22 NORTHERN LAKES- 



breadth. Its waters are as clear as crystal, very deep and con- 

 tain besides the usual bass, pike, pickerel, perch and muskalonge, 

 the far famed white-fish, a species seldom found outside the 

 Great Lakes. The great northern pike, an entirely different 

 fish from the so-called pike of southern waters which is in reality a 

 pickerel, abound here in great profusion. It is one of the gamiest 

 of fish and is also extremely palatable. It is certainly the fault of 

 the sportsman himself if in this, the "Land of Lakes" — great 

 schools of fish and myriads of game, large and small— he fails to 

 " bag " all his selfish heart may desire. It is not the fault of the fish 

 if the amateur sits upon an inviting log holding his expensive rod 

 and fancy tackle temptingly all the livelong day, or trolls his fan- 

 tastic "spoons " for hours at a time without a bite. It is his fault 

 alone. He should know his business; or pleasure if so it be. Per- 

 haps an old fisherman not a dozen rods away has been kept busy all 

 the while hauling in the finny game and rebaiting a penny hook 

 with the leg of a homely frog. 



In gunning for large as well as small game if the amateur knows 

 not the habits of the denizens of the forest, he is sure to buy the 

 game he ships home. A party of three trappers winter before last 

 durmg a four weeks' sojourn at Long Lake took nine bear, seven- 

 teen deer, eighty-seven musk-rats, three wild-cats, seven wolves and 

 two beavers. 



West of the main line to Ashland and Bayfield there is a vast 

 section of country almost uninhabited and covered by innumerable 

 small lakes. Indeed, it is almost impossible to travel through it and 

 be for a moment out of sight of a lake. From this fountain-head , 

 where cold springs burst forth begetting rivulets and babbling 

 brooks that wind and turn a thousand times ere they reach the 

 broader stream, the famous St. Croix has its source. Beyond to the 

 north, just over the ridge, are the " head waters " of the Brule. 

 The "Omaha" railroad intersects the very heart of this delight- 

 ful region at White Birch and Gordon on the Superior division. 

 Gordon, in the days before railroads, was a station on the Gov- 

 ernment trail leading from St Paul to Bayfield. Just north 

 of Gordon there are a series of small lakes which have already be- 

 come popular. Upper Lake St. Croix is only a short distance from 

 White Birch station. It is still a wilderness of forest and water, a 

 particularly agreeable place for the handler of gun and rod. 



