382 



RECREATION. 



in October and going to Portland or Olym- 

 pia to spend his pile, and returning in the 

 spring. 



About 1873 Harry Weatherald and Steve 

 Grover appeared on the scene. Using im- 

 proved rifles, they got more game than 

 their competitors. A little later Sharps 

 40-90 and 45-100 rifles were introduced on 

 the coast, and the fur yield increased 

 largely. As more hunters came, the otters 

 grew wilder until by '78 it was necessary 

 to shoot at 250 to 500 yards. In that year 

 Weatherald and Grover sold 47 skins as 

 their season's kill. 



The price of skins rose until in '76 a 

 prime pelt brought $75. In 'yy 'they drop- 

 ped to $30; rising gradually again until the 

 Hoquiam mills started, in '87, with G. H. 

 Emerson as manager. Emerson bought 

 the catch of the beach for a few years, and 

 the hunters rejoiced; but as he lost money 

 on furs and made it up scaling the logs for 

 the mill, it *red trouble between the hunt- 

 ers and the lumbermen. 



The beach on the Washington coast is 

 low and wide. The white hunters built 

 derricks about 40 feet high and from them 

 shot most of their otters. The Indians 

 killed their game 1 to 5 miles off shore, 

 prowling about in canoes until they found 

 an otter asleep on the surface of the 

 water. 



Animals killed from the beach were 

 washed ashore by the tide. As hunters in- 

 creased in number, quarrels frequently 

 arose when 2 or more persons claimed to 

 have killed the same otter. It was finally 

 agreed that each hunter should mark his 

 bullets with a different letter or symbol, 

 and in that way trouble was avoided. 



The otters decreased rapidly before such 

 persistent warfare, and when the schooner 

 "Kate and Annie" cruised the. coast 2 sea- 

 sons, hunting them, the few remaining ani- 

 mals sought other waters. For 2 years 

 scarcely an otter was seen. In 1901 a few 

 returned and 9 were killed, the pelts bring- 

 ing $150 to $300. 



Even in their time of greatest abundance 

 sea otters never ranged North of Point 

 Granville nor South of Gray's harbor, 

 though their food, clams and crabs, was 

 plentiful all along the coast. Between the 

 points named are peculiar currents running, 

 within a few miles of each other, in oppo- 

 site directions. That may -account for the 

 otters' choice of habitat, as facilitating their 

 travels up and down the coast. 



CAN A DOG THINK? 

 I have been much amused in watching 

 the behavior of a little black spaniel be- 

 longing on the ranch where I am a sojourn- 

 er. He has some of the instincts of a 

 hunter, and goes into ecstasies when he 

 sees me take down my rifle. 



The cabin in which I camp is within the 

 edge of timber, in which are numbers of 

 gray squirrels. Nig chased one into a pine 

 one morning. My daughters, from the 

 kitchen window, heard him barking and 

 called to me : 



"Nig has something treed." 



Picking up the rifle I sauntered out and 

 presently discovered a squirrel perched on 

 high, regarding me with curiosity and Nig 

 with disgust. A shot brought him down 

 and made the spaniel my warm friend. 



He watched the skinning with great 

 gravity, and when the dressing was com- 

 pleted claimed the offal for his own ; though 

 I do not think he ate anvthing but the skin. 

 In an hour or 2 he announced by furious 

 barking, that he had another squirrel treed. 

 I did not go to him, so he left his game, 

 ran into the room where I sat reading, 

 punched my knee with his nose, went to 

 the door, and there stopped to see what 

 I intended to do. I had just finished clean- 

 ing the rifle and was loth to foul it again 

 for one squirrel ; but at last I yielded to 

 the dog's importunity and went with 

 him. He went directly to a particular 

 tree, and contrary to my expectations, there 

 sat the squirrel. It fell at the dog's feet, 

 was borne to the house, dressed and set 

 aside with the other. As the spaniel sat 

 watching me I talked pleasantly to him 

 about the squirrel. He looked on soberly, . 

 noticing my talk only by an occasional wag 

 of his tail ; but in the afternoon as he lay 

 at my feet while I read, I suddenly asked 

 him if he would not better look out for a 

 squirrel. He sprang up, ran to the woods 

 and hunted half an hour. 



Leaving the home at the ranch he at- 

 tached himself to our humble household, 

 and was for some time our steadfast com- 

 panion and guard; taking his meals with 

 1 s, rather than at his proper home. 



On one occasion my daughter put his 

 dinner on a plate and set it back of the 

 house. Nig lay by the front door asleep. 

 Presently I called to bim : "Nig. your din- 

 ner's ready in the back yard." Up he 

 sprang and around the house he ran, 

 straight to the dish. 



It is the general belief that the man goes 

 to heaven, but that his dog ends his career 

 at death. If that be so, then, the wrong 

 fellow often gets to the right place. 



W. H. Nelson, Boulder, Colo. 



Your story is interesting, but why kill 2 

 harmless and beautiful animals to please 

 the dog? Wild animals and birds are now 

 divided by naturalists and good sportsmen 

 into 3 classes : Pets, game and vermin. The 

 first should not be killed. The others may 

 be at the proper times and in reasonable 

 numbers. The squirrels are in the first 

 class. — Editor. 



