The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1928-03-22
FUR FARMING IN STATE
Continued from page one.)

Continued from page one.)
trade was young and when the raw
materials were a part of the natural
resources of the country it is easily
seen that Montana has been needless
ly falling behind in branch of indus
try to which she has always been
eminently fitted by nature. David Hill
ger, state historian, says that in 1867,
"here was no section of the known
world of the territorial size of the
present Montana that contained as
many buffalo, elk, deer, antelope, bea-
yer, coyotes, bear and wolves as did
this territory" This country was once
literally swarming with countless mil
lions Of fur bearers, but one day, as
Hal Evarts says in an article on the
Alaska fur business, trappers and
traders woke up to find that they had
trapped and shot themselves out of a
job.
It is not more than 70 years since
the fur trade was almost the only
business transacted in the entire
northwestern territory. The first fur
trading expedition to enter the terri
DRY that is now Montana was that of
Manuel Lisa in the spring Of 1907, al
though free traders had trapped in
the region for many years prior to the
Lewis and Clark expedition (1805).
Lisa established post at the juno
ton of the Yellowstone and the Big
Horn rivers, between 1905 and 1884,
quarter of century, three com
panies, the Missouri, the Rocky Noun
tain, and the American, entered the
territory of which Montana is large
part, scattered their posts over the
land, fought each other and the In
dams, saw the retreat of two great
foreign companies, the Hudson's Bay
and the Northwestern into Canadian
territory, and took millions of dollars
worth of furs out Of the wilderness to
enrich the world markets and build
the fortunes of their owners and direc-
/ tors.
At that time the fur trade was a
big item in the commerce of North
America, Notwithstanding the fact
that there was no great fur market
on this continent. Furs were not dress
ed nor dyed here but were shipped to
Europe after a preliminary dressing
and so a great amount of the profit
was lost as far as this nation was
concerned. We now have two markets
that are world wide in scope, one at
st. Louis and the other at New York
Furs are sorted, classed, dressed and
dyed in these markets and sold at auc-
ton in transactions that sometimes
represent the transfer of more thar
100000 in single day. The fun
trade is not less important today II
dollars and cents, rather it has great
ly increased, but it has been crowded
out of top place by the proportions
ately greater increases in other lines
of industry.
Today the fur trade of the United
States is estimated to be worth $175,
100000 annually. Montana probabl.
does not contribute one per cent. Flu
sales now in the United States ant
Canada dispose of over $100,000,00'
pelts year counting rabbit, mole AM
muskrat. In the past three years no
over 100000 pelts have been shippe'
from Montana.
Our 100 fur farms compare witt
over 300 in Alaska and 1000 il
Canada. The state is capable of pro
ducing ten per cent of the nation
fur as well as ten per cent of he
wool and wheat and with the develop
ment Of the modern fur farm, may, il
the next decade orrso reach this re
turn.