The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-09-29
THERE is PROFIT IN SNAKES
THE GREAT WESTERN RATTLE
SNAKE PRODUCTION CO.
All Kinds of Money In TEX
pense Of snaks-bite Antidots and
Managers Habit of Being Bitten.
Chicago Infer-Clcaan.l

down east said the man who was IT..
as he seized the change off the tray be-
fore the waiter could whisk ii awav
yep; and a rabbit ranch somewhere
in Indiana" responded the Judge, go
ing to raise Belgian mares for fur
"A hair-raising venture. Hurmured
the broker. as ne impaled his cherry on
toothpick.
The most ontiandish thing 81 that
sort that I've heard Of vet, went on
the first speaker, is 8 rattlesnake farm
some place in New York state.
"That'll do" sighed the broker The
others just smiled YEARLY. al save the
man from Buffalo. who lighted q fresh
stogie and remarked Nothing as
founding in that, gentlemen! 4 fact
the idea is not even novel. Ten wears
ago I was the president OF the Great
Western Rattlesnake Oil Production
company in Wyoming"
When the proper degree OF silence
had fallen the man from Buffalo% con-
tinued: 1T was the first venture Of
the kind. You may not know. gentle
men, that rattlesnake oil Is IN great
demand It is an infallible remedy for
rheumatism, govt toothache. j. soft
corns, and hay fever and ten years
ago it brought SIS an ounce. and was
scarce at even that figure. Out In Red
Eagle count.T, Wyo-t&there Was q place
where the rattleTs were sotthick that al
mile away they sounded for all the
world like forty-'leVen moving ma
chimes 1t was there that We got our
stock to begin opera tians wfths There
were four Of US III the enterprises the
Hon. Bud SnipdoodieS editor Of the
{ Red Eagle Warrior Dudley Goodgee q
ranchers SIX Finger Iinasdrs and my
self we caught 1890 odd raftiers.
and. 4sf a E3 9@>%
Hold hard thereg How'd you catch
then? asked the judge.
Grasshopper Bait For Snakes.
"A very easy matter, gentlemen.
What al reed bird Isl to you on ! such&is
a grasshopper to d rattlesnake. We had
six dozen large yellow India rubber
hoppers made and baited our lines with
them In three hours We had 5000
Four thousand. you said before.
The man from Buffalo glarea at the
speaker.
Perhaps rou were there and know
more about it than dor he suggested
with dignified sarcasm. Five thou~
sand and seventy-seven rattIeTs we
caught. OF that number we threw
aside something over a thousand. as
being understood we wanted only tile
best. We started the farm on the OUT
skirts of Red Eagle City. At first there
was some opposition but Snipdoodle
pointed out in the columns of his excel
lent paper the benefits that would
accrue to- the towns from having 50
stupendous an enterprise nearby, and
We distributed $4,000 in common stock
to the mayor and council
The next thing was to- find a resi-
dent manager that would stay on the
premises and feed the stock. We drew
lots and the duty fell to Six FINGER
Jimson. We built a shack for him nine
feet above the ground and made him
real comfortable. He could sit on his
piazza and watch the critters gGn1h0l-
ing underneath. and at night their his
sing and rattlfng had a lnlliuss sopor1fic
effect, and Unison IN d months time
was cured of a chronic case Of Insomnia
of ten years Standing
But what kept the snakes from
climbing uu onto the piazzai2
There We're no steps gentlemen
Just four smooth, round posts which
were kept continually CREASED.
How'd Unison climb up there
asked the broker. with a wink at the
others.
Jimsonss First Fatal Mistake.
He didn't. Jimson used stiltss just
the way we did when we went there.
But despite that and all the other pre-
cautions we took Unison got bit at
last: forgot to grease the southeast
post one evening and the next morn
ing when he went 10 put on his boots
found a. mother RATHER and seventeen
baby rattlers ahead of him. !"
Did he die2fe asked the judge.
Die? Jimson2 Not much. He Went
right Ia work doctorfng himself up and
was as fit as ever next day.
What did he user
Gentlemen. there's Just one specific
for the bite of a rattlesnakes and tfat's
whisky. good. open hearth, copper-dis~
titled Kentucky bourbon: and that was
the kind Unison used Well. in q
months time we got our first crop o.
oil. We killed 1900 rattlers. and
But you only had 5000. and p
Say" groaned the man from Buffalo
don't you suppose those snakes IN
creased In numbers in all that tims3
Why. gentlemen. at the end OF three
weeks those 1900 had multiplied until /
at d moderate estimate we had some 4
thing over $4,000 iii sight and several
more thousands crawling round SO fast i
we couldn't include them IN the census
Well, We Melted SS,69Ss75 from the first
crop Of oil and paid d dividend or per
cent on the preferred stock and one Of
2is on the common II
Must have got ricfs'' calculated the
broker. But the man from Buffalo
shook his head. e. "
{ 8 No: We would have butt he sighed
sswe would have been all millionaires
today If it hadn't been for HSix-Finger !
Jinnson. - #
why the Company Failed,
Dice MOI # he only hadt - was.
this way; After thar first bite fate
seemed To pursue Jimson.f Two DAYS /
later ne was bitten again. He hadn't
any more than recovered from that
than he was bitten twice. And them
1t became a regular thing: every day
Unison got a snake bite Where IS it'
today, Jimson Z? we'd ask and On the
heel he'd answer; 81 maybe Il would
be on his elbow or ankle or hands And
then he'd fill a tall glass with d half
pint Of whisky that cost us S. al gallon
wholesale, not counting freight and let3H
it go. You see Unison got his cogno-
men from his ability 81 use tIrN red
VI
a nd 81 49, -