The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-10-12
THE MAN FROM CALIFORNIA.
His Name Not Mentioned, but the Golden
West Is Proud of Him.


His Name Not Mentioned, but the Golden
West Is Proud of Him.
"The man who has never gone hunting
and fishing in California in June, with the
necessary Accomplishments and plenty OF
time on his hands," said the man from
Corbett's native state, has made failure
of life He isn't really in it."
"Did you get that sun kissed nose, that
peeling neck and those tan colored hands
on hunting and fishing excursion in Cali
formal" asked the man who had his feet
on the table.
''There were six in our party" said the
other, ignoring the interruption I'VE en-
tered the mountains just back of Alta
dena. We had burros, guns, provender
and fishing tackle ad libitum. Our first
camp was pitched about 1000 feet above
the sea, near spring, surrounded by ferns
fifteen feet Highland 1 can knock any man
down that disputes that assertion to the
extent of q single inch. The resinous odors
of balsams and firs"-
'See guidebook,n - murmured the man. in
the slouch hat.
-"filled the air, and the sound of falling
water lulled us to sleep, The next morn
ing was fogless, and from our perch we
could see plainly Altadena, Pasadena and
lmitless stretches of valley and plain,
with dark green squares of lemon and
orange orchards. The ocean was plainly
visible and not speck was to be seen on
its surface. The only thing that loomed
up between usa and Japan was distance"-
"And the protective tariffW suggested
the man with the russell shoes.
"The next man that interrupts me, " said
the speaker Ticking the ashes from the
end of his half smoked cigar, "will wish he
hadn't. Ihave worse cigar than this in
my pocket shall simply light it."
A deep, dark silence fell upon the group.
"Seven thousand feet above the ravages
of the advertising fiendp' he continued.
Lydia Pinkham never had been there. On
the rocks and cliffs there was nothing to
remind you of your liver or kidneys. No
liquid glue man with paint pot and
brush had ever seen the place. Down in
the swale of moist gypsum below the
spring there was bear track as big as
saucer. but we stuck to our camp biscuit
and canned corn and let the bear alone.
"The next night found us in the main
San Gabriel canyon arranging rod and line
to whip the deeps and shadows of the finest
trout stream in all California, and at 10
o'clock the next day we counted the catch.
Five of us had fished, leaving one to watch
camp. We had bagged 247 trout that
measured all the way from five to fourteen
inches in length. We kept this up for five
DAYS, and all the chowder and things we
didn't eat the burros did, along with their
everyday diet of thistles, cactus, rubber
blankets and dishcloths We had one big,
overgrown burro we christened Chicago.
This ravenous animal would swallow every
thing in sight and then gnaw at the tent
pins.
ION the ninth day we climbed again up,
up, into the regions of pure air and the
balsam OF health, and on the evening of
the tenth day out our camp was pitched
10,S00 feet above bilge water. We could
look out over the Mojave desert, the bound
less domain of the bronze lizard and horned
toad-away on out over the trackless void
toward Salt Lake, Denver, home. From
this eyrie our shooters went forth to Shoot
down the mountain sides, into the echoing
canyons with no bottoms, along the crests
and crags, in and out of caves and'--
what did you shoot?"
1T makes no difference what we shot,
The California game laws are against kill.
ing deer at this season. So we didn't kill
any deer. At least we didn't call them
deer. We called them caribou. There
were two of them. They weighed eighty
pounds each. The killing was done in self
IVa olyippal thaca oorihnt, md
hung them on the limb of the spruce, out
of the reach of mountain lions.
"The next day the two shooters who
went out came into camp about 4 p. NJ.
and asked all hands to come along quick
they had something to carry What that
something proved to be is in evidence at S24
Grand avenue, Los Angeles, where mag
nifcent rug softens the footsteps on the
tufted foor-and the bear weighed over
700 pounds.
II didn't shoot any caribou or bear my
self, but want you to understand that !
was one Of the party that did. And while
lettering about the camp waiting for the
others to do the big game act found two
bee trees that contained about fourteen
bushels as nearly as we could estimate it..
of honey.
I'VE were fifteen days in the mountains,
and our table d'hote bill of fare was prin-
cipally trout, caribou, bar meat and wild
honey, which is better layout by at least
three points than John the Baptist could
boast in his most halcyon and vociferous
days. Gentlemen, will you join me in q
glass of wild cherry phosphate or some
thing at the place across the way9"
He knew the crowd. 1t was his easiest
way to avoid return fire. They joined
him.-Chicago Tribune.