Fur trade the "yasak" (or iasak) tax on natives and the 10% "Sovereign Tithing Tax" imposed on both the catch and sale of fur pelts. Fur was in great demand in Western Europe, especially sable and marten, since European forest resources had been over-hunted and furs had become extremely scarce. Fur trading allowed Russia to purchase from Europe goods that it lacked, like lead, tin, precious metals, textiles, firearms, and sulphur. Russia also traded furs with Ottoman Turkey and other countries in the Middle East in exchange for silk, textiles, spices, and dried fruit. The high prices that sable, black fox, and
California Fur Rush California Fur Rush Before the 1849 California Gold Rush, American, English and Russian fur hunters were drawn to Spanish (and then Mexican) California in a California Fur Rush, to exploit its enormous fur resources. Before 1825, these Europeans were drawn to the northern and central California coast to harvest prodigious quantities of southern sea otter ("Enhydra lutris nereis") and fur seals ("Callorhinus ursinus"), and then to the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta to harvest beaver ("Castor canadensis"), river otter ("Lontra canadensis"), marten, fisher, mink, gray fox ("Urocyon cinereoargenteus"), weasel, and harbor seal. It was