Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1900-10-04
MANY USES FOR DEERSK1N.
Guides Who Understand Thoroughly
How to Turn 1t to Good
Service.

Guides and the native hunters OF the
Adirondacks region have a variety of
uses for the deer they kill. There are
still good many hunters who know
how to tan the deer's hide, and few
who use as one of the tanning agents
liquid extracted from the brain of the
deer. From the tanned skin many ar
ticles of use are made. The thick hide
from the neck of an old buck is excel
lent for moccasins, and the art of moe
casin making still fingers here among
those whose ancestors learned it from
the Indians. The men and women of
French-Canadian extraction are espe-
cially apt in household arts Of this sort,
learned from the savages. Cheap as
factory made gloves are, a few women
of the region still cut and stitch buck
skin gloves, says the New York Sun.
Whole suits of buckskin are made
by expert women of these parts. Such
suits were once much used by the
thrashers, who Travelled from one
mountain farm to another to thrash
the small oats crop of the region. A
buckskin suit is good for dozen years
Of hard usage, and with care will last
lifetime. It is markably warm and
'impervious to water.
One rarely sees nowadays such q
suit with the hair on. "A garment with
the hair on to be serviceable must be
made from the skins of deer just COM
ing into the "blue," as the hunters ex-
press it, for then the hair is short,
smooth and tough. Later it is long and
brittle. 1t is necessary, too, if such
suit il to be of uniform color, that it
be made from corresponding parts Of
skins from deer of about the same age
and shot about the same time. Even
if the law did not stand in the way, it
would be difficult in these times to
shoot in a single week enough deer of
the same age to yield the desired guam
tity of hide of uniform color, so deer
skin suit with the hair on is rarely
seen. One still does see, however, moe
casins with hair inside and out, and
very soft, warm, inviting slippers they
make. Raccoon skin now furnishes
cheap fur garments, and winter resi-
dents buy or hire overcoats OF coonskin
to brave the January winds.
Raw deer hide is used for many pur-
poses. It makes excellent thongs for
tying articles of one kind or another,
good whips, and indestructible shoe
strings. You may buy in the Adiron-
dacks rustic chairs with seats and
backs of woven rawhide. The green
skin is cut in thin strips, stretched until
it is almost translucent, and then
woven into a seat. The result is
comfortable, elastic chair of Almost in
destructible material. Deerskins with
the hair on are still used for carpets
and mats, though here, again, as in
the case of the deerskin suits, the skin
is not serviceable unless the deer be
shot just at the right season. Nobody
IS more fastidious than the Adirondack
guide in these little matters. If he
cannot have his deerskin coat or carpet
just a. it should be, he will go without,
though he is Indifferent enough as to
store clothes and ordinary household
furniture.
Out of the marrow from the shank
bones of the deer the guides make, by
a laborious process, q beautifully clear,
sweet oil, which will keep in good con-
dition for years. It is much used by
jewellers and watchmakers, because OF
peculiar qualities that exactly fit their
needs. This oil is sufficiently scarce
and useful to sell for high price.