NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 169 



Kennicott. Northern Minnesota was once good marten 

 country, and Herrick (1892) mentions that many dark pelts, 

 especially prized, formerly came from this area. As to its 

 recent status along the northern border of Minnesota and in 

 the adjacent part of Canada, areas now forming national 

 reservations, Cahn (1937) writes: "The marten is now prac- 

 tically if not completely extinct in the Quetico country. It has 

 been exterminated from the Superior National Forest on the 

 American side of the boundary. Trappers report seeing an 

 occasional track in winter in the larger timber north of Saga- 

 naga and Saganagonse lakes, and I found one skull at a trap- 

 per's cabin up the Wawiag River in 1930. With the removal 

 of the larger timber and their constant pursuit by trappers, the 

 marten has retreated to the north." Still farther west, toward 

 the edge of the Plains, martens were common in northeastern 

 North Dakota a century and more ago. Bailey (1926) quotes 

 Wied's early account of the number of furs brought in from 

 local and more western points, including 500 or 600 marten 

 skins. More particular numbers of martens taken in this 

 region are quoted from records of Alexander Henry in 1801-7, 

 and range from three to as many as 75 in a season at the Pem- 

 bina River. "At present," says Bailey, "there are probably 

 no martens in North Dakota," nor is it probable that they 

 would return "even with careful protection" to the limited 

 forest areas of the State. 



The vast region north arid west of the Great Lakes in Canada 

 is probably now the main producing ground for marten fur. 

 Concerning the species there Preble (1908) writes: "The marten 

 is rather common throughout the forest belt of the Athabaska 

 and Mackenzie regions. It varies greatly in color, being more 

 or less subject to melanism throughout this area. The 'dark' 

 martens are more highly prized than the lighter ones, and 

 bring a higher price, sometimes as much as four or five times 

 the value of ordinary skins . . . Martens are common 

 along the Athabaska, Slave, and Peace Rivers, and large 

 numbers are traded at all the posts on their banks. Skins 

 taken in these valleys average rather dark in color and furnish 

 a good grade of fur. The valley of the Athabaska below Grand 

 Rapid is said to be especially good trapping ground. The 

 number annually taken by each trapper varies from a few to 

 a hundred or more. James MacKinlay informed me that 



