Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-11-06
"A spell ago there was a trade for

| Spell ago there was ITAQS 1OI
'em," said Ezekiel. "They started up a
cannin' on 'em instead Of sword6sh, and
marked the cans Atlantic Coast Salmon,
but the thing didn't work, somehow, and
now they're only worth what they'll
fetch to spread on the fields"
The bright, glorious morning Of to-day
"a msckerel sky giving just the sugges-
| ton Of storm-found our boats at the
traps ready for haul. I have said there
are no old fisherman around the shore
at Sandw and there are but two traps
These are owned by William Mayo, of
Boston. and are run on shares by Skip
per Perry and his crew, who are young
men from the British provinces. The
traps are two in number, with joint
capacity of about 5000 barrels Of mack
erel. Such traps are expensive affairs.
Stout pilings, pointed and shod with
iron, ale driven into sand 10 the depth
Of seven feet, and make an enclosure for
! the net The latter is rugged with lead
ers which extend into shore, When the
| fish strike in they find these leaders in
their way, and following their inyariable
custom, at once strike out for deep water,
keeping close to the leader until they en-
ter the narrow orifce which is the open
ing Of the trap. Once in, they swim
round and round, vainly seeking for an
outlet to the seward, until the haul IS
made and they are captured.
TIE WATER sHoNE LEE SILVER
In the sunlight of the early morning, as
the shippers men stood by to raise the
anchor and purse the net. AS it ap-
preached the surface, Leads, tails and
backs of blue-ish glittered with indie
scribable beauty at the surface OF the
water. 1t seemed that there must be
myriads of them. The skipper calcula-
ted there couldn't be more than 100 of
them, perhaps less. Every man was at
work, while the scoop nets ladled the
fish into the boats by the bushel.
"Hit him hard, Tom," shouted one Of
the crew, as Tom wrestled with huge
horse-mackerel, six or seven feet long,
which was one Of three of kind which
had come in with the tide. A blow or
two with maui speedily decided the
fate of the creature, and it was still, save
for the convulsive twltch Of the tail
which marked its last struggle for life.
BelloHs-fsh and other worthless
catches were speedily put aside, and at
length the boats were loaded and started
on the food tide for the fish house.
There the blue6sh were thrown upon
the floor and the work Of cleaning began.
The shippers calculation had been COZ
rect. They numbered about thousand,
averaging ten pounds in weight, with
occasional ones running up TO fifteen aud
sixteen pounds.
1--WE have to clean EN- quick, you see,"
rs ha
blood settles and they spoil. We don't
even dare to stick fork in them when
we catch them"
Five cents pound" said the skipper
to a Sandwich man who held up tif-
teen-pound fish. The man paid his
money and showed the fish up the lower
half of o trousers leg. Not the leg of
the trousers he wore, but piece of leg
which be had brought as a wrapper to
shield the fish from the sun. Then a
little girl started of up the sandy road,
with bluefsh nearly as big as herself
dragging on the ground as she struggled
with her burden.
"YoU DON'T KNOW WHAT BLuEFIsH IS
Up in Boston," said the landlord of tie
Central House, who told some Of the
beauties Of frezh fish as diet.
"Oh, yes, we do" said I. ut is the
temnod N saltator, an acanthoptergian
Of the family of soon bride
"No, no. mean you don'tect it fresh
enough to be good"
II warrant these will be fresh" re-
marked the skipper, as he nailed down
the cover Of fish and pounded ice.
These will be in New York and Boston
tomorrow, and SO long as the ice is On
them they will be good enough"
"Where do the ulackerel and bluefsh
come irom?' asked Zekiel.
THAT'S onsartin. All know is they
come from the suthard to Buzzard's Bay
about the first Of June, from Vineyard
Sound and thereabouts. By the time
they round Cape Cod they are fustrate
and fat Fish is fish any time, but blue
fish now is better than blue6sh was two
months ago. Mebbe there'll be lots more
Of 'em, and mebDe not. It's onsartin.
Blue6sh is mighty onsartin anyhow"
EXcusabie Pride