The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1894-09-22
PHEAsANTs ~ OREGON.

ne 0Q10G~Y 11O89yy " - 19O~8@
ffaa Co. ; Nv Years Aies 49,.
The history Of this interesting anA
valuable k1zne bird on this coast h1s
never been written. Everyone knows
now that II IwAs impokted by Judge
o. n. Denny, and that II has spread
throughout Oregon and Washington
until It Is numbered BY the Thousands
and probably hundreds Of Thousands.
Some day perhaps its history WIN 10
traced. Meanwhae tho -d1ie1 1n6adedts
in it's career are Of interest, sets tho
Portland Oregonian. u essGi
1t was in 1880 that Judge Denny, then
United States consul at Shanghai. bent
over the first lot of Chinese or Mon
golian pheasants There were seventy
Of them, and they We're sent oyer In =
sailing vessel bound for Puget sound.
With them were sent explicit mstrus-
tions O. to their handbag in reshippilg
to Portland, - the cocks and hens
should be kept separate, and only y
certain limited number in each crate.
etc. But the reshipping was carelessly
done, 80 that Of the whole number only
eighteen survived, fifteen cocks and
three hens, . proportion which lthe
sender would have liked to see ne
versed. They were very unwisely put
on Sauvic's island, the place OF All
others to which .sportsmen then, az
now, resorted. Yet 80 1ndustfiously
did they propagate that they secn
were common sights In Multnomah
county,. A few went into Washington
county. Some crossed the Columbia to
the then territory .of Washington
Since then they have spread north 10
the sound and In various parts Of Wash
ington. All the pheasants IN the state
of Washington are credited to this drst
beginning, the three hens which sur
vived the first shipment OF seventy
in 1880. a - ag g..5
Having heard Of the bad luck which
attended the first venture, Judge Denny
In 1881 sent over twenty-eight more
eighteen hens and ten cocks These
were sent to Portland and to the charge
Of Judge Denny's> brother, who lived
at Washington Butte, Linn county. He
took proper care Of them and put .then
adrift near his place. From there they
have gone into southern Oregon, and,
as Judge Denny thinks, have crossed
the Cascade mountains and sppeared
in Eastern Oregon, while the William
cite valley is full Of them. @
Judge Denny was home in 1882 and
visited the legislature in session at
Salem. His presence induced Judge
Truitt, now of Alaska, then . member
of the house, to prepare bill for the
protection Of the pheasant. With such
marked favor was the project Feeeived
that the bill was advanced By unsnk
nous consent through it's three .tead-
ings and passed promptly the lsame
courtesy being extended it in the senqte.
This provided absolute protection for
the birds for Eve years. Before tho
five years had expired the protection
was extended five matchmaking ten in
all. Then they were placed on the
same footing as the other pheasants,
though the season is . little different,
What the Denny pheasant needs now
Is . shorter season and . law prohibits
ing entirely hunting It for the market
Warden Mcclure has no dopbt thSt
thirteen thoul1n4 Mong41an plsae-
ants were. taken In Linn county alone
by pot-hupters last season. There is
1661ey 81 the sport, GSs the birds hr1nE
dol1nrtatd'a = half 3 dozen. This Is not
sport. It = sbutchering as . business !.