FOREWORD ix 



world ; so we witness fur auctions held three times a year in Amer- 

 ican centres — Montreal, New York, St. Louis — whose aggre- 

 gate exceeds the famous fur auctions of London. It was inevitable 

 that America would some day stop shipping her raw furs to London 

 and Germany to be dressed and dyed and manufactured — would 

 some day stop re-importing her own furs at enhanced prices, and 

 would take over the selling, dressing and dyeing and manufacturing 

 of her own raw products. 



The War practically stopped the dye industry in Europe; and 

 Americans and Canadians were not slow to transfer that dye in- 

 dustry to this continent. Perfections in dye processes, that read 

 like miracles, followed faster than manufacturers could erect works 

 and train the highly specialized workers needed for the most highly 

 specialized and highly technical industry in the world. This page 

 of the history of the modern fur trade reads as romantically as any 

 story of the hunter on the open field. 



When the American Government took over Alaska Sealing, 

 sales were held in St. Louis. That was the beginning of the great 

 sales on this continent. When the War interrupted shipment of 

 fur consignments from Asia to London and Germany, they began 

 coming to this continent in huge volume through Vancouver, San 

 Francisco and Seattle. Money was plentiful in America. It was 

 scarce in Europe. The trade here called for furs. American buyers 

 began scouting for raw fur markets of Asia, South America, Canada, 

 even war-torn Europe. They paid in many cases foolishly high 

 prices. The fashion of summer furs came in a veritable craze. 

 The market became a maw that could not be satiated ; and all 

 this swelled the furs pouring into the new sales centres of this coun- 

 try. The fur trade doubled, then quadrupled. Prices jumped 

 and jumped yet again — in one case from 90^ to $90 a skin in six 

 years, in another case from 10^ to $7 a skin, in yet another from 

 $200 to #1800 a skin. Just at this conjunction of the stars came 

 the spectacular successes in fur farming — silver fox, Persian lamb, 

 minkeries. Alaska Seal, Beavers, Buffalo — which had been al- 



