Oulton’s foxes were sold by Dalton at that time. Prices ranged as high as twenty to thirty thousand dollars. The breeding methods in those years were kept from the public. As late as 1910 not more than a dozen ranchers were in existence. But

eventually the secret did leak out. Other successful fox ranchers, following Dalton and Oulton

in Western, Prince Edward Island, were Silas and BI. Raynor, James Raynor, Robert and Frank Tuplin, James and Hudson Cordon. Helen Gordon Ramsay of Montrose in a farm edition, dated October 28, 1965 remembered her father Hudson Cordon, buying a pair of foxes on the telephone for twenty thousand dollars and selling them the next morning for twenty—five thousand. Mr. Gordon from the proceeds of the foxes in 1911 had Robert Rankin build a magnificent family home in

Montrose, Prince Edward Island. About 1947 Roy and Muriel Barbour bought the vacant

Gordon property. Today their son Jack and his wife Kay and their three sons have restored the home to its original beauty. The attractive finish, hardwood floors and large bay windows and

the uniqueness of its structure make it a masterpiece. Agustine (Cussie) Mclnnis who lived in Tignish was very

much a developer and among the first to employ the stud system, when the breeding of foxes became an industry. At six hundred dollars a pelt this amounted to a fairly substantial income in those years. A pair of breeding foxes could cost up to thirty thousand dollars. This made Mclnnis’ innovation important to breeders like Dalton. Foxes only breed once a year, producing

a litter of three to five generally. Foxes were also subject to worms. One farmer lost several

134