The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-10-24
THE SEA OTTER
HOY ITS EXTENSIVE FUR IS SE-
 CURED.
Iis Home in Giant ssaweed-where
 Hunters Station ThsmssIvss.

The season for killing the most ex- pensive fur producing animal-the sea otter-the fur of which Is manufactured
 into robes for potentates and princes of the old world and capitalists of this
 and other countries, closed on October 1, having begun on May 1, According to reports received at the treasury de- pertinent and the department of com merce and labor, the latter of which ex-
 erts official supervision over the sea ot- ter industry in Alaska, so far as the preservation and regulation of hunting and killing of the animal are concerned,
 the sea otter is becoming scarcer every year. and threatens in short time to enter the list of animals Of the extinct l class"
 It is not generally known that the only species of sea otter is found on the
 northern Asiatic and northwestern American coast, and it is remarkable
 that the extent of territory in the Uni
 ted States, where these animals are
 taken is so extremely limited, being
 only from Damon's Point, at the nor thern entrance to Gray's Harbor, up the
 coast to Point Greenville, in the state of Washington, a distance of about
 twenty-four miles. The animal is de- scendant of an extinct race, and readily
 beslongs to a past age. He is shy and
 hard to locate, employing clever means to avoid the enemy. Sea otters are
 most frequently found in masses, of what ic lxnorur tn> tho caiJorc O c, EGhIo dar
 kelp," and sometimes ''sea otter cab
 bage." This kelp, like the animal that
 inhabits it, is relic of bygone ages. It l is a giant seaweed, found only in the | North Pacific ocean, among whose huge fronds the sea otters make their homes. Nereoeystics Is the scientific name of the weed, and it's formation has often attracted the attention of scientists. | The stems are sometimes several hun- l dred feet long, slender, but of enormous strength, and they terminate in large club shaped bulbs, from which spring tufts of fronds os gigantic size. The stems and fronds become so thickly
 massed together that they form float
 ing islands, which are the home of the
 sea otters. @as
 Unlike that of the seal, the fur of the
 sea otter requires no plucking of hair
 or coloring-in fact, the most valuable
 skins are those which are speckled
 through with a silver tipped fur, the
 addition of this hair adding twenty-five l to fifty per cent. to the price of the
 skin. The otter hunters build for them
 selves derricks about forty feet high, by taking three slim poles or pieces of timber, each about forty feet in length
 They bolt them secufely together at one end for the top, and spread them about twenty-five feet apart at the bottom, | giving them the appearance of huge tripod. These are set on the ocean beach, about midway between high and
 low tides, the feet of the poles being
 inlbedded in the sand from two to three feet. The structure ls then thoroughly
 braced, and ladder built to the top by
 mailing pieces at convenient distancs 1 crosswise on the inland portion of the tripod. About eighteen inches below the top of the tripod cross tirnbrs are secured to the legs, and upon these
 cross ainbers floor from four to five feet square is laid, and on the ocean,
 ward and two adjacent sides walls are
 built up from three to four feet in height. On the land side door is con-
 structed to allow easy ingress and egress to and from this "crow's nest"
 On the top of the tripod, which extends
 about eighteen inches above the floor, a
 seat is constructed, and around the irl-
 side of the wall a row of shelving is placed. At low tide, when the wind is propitious, the hunter hies himself to his crows nest, armed with good pair
 of glasses, a rifle, luncheon and It, tie something to keep him warm, and
 for six long hours he scans the line of
 the ocean just outside of the breakers,
 where he expects his game to appear
 When the tide first begins to flood, his
 range is about six hundred yards, but
 as it runs in the range is shortened to
 two hundred or three hundred yards
 Even at these latter distances 1t re- quires close calculation to know just
 how to shoot to overcome the rise and fall of the ocean swell and the effect of
 the wind upon the bullets. It is said
 that not one out of one hundred shots , of the best rnarksmen Is effective !; When the tide is full the derrick stands in the midst of the breakers, and g
 landlubber is apt to feel little squeam. lish looking down from the dizzy heights
 on the rolling waters below. The shoot. ing is generally done on a flood tide, SC
 that the animal, when killed, will wasl ashore, and even then it is sometime: three or four days after one is killed , before it is beached. Each hunter marks his bullets with g. mark known tc the other hunters, and when an otter : found on the beach the first duty of thu finder is to look for the bullet and as . certain who is the rightful owner, fo : this sign is respected among the hunt
 CTS as sacredly as marks and brands ar, } among stockmen. When an otter come } ashore with no bullet in him, as is fire , auently the case, the bullet having gon clear through the body, and no notic : having been given, it is regarded as ; , "slick ear," in stocknen's parlance, ant : belongs to the finder. Sometimes al
 otter, on receiving a death shot, sinks , but the hunter generally knows whel - he has hit his mark. By observing tn , water with his glasses he can discern l even at the great distance at which the.
 shoot, the coloring of the water iron , the blood of the animal, and if he doe t not come ashore on that tide notice is a once given to the other hunters, wh {. are then on the alert to find him, It i