Me fertile ground that for ages hac grown crops of wild same and 
fur animals was now required to grow corn, wheat, tobacco, beans, and cotton, 
and to support Gomestic flocks and herds, This condition, disastrous for 
Many species, actually benefited others. The big-game species suffered first 
and mosts Weile the bison, ellk, deer, and bears were extirpated om fomced 
to retire to areas remote from cultivation, some of the smaller ereatures, 
imneluding the quail, the rabbit, the raccoon, ana the apossum, found the. 
additional food ‘supply grown by the farmer an encouragement to increase their 
numbers for a time and to extend their ranges. 
fan ou mee on | aac on Colonization and Se Settlement 
The abundance of game and fur animals and of fishes aided the pio- 
leers and settlers in establishing thenselves in the new land; without it, 
indeed, rapid colonization would have been impossible. Supplies from Europe 
to be, brought over a long and hazardous ocean route, a communication 
line far too tenuous and inadequate to support even the smallest outpost of 
Civilization against the rigors of the wilderness. For a long time after 
the land had been cleared and crops were being harvested, the settlers still 
found themselves dependent on the wild game and fur animals for a very con- 
siderable proportion of the essentials of life. 
5 
2§ 
ing west of the Mississippi came from the beaver trappers, or "a St mnen"—— 
the "long hunters"--so-called not because of their lean and rangy appearance, 
but from their custom of disappearing into the wilderness for months at a 
time. Resourceful, solitary men, they prided themselves on their ability to 
do anything that the Indian eovld do, ana Go it better. These adventurers 
were perfectly fitted for the hazardous task of exploring the unknown wesvern 
wilderness, and the beaver was the lodestone that drew them across the Plains 
to the Rockies and across the Rockies to Mexico and to the Pacific Northwest. 
But for these men the entire region of Northwestern United States would now 
in, all probability, be held by Great Britain, for they resisted the invasion 
of the coveted territory by Canadian fur: traders and trappers, and thus 
first established the claim of the United States to the great Oregon territory. 
The white man's first. knowledge of the nature of the great region Wy— 
Teaco im Waele ene Wus emmoctWets 
Ear 
: 
fs 
Except for the fur animals and the bison, there was for many years 
MO CGiroch eCxplortation of wi lalate, t was at this time, however, that 
some of the great American fortunes were founded upon the fur trade, nota- 
bly that of the Astor family. Their remote trading posts in a few years 
Parmnered the wealth of fur and Very yto posterity Searcely nore than ceau— 
tered remnants of what had been a tremendoug resource. The pelts of fur 
animals and the hides of bison were. commodities that would endure trans— 
portation from the wilderness to the settlements, but the flesh of game 
binges Vend mammals could not be Sent back over the one trail, 
tiling for the market did mol become a serious factor im whe, ges 
duction of game until stimulated by the growth of cities and towns nearer 
to the gare fields and the development of railways. Traffic in game as 
food flourished after the Civil War and probably reached its peak in the 
80's. During that time uncounted millions of passenger pigeons, prairie 
ee 
