Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-11-15
THE HARD
LIFE OF THE
TRAPPER ......

still comes from North America,
despite the great changes which have
occurred on that continent. especially
within the last fifty years. by the set
Ting of what was formerly wilder
ness. The value Of the yearly fur
hunt on sea and land throughout the
world is about f5,000,000. OF this
amount Canada and Alaska contribute
nearly one fifth, not because of the
large number of skins secured by the
hunters, but because so many of them
are rare and valuable, for we must
remember that the seals taken in the
waters off North America alone rep
resent a very large sum each year.
The history of the Hudson Bay COM
pany might be called history of the
American fur industry; because, since
it was formed back in the seventeenth
century, this corporation has had its
agents and hunters scattered over an
enormous territory. Over a century
ago it had no less than 160 trading
posts and "factories'-the term fac
tories meaning stations in charge of
its factors or buyers. 1t not only OBJ
tanned furs from most Of that part of
Canada which is north and west OF
the Great Lakes, but many thousand
pelts were received from the Pacific
Northwest-that portion of the United
States comprising the states of Oregon,
Washington and Nevada-at that time
almost unknown to the white man.
In those days Winnipeg was the head
center of the Hudson's Bay company,
the log fort which it constructed be-
ing the foundation of the present city.
Long since the fort became a ruin,
and is now a landmark surrounded by
a public park, a modern and prosaic
brick building containing the COM
pany's stores, warehouses and Off
cials taking it's place. No longer is
this the head center. for civilization
has crowded the fur-hunter and trad
er further north, until Winnipeg is
only one of the minor stations of the
great corporation.
Seven hundred miles to the north
west of it is Edmonton, the largest
market for the raw furs in the New
World, the capital of Alberta, and the
most northern point on the North
American continent to be reached by
a continuous line of railroads. 1t is
located on the saskatchewan river at
the terminus of a branch of the Can
adian Pacific, which leaves the main
line at Calgary Practically it's only
rival in the whole northwest is Prince
Albert, in Saskatchewan. Picturesque,
yet modern, and an outpost of empire,
Edmonton in the old days was an i'm
portant settlement in that section, the
extreme northwestern market in the
fur country. 1t was founded a CEN
tury or so ago by the old Northwest
ern Fur company, for a brief time a
competitor of the Hudson's Bay COM
pany. Edmonton has now developed
into a city of $4,000 people, and eX-
tending for many miles around it are
the homes of the farmers; but, as al
ready stated, it is the greatest fur
market, and to it comes the bulk of
the skins obtained in North America
by the Hudsons Bay company and
other of the great fur corporations.
The industry is now divided into
branches. But few of the skins are
secured by the buyers direct from the
hunters and trappers, most of them
being obtained through the fur trad
ers who yearly make expeditions into
the Wilderness and obtain a load,
often for a supply of provisions and
clothing, and perhaps no money what
ever changes hands In the spring,
when the ice and snow commence TO
thaw, the agents of the big concerns,
the free traders and the few trappers
who have cared TO bring their furs as
far as Edmonton or Prince Albert, be-
gin to move back to the north country.
The objective point of many of the
traders is Ft. Resolution, a post or
Great Slave lake, nearly 1000 miles
north of Edmonton, as the trail leads
and something like 400 miles south OF
the Arctic circle. Ft. Chippewayan
on Lake AthabaSca, is another i'm
portant post, also on the edge Of the
fur country; and there are a number
of posts in the interior and along the
Mackenzie river, which flow from
Great Slave lake into the Arctic Sea
The most northerly post is Ft. Nc
Pherson, on the Peel river, 1000
miles north of Edmonton, and ap-
proximately $50 miles above the Arc
tic circle.
Each company of traders takes q
large supply of provisions and goods
for barter, in addition to its own
stock of food. guns, &c, and the jour
ney in covering the 1000 miles to Ft
Resolution, or the greater distance &c
the more remote posts, is one of great
difficulty and hardship. The first
ninety miles out of Edmonton is over
land to Athabasca Landing, on the
Athabasca river, where flatboats anC
canoes are taken; the trip to the ful
country begins in earnest. The route
lies down stream all the way, since
the Athabasca flows north into Atha-
baSca lake, which is connected witt
Great Slave lake by the Great Slave
river. But there are many rapids tC
be avoided by means Of long pOrtages
so that even this part of the journey
is not easy.
The traders come back to Edmon,
ton more heavily laden than wher
they went away. The pelts obtained
by barter direct from the trappers oil
collected from distant posts are pack.
ed in bales weighing about 100 pound!
each, and loaded on the canoes anC
flatbOats. Then the fight against the
current all the way back to Athabascs
Landing is commenced. Tow line!
are attached TO the bigger and heavier
of the boats, and they are pulled up
stream by men who walk along the
banks tracking" as it is called
When the portages are reached the
boats must be unloaded and the car.
goes and the boats carried past tht
rapids. Going down. it is possible tC
send the goods by land and shoot
the rapids in the empty boat some
times. Going up it is unload, carry
and reload from end to end.
But if the men who do this part o
the work have a hard task, the lo
of the trapper is infinitely harder. HI
must pursue the sources of his live
lihOod with the utmost cunning. vary
ing his methods. from lodging a bul
let in the vitalS of a bear or othel
large animal in such way as will no
injure the pelt to setting the subtles
of snares for such wary ones as tht
little ermine, only the jet-black tai
of which is visible as it whisks across