The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-19

counting high on this spring catch. 1t
VIII be less than two weeks from now be-
fore SlOO,0Q0,000 will be. represented in
the gathering that will assemble at the
spot l have indicated. What story
VIII make later of this assemblage.
The club house dealt with is by no
means the only one. There is another on
Ballast Island, owned by the mayor of
Cleveland and a lot of rich men who chum
with him, and there are half a dozen 9th
ers on the different specks in the water
which belong to the wealthy people of
Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland and other
points. many of them reaching out as far
as Philadelphia and New York for mem
bershlp. Probably S10,000,OOO would not
pay for the queer places which dot here
and there one of the great waterways
which make up the chain of lakes where
shipments can be made from Duluth to
London without break.
Here are four carloads of sturgeon from
Lake Superior. l wonder what they are
going to do with them. | followed the
place into which they were being carried
and soon found out. Men were ripping
open their bellies, pulling out the eggs
and putting them into clean tin recepta-
cles. Then the big fish was passed on to
another laborer, who cut it and. in turn,
passed it to another worker, who put it
INTO the curing room to be steamed and
seasoned before being smoked. 1t was a
strange performance, but it only served
me the purpose of bringing out some in
tereSting facts. The sturgeon factory
was big one and belonged to two Ger
man brothers, one of whom remains in
this country and superintends the work,
while the other resides abroad and has
canned and reShipped to the
United States the American product,
which is called Russian caviar. Of course,
if it bore the native stamp it would be re
jected, but two-thirds, if not three
fourths, of all the caviar used here is
made of sturgeon eggs cooked in San
dusky, shipped to Europe and returned to
this glorious land as European product.
There is another firm doing the same
business besides the one into which
wandered by accident All is prosperous
with them, as with almost everything
here, which is only sandwich to the
bull-frog farms on either side of it. 1t is
easy to forget what you are writing
about and 1 neglected to say how these
messengers of delight to the palate are
caught.
The marketmen go out in the night in
boats. 1t takes two to work the game.
The one handles the craft while the other
the paradise of the frog is reached the
light blinds them and they are scooped
into the net by the dozen. A man by the
name of Hood is the big fish and frog
dealer, but this incident does not belong
to him. 1t is, however, a good enough
story without the name, if | have it
wrong Albert, think, is what l want
The frog business was started by an
accident. A few years ago Mr.. Albert
received an order from New YorR from a
friend asking him if he could get him
some frogs. He sent for marketman,
one of those queer characters who stand
along the wharvCs waiting for a chance
to fish or hunt, and said to him:
"Can you get me some frogs"
Il can, came the reply
"When can you get them2' he asked.
"By tomorrow night How many do
you want?n
o, as many as you can get," said Mr.
Albert imagining that he would catch
but few.
The man got his chum and went off that
evening. The next night about twilight
he returned and told his employer that he
had the frogs.
How many have you9" asked Mr.. Al
bert.
Fifteen hundred, A." answered the mar
ketman. The statement took Mr.. Albert's
breath away, and he Immediately tele-
grapned to his friend in New York, stat
ing the facts. To Mr.. Albert's astonish-
ment the answer came:
Ship them at once, and as many more
as you can get
That wBs the beginning of the trade,
that on this frog farm amounts to more
than $780, 900 year. The great fresh fish
movement was started much in the same
way, until the product is worth more than
$4,000,000 per annum. -Four times blessed
is the frog pond Besides the water bird,
with his deep-mouthed warning, there is
fruit without limit, wine without stint,
rich farming lands, splendid atmosphere
and fun everywhere and at all times.
learned most of these facts one day when
sitting with the son of old John Brown on
Put-in-Bay island. The bench was by the
lake, where the waters were smashing up
the white pebbles, and the old man whose
father brought on a revolution took de
light in telling me of the mysteries of a
frog pond.