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Jack London’s
Diamonds
Jack London has added another adventure to his already remarkable career,
likewise increased his bank account, and learned something that Isaac Walton
would have given his eye-teeth to know. It all happened in the heart of the
Olympic mountains, at Lake Crescent, where the author now is, and it happened
the other day. In Lake Crescent abound the renowned Beardslee trout, found
nowhere else in the world. To feel the tug of one on the end of a casting line
and to caress its spotted sides sent London there to spend five weeks. He went
there with the avowed intention of remaining until he had captured a Beardslee
trout. For four days he went out in the morning and rowed back at night, ate his
meals and retired to his tent. Not a word was said. Guests saw him bring in
strings of fine speckled and Dolly Varden trout, but not a Beardslee. Among the
guests is Alexander Pantages, who learned of London’s great desire and planned
to play a little trick on the author. One morning he approached London at
breakfast and offered to bet $195 against all the money London had in his
pockets that he would not catch a good Beardslee trout during his stay. London
found $3, and they left the money with the inn-keeper. In the flat-bottomed boat
assigned to each guest London rowed across the lake, fully five miles, and
fished all day. His boat was fairly swamped with various species of trout and
some nice, land-locked salmon. But in spite of forty-seven changes of flies and
three hours of trolling not a Beardslee trout even made a strike at the hooks
and spoons. Suddenly the author was seized with an inspiration. Selecting a
wondrously well-made trolling spoon, London took his diamond stud, which was the
envy of Jack Johnson, and tied it to the gut leader, an inch above the cluster
of hooks, and then bent to the task of trolling the placid waters of the cove.
Hardly had the hook touched the water when a strike and a tug of the line
assured the author that a fish was hooked. About dinner time London carried the
prize to the veranda, where guests had assembled. Then he walked to the clerk’s
counter and pocketed the $198. It cost Pantages another $50 to learn how the
trout was caught.
The Wasp
July 11, 1911
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