Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-11-13
FROM THE COAST.
Second Letter From Miss Bertha
Stocker, of Tacoma.
TELLS OF GAME AND FISH IN WEST
Says Washington has Many Beauties
but is Surpassed in Several Particu-
lars by Iowa-Moderate Winters in
Tacoma.


lars by lowa-Moderate Winters in
Tacoma.
Some time ago the Courier publish
ed an interesting letter fro mMiss
Bertha Stocker,a former Ottumwa girl
who is now in Tacoma, Washington
A second communication appears be-
low in which she tells of game and
fish in Washington, and gives the
reader an idea of the weather of the
tactic coast.
Tacoma, Wash, November, 8, 1900.
The Courier:-I write again in re-
gard to my trip to Monte Cristo, in
the mountains. AS you have put into
my head new idea cannot resist the
temptation to explain to your wonder
ing mind all about the game in this
country. might have known that
you would want to know about such
matters, and the next time l will re-
member and write about that the first
thing. Game is quite Plentiful here,
but not so much as untraveled Iowans
might think have known of several
persons coming out here from the
east and thinking it was like fifty
years ago, and unsettled. But when
they got here they were much disap-
pointed for we have here as large
cities as any in Iowa. if have been
properly informed. AS Tacoma itself
| is estimated to contain 10000 people
and Seattle is still larger. Besides
these there are other large cities on
Puget Sound.
In the, beautiful Stillaquamish
river valley, OF which. spoke in my
previous letter, there is any amount
of f1sh,but they are all mountain trout
and they are fine fresh water fish.
1t may be interesting to know that
the fisherman in Washington does not
bait his hook, drop it into the water,
and sit down to wait for bite. He
bats with fly and pulls the hook out
nearly as fast as it is thrown into the
water. Nearly always. too, he has a
fish. He has to move often, however.
for after three or four fish have been
caught from the pool the others will
not go near the place where the
others were hooked, for several min.
utes. The fisherman then moves
three or four steps, drops his hook
again, and can then catch fish very
easily. AS to big game, black bear
and deer are often bagged. These
4 animals are very difficult to get, how,
ever. Pheasant and grouse abound
as do also chipmunks, quail, and
squirrel.
i The squirrels are very inferior as
food, for they have no good sweet nuts
lon which to feed in this country, as
they have in Iowa. The food of the
squirrel in this country consists large
ly of pine cones and buds from a few
other trees. There are some hazel
nuts in Washington, but they are of in
ferior quality.
AS for salt water fish, one can find
i a great number Of salmon, smelt, soles
. poggies, and many other varieties. The
Isoles are small fish as are also the
|smelts. The poggies are not used fol
food. The salmon however, is the
i king of fish in this part of the coun
try. have seen some of them thirty
three inches long and thirty-one inches
around the body at the thickest point
Some of the salmon l have seen weigh
ed twenty-five pounds and more. WheI
one sees the salmon in the water the,
look so graceful that one would no
beneve their girth was SO near theil
length as is the case.
When riding in a boat on the sal
water at night, one can see the fish il
the water, swimming about and hav
ing the appearance of being on fire
as the large amount of PHOSPHORUS il
: the water makes this possible. Th
|, darker the night the more beautiful i
!, the effect The water is so deep tina
it seldom gets warm, except during tn
: four months out of the year, when tn
, sun shines upon it all day and make
bathing enjoyable. This is possible
! however, for only about two hours il
) the afternoon, for after that time tn
z water begins to get cool.
II l cannot begin to tell of all the fisl
that live in the salt water. The shrimp
= which looks like the crawfish, i
t brought up from the bottom of tn
s sound, as oysters are gathered. TIL
a Sound OYSTERS" as they are called
:, are not as good as the oyster of tn
q Atlantic ocean, but their taste is mic
!. and sweet, nevertheless.
tic Of c,,r, lie CHI mir