26 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Fkbetjaet 10, 1881. 



o-wner of this retreat, and it was almosl h 1th tears that he re- 

 lated how he was compelled to part with this property, but 

 money was at the bottom of it. Debts bo could not uaoefc 

 forced the separation of him from the home he had cherished 

 and reclaimed from the wilderness nearly a quarter of a cen- 

 tury ago. He said lie regretted i( as much on account of his 

 patrons as himself. lie had entertained many genial guests 

 and should be sorry not to meet them here again, and he yet 

 hopes in finding pastures now, where he" can "tend his 

 flocks." Fortune grant he may ! lie is one of the noblest of 

 God's noblemen I ever met. 



I have nearly finished my say, but ere I close I must give 

 a parting shot to my esteemed critic "Manhattan," who so 

 relentlessly pursues 'me with his quill reiterating. his asser- 

 tions that there is no salmon fishing worth the while in 

 these parts. I have not been unmindful of his shafts in the 

 Forest and Stream. I have carefully noted with what 

 grim satisfaction he alluded to the fact of the utter disap- 

 pointment of all the salmon anglers in these parts this year, 

 and wrote of our " lucky catch " of three years ago as being 

 unusual. I'thorefore took much pains to inquire all along 

 my route as to last year's catches, and especially did 1 inter- 

 rogate Mr. Frascr, who informed me that in the last twenty 

 years there had never been a single year that salmon had not 

 been taken here in considerable quantities before June 20 

 with a fly. La=t season he informed me that, several hundred 

 salmon were taken from his pool with a fly, and the non-ad- 

 vent of salmon this year in that locality 'surpassed his wis- 

 dom; he could not understand it. That salmon have been 

 very scarce this year is wholly true, and it is true of all Can- 

 ada, andnot of the Resfigouehe alone. I have full and abiding 

 faithinfirstelasssalmon fishing yet in the Provinces. Mowhere 

 are streams better adapted, nowhere better spawning grounds. 

 Then why not? The salmon are not, yet lleeing the ocean. 

 It is undoubtedly true that salmon are not so plenty as for- 

 merly, and there are many reasons why it is so. The demand 

 is greater, prices are higher and inducements to their capture 

 keep pace with that, demand, and hence follows netting, dip- 

 ping and increase of fly fishing, but the supply is not, yet se- 

 riously impaired. Should, however, the Canadian government 

 withdraw its protection from the s renins and suffer an at- 

 tempt at their destruction then no one can say how long we 

 shall enjoy that rarest of all fishing. The success or non- 

 success of this year, however, is no test, and the very fact, 

 that scientific men like Prof Baird and Hind have given it 

 especial attention through your paper proves my argument 

 that there must have been good fishing heretofore or this year 

 especially would not be the subject of commentary. 



But enough. Our party remained at Metapedia only two 

 hours ; visited the pool, and saw a half dozen canoes anchor- 

 ed in her waters with as many anxious anglers deftly turning 

 their flies in vain for Balmon. Not a rise got they, and we 

 hade them adieu and once more we boarded the'train and 

 turned our faces homeward via Quebec (302 miles). 

 About 2:30 we reached Trois Pistoles where we got a good 

 dinner for fifty cents, and resuming ou ' 

 bee saf ely about i) p. m. Stopping at 

 over night, we continued our route the 

 About midnight we reached Kichmon 

 affords an opportunity for a lunch, a 

 cars. About 4 a. m. we reached Short 

 changed oars after an hour's delay, 

 journey. We purchased our ticket 



ley reached Que- 

 tne -'St. Louis" Hotel 

 : ex! evening si 8-30 



nd where we changed 

 irooke where we again 

 and contined then our 

 via White Mountains, 



and at, 3:30 i\ M., June 16 we tied up at the " Kearsarge 



House" North Conway, having experienced a delightful ride 

 through the "notch." And here, patient, reader let us part, 

 after commending to your kindly consideration the following 

 table which I trust you will find of service should it fall to 

 your lot to go to the Provinces: 



E. & M. C. K. R. &M 



K. Si N. A. K. R. 206 



Sreiiiner 



Tin ereol. K, B .. 



aim 



11 43 



4S 



5 00 



IS 



1 15 



M 



3 45 



SB 



1 15 



Mil 



2 111) 



vt 



111 (HI 



a 



1 00 



4 



80 



t 



1 no 



'•'i 



T 15 



is; 



8 00 



;s 



1 ;,, 



• JS 00 



- i oo 



2 00 



7.1 



'is:'™ 



Quebec, to Bostoi 



Boston ami ret 



(round trip).... 



2 :-:, 



:> mi 

 2 OS 



1-80 



.1 00 



! SO 



5 ;;, 

 080 | BO on 



vm I sy oo 



1757 



Note. — The above table shows the distance we made on 

 the round trip to be 1,737 miles, and the entire fares from 

 Beiston and return to Boston, §44.45. 



We were absent on our trip twenty days, and our entire 

 expenses were under $100, which included railroad fares, hotel 

 bills, teams, etc., etc. ; in short, everything except tackle and 

 expenditures foreign to our trip. Our hotel bills averaged 

 about 11,50 per day. 



At, the " Duffcrin," St. Jolui, we paid $2. 50 per day ; at 

 the "Halifax House," $2 per day: at Chester, $1.25: at 

 Newcastle, SI. 5(1; Compbelllon,.f 1.25. Long trip tickets av- 

 erage about two cents per mile, while local rates are over 

 three cents. A single word about hunting. In N. S. and N. 

 B. game of all kinds is very abundant in their seasons. 

 Moose and caribou are said to be very plenty ; deer not quite 

 so much ; of smaller game, birds, partridges, ducks, quails, 

 snipe, etc., are quite common. As to the place to go for 

 game I was told "you can hardly go amiss." This is es- 

 pecially true 1 think between Annapolis and Yarmouth 

 in N. S., and anywhere back from the settlements in 

 New Brunswick If one goes for game, he will find Sep- 

 tember and October the best time to go, and one of the best 

 implements to take along is a Parker shot-gun and a " Shel- 

 lon Auxiliary Rifle." Then you arc prepared for all kinds 

 of game. 1 am using both, and I find my "Sheltbn " a great, 

 desideratum in the woods. It is a powerful and accurate 

 shooter and worthy of the indorsement of every sportsman. 

 I had a tight-fitting enameled leather case made for mine. 

 and when not in use I keep it suspended from my left hip, 

 and never have suffered any inconvenience from its presence. 



In hunting one needs a dog. especially for birds U 



tame to fly, and you will likely pass lin-ni if von do not have 



dOg'S nose to point 'em out If yOU have 'a gopd flog von 

 ought to take him, as bird-shootimr not bping made so much 

 of here, good dogs are not over plenty. For moose and carl- 

 bou shooting you will find dogs in plenty if you strike the 

 right locality, while our own dogs would be of little Fexvi'ce. 



(At the risk of laying my article open to the charge against 

 a woman's letter— thai" the "nub " of it always lies in the 

 postscript, I shall venture a few r words more). 



In regard to the mode of getting to Nova Scotia or Now 

 Brunswick, there arc several pleasant routes and many plea- 

 sant places to be done en route without, going much out of 

 the way. 



Prom New York one can take a steamer to Halifax, Boston 

 or Portland. 



From Boston one may go to Portland. Bangor. St. John, 

 Yarmouth or Halifax by steamer if they prefer it to all Mil, 

 or you may divide between railroad and steamer. 



From Portland you may take a steamer to Mount Desert, 

 thence to Machiasport by steamer, thence to Eastport by 

 stage about thirty miles, and there connect with Interna- 

 tional line of steamers for St. John. En route from Hangor 

 to St. John are the Schoodlc Lakes, of which Grand Lake 

 is the centre, famous for laud-locked salmon and trout. They 

 may be reached by cars from McAdam Junction (on E. and 

 N. A. R. R.), N. B. and C. R. R. to Pdnceton, or by Steam- 

 ers and stage from Eastport or St. John : distance. McAdam 

 Junction to St. Stephen, thirty-five miles. Thence via Calais 

 to Princeton, twenty miles. From St. John City one may 

 take a steamer up the river St. John, and at points along the 

 route make excursions through the wilderness to the, head 

 Waters of the Miramichi or Nepisiquit. 



From St. Johns City you may go byrail to Poinl, du Chene 

 (Gulf of St. (Jawrence) one hundred and thirteen miles, and 



1 here connect with Gulf Port stenuiships and take a steamer 

 direct to Quebec, stopping r». rmste at Chatham (for Mirami- 

 chi), Batbnrst (for Nepisiquit) or Gaspe. You may also from 

 Point du Chene reach Prince Edwards Island, Pictou and 

 Cape Breton by steamers. From Halifax you may lake a 

 coasting steamer along the south shore of Nova Scotia to 

 Yarmouth, making stoppages en route. 



In brief, to the variety of routes in this interesting country 

 there is no end. But I must conclude this weighty "note" 

 with the observation that although both Nova Scotia and 

 New Brunswick lack the enterprise and thrift of the States, 

 still the country is interesting and the people social and hos- 

 pitable. You will meet with features foreign to those in 

 your own country, and especially is this true of the eastern 

 portion of Nova Scotia, as you travel toward bleak, barren 

 and sturdy Great Breton, where in midsummer your over- 

 coat will not come amiss. Your expenses will be compara- 

 tively light, and its cool and invigorating a'mosphere will 

 give you a renewal of health and strength which will linger 

 *' y climes. Y'otu contact 

 Blue-Noses" will make 

 •ry pleasant associations 

 .ill privations and abide 

 g ever brighter with dc- 

 Gkoroe A. Fay. 



with you upon your return to suit 



with the honest 

 you abetter 

 away with yi 

 ever green iu 

 dining years. 



West'Meriden, Conn. 



id God-fearit ^ 

 , and you will "a 

 'hich will outlast 



ir memory, growii 



,t .....j ,muu,, ...,v. i,i„,,iuivu 1*1IIA JVIH^V. IU *_»V.J [..tit I UC1 I. HUG 



Shaking palsy and tetanus had both their clutch upon him. 

 k liberal hydropathic treatment, however, and "Richard is 



GROUSE SHOOTING ON THE REDWOOD. 



AN unpromising day for hunting, eh ?" Any one hut 



XA_ a sportsman would have thought so that "morning, 

 wheu my friend Mr. B. and 1, having resigned our dogs to 

 the tender mercies of the bagsrage-master, boarded the ears 

 at St. Paul mrouU for Hedwoocf Falls. 



It was hot, speaking mildly. It was also August 17, and 

 the law on Cujn'ilunia cupido had already been off two long 

 days, and a day more must elapse before" we could back our 

 dogs with "Steady" and "Hie on," and hear the whirr of 

 wings and the report of our tried breech-loaders. Hardly had 

 an hour passed, and our minds fettled to the contents of our 

 favorite novel, when word cume that my Don was mad. 

 Hastening to the baggage-car the spectacle was not encour- 

 aging. The dog was nearly choked to death with dragging 

 at his chain, and trembled and jerked in every part as if the 

 slinking j ' 

 A liberal ' 

 himself a<_ 



Before noon we arrived at Kasota Junction, with the plea- 

 sant knowledge that five long weary hours must he worn 

 away somehow, somewhere between the depot and two or 

 three shanties wdiich, if I remember rightly, comprised the 

 entire "village." 



We were fortunate enough to fall in with a well-known 

 dog trainer who was out exercising two puppies, and as Mr. 

 B. had lately purchased "Captaiu~Jack" of this individual, 

 we felt quite content to hear his stories. He. was, however, 

 cruel to our hopes, for having digs perhaps to train in that 

 part of the country, he advised us to abandon Redwood Falls 

 as a failure, no chickens there, ami "go West." 



This we kindly but firmly refused to do, and four o'clock 

 saw us off again. A mile or so out from the. Junction stands 

 St. Peter's Insane Asylum, a noble stone structure surround- 

 ed by extensive grounds, which so lately, with many of its 

 unfortunate inmates, was destroyed by fi r e. Whirling on to 

 Sleepy Eye we changed cars, and I believe, for ihe first time. 

 in the day, really began to enjoy ourselves. Broad prairies 

 extended on either hand, bounded only it seemed by the 

 horizon. 



As it grew dusky, sitting by the open door of the baggage 

 car, we could see the fire-flies flashing in the tall prairie 

 grass. Now and then a solitary grouse would whirr away, 

 or a covey would rise only to settle a little farther on. In 

 the sloughs along track we could see teal and other ducks 

 swimming and diving, busy with their evening meal, while 

 cranes, herons and hawks squawked and lunged or sailed 

 lazily away from the noisy tram that had broken upon their 

 meditations with its puff and clatter. 



At eight o'clock, "pitch dark," our trip of one hundred 

 and thirty miles was ended, and we were shaking hands with 

 our old friend O'Hara, the druggist. 



Very soon we were quartered at the "Exchange," unpack- 

 ing our traps, and having left all arrangements for the. next 

 day with our friend, we speedily consigned ourselves to the 

 watchful care of the drowsy god. Alas! what a night. A 

 description of its terrors would be to write another '" Infer- 

 no." And well might they have said of us next morning, as 

 they said of Dante (I omit the quotation.) 



Off bright, and early next day, we soon discovered that, we 

 were in the right plaee, but, alas! was ever one so fortunate 

 as not to bo unfortunate'? Birds were plenty, ammunition 

 plenty, strong arms and good guns, but the weather was in- 



sufferably hot, Don too fat, Leo weak — just over the mange : 

 and there we were. However, by hook and crook, getting 

 up our own birds when our dogswere too petered to get, 

 them up for us, and by wide ranging ourselves we carried 

 back a bag which, with the best of dogs and everything 

 favorable, could not but be considered good. 



The next forenoon was spent in visiting the dales of the Red- 

 wood, the falls from which this enterprising little town takes 

 its name, and rowing up the river to the mineral spiing whose 

 ferruginous waters, cooland sparkliug, rnayhave "millions in 

 it " for the right party. 



In the afternoon another friend in the land office took charge 

 of us, and assuring us that he could get a dog wrrth having 

 we left our own behind. After driving some twelve miles 

 we found the dog. It was on tlrs afternoon that we took 

 our first, look at a jack rabbit. It was then that our ears were 

 filled with wonderful stories of the monstrousleaps these rab- 

 bits were accustomed to make — sixty feet at a jump we were 

 told was nothing. 



Warner tried to stop the individual in question, hut after 

 emptying both barrels into the air the rabbit concluded that 

 Fred was rather excited and it was best for him to be mov- 

 ing. 



I am sorry to add— iu order to be truthful— that his leaps 

 although long would double up many times to reach sixty 

 feet- 

 Jack, the new dog, proved a succes?, on about three coveys, 

 then he began to range. Out of sight in a few minutes we 

 would come upon him a mile or two further ou just in the 

 act of getting up a fine lot of birds. Sometimes by much 

 running or urging our horses by "pounding them on the 

 back," as O'Hara expressed it, we would manage to get in a 

 shot or two before the game was off. With this sort of light 

 infantry charging again and again we brought, our bag up In- 

 to the fifties for the afternoon. As evening came on the su- 

 perheated air cooled almost suddenly, and as the clear, round 

 moon came slowly up over the prairie we could almost, im- 

 agine it November weather, and gratefully drawing our top- 

 coats about us we hastened homeward. 



There is one thing rather noticeable about the Redwood 

 County prairie", it is as smooth as a floor, and the carriage 

 wheels roll along as if on a trotting track. In the other coun- 

 ties of Minnesota iu which it has been my good fortune to 

 shoot one can find nothing of this kind. 



The next day took us across the Minnesota River into Ren- 

 ville County. Here, with "Sancho," another dog hired for 

 the occasion, with his master to take care of the team and 

 mark down birds, we had our first really good shooting. The 

 dog, although not, over well trained, was staunch, and thanks 

 to him we made the best bag of our trip. 



Ducks were plenty iu the sloughs ; cranes, too wary lo be 

 approached, were visible now and then, while hawks and her- 

 ons were without number. 



The Redwood and Minnesota rivers, I am told, afford ex- 

 cellent bass and pickerel fishing. Although I was obliged to 

 forego that sport the one large pickerel that I saw set my fin- 

 gers"itching for the rod. 



Off at three next morniug — cold, dark and disagreeable — a 

 fortunate connection of trains brought us to St. Paul at 

 eleven o'clock. 



Two days and a half shooting: score one hundred and 

 thirty pinnated grouse, .besides hawks and herons. 



I can say for the "Exchange," S. D. Sicklars, proprietor, 

 that it is a good house, well kept, and that everything is done 

 for the comfort and accommodation of sportsmen.' Terms 

 $2 00 a day. W. P. M, 



Boston. 



. ■»■ . 



DEER STALKING. 



rnO one who has enjoyed the pleasure of deerstalking there 

 J_ is ever, as the season approaches, a desire to renew the 

 sport. For the past two winters we have denied ourselves 

 the coveted pleasure, but a letter from a friend of bygone 



days warned us that the season was drawing to a cjos , 



that to fulfill legally our promise we must come at once. It, 

 was enough. We would go. 



A day's ride by rail of twenty or more miles by a semi- 

 weekly mail and passenger stage, that reminded one 

 more of a trip in the "heart of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains thau in the interior of the State of Pennsylvania, 

 brought us safely within one hour's walk of the house 

 of our friend, a sou of a once noted woodsman of 

 this section. And wdiile speaking of this we might as well 

 put on record the fact that within a few miles of here lives 

 the veteran hunter John Mclleiny, than whom no better 

 shot nor one better posted a.s to the. habits of every species 

 of game that is found in this part of the State ever hm, died 

 a rifle or trailed a d-er. A true sportsman before ever the 

 liw prohibited or exonerated the man who did it, he shot 

 every dog uf friend or foe that he found following a. deer on 

 the mountains, aud few cared to quarrel with John Me Henry 

 for so doing. A quiet, peaceful man ordinarily, he. was a 

 very torrent when aroused. Even yet you cannot find a na- 

 tive of these mountains who cannot tell you of his exploits, 

 and his reputation of having killed many more deer than any 

 man in this or adjoining counties is, I think, well supported 

 by facts. 



The walk from the stage to the house of our host was the 

 pleasantest part of the trip. It gave us an opportunity to 

 get the cramped feelings of travel worked off and to allow 

 us to feel as free as the country we were in, and fit us to en- 

 joy our supper. Every country, yes, every section n,i , 

 in its cuisine. We knew where we were going, but our an- 

 ticipation was more than realized; nnd again, we will write 

 that no plaee. away from its native land can its fruits lie fully 

 enjoyed. Never nectar tasted like that old Methcglin, nor 

 venison prepared by the best French artist like that done to 

 a turn on the huge open fire. The repast over wo discussed 

 the plans of the morrow and listened to the stories of the suc- 

 cesses, adventures and escaoes of the half dozen hunters and 



to-s 



^waimckmitui 

 et every drop of 

 ed the 'very fric- 



in, unappreciated by all men that i 

 run, themselves within shooting dista; 

 blood in their veins so hot that if the) 

 tion of circulation would set them on 



Deer had not been very plenty, though scarce a man who 

 had notat one time during the season seen one or more. 

 My coming had been put off so late that the prospect 

 s far from encouraging. Daylight found us up one of the 

 dnes about, one hundred and fifty yards from a well 

 known deer run, where we waited, waited, yes, five long 

 hours aud no deer. Then, as they would not come to us, we 

 thought to go to them, and after stalking the balance of the 

 day darkness found us a long way from home and not a tail 



