The Elk Mountain pilot., 1911-02-02

~1Da8 the lure that has drawn men
from the beginning OF time
has rapidly passed away. 1t II
NJ followed now by tho romance
of iron and steel. the romance
Of invention. of progress. OF a civilization tnat
II fast crushing out the last vestige OF the
primitive and adding each day new chapters
to its own marvellous achievements. 1t seems
like q hitting decree Of fate that the Oldest
and most romantic of all the industries Of
man with the exception of his earliest fight
for food. should be the last to die. There II
something OF pathos in 1t. especially when 1t
10 pointed out to one as 1t was pointed out
to mo by Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal.
head of the great Hudson's Bay Company.
who said. The last chapter In the romance
OF fur Is being written 1t has been = glor-
ious story-a glorious story"
For three thousand years the pelts Of wild
beasts have played their part in the lives Of
men For the last ten centuries fur has
played an important part in history. It has
held out the lure OF romance-of adventure
and gold. II has caused wars. and has led
to the discovery of new lands. Fur hunters
have done more exploring than any other one
class Of men. 1t was the beaver that lured
men from the ct. Lawrence to tho Mississippi.
and thence to the Rockies. opening up a con-
tinent. 1t was the sable that drew the tribes
men of Asiatic Russia across to far Kam-
chatka, and the sea otter that led the Span
ish and the English all around tho world in
crazy craft. and gave US our nrst knowledge
Of tho Pacific coast from Alaska to California.
When. away back in 1870. q wandering and
adventurous Frenchman by tho name of Crosse
lier fired Prince Rupert's Imagination with
glowing tales of land hlled with priceless
furs. and a little company was formed with .
capital OF &50000 he did not dream that his
wild project meant the opening up OF a coun-
try almost large the whole Of Europe
and the beginning OF an adventure which was
to run through centuries. this little
company Of gentleman adventurers" who
formed what 10 today the Hudson's Bay COM
pany. the greatest landed corporation
earth-something which will remain for all
time in history as a cenotaph to the tremen-
dous part which the furred things OF forest
and mountain and have played in the
fortunes OF men.
Last year the raw fur industry Of the world
amounted to forty million dollars. Next year
It will be fifty million. and the year after that
the figures will be larger still Five years ago
It less than twenty millions Yet in
spite Of these ngures-in the face Of the fact
that the fur-treasure of the world IL increas-
ing In value each year. and will continue to
increase for perhaps another decade. the
furred things of the earth are fast becoming
extinct.
year ago q big London fur buyer. whose
business amounts to over a million dollars
annually. said to me. within another FIVE
years only a very few people Of moderate
Eill be able to afford those furs which are
Cheapest today. and even the muskrat. whose
pelt sold for i've and six cents a few years
ago. will be priced a luxury"
Ten months did much to verify this fur
dealers statements. Within that time raw
pelts advanced from twenty to one hundred
per cent Montreal dealer who purchased
10000 muskrat skins at twenty cents per skin
q year before sold them in London for seven
ty. month later they had gone to eighty.
Two months later they were bringing a dol
lar In q single season the value of the
worlds annual production OF fur leaped from
come down from my last trip to the Barren
Lands where 1 had spent eight weeks among
the far northern fox hunters, when word was
passed from post to post and from trapper to
trapper throughout hundreds of thousands of
square miles Of Canadian wilderness that a
fur famine had struck London and Paris the
fur centers of tho world. and that from Winni-
peg. Ottawa. Toronto and Montreal both the
independents" and tho agents of the big
companies were making fabulous offers for
pelts
1t will be interesting to note tho conditions
that this famine will bring about during the
next two three years. Millions Of women
are as yet unaware of what the great fur
dealer have quoted above describes as "the
mine that Is about to explode under their
feet" 1t cannot be said however. that they
have not had some warning. The woman who
bought q mink mum for twenty dollars nve
years ago pays sixty for the same grade Of
article today: she will pay from seventy to
eighty for 1t this coming season-a hundsed
or more two years from now.
- These statements are not made at random.
1t only after the closest personal invsstigar