Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-07-21
STORY OF A SALMON.
HIS JOURNEY FROM RIVER TO OCEAN
AND BACK AGAIN.

Thrilling Description of bis Trials and
Tribulations From His Birth
to His Death.
LProf. David Starr Jordan. in Science Sketches
In the realm of the northwest wind on
the boundary line between the dark fiji
forests and the sunny plains there stands a
mountain, great white cone two miles
and half in perpendicular height. On
its lower mile the dense fir woods cover il
with never-changing green; on its next
half-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 unspotted
purity. The people of Washington Terri.
tory say that the mountain is the great
king pin of the Universe" which shows
that, even in its own country, Mount Ia
coma is not without honor.
Flowing down from the southwest slope
of Mount Tacoma is cold, clear river
fed by the melting SHOWS Of the mountain.
Madly it bastens down over white cas-.
cades and beds of shining sands, through
birchwoods and belts of dark frs to mingle
its waters at last with those of the great
Columbia.
This river is the Cowlitz, and on its bot
tom not many years ago there lay half
buried in the sand number of little
orange-colored globules, each about as
large as a pea. 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
waters above them little suckers and chubs
and prickly sculpins were straining their
mouths to draw these globules from the
sand and vicious-looking crawfshes picked
them up with their blundering hands and
examined them with their telescope ewes.
But one, at least, of these globules 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 Cowlitz
said over it their incantantations, and 1t at
last awoke living being. 1t was fish, a
curious little fellow, only half an inch
long, with great, staring eyes, which made
almost half his length, and body so trans
parent that he could not cast shadow.
He was a little salmon, a very little
salmon, but the water was good and there
were flies and worms and little living
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
thaX- oil hal II
had been born soonest and had grown
largest used to chase the others around
and bite off their tails, or, still better,
take them bv their heads and swallow
them whole, for, said they, "Even young
salmon are good eating" Heads i win,
tails you lose" was their motto. Thus
what was once two small salmon became
united into one larger one, and the process
of addition, 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 for change. They
saw that the water rushing by seemed to
be IN a great hurry to get somewhere, and
one of them suggested that its hurry was
caused by something good to eat at the
other end of its course. Then they all
started down the stream, salmon-fashion,
which fashion is to get into the current,
head up stream, and so to drift backward
as the river sweeps along.
Down the Cowlitz river they went for a
day and night, finding much to interest
them which we need not know. At last
they began to grow hungry, and coming
near the shore, they saw an angle-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 well
filled with teeth of different sizes, and put
it around that angle-worm. Quicker still
he felt sharp pain in his gills, followed
by smothering sensation, and in an in
slant 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 never came back, and the Others
went on their way wondering.
At last they came to where the Cowlitz
and the Columbia join, and they were al
most lost for time, for they could find nc
ollDlSSj duu luC lOp duu DOL!Om OF the
water were so far apart. Here they saw
other and far larger salmon in the deepest
part of the current, turning neither to the
right nor left, but swimming right on up
as fast as they could. And these 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 themselves
and our little salmon and his friends from
the Cowiitz drift down the stream.
By and-by the water began to change
1t grew denser, and no longer flowed rapid.
ly along, and twice day it used to turn
about and flow the other way. And the
shores disappeared, and the water began
to have different and peculiar favor-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, squid 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 then capture them
Those who eat only sardines, packed
in oil by greasy fingers, and her.
rings 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 merry time. Then they were
chased about in turn by great sea-lions
swimming monsters with huge half human
faces, long thin whiskers and laundering
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 herrings scattered the
salmon about, and at last the hero of our
story found himself quite alone, with none
of his kind near him, but that did not
trouble him much, and he went on his
own way, getting his dinner when he was