Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-06-19
QUEER LON. BISHOP.
Raising Big Crops of Lovely
Black Hair.
HOW HE MAKES A VERY GOOD LIVING
Quite at Home In the Woods-He Ex-
tracts Gum from Trees and Hunts
for Bears.
HOW HE MAKES A VERY GOOD LIVING

Lion" Bishop is a singularly for
tunate man. He has an assured annual
income for merely sitting around and
letting himself grow. When he was
but young man he began to let his
hair grow winters to keep his ears
warm in the woods. Observe the
result. After several years of letting
himself grow thus he discovered there
was demand for himself. Young
women who didn't know what was
the matter with their hair" single
women of advancing years, who had
reached the sad molting period of life,
elderly married women. whose husbands
considerably cheered their way in the
sacred family circle by telling them
they were getting immodestly bald-all
these sought olandestine rendezvous
with Alonzo and whispered their vague,
hidden wants into his willing ear, says
the Springfield Republican. He soon
found in this way select line of per-
sonal customers for his product-and
no questions asked. And now for
years yelled women have come up to
his mountain home throughout the year
and bought off the fleece. They know
what they are getting. So every July
Alonzo goes down to some town at the
foot of the mountain for his annual
hair harvest, and comes back again
shorn, with little newspaper bundle.
1t is beautiful crop, thick and soft
and black, and fully foot in length,
all twisted up into heavy natural
curls. One year. he says, he got as
much as $40 for his hair, and $45 is
good slice of the years expenses in
Searsburg.
At the rounding off of creation
large amount of foundation material
being left over. it was scraped together
and deposited in a heap at Woodford
City and Searsburg. Woodford City was
named by an anonymous genius of un-
bridled mirth in travelling minstrel
show, which gave performance while
stranded there long years ago, when
the place was on the stage road. The
name has stayed there ever since. 1t
is little group of very few two-story
houses. painted exceedingly white, and
number of dark one story houses,
which were never painted at all,
perched in little plateau on top of
the Green mountains. To appreciate
Searsburg you must try and find it.
"Lon" Bishops suburban residence is
situated half way between the two,
just across the Searsburg line-ten
miles from Bennington on the west and
an equal distance from Wilmington on
the east. The electric cars and gas
mains have not been extended out there
yet, and nights one may hear the por.
cupine as he comes out and sharpens his
quills on the f1ont-door stoop and frets
and frets about the house. Lon"
Bishop takes great interest in his coun-
try seat, however. He has lived there
many years and brought up family
Of three daughters-pretty girls they
are, to. He has surrounded his place
with a magnificent lawn of scrub
spruce trees. and year after year be
makes an addition to the house, when
he collects rough slabs enough. As
result of his labors he now has beau
tiful slab structure one story high and
some rs feet long; it is not exactly
cold or water proof, and you could
probably take it all to pieces and haul it
away in double-ox cart. but it gives
him splendid place to range about in.
Lion" took to the woods when he
was 10 years old and has stayed in
them until now he is SO. In summer
he wanders around and catches few
trout. but it is only in winter that the
serious business Of life begins, when
the sticky juice of the spruce tree har-
dens into gum. Then it is the village
maid at close of day sees Alonzo armed
with a scoop and Ratchet, pair of
snow shoes and pair of oreepers and
provisioned with an occasional noun.
tain Biscuit. 1t doesn't sound much,
but there is great deal packed away
in one of those biscuits You can tell
that by lifting them. He finds the
biggest gum on the exposed heights Of
the mountains, he says, where the big
trees strain and seem in the heavy
wind. The juice exudes through the
gaps and gathers in little amber mug
gest along them. Bishop used to reach
it by climbing up with creepers, but
now he gets most of it with scoop on
the end of long pole, which he pushes
up under the Jumps. He ranges all
the way up to the hills to Stratton
mountain; he knows the place by heart
and very often is gone days at time
in the winter. sleeping on bed OF fl
boughs spread under the lee of some
protecting ledge. Naturally he hat
cleared out the gum considerably
But the supply is good still. and thu
prices are much better than they uset
to be. When he started out he coult
=, gather easily 600 pounds winter, wher
now he can only get 100 pounds or SO