The beaver pelt, once the currency of a frontier, has had a treacherous history. In the 1840s the fashion for men's beaver toppers collapsed with the rise of the silk hat, a fashion change that ended the great Western fur brigades and the day of the mountain man. In the 1950s beaver has been slipping from favor in women's coats. "Ladies," says Maine trapper Jasper Haynes, "just aren't wearing beaver coats."
Haynes, who uses a light plane to tend his winter trap line, got an inspiration after Mamie Eisenhower dazzled an inauguration ball with a...
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