THE AMERICAN BEAVER 



125 



hogsheads, the shipments up to this 

 time having a total \'ahie of aljout 

 ten thousand dollars. Thus the beaver 

 seems to have been for a time the chief 

 source of revenue of the Plymouth col- 

 ony, although it is evident from the rec- 

 ords that many of the skins must ha\e 

 come from Maine. But in New England , 

 outside of Maine, the beaver was not 

 abundant, and by 1645 the trade in the 

 skins was practically at an end in that sec- 

 tion. As any part of the country became 

 settled the trade in beaver skins in- 

 creased, and as fast as the l)eaver was 

 exterminated, it became necessary to go 

 farther and farther into the interior in 

 search of it. Here is where the Hudson's 

 Bay Company played the leading role, 

 and by virtue of its efficient organization 

 captured from the French and Dutch the 

 fur trade that it has held even to the 

 present day. A few figures m ill suffice 

 to indicate the number 

 of beavers that have 

 been, and still are, used 

 in trade. In 1S54 the 

 Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany disposed of no 

 less than 509,240 skins, 

 although this doubtless 

 represents the accumu- 

 lation of several years. 

 In 1891 the Company 

 handled 63,419 skins 

 ranging in price, ac- 

 cording to size and 

 quality, from five to 

 sixty-nine shillings 

 apiece, and even so re- 

 cently as 1903, 80,000 

 skins were sold in Lon- 

 don, although 16,504 

 were sold by parties 

 other than the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company. 

 The profits on some of 



Grandfather's hat, 1830. 

 these skms must have Essex institute, Salem 



l)een fairly good, especially on the ones 

 taken in exchange for trade muskets. 

 The price of one of these flintlock guns 

 was enough beaver skins piled about the 

 gun standing on end to reach from floor to 

 nnizzle. The gun too, apparently was 

 subject to unexpected growth, and for a 

 year or two would be about six inches 

 longer than the would-be-purchaser had 

 calculated. Transactions such as this 

 were the exception however, and the list 

 ])rice for a beaver skin was ten shillings. 



The fur trade nevertheless has not been 

 all profit, and there have been times 

 when the market was glutted and prices 

 low. Such a time came in 1700, when 

 there was a large stock of skins on hand, 

 and just as in our day, planters have 

 burned tobacco in the eft'ort to keep up 

 prices, so three-quarters of the skins on 

 hand were burned at Montreal. 



The principal use of these skins was, 



From a specimen in the ]SIusetim of the 



