fur seal and sea otter pelts they brought showed this land to be a fur trader's paradise. Russian documents from the time indicate that Bering's explorations of Alaska were not made for the purely ...

Furs were sold and traded during a sports tournament ... 1910-1940 “Plan ‘Fur Rendezvous’ for Alaska Trappers at Next Sports Meet.” Anchorage Daily Times, March 14, 1936, 8.

Others, including sea otters, were reintroduced to Southeast Alaska in the 1960s and have ... to convert the pelts to sellable items, because the MMPA prohibits the sale of whole pelts.

Sadly that thick, resplendent coat has also given otters some of the world's most valuable pelts. In North America sea otters once ranged from Baja California, Mexico, all the way to Alaska. Between ...