1909!] Lake of the W^oods 



marvelously fat trout known only from the depths of 

 Superior. At Port Arthur we witnessed a vigorous 

 game of lacrosse a bit rough, perhaps, but the 

 hardy Northern folk take to it. There, also, we 

 secured a ten-pound Shasta rainbow, evidence of a 

 successful introduction of the California species, and 

 a reminder of home. 



The enchanting Lake of the Woods is reached by Rainy 

 steamer from International Falls down the beautiful, * r a " d 

 clear Rainy River, through an almost uninhabited tiu Wood* 

 forest. The Long Chute, a swift rapid over which the 

 steamer plunges, has a thrilling suggestion of the 

 Lachine Rapids above Montreal. The greater part of 

 the lake, crowded as it is with small green islands 

 clothed in aspen, birch, and fir, seems like a big park, 

 and the tortuous course of the steamer gives one the 

 impression of sailing through a forest. 



Lake of the Woods once abounded in sturgeon, 1 Unpro- 

 different species of which used to be plenty in all tected 

 suitable waters, fresh or salt, of the United States and 

 Canada. The demand for caviar 2 is so insistent that 

 formerly enormous quantities of American roe were 

 salted and shipped to Russia to be there treated for 

 the market. But the sturgeon has had no protection 

 in America and our six or seven native species are 

 now all nearly exterminated. Indeed, in spite of 

 attempts at conservation, thousands were illegally 

 slaughtered in the Lake of the Woods. In 1880, huge 

 sturgeon 3 often came into San Francisco markets; 

 since 1891 I have not noticed a single individual there. 

 At Port Arthur I saw one, lately caught. But the 

 dealer said: "This is the only one we have taken this 



1 Acipenser rubicundus. 



2 Prepared sturgeon roe. 



* Acipenser transmontanus. 



n 263 3 



