The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1900-06-02
! n q N g oND lJcTs Kept 81.
y, IAFa N. 5I55
Abner l''od ss ,f 8 ca Has Fol-
loved ths Pecui lar Isnsi ness fol Twe ells
- 81 chara 81 i ris tics 81

H.
tered Ia severe fall ii he! san Antonio
canyon y and has since eYoted his en-
tire sl'e time to and cultiYa-
ton Ion1 st tlesnake He lives in ssS a
SINAI So " bin near the adwaters If
||Lytles Cree Can Ga he san Ber-
8n 1a mo spur Of mountains in & the
Sierra e1l e ad Is He is a bachelor
and his ON panio On is a ,.seen,
sl AM lad Of whom Dodge has
ted. The old man dresses iii self
/ made clio thing Of skins and rough
Wo9olelns OF q Il hles and fits and is al
aysHa subject Of keen interest to the
many travellers in that section Of the
eount try He is well Informed and eyi-
#dently received a good education in
his his youth. 81 lis long life among the
5Wilds of: the mountains and canyons
have had heir effect up ION him, and
he#sis now = typical mount ain charac-
ter. Abners Dodge and his boy assist
ant get their livelihoo from the sale
Of raft lesna Ike: oil to the druggists IN
the mining regions Of California and
Arizona u a. and also by selling the dry
skins and rattles from the snakes to
the dozens of :curio,a shoDkeepers in
southern California towns, where east
sern tourists flock every winter. The
Sold@ man aroams over the mountain
sides. searches thro lgh sirrig eating
bitches and arroyos,# climbs I. UP Il and
down in canyons, and travels the
country for miles around in search Of
rattlesnakes, with now then az shot
at some game He has been in the
rattlesnake business about Is years
and in that time has handled perhaps
1000 snakes. He gets about 40 cents
worth OF oil gu of each snake. The
oil lis in pure, white fat that. lies In
the strips along each side Of the rat
tiers intestines II near the backbone.
The fat is tried out carefully in earth
en- pots. The snake season opens in
= pril and lasts until Decem Der. Dur
ing this time Dodge and his boy as
Ssistant are kept very. busy searching
for the venomo JUS reptiles. Owing to
lis, / long experience with the snakes
he is considered an authority on them.
As AS he says ST have lived next door,
.sneighbor to the critters for % years
and q sough to know som hing about
them III He say S. there is not a wiser
or more curious pecimen of life In
the brute creation than the raft Ter Al
though he is. attached to them in 4 a
way, he would not trust one for a mo-
Hmentl if it was in striking distanee.I
They want to be left alone and never
show any dispo sition ito become Ia
Smiliars Dodge has a pet RATHER " HIGH
he calls s Doctor. 49, He raised him
from the time that he was d months
old, and from him has learned many
character istics i peculiar to rattlers..
The old man s. observations have also
set aside many theories regarding the
habits of #rattlers. They do not strike
unless they are hungry. When a rat
tier has killed and swallowed enough
for one meal, any thing that lis left can.
crawl on him and tumble him around
and lie will not offer the least objec-
#tion. People all over the world B. be-
ieye that when attlesnake is shed y
ding his skin he gets blind. There is.
no mistake that his eyes do get COW
cred with a blush Aim at that time,
but just putSa mouse in his cage and
he will coil up and send for it and
hit it in the neck every time. a rat
1 tlesnake always strikes his prey be-
fore he eats It; but you may I'LL ] his
cage with rats or mice or; frogs, or
thing else he likes, and he'll never
touch sone Of them unless; he's hung
Z "a mouse every other day will make a
rattler fat in q very hort time. w hen
IA RATHER lis taken into captivity he will
often not eat OF: drink any thing for
months, and some have been known TO-
continue the fast for IA months.
The old snake farmer has never been
able to ascertain how the snakes get
their old skin of. He says that he
has gone. to bed at night and left his
snakes with out their showing any
more signs Of peelIng themselves than
sticks Of wood. but in the morning
their old clothes would be- wing in one
corner Of the age an d the SNAKE
would be as BRIG III their new toys
as bright patchwork quilt The Cal
ifornIa rattlers change the ir skins
twice Al year, in Jul and in Sept 4
The venom off the 1 rattler acts If
sferently upon various animals and
upon different people. Some animals
and birds viii keel over dead sas bowl
ders as soon as they were bitten;
others live for hours and days & and le |
some full recover. asst summer
near Monte 70 mules were Bit
ten and both al edS thin two hours.
Dozens of mlll es have been bitten and and /.
we're well again Il: a ay or two. HogssS'
are imperNio to- he bites 81 rat tlers.ss
The venom as no fleet upon thenna#
and q they are great hunters of the
snakes They grow ssfat on hem as
Dodge once. had All no that he
used to unit for he repti les
When the won III seen scare
up IA snake, Dodg would head.
and ittsS BET ore he hog could each
san a deYourS sEheS effect upon hu man
beings depend toS a great extent upon q q
te1nnerament and 1cond itio eEEl:#s
Some people die ia 4 few hours Ter.
ssuTering ense con legs r.