Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1892-10-28


visited Ticktown while on an equestrian
trip aboard his justly celebrated trick
mule Mary, and was delighted TO notice
how hungry he was on arriving there,
and also how much more so he was when
he came away.
He also detected what the other citi-
zens had not before noticed, as there
were no scientists then living in Tick
town, that the place had mean annual
rainfall and view of Pisgah and the
Rat. These facts, together with the
appetite he acquired while there, led him
TO consider the feasibility of making
Ticktown a Mecca for the invalid.
Here, said he, wealthy men who have no
appetite may come and get mighty
hungry, if they stay long enough.
That was only forty-eight years ago,
or near that. In fact, last Christmas
they tell me was forty-eight years ago.
The governor, in speaking of it to me
the other day, said that it struck him
that was a good while between Christ
masses, but we will let that pass.
The altitude of Pisgah, which may be
seen from the hill just back of Tick
town, is 5,75i feet.
Craggy mountain, which may be seen
from the top of Pisgah, is 5000 feet
high. From the top Of this mountain
one may see Mount Mitchell, which is
8,717 feet high, and from the top Of
Mount Mitchell one may see Mr.. George
W. Vanderbilt's magnificent place with
apowerful glass; also what his idea was
in building same.
The best way to visit Ticktown is by
diligence from Asheville, N. G. You
will arrive there about noon. Then by
the time you can gather your strawber-
ries and catch a COW you will be right
hungry. No place can furnish such an
appetite with 80 few facilities for quench-
ing it as Ticktown.
The French Broad river is only short
drive from Ticktown, and furnishes rare
sport during the fishing season. All
sorts of game fish, such as the red horse,
the hog sucker, the stone toter and the
maltese catfish are abundant in the
French Broad, and are caught with a
club or dynamited when the grand jury
is not in session. These fish are all rich
and nourishing, especially when put on
a cucumber bed.
The German carp is also to be found
here in great abundance, and seven OF
the mamma carp on pleasant summer
night will easily lay eggs enough to stop
navigation. With them it seems to be
a sort Of gift.
The sportsman during the carp season
provides himself with twig with which
to scare her off the nest and then a sled
stake with which to take her life. 1t is
very exciting. You also take along a
small colored boy. 1t is his duty every
time you land fish to burn rag.
The hog sucker, or stone toter, as it is
also called by ornithologists, is so called
because it has fiat place on the head
on which to carry stones for the purpose
of building wing dams for a nest. Some
call him the free and accepted mason,
because he lays such a beautiful wall
around his nest. The stone toter makes
good eating, but does not resist arrest
like the trout or the bass. have caught
everything most, but nothing that re-
minds me of the stone toter. Catching
him reminds me more of catching the
mumps than anything else.
The hog sucker is so called because he
has been very often fed to the hog. But
the native or Sarah Bernhardt hog will
not eat the hog sucker. Only the north
ern hog does it. He says: ooh, how
lovelyl Isn't it nice to look at Mount
Pisgah and eat hog suckers2 And it
makes one feel so all fired well and SO
vigorous tso. could live here forever
if could just smell the magnolia and
eat the hog sucker"
But the native or Goldsmith Maid
hog says nothing, but saws wood. He
fills himself up on acorns and such
things, takes turn or two around kite
shaped track, sleeps an hour, eats a
bushel of corn on the ear, goes over to
the depot and eats the packing out of a
couple of sleeping cars, trains an hour
or two to keep his flesh down and then
goes to bed. In this way he becomes a
favorite with the life insurance COM
panies while the northern hog dies soon
of heart failure, and early in November
you will see him with chip In his
mouth and another holding his chest