FUR-FARMING IN CANADA 15 
forms of wire enclosures. In 1897, Dalton built a ranch at Tig- 
nish, still retaining a half-interest in the Oulton ranch. He bought 
and sold skins and generally conducted the fur sales for the district. 
All Oulton’s foxes were sold by Dalton, as well as those of his late part- 
ners, James Rayner and others. Dalton also conducted a general corre- 
spondence with the fur trade, and imported stock which proved of 
value for crossing. 
It was inevitable that enterprising neighbours who guessed 
SN aaa how successfully the fox breeding was being carried on 
would chafe at not being able to participate in such a 
profitable enterprise. Others soon began to experiment. In 1891, 
James Tuplin and James Gordon purchased a pair of foxes for $340, and, 
to the surprise of Dalton and Oulton, succeeded in rearing young from 
them in the following season. Silas Rayner was also alive to the situa- 
tion and though, at first, unable to secure stock of good quality, he 
learned how to keep foxes successfully and finally secured better stock 
from Dalton and from Gordon. Frank Tuplin, of Summerside, ob- 
tained the foundation stock for his large ranch by securing foxes from 
his uncle, Robert Tuplin. It is probable that the pelt value of foxes 
owned by the above mentioned individuals and their inheritors at the 
present time aggregates $300,000. The value of their stock as breeders 
is now in such demand, that possibly $2,000,000 could be obtained for 
it. 
Most of the early attempts to rear foxes failed because: 
1. No good fencing material, such as the woven wire used 
at the present time, was available. 
2. The monogamous nature of foxes was not recognized and 
being quartered in one pen in large numbers, the young were killed. 
3. The price of fur was not high enough to induce breeders 
to risk large amounts of capital in experiments, and those who 
had the aptitude for the business usually possessed but little 
capital. 
The rising prices for silver fox in the ‘nineties’, the availability 
of woven-wire fencing and the persistence of men like Oulton. Dalton, 
Beetz and Burrowman are responsible for the successful methods of 
ranching evolved. The fox-breeding methods of the pioneer breeders 
were kept from the public, and as late as 1910, not more than a 
dozen ranches were in existence. The last big sales of fur were made in 
that year, and selling for foundation breeding stock has been general 
since that time. So great is the demand that the prices of breeders have 
risen in two years, from $3,000 a pair to $15,000, and at the date of 
writing—December, 1912—the best stock cannot be obtained at the 
last-named figure. 
