BROOK TROUT 



course all the way to Raquette Lake, a distance of 

 thirty miles, broken by three portages or "carries," 

 whose aggregate length is two and three-quarter miles. 

 Indeed there is a continuous water-course by way of 

 Raquette Lake, as will presently be shown, all the way 

 to the northernmost limit of the Adirondack region. 

 This "John Brown's Tract" is about twenty miles 

 square and contains 210,000 acres. As is well known, 

 it was once the seat of very considerable iron-works 

 which afterward failed in the fulfilment of a promise 

 of lucrative profit, and were abandoned. Arnold's 

 house is a relic of those ancient improvements. It is 

 one of the finest fishing and hunting grounds in the 

 whole section, though here, as elsewhere, the sportsman 

 must turn a little aside from the main thoroughfare if 

 he would find reward commensurate with his endeav- 

 ors. The adjacent country is hilly, though not strictly 

 mountainous; but there is an isolated peak called 

 " Bald Mountain," which is everywhere the most promi- 

 nent feature of the landscape. From its summit there 

 is a panorama of magnificent extent. Fourth Lake 

 with its green islands occupies the central position, 

 stretching away for six miles through an unbroken for- 

 est whose farthest limit is a blue mountain-range deli- 

 cately limned upon the horizon. There is a comfortable 

 house near the foot of the mountain where parties 

 proposing to ascend can find an abiding-place. 



From the west there are entrances to the Wilderness 

 via Lowville and Carthage, stations on the Black 



74 



