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Unnatural HistoryNotcsPHILIY-IOO BIRO — FP.OAt tJFF -HARLOWTOWM,By ELMO SCOTT WATSONN THE grade schools the children are talcing nature study. In high school they learn zoology and botany. In college they . broaden their knowledge of all living things by studying biology. But there is one branch of science which the textbook writers and the teachers have neglected. It Is the somewliat-less-than-exact science of unnatural history—the best exemplification of the sentiment expressed in the old song Quoted above.For unnatural history is one of the things “you never learn at school.” To become acquainted with Its fascinating facts you must go—not to books but to the source of all true knowledge, to people. And there is one class of men who are better fitted than any other to give these facts. They are the simple men who lived close to the soil and whose brief snatches of leisure between long hours of hard work were usually given over to spinning yarns for the amusement of themselves and their fellows. In telling their tall tales they Invented mythical characters of heroic proportions who performed prodigious feats nnd whose every activity was carried out on a vast scale.Such were the old-time lumberjack and the old-time cowboy, who have given to us I’aul Biinynn, the super-lumberjack, and Pecos Bill, the super-cowboy, whom the students of folklore characterize as the best and almost only’examples of native American myth heroes. More than that. In telling of the deeds of these legendary heroes, these saga-singers peopled their world with strange creatures, bizarre in appearance and fantastic in habits.Not only did they invent their ynrns for their own pleasure but they often repeated and embroidered them for the express purpose of “stuffing the tenderfoot” or “hazing the pilgrim.” So if you would learn the most Interesting facts in unnatural history, go to a lumberjack or a cowboy and by your unsophisticated manner nnd nnive questions, give him a chance to tell you about some of the strange creatures which he has seen in the course of ids career.If it’s a lumberjack you’re talking to, the chances are that one of the first animals he will tell you about is the hodag. Although the hodag is now extinct, the one specimen having been captured near Rhinelander, Wis., years ago, all lumberjacks know about the hodag and how it came into being. Once upon a time there was an ox which had led an unusually hard life at the hands of his various drivers up in the north woods of Wisconsin. Among lumberjacks It Is believed that the hide of an ox is invulnerable to everything but the profanity of its drivers. When the animal dies, Its customary burial ceremony Is cremation, and It requires seven years of continuous fire to reduce to ashes all the profanity which has accumulated in Its body during Its life-tlmo.So when this particular ox died, a brush fire was built around its body nnd kept going for seven years to obliterate all the curses which had been heaped upon It In English, French, Irish. Scandinavian nnd German while it had toiled in the lumber camps. At the end of the seventh year the fire was nllowed to die down but instead of there being left no trace of the ox. out of the heap of ashes, there rose, phoenix-like, a fearsome creature, such as is pictured above, which exhaled an obnoxious odor nnd the swish of whose tail made the earth trdmble.For some time this monster preyed upon the lumber camps. Its favorite food being beef on the hoof. Then, according to “Lake Shore” Kearney of Wausau, Wis.. an old-time lumberjack who has written n hook on the hodag, E. S. ShepardSTUDlO-mKERUS 'Trapped by Walters inhi's sfcucii’oof Rhinelander, Wis., another old-timer in the north woods, succeeded in capturing it by digging a hidden pit In a trail which the hodag was known to frequent and luring the hodag to it by having a young man of marathon fame nnd a noted ski jumper lead an ox along this trail with the hodag In hot pursuit. After its capture the hodag was put to death, skinned nnd mounted. For years It was exhibited in an old barn near Rhinelander and thousands of people Journeyed there to view it until the barn burned down nnd all traces of thldf creature vnnished from the earth. But if you go to Rhinelander today they will sell you picture post cards of the hodag as proof of the fact that it did once exist.But even though the hodag is extinct, there are other equally interesting creatures still in the north woods, your lumberjack friend will tell you, some of whom make It exceedingly dangerous for a tenderfoot to stray far from the lumber camp by himself. Of course, you may not see them, but tlmt doesn’t prove thnt they are not there. If you find in the woods a set of tracks that puzzle you, they were prohabl.v left there by the tote road sbagamaw. Its hind legs have the hoofs of a moose and Its forelegs the paws of a bear. When It Is tired of traveling on one set of legs, It continues on Its way on tlie other, which accounts for the peculiar trail which is so baffling to hunters.The tote road shagamaw is shy and harmless but look out for the agropelter nnd the gumberoo! The agropelter has a long body and arms like a spider monkey. It has a perpetunl grudge against mankind nnd it hides in hollow trees, out of which it springs, tears off a huge branch of a tree and cracks the skull of the luckless tenderfoot ns he passes by. The gumberoo lives in burned-over forests and is therefore easily avoided. It Is larger than a bear and has a round leathery body which nothing cau pierce. If a hunter fires at It the bullet rebounds from Its tough hide, strikes the marksman nnd usually kills him. The only thing that can kill it is fire and often during forest fires the lumberjacks hear loud explosions which are gumberoos blowing up In the flames.All of the foregoing animals are known to lumberjacks of the north woods from Maine to Minnesota. When tbe lumber industry expanded west, the lumbermen discovered many other interesting creatures which are known both to them nnd to the cowboys, the scene of whose activities bordered on theirs. For instance there is the rope-rite which Is as large as a small pony and has a long rope-like beak .with a sllp-noose on the end. With tlds natural lnrlnt the.roperite catches even the swiftest jnckrnbblt and sometimes ropes a tenderfoot. Then there Is the tripodero with two telescopic legs. Its bonk is like the muzzle of a gun with a sight on the end. Going through the brush It raises and lowers itself to look for game nnd, upon seeing some, tilts itself to the right angle, sights along its beak nnd then lots fly with a pellet of clay, n quantity of these quids being always carried In the left cheek. The tripodero has never been known to miss a shot and as a result the mortality among tenderfeet In some parts of the West Is said to be anpalllne.Although lumberjacks and cowboys have been the principal contributors to the origins of unnatural history, too much credit cannot be given i to editors, nnd especially editors of country pa-pers, for their part in preserving it for future j generations of Americans who are unlikely to “learn it at school. It is to a number of them that the author of this article Is Indebted for ; information about two creatures, without a des- | cription of which no unnatural history notebook , would he complete. One ts the gilly-Ioo or pliiliy-loo bird and from descriptions furnished by It. F. i Fuller of the Rhnme (N. D.) Review, Larry Flint ; of the Sharon (I*n.) Herald. “Uncle .Timmy” of | the Ilarlowtown (Mont.) Timas, Ben E. Manning | of the Riddle (Ore.) South Umpqua News, W. M j Huff of the Clnflin (Kan.) Clarion nnd L. O. I Johnson of Livingston, Mont., a fairly accurate j idea of tbe nppearancc and linblts of tbe philly- j loo can be written ns follows: IThe philly-loo Is a comic supplement of the . ancient rarustarus, is related to tlie wild eoldshuts ; and fuzzy-billed sidewinders and in some respects j resembles the galliwatnpus. It lias a beak like a stork, one nrm to guide itself, nnd n long lizard tall, which it usually carries In the shape of a Q and which leaves a track like a modern non-skid tire. It is covered with horse feathers and from it is obtained not only liorse fealhers hut colt slaw. Its most distinguishing characteristic Is that it flies upside down and If It were not for tills fact more would lie known about it. For when the hunter siioots the philly-loo it falls up Instead of down nnd therefore but few specimens have been collected. The reason for Its (lying upside down Is thnt it can thus absorb more violet rays from the blue sky nnd stave off rheumatism.The other Interesting animal Is the gynsoutus. Edltha L. Watson of the Colorado Graphic, Denver, the daughter of nn old-time country newspaper man, lias written the following description of this creature:The gyascutus is about the size of a white-tatl deer, has ears like a rabbit, and teeth like a mountain lion. Its coat is brindle, and Its eyes are red. It has a long and prehensile tail, which It wraps around rocks when It turns around, for a little j extra leverage. !It has telescopic legs, which airangement enables It to graze around the sides of mountains, I the two right or left legs;- as the case may be, j telescoping to about half the length of the other | two. For this reason it can eat either to the right ; or the left, but has some difficulty In turning | around, as it appears that the two hind legs or j the two front ones will not telescope at the same | time, only one side at a time having this power, j Hence the long tall, which It wraps around the I rocks, often pulling them out of the ground with ! the labor of Its exertions in turning around. IThe g.vnscutus eats the tan and green lichens ; which adhere closely to rocks on hills, and in the , process, wears little trails around the mountain-sides, which many people have noticed,ground very rapidly, disappearing almost immediately, so that sight of one is very rare. The holes : are often mistaken for prospect holes, but the seeker for ore would be amazed to And a gyascutus I upon farther digging.The gyascutus is seen only after a snake-bite— and the subsequent treatment—by the observer. This causes one to wonder if this animal and the snake are not in some way affiliated. This is a subject which will bear investigation. 1Gyascutl, while rare, are not extinct, but have been run into the ground so often that they are i almost unknown.Editors not only have done a good work in the Interests of unnatural history by preserving the accumulated data on ninny of these interesting animals, but they have also contributed to tbe science of their observations on some of the fauna which are found only nrotind print shops. Go to any print shop and, If you will ask, the editor will be glad to show you some type lice. Then there Is tlie type lout, which Is nn apprentice type louse, whose job It Is around the print shop to eat all punctuation marks which are Incorrectly placed and to correct typographical errors. A I lout being an awkward fellow, the type lout some- j times makes mistakes himself arid that is why j you sometimes find your name misspelled tb the ! newspaper. Another interesting animal is the : studlo-inkerus. It was just by chance that one ' of these appeared while Artist Walters was mak I Ing the sketches for this article nnd be was able | to draw the picture of tills Interesting little fel- | low—the first time in history that its portrait j lias ever been made. Tlie studio-lnkerus Is the reason why the Ink bottles and ink wells on the desks of cartoonists nnd editors are always dry Tlie studio-inkerus eats nothing and drinks only ink.
Newspaper Details
Albert City Appeal
Albert City, Iowa, US
Thu, Nov 14, 1929
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Rin K.
NA, 15 Nov 2024
Other Publications Near Albert City, Iowa
Albert City Appeal and Marathon Republic
Albert City Gazette
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