Evening star., 1935-10-13
ST: LOUIS FUR ROW
.READYFOR SEASON
G|amorous Trade Of Old
Days Prosaic Now, but
g. t-'
.-4 Volume IS Bigger.

BY the Associated Press.
ST. LOUIS, october 12.-Along the
Mississippi River front in historic "fur
row." center of the Nations fur trade,
,lfealefs are preparing for a S6,0O0,ooo
Winter season.
EsThere is a prosaic business now, a
modern heritage Of the glamorous
trade, old as the city itself. on which
Et Louis fortunes were founded.
1.-THE dealers still huddle in a few
BLOCKS along the levee in the same
location where 173 years ago Pierre
-Laclede and the Chouteaus, Auguste
ssnd Pierre, established the first trad
Ing post.
:. Wool roots and other "in-between
season commodities are being shifted
I'm virtually empty warehouses which
.the next few months will see filled
with the bulk Of the Nations fur
catch.
In Full Swing in December.
Hunting and trapping seasons open
In a few States November l, and by
December the business is in full
swing. February and March bring the
last of the furs.
H. L. Schafer, secretary of the Raw
Fur g. Wool Dealers Association, pre-
dieting the $4,000 900 season, said he
expected all American furs would be
nj good demand, with opoSsum and
skunk somewhat lower in price.
"A s6.000,000 season, while somewhat
tower than the tops of past years when
conservative legislation and competi-
tive factors were not so great. still
would be astounding to the pioneer
fur dealers. to whom 100000 sea-
son was extraordinary.
Expansion Came Slowly.
For the first 40 years after Laclede
and the Chouteaus established the
first post. trade extended only to the
Indians Of the immediate territory, al
though an occasional French Cana
dian from the Northwest or buck
skin-clad Kentucky hunter struggled
into the tiny settlement.
Growth of the trade and the COM
ing of its colorful era in the city's
life began about 1894, when competing
dealers united and formed the Mis-
souri, Trading Co. Lewis and Clark
pushed out into the West in 1904, and
in 1903 the trading company was re-
organized. 1t began to conduct its
operations over wider field and trade
mounted to as high as 100000 a year.
Il Then glamorous men Of the pioneer
West-the hunters, trappers, scouts,
boatmen-began to swarm the city.
Regular expeditions were outftted.
some going overland. but most moving
by keel boats up the Missouri River
to its northwestern headWaters.
Steamboat Brought New Era.
The steamboat, which was to usher
In another era of st. Louis history
and color, sounded the death knell for
the hunting expeditions. In 1882 a
small steamboat assembled the Missouri
and returned with a cargo of furs in
about q fourth the time convoy of
boats would have required.
That event ended the day Of the
eoureurs. cordellers. rowers and hang
ers-on, but the old-time hunters and
trappers chung on for about 80 years
more, until in 1860 the American Fur
Co. outgrowth of a union between
John Jacob Astor and the old Mis-
souri, Trading Co., abandoned the
field.
With that the glamour of the West
was virtually at an end. The Indians
gradually disappeared from the plains
and valleys of the Upper Missouri, to-
gether with the buffalo, beaver and
bear, under the influx of the railroads
and settlers.