Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-06-28


hung safely, awaiting the rising of the river,
and, with it, the salmon
| Pending these events, continual round
| of enjoyment Is indulged in; the gayest cos
tunes are sported, vermillion is used in
reckless profusion; the rival tribes, young
and old, struggle to outvie one another;
horse-racing, foot and hurdleracing, hazard,
dice, shuffe-stick, even savage Ant Sally, y
| are in constant progress throughout the live
| long day; even during the night, the light
| of the lodge fire, the drowsy chant and beat
ing together Of sticks, and clumsy kind of
| tambourine, give warning to all hearers that
| gambling is going forward. High stakes
are played for-horses, blankets, slaves, guns,
traps l have often seen wives and daugh-
| ters risked on a race or a throw with the
| dice. The woman game even more reck-
| lessly than the men.
The salmon-sentr1es announce the appear
ance of the first fish, and all hands rush to
commence the work of catching and curing.
This may be the best place in which to men
ton, incidentally, that the salmon are indis-
| pensible to the existence of the inland tribe
of Indians. Nature supplies the tribes with
| these fish with lavish pTofusion, incredi-
bic to any who have not seen the Salmon
run" IN these wondrous rivers Every
stream becomes so filed with fish, that to
| throw a stone into the water without hitting
one is next to an impossibility When |
say that the Commissioner j need not men
ton names) and myself found it difficult to
ride through ford, in consequence of the
abundance of the salmon thronging upwards
and onward to spawn, some idea may be
| formed of the incredible numbers that an
ually visit the rivers of the northwest.
Soon after the arrival of the vanguard,
the main army reach the falls, and the water
| becomes a moving mass of silvery fish; fifty
and even more, may be seen leaping the
rushing cascade at time; many succeed,
| but the greater number fall back into the
| baskets, so deity hung to receive them
| two hundred salmon a day are frequently
/ taken from a single basket Two naked
savages enter the wicker trap, each armed
with a short heavy club, and stand amidst
| the struggling captives, the water dashing
over them like monster shower-bath. A
! fish seized, sharp rap on the head knocks
| it senseless, then it is flung on to the rocks;
a similar fate awaits another, and so salmon
after salmon is pitched out until tired Indi-
ans are replaced by fresh. On the plateau,
scene equally busy is going on; the squaws
and children drag the fish to the dryingsheds,
split them open, remove the backbone and
head then hang them on the poles to dry
the head, backbone, and a portion of the
entrails and roe being the only part that is
eaten. Small fires are kept smouldering
under the drying fish, to drive off the flies
and aid in its preservation. When sufficiently
dried, the salmon are packed in rush mats
and tightly corded, about fifty pounds weight
in each bale. Packing them in this manner
facilitates their transport on the backs of
horses.
/ have eaten salmon thus cured, after it
had been packed two years, sound and free
| from taint as on the day it was caught The
salmon run over, which lasts about three
months-although the first three weeks pro
duce the greater number-the equal distri-
button of the catch is made under the super
vision of the salmon chief, tents are struck,
horses packed, and each tribe wend their
way back to their wintering grounds. where,
during the long snowy nipping winters, they
live on the fruits of the salmon harvest
On the Fraser river there are no ImpedI
ments to the salmon ascent as far as any
Indians reside, Its waters rise as those Of
the Columbia do, but with switter course.
In few pEaces-I may instance the solid
wall of rocks (along the base OF which the
river dashes~ with great fury betwixt the
Iurnass and Chil-ukwey-uk rivers-stages
are used They ale hung ovel JhC water by
ropes made fast to the trees on the top OF the
| cliff A similar kind Of net to that Of the
cascades is used in this case. But the sys-
| tenn by which the great take is managed Is a
most ingenious net fastened between two ca
noes smoored in the eddy. Poles, too, armed
with sharp hooks, are used with great sue
cess to hook or gaff the salmon into the ca
noe. On this river there are no regular
| fisheries, nor any assemblage of tribes from
| far off places, as on the Columbia. Each
village works for itself; neither do they take
the same care in preserving the fish as their
| brethren of east take.
| have weighed salmon at the falls on the
! Columbia of seventy. five pounds. Forty
pounds is a common average. Why they
/ obstinately refuse the most tempting bats,
after quitting the sea where they spawn, why
they 90 a thousand miles up stream, and
what becomes Of the tiny fry, are matters Of
/ interest to be considered at some future pc
riod. The wholesysten looks vastly like the
combined links of one great magnificent chain
| of design. A race Of people isolated IN the
far interior Of wild country, hundreds OF
/ miles from the sea coast, are shut up for SIX
months Of the twelve in deep snow, subject
to an artic temperature. To enable them
to bear it, great quantity OF carbon, IN
some form, is absolutely requisite; roots,
berries, or animals, the products Of the sol!
are alike inadequate to furnish the needful
supply. Mighty streams, breaking down
mountain ranges. dashing through narrow
bound channels, and leaping craggy lodges,
thread their way to the ocean, Fish pro-
verbal for their fatness, prompted by mar
! velous instinct, ascend these streams in myr-
iades to deposit their eggs, when the snow
waterforms salmon-ladders Of Nature own
contriving. In these fish the savage finds
the carbonic life-fuel he must have.