CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 97 



grow less with each year, and it is high time that an investigation be 

 instituted so that facts and figures can be at hand to support the 

 legislation necessary. 



A search in the early history of California reveals the fact that this 

 state for many years took a very prominent part in the world's fur 

 trade. Companies were formed and ships outfitted on purpose to 

 develop the fur resources. Trade centered in the skins of the sea otter, 

 an animal which furnishes the finest fur known, fur which at the present 

 time sells for fabulous sums. The average price paid in London in 

 1910 was $1,703.33. 



From 1786 to 1790 trade in sea otter skins in California was con- 

 trolled by the Spanish government and was in the hands exclusively 

 of the padres and Indians. In an old manuscript written by the coin- 

 mandante at Santa Barbara to the governor, dated November 9, 1789, 

 the following numbers of sea otter skins were reported shipped : From 

 Purissima, 7-1 ; Santa Barbara, 79 ; San Buenaventura, 81 ; besides 32 

 fox skins. This represented shipments from the southern coast regions 

 only. In 1790 the government monopoly ceased and the padres were 

 deprived of a market. They welcomed therefore the opportunity to 

 trade afforded by American ships at the beginning of the nineteenth 

 century. From 1800 to 1812 a number of American ships annually 

 visited the coast, trading cloth, muskets, and other materials for sea 

 otter skins. 



Sturgis (MS) gives the following figures regarding the number of 

 ships in the fur trade in the northwest, the number cf sea otter skins 

 ancl the price brought in the Canton market : 



Year — No. of ships. No. sea otters. Sale price. 



1799 7 11,000 $25 



1800 6 9,800 22 



1801 10 13,000 21 



1802 8 14,000 20 



Even as early as 1785 the capture of sea otters had become of such 

 importance that on October 24, 1785, regulations for the collection of 

 skins were issued by Governor Fages of California. The order was 

 sent to Ignacio Vallejo at San Jose commanding that "anyone who 

 goes out to trade with the Indians for otter skins" shall be punished, 

 the price at the time was $1.00 to $7.00 (Bancroft, 1885 a, pp. 439- 

 440). 



In 1786 La Perouse, a Frenchman, making a special investigation 

 in ]\Ionterey was told that 20,000 skins could be furnished each year, 

 and many more by establishing new posts north of San Francisco. He 

 makes the statement that before this year otter skins were worth "no 

 more than two rabbit skins," and that the Spaniards did not suspect 

 their real value. (Bancroft, ]885o, p. 438.) 



In 1801, which was perhaps the most flourishing period of the trade, 

 there were sixteen ships on the coast, fifteen of which were American 

 and one English. Upwards of 18,000 sea otter skins were collected 

 for the China market in that year by the American vessels alone. 

 (Bancroft, 1884a, p. 373.) In 1802 "more than 15,000 sea otter skins 

 were collected and carried to Canton." 



Tlie first battle of San Diego was precipitated by the trade in otter 

 skins. Bancroft (1885 a, pp. 10-12) gives the following account of the 

 affair : 



