Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1916-10-23


tensely interesting and well worth
while for anyone to read, was en-
bodied in letter just received from
Leonard Hinton from Sanitarium,
Alaska. Mr.. Hinton was in Ashland
last year for several months and did
a great deal of special writing for
the Tidings on local subjects. His
most readable articles will be remem-
bered with pleasure. Since leaving
here the young man has drifted up
into Alaska in search Of color" and
that he is succeeding in gaining it,
the letter testifies)
On Board G. B. Comanche,
Sanitarium, Alaska, Oct. 4, 1916.
NV Dear Mowat: / know that you
are always interested in odd bits of
information and memoranda of hu-
man interest from the four quarters
of the globe, so am able to make
that my excuse for writing to you
from an obscure fishing post on Bar
anoff Island. ] have often wished
that / might hear from some of the
Tidings crew who were so decent to
me when I was in Ashland, but here
tofore ! have had no bait alluring
enough to offer for an exchange OF
notes. am going to make a strenu-
ous effort, however. to crowd a tiny
bit of the atmosphere of this great
northern country into these hurried
pages. that you may not feel that
the time spent in their perusalis en-
tirely wasted.
dare say that you know that /
came here to work for fishing COM
pany in the capacity of commissary
clerk. told Miss -- that in a
letter | wrote to her some time ago,
and / suppose she gave you a brief
resume of my wanderings. Shortly
after ] wrote to her, gave up the
honors and emoluments CD accru-
ing to that position, and am now a
full-fledged halibut fisherman. |
spend my waking hours in a curious
medley Of batting up gear, pitching
wildly about the open sea in a dory'
and speaking a language that is part
" English, partly slang, and mostly
Swedish. The life is certainly siren
uous enough, the pay is ample for
the necessities OF life. with perhaps
a little over to provide for a lazy
winter. may add that have never
been healthier, happier, or-tired-
or.
/ suppose it is in order to describe
a day of a fisherman's life as / live
IT. How pitiful that ] have thus to
interview myself ! should have be-
fore me a star reporter with open
notebook, and an expression OF
wheedling expectancy on his face.
But. alas! city dwellers and those
who serve them with news reck
naught of the heroism that brings to
their doors their Friday dinner, or
OF the battles against odds that are
vaged against lordly salmon and hal
ibut by the fishermen Of northern
waters. Hence for me, and for my
unsung brothers, there will be no
star reporter, and no wierdly illum-
ined page of the Sunday Supplement.
Really, it's no dream. The days
now are absurdly short, with day
break at 6. Half an hour before
that event we are breakfasting by
1amplight. and as soon as the first
faint twilight shows on the water, 1t
time to go to work.
There are three dories of us, two
men to a dory, and the gas boat
Comanche tows us out to the hallput
banks, several miles beyond the laby-
rinth of tiny islets that surround
Baranoff. There we drop astern one
after the other, as we come to loca-
tions that seem to promise a favor
able catch. Now the work of put
ting out gear commences. Gear, as
it is called, is fishline in lengths OF
three hundred fathoms with ganions
and hooks at intervals. Each length
of line, ready baited and coiled IN
the boat when we leave camp, is
called skate. Now one man, he