The late Adele Townshend wrote an entertaining column for the Eastern Graphic newspaper, entitled Looking Back. This is a story about the advent of fox industry in Eastern Kings. It was published on June 13, 1979.

In the year 1913, two enterprising young Souris men were busy signing fifty dollar shares in the Souris Silver Black Fox Company Limited. The two men were Doctor Augustus A. MacDonald, President of the Company and Charles D. MacKinnon, Secretary-Treasurer. The other three founding directors were J. Augustus White, merchant, James C. Ferguson, druggist and Reginald H. Sterns, proprietor of the Victoria Hotel, Charlottetown.

In these early years of the century, our Island was known as "The Land of the Golden Pelt." And not much wonder when silver fox pelts sold for over a thousand dollars each, and live breeding stock for $10,000 a pair.

The silver fox industry originated with Charles Dalton and Robert Oulton of Prince County who were later joined by Silas and B.I. Raynor, Robert Tuplin and Captain James Gordon, known as "The Big Six Combine." They agreed not to sell breeding stock. Robert Tuplin, however, sold a pair of foxes to his nephew, Frank Tuplin who in turn sold two pair of breeding stock to Holmans of Summerside.

The monoply was broken and by 1913, there were 277 fox ranches on the Island. The silver fox boom was on and Souris was in on it. The Prospectus put out by the Souris Company states: "As to the probable financial returns, they may be briefly summed up as follows: Putting the paid-up capital at $70,000, with one pair of breeders and three pairs of young foxes there should be at least ten pups born during the spring of 1914. Disposing of those at $12,000 a pair would amount to $60,000 (less percentage for ranching) would net the Company $54,000 or a fractin over 77 per cent on the money invested. The above is certainly a conservative estimate. And it is quite possible that the Company may even pay 100 percent.

The claim of the prospectus -$12,000 for a pair of unborn foxes - was certainly exaggerated. But it illustrates the wild excitemmt and high hopes of the speculators across the Island. The new fox industry had made millionaires and they roped, would make many more.

Dalton and Oulton, the original fox breeders, had discovered that foxes bred in captivity had to kept in as natural surroundings as possilie. The site chosen for the Souris Silver Black Fox Company ranch was about a mile to the east of Souris in a secluded section of the Keays property. The ranch was built to the same design as the Victoria Farm Ranch at North River outside Charlottetown, which was said to be the most up-to-date in Canada. Reginald Sterns was president and supervisor of the Victoria Ranch and no doubt the guiding voice for the new Souris company.

Edwin Clay of Dundas was first caretaker of the new ranch. He had several years' experience in the care of foxes and is described in the prespectus as "a man of sterling character, and all who know him will have every confidence in his ability as a ranch man; he is also a heavy shareholder in the company. " Another caretaker of the ranch was Isaac Ephriam Cheverie of Souris.

The boom years of the fox industry on the Island were 1910-1914. Once war was declared, the demand for furs declined. The industry revived slightly after the war was over but never again reached the fever ptch it had in the early years.

The Souris company closed about 1920. The foxes on hand at that time were sold to the Victoria Farm Ranch.

Copyright
Waldron H. Leard