Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1896-08-05
TRAINED TO HARNESS
Alaska Whale Furnishes Mo-
tive Power to a Boat.
FIRST OF ITS KIND IN HISTORY
VIII Be Hitched Up and Driven by Sea
to the Oregon Coast In Aug
ust, SO They Say.

ust, SO They Say.
Colonel F. W. Black, of the customs
department, at Sand Point, Pop OFF
Island. situated in the Shunagin group
of islands off the Alaskan peninsula,
while in Tacoma, told a story of a cap
tive whale, which, il true, proves that
the Pop OF contains genius in the
line Of animal tanning.
We" said Colonel Black, ''of the
island of Pop Of have in Pirate Cove
bay the first and only living whale
ever captured, tanned and trained,
and that will work at the will Of its
master.
The whale, which we named Bull
shoy, an Aleut word for immense, was
captured in the spring of 1894, when a
calf Of some eighteen or twenty months
old. 1t was then about fifteen or six
teen feet long and though so young and
small was possessed of considerable
strength, and can assure you that it
took tons of patience to bring the crea.
ture into subjection, small as it was.
"Bulshoy's capture was brought
about by an accident that cost two ma.
tives their lives, and the total destruc-
tion OF two large three hatch bidarkas.
During the confusion attending
the capture large female, accom-
panied by its calf, made for the west
ward, and in attempting to round
sand spit that ran out several cable
lengths from the island, it grounded,
and as it was full food tide, the more
efforts 1t made TO free itself the more
firmly it became grounded. The calf,
when its mother grounded, kept swim
ming round and round its mother, and
would strike out to sea short distance,
returning again to its stranded parent.
About half mile from the sand
spit where the whale grounded is the
entrance to Pirate Cove bay, and when
the natives and the few whites came
alongside the stranded monster the pup
made break for the cove and passed
into the bay, the entrance to which is
not over 100 feet wide, though it is full
twenty fathoms deep. John q. Whitley,
the storekeeper at the island, stretched
across the mouth of the cove a strong
wire net. We had lots of sport chasing
the calf, which could not get out.
ITO celebrate the Fourth of July,
Whitley and his native servant, Efteha,
made an attempt to feed il and were
successful. Whitley rugged up walrus
bladder to which was attached six or
seven feet Of rubber tube. About one
half gollon of cows milk was put in
the bottle, and Whitley and Efteha put
in ovk nd cd oil ~ do
the pup, which by this time would
allow them to come alongside him with
bidarkas. After several hours of pa
tient coaxing, the Indian succeeded in
getting Bulshoy to drink from the rub
Der tube. When the bidarka turned for
the shore Bulshoy followed close be.
hind it.
For the next six weeks Whitley and
the Indian fed the pup twice every
day. The pup would stick his cunning
head out of the water, close to the land
ing, and look for his nurses long before
feeding time. 1t was not until the fol-
lowing spring that the actual training
of Bulshoy began to take any definite
form.
Whitley one day said, / am going
to train that pup so that l can drive
him to Oonga or San Francisco The
rest of us laughed at such a crazy idea,
but Whitley stuck to his notion.
While the process of tanning was
goin2 on, Whitley had taken the pups
measure for a set of harness, and both
he and his native spent the nights for
several weeks in making it. The oil
max was reached on Friday September
30, when for the first time, probably in
tho history of the world, 4-year-old
twenty-five foot whale was successfully
put in harness. When Whitley and
Efteha. after putting on his harness
started for the shore, Bulshoy as usual
started the bidarka. and in doing so,
made the discovery that everything
was not as it should be, and then he
reared and plunged around at lively
rate, lashing the quiet water of the bay
into foam in his efforts to free himself
of the offending harness. But the har-
ness was we'll and strongly made, and
there was no shake off to it. Bulshoy
kept mp his antics for two whole days,
and for the first time since the episode
OF the battle, next morning he refused
to come at the call of either Whitley or
the Aleut. Hunger, however, soon
brought linn to his senses, and on the
morning of the third day, as the native
was out on the bay in his bidarka,
Bulshoy came meekly alongside and
seemed to beg for his much delayed
breakfast. which was given him.
From that day Bulshoy made nc
more trouble, and Whitley could pull
the guy ropes attached TO his harness
as hard as he could without causing
the pup to dive.
The novel outfit is expected to be of
the Oregon coast between August and
10, as the party would not leave Kar.
LUX before July 30, and they will come
south in short and easy stages,
What are we going to do witt.
him?' That will depend ON oircum-
stances, but 1t is our intention on our
way south to stop for day or SO at all
the various summer resorts along the
Oregon and California coast, and |
have no fear but what we will be able
to use Bulshoy's wonderful power to
make barrel Of money. Who knows
but what, Colonel Sellers-like, there
may be millions in it, for II one
whale can be- tanned so can others. The
voyage will be the first of it's kind