Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1911-01-26

and a half centuries. Last year. according 10
Canadian export figures, this treasure amount
ed to S2.7l9,S22, but no credit was given lor
the enormous home consumption OF raw pelts'
The actual catch was worth at least sb.o0o.-
600 The coming season will see $7,OOO'ooo
worth of furs caught in Canada, In spite oi
the fact that the actual number OF skins WIZ
be at least q quarter less than year ago.
when the lives OF between thirty and lorty
million wild things we're taken that Niiau'
OF civilization might have her furs
As recently as eight years ago. when the
writer first began his journeys into the north
land. one struck the great fur country as soon
as he crossed Lake Superior. From there IL
ranged to the Arctic sea. Less than decade
has brought about tremendous change' anu
now one travels hundred miles farther noi'h
before he enters the last great trapping
ground" From this great trapping srouhu
comes seventy per cent. OF the better CLASS
of furs worn by the American woman ana ner
Canadian sister.
In vast desolation onethird as large Az
the whole Of Europe there is no railroad, no
white mans village, and its population Is less
than that of the Sahara Desert. In us cen
ter is Hudson's Bay. the great ice box OF
the north-nine times as large as the state OF
Ohio Over this vast territory at distances
of from one to three hundred miles apart are
scattered the Hudsons Bay Company's posts
and those OF it's French competitors the Re
yeillon Brothers. In most instances post
consists OF nothing more than a Company
store" the factors house. and I've, Jr three
log cabins Except during the U,onths OF the
trapping season these are practically the only
points Of human life In a country that runs
two thousand miles east and west and from
two to eight hundred north and south
. fur rot h.
erers begin to bury themselves in the vast
desolation about them, travelling one and
sometimes two hundred miles away from the
post TO their old trapping grounds.
From the moment he leaves his door TO go
over his line three days supply OF food and
a thick blanket in his pack-sack. knife.
beItax and a rife as weapons. every hour Is
filed with excitement for the hunter OF fur.
On his snowshoes he speeds swiftly from trap
to trap every mile of snowy forests and
swamps revealing the mysteries OF the wild
things to him as plainly as picture-oook
In one trap he finds great white OWL and
cuts of the beautiful wings for the wife and
children back in the cabin. In the next there
is a huge snow-shoe rabbit. fcozen stir as 1t
had died And then. from through the thick
and gloomy balsam ahead. he hears the faint
clinking of a chain His blood leaps now, for
this ROYAL sport Of the wilderness never grows
old to the fur-hunter. The chain clnks loud
er, and he draws in quick. excited breaths as
he lifts the hammer OF his rifle and stares
ahead. He comes suddenly upon the next
house. and there is a snarling. leaping. thing
in the air before him. great silver-gray
furred thing 1.-THE and beautiful as II crouches
at bay-a lynx And a magnificent specimen
its six-inch fur, as fine as womans hair,
crumpled and lying richly upon the blood,
Co. kha 70
within springing distance. But the hunter
knows better He aims carefully for spot
where he can Jew up the buet-hole and fires
Only a short time from now some gently nur-
tured beauty Of civilization will press the
warmth and regal loveliness OF that thing to
her face and-is II possible that a vision OF
this wilderness tragedy will come to her then
No more than the dark-faced hunter sees a
vision OF that womans loneliness as he skins
his catch and hurries on To each is given
but a part OF the picture
The forest man knows only that he has
caught Number One, Extra" lynx and that
the Company will pay him fifteen dollars for
It. His mental visions go no farther than
that. He makes no effort to follow It in the
great ship that will carry It to Paris or Lon.
don. where It will be sold at great profit
nor to the furrier's shop. nor to the dainty
girl or the society matron In New York who
will ray $3.50 for that same 1fteen-dollar lynx
in an imported" mufr He goes on. keyed
to higher excitement. until the end Of the day
comes. and in the first gray gloom OF early
night he stops at one Of the three or -four
small log shelters which he has built for him
self along the trap-line. gets his supper. lights
his pipe. and reviews the happenings OF the
day until slumber closes his eyes.
1t will take him three days to cover a forty
mile trapline, and when he returns to his
cabin at the close Of the third he is welcomed
by the glad cries OF his children and the
laughter and Joy Of his wife, who has a ten
der roast porcupine or venison stew waiting
for him. For two days after that he rests
smokes his pipe and tells OF his adventures
while his wife scrapes the fat from his pelts
and stretches them on sticks. Then. once
more. he shoulders his pack, and goes again
upon his round OF excitement adventure and
nroht