Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1897-02-18
& FUR TRAPPER.

THE FUR TRAPPER.
He Has Had His Day In the United States
and Is Disappearing.
Among the changes an advance
ing civilization and a ~senseless dem
udation of forest land are creating
throughout the length and breadth
of a great continent none is more
conspicuous than r those pertain
ing to the fauna of this country. The
solitudes of the great primeval for
ests, hatformerly abounded in wild
game, beautiful birds and fowls of
the air and valuable fur bearing
animals, are now nearly as deserted
as the great western plains, where
the buffalo long since left nothing
but traces of his existence behind.
Trappers find it more difficult to OBJ
tain their furs each season, and
along with the sportsmen they re-
treat farther into the cold regions
north of us, penetrating into the
wilds of British America, where life
In winter is scarcely endurable.
The fur trapper has had his day
in the United States, and as a prod
uct of past conditions he is disap-
pearing as surely as the game which
he has hunted. In the great north
ern belt of states bordering upon
the Canadian line he is found in
dwindling numbers, vainly striving
to make a living in his precarious
calling and bemoaning the times
when it was an easy matter to find
enough animals in his traps each
day to keep him supplied with mon
ey. 1t is now the work of a week
to gather the skins that formerly
came to his traps in a day.
The popularity of furs has not de-
clined. In fact, they are more in
demand than ever, and fashion de-
crees that they shall be worn every
winter on garments for men and for
women. Most of them command a
higher price than ever in the histo-
ry of civilization, but the trapper
does not profit so much by this
change as might be supposed. The
fur bearing animals are disappear
ing faster than the prices for furs
advance. Other unsettled regions
Of the globe are being explored to
help supply the markets Of the
world with skins, and science is do
ing everything II its power to util-
ize the common skins of the domes-
ticated animals. The fur Of the cat,
dog, sheep, lamb and other animals
of our barnyard and household has
already become valuable CONNER
cially, and through the dyer's art
and the curriers' skill the wearers
of cheap furs T totally deceived.
1t is not an easy matter to ascer-
tain the relative value of the impor-
tant furs, but those taken from the
forests and woods of this country
are much higher than in former
days. The silver fox that abounded
SO plentifully in our northern woods
Is now comparatively rare animal,
and from $500 to 5000 is paid for
first class specimens. The darker
the fur of the silver fox the more
valuable it is, and consequently the
farther north the trappers go the
better luck they have. Those oveI
the Canadian border trap more and
better silver foxes than Gan be found
anywhere in the United States, al
though northern Maine and the
Michigan peninsula have yielded
some excellent silver foxes. Owing
to the great demand for this fur the
animals have been trapped and
hunted SO persistently that they are
very scarce, and the few remaining
ones + more timid and harder tc
catch than the common red fox.
The trapper e his industry
shrinking year by year, and with.
out any possible improvement il
the future he realizes that the doom
of his class has been sounded. An
other generation, and he will be gone
along with the Indian fighter, the
prairie scout and the buffalo hunter
philadelphia Times.