The Salmon Bite
A minor fishing injury on the Columbia River turns into a race against gangrene for a young man.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A young man from Oregon, whose name we did not learn, while engaged in catching salmon on the Columbia river some two weeks since, was bitten by one of the fish on the little finger, just below the nail. The wound was very trifling, the teeth of the salmon simply penetrating the skin and hardly drawing the blood. It was considered of no importance at the time, and he continued his work without stopping to give the wound any attention. Soon after the finger became inflamed and began swelling, paining him badly. The inflammation and swelling soon extended to his hand and arm and the finger began to ulcerate. It continued to grow worse, the pain and swelling increasing all the while and all treatment applied to the affected part failed to afford any relief. Being obliged to visit Port Townsend last week on business, while there he was compelled to have the finger amputated just above its junction with the hand. Had not the operation been performed as soon as it was, it is probable he would have lost his hand. The amputation was performed by Dr. Nillison.
“The wound was very trifling, the teeth of the salmon simply penetrating the skin and hardly drawing the blood.”
This serves as a cautionary tale of pre-antibiotic life, where a simple scratch from a fish could necessitate the loss of a limb. It highlights the vulnerability of laborers in the Columbia River salmon industry during the late 19th century.
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