Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-05

settlers The probability Is that we shall
have railroad connection with Hudson bay
within couple of years or so and chat
large part of the game for Toronto, New
York and Chicago will come down over
these roads. The country will then be fll-
ed with tourists and the Hudson bay re-
gion may be a favorite summer resort for
the North American continent. The woods
are full of game There are caribou by the
thousand, plenty Of moose, many kinds OF
deer and no end of wild birds. With steam
ers on the bay one will be able to take
wonderful tours to the least explored parts
OF the world and a vast mineral region
may be opened up. The country Is as yet
unprospected and unknown. From talks
which l have had with Hudson bay trad
ers and explorers the land about the bay
is rocky In places, and In others 1t Is COW
cred with muskeg and swamps, Near James
bay there are vast boys of peat. some of
which are twenty feet deep. This could
be made dnto briquettes such as are used
In Europe, and 1t may possibly form the
fuel of the country.
Greatest Game Resort.
AS to hunting and fishing these Hudson
bay railroads will open up the chief game
resort of the world. The fur wealth is so
great that the Eskimos bring in several
hundred skins of musk-oxen every season
In addition to bales Of polar bear skins,
caribou wolves and foxes Some of the
finest furs of the world may be seen stack
ed up like hay on the shore of Hudson bay,
awaiting their transportation to the trad
ing posts. In one locality about the bay
the Eskimos trapped in one year more
than a thousand white foxes besides
wolves, wolverines and other animals.
At present most of the hunting is being
done by Eskimos and Indians, who make 1t
a life business. These Eskimos are much
like our natives of Alaska. The men aver
age about five feet three inches high and
the women less than five feet. They have
black eyes and hair, and their hair Is
straight and as coarse as horse hair. They
have fat noses, high cheek bones and eyes
which are Chinese in shape. The teeth of
the older women are worn almost to the
gums from chewing sealskin, In order to
make 1t soft and more easily sewn.
These people live in snow houses during
the winter and in sealskin tents In the
summer They subsist largely on seal
oil lamps They have but few domestic
animals except dogs although 1t is said
that here and there mouse has been har-
messed I'D and made to work.
The Hudson Bay Fisheries.
hear much about the fisheries Of Hud-
son bay. Capt. Hall. one of the Hudson
bay traders, tells me that the stories con-
corning their value are overdrawn, but the
explorers sent by the government and the
vast amount of whale oil and other prod
ucts brought out by the fishermen lead one
to suppose them about the most valuable
on the continent A large amount of the
whaling has been done by Americans from
Bedford, Mass. These men go through the
strait and winter at Marble Island In Hud-
son bay near the west coast. They spend
one season harpooning whales and buying
furs and fish, taking their cargoes out the
following year. Among the whales caught
are the bowheads, which produce some or
the finest Whalebone known to the world.
A fullgrown whale will yield about fifteen
dc Of
bone sells at $4,000 q ton, Whale OF that
kind brings in bone worth about $Ioouo
In addition to this the oil of the whale Is
valuable. so that single whale may yleio
300 600 our statistics show that our whale
fisheries there have already realized IN ten
years 81, 371,O00. There were fifty voyages
the average voyage realizing more than
S27. Geo.
Marble Island 1t begins as soon as the
ice breaks in the spring and continues uh.ii
navigation closes. The whales are black
ones, many of them eighty or ninety Ieet
long or big enough to fill good-sized city
lot In addition there are white Wnaies
about fourteen feet long. Ihese great nsn
swim about in shoals SO large that they
cover parts Of the bay like sheets OF snow;
Thav are valuable for both their oil ana
Another important industry of Hudson
bay is walrus fishing. These animals are
caught for their hides, which are used for
al;inp belts A good-SiZed hide Will weigh
a1o Mounds and will sell for 10 cents
pound. The tusks Of the wairus are aiso
valuable bringing about $40 each
In addition TO the great sea animals there
are Ninner seals porpoises and narwhals,
which are caught for their oil and hides,
and there are also schools or co., Whlte
fish. pickerel and haiibut. as well as salmon
and grayling. The Goa hsherieS are iaieei!
in Hudson strait.
Wild Geese by Millions.
Hudson bay Is the summer home of the
wild goose The marshy lands along us
shore grow wild rice, which forms Its ia
vorite food, and the geese come there by
the millions. The Hudson bay men
tell me the hunters use od-fashloned guns
loaded with small shot which spread SO
that IL Is not uncommon to Kill twenty
geese with one discharge. The flesh or
these wild fowl takes the place of pork
at the Hudson bay posts. 1t Is dried and
sailed and during the winter 1t forms
large part of the diet of the traders. At
this time they live almost entirely on meat
and 1t is not uncommon for one man to eat
a whole goose at q meal.
1t Is from Hudson bay that the gum pens
OF England still come and this region Tor
generations furnished the most of the pens
OF Europe. Quilts still used In Eng
Hsh government offices as we'll as In the
Houses OF Parliament. and II was with a
Hudson bay quill that King Edward signed
his coronation oath. The gathering of the
Quilts has been always done by the Hudson
Bay Company, which has shipped as many
as ten tons of wild goose feathers In
single year. Only three ounces of such
feathers can be gotten from one bird, and
II required 10000 geese to furnish those
duiIls / had a bunch of the pens pre-
sented me by the editor Of the Manitoba
Free Press and 1t may interest you TO
know that I sign this letter with feather
from the wing of a goose which once COB
bIed rice on the shores of Hudson bay.
Eo--<e GL-~~