110 FISHERY AND FUB INDUSTRIES OF ALASKA IN 1912. 



there has been no special decrease in the abundance of any of the fur 

 animals. 



ST. MICHAEL. >■ 



This important place is located on St. Michael Island, Norton Sound, 

 about 60 miles above or east of the mouth of the Yukon. The island 

 is a military reservation and the mercantile and transportation com- 

 panies doing business there operate under permits issued by the War 

 Department. The Northern Navigation Co. maintahis headquarters 

 at this place, where all passengers and freight must transfer to river 

 boats. Some four or five other companies maintain stations there* 

 each keeping a small stock of furs for sale to travelers. 



On the island itself there are practically no fur animals, only an 

 occasional muskrat or mink being seen. Many furs, however, are 

 shipped from St. Michael by buyers who collect them as they come 

 down the river in the spring unmediately after the ice has gone out. 

 People from all over the Yukon tundra section also come here, bring- 

 ing in their catch of furs, which they ship or sell to local traders, 

 receiving supplies in return. 



NOME. 



Nome, situated on the bleak, barren south coast of Seward Penin- 

 sula, would be unimportant with respect to furs were it not for the 

 fact that schooners trading on both coasts of Bering Sea bring large 

 quantities of white-fox and other furs to this place. Some lower 

 Yukon traders also take their furs to Nome, where they exchange them 

 for supplies. 



In the summer a great many Eskimo congregate at Nome, 

 coming with their families in their boats from all over the Seward 

 Peninsula and from as far north as Cape Prince of Wales and the 

 Arctic coast. They bring ivory, which they carve into various forms 

 and trade to the local merchants or sell to the summer population. 

 They also bring in the catch of white-fox skins, which they sell or 

 barter. In the early fall, having obtained their winter supplies, they 

 return to their villages. 



The Bering Sea Co., of New York, which has done a general trading 

 business at Nome for several years, has recently established stations 

 at Point Hope and Point Barrow, at the former of which it does a large 

 business in white foxes and ivory. 



The various dealers at Nome handle white foxes, also mink and 

 marten from the Yukon. One store had on hand about 200 white 

 foxes, 150 mink, and 100 marten. The mink and marten came from 

 the Yukon. It was stated that the white foxes were aU brought from 

 Siberia by whalers. 



The United States Mercantile Co. has a store at Nome, but obtains 

 its furs chiefly from two posts on the Kuskokwim. Two other trading 

 companies obtain some furs in trade. 



