Location and remains of the former fox farmer's station on Middleton Island

Between 1890 and the 1920’s Middleton Island was leased and inhabited by several individuals who operated a fox farm on the island. During this time a maximum of about 250 Arctic foxes Vulpes lagopus roamed freely about the island, living on whatever that was edible they could find (i.e. seabirds and their eggs), but were provided additional food if needed. Once a year a portion of their population got trapped by the farmers and their skins were sold on the fur market. More about this practice on Middleton has been written in several sources (i.e. Underwood 1913; Prichard Parker 1923; Bailey 1993; Crawford Isto 2012). Though it was obvious that their station over time had disappeared, as well as the foxes, for a long time the location of their former housing and whatever would be left of it remained a mystery.

During 2004 – 2006 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) funded a clean-up and restoration of an area in the north end of the island, containing a small and abandoned CAA (Civil Aeronautics Administration)/FAA settlement located on Chugach Alaska Corporation land. Most of the buildings and other constructions within this settlement were highly contaminated, many containing asbestos. Prior to this cleanup, in June 2004, an archaeological survey was conducted in the area of potential effect. The purpose of this visit was to determine if any archaeological material was in the area of potential effect (Grover 2004). 

Grover (2004) writes about the fox farmers: “Beginning in the 1890’s, Middleton Island was leased by fox farmers. A National Geographic article, A Northern Crusoe’s Island, describes one such enterprise that began in 1918. The unnamed couple that ran the farm found a horse on the island that had been left by previous fox farmers. The article described the farm and its buildings, but does not indicate where on the island they were located. The article states that there was a small, single story bungalow with a metal roof, a wood fence, at least one small outbuilding, rabbit houses, a root cellar, a tool shed, and a “Middleton Island Blue Fox Farm” sign (Prichard Parker 1923) (Fig 1 & 2). This is the only record found to date of the fox farming on the island.”

There has been, however a lot more written about the fox farming on Middleton Island (see Crawford Isto 2012 for a review). Grover (2004) did not find the location of the fox farmer’s station and as far as I know, no other source mentions this. I got the impression that among “insiders” it was thought that the site was “long gone”.

Figure 1: The fox farmer’s station on Middleton Island (Fred C. Schiller, National Geographic Society / Prichard Parker 1923).

Figure 2: Middleton Island’s “Blue Fox Farm sign” (Fred C. Schiller, National Geographic Society / Prichard Parker 1923).

I enjoyed reading Capps’ (1933) article “An Air Reconnaissance of Middleton Island”. This is the first geological survey made of the island. Capps writes: “In early May, 1932, the writer, while accompanying the Alaska Survey Expedition of the United States Navy, was given the opportunity to fly by plane from Seward to Middleton Island, in the hope that it would be possible to land there and to make some study of its geology. Upon arrival, however, it was found that although the sea appeared unusually smooth, a heavy surf was breaking entirely around the island, and it was unsafe to land. The best that could be done was to circle the island several times at various altitudes to obtain as thorough an inspection of it as possible. An excellent set of photographs was secured by the navy photographer, and the accompanying illustrations are here published by courtesy of the Hydro-graphic Office, Navy Department”. 

The article contains what probably are some of the earliest aerial photos of Middleton Island and also mentions the fox farmer’s station: “At present it is uninhabited, though for many years it was occupied as a fox ranch, and a few frame buildings, in bad repair, are still standing”.

During the 09/10 winter I was sent several historical aerial photos (Fig 3 & 4), some of which originated from the series taken during Capps’ flight in 1932, but these had not been included in this publication. Surprisingly, two of these photos showed what appeared to be a building located near the island’s north end. It occurred to me that, as there were no other inhabitants of the island at that time, this building must have been the fox farmer’s housing.

Figure 3: Previously unpublished(?) 1932 aerial photo. The arrow indicates the location of the suspected fox farmer’s station (source: unknown).

Figure 4: Another historical aerial photo of unknown origin, likely dating back to the 1930’s. The arrow indicates the location of the suspected fox farmer’s station (source: unknown).

After careful examination of the photos and comparison with more recent aerials I concluded that the particular location had not been affected by extensive soil disturbance that came with the construction of the CAA/FAA station in the north end during the 1940’s (Thomas 1957; Grover 2004). In fact, the location appeared to have been left virtually undisturbed during the last century. On several of the more recent (colour) aerials even some remains of the fox farmer’s station appeared to be visible, though I suspect that most of the material or whatever was left after Capps flew over the island had been raided by later visitors or CAA/FAA personnel (Fig 5 & 6).

The site was located just below the north-western bluff on a low slope that extended towards the beach and was adjacent to a small permanent drainage. The same drainage was later used by the CAA/FAA to feed their water supply for several decades in the mid 20^th century. On the opposite side of this stream was located a large oil tank that was part of the former CAA/FAA station. It had been removed during the 2005 cleanup but remained visible on old photos, making it easy to find the location of the site. Somewhat remarkable was that the location was found right next to an archaeological survey route used by Grover in 2004, but it had apparently been missed (Grover 2004) (Fig 7).

Figure 5: A 1967 aerial photo showing the former CAA/FAA station at the north end. The red circle indicates the suspected location of the fox farmer’s station. Some debris may still be visible as a dark spot. It seems likely that the diagonal ditch visible to the southeast of the station had been dug out by the fox farmers to drain the fields containing their crops (source: unknown).

Figure 6: A 2002 aerial photo, showing the former CAA/FAA station at the north end. The red circle indicates the suspected location of the fox farmer’s station. Besides extensive soil disturbance resulting from the construction of the former CAA/FAA station, a lot more of Middleton’s history may be visible in the patterns visible in the vegetation on these high resolution aerials (source: unknown). 

Figure 7: Black & white copy of the archaeological survey route used by Grover in 2004. The red circle indicates the suspected location of the fox farmer’s station. Note the survey route running right next to the suspected location (red lines of the route are here shown in black and hard to see) (Grover 2004).

At arrival on Middleton in early April 2010 I was of course anxious to visit the location. It turned out to be easily approachable from the gravel road that crosses the drainage. I was surprised I had not set foot there before. The first notable thing was a large stand of Rugosa Rose Rosa rugosa, or a subspecies (Fig 8). This species has not been mentioned by Thomas (1957) and it was the first time I observed it on the island. In my opinion this didn’t mean that it only recently established itself on the island, but that the area rarely has had any visitors and had likely been overlooked during Thomas’ vegetation survey in 1956. I assume this plant was a clear remnant of the fox farmer’s garden, as their berries would have produced a valuable amount of vitamin C, quite necessary when being out there for a while (the fox farmers left the island usually only once a year by boat to sell their goods on the mainland and to refill their supplies). 

Figure 8: The large stand of Rugosa rose (Rosa rugosa) growing at the site (T. van Nus).

Straight through the site, however, ran an old rusty metal pipe, which had been in use to bring oil from the north end to a Cold War radar station located in the centre of the island. It had probably been placed there during its construction in the late 1950’s, meaning at that time visitors possibly have noticed remnants of the settlement.

Further investigation of the area revealed that there was a lot of debris of the station hidden under the vegetation. Various rusty metal objects, including a long (over 2 meters) saw blade,  pieces of coloured glass, a metal bowl and several other objects were collected and stored elsewhere on the island (Fig 9 & 10). Also visible were some remains of what appeared to be foundations of a building. I suspected this area held the single story bungalow. I found no remnants of the various sheds that had been there, but this particular area was heavily overgrown with Salmonberry Rubus spectabilis, making it difficult to find anything.

Figure 9: One of two rusty bowls that were found (T. van Nus).

Figure 10: Remains of a wood saw (T. van Nus).

After walking a few meters further down the slope some remnants of wooden poles became visible in the grassy vegetation. Obviously these were century old fence posts. I continued walking in a north-westerly direction, towards the shoreline on what I believe was once a trail that had been used often by the owners of the property to get to the nearby sandy beach. When approaching the sandy beach ridge my eyes were caught by remnants of two old wooden poles sticking out of the sand. These were a bit heavier than the fence posts found earlier and it immediately occurred to me that one hundred years ago these held up a “Middleton Island Blue Fox Farm” sign (Fig 11).

Figure 11: The author of this text in between the remains of the poles holding the “Middleton Island Blue Fox Farm” sign. In the back the low vegetated slope that once supported the fox farmer’s station (T. van Nus).

Shortly after the discovery I informed the Alaskan Office of History and Archaeology (OHA) about these findings by email. I never received a reply from them, which unfortunately, did not leave me with a very good impression of the archaeological community in this part of the world. For more than 200 years ‘soft gold’ brought many people to Alaska. Fur farming was Alaska’s third-largest industry in the 1920s (Crawford Isto 2012) but a disaster for wildlife (Bailey 1993). Due to the island’s location and recorded history, the finding of the remains of the fox farmer’s station on Middleton Islands deserves a bit more attention, in my opinion. Oh well, at least I got a good story out of it.

Acknowledgement: I thank Armand Biron for reviewing this blog entry and supplying me with some useful figures. Check out Armand’s impressive website dedicated to Middleton Island’s history, containing rather sensational historical photography: http://armandphotos.homestead.com/middleton1.html

Bailey, E.P. 1993. Introduction of foxes to Alaskan Islands – History, effects on Avifauna, and eradication. United States Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. Resource publication 193. Washington DC.

Capps, S.R. 1933. An air reconnaissance of Middleton Ialand, Alaska: Jour. Geology, v. 41, p.

728-736.

Crawford Isto, S. 2012. The Fur Farms of Alaska: Two Centuries of History and a Forgotten Stampede. University of Alaska Press. 230 p.

Grover, M.A. 2004. Archaeological Survey of Federal Aviation Administration Remediation, Middleton Island, Alaska. 16p.

Pritchard Parker, M. P. 1923. Northern Crusoe’s Island: life on a fox farm off the coast of Alaska. National Geographic 44: 313-326.

Thomas, J.H. 1957. The vascular flora of Middleton Island, Alaska Contributions from the Dudley Herbarium, 5:39-56.

Underwood, J.J. 1913. Alaska, an empire in the making. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York. 440 pp. Ills.