MINOR FUR-BEARING ANIMALS. 71 
Assistant Agent Christoffers confiscated from H. Roseboom of 
Bellingham, Wash., 9 fur-seal skins which had been purchased 
from natives in the Bristol Bay district in 1917. The Solicitor of the 
Department ruled that these skins could not be properly authenticated 
as Having been lawfully taken and must be sold at public auction 
for the account of the Government. After such sale certificates 
would be issued to show that purchasers were lawfully entitled to 
their possession. 
Warden C. F. Townsend, of Fairbanks, reported that he investi- 
gated the rumor as to a case of poisoning at Shageluk in the fall of 
1917, but obtained no definite information. 
On March 4, 1918, Nicholai Mudock was arrested on complaint of 
Warden Shirley A. Baker for having killed two sea otters off Sutwik 
Island, on the Pacific side of the Alaska Peninsula, between April 18 
and 25,1917. The case was tried at Naknek on March 13. Mudock 
pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three months in jail. A heavier 
penalty was not imposed on account of the defendant’s precarious 
physical condition. Mudock claimed to have sold one of the skins 
to William Rutchow, a fur trader at Cold Bay. Careful search failed 
to locate the skin in Rutchow’s possession. Warden Baker com- 
plained to the marshal at Kodiak that Rutchow was selling whisky 
and making seditious remarks. He was subsequently fined $600 and 
costs for these two offenses. The other skin had also been sold, and 
it was not located. 
SALES OF SEIZED SKINS. 
During the calendar year 1918, the following confiscated skins were 
sold at public auction: 41 mink, 96 beaver, 1 land otter, 51 red fox, 
4 cross fox, 2 sea otters, and 13 fur-seal skins. The gross amount 
received was $2,609.90. Commission and other expenses amounted 
to $115.02, leaving a balance of $2,494.88 turned into the United 
States Treasury. A considerable number of confiscated skins were 
awaiting sale at the end of the year. 
FUR FARMING. 
Accurate information in regard to fur-farming operations in Alaska 
is difficult to obtain and is of fragmentary character. In many cases 
operations are incidental to other work and have been more or less 
unsuccessful. The data which the Bureau of Fisheries publishes are 
obtained from correspondence with fur farmers and from reports of 
employees in Alaska. The Bureau has no direct jurisdiction over fur- 
farming operations, other than the enforcement of the law and regula- 
tions for the protection of fur-bearing animals in Alaska. A number 
of islands, however, are available for lease by the Department of Com- 
merce for fox propagation purposes. 
George L. Morrison, of Hot Springs, reports that considerable loss 
occurred in his operations in the spring of 1918 because of a disastrous 
flood, in consequence of which only 33 silver pups were raised from 
the stock of 29 pairs of silvers and 1 pair of crosses retained in 1917. 
It was the intention to take the pelts of 25 of the silvers this season. 
The foxes are kept in 60 corrals, 30. of which are 27 by 27 feet, and 30 
are 6 by 27 feet. Mr. Morrison leased his ranch in the fall of 1918 
and intended to enter military service. 
