The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-04-09
CENTER OF THE FUR TRADE.
An American City Leads the World In
This business.

IAN american Clty LEADS the WOfl0 m
This business.
Perhaps incredulity will sit in the
eyes of the readers, but it is neverthe.
less fact that in st. Paul every year
there are upward of 225, 900 dogs cut w
for the manufacture of fur coats. IL
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 black tongue
They are queer animal, and are known
in China by the name of 1.-The monks"
Nobody is prepared to believe, per-
haps, that in this city annually about
100000 coonskins are cut up and made
into coats, but it is true, for we have the
word of a prominent fur man who deals
extensively in all kinds of skins, from
the skunk to the seal. In 1893 his firm
cut up 10000 coonskins alone, and will
keep it up so long as the animals exist
There are certain animals that have
survived civilization, as, for instance,
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 furs for the past so 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 coons, opos-
sums and skunks now than ever before
proving conclusively that these animals
are not affected by civilization, and GO
ahead multiplying without stint.
The vast ma jority of the otter, beaver,
mink and other skins of that ilk are
captured in the northwest, throughout
Manitoba and the northwestern states.
The wombat of Australia was for many
years a 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 of coat
making, and the hunters who had pre-
viously become discouraged and refused
to kill any more found their occupa-
ton renewed and profitable. In the last
two years the stock has been cleaned
out, the wombat has become scarce and
the prices have advanced proportionate-
ly. Everything seems tote declining III
quantity but the raccoon, the skunk
and the Chinese dog or monk, and these
constitute the bulk of furs from which
the coats are manufactured to-day.
The buffalo coat at one time was the
most popular of them all, and it was the
prevalence of the buffalo that gave ST
Paul such start in the industry of fur
coatmaking. At the time the buffalo
were plenty on the western plains fully
80 per cent. of the fur coats manufac-
tured were made of buffalo skins. II
was great industry, not alone for the
Indian, but the white hunter, who
flocked to the buffalo swamps by the
hundreds. The decline of the buffalo
was so rapid as to almost exceed belief
When the industry first started the
plains fairly swarmed with the animal
and it was the easiest thing in the world
to kill all that were desired, but in three
years this noble animal was almost en-.
tirely extinct. When the Northern Pa
cific road was put through to Miles
City, Mont, in 1888, there were 225, O0t
or 100000 buffalo hides shipped out oil
that town. That was in 1888 alone
All that number had been killed by
white hunters, while the Indian collec.
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 PIC, 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
5000. In 1886 there were none, and now
the only buffalo that exist are the prop,
erty of the government and live under
its protection in the Yellowstone parlS
Previous to 1888 all the southern herds
were killed off, then Che northern herds
were attacked, and they disappeared
| it seemed, in the twinkling of aneye.
One fur that is not used extensively
in st. Paul is the seal, although great
many ladies garments, coats. muffs and
the like are made from this most desir
able of furs. Strange to say, every sea
that is captured in Canadian or Ameri
can waters must be shipped to London
England, for dressing and dyeing. They
are then returned to the United State,
and made up. Naturally, all this trans
portation adds to the cost of the gar
ment, and that explains why seal is Sc
much higher than the other furs. Raw
skins, of course, have no duty on them
and most other skins can be made VI
i'll this country, but all efforts to dress
and dye the seal successfully in this
country have failed.-St. Paul Dispatch