The Washington herald., 1908-01-19
The AMERICAN FUR TRADE
Oldest Industry in Ameriea-De-
mand in Skunks and Muskrats.
This Country One of the Great Fur
producing Lands-Canada still
Takes High Rank.

The hunting Of fT-beaTing animals and
trading their peIts for merchandise or
gold is perhaps the oldest industry IN the
world. for primitive men in the colder
climates have always made it large
part of their life. II IS stiu a great in
dustry and skins worth millions of dol
lars are brought iu every year by hunters
and tTappers. says Worlds Events Mag
azine. America has no such great world
market for furs. for our fur trade cen
ters are largely only collecting points
for shipment 20 London. Leipzig. and
Mini NOvg0rod the three greatest mar
5ets In the world for furs. But Amer
lea is one Of the great fur producing
countries. Ever since the first explora-
tons were made IN the northern parts Of
the continent trapping has been OF great
Importance. For two centuries the his
tory of Canada, after its discovery in
1885 Is largely that of the fur companies
which did business there. Many nation
alities strived for q share OF this profit
able business, among whom there was
much conflict over territory. and no lit
tie blood was shed for the right 10 hunt
valuable skins. Even the peace of the
nations WAS disturbed over the matter in
those early times. as 10 sometimes is
over the catching Of seals iu our own day.
The occupation Of SO much of the land
by settlers has not as yet decreased the
fur trade OF America. In fact. it is
greater to-day than ever before in its
history. The Hudson Bay Company sells
more furs than it did when IL held
monopoly Of the Canadian trade. though
that trade is now divided up among sew
ersl competing companies. IL is even
sill more astonishing to be assured that
the United States IS also doing the larg-
est fur business i'm its hist0ry-more than
in the days when the buffalo swnrmed it's
plains and the beaver its streams The
buffalo are extinct and the heayer al
most so, so far as commerce is concern
ed, the sea otter, from yielding 10000
pelts q year, now give only 90 10 900.
and the fur seal has dropped from 100, ol0
a year 10 1900 To 1900 But it is not
in these valuable skins that the largest
part of the fur industry consists.
A. C.. Laut says that one of the famous
buyers Of furs declared to him: There
is more money going TO trappers to-day
for skunk and muskrat and fox than was
ever made out OF beaver and sea otter
and seal and the rare fuTs. The swamps
Of Delaware and New Jersey alone yield
millions OF muskrats a year. We pay
from > 10 40 cents skin for especially
good ones. That means 5000 TO $500 900
year for muSkTats in those two see
tiOns. The demand for skunk skins IS
greater than the supply. so that men in
the West are running skunk farms, and
for the skins they receive the same price
that used 10 be paid for beaver-from s.
TO g. The same with fox skins We
pay from $3.50 to $50 for pure silver
fox. s. down the grade for red fox. and
from 81 down for gray fox" Even school
boys can join I'm the hunt for these small
er animals, and from almost every part
Of the United States there come more or
less of these pelts. So that their value
greatly exceeds that Of the rarer furs.