The Wrangell sentinel. (Wrangell, Alaska) 1909-current, 1939-01-06

ing to the Game and Fur Depart
ment, because the fur-bearing ami
mails were nearing extinction.
/ dc not know why the people
of Southeastern Alaska sit so quiet
" by and allow themselves to be-
SO successfully hoodwinked and
fooled by a half dozen or so men of
the Game Department, when the
crying need of every man is an OPP
portunity to go to work aud earn
a livelihood.
Hundreds Of men in every town.
in Southeastern Alaska are out of
employment and cut OF money. I see
them every day wandering around
the streets with a lost. woebegone
look on their faces. Nothing to do,
not much to eat, and many of them
with families depending upon them.
It is an outrageous condition. It is
impossible to conceive of the idea
that Alaskan people should be de-
priYed of the honorable right toI
earn a living here in Southeastern
Alaska where nearly every idle man
could earn several hundred dollars
by trapping Tor fur-bearing animals
during this depression, at least.
People of Southeastern Alaska, do
not take it lying down when you
are told that the fur is nearing ex-
tinetion, for it is not SO. I have made
some Investigations and l challenged
any Game Warden or any man in
Southeastern Alaska to disprove the
following statements to-wit: l will
start within seven miles from Wran-
gell and make twenty landings in
that day, and at every landing, 1
will show you fresh mink sign eth
er in the snow if the weather is
fine or along the trails if there is
not any snow and the weather is
fine.
Ny Investigations have shown me
that I can do likewise along the
coastline on any of the following
Islands: Zarembo, Prince of Wales,
Kupreanof, Kuiu, Admiralty, Baran-
OF, Chichagof and Kruzoff In the
remaining territory of Southeastern
Alaska, you will also find mink
wherever it has its natural feed.
Now, l will mention beaver. l can
go to nearly any section of South
eastern Alaska that is a natural
feeding ground of the beaver, and
show you in not over half an hour
to an hours walk from the beach,
families of beaver in lakes and
streams. l have been back inland
and find plenty of them there. War
dens admit there are plenty of
beaver back inland. I can also show
you fresh otter sign every day if
the weather is fine. Next comes the
marten. We know that marten, like
the lynx, appear in good quantities
and then become scarce, but not be-
cause they are trapped out Some
law of nature seems to take care of
that.
There are four hundred square
miles for every trapper in Alaska.
I understand that there are not ever
more than 5000 licenses issued,
and this l know, not more than one
third of that number make a real
effort to trap.
have spent half of my life here
in Alaska, but l came from the
State of Maine, and 1 know that
state as well as other states, sup
plies a great deal of fur, after Two
hundred years of trapping. I also
know that there were never many
laws protecting fur-bearing animals
in those states until about fifteen
years ago and then they were not
as stringent as we have in this great
Territory with only $4,000 popu-l
lation.
People of Southeastern Alaska, II
want you to know-and you War
dens of the Game and Fur of Al
aska already know-that you have
had the open season for only six
weeks for trapping mink. marten
and otter during their natural nj
bernating season, namely, from De-
cember goth to February 1st. Rare
ely do marten run during the latter
part of December to the first of
February, at least not in any guam
tity. Mink are the same way.
After Mr.. Selfridge, former Game
Warden, had told me that the mink
were being Systematically was in
February 1877 offered to take
him only seven miles from Wrangell
and show him mink trails packed
down for miles in the snow as the
mink were coming out of hiber-
nation. He refused to go. saying that
his recommendations for closing
were then in.
Another thing l wish to call to
your attention. Not one-third of The
trappers in Southeastern Alaska go
three miles back from the coast
line, and remember, everybody,
there is fur back inland as well as
on the coastline, and until such a
time as we have more dense pop
ulation and these reserves are pene-