UNDER THE MAPLES 



The conspicuous roadside flowers for hundreds 

 of miles, in fact, all the way from Pennsylvania to 

 North Carolina, were the purple eupatorium, or 

 Joe-Pye-weed, and the ironweed — stately, hardy 

 growths, and very pleasing to look upon, the iron- 

 weed with its crimson purple, and the eupatorium 

 with its massive head of soft, pinkish purple. 



August the 22d we reached Cheat River in West 

 Virginia, a large, clear mountain trout-brook. 

 It crossed our path many times that day. Every 

 mountain we crossed showed us Cheat River on 

 the other side of it. It was flowing by a very 

 devious course northwest toward the Ohio. We 

 were working south and east. 



We made our camp that night on the grounds 

 of the Cheat Mountain Club, on the banks of the 

 river — an ideal spot. The people at the big club- 

 house gave us a hospitable welcome and added 

 much to our comfort. I found the forests and 

 streams of this part of West Virginia much like 

 those of the Catskills, only on a larger scale, and 

 the climate even colder. That night the mercury 

 dropped to thirty. On June the 24th they had 

 a frost that killed all their garden truck. The 

 paper outlines of big trout which covered the 

 walls in the main room of the clubhouse told the 

 story of the rare sport the club-members have there. 

 Evidently Cheat River deserves a better name. 



The mountains and valleys of the Virginias all 



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