MAMMALS AND BIRDS OF ALASKA 



17 



years of occupancy by the Russians (1784-1S67), furs to the value of 

 $45,000,000 wore shipped to the mother country. Since its purchase 

 by the United States in 1867 for $7,200,000, Alaska has exported 

 furs valued at more than $125,000,000, exclusive of the largo take of 

 fur seal pelts gathered under Government supervision on the Pribilof 

 Islands. Special consideration is due the fur industry because of the 

 class of people dependent upon it. Probably 15,000 natives, women 

 and children included, share in the average annual return of more 

 than $2,300,000 (table 1) from the sale of pelts; they also use large 

 quantities of furs for garments and bedding. 



Table 1. — Yearly average number and value of land furs exported from Alaska 

 over a 16-year period 



1 Red, cross, and silver foxes all belong to'tho same species. 



Lately there has been a marked tendency for people to move 

 to Alaska "for the purpose of making their living by hunting and 

 trapping," in the Daniel Boone spirit. This class of settler is reluc- 

 tantly, but positively, warned against the undertaldng. Every part 

 of Alaska is already being thoroughly trapped, and every species of 

 fur animal is being cropped as closely as is consistent with maintaining 

 a safe breeding supply, and the merchandizing of A\dld-cauglit furs 

 will stand no further expansion. There is, however, ample oppor- 

 tunity for persons with some capital to engage in ranch raising minks 

 and blue and sih^er foxes. Already 300 licensed fur farmers are 

 operating in the Territory, and at Petersburg a Territorial experiment 

 station is stud^yiiig the feeding, breedmg, and managing of fur animals 

 and related problems. Fur farming is an important and valuable 

 adjunct to the fur industry and to the conservation of fur animals in 

 the wild. 



