70 THE SALMON FISEEK. 



The local anglers of the day, of whom John "W. Nich- 

 olson, Ed. Spurr, and Harry Yenning, of St. John, 

 were chief, often joined by Fred.- Curtis, of Boston, 

 used to prefer the Miramichi or the Nipissiguit as 

 being easier of access. Molson, of Montreal, Allan 

 Gilmour, of Ottawa, and half a dozen residents of 

 Quebec, used to go to the Moisic, or the Godbout, 

 and two or three other favorite tributaries of the St. 

 Lawrence. Andrew Clerk, of New York, and his 

 brother, the doctor, fished the Grand, and there was 

 a rod or two on the Caspapediac, both of them Bay 

 Chaleur streams. Quebec anglers also visited the 

 Jacques Cartier, a river which has since passed into 

 dissuetude, but is likely to become rehabilitated under 

 judicious handling. These inimitable wielders of the 

 two-handed wand were a rare lot ; but the commer- 

 cial world regarded them all as cranks whose com- 

 ing and going with their proclivities and pursuits* 

 were as inexplicable and mysterious as a shaman's. 

 My memory reverts to that halcyon period with a 

 bound as elastic as a fawn's. It was before the day 

 of hatching houses and leased streams. Then the 

 interior waters were virgin. The forests were un- 



