The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-11-10
A PARADISE FOR SNAKES.
SOUTHERN ARIZONA THEIR FAyo-
RITE BREEDING GROUND.
whisky is a Cure, Says .sRnttler
Jim''-If You Do Not Believe it,
Read the Tale of the Celebrated
Old Man.

Professor Henry Palmer, of the
Smithsonian institution, says. that is
so natural breeding ground for the
southern Arizona, says the ST. Louis
Globe Democrat. Similar authority is
quoted to the effect that there is
scarcely a more venomous reptile in
the country than the bloated rattler
of this region. The rocks of the noun
tains and foothills are heavy yellow
and gray color and the soil is so nearly
the hues of a rattler that a snake can
move slowly along and be hardly per-
ceiVed by person fifty feet away.
The hot, dry air and the warm, sandy
earth, through at least ten months in
the year, and the immense quantity
of small birds and ground squirrels in
the mountain canyons and brush, all
combine to make life for rattlesnakes
in this region one of rare ease and
comfort for many a long year.
There are literally tens of thou
sands of rattlers In the sagebrush and
chapparal along the edge of the south
ern Arizona wastes. They grow to
enormous size and it is common to
read in the local newspapers of this
the capture of rattlesnakes five and
six feet long and with fourteen and
fifteen rattles. Localities and objects
of nature all over the territory have
been named from serpents There are
cattlesnake canyons, rattlesnake ar
royos, rattlesnake creeks, rattlesnake
mountains and rattlesnake gulches
Over at Maricopa an old fellow has
named his dispensary of intoxicants
after the most venomous American
snakes, and "Rattlespnke Roost,"
painted in clumsy letters, stands in
bold relief over the door,
Rather Jim.
The best-informed man in regard to
rattlers in this part of the territory is
acknowledged to be Jim Davis. He is
about 65 years old and has lived on the
border of civilization for fifty wears.
He is one of the large army of men
who were eternany demoralized by the
gold booms in California years ago.
and became relegated to a devil-may-
care. independent and happy-go-luck
way of getting his living by using his
gun and by travelling across the
mountains and over the valleys with a
blanket and skillet across his back.
Everyone says that for unauthorized
snake information there's no one like
"Rattler jim"
DO [ know much about rattle.
snakes? said the old man, as he sat
tipped back in a chair, sucking a vile
corncob pipe in a saloon in this place
the other day. you bet your life [
know thing or two about 'em. I've
been here in this snake country Just
close onto twenty-four years. and
never have been out of it. 1 could sit
an night and keep telling you some
thlng new every minute about rattle
snakes. Gosh! how I hate the var
mlnts! I never miss trying to kill EN-
of, but it's about useless trying to
clear out this here country of rat
tiers. They breed so darned easv
Every female RATHER is good for thirty
Or forty rattlesnaSes a year, so I've
about given up tryin' to do anythine
more at snake KILN.
This is the driest year we've had in
long time in this end of the territory
and it's an awful season for snakes. II
IS so dry and we have had terrible hot
weather since May These here locust
puSs are all over the country and they
buzz Just like the rattlers Whenever
I'm out hunting and kick a brsh =
whole swarm of locusts, buzzin' for al
they're worth, come flying out. Their
slngin' puts me off my guard, because
l can't hear the rattlesnakes a-rattIin'
L m most afraid to hunt at all now. fol-
You know it's just about certain sure
death for an old white man like me to
get AriZone rattlesnake venom in his
body at the end Of a long summer
I'd rather be shot plum through the
chest any day than to take chances
on pullin' through. a pizenin' by u des-
ert rattler when pulled up plum full
of pizen, as they are now At some
seasons of the year there amt any.
where near as much danger from rat
tlesnakes.
Fat and Lazy.
But Arizona rattlesnakes amt near
so dangerous in some ways as them
used to be back in the mountains of
Pennsylvania and Ohio. The desert
rattlers are fat and lazy. They amt
got no fight in 'em. They amt got
no real meanness in 'em. AS a general
thing the Arizona crawler will set up
a rattle and slide off in the rocks OF
brush. Horses, cattle and sheep know
the rattle as we'll as a, man. Sometimes
they get bit. but that is only wher
they tread on a snake. 1t amt likely
to kill sheep if he struck in the
wool. A wild deer will kill a snake
every time he sees one. He jumps with
all four feet together onto a snake anG
is off and gone so quick that a snake
can't hit him. 4 hog will kill 'em, too
and a snakes poison don't hurt a fat
hog. I have seen many dog thai
would kill any rattlesnake that he'd
come acrost. He gets bit, of course
sometimes, but w'enever he's bit yor
may notice that he'll go off away from
the house and stay two or three days
He's doctorin' hisself then. He lays in