The DeLamar nugget. [volume] (DeLamar, Idaho) 1891-1900, 1896-07-03
FACTS ABOUT FURS.
ST. Paul, MINI, rs the Leading City
in the business.
ThS Best Furs Come from the North
western states-Many of the Fur
Bearing Animals Have Been AL
most Totally Exterminated.


less a fact that in st. Paul every year
there are upAard of 225,o0o dogs cut NJ
for the manufacture of fur coats. In
the last year or two there has been a
scarcity of dogs, and the prices natural
ly have advanced. The dogs come from
China, and are that peculiar animal
with the black mouth and back tongue.
They are queer animal, ard are known
in China by the name of The monks"
Nobody is prepared to believe, per-
haps, that in this city annually about
100000 coonsEins are cut up and made
into coats. but it is true, fer we have the
word of a prominent fur man who deals
extensively in all kinds Of skins, fro7n
the skunk to the seal. In 1858 his firm
cut up 1851 coonskins alone, and will
keep it up so long as the animals exist.
There are certain animals that have
survived civilization, as, for instGnce,
the skunk, the raccoon and the opos-
sum, while the wolf, the bear and AMI
mails OF their nature have almost en-
tirely disappeared.
In Louisville there lives an old fur
buyer by the name of John White, who
has followed the business of buying and
selling 4urs for the past 50 years. When
asked-a short time ago by st. Paul fur
man what difference he noticed in the
business now from the FIRST time he
went into it, White replied that the
people are getting more cooEs, cpos-
sums and sl,uDlss now than ever before,
proving conclusively that these animals
arc not affected rs civilization, and go
ahead multiplying without stint.
The vast ma ority of the otter, beaver,
mink and other skins CT that TX arc
captured in the northwest, throughout
Manitoba and The northwestern states.
The wombat of Australia was for many
wears drug on the market, and dealers
found it impossible to dispose of them
until the coat manufacturers Of st.
Paul took them up. They were found
very excellent for the purpose CT coat
making, and the hunters who had pre-
yiously become discouraged and refused
to kill any more found their occppa-
ton renewed ami profitable. In The last
two years the stock has been cleaned
out, the wombat has become scarce and
the prices have advanced proTort;onate-
ly, Everything seems to be declining iii
quantity but the raccoon, the skunk
and the Chinese dog or monk, and these
constitute the bulk OF furs from which
the coatsEire manufactured to-day.
The buffalo coat at one time was the |
most popular of them all, and twas the
prevalence of the buffalo that gave st.
Seaul such start in the industry OF fur |
coatmaking. At the time the buffalo |
were plenty on the western plains fully |
90 per cent of the fur coats mnnufac |
tured We're made of buffalo skins. 1t
was great industry, not alone for the
Indian, but the white hunter, who
locked to the buffalo swamrs by the
hundreds. The decline of the buffalo
was so rapid as to almost exceed belief.
When the industry first started the |
plains fairly swarmcd with the animal,
and it was the easiest thing in the world
to kill all that were desired, butt three
years this noble animal was almost en-
tirely extinct. When the Northern Pa
cific road was put through to Miles
City, Mont, in 1853, there were 225,000
or 100000 buffalo hides shipped out Of
that town. That was in 1888 alone.
All that number had been Killed By /
white hunters, while the Indian coilec-
ton amounted to 10000. The indians,
of course, were not possessed of the i'm
proved firearms and other methods OF
destroying the restless creatures, and
that accounts for the size of their col |
lection. So that in 1888 the collection,
all told, amounted to about 900 hides
and robes.
In 1884 there were not over 10000 col
lected by the Indians and white hunt
ers. and in 1885 there were less than
5 900. In 1886 there were none, and now
the only buffalo that exist are the prop
erty of the government and live under
it's protection in the Yellowstone park.
Previous to 1888 all the southern herds
were killed off, then the northern herds
we're attacked, and they disappeared,
it seemed, in the twinkling Of an eye.
One fur that is not used extensively
n st. Paul is the seal, although a great
many ladies' garments, coats, mutTs and
he like are made from this most desir-
BILE of furs. Strange to say, every seal
hat is captured in Canadian or Ameri-
AN waters must be shipped to London,
england, for dressing and dyeing. They c
re then returned to the United States
nd made up. Naturally, all this trans
,ortation adds to the cost of the gar q
lent, and that explains why seal is SO
luch higher than the other furs. Raw Z
I;sns, of course, have no duty on them,
nd most other skins can be made up v
n this country, but all efforts 30 dress $
nd dye the seal successfully in this 5
ountry have failed.-St. Paul Dispatch.
W
Doctors Starving in France. -
In the British Medicnl Journal q ll