Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1898-02-19
GREAT ON DOG SALMON.
But When 1t Came to Tyhee the Razor
back Overmatched Himself

back Overmatched Himself.
Fish catching pigs are as common
along the Puget sound waters as king
fishers are on an eastern trout stream.
Why, had an old razorback hog when
| was out there that I'll bet could go
out any day i'll any Of the streams that
tumble into Puget sound and catch more
10 pound salmon in 20 minutes than
the best fisherman on the whole Jersey
coast can kill bluefish Ill whole day.
l owned quite a number of sawmills
on the sound, and although there were
a good many crack razorback fish catch
ers there stood ready any time to back
mine with my last mill against any
other one bar none, that could be
brought on That hog as a fisherman
was simply wonder, and he never
caught anything but salmon They were
salmon that probably you and | would
not care to eat for they were trifie
weak and slightly under the weather.
maybe the hookbill, but more than like
ly the dog salmon. And hogs are not
the only four footed fishers for these out
there either not by big sight | have
seen W. thin distance of less than a
mile along one of those Puget sound
streams. half a dozen bears, family or
two of wildcats whole colony of rae
coons not few wolves besides a dozen
or more razorback hogs, to say nothing
OF il score or so of eagles, all engaged i'll
the sport of fishing for dog salmon.
But. speaking of that particular razor
back salmon catcher of mine, he got so
expert at landing dog salmon and hook
bills and humpies and similar kinds
that he got the big head and thought
he d try his hand, or rather his snout,
on run OF fresh tyhees or chinooks.
These are the boss salmon, and the nice,
yellow, savory chaps you get in the cans
they ship from out there. When he is
feeling good and that is pretty much
all the time, You might as well take a
fall out of your sawmill as fool with a
tyhce He dOesn t think q thing Of
weighing so pounds, and he travels in
professions so big that along in June,
when he Is going up the streams to the
spawning beds, you can almost walk
across a stream on the backs
That hog of mine got it into his head
that he was cut out for better things
than yanking weak and tired dog salm-
on out of water and that tyhee were
about his size | saw him making his
way one day very lelsurely to a stream
that ran toward the sound Just back of
my mill, and | thought it was a little
queer for there WASH t much in his for
aging line III that direction Twas busy,
though, and paid no attention to the
matter A minute or two later | heard
the hog give loud squeal of distress,
and, looking IN that direction, l saw
him III the water. struggling to get
away from something that had hold of
him ran to give him some help and
got there Just i'll time to see the razor
back Jerked head first under the water
and disappear beneath the surface like a
stone.
A dead tyhee, maybe a 20 FOUNDER
lay half on the shore and half in the
water Marks on it showed that the
hog must have captured it But tyhees
weren Invalid dog salmon, and a cou
pie of the captured fish S travelling com
paIlonS, III my opinion, mao rushed 10
its assistance Aid was too late and
vengeance took its place The avenging
tyhees had Just reached out and taken
Mr. Razorback by the neck, and, in
spite OF his resistance, had logged him
III and drowned him He floated down
halt an hour or so later and was little
the worst looking pig have ever seen
If he had been butchered, scalded,
scraped and half dressed he couldn t
have looked more torn up He was the
only razorback | ever knew or heard of
that tried to fish for tyhees. was sor
ry to lose HIM, for | was counting on
making good deal of money Oh him,
backing HIM III his line against all COM
ers, but his ambition was fatal to all
my hopes New York Sun.