The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-07
FOX FARMS IN THE FAR NORTH.
Alaskan Islands Devoted to Raising

Alaskan Islands Devoted to Raising
 Fur Bearing Animals for Profit.
 Uncle Sam has consedirable reputa- tion as a landlord, but few persons know that part of his rent-roll income is derived from leasing islands for the culture of foxes. This is the case, how ever, on the coast of Alaska, where such an island commands an annual rental of $1OO. For this the government gives the tenant written contract securing him in the exclusive occupancy of his island for this particular purpose.
 To the farmer who has found it neces- sary to exercise all his ingenuity in or der to get rid of the foxes as pest, the idea of deliberately breeding them, and even maintaining farm for their com fort, seems almost preposterous. The fox in those places where his presence is most deplored seems to have no difti- culty in making a living without human aid But the experience of breeders in Alaska has shown that the fur foxes must be handled with the utmost care in order not to wreck the fortunes Of the investor, for it takes not a little capital to go into the business on large scale. On the finest fox farm in Alaska every pair of breeding animals used at the start cost $150 to $200. The work has been in progress for fifteen years or more, yet practically the first dollar of profit has yet to show itself. Good money has been poured after bad, running well up into the thousands, and this expenditure is still going on for the shareholders believe that they have money making idea if they can only wait long enough.
 At first the plan was to propagate the silver-gray fox, of which the fur Is four or five times as valuable as that of the blue fox. It proved impracticable, how ever, mainly on account of the ferocious character of the animal which refused to be domesticated. The silver-gra fox is really more of wolf than fox in instincts and disposition. One of it's pleasant traits is habit of fighting it's companions and destroying it's own young. The culture of the silver-gray has now so generally been given up that on only one island can it be found in any considerable numbers.
 It is on the Atu and Pribilof Islands that the blue fox was first found, but the supply is now nearly exhausted. As
 
 ton no live animals can be taken away without a special permit, and all the skins which the natives obtain there they are obliged to sell to the North American Commercial company The price paid is $5 pet. The first sys- tematic experiment in blue fox breed- ing was made with twenty-tWo foxes taken from the Pribilof Islands and landed on North Semidi Island, bar ren and unknown waste. Although no one knew the habits of the foxes, and everything had to be done tentatively, including the finding of artificial means of feeding them, still, from the progeny of these pioneer foxes nearly twenty other islands have been stocked. Some of the barren islands of Alaska, indeed, show no sign of being good for any other use The method of caring for the foxes is substantially the same every where. Each island has keeper and one or two native assistants. They put up the food for the animals during the summer, consisting of unmarketabe fish, blubber and oil, and corn meal. The foxes come at a regular hour every day to be fed like ordinary domestic anl- mals and soon learn to know their care takers but continue suspicious and wild in the presence of strangers.
 One of the first problems which had to be mastered was how to catch the foxes without harming their skins, as 1t would not do to shoot them or use any kind of sharp instruments in their cap- ture. Another consideration is the ne- cessity of leaving those animals unln- iured which are to be continued in use for breeding. Box traps only are there fore used But the chief virtue of these has it's drawbacks, for all the foxes come into the traps, attracted by the bait. and when those which are to be kept for breeding find that no harm comes to them they become not only fearless, but greedy, and hurry to run in and spring the traps as soon as set, to the great annoyance of the breeder and the hipdrance of the proper pusl- ness The foxes set apart for breeding are marked by clipping the hair at the tips of their tails, so aS to prevent con fusion with the others, or recountlng
 It is considered probable that the do- mestication of the fox will set vogue for the domestication of other fur-bear- ing animals and thus build up very valuable and permanent industry, The Russian sable is one of the animals talked of in connection with this idea. One enthusiast has already evolved the notion that an island set apart for rals-