Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 October 1894 — A CORNER IN ELK TEETH. [ARTICLE]

A CORNER IN ELK TEETH.

A Montana Man Who Has Mori Than 86,000 of Them—Their .. Va'lne, ■ Forest and Stream. Mr. John D. Losekamp. of Mont., practically holds the elktooth stock of the entire country, and to his already enormous supply he is constantly adding, the Indians and hunters bringing teeth to him from all over the country. Not every one knows that the elk teeth, or rather the tusks, of which two only are found in the mouth of the adult elk, have a practical commercial value. The teeth are used as jewelry, mostly as pendants on watch guards or as insignia of the secret society known as the Elks. The value of a tooth ranges from 50 cents to $2.50, according to its size, color and marking. Mr. Losekamp has now over 86,000 elk teeth deposited in safety vaults. Many of the old Indian dresses were highly ornamented with elk teeth, some of them being fairly covered with the teeth. Mr. Losekamp has lived on the frontier all his mature life, and understands Indian trading perfectly, yet he has sometimes paid over SIOO foi a single garment thus ornamented, caring, of course, for nothing bul the teeth. The Indians drill the teeth to fasten them on their dresses, and this does not injure the value ol the tooth, but they have a mucl worse habit of sometimes staining the teeth a bright red. This dy« cannot be extracted, and depreciates the value of the elk tooth for a whits customer. The Indians do not dve the teeth so much now glnce thej have learned they can sell them foi more in their natural state.