Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-08-15
RABBITS OF ALASKA.
Important Bearings on Fur Trade Of
America.


America.
That the snowshoe rabbit OF Alaska
influences the price Of furs in New
York city, London, Paris and other So
cial centres of the world seems an
anomaly scarcely worthy Of credence.
Nevertheless 1t is a fact as capable Of
proof as any theorem OF algebra or
geometry.
The Alaska rabbit Is, next to the
salmon, the great food source OF inte-
rior Alaska where the fur bearing ami
mails are found. There are times and
places where the moose, caribou and
black bear are found in great abun-
dance, and all the meat that Is needed
can easily be procured by even most
Indifferent shot. But at other times
and places they cannot be found at all.
even in spots where at other times
they have simply swarmed through the
forests At its best hunting big game
requires strength and skill, but the
rabbit can be shared by any one, from
a child to a decrepit old woman.
Natives are Dying On.
In the Koyukuk Valley. extending
north from the Yukon river to the
Endicott range Of mountains. dividing
the Yukon territory from the Arctic
plains, where the salmon catch is not
plentiful in the summer runs because
of the comparative clearness Of the
Koyukuk's waters, and where the big
game is scarce, the Koyukuk Indians
and the Kobuk Eskimos would fare
badly in winter without the snowshoe
rabbit. 1t is along this river that the
Episcopal church maintains missions
and schools for Indians and Esllimos
alike. Its work has been restricted and
hampered from lack Of funds and men
and women workers.
The government is doing little for
the natives, who are rapidly dying on,
and it is up to the church. which has
the only Protestant schools, missions
and hospitals in the whole Alaskan
section Of the Yukon country. to aid
them in every possible way-to edu-
cate and Christianize them and to care
for them when they are sick. The
budget of the nationwide campaign Of
the Episcopal church will provide for
expansion Of the church's work along
the Yukon.
Many a prospector along the river
and its tributaries would have starved
to death had it not been for the rabbit.
Starvation would have threatened the
gold seekers in the Fairbanks camp
during its first winter and at the Ida
tarod camp during the first winter, ac-
cording to Hudson Stuck, author OF
Voyages on the Yukon and Its Tribu-
taries," had It not been for the great
quantity Of rabbits.
Rabbits Suddenly Disappear.
The rabbits increase prodigiously
and It is no unusual sight In the WIN
ter to see the willow shoots along the
sloughs Of the Yukon entirely bare of
bark as high as a rabbit can reach.
The multiplying Of the rabbit goes on
for a circle Of years, said by writer's
on the subject to be seven, and then,
almost as suddenly as though the earth
had opened up and swallowed them
in their entirety they disappear.
The reason for this sudden disap-
pearance 10 not known. 1t may be
that they have increased so enor-
mously as to exhaust their food supply
or some law Of nature may have been
outraged. At any rate. a contagious
disease appears among them which
carries them or quickly by the tens
Of thousands. Soon the whole OF Alas
ka is denuded of rabbits. II salmon
famine had appeared the same year
then 1t is certain that many Indians,
and perhaps white men, would die of
starvation.
Fur bearing animals, lynxes, foxes,
martens, ermines and wolverines, are
chiefly dependent upon rabbits for
food, and when that food is lacking
they become scarcc-the young and
week animals disappear. Many die of
starvation. The lynxes eat each other;
the kittens and the understood are de-
voured by the strong. Trappers have
frequently found in a rabbitless winter
nothing but the leg Of lynx in their
traps, showing that the trapped animal
had been attacked and devoured.
Causes Increase in Prices.
The scarcity Of furs, resulting from
Tie scarcity Of rabbit food for the fur
bearing animals, causes an increase In
the price in furs in New York and
London, for the price is always higher
when the supply Is low.
The winter Of 1917 witnessed one Of
the death cycles among the rabbits Of
Alaska. BY the following winter they
had begun to return and last winter
they were again plentiful.
AS a result the lynXes particularly
were scarce during the winter Of the
rabbit scourge and the one following.
BY about 1924 another death cycle
among the rabbits will be due.
The rabbit Is also the chief depen-
dence Of the predatory birds Of Alaska.
Eagles, hawks, anything that has
wings can pounce down upon defence
less bunny and make a quick, square
meal Of him. Even the little screech
owls can capture a rabbit. Not being
big enough to grab him in their talons
and fly to tree to eat him at leisure,
they knock the rabbit over as 1t starts
to dart across clearing by hitting
him with a shoulder Of a wing, then
seize him in beak and claw and so put
an end to poor bunny.
The skin OF the rabbit is used to
make warm bedding by quilting 1t be-
tween blankets.