The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1909-11-17

pnlDlanS as you approach and they
plunge awkwardly into the river as
you advance, and the stream of
sprawling legs suggests a living
waterfall, made more realistic by
the constant splashing as they hit
the stream.
But they don't all get into the riv-
err, for the Columbuses are after
them. Her man is Of an Inventive
turn of mind-born, perhaps. of
natural aversion to physical effort
and he has contrived an easy meth
cd of attack. Crawling to the edge
of the bank, he and his squaw noise
lessly drop a square net, weighted
at the corners, pinning the lively
frogs beneath it. Then Moses sits
down, lights his pipe and waits tor
the Mrs" to transfer the prison.
ers to her sack. The operation is
repeated-the pair working their
way along the bank down stream
until Mrs. Columbus has all she can
carry Then her master stretches
himself for a little nap while she
skins the catch.
This operation is simple, and con-
sists in merely cutting through the
back bone we'll towards the lower
end and pulling the legs out. It's
like kid SHINING the pants of
companion at the edge of a swim
ming hole. The legs are then taken
home, washed, packed in ice in oys-
ter pals. hauled down to the Mime
apolis & St. Louis railroad station in
Morton and shipped to commission
houses in the Twin City.
Later in the season. when the
frogs forsake the streams for the
fields and meadows, the method of
capture is entirely changed. 1t is
not quite as successful there. Moses
takes the lead, carrying only his
spear, which is made exactly like an
ordinary fish spear, the tines, how
ever being much smaller. The ham
die is made of tough, light wood
and is about ten feet long. Mrs.
Columbus plods along behind, the
sack over her shoulder.
Long practice and native dexterity
have made Moses very efficient i'll
the use Of the spear, and his keen
eyes see many frogs that the ordin-
airy searcher would overlook. When
he spies any game he stops, treads
forward more softly, raises his spear
and, perhaps. grunts when he makes
the cast. The wriggling victim is
extended toward the squaw on the
spear point, and she takes it and
throws it into her sack.
In the fields beside the Minnesota
river, both in the broad valley and
on the fiat lands on the higher level,
frogs grow in multitudes during the
summer. Before the grain is cut
Moses and his squaW and many 9TH
er Indians from the reservation, can
be seen splashing about at the edge
of the sloughs, along the banks of
streams and in the broad meadows,
busy with their spearing. The frogs
are thick in the grain fields perhaps
thicker than any place else, but the
now docile red man knows it is use
less to trample down the growing
grain. When the grain is cut, how
ever, the Indians swarm over the
stubble, and there find the finest
game Of the year. Frogs which
have fattened on the many bugs that
infest the field are very fat, which
means not only that they are the
better sellers, but are easier to
catch-for a fat frog can't be so
agile In escaping as lean one can.
With the approach of cold wealth
er the surviving frogs desert the
fields and meadows and move back
to winter quarters in the mud and
leafy mold along the streams and
at the springs.
That the profits of this business
are large is shown by the fact that
two hundred dozen is considered an
ordinary shipment. The price runs
from FIVE to eight cents a dozen, ac-
cording to the season. Many ship
mentsrun as high as 600 or 700 dozen.
That Joseph Tyson has not lost in
terest in this old town since selling
4 III 81.