Might have taken some trouble to keep it in fresh water en route, but think of the great good that could even yet be accomplished with one of these faithful salvagers.
Of course you, as a wise editor, know all about the salvager sucker, but as I am going to ask you to publish this letter, it will be well to explain for the benefit of those just arrived from the far East.
The fish is found only in the waters of Discovery bay, in Puget sound. It is about two feet long and is equipped with powerful fins and a tail which sweeps up and down. Instead of sidewise, as in ordinary suckers. Just below its mouth is a cup-like growth. Now, the most wonderful part of this fish is this cup. It can, by placing the cup against the side of a rock, or any object, and sucking in produce a vacuum in the cup which cannot be broken except by the use of dynamite. Then, by working its fins and making great sweeps with its tail, it can raise to the surface of the water objects weighing two tons or more.
With one good salvager on the job, all the groceries now at the bottom of the Miami river could be easily recovered.
The fish is wild at first, but by tying a rope to its tail and giving it something to eat each time it comes to the surface with a box, it can soon be trained to work at a rapid rate.
Of course, this is only one of the rare fish to be found in Puget sound, and the only reason I mention it is because of the crying need for one at the present time. The only drawback is that so many of these salvagers have been caught and taken to the South seas to hunt pearls, that there may not be any left. But with a fund of money, one could at least make a search of Discovery bay for possible survivors. Yours truly,
I. ZACK W. ALTON.
