Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1897-01-01
ApLEA FOR THE WOLF BOUNTY,

Noted Woll.Hunter Of. EAnnons
County, and also by a Well..
WOrded Roast OF the Principle
of Free Trade-vyritten by ssE. D.
SPA Friend Of tho Hunter.
Perhaps no name is more familiar to
the stockmen and wool-growers Of North
Dakota than that of honest old Ben Cor.
bin, the champion wolf.hunter Of the
Northwest. Mr.. Corbin is no novice in
the business Of hunting, trapping and
shooting the enemies of the flocks and
herds. As the saying IS. he served his
time and learned his trade by hard work
and many years experience.
Born in Virginia ON April 20. 1885, he
is now sixty-two years of age but his
eye is not yet 80 dimmed or his physical
force 80 abated that he cannot bring
down with his trusty Winchester rife
deer or wolf that is 200 or 300 yards of
as we'll as he could twenty years age.
When a boy Of sixteen he removed with
his fathers family to Coschocton county,
OHIO, then quite q new country and re-
garded as being far away in the west
from the Old Dominion. 1t was really
bigger trip then than Il voyage to Europe
or railroad ride across the continent
would be now. and Ohio has shifted from
the west until 1t Is now regarded as being
pretty far in the east, looked at from the
sunset land of the Rockies and the Cas-
cades After stop of four years in
Ono Ben shifted his residence to Wayne
county, Iowa. where he hunted and
trapped until the civil war broke out.
Infantry. He was gallant soldier for
three years, and when the war closed he
Was hOnOrably discharged. returning to
his old home in Iowa and resuming his
former occupation hunter aud trapper.
AT that time northwestern Iowa was be.
ing rapidly settled aud was filling up
with fl0cks and herds, for sheep, wool
and live stock generally commanded
splendid prices. Free trade had not yet
got in its deadly work on the American
market. and in those days--the golden
age of the farmer--the wool.growers and
stock raisers were making money. Pro.
tected industry made good times every
where and in every line of business, and
sun was shining. Then. as now, he be-
lieved in high protection, and, the coun.
try being full of wolves. be devoted his
time and energies to their destruction.
Iowa at that time WAS paying bounty
for every wolf destroyed, and soon, fig
urativcly speaking. MIR. Corbin had eighty
wolf scalps hanging to his belt, captured
in the counties of Lyon, Sioux, Wood
bury and Monon. II paid the flock.
masters and the people to give this
bounty, for, otherwise, their flocks and
herds would have heen ut the mercy OF
the wolves, which abounded IN that re-
gion.
1t is sad to contemplate that, as bad
and as destructive as the vol! really ia,
he is as nothing compared with the
blighting influences of free trade as au
enemy and destroyer of the agricultural
and the stock breeding industries. With
in the past four years free trade has
killed more than SIX millions of sheep
and exterminated sixty million dollars
worth OF wool and sheep worse than
fire, pestlence or famine. The heresy of
free trade has been more biighting on
that combined industry--woOl and NUT
ton than all the wolves that have
hOwled since the days Of Romulus and.
Remus.
In the year 1883 our champion wolf
scalper, moved by the same spirit Of
immigration which carried brigadcs and
divisions of the Union veterans further
west, picked up his rifle and his traps
and removed to Stark county, in the then
vast aud wild territory of Dakota. Here
he and his son Peter-since deceased-in
one season killed 1872 deer and antelope
and As beaver. They found ample scope
and opportunity for the development of
their skill as professional and expert
hunters, and the business was quite re-
muncrative, too, for the deer and ante
lope brought them from 50 to $13 per
head and the beaver about $6 per pelt.
For the past ten years our old hero has
in which he now lives--Emmons, North
Dakota. This part of the great north
west is remarkably we'll adapted to graz
ing and abounds chiefly in sheep and
other live stock. Indeed. North Dakota
is a vcritable paradise for sheep. The
secretary of state, the Hon. G. NJ. Dahl,
informs me, under date of Jan. Is, 1896,
that, even after three years of the present
anti sheep and anti wool administration
of Grover Cleveland, there are still al
most 300, 600 sheep in the state of North
Dakota. With grass, grain and water
abundant and an atmosphere and climate
remarkably well adapted to the success
Of these industries, and with grain un-
pOHtdoIy ~" hIl OvcE Vic WOTiu, tAe
raising of cattle and sheep is the main
dependence. The flock masters of North
Dakota and of the Northwest generally
are about to witness the dawnipg of
brighter day. and are carefully watching
their focks and herds with the confident
hope and expectation that protective
tariff will soon restore the old remunera-
tive prices, and, consequently, their old
time prosperity. They see in the returns
of the recent elections the assurance that
the tariff, which once made their focks
and herds valuable investment, will
soon be revived.
It has been limited in some quarters
that the reason why the wolf bounty was
taken off IN North Dakota was that the
lawmakers looked with contempt on
sheep husbandry and no longer regarded
1t worth their protection. 1t was argued
that, If the great government of the
United States was determined to kill the
sheep and wool interests of the country,
1t was useless for weak new state like
North Dakota to undertake to save it..
So it was said. "Let the sheep go to the
dogs. Thus, all the money hitherto
paid in state bounties for killing wolves
will be ultimately lost. Infested in most
parts with packs Of wolves, the state will
soon be overrun with them. No animA
is more prolific and cares more for its
young. It is nothing strange for a female
wolf to have from six to nine cubs ut
litter. Why, even now, people have to
watch their focks carefully, in the day
time even, to keep the wolves away from
them.
Not only are they dangerous to sheep
but they destroy many colts and calves