Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1910-12-08

river, where fiat boats and canoes are
taken and the trip to the fur country
begins In earnest. The route lies
downstream all the way.
The traders come back to Edmon
ton more heavily laden than when
they went away. The pelts obtained
by barter direct from the trappers or
collected from distant posts are
packed in bales weighing about 100
pounds each and loaded on the canoes
and fiat boats. Then the fight against
the current all the way back to Atha.
basca landing is commenced.
Hard Work Of the Trapper.
But If the men who do this part OF
the work have hard task, the lot OF
the trapper is Infinitely harder. He
must pursue the sources Of his live
lihood with the utmost cunning, vary.
ing his methods, from lodging a bull.
let In the vitals Of a bear or other
large animal In such q way as will
not injure the pelt, to setting the
ouOblCob Vi ohnA CO AOA ouSh wal OACD
as the little ermine, only the jet-black
tail Of which is visible as 1t whisks
across the binding snow. The ermine
is very shy, and II must be specially
its delicate skin. Even the smallest
of the steel traps are too heavy for
the best specimens, which the trap
per must catch in snares Of tender
boughs or in some such way. Some
times he puts a little grease on his
hunting knife and lays 1t across the
succession of dots and dashes In the
snow which show that an ermine has
passed that way. Along comes the
little white form on its erratic course
again.
The grease appeals to It and Il be-
gins to lick the blade Of the knife; but,
alas! that piece OF steel is icy cold and
the tiny red tongue is instantly frozen
to 1t so tightly as to render futile all
the frantic struggling. The knife ID
too heavy for the little animal to
carry away and in his good time the
trapper comes and finishes his work.
II he manages to take a silver fox,
the trapper is in great luck, for the
pelt of a prime specimen Of that ami
NAL is worth $500 to the man who
buys 1t down at Edmonton, and the
very best will bring the buyer as
much as $1,000. But the trapper gets
few silver foxes, and for these he re-
ceives q price much smaller than the
figures at which the white trader will
eventually make the sale. The AMI
NAL of which the trapper will probably
capture most is the lynx. One firm OF
traders brought 5000 lynx into Ed
monitor last summer and these formed
only part Of the total receipts. 9th
ers which are taken in large numbers
are beavers, bears, offers, wolverines.
minks, martens, muskrats, musk-oxen,
fishers, weasels and white, red, black
and cress fox. Tens of thousands are
trapped during the course Of season.
The hunter or trapper must carry
traps and supplies into the remotest
regions, where even lumbermen are
unknown. He builds a low, wide sled,
holding 300 pounds, and loads this
with pork, -four, Undertaking and
steel traps. And when the ice on
streams and lakes will bear his weight
he starts into the wilderness, there to
lead q hermit's life for seven months.
Arrived at a point many miles from
the nearest habitation, the trapper
tries to find two parallel streams run
ming near each other. Here he pitch
es his home-camp, setting traps along |
both rivers. The work Of taking game |
from the traps is varied by catching |
fish, sharing rabbits and capturing |
muskrats for bait and food. Now and |
then the hunter may kill wandering |
bear-an event which may lead him |
to a big store Of wild honey in q hol-
low tree.
Solitude Of Northern Wllds.
In this utter solitude lives the ad-
venturer, perhaps forgetting the day |
Of the week or the month of the year.
He fixes the date for breaking up
camp and turning back to civilization
by the condition Of the fur on the ami
mails he takes or by the effects Of
sunlight on the snow. Now and then
he VIII shoot a deer, or even a moose,
for the sake Of the raw-hide, meat and
fat, which latter keeps his traps from
rusting. A file serves him instead Of
grindstone to keep axes and knives
keen; and he washes his own clothes
through hole in the ice. drying them
by an open fire. The dazzling glare
OF February often brings snow-blind-
ness; and a month or two later the
fast-thinning fur on his prey shows
that further work Is Improbable. lie
then ssretes his traps IN hollow logs
roady for re next season, packs his
load a pets a TIE ride sled and
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