Hunting and fishing 



ON THE 



COTTON BELT ROUTE. 



The Cotton Belt Route opens up this country, and 

 makes what was formerly an impossible journey to the 

 average man, a trifling matter of ten or twelve hours in a 

 luxurious Pullman! 



Leaving St. Louis 7:55 a. m., the first hunting points 

 of any importance are Ardeola and Idalia, 166 and 177 

 miles from St. Louis, respectively. Here, within a few 

 miles of the stations, deer and turkey are plentiful— not 

 to mention the smaller game, which, in this region, is 

 almost left to the small boy with his irrepressible muzzle- 

 loader. 



Guides and teams, at a cost of from $2.00 to $3.00 per 

 day for man and team, can be secured on application to 

 the railroad agent. 



Dexter, the next point, 185 miles from St. Louis, is 

 situated in the midst of a beautiful track of prairie land, 

 dotted here and there with islands of trees of from one to 

 fifteen acres in extent. Here is the paradise of the quail 

 and chicken hunter. Two miles in any direction from the 

 station will start covey after covey, while at a distance of 

 ten miles deer can be secured. 



No guides are necessary, and teams and dogs can be 

 procured in the town, which also provides good hotel ac- 

 commodation at $1.50 per day. 



Maiden, Mo., 202 miles from St. Louis, and 58 miles 

 from Cairo, is the next point, thirty miles south from 

 which, in the vicinity of Big Lake, the ideal of the sports- 

 man is found. No clearing attests the domicile of man; 

 the settler's axe is as yet unheard. The silence of the 

 night is broken only by the solemn hooting of the owl or 

 the blood-curdling screech of the panther. Bears hide in 

 the thicket, and the graceful deer leap the fallen trees in 



