Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/548

 536 FUR races. Of the eastern merchants engaged in this trade, the most prominent was John Jacob Astor, who embarked in it in 1784, at the same time making his residence in New York. He was a purchaser of furs in Montreal, which until the treaty of 1795 could be taken only to England for sale. Afterward he introduced them into New York, whence he shipped them to different parts of Europe and to China, his ships bringing from the latter in exchange the rich products of the East. About 1807 he engaged in the trade on the northern fron- tier, competing with the wealthy companies of Canada that had long occupied this field. Sub- sequently his trade was extended to the north- west, and the magnitude of his operations be- came immense, under a charter in the name of the " American Fur Company," of which he furnished the entire capital. He made a per- sistent effort to carry on the business between the Pacific coast and China, founding the town of Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia riv- er; but that establishment being broken up in 1813 by the bad faith of a partner, who sold it for a nominal sum and placed it un- der the British flag, he afterward confined his operations to the region east of the Rocky mountains, his chief post being at Mackinaw. The acquisition of the territory of Alaska by the United States in 1867 opened to Amer- icans a new field for the prosecution of the fur trade. Until then the large fur products of that country had been collected by the Rus- sian American fur company of St. Petersburg, through its agents in Alaska, and being con- centrated annually at Sitka were sent to Lon- don and Russia. The furs from Alaska are mainly those of the fur seal taken on two small islands in Behring sea; the sea otter skins, taken mostly along the shores of the Aleutian or Fox islands ; and general furs, such as those of the beaver, fox, marten, and bear, found in the forests of the mainland. These are nearly all collected by the natives of the territory, and traded off for the necessaries of their mode of life. The catching of fur seals, however, is a special branch of the trade. The demand for skins of this kind having greatly increased, and the animal having been near- ly exterminated in other parts of the world, the United States extended special jurisdiction over the islands of St. Paul and St. George, and passed a law regulating the taking of the seals. The exclusive privilege of catching the fur seal is granted by the government to the Alaska commercial company of San Francis- co. The number of seals to be taken is limit- ed to 100,000 per annum, and only males may .be killed. No restriction is placed upon the taking of other kinds of animals, and the gen- eral fur trade is open to competition. The Alaska commercial company has about 20 trading posts on the mainland and islands of Alaska, where are gathered large numbers of skins, which are annually brought to San Fran- cisco, and forwarded thence chiefly to London. The annual value of the fur trade of Alaska is estimated at upward of $1,200,000, while the sum received by the government as a tax im- posed upon the taking of seals exceeds $300,- 000 yearly. The number of fur skins collected in Alaska in 1872 was as follows: Mink 423 Musquash 4,000 Otter, land 1,476 " sea 8,662 Sable 611 Seal, fur 100,000 " hair 147 Squirrel 68 Beaver 17,561 Ermine 1,349 Fox, blue 3,981 " cross 1,184 " red 6,403 " silver 465 " white 566 Lynx 259 Marten 10,684 The most fashionable and costly of all furs is the Russian sable, the skin of the mustela zibellina, which is about three or four times as large as the common weasel, to which family it belongs. A. choice skin of the sea otter or the black fox may command a higher price than one of the Russian sable ; but the cost of the latter will be relatively greater on account of its smaller size. The fur of the Russian sa- ble is brown in summer, with some gray spots on the head, and may be distinguished from all other furs by the hairs turning and lying equally well in any direction. In winter, when the animal is usually taken, the color of the fur is a beautiful black. The darkest skins are the most valuable. In its natural condition the fur has a bloomy appearance ; but dyed sa- bles generally lose their gloss and the hairs be- come twisted or crisped. Sometimes the skins are blackened by being smoked, but the decep- tion is exposed by the smell and the crisped hairs. A dyed or smoked fur may be detected by rubbing it with a moist linen cloth, which will then become blackened. It is said, how- ever, that the Chinese dye the sables and give them a permanent color without destroy- ing the gloss; in this case the fraud may be detected by the crisped hairs. The best skins are obtained in Yakutsk, Kamtchatka, and Russian Lapland. Only about 25,000 are an- nually taken, and these command extraordi- nary prices, the average price of a raw skin being about $25, while a choice " crown " Rus- sian sable will sell for $200. But few of these furs reach the English or American market. The chief demand is in Russia, where the use of the sable is monopolized by the imperial family and the nobility, by whom it is chiefly used for linings for civic robes, coats, &c., and for ladies' sets. In America Russian sable is used for ladies' muffs and boas. The price of the choicest sets, consisting of these two arti- cles, is from $1,000 to $1,600, though sets of lighter shade and inferior quality may be bought for from $250 to $400. Beautiful sets are also made of the tail of the animal. Of the sables, the next to the Russian in value and beauty is the pine marten, obtained in British North America, and known as the Hudson bay sable. The fur is fine, long, and generally of a lustrous brown color, which is frequently tinted to resemble the Russian