58 DUCKING DAYS 



on the other side of the river today at the Chicago Gun 

 Club preserve, and many of the ducks are over here." 

 They paid no attention to the shooting on the other side 

 of the river, and little flocks were constantly crossing 

 back and forth. I got up on the river bank and took a 

 look at them and there were ducks for a half mile, quack- 

 ing away and enjoying themselves. It w^as getting late 

 and I v»'ent on down the river to find a lodging place. 



Hundreds of people live on the river the year around, 

 earning their livelihood by tishing, hunting and trap- 

 ping, particularly fishing. There are many quaint char- 

 acters to be met among them. Once a river man, always 

 a river man. Many have families. I interviewed some 

 of them. 



"How long have you been on the river," I said to a 

 grizzled old fellow at Chillicothe. ''Sixty-five years," 

 he answered. A little later he started telling me about 

 old Joe Carroll, the shooting pardner of Fred Kimble 

 and Joseph W. Long. You may imagine with what in- 

 terest I listened. Long's words came to my memory: 

 "How well I remember old Joe Carroll, the best duck 

 shot by all odds I ever met. What a slim chance a duck 

 had for its life after once approaching him within gun- 

 shot!" Long speaks in an equally complimentary way 

 of Kimble's marksmanship. Fred Kimble was also an 

 expert musician, and could whistle in an artistic manner. 



