Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1893-03-29
A GREAT FISH STORY.
HOW THE REPUTATION OF A TOWN
WAS IRREPARABLY RUINED.


/ have received permission to tell the boss
Yankee fish story, provided that / do so in
. truthful and temperate manner. do not
know how to obey this injunction better
than by giving it in the words Of DIR. Clark
of Mayville, Wis, from whom we first
heard it.
These events happened before the war"
said he. "They are so singular and improb-
able that l always hesitate about telling the
story. You will probably laugh at me and
not believe me- yet every word of this is true.
1.-THE winter of 1860 was very cold. At that
time a vast lake covered the whole ground
where Horizon marsh now is. This lake was
full of fish, and when the ice had frozen
deep over every portion of the lake these
fish became distressed for air. The Rock
river, as you know, is lively stream here.
and as you have noticed it has a stretch of
swift water just below the great dam at
Kekoskee This dam existed at the time of
the story You have looked with your own
eyes upon the very spot where these Incl
dents occurred
THE fish, unable to breathe in the half
solid lake, crowded up the live channel of
the Rock river making for the hole which
the swift water kept open in the ice below
heads, and no run of salmon ever equaled
this run of bullheads 1t is six miles from
the lake up to Kekoskee DAM and the ice
on the river was two feet thick, yet the
whole bed of the river, 40 yards wide, was
Tor six miles 50 packed with bullheads that
the heavy covering Of tough ice in places
rolled and tossed like the waves of the sea,
20 desperate was the struggle of the horny
host beneath it,
THE first arrival of the run of fish at the
open hole was marked by a geyserlike erup-
tion of bullheads 50 feet across and about -
feet high. The pressure of the fish behind
was simply enormous The fish could not
get back in the water and so slid out on the
Ice, covering it in every direction for hun
dreds of yards to depth varying from six
inches to two feet
'The air was filed with Strange, low,
murmuring sound which could be heard
nearly mile around. Old settlers say they
never heard such sound since Dreading
some unknown calamity, they fastened to
the spot, and there, as you may suppose,
their dread was turned to JOY.
Before noon of that day every team of
the whole neighborhood was at the dam
hauling bullheads. The amount of bull
heads taken from the spot | hesitate to
state, for fear you will not believe it. They
always laugh at us when we tell this story
and think we have gone crazy In Wiscon-
sin the term 'Kekoskee man is used TO
designate any man who has a wheel in his
head. No Kekoskee man has been believed
on oath or admitted to jury in Wisconsin
since 1860. This uneamed reputation has
ruined the town. You see it as it is, silent,
almost deserted. few empty buildings
OF
unto ruin by too strict an adherence to the
truth. For every word of this story is true
IF you will come with me about mile
out into the country, will introduce you
to the Widow Schneider, now an old lady.
The Widow Schneider will tell you that on
one morning she counted 800 wagonloads
of bullheads on their way from the geyser
below the dam. This was only one morn
ing, and the run lasted for two weeks OF
course this number of wagons represented
only part of those who passed. and this
was on only one road of several leading out
into the country.
THE bullheads were shoveled into the
wagons like potatoes, and the regular price
was IS cents load-a nominal sum, to
cover the shoveling only. One man who
shoveled there bought him a farm in this
vicinity with the money SO earned.
THE bullheads were hauled out into the
country and used largely for manure There
is no richer land in Wisconsin than this has
been since 1860 All the farmers fed the
bullheads to their hogs, and for two years
after that you couldn't get a decent piece
of pork in this part of the state. 1t was all
fshy. The hogs all took naturally to
worms and liver after that, and some of
them evinced rudimentary gills behind the
4 L 4 e. Ia.
this. They all do.
There was ford in the road at this
point of the river, but the wagons could
not get into the water. After the first
eruption of bullheads had subsidized planks
were laid across on the living pOntoon
bridge of fish, and on these the teams
crossed,
Even after the run had subsidized very
much dogs and children were known to run
across the open hole on the backs of the
bullheads. Still later in the run, after the
fish had thinned out great deal, man
well known in this community, Julius Cor
nell, slipped from the ice and fell into the
hole. He could not get into the water for
the fish. You smile at this. do not blame
you. We are used to il. No one ever be
heves this story
After the bullheads thinned out 80 you
could get a spear through them as they lay
in matted layer, it was discovered that
there were layers Of bass and pickerel lower
down in the water.
"Of course everybody that winter lived
on bullheads and they were used in many
ways. As have said, the farmers fed them
to their hogs We had n lazy sort of ex
pressman here named Brush, and he owned
fall down old horse which dated back tc
the Mexican war and was called Santa Ana
Brush insisted that he was too poor to buy
Santa Ana hay. and so he fed him bull
heads all winter, and that was everything
the horse had to eat for six months. Oh
laugh If you want to; we're used to it, But
Pll take you out and show you Santa Ana
a good, healthy sort Of "A horse today
Brush has moved to Bayfield,. but ask any
citizen of this town IL Santa Ana didn't liv,
ON buiiheads, and If he don't tell you jus