The Williamson enterprise. [volume] (Williamson, W. Va.) 1907-1911, 1911-02-02

a constant stream of treasure for nearly two
and half centuries. Last year, according 70
Canadian export figures this. treasure amount
ed to $2,719,822, but no credit was gwen lor
the enormous home consumption of raw pelts.
The actual catch was worth at least So,ooV,.
600. The coming season will see S4,ooo'ooo
worth of furs caught in Canada, in spite ..
the fact that the actual number OF SKINS VII
be at least quarter less than year aso'
when the lives Of between thirty ana ior.y
million wild things were taken that Mllaoy
of civilization might have her furs.
AS recently as eight years ago, wnen tne
writer first began his journeys into lhe noi.n-
land, one struck the great fur country as soon
as he crossed Lake Superior From tnere =
ranged to the Arctic sea. Less than decaoe
has brought about tremendous change. and
now one travels a hundred miles farther nortn
before he enters the last great trapp'hs
ground" From this great trapping GROUND
comes seventy per cent. Of the better Grass
OF furs worn by the American woman ana nei
Canadian sister.
In vast desolation one-third as large as
the whole of Europe there is no railroad, ny
white mans village, and its population IS iess
than that Of the Sahara Desert. IN It's cen.
ter is Hudsons Bay, the great ice ooA
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 Hudson's Bay Company's posts
and those of it's French competitors, the re
yeillon Brothers. In most instances post
consists of nothing more than company
store" the factors house. and two or three
log cabins Except during the months OF the
trapping season these are practically the only
points of human life in country that runs
two thousand miles east and west and from
cd
with the first breath of winter the fur-gath
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 ana
a thick blanket in his pack-sack. knife, a
belt-ax and a rife as weapons, every houf Is
filled with excitement for the hunter OF FUR
IN his snowshoes he speeds swiftly from trap
to trap, every mile Of snowy forests ana
swamps revealing the mysteries OF the wild
things to him as plainly as a picture-book
In one trap he finds great white owl, ano
cuts off the beautiful wings for the Wl1e ana
children back in the cabin. In the next there
is a huge snow-shoe rabbit, frozen stin as II
had died And then, from through the thcK
and gloomy balsam ahead, he hears the faint
climbing Of a chain His blood leaps now for
old to the fur-hunter. The chain clinks loud
or 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, a great sllVer-gray
furrod thing 1.-THE and beautiful as it croucnea
at bay-a lynx And magnificent specimen,
its six-inch fur as fine as woman's hair,
crumpled and lying richly upon the blood
a IN a
within springing distance. But the hunter
knows better He aims carefully for spot
where he can sew up the bullet-hole, and fires.
Only short time from now some gently nur-
tured beauty of civilization will press the
warmth and regal loneliness of that thing to
her face and--is it 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 woman's loneliness as he skins
his catch and hurries on. To each is given
but 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
1t. His mental visions go no farther than
that He makes no effort to follow 1t in the
great ship that will carry 1t to Paris or Lon
don, where 1t will be sold at great profit;
nor to the furrier's shop, nor to the dainty
girl the society matron in New York who
Will pay $l5U Tor that same nIteen-doiiar lynx
lin an imported" muff 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 alorg 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 forty
mile trap-line, 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 yenison 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 roand of excitement, adventure and
profit.