The Republican journal., 1881-06-02
Story of a Salmon.

and halt IN perpendicular height. On +
lower mile, the dense r-WOods cover it
with never changing green: on its next
halt-mile, a lighter green of grass and
bushes gives place in winter to white
and, on its uppermost mile, the SHOWS of
, the great ice age still linger in unspottcd
purity. The people of Washington Ter
ritory say that this mountain is the great
"king pin of the Universe" which shows
that, even in its own country. Mount
Rainier is not without honor.
Flowing down from the southwest slope
of Mount Rainier is cold, clear river. ted
by the melting SHOWS of the mountain.
Madly it hastens down over white cas-
cadcs and beds of shining sands, through
brch-WoOds and belts of dark fir to min
gle its waters at last with those Of the
great Columbia.
This river is the Cowlltz, and on its
bottom, not many years ago, there lay
halt-bured in the sand a number Of little
orange colored globules, each about as
large as pen. These were not much in
themselves, but, like the philosopher
monads, each one had in it the promise
and potency OF an active life. In the wa
ter above them little suckers and chub,
and prickly sculpins We're stralning their
mouths TO draw these gl0bules from the
sand. and vici0uS-looking craW- fishes
picked them up with their laundering
hand and examined them with their
telescope eyes. But one, at least, of the
globulcs escaped their scientific curiosity,
else this story would not be worth telling
The sun shone down on it through the
clear water, and the ripples of the Cow
lltz said over it their incantatiOns, and in
it at last awoke a living being. 1t was a
fish, a curious little fellow. only half an
inch long, with great staring eyes which
made almost half his length, and Il body
so transparent that he could not east Il
shadow. He was Il salmon, Il very little
salmon, but the water was good, and
there We're flies, and worms, and little
creatures in abundance for him to eat,
and he soon became larger salmon.
And there were many more little salmon
with him, some larger and some smaller,
and they all had a merry time. Those
who had been born soonest and grown
largest used to chase the others around
and bite Oft their tails, or, still better,
take them by the heads and swallow them
whole, for. said they, Gwen Young salmon
are good eating" ''lIeads win, tails yol
lose" was their motto Thus, what was
once two small salmon became united into
one larger one, and the process of 'Eaddi-
ton, division and silence" still went on.
By-and-by, when all the salmon were
too small to swallow the others, and too
large to be swallowed, they began to
grow restless and to sigh tor Il change.
They saw that the water rushing 10y
seemed to be in great hurry to get
somewhere, and one Of them suggested
that its hurry was caused 10y something
good to eat at the other end of its course.
Then they all started down the stream,
salmon-tashon, which fashion is to get
into the current, head upstream, and so
to drift backward as the river sweeps
along.
Down the Cowlitz river they went for
a day and a night, finding much to inter
est them which we need not know. At
last, they began to grow hungry, and,
coming near the shore, they saw an an
gle-Worm of rare size and beauty floating
in an eddy Of the stream. Quick as
thought one of the boys opened his
mouth, which was we'll filled with teeth
OF different sizes and put it around that
angleworm. Quicker still he felt a sharp
pain in his gills, followed by smothered
sensation, and in an instant his comrades
saw him rise straight into the air. This
was nothing new to them, for they often
leaped out Of the water in their games Of
hide-and-seek, but only to come down
again with loud splash not far from
where they went out. But this one never
came back, and the others kept on their
course wondering.
At last they came to where the CoWlitZ
and the Columbia join, and they were al
most lost for a time, for they could find
no shores, and the bottom and top Of the
water were so far apart Here they saw
other and tar larger salmon in the deep
est part OF the current, turning neither to
the right nor left, but swimming straight
on up just as rapidly as they could. And
these great salmon would not stop for
them, and would not lie and float with
the current. They had no time to talk,
even in the simple sign language by
which fishes express their IDEAS and no
time to eat. They had an important
work before them, and the time was
short. SO they went on up the river
keeping their great purposes to them
selves, and our little salmon and his
friends from Cowltz drifted down the
stream.
By-and-by the water began to change.
1t grew denSer, and no longer flowed
rapidly along, and twice a day it used
to turn about and flow the other way.
And the shore disappeared, and the water
began to have a different and peculiar
tavor-a flavor which seemed to the
salmon much richer and more inspiring
than the glacier water of their native
COWlitz. And there were many curious
things to see; crabs with hard shells and
savage faces but so good when crushed
and Swallowed Then there were luscious
squid swimming about, and, to salmon,
squld are like ripe peaches and cream for
dinner. There were great companies OF
delicate sardines and herring, green and
silvery, and it was such fun to chase them
and to capture them.
Those who only eat sardines, packed in
oil by greasy fingers, and herrings dried
in the smoke, can have little idea how
satisfying it is to have ones stomach full
Of them, plump and sleek, and silvery,
fresh from the sea-
Thus they chased the herrings about
and had a merry time. Then they were
chased about in turn by great sea lions,
swimming monsters with huge half-human
faces, long, thin whiskers and blundering
ways. The sea-lions liked to bite out the
throats of the salmon, with their precious
stomachs full of luscious sardines, and
then to leave the rest of the fish to shift
for itself
And the seals and the herrings scat
tered the salmon about, and at last the