THE FUR TRADERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 May 1918, Page 7

THE FUR TRADERS.

CANADA'S WILD HIKTKRLAND. WHERE THE WORLD'S ADVENTURER ROAM. No. 111. (By A. W. Packard.) Long after the last chapter in tho present great war comes to be written those who worship at the shrine of the twin gods Chance and Adventure need not make their supplications in vain. Unrelenting warfare must continue to be waged with Canada's frozen nor'west for a generation or so before it is coerced into bowing the knee to civilisation. Into the avaricious maw of the North King still must there be poured much of the priceless red blood which pulsates through the veins of the Anglo-Saxon frontiersman; and them, and not till then, will tho writer who once lamented that science had killed adventure be quoting more than a halftruth. From, say, the fifty-third degree right clear north to the Pole is one huge tract. Some of it is barren, but much of it has unrivalled resources from the point of view of the big game hunter, the trapper, the prospector, and the nature lover, dver this vast "No Man's Land" the frontiersman may roam at will, and mingle his derisivo laughter with that of tile North King at society and civilisation. Two million square miles, more than half the acreage of Canada, that Is what the. unorganised territories of the snow dominion comprise, and all those are given over to some 50,000 inhabitants. Thesa figures are still more significant when it is borne in mind that in the. West much of the balance, the organised territory, which includes tho provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia, is still in its virgin state. And the whole of New Zealand is made up of one hundred thousand squatre miles! THE LAND OF FUR. For decades the North-West has oxported furs. It has generally been associated in the public mind as a land of fur. It was so as far back as 1670, when Charles II granted a charter to Prince Rupert and soventeen other noblemen and gentlemen who were incorporated as "Ye Anciente and Honorable Companio of Gentlemen Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson Bay." Their first settlements were made on James Bay and at Churchill and tlayes Rivers. Their losses were at first immense, and it was long beforo they ventured into the interior, which is now the main source of the supply of furs. At first the company had an absolute monopoly of all trading, but in the nineteenth century the territory was thrown open to all. To-day tho company, and their latter-day rivals, the Revillon Freres, have many trading posts, and far on the frontier hurled the fur traders play their calling 'mid surroundings which for centuries have remained unchanged. For, excepting tho fact Hiat hostile Indians no longer harass the trappers the undertaking is stilt hazardous and the country is still uncxploited and to a large extent unexplored. The fairs are many in variety, and include fox, mink, weasel, lynx, otter, beaver, bear, muskrat, and the skins of many other denizens of the north. Tho best furs are obtcinable from the Arctic and northern regions, for the lower the latitude the less full and silky the fur. In addition to Indians and half-breeds, descended from the original French stock, many ■white men live solely by trapping, and make good catches. Many of them never see civilisation, and they live the same free, wild natural life as their forebears did in the days when Wolfe's army was assailing tho Heights of Quebec. They market their furs at the trading posts which are situated far in advance of civilised parts, and they pnek their supplies in from the posts. Their requirements are mainly tea and coffee, and tobacco and ammunition, etc., for they depend upon their skill in hunting for food, and to a certain extent for their clothes. The hide of the moose is most favored for the hunter's garments, for it is said that this animal is imperious to cold, and what is good for the moose Is quite good for men. Trappers hold that when the glass falls below 86 no animal can live save the moose. That is why in winters of unusual severity caribou, wolves, and other wild animals drift south.

THE BATTLE OF THE STRONG. The fur industry, like other frontier industries, over recedes with the advance of civilisation. Nevertheless, there are over a million square miles in Canada which for generations and generations to come will be the happy hunting grounds of the fur traders. From the very fact that the greater part of it will never yield much else on a commercial scale, but furs, will this territory be preserved to nature. No great fortunes are amassed by the trappers. The cream of the industry is skimmed by the fur-trading companies. The life of the trapper is often a continual round of hardship, especially in the winter. Many weary hours are spent in setting baits, traps, and wires, and frequently when the hunter retraces his steps to collect his quarry it i 3 only to find it gone, devoured by 3ome larger animal which has visited the traps before him. Imbued with a spirit of adventure, and impressed with the fact that the whole north is overrun with fur-bearing animals, many of civilisation's younger sons sometimes go to Canada and rush straight for the frontier. They see fortunes in furs within easy range of their activities, whereas many experienced trappers have worked at the game for years, and never 'earned more than a livelihood. These excursions on Hie part of young "hot-heads" from civilised parts were noticeable before the war, and many of them ended disastrously. The business of a trapper calls for high degree of skill which is born of long experience. Many of the animals are extraordinarily crafty, and the furtraders have to match their forest-craft and cunning with that of their quarry. When a new man goes forth into the wilderness he has to figure out how he is going to live, if furs do not tome his way in payable quantities. The newcomer will require an Indian guide, and an outfit of stores and equipment, and all this takes money. He may lose the whole outfit hundreds of miles from a post, while making the portage on the rapids of « swift-flowing river In this case h>» iiiide will, after tho habit of his ilk uore than likely de aert his master »J;ss the latter has much moT6 to oil I »■ cash and in kind, and, lacking tin - n-- experience,' the young nimru'i v..ii« left on his uppers. ;

.THE OLl> DOG FOR THE HARD ROAD. 'J'lie modus operandi recommended to a young mini who wants lo go (i-;+p-piug iiml make n living at it is to go aa partner to some old hand at (he. game, and not to have any dealings with the Indian*-. It would be better still for the newcomer lo lake up a free Dominion Government, homestead In 'that pari, of the surveyed country bordering on the provinces, in any of the tlireo western provinces. That done, let liiin work at that during the summer and get accustomed to I lie ways of the country and tho habits of the animal kingdom. In the fall, when there is nothing doing on his homestead, he could cross over into the fur belt, and there build his log cabin and size up the lay of the land. Then, with the advent of the*"freeze-up," he will he fortilied against the snow and the cold. When spring eonies around the country will be again open for trailing, and if he is wise lie will store his traps and gear, board up his cabin, and return to his homestead and work on his land till the next winter; for the best fur is obtained by killing the animals when the winter is at its height, as the colder the season the better the color and quality of the fur.

A HUNTER'S PARADISE. Tho whole territory is alive with game, and in inany districts are to be found bear, wolf, beaver, otter, moose, and doer of several other species. The Rockies are full of caribou, moose, and bear. Big game also abounds thousands of miles 'east of this great divide ill New Ontalrio, Northern Manitoba, and, somewhat closer, in Northern Saskatchewan and Northern Alberta. Then take the Yukon. At stated seasons immense herds of deer, principally caribou, traverse the wilderness. Only last winter from Dawson City, Yukon territory, the migration to warmer climes was reported of a vast herd of millions of caribou: from the barren lands. For days and days this fourfooted army passed in endless review. Driven south by instinctive knowledge of the. coming of an unusually severe winter in tho farthest north, the cavalcade pushed on —night and day—in narrow column. Old-timers could lfot recall a migration of such magnitude, so it does not look as if the north is in danger of becoming played out as tho stamping ground for big game. On the prairies are immense quantities of prairie-chickens, and grouse arc plentiful all over the country. Fish abound. Enormous quantities of piki and pickerel are found in most of the lakes, and in the rivers of Lower Mackenzie and in British Columbia salmon are very plentiful. Besides these fish there are in various localities white fish, trout of all kinds, and in the northern parts the scaled Arctic trout, ling, and graying. Wild ducks are present in millions, as are also wild geese and other waterfowl. Verily it is an angler's paradise, unequalled in any, other part of the world.

WOLVES. Wolf-skins make 'excellent ruga, but notwithstanding this Wolves are not popular, and nobody would be sorry to see the last of them in Canada. Timber wolves and grey wolves, which are the most dreaded of the wolf tribe, arc every now and again driven far south during unusually cold winters. Wolves are a pest, and in some districts a danger. In consequence, in some districts there is a substantial bounty put on their heads. In the Peace River country in the last season, in which the wolves were plentiful, over two hundred horses were killed by them in ono district, in the country contiguous to Fort St. John. Hundreds of miles southcast of thia, in the prairie country, on the Big Muddy River, along the American border, timber wolvca last winter accounted for many ranch cattle. There are three species of wolves in North America, the timber, the grey, and the prairie wolf. The prairie wolf is a small wolf, harmless to humans, and it over-runs all the prairies. He is an inveterate sheep-killer. The timber wolf is of large and very powerful build, and, like the grey wolf (a denizen of the barren lands), he has the Bame fierceness of his Siberian cousins. The}' do not hunt men in country which is at all settled, for there cattle, horses, and other domestic animals provide all they desire in the matter of food. Up in the wilderness and in the frozen, open spaces it is sometimes a different story during periods of severe cold and shortage of food. There the wolves are in their own country, and they regulate their morals accordingly.