New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-12-30
Adirondack Fur Yie'd
Greatest Within Memory
Amateur Hunters, Gone to War, Leave
Field to Old Trappers, Who Are Net
ting $500 Month-European Source
Closed Makes PeIts Higher in Price

cell M fabulous prices as Continental
sablcs less than three hundred mlies
from their original habitat. no" INC
,,,ogonv ~ that same sable is letting
Hs 5iJc oo for not less than four times
MAT ;fs forebears brought and is be-
i,e, made mn in New York 20 be sOlo
"a sbons for what il really is at about
ane-tenth the amount that used 70 De
gladly paid for the rake saOie WIN WV
European hallmark.
Nor was the skunk, by the way tne
only Adirondack product utilized ~ 'ie
halcyon days Of the inflated franc ~,
furs In many camp in the Northlahu
they still tell unctuously the true sJory
of the New York banker who, ordered
IN tho mountains in pursuit OF departed
health hired guide 70 teach MIN
trann;ng and succeeded in sharing
tbren red foxes during his stay. me
nelts worth less than 50 apiece, ne
gave 10 the guide as honorauum, ana
The latter. after having marked them
10 distinguish them from others ne
had trapped himself. sold them 70 q
traJor m Malone. Next winter wnen
tho banker returned to the mountains
ha ,yss accompanied by his wife, who,
nridofulIv exhibited her "black fox
cloak for which she had paid an even
e. OOO in Europe the previous summer
THE Guide. examining the garment al
niringlv. discovered that his employer
had bought back two Of the SKINS ne
had himself trapped the winter before.
THE guides distinctive markings
showed plainly. The red fox, IN Eu-
rope, had turned black.
Fox Pelt Is $50
The skin Of the Adirondack red FOX
This year sells for from Si2 20 $50, &C
eording TO the thickness and glosslness
OF the fur. Coon is worth from 81 70
s6 raw. deer skin, which last year
brought from 81 to 81, brings from SZ;oo
Ia 81. otter. squirrels and even RABBIT
peIts have advanced proportionately
a fur trader named Msnnis, Of Malone
has $4,000 worth Of skins hung upon
ono wall of his storehouse, and the
wall is but twelve feet long by nine
feet high. ,..od
Inst why the fur market has scared
90 high and grown suddenly so strong
that II promises TO go even higner is
rot quite clear. Two years ago, as 3
result of the war. it seemed that tne
bottom had fallen out Of the market
entirely and for good. Adirondack furs
went begging at such low figure that
really il was hardly worth the wear
md tear on shoe leather to set and
tend a string Of traps. The reason
for that was plain enough. Europe
which had been the big customer OF
American fur. was divertlng IT'S iuT
money TO war taxes. America, though
rot then at war. did not furnish Gus
tom for one half the supply. Amerl-
cans. moreover, bought far FEWER iurs
than before, not because they Ischeu
the money or the inclination, put De
cause there were no longer the Euro
mean establishments TO transmute
skunk into sable or red fox into black
Ezra Dox, for years one OF the m0s'
skilful hunters and trappers IN ine
North Woods region, abandoned ms
profession after disastrous winter IN
1915 and embraced job grinding pulp
instead. Ezra DoX was symptomatlc
and il il possibly because a very cor
siderable number Of other woodsmen
did likewise in 1915 and 1916 that the
wild game of the region has appeared
in such increased numbers this year
Last year the fur market continued
very low; so low that the ultimate con-
sumers, finally realizing that they were
able to purchase robes, coats, cloaks
and other fur products at almost un'
precedentedly small prices, suddenly
began buying, so that when the season
closed there remained comparatively
little fur in stock. Probably that fac,
accounts mainly for the remarkable
rise. yet it does not wholly explain
it, for the European market is still
nil, expensive fUrs are a luxury and