glam

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Feeding foxes at Arthur Dawson’s Ranch. Glen Thomson collection.

The tax records at theIArchives in Charlottetown record fox taxes collected by the province beginning in 1916. Two tax payments were made by the North Tryon company in 1916, $27.00 on 11 July and $110.00 on the 27 September. It appears that T. Arthur Dawson operated independently of the North Tryon Silver Black Fax Company. Arthur paid provincial taxes of $6.50 on the 28June 1916, and he paid $2.50 fox tax and $ .84 war tax on 3 August 1918, and $6.00 fox tax and $2.33 war tax on the 17 December 1918. The tax records do not name any other North Tryon ranchers which would indicate that by 1916 every one else was under the umbrella of the North Tryon company.19

Most of the farmers in North Tryon were operating fox ranches in varying degrees of sophistication; those registered were required to operate under an official name. The Canadian Silver Fox Breeders Asso- ciation records name the following North Tryon fox ranches:

James Chisholm, joined Dec. 30, 1925;James and T. Arthur Dawson; Rex Dawson, joined Aug. 9, 1928; Fred A. Leard, Centerbrook, joined Oct. 22, 1924; Elizabeth Lang, joined Apr. 6, 1928; Erle Thomson, Campsie, joined Feb. 3 1925.2 Other residents known to have raised foxes were: Albert Callbeck, Reginald Dixon, Sheldon Dixon, Russell Howatt, Maxwell Lefurgey, Sterling Lord, J. Archie Thomson, Gus Waddell, Major Waddell, Hedley Weeks, and Raymond Wood.

Very few local ranchers made any amount of money, but a few, includingJames and Arthur Dawson, prospered. Arthur had a large fox ranch, and became an inspector and appraiser at the annual Fox Shows. As inspector, Arthur travelled across the Island, checking registered stock and keeping an eye out for pups who where not registered, reporting his findings to the head office for the Canadian Silver Fox

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