Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-12-02
Two Kalispell Boys'Net
$1OO,OOO Inn Five Years
Inn Arctic Circle REGION

crude lean-tos for the most part-had
been erected about 10 miles apart. The
line itself was a large circle, and the
two main camps were at the opposite
sides of it. The traps were scattered
along the line In advantageous spots-on
otter slides, near moose yards, all around
beaver ponds and in the low passes be-
tween valleys. The traps were of two
sorts-the common steel trap and the
deadfall, or bigger 4" that is known to
every boy In America
1t took 10 days to make the circle. One
brother went one way, the other went
the opposite. This meant that one night
out of five they would be together, at
the main camps. Here they stored their
rapidly accommodating pelts, here they
argued and talked; in one OF those camps
they spent Christmas. Lyman said in n
of his letters: I'VE celebrated by unwrap-
ping a book that we had bought in Ed
monitor last fall"
When the ice went out In the spring,
the canoes were loaded with the catch
and, helped by two itinerant Indians,
the boys poled and towed their wares up
the Mackenzie, sailed back across Great
Slave lake, and pushed up Slave river to
Fort Chippewayan, where they traded
their furs for a new outfit.
They noticed that the prices for furs
WIN 1AASAA Nv kAlNkA 40 kaS 1bh tAE~a
that the prices of trade goods were very
high. But they had no desire to go back
to civilization for their outfit-that
would make them too late to be properly
settled for another winter. They did buy
many more supplies than they really
needed. for they saw that there was a
chance to pick up extra pelts by trading
with the trappers that they had found
as neighbors on the Mackenzie.
The following winte was much like
the first. except that they made frequent
excursions to visit their neighbors. The
brothers had dog teams this winter, and
their trips along the line were speeded
up considerably. And the trade goods
they had were making more money for
them-they bought many valuable furs
for less than they would have to pay for
them at Chippewayan or any Of the other
Hudson's bay posts. That winter found
them with a new thought-and the next
summer saw the result of 1t.
Become Traders
Three broad-beamed freight canoes
swung down the Mackenzie in August OF
1928. They were loaded with trade goods
food, clothing, ammunition, traps, to-
bacco and innumerable trinkets that are
loved by all Indians. The two white men
were worried-they were In debt fol
three-quarters of the goods-and they
were headed for new country-for a jot
tht they thought they were Ill prepared
to handle. They went down the Macken.
zie, and finally established themselves
about 800 miles north OF Great Slave
lake-in the country of the caribou anc
the white fox.
In the spring Lyman went out. The
trip was much easier than before-tht
boys had two outboard motors for theil
canoes, n they took the boats up thu
river much faster than the old STYLE
paddle and pole could. He paid off thu
debt Of the partnership, and sent on
for more goods. But he was dissatisfied
with the prices he was getting for hi
furs. He studied price lists n compared
them with local prices. He asked abou
costs Of freight shipments, Of trade du
ties, of quantity production" When h,
got back to the post he told Gus, VIII
had been doing public relation worl
with the trappers, that the place the,
were going to sell was London
So the next two years they saved thu
best of their peltry and stored 1t agains
the London trip. The poorer grades-thI
rat and the beaver and the weasel skin
plenty of them, to be used-went 70
! the trade goods needed. They were indie
pendent-they had paid their debts III
owed no one for their present stock.
A Sensation Across Water
Last spring the two brother went Il
London. In the big fur market Their
they we're a sensation. No one had eve
heard of them. Canada furs we're still
nominally controlled by the Hudson
Bay company. But here were two un
knowns-with the finest collection o