Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-01-04

ed the trail along the foot OF the
Rockies three-quarters of the length
of North America, clear up to Atha-
basca lake.
Sometimes II was that rarest OF ami
NAL freaks, the white buffalo, that
lured his feet. Sometimes he hunted
| with the Blackfeet and the Snakes
and the Sioux In the days when the
buffalo herds roamed the plains In
millions, leaving great ruts like
trench where they had marched SIN
gle file over damp ground. But al
ways as settlement pushed back the
frontier Of the fur trade he followed
the fleeing herds till he came to that
paradise of the hunter-the Atha-
basca.
To attract and hold the yearly hunt
of an Indian tribe the white trader
must be on the most friendly relations
with every man, woman and child Of
the Indian camp. According to his
age they will probably call him uncle
or brother, and IL he has any distin-
gushing mark, like red hair, they
will call him by that mark, Red Head
Chief.
On every conceivable Joy and sor-
row of the camp he will be consulted,
| and woe to his yearly returns IL he
fails of effective advice! He may
| demonstrate beyond any reasonable
doubt the nonsense Of their customs
and superstitions. They will not be-
lieve him and he will lose their hunt
| unless he can give instant answer and
effective remedy.
For instance, last year when lead
ing trader came home to his fur post
from trip afield he found one family
| In deep and noisy distress. Tomtoms
were pounding. Old and young were
dancing some religious dance, wiring
ing their hands and tearing their hair.
The medicine man In the tepee howled
like a demon possessed.
What was the matter? "Oh, very
bad medicine [luckl! 1t was the evil
eyen The lover who had been reject
ed has cast his baleful glance on the
happy bride with dire predictions that
In such and such a time would she
| begin to fade away; and now she lies
on the bearskin robe in the tepee, col
orless as ashes, literally, physically,
hopelessly i'll with fright.
The medicine man is bowling to
frighten the evil spirit away. The
tomtoms are drumming to terrify the
malign power. The dance Is to pro-
pitiate the good powers; and the faith
er is turning handsprings around the
tepee to let the evil spirit know that
he sees 1t, is after 1t, and will present.
| ly land a blow with the skull cracker
in his hand that will smash the Gre
| MUM of the invisible spirit Of nothing
| ness. Now the young trader might
argue himself black in the face that
| there is no such thing as the evil eye.
He will lose that family's hunt unless
he can rouse the fair bride to instant
vigor.
So he joins his efforts to theirs. Yes,
let the camp fire burn low. Evil spir-
its escape best through the dark. Let
the medicine man keep up his pow
WOW. Here, some one give him
knife! Let the father watch through
the dark for a flash. Let the girl call
out If she feels the thing escaping
through her arm. A quick flash OF
the knife! The father has seen the
| light on the blade, the girl has felt
the cut. They swear they saw 1t es-
cape from her arm. And all the
young trader has done is exactly what
the physicians Of our forefathers did
let a little blood and cured hysteria
by localizing a real pain. And the
bride rises from her bed.
Today the rarest furs are undoubt-
edly silver and black fox. In a single
year as many as 1000 of these have
been taken from the Canadian North
west; but not all were equally valua-
BILE. The silver fox, perhaps, Is worth
from 5000 to $500 pelt; the black
fox from s25 to $3.50, although as
much as $4,000 has been paid for
fancy pelt Of absolutely perfect text
ure
What is the silver fox? Science
considers 1t freak, sport among
the black foxes, caught at the mo-
ment when the hair is turning from
black to gray, or gray to black, ac-
cording to the age and season.
Against this wish to set down the
opinion of the experienced hunter on
the field.
He finds silver foxes in litters with
red and cross and black. Therefore,
he says, 1t is not a distinct species, but
1t is a distinct kind; and he ascribes
it's kind directly to its parentage.
Either the father or the mother fox
has been a silver fox. In view Of the
disputes Of the naturalists. the hunt
er's opinion Is worth considering.
Besides the silver and black fox,
the standard furs are what they have
always been-beayer and mink and
marten and otter and fisher, not for
getting the common little fellows with
whose pelts we line our coats-musk-
rats-of which as many as 100000
year have come out Of the west,
worth from rs cents a pelt to cents.
What does the native trapper earn?
Again, that varies with the caprice Of
fashion and the luck VI the field; but
unless the field has been visited by a
pest that carries off the rabbits. which
are the food of many other fur bear
ing animals, or an early. severe win
ter comes that freezes the beaver up
before they have laid in their stores,
1 do not think / am misstatlng 1t when
| say the poorest trapper need not
earn less than $500 a year, and the
average for the good trapper would be
$1,000 or more-higher. when the
conditions are considered. than the
professional earnings Of many an ed
ucated man.
1t need scarcely be explained that,
Il