The Lost Conibear Letters - Scot Dahms Book

This book covers the life of Frank R. Conibear and his family in the Canadian North including the development of the Conibear trap.  The book is 395 pages with 200 images.  Below is the Foreword from the book along with the Contents.  Thanks.

Book's Foreword 

When I wrote my book titled “Hardware for Hitler: How the Animal Trap Company Helped Win World War II,” I knew I had too much material to put into one book, so I specifically kept the material about the Conibear trap out and have put that material into this book with a focus on Frank R. Conibear’s life from being part of the first white family in the Northwest Territories to his continuous improvements to his Conibear trap patents.

Some may argue that Eric Collier played as much a role in the revolutionization of trapping with the Conibear trap and many of his articles and letters about the subject are included.  I do not disagree with this argument, but, unfortunately, Frank, the patent holder, was the main beneficiary of all funds made by the trap outside of the Animal Trap Company and was called upon to make all decisions as requested by them.

As you will see in the correspondence, Collier and Frank’s relationship deteriorated over time.  Collier’s relationship with the Animal Trap Company did not fare any better.  Once Frank won awards for the humaneness of the trap, Collier’s critical comments of the trap lessoned and at the end, Collier asked the Animal Trap Company if trappers in British Columbia could get the Conibear traps at a reduced price.

The Animal Trap Company of America changed their name to Woodstream in 1966.  I tried to use the correct company name based on when an event happened, but the terms are interchangeable if I got anything incorrect.  If an event covered both time periods, then Woodstream was used.

Richard (Dick) Woolworth (son of Chester Woolworth) made some interesting comments about Animal Trap Company’s involvement with the Conibear trap.  He also discussed other business ventures he was involved with including Old Pal and Abercrombie & Fitch.  He specifically discussed non-fogging sunglasses and marketing the sunglasses through Abercrombie & Fitch.

This book uses many letters, memorandums, court cases and articles about the Conibear family.  Many are quoted verbatim to ensure historical accuracy.  Several well-known trappers are quoted or mentioned in the Herter’s section including E.J. Dailey, O.L. Butcher, Arthur V. Harding (son of A.R. Harding), S. Stanley Hawbaker and Elihu S. Abbott. 

As you can see from the assistance acknowledgement, I utilized many different institutions for information in Canada.  Since I did not grow up in Canada, I lack the general understanding of their government.  I tried to note where information came from, but I acknowledge that I do not understand the Canadian Government hierarchy, so may have gotten some Governmental information incorrect.  

Multiple sources were used in this book.  You may find that different sources had conflicting information.  I did not correct the conflict if I could not confirm either.

Please note that some events in this book occurred over one hundred years ago and to keep the material historically accurate, I did not change descriptions of practices that may be illegal today.  Please consider this when reading and keep in mind that this was done for a historically accurate book.  

I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it.  As I always do, I learned many facts about the Conibear family and the legacy of the Conibear trap.  One of the fascinating things I learned was about Frank’s management of the Conibear House which helped open the Northwest Territories to prospecting and mining exploration.  I had previously thought of him only as a trapper, I hope you too find things you did not know as you read this book.

Contents

Foreword………………………………………………………………………………..4

Chapter 1 – Conibear…………………………………………………………...5

The Family……………………………………………....…………………………..5

The First Independent White Family to Settle in the Northwest Territories……..7

Ada’s Diary……………………………………………………………....………….9

A Business Woman in the Far North…………………………………26

Jubilee……………………………………………………………………..……...33

Grand Old Lady of the Great Northwest…………………………..35

A Mother’s Letter to Her Children…………………………………...39

Death Calls Pioneer of the North……………………………………..41

Ada’s Probate……………………………………………………………………42

Athabasca River Transport……………………………………………………...42

Men of the North………………………………………………………………...45

An Uncle’s Letter to His Neice………………………………………………….46

Kenneth’s Response……………………………………………………………..53

Chapter 2 – Frank’s Escapades……………………………………………..62

Arctic Profiles…………………………………………………………………...62

Canadian Expeditionary Force……………………………………………..65

The Trading Post………………………………………………………………...66

Caches…………………………………………………………………………...67

The Conibear House…………………………………………………………….68

The Otter………………………………………………………………………...87

Trapline Disputes………………………………………………………………..90

Beaver Trapping………………………………………………………………...96

The Mink……………………………………………………………………….135

The Assistant…………………………………………………………………...139

Five Caribou…………………………………………………………………...140

Speaking Softly………………………………………………………………...142

Reindeer and Caribou………………………………………………………….144

Theft of Provisions……………………………………………………………..144

The Trapping License………………………………………………………….149

The Wise One………………………………………………………………….153

Chapter 3 – The Trap……………………………………………………...155

Collier’s 1957 Article………………………………………………………….155

Collier’s 1951 Article………………………………………………………….169

Animal Trap Company………………………………………………………...179

The Agreement………………………………………………………………...182

Developmental Letters…………………………………………………………186

Jack Frost……………………………………………………………………....284

Chapter 4 – Herter’s………………………………………………………….291

Chapter 5 – Patents…………………………………………………………..355

Patents Assigned to Woodstream……………………………………...355

Chapter 6 – The Canadian Legend…………………………………...389

Frank’s Probate………………………………………………………………...389

The Marker…………………………………………………………………….390

A More Accurate History……………………………………………………...391

References………………………………………………………………………………393