Canadian Fur Auction Sales 



During the month of September the fourth 

 sale of the Canadian Fur Auction Sales Company 

 took place at Montreal, when the same gratify- 

 ing indications of the successful building up of 

 a national fur market as have characterized 

 the previous sales since their inauguration in 

 the spring of 1920 were exhibited. More than 

 one million dollars worth of furs, in the main 

 the product of Canadian traps and ranches, 

 were disposed of, the high quality of the product 

 arousing much comment, and the prices, in the 

 face of general conditions, being considered 

 very satisfactory. 



The significant feature of this sale, as of 

 past sales, most pleasing and encouraging to 

 the national movement to build up a Canadian 

 fur market for Canadian furs, was the keen 

 international interest evinced in the proceed- 

 ings, buyers having arrived at Montreal from 

 London, Paris, New York and most of the fur 

 centres on both continents. Skins, though in 

 the main a Canadian product, had also ai rived 

 from all parts of the world, there being consign- 

 ments from the Southern United States and 

 some having even travelled from far off Afghan- 

 istan by way of the Khyber Pass to India on 

 camels, a distance of over 1,000 miles, and 

 thence to Montreal by parcel post. 



The pelts offered for auction at the sale 

 comprised practically every animal trapped or 

 farmed for its fur. There were 146 silver fox 

 pelts, mostly from Prince Edward Island, sold 

 at various prices up to the record of $380, 

 whilst a small selection of white foxes sold at 

 figures ranging round $40. A total of 24,613 

 skunk skins, mostly of Canadian origin, found 

 buyers at prices as high as $5.60, a big advance 

 over the spring prices. Fifteen thousand 

 American opossum and 6,994 Persian lamb 

 skins were featured in the sale; there was a 

 large aggregation of otter and beaver, whilst 

 3,423 red fox skins brought an average of well 

 over $30. A collection of mole skins totalled 

 fifteen thousand. 



Higher Prices Prevailed 



In the opinion of the management the 

 proceedings of the auction were successful 

 beyond expectation. Prices for the better 

 grade of furs were considerably higher than 

 in the spring whilst medium grades maintained 

 their standard. Beaver, otter, fisher, marten, 

 mink and lynx sold uniformly at twenty per 

 cent in advance of spring prices; raccoon had 

 advanced ten per cent, muskrat thirty per cent, 

 and bear as high as fifty per cent. Otter sold 

 for around $45, lynx $45, and bear $22. 



The Montreal and Winnipeg fur sales, as 

 periodical events of international interest, may 

 now be considered to be firmly established, and 

 in the secure standing she has achieved, the 

 Dominion has assurance of permanence and 



increasing importance for her national fur 

 market. As the world's premier fur producer, 

 both in quality and quantity, Canada has too 

 long lost much of the accruing revenue by 

 permitting the fur crop to go to foreign markets 

 for auction, and the success of her first fur 

 sales evidences that from the long established 

 fame of her products she has no difficulty in 

 attracting to her sales the world's first buyers. 



Across Canada Calgary 



The city of Calgary in Alberta recently 

 instituted a competition for the selection of 

 the most fitting slogan to adequately describe 

 it, and as a result the Alberta city is becoming 

 widely known as "The City of the Foothills." 

 The title is both descriptive and distinctive, 

 neatly setting forth its location whilst dis- 

 tinguishing it from other prairie cities. Snugly 

 settled in the shadow of the foothills, the 

 majestic rockies -towering above may be seen 

 at practically all times from within its confines, 

 retaining for the environs that suggestion of 

 the primitive and natural from which Calgary 

 is fast removing itself as a modern business 

 and commercial centre. 



Calgary is only forty-six years old, the 

 foundation of the future city being a log fort 

 built at the juncture of the two rivers by the 

 North West Mounted Police in 1874. It 

 became the fur trading centre for the Indians, 

 and later its surrounding prairie with the 

 luscious buffalo grass became horse and cattle 

 dotted, raising it to an eminence in the ranch- 

 ing industry unequalled in Canada. Its pro- 

 gress was slow until the line of the Canadian 

 Pacific transcontinental reached it in 1883, when 

 the five hundred people which constituted its 

 population considered the settlement worthy 

 of the dignity of incorporation and it became 

 the "Town of Calgary" with an area of ap- 

 proximately 1,000 acres. 



From then on Calgary presents a record 

 of unrivalled progress, passing through the 

 era of the rancher to that of the grain grower 

 and mixed farmer, developing as a grain ship- 

 ping centre, an industrial hub, the confluence 

 of lines of distribution to the vast agricultural 

 district which sprang up all around it. In 

 1894 it was incorporated as a city, and today 

 is a handsome, modern city of some 70,000 

 people with fine public buildings, utilities, banks 

 and hotels, spacious streets, beautiful parks 

 and handsome boulevards. 



Calgary is the headquarters of the Depart- 

 ment of Natural Resources of the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway from which is controlled the 

 waters that irrigate the vast fertile area com- 

 monly known as "The Irrigation Block" a 

 tract of land approximately 150 miles long 

 by 40 miles wide along the main line of the 

 Canadian Pacific between Medicine Hat and 

 Calgary. 



194 



