Heritage in the Hat: Local foxy ladies

By Sally Sehn on May 18, 2019.

Esplanade
A local lady wears a fashionable fur tippet.

It’s hard to imagine a time when women thought wearing the pelt of a dead animal around their shoulders was fashionable. In the 1920s and 1930s, a fur scarf known as a “tippet,” which often retained the head and paws of the animal for decoration, was quite the rage. My grandma was one of those fashionistas who wore a tippet made from, not one, but two black fox pelts, sewn together on a silk lining and yes, with the heads and tails in full display! Her tippet was a very expensive and sought-after accessory. Fur markets in Europe, America and Canada skyrocketed in the 1920s spurred on by glamorous fur clad film stars.

Taking advantage of the profitable trade, in 1922 local resident George Harry Lait (1875-1960), established the first fur farm in Medicine Hat. Lait, born in Warwickshire, England near Stratford-Upon-Avon, first came to the district as an early rancher.

In December 1922, the Medicine Hat News sent a reporter to George Lait’s fox farm, known as the Medicine Hat Silver & Black Fox Fur Company Ltd. At the time the newspaper article was written, Lait was expecting to receive the company’s first foxes within a few days. The foxes likely came from PEI where the first fox farms in Canada had been established. An adult pair of breeding foxes was a costly investment.

The fur company at that time was situated on 10 acres of land at the western edge of the city. Five acres provided space for 102 breeding pens and well as for several buildings. The other five acres were fenced off as pasture for cows to supply the necessary milk.

The buildings included a house for George and his wife Dora, a cook house, a chicken house, an observation tower and a garage. There were also 25 breeding pens with two coops in each and 20 dog pens were under construction in 1922. The Laits had planted 250 poplar trees and intended to plant another 250 trees the following year. An icehouse was also planned for 1923.

The Medicine Hat Silver & Black Fox Fur Farm was highly successful in its early days, having won several prizes at the Vancouver Exhibition in 1926. By 1928, George Lait was offering shares in the company. The fur trade reached its peak in the 1930s.

From 1939-1946, George Lait rented his property to local jeweller Joseph Fenrick who raised mink.

Today there are about 35 fox farms in six of the Canadian provinces, producing about 5,000 pelts per year.

This column was researched and composed by Heritage Resources Committee member Sally Sehn.