Fur Trade Research Paper

The beavers are an extraordinary creature. They are an animal that is mostly nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent, and are of two different species. These two species are Castor Canadensis and Castor Fiber. They ate certain kinds of tree bark such as willows, maples, poplars, beeches, birches, alders, and aspens. Beavers have been known to erect dams eighteen feet high and four thousand feet long-radically altered ecosystems, creating ponds and changing stream flows. These were their homes, dams and canals made by them. Their homes were built near the food sources that they needed to survive. The existence and population of beavers were in very large numbers. They were considered a keystone species by ecologists. A keystone species …show more content…
The fur trade was a very important industry that sold the beavers for a certain part of their body and the rest of the body as well. It was the best fur for felting. The fur trade could also be known as the beaver trade. The Earliest fur traders were the French explorers and the fishermen. The fur trade started with the exchange of goods between the Europeans and the Native Americans. The Europeans, mainly the gentlemen, wanted fine hats. The Europeans tricked the Indians in trading them for the beavers for other various goods. The Native Americans thought of the beavers as only their source of food and a type of spiritual animal to them. They only used what they needed to survive. They did not want to wipe out their whole species. They knew better than to do that for it was in their religion, to respect all as one. But as they started to receive other types of goods in return of the beavers they had lost their way of thinking and their ways of religion. The beavers were being killed by the Native Americans even more than what was …show more content…
The process of making a hat had three steps consisting of a lot of work. The first step was preparing the fur. The pulling of the guard hairs and this could be done with tweezers. Then there was a process called carroting because it was the color of the fur when it was finished. Carroting was when a mixture of nitrate and mercury was brushed on the pelt. The mixing was the next process. Mixing was of two different kinds of fluffs and this made a great and one of finest hats. Then both fluff types were carded together. The last part of this step is the weighing. There had to be a particular size and thickness of the hat that was needed in the fluff’s weight. The second step in the beaver hat making process is matting. In matting the first part is bowing. This is both a cleaning and fluffing maneuver. Bowing has a lot to it and consists of doing it more than once and this is so there can be a second batt made. A batt is another word for wool. After this there is the basoning act. This is where it depends on the bowing. It is quite complicated. Basoning is when a hardening part of the skin is placed on the bason. The bason was a wooden bench with an iron plate located in the center. Then there is planking. When the hat is blown up and put in a large cooper kettle this is where planking comes in. There were sloping planks that were made on one side of the kettle. To protect