As the forests retreated before the lumberman's unsatiable appetite, so did the wild animals, the trapper's prey. By the early 1900's desirable furs such as beaver, fox and mink had become scarce enough for one commercial raising of animals for their fur to become profitable. Even skunk fur was acceptable in the trade, provided it was sufficiently deodorized.

An enterprising bachelor from Ohio, Elias Miller, set out to make his fortune as a skunk farmer. His friend, Dolph Park, also from Ohio, joined him in the project.

Miller's small farm, just beyond the northeastern-most tip of Balsam Lake, was marginal land at best, rocky in parts and swampy in others. He raised millet to feed a flock of black Majorca hens.

Miller and Park assembled breeding stock by trapping wild skunks and de-scenting them. Farmers in the area would send word whenever they were bothered by skunks, and the two men would bring their traps over and remove the offenders.

To confine the skunks until their pelts were ready, the men built a reinforced cement wall enclosing several acres. The wall was about four feet above ground and extended underground about a foot to discourage the reluctant little creatures from digging their way out. Old barrels with the ends cut out were buried on their sides about halfway into the ground to make dens for the skunks.

Neighborhood children were always welcomed by the two friendly bachelors. They could count on a hearty meal in the fellow' spotless kitchen, but the highlight of any visit was to be there at feeding time, when the two men mixed up and fried a big batch of flapjacks and tossed them over the wall to the hungry critters.

The skunk farm prospered during the World War I years, but no one remembers why Miller and Park abandoned the project around 1920.