, 1896-03-17
A A R
Catching the Reptiles for Their Oil In
Southern California.

IleH0 are b NAH b uOZeu men IN Lne
mountainous regions of Southern Cali
fornia who arm a living by capturing
r~attlesnakes and getting the oil from
them for medicinal purposes. as well
as divesting the reptiles of their
streaked and mottled skins for sale for
belt making to the thousands of tour
lists who flock to their region every
winter. The most prosperous of the
snake hunters is a grizzled old man
named Abner Dodge, who not only
hunts ~rattlesnakes about half of his
time, but who has a snake farm, where
he keeps, feeds and fattens lean and
slender young rattlers that he captures
in a nest into fat, lazy and oily old SER
penis. He has his abode and farm
among the rocks and gravel on the
lower sides Of Mount San Antonio
DIETER known all over California as
"Old BaldyJ, and at the headwaters of
Lyle Creek canyon. Every n who
has been in Los Angeles or San Ber-
nardino county any length Of time has
heard of "Old Man Dodge, the king Of
the ~rattlesnakes." He is about So
years old, and has been a hunter and
trapper in the mountains and OF the
Colorado desert for SO years. He lives
a solitary existence, but is hospitable
in his crude, rough way to any one who
calls upon him. Among the eastern
tourists and health seekers in this re-
goin he is an object Of curiosity. The
little snake farm of several acres that
ne has assiduously cultivated in a cor
raj on the mountain side neal his log
cabin is annually viewed by scores Of
~people-from safe and sure elevations
with the keenest interest.
Abner Dodge gets his living princl-
pally from the sale Of rattlesnake oil
to wholesale druggists and to a few
local manufactures Of ointments and
oils that are said to have peculiar cura-
tive powers for muscular ailments.
Miners and sailors have a settled be-
lief In the efficacy of rattlesnake oil for
many ills and pains. Hundreds Of gold
and silver miners all over the Rocky
and Sierra mountain region pin their
faith to rattlesnake oil and larkspur
tea for rheumatism. and keep a good
supply of both oil and herb in camp all
the time. Dodge also derives revenue
from the sale OF the skins and rattles
to dealers in curios, SO common in the
tourist region. He sometimes has as
many as $50 rattlers in his snake cor
raj. where he fattens them with GER
tain food calculated to produce more
oil in them. He always has sixty or
seventy snakes in the corral in process
Of f%attening. In a good hot summer
season he will capture 800 or 400 rat
tiers in the mountains and along the
edge Of the hot, sandy desert.
He roams over the mountain sides.
climbs up and down the canyons and
travels the country over for miles
around in search Of rattlesnakes, with
now and then a shot at some game,
and has acquired a remarkable acute
ness of perception of the presence Of a
serpent in his vicinity. He is a hard
headed man at a bargain and a shrewd
Judge Of human nature.
Your correspondent rode seven miles
among the powders and along the trail
of the Lyle Creek canyon the other
day to see Abner Dodge. "the rattle
snake king" by which title he is gen.
orally known in this part of the state.
II reckon" said the grizzled old fell
low, that l know by this time a few
things about rattlesnakes. I ought to.
l have lived next door to the critters
for over twenty-five years. I have got
attached to them In a way, yet 1
wouldn't trust a single one Of them a
second II he was In reach Of me.
Most people think l am a crazy man
because l am in the snake business,
and ranchmen always Joke about mt
when they see me out on my forages
for snakes, but I'm used to 1t, and
could not live without some rattlers
around to take up my mind.
mo. I've got a rattlesnake out in a
wire bird cage in my corral that I
would not sell for the best horse and
wagon in all Pomona valley. He's be-
come attached to me, l know; and l
think a heap Of him, too, for he's got
80 much sense. You can't begin to
imagine how much about rattlers I've
learned from that there pet snake. I've
had him for II years; raised him from
the time he was a foot long, and seen
him most every day since l got him. I
call him Jonah, and the first thing I do
when L come home from my hunting
Tips Is to go and see how Jonah is get
ting along. He has got his fangs In
lately, and l dare not trust him for a
moment. He'd fang me In an instant
II l gave him any show. That's his
snake nature, and he can't help 1t.
Among the things that I have learn
ed from watching Jonah these eleven
year. il that the rattlers We have in the
southern California mountains change
their skin twice . year-in July and
three months later. In September-and
that II they can't ct to water while
they r shedding. their skins will
come OF slowly and in pieces. instead
Of pseling OF in whole piece from
had to tail. But I've never caught on