An uncertain Life |
Robert T. Oulton and the Golden Pelt Old men sometimes sadly spend their twilight years with unrealized dreams, or in despair over recognition that was never bestowed. Robert Oulton had good reason to be bitter in 1913, as he lived out his retirement in New Brunswick. More than anyone else he had pioneered the developed the fox-farming, the unique marriage between the North American fur trade and domesticated livestock farming which had made his adopted homeland, Prince Edward Island, the centre of a lucrative international industry. Oulton however was an unassuming man of "quiet disposition," and the silver fox era was characterized by showmanship, speculation, and dubious claims. For these reasons Island history has almost forgotten him. |