24 



PISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



Fig. 5. Map showing location of California's game refuges. There are now 2S state 

 refuges, comprising an area of 1,792,000 acres. 



FUR RESOURCES. 



TJie fur trade ])layed an important part in the early history of Cali- 

 fornia, but after the depletion of the two more valuable fur bearers, the 

 sea otter and the beaver, the fur-trading companies deserted the field and 

 the catch wa.s left to mountaineers who wished to use spare time in the 

 winter to increase their income by trapping. Estimates of the value of 

 the pelts taken in the state have been made in the past but the first 

 dependable figures are now at hanrl as a result of the trapper's license 

 law passed in 1017, which requires each trapper to report his catch. A 

 compilation of the reports for tlie open season ] 01 9-1920 made by Mr. 

 Joseph Dixon, economic maiiimalogist. Museum of Vertel^rate Zoology, 

 University of California, who is at work on a book dealing with the fur 

 bearers of the state follows : 



