Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-08-23
When Tom Marshall Went
Juggling" on Mississippi

Juggling on the Mississippi river!"
This is not a transgression of the
prohibition laws, neither is it akin to
"bootlegging.' This method of fish,
ing dates back to the advent of those
Jesuit Fathers, who record the his
toric fact of Juggling" in their
early writings. The Indians who
made their homes along the Missis-
sippi. found a shortage-as usual
in jugg, there being an extreme
scarcity of stoneware on the market.
AS a crude substitute the Indians
secured from the buffalo, which at
that time roamed the prairies. nu-
merous bladders. which they fleshed,
dried, inflated with air. tied with a
deer sinew and then dried and
smoked them until they much re-
sem bled parchment. They were then
ready tn be utilized as floats during
the annual fishing carnival, which
usually extended over a period of
several days, and was made a con-
tinuous round of pleasure. Canoes
were loaded with many warriors. na-s
tive and visiting. an extended trip
was made up the river, to a point
which would require a given time to
float back to the established Indian
village. At given signal from the
chief, all bladders with short lines
and primitive hooks attached were
thrown into the river, after having
been baited with duck inteStineS,
which are very seductive to catfish.
A three or four-mile current fioated
them quietly along until the bait was
assailed by a VoraciouS channel cat
fish. Having hooked himself. the
bladder Immediately disappeared be-
low the surface, there to remain un-
til the fish Stacked away, at which
time the bladder would bob to the
surface, in the interim, being towed
by the hooked fish very rapidly and
pursued by the Indians in their
canoes, the first to grasp the trav
cling bladder to become owner of
the fish, when landed. The duration
of the race depended upon the size
and the pep of the fish that was
hooked The floating arrival at the
village was at all times followed by
a free-for-all fish barbecue.
Being conversant with the history
of bladder Juggling" l was delight
ed when my friends. E. ]. Tobie and
o. H. Lloyd, invited me to join them
in a "jagg fishing carnival" in which
contest, half gallon jugs were sub
stituted for buffalo bladders and the
fishing grounds between New, Boston
and Keithsburg. Illinois, on the Mis-
sissippi river. a distance of about
seven miles.
There was no wind to drift our
Jugs ashore, hence conditions were
ideal. Before we had our full bat
terry of jugs at work. we had a chal-
lenge from a six-pound catfish, who
had attached himself to one of our
jugs and was splitting the water in
a wild effort to escape, the jug
would occasionally disappear, to soon
appear upon the surface with a
Jump. The oars were popping in. the
open oar locks. as we pursued the
travelling jug. which we finally sepa-
rated from a nice silver colored cat
fish. There he goes" was the inn
mediate announcement, before we
could rebate the hook. again the race
was on for an exciting few minutes.
the winning of the race meant an
additional catfish for our live box
An occasional line would snag. turn
ing in a most realistic false alarm
as the jug would disappear, but re-
appearing at the same spot told the
story of a snagged line. Our catches
were numerous, the innovation sport
was great diversion in addition to
being q real meat getter. The old
Mississippi river the. original home of
the sport of jug-fshing. A diversion
for fishermen not anglers