74 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN 1918. 
a bounty on each eagle they kill. From 1907 to 1918 they turned over to me the claws 
of 1,065 eagles. Prior to 1907 I kept no record of the number of eagles killed. 
Joseph Voelkl, 18 Mile Post, Haines, reported that the foxes he 
retained from 1917 had not bred and he had killed all of them. _ Five 
of his stock of minks escaped from the pen and he killed the remainder. 
He states, however, that he expects to build new corrals and obtain 
new stock, - 
A. C. Smith, Porcupine, Chilkat Valley, reported that he has 8 pens 
and a stock of 4 pairs of breeders, 3 silver and 1 cross. Two litters 
were born in 1918, one of 4 silvers and one of two crosses. He raised 
3 of the silvers and 1 cross. The foxes are kept in 8 pens about 
20 by 40 feet. The feed given is house scraps, bear meat, horse meat, 
rabbits, owls, eagles, rice, corn meal, rolled oats, and all kinds of green 
vegetables. ir 
Rufus D. Blakely, of Ketchikan, has undertaken the raising of 
muskrats in lakes on Bold Island. It was thought that the efforts 
to stock the lakes with suitable plants for food were not very success- 
ful, because of the condition of the soil, which will require considerable 
expense for proper treatment. It was stated that the owners con- 
template further experiments, possibly with marten and foxes, which 
require different food. 
nspector EK. P. Walker comments as follows on operators in south- 
eastern Alaska: 
John Fanning, who was operating at McHenry Anchorage, Etolin Island, has aban- 
doned his place. The few animals he had in captivity are reported to have escaped, 
and it is probable that the marten that were on the small island were trapped. Thus 
there remain but the following four positively known to be operating in the district: 
A. C. Smith, at Porcupine, Chilkat Valley, foxes of red stock. 
James York, on Sumdum Island, blue foxes. 
Green and a partner, successors to Barkdahl & Green, on Sokoi Island, foxes of blue 
and red stock. ; 
Bert Maycock, on Windfall Island, marten and probably some mink. 
F. E. Blitz, an educated, temperate man, who has been the only successful fur 
raiser in the vicinity of Telegraph Creek, British Columbia (160 miles up the Stikine 
River), feels that fur farming is a thoroughly practical undertaking if properly located 
and given the same attention and energies that would be devoted to any other high- 
class stock raising. He feels that the cause of the numerous failures has been almost 
wholly due to drink, or, as he expressed it in another way, due to ‘‘men who would 
never make a success of anything.” 
Warden M. J. O’Connor, after a tour of inspection of fox farms in 
the Chilkat Valley, expressed the following opinion as to reasons for 
lack of success: 
I discovered that the fur farms in this district have not been given proper attention 
for the raising of furs for commercial purposes, principally because the operators do 
not give their entire time to the business. It appears, after talking with the leading 
fur farmers in this vicinity, that their breeding pens are not properly situated in that 
they are built adjoining each other, when they should be entirely apart and at a 
distance so that the mothers can not hear the young in other pens, nor even see other 
foxes, since the sight of such makes them very nervous. 
SHIPMENT OF FURS FROM ALASKA. 
As in previous seasons, shipments of furs from Alaska were reported 
on special blanks prepared by the Bureau. Supplies of blanks were > 
furnished to all postmasters in Alaska and to commercial companies, 
express companies, and all persons known to be shippers of furs. 
Postmasters cooperated by indorsing the reports of mail shipments 
eer having been properly filled out and forwarded them to the 
ureau. ‘ 
