Virtual Reward 3.0 - "International Fox Museum" Virtual Cache
Hidden : 3/15/2022
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: virtual (virtual)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works
Looking for a different adventure?

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:


Girl in a jacket


The International Fox Museum & Hall of Fame (click)!

The industry that would eventually see PEI become the world leader in providing quality Silver Fox pelts began with the hunting and capturing of wild foxes in the early 1900's. The fox-raising boom began with Charles Dalton & Robert Oulton, who teamed up in the 1890's, starting with a pair of pups they had captured in the wild. The men raised their stock in mesh pens tucked near groves of trees, where the foxes could roam without escaping. They succeeded in breeding foxes with inky or bluish-black pelts, which sometimes commanded more than $1,800 apiece. Fur was hugely popular, and it didn't take long for others to get in on the action. By 1923, according to the Fur Institute of Canada, there were 448 fox farms on PEI. It was not the harvest of the wild pelts, but the domestication and captive breeding of the Silver Fox that put Canada's smallest province on the map. By 1920 the industry was worth millions of dollars, surpassing potatoes as the primary harvest and export. At the time, a top breeding pair could fetch $10,000 to $20,000.

The First World War & the Depression each dealt a blow to the industry, but it bounced back time & time again. The industry peaked in the mid-1940's with over 3700 Island fox ranches breeding over 99,000 foxes, and it's said that one out of every 10 residents raised foxes. A mere 10 years later the fur industry had collapsed, with pelts fetching a mere $7; there were only 190 ranches with ~3300 animals still in captivity. Many of the breeding stock were simply turned lose, and to this day, the Island has a large contingent of wild foxes frequently seen along roadways & in farmers' fields.

The museum dives into the business dealings -- shady & otherwise -- that shaped the industry & put PEI "on the map". The telling of the fox ranching story is amplified by the displays of fox ranching equipment & fox pelts -- a part of the Island's history!
To receive credit for finding this cache, your log must contain a photograph of you in front of the International Fox Museum.

Silver Fox          Red Fox


Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023

This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.

Additional Hints (No hints available.)



Advertising with Us