anb 



quantity of timber, wheat, the herb called gin- 

 seng, and a few other commodities, but from first 

 to last she lived chiefly on beaver skins. Horace 

 T. Martin, formerly Secretary of Agriculture for 

 Canada, calls the beaver's part in Canadian de- 

 velopment "a subject which has from the in- 

 ception of civilization been associated with the 

 industrial and commercial development, and in- 

 directly with the social life, the romance, and to 

 a considerable extent with the wars of Canada." 



The American Fur Company and the North- 

 western Fur Company were two large fur-gather- 

 ing enterprises whose trappers ranged afar and 

 who left their mark in the history and the devel- 

 opment of the Northwest. The colossal Astor 

 fortune really had its beginning in the wealth 

 which John Jacob Astor amassed chiefly through 

 the gathering and the sale of beaver skins. 

 Beaver skins are now economically unimportant 

 in commerce, but their value has already led to 

 the establishment of a few beaver farms. 



To-day beaver are apparently extinct over the 

 greater portion of the area which they formerly 

 occupied, and are scarce over the remaining in- 



49 



