ALASKA’S FUR. PRODUCTION |
AND THAT OF PENNSYLVANIA
We often read that Pennsylvania
i produces more fur than Alaska.
This may be true, but the figures
■i given are at times not properly pre
sented, therefore not fair.
Figures given for Pennsylvania are
; those of production, while those for
• Alaska are of skins shipped. Some
‘ difference.
I do not know the number of li
‘ eense sissued in Alaska, but Pennsyl
v, vania issues about 525,000 hunters*
licenses. If everyone in Alaska was
% a hunter, we would still be outnum
bered about 14 to 1, as there are
. about 38,000 people in the Territory.
The Pribilof Islands are perhaps
. the richest spot on earth for fur
j bearers, being the breeding ground of
the fur seal, but these seal are not
* counted as Alaska fur-bearers, be
* cause they are not land animals. The
foxes of these islands are counted as
Alaska fur-bearers.
Grizzly and -brown bears are hot
• counted as iur-bearers, being consid
■ ered game.- Several species of hair
; seals are killed along the coast and
thousands of their skins sold, but
they are not furs; in fact, most of
. them are not counted at all, as they
; are used in the Territory by natives
for clothing.
Our common (varying) hare, or
rabbit, is used in considerable num
bers as furs by natives, but 1 do not
find it mentioned among the fur
bearers. It may be a fur-bearer in
Pennsylvania, but it is not in Alaska.
Having shown how we are outnum
bered by hunters and outfigured by
writers, I will try to give other rea
. sons more natural why Pennsylvania
should produce more per given area
than Alaska.
There are some who think the fur
ther north one goes the better fur
country he will find, but this is not
. always so. Alaska is so far north
that we have no raccoon, opossum or
skunk.
The fisher is found in only a small
■ corne rof Alaska.
Some years muskrats lead in num
bers and value. Muskrats are more
generally distributed, but many of
them are small and inferior to musk
rats of our Northern States.
The fox, the red fox in particular,
is our most valuable fur-bearer at
. present. But for lack of food in win
ter they starve or turn cannibal and
. eat each other.
Alaska shipped about 10,000 lynx
in 1898, worth nearly one-half mil
lion dollars.
Lynx are protected by law, having
an open trapping season Tike fox and
mink, but some day Alaska will pay
a bounty on lynx, as it does on
wolves. Lynx are large carniverous
animals, living on rabbits when they
can get them. They also kill beaver,
mink and fox when hungry, and at
such times if two lynx meet meet,
one becomes food for the other.
Most fur-bearers are carniverous.
When the migratory birds come in
spring to make nests and raise their
young these fur-bearers live well for
a time. But birds go south in au
i tumn, then snow and ice cover the
tundra, and foxes face starvation
i through a long winter.
Some winters many beavers and
muskrats freeze out and die. These
animals fould often get along if left
alone, but a ynx, wolverine or bear
make short work of beaver when they
find them in trouble.
A. H. TWITCHELL.
REMEDY FOUND FOR ANIMAL
DISEASE OF “TAIL BITING”
- :
“Tail biting,” on£ of the many
slourges hampering the fur-farming
industry, will soon be a thing of the
past, in the opinion of Dr. E. F.
Graves, Territorial veterinarian, who,
!n a letter relently received by Gov.
| George A. Parks, said he believes he
has found not only the cause of but
also the cure for the disease.
. Dr. Graves diagnosed the ailment
as a “manifestation of dermal sus
ceptibility,” and treating severa cases
1 on that hypothesis found that they
“responded readily to dietary correc
tion.”
j Writing the Governor on the sub
ject, Dr. Graves said:
“It is my opinion that I have
| found the cause and cure for the con
dition known as ‘tail-biting.’ The
several cases that I have had an op
portunity to observe and prescribe
for, both in fox and mink, have re
sponded quickly and favorably to
treatment. My diagnosis was a man
ifestation of dermal susceptibility,
which responded almost miraculously
to a dietary correction. This correc
tion and this typBkof anayphlaxis in
some cases has caused the animals to
eat then* own buttocks-and tails in
their frenzy. I have seen mink whose
tails were dropping off, and by the
improved diet the condition developed
in a few weeks’ time—that is, .the
sore tails healed and no new cases
developed. The fox cases I have pre
scribed for are now well. The foxes
ceased to bite and chew their tails
and the areas have healed and furred
out as they normally should.”
FURS SHIPPED FROM ALASKA DURING THE YEAR 1928.
Compiled by the Alaska Road Commission.
Bear—
Black
Polar
Beaver
Coyote
Species.
or Glacier
Number.
... 709
80
... 32,712
... 621
Fox .
Cross ...
Silver .
Black .
White*
Blue* ..
Hare (Arctic) ...
Lynx .
Marmot .
Marten** .,....
Mink .
Muskrat .
Otter .
Squirrel .
Weasel (ermine)
Wolf .,..
Wolverine .
... 26,907
... 3,018
... 708
63
... 4,533
... 7,676
... . 469
... 10,173
... 112
142
... 32,353
...197,957
... 3,191
... 2,860
... 10,253
... 536
831
Totals ..
Pribilof Islands (foxes only)*
White ...
Blue .... .
.335,784
15
278
Average
Value.
3 4.60
62.00
26.00'
16.25
38.28
63.77
121.00
62.00
45.60
68.52
1.00
45.25
.75
29.05
15.87
1.33
24.68
*.17
2.04
26.00
21.27
46.13
74.09
Grand totals .—__336,077
* Not including pelts from the Pribilof Islands.
•* No.open, season (tapped 1922*23 season).
Total
Value.
$ 3,261.40
4.960.00
850,512.00
10,091.25
1,029,999.96
191,250.66
85.668.00
2.766.00
206,251.60
619,107.52
459.00
460,328.25
84.00
4,125.10
513,442.11
263,282.81
78,753.88
486.20
20,916.12
13.936.00
17,675.37
24.277.347.13
692.00
20.598.00
14.298.637.13
NOTICE OF FORFEITURE. j ■
To John Bernard and Gus Gunderson,
their heirs, successors or assigns:
You, and each <i yau, are hereby
notified that I, the undersigned, your
co-owner, have expended in labor and!
improvements the sum of nMt less
than one hundred dolars for the, year
ending June 30, 1929, upon the Novi
kaket placer mining claim, Long
creek, Nulato recording precinct,
Fourth Division, Territory of Alaska,
in order to hold said claim under the
provisions of Section 2324 of the Re
vised Statutes of the United States
and the amendments thereto concern
ing annual labor upon mining claims,
being the amount required to hold
said mining claim for the period end
ing June 30, 1929, <
1 And if, within ninety days after
the publication of this notice, you fail
or refuse to contribute vour uro-por
tian of said expenditure, as well-as-'
the cost of recording the same, art&
-the costs of this advertisement, you|
interest in said claim will become the
priperty of the undersigned, your co
. owner, who has made the required
expenditures under the terms of said
; Section 2324 of the Revised Statute*
I of the-United States. '• i
ROBERT DEACON,
Co-owner. ;
First pub. Oct. 26; last Jan. 25, 1930.
NOTICE TO CREDITORS.
In the Probate Court at Ruby, Nulato'
Precinct," Fourth Division, Ter
ritory. of Alaska, before William
N. Growden, United States com
missioner, and ex-officio probate
judge. j g
In the matter of the estate of Ed,
SSchlatter, deceased.
Notice is hereby given that the un-1
dersigned*-. has been duly appointed fl
administrator of the estate of Ed
Schlatter, deceased.
All persons having claims against
said estate are required to present
them, duly verified, with proper
vouchers attached, to the under
signed, at-.,my residence in Ruby,:
Alaska, within six (6) months from
the date of this notice.
! Dated Ruby, Alaska, Oct. 25, 1929.
ALBERT VERHONIK,
Administrator.
JOHN W. DUNN,
Attorney /for Administrator.
First pub. Oct. 26.
NOTICE OF FORFEITURE.
To Peter Davey, his heirs, successors
and assigns:
You, and each of you, are hereby
notified that I, the undersigned, your
co-owner, have expended in labor and
improvements the sum of not less
than one hundred dollars for the
years 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925,
1926, 1927, 1923 and 1929 upon placer
mining claim No. 3 Above Discovery
on Esperanto creek, a tributary of
Madison creek, in the Innoko Mining
and Recording Precinct, Fourth dm-*
sion, Territory of Alaska, in order to
held said claim under the provisions
of Section 2324 of the Revised Stat
utes of the United Staes and the
amendments thereto concerning an
nual labor uppn mining claims, being
the amount required to hold said min
ing claim for the period June 30,
1930.
And if, within ninety days after the
publication of this notice, you fail or
refuse to contribute your proportion j
of said expenditure, as well as the!
cost of recording the same, and the
costs of this advertisement, your in
terest in said claim will become the;
property of the undersigned, your co
owner, who has made the required
expenditures under the terms of said
Section 2324 of the Revised Statutes
of the United States,
i JOHN KRIEGER,
Co-Owner.
First pub. Oct. 26; last Jan. 25, 1930.
TABLE OF DISTANCES BE
TWEEN NENANA AND FLAT
Miles
Nenana .. 00
Tavern Roadhouse_17%
; Knight’s Roadhouse . 28%
Nineteen-Mile Roadhouse_68 „
Diamond Roadhouse__ 78
Roosevelt . 89
Lake Minchumina__118
Trappers' Cabin __ 132
‘ Lone Star Roadhouse _ 150
Telida Roadhouse... 189%
Slow Fork Roadhouse_187
East Fork Roadhouse /._) 206
Berry’s Landing Roadhouse_ 227%
Big River Roadhouse__241
McGrath .....263
Takotna .. 280
Bill Goss1 Roadhouse _291
Ophir....300
McCafferty..206
Brown Creek shelter cabin_318
Fritz shelter cabin ...338
First Chance shelter cabin . 346
Schermeyer R. H__860
Iditarod___876
Flat ...... 884
Bonanzza sheier cabin, 12 miles
Crooked Creek shelter cabin, 19
miles from Bonanza.
t tx»m Flat.
Babeesch Moosehide Mitts and Boots
Furs Bought and Sold Clothing
All Kinds of Nice Fresh Groceries and Fruits
r
Canned Goods of All Kinds Beda ‘arid 'Bedding
-I
A. R. Eldridge - McGrath
TAKOTNA ROADHOUSE
i Best of Meals and Rooms
Where Everything Is Homelike sad
' 'Where Toa Are CordiaUy Welcomed
GOOD DOG HOUSES > BATHS
Ivar Chilstrom - Prop.
Rough and Dressed (Lum
ber of AM Kinds