Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1922-01-19
COLD. FURS AND FISH
ARE ALASKA'S ASSETS
NOT A FARMING OR STOCK
RAISING COUNTRY AND
NEVER WILL BE
BLACK FOX SKID. $4,000
Government Railroad is Big Risk
Half of Population of Alaska
Has Left This Year
IN. J. Brown)


| for it, in trade.
Then l wondered if I hadn't better
tremain in Alaska and start fur
farm.
After the deal I talked with the
trader and asked him if it was an ev-
cry day occurrence for these kind of
furs to be brought in, and if it only
took ten minutes to strike bar
gain?
And he told me lot about fox
furs that did not know.
He said the Indian had had this
skin for about three months and had
been to every trader, store or fur
buyer within 200 miles, driving a
bargain, and had finally come back
to him. The skin was that of jet
black fox, very rare in Alaska, or
anywhere else.
| I asked what price he would get
for the skin, and he replied that 1T
was about as big speculation as
gold prospecting; that it's price
might go to $4,000 or $4,000, or he
might be glad to get his $3.50 back
He explained that the price of it de-
pended on whether some million
aires wife had one like it and was
hunting for it's match, or whether
the war income tax hit hubby so
heavy that he wouldn't stand for the
buy. eve take big chance for
big profit" he said. II will send it
outside for tanning and making up
and let it try for sucker If war
wasn't on, the chance would be a
cinch"
The dead black fox skin is far
more valuable than the silver-grey.
The silver-grey can be bred with
considerable certainty, but the full
black fox is a freak, ''patch," an
accident of birth. This rare animal
is hybrid, mongrel, the product
of crOss-breeding, a red and silver
fox, but the strange thing is there is
no natural control A breeder may
wait for years for black fox and he
may get one In the first litter. But
the chances are long in favor of the
wait. hence the scarcity of this fur.
And after the dealer had told me
all about fox farming, I concluded
would rather take chances on hen
raising in the states-that this black
fox business was too much like the
job the fellow in Mexico had-pick-
ing blossoms from century plant
| travelled many hundred miles
with government revenue officer,
whose business it was to see that ev-
cry saloon and joint that sold liquor
came through. with it's government
license to Uncle Sam. He said he
travelled 5000 miles every year in
Alaska, but that the territory would
soon be dry and then he was going
into the fur buying, which he had
been doing as side line for some
mr. nd h. u. =
market prices on Alaska furs: Silver
$500: red fox, SIS to $25; white
fox, $40. Then there are the otter,
ermine, martin, wolf; all varieties
of bears, wolverine. lynx, beaver,
skunk and SO on. Martin are for
hidden to be trapped in Alaska, and
II believe seals also. except the dog
seal. These can be bought for one
dollar apiece. The walrus grow to
an enormous size in Alaska. as large
as the largest OK and often weigh
| a ton.
What about farming, stock rails
Ing and timber. are questions that
have often been asked of me, and
! New York newspaper. sends me the
following. clipping said to have been
in an article written by Frank Car
penter
Men go up there to mine. or
to follow other more or less ad-
| venturous pursuits, and many
| of them remain to farm or raise
stock. In many regions the
plow turns up more gold-and
more easily-than does the
pickax. The government rail-
road is being built not to bring
out gold, but coal and copper,
and for miles around it there
are valleys which have soil and
climate that compare favorably
| with many regions in the Unit
ed States proper The weather
records for the past winter
] show that the temperature av-
eraged milder at the port Of
Seward than at New York, and
it is claimed they pick straw
| berries in the rich Matanuska
valley as early as we do here in
/ Oregon.
If Frank Carpenter wrote the
above he must have seen Alaska
from a different slant than 1 did
Let me state that the territory is
not a farming country and never
will be-unless the climate under
goes d great CuduS6. AHyOHC hIOWS
that land that stays solidly frozen
two and a half or three feet beneath
| the surface will never be worth
while produce country, and anyone
who knows anything about the very
short summer seasons and the great
danger of killing frosts, knows that
when a profitable crop is raised
| 1t is when a 20 to / chance comes
through
The reference to Seward has lit
tie TO do with Alaska. 1t is on the
extreme southern coast. You will
note the above clipping states "it is
claimed" and / could fill volume
with that kind of dope. "It is claim
Ied'' of nearly all the towns on the
southern Alaskan coast that the
snowfall is from 20 feet up and that
Lit has to rain every day in the sum-
mer to melt it Off Yet with this al
most constant rainfall there are
thousands of acres on which the
snowfall gains on the rain, hence
the wonderful glaciers-great lakes
and rivers of solid ice, slowly NOV
ing to the ocean. The lower coast
may be some country for turnips,
but don't take chance of going up
there for general farming.
If there is stock raising in Alaska
would like to be cited. There is
nothing for cows to eat They |
would stare on tundra and the
stuff reindeers live on. There may