Alaska gets her
delegate in congress we shall no
doubt hear his foice raised in pleading
tones for the interests of the blue and
silver-tailed foxes.
The foxes get into congress this way.
On at last 20 of the Aleutian Islands in
Alaska the sole business is raising blue
and silver-tailed foxes. For this pur-
pose the islands have been leased of
the United States from the secretary
OF the treasury for 500 year each in
some cases or a nominal sum But
these leases had to be renewed each
year and sometimes intervals would
elapSe between the expiration OF
lease and its renewals when companies
or individuals engaged in this business
" Ould be without protection from the
marauding cruisers with which the
waters in that sections abound.
Now comes the representative of
those interests and asks that con-
gress authorize the leasing Of those is
secretary of the treasury for any sum
he may think right.
There are p desOlate barren islands
off the shore of Alaska. where this fox
raising industry is conducted. About
100 persons are now employed breed
ing and raising these foxes in the
same manner the farmer does cattle or
hogs. The principal Islands are North
Semidi South Semidi, Little KOninski
UkOmok Little Naked. and Carlson.
The persons at present most largely in
York, W. B. Taylor OF Omaha, James
c. Redpath of san FRANCISCO, Thomas
f. Morgan of Grafton. Conn.
Some Interesting things are told of
the manner of raising these animals
by the representatives of the fox men
before congress- The foxes are rails
ed just like farmers raise hogs" said
he. They are called at feeding time
and come UP and eat corn meal mush
out of a trough. They are as tame as
dogs. The islands on which they are
raised are of no possible account for
any other purpose. They are barren
rocks jutting out of the ocean, ris-
ing hundreds of feet straight out of
the water with only a belt of level
space a few feet wide around the wa
ter's edge. They are far from shore
and uninhabited save for the few
persons needed to take care Of the
foxes All subsistence has to be
brought to them. We had to select
islands where there was no gold, no
lumber. no fishries and no game in
order to protect ourselves. The pres
ence of any of the products named
would have brought others there to
create a conflict of interests. People
could hardly be brought to consider
foxes as anything but wild animals
and therefore legitimate prey, and our
business would be in peril. The rea-
son we are endeaVOring to get an eN-
tended lease now is in order to have
moral protection from marauding
japanese and other hunters which
abound in those waters. They consid-
er the foxes wild animals and would
kill them.
There are about 1000 or 5000 fox
es on the islands now. They were orig
inally brought from Commander ISL
ands and the mainland within the
Arctic circle. With a few foxes OBJ
tanned in this way the industry was
started The same plan is persued in
raising them as with cattle and other
domestic animals, one male to four
or five females. One female viii raise
on an average of about five young
a year, the number running all the
way from two to eight and ten. The
their fur is in condition to be sold
when they are Is months old. The
skins are worth about so each, or
81 on the ground. London is the fur
peIts of all kinds from every quarter
Of the globe go there.
"One fox will consume from four to
five dollars worth of food a year. We
feed them corn meal mush and dried
fish. The mush is cooked in q big lxet-
tie and fed out to them in trOughs.
Wheat middlngs are sometimes put
in and a little tallOW TO give it a flavor.
The foxes roam about the island and
come up to be fed just as any domestic
animals They are as tame as
dogs and in fact are raised in about
the same way. All the feed of course
has to be brought to the islands. Sew
eral of the fox Taisers have an agent at
Kodiak, Martin L. Washburn, who
looks after the procurement and ship
ping Of supplies This is simply a
convenience since, as I have said the
islands are perfectly desoIate and all
provisions for the men and feed for the
foxes has to be brought there and
stored
THE business is profitable, but not
bonanza. We are in hopes it viii prove
a means of employment to the ignorant
Indians who haven't sense enough now
to keep themselves from starving
The bill authorizing the secretary Of
the treasury to lease the islands for 20
years to the fox men has been favor
ably reported in the senate.
The fox man. as the man who is