200 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 



every trade competing point from Quebec to the 

 North Pacific and from the international boundary 

 to Hudson's Bay and the north-western limit of its 

 range in arctic America. 



" It is now well-known that for some years prior 

 to the coalition in 1821, the annual catch of beaver 

 was rapidly dwindling, and that in several sections 

 it had been exterminated by reckless slaughter ; 

 another decade or two of similar trade competition 

 would doubtless have led to its extinction, except 

 for a time in retreats remote and difficult of access. 

 We have had ample proof, however, by obtained 

 results, of the beneficial operation of the wise and 

 far-reaching policy adopted by Governor Sir George 

 Simpson and the able and experienced fur-trade 

 counsellors of the then united companies, for the 

 due preservation of this valuable animal. For some 

 years before and after the transfer of the country 

 to Canada in 1870, the entire Peace River, together 

 with many other streams and small ponds through- 

 out the Territories, British Columbia, the Yukon, 

 and the east were swarming with beaver ; but this, 

 unfortunately, is not the case to-day. From 1853 

 to 1877 inclusive, the average number of skins sold 

 by the Hudson's Bay Company in London was 

 118,615, as against their total catalogue sales of 

 about 50,000 for 1897, 43,000 in 1900, 46,000 in 

 1902, and 49,190 for 1903. This is, without doubt, 

 a bad showing for some of the later of the twenty- 

 six years which have succeeded that statement. 



