Apbil 28, 1881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



247 



paper reporter of our acquaintance made his way into the 

 smoke-filled building. The windows and doors were blown 

 out, fragments of desks, chairs and other furniture littered 

 the room, wall partitions had been demolished, and scattered 

 about were the. d-f sj?<:-ta iiiernbr,i of an iron safe. 



•' What caused the explosion?" inquired our frieud of one 

 of the firm, the venerable presiding deity of the place. 



" Explosion, sir !" was the reply; "there has been no ex- 

 plosion here." 



That man had missed I is destiny. He came into the 

 world too late. The cans of "Ditfmar Sporting " were so 

 many ignoble snuffers of his genius. On the field of battle, 

 his troops slain and the remnant iuretrea', amid the carnage 

 and disaster of the day, he would have achieved magnificent 

 victory by a sublime and resplendently brazen negation of 

 defeat. 



But let us tell the stoiy. Mr. Dittmar says that the dis- 

 aster at Binghamion last Thursday was caused by the spon- 

 taneous combustion of nitro-sugar. Now it will be remem- 

 bered that nitro-sugar entered in.o the composition of 'he so- 

 catled "sporting powder," and such particulars as we could 

 gather of the Park Place explosion, seemed to us to point to a 

 like spontaneous combustion of the "sporting powder" stored 

 in the safe. We accordingly examined the depositions of the 

 Ditliuars regarding the affair, and found that here, too, the ex- 

 plosion was caused not by Dittmar powder, but, by Mcwk rifle 

 pt.wdir .' The story us told to the officials (men being brought 

 up to swear to it in due time) was briefly this : One Robert 

 J. Howe, of Bayehester, N. Y., on the morning of June 30 

 brought into the office of the Dittmar Company a. keg of 

 black rifle powder " containing nine or ten pounds," where he 

 wanted to leave it until the afternoon, when another man, 

 one Martin Sneider, was to come, in from Rosedale, N. Y., 

 whom Howe was to meet at a hotel and to whom he was to 

 deliver the powder. An employee of the company took from 

 the can, lo carry home, a portion of this powder brought into 

 town for another man ; then he swears he put the can " in 

 an iron safe and closed the safe doorsnearly shut" and left the 

 office, and shortly afterward returned to find a pile of papers 

 on top of the safe on fire. "The burning papers fell off from 

 the top of the safe between the door, which was partly open, 

 and the- inside of the safe, which contained the powder. 

 When the fire had been burning abou' two minutes the keg 

 of powder exploded." "This was the first time that Mr. 

 Howe ever brought any powder in[to] said afore." The out- 

 line of this account w T as sworn to by Andrew J. Parker, one 

 of the firm, July 2. The porter, who put the powder into 

 the safe, was produced to swear to that fact July 7, and the 

 man Howe duly furnished his corroboration July 9. 



"And did you accept this tale ?" we asked the officials. 



" Well," was the reply, " it was sworn to, and we had to 

 accept it." 



There is still another story of the Dittmar explosion at 

 Neponset, Mass., some years ago, when a workman who had 

 made a headlong aerial'flight over the landscape was after- 

 ward shown not to have been fired out by the explosion, but 

 to have been a flying-machine monomaniac projected into 

 space by his own fatal invention. The explosion of Dittmar 

 powder" at the time was simply a coincidence. 



When the Greek play writers had put their hero into 

 seemingly inextricable positions of danger, it was their prac- 

 tice to introduce a god upon the stage, to help him out. It 

 was the duty of one of the stage assistants at the appointed 

 time to wheel on the deity. As such a deity-manipulator 

 Carl Dittmar, had he lived two thousand years ago, would 

 have achieved immortality. 



I 



A CALL TO REFORM. 



WISH to call the attention of the sportsmen of the 

 _._ country to the following lamentable state of affairs, and 

 to earnestly inquire of them how long they propose to allow 

 the dealers in game to dictate to our legislative bodies what 

 laws shall or shall not be passed for the protection of our 

 fish and game. Why, right here in the good old Common- 

 wealth of Massachusetts— and the blush of shame mantles 

 my cheek as I write— it is utterly impossible to obtain the 

 slightest concession from the cliq'ue who have organized for 

 the purpose and by some means manage to control the votes 

 of a majority of our very " Honorable General Court" 

 when the subject of game protection is before the House. So 

 powerful an influence does this clique wield that not a word 

 or syllable that is inimical to their interest can be incorpo- 

 rated into any act or resolve. In vain do our most enlight- 

 ened sportsmen, year after year-, strive to obtain the legisla- 

 tion so much needed to restrict the selling of game to its 

 proper season. In vain are their earnest efforts to put a 

 stop to the nefarious traffic. They are defeated at every 

 turn, and the ruthless destroyers— for they alone are the 

 guilty ones— of millions of our choicest game birds not only 

 smile at our distress, but flaunt in our faces from every 

 huckster's stall the bloodv corses of their victims. Again I 

 ask how long shall this thing be? How long will the sports- 

 men of America submit to the wanton destruction of the 

 noble game they profess to love so well ? How long will 

 they supinely fold their hands and allow these traders in the 

 blood of our "slaughtered innocents" to dictate times and 

 seasons for their unholy traffic, regardless alike of the threat- 

 ened extiuc ion of our game, the wishes of our resident 

 sportsmen and the solemn protests of those of the Western 

 Slates, upon whom the evil results must chiefly fall ? I am 

 in almost daily receipt of letters from the West ur- 

 gently calling upon us to put our shoulders to the 

 wheel and to move heaven and earth to secure the 

 passage of laws that will prevent the sale of game 

 out of season, for, as an old frieud from Iowa writes, 

 " so long as you of the East legalize the sale of dead bodies, 

 just so long will there be found unprincipled marauders to 

 rob the grave-yards, if need be, to supply the demand." I 

 am exceedingly pained to say that the old Bay State is not 

 alone in perpetrating this great wrong upon her sister States 

 of the West. Therefore the greater need that her example — 

 as oftentimes of yore— should lead alight, and I sincerely 

 trust that the day is not far distant that shall see our sports- 

 men awake from their criminal apathy, and, united as one 

 man, arise and sweep from our statute books these objection- 

 able laws and place in their stead protective enactments that 

 shall secure to our children's cliildren the inestimable privi- 

 lege of enjoying the healthful, ennobling sports of the field. 

 I do not propose to enter into an elaborate argument upon 

 this subject. In fact, argument is entirely out of place, for 

 the only question at issue is : Shall we tamely submit to the 

 dictum of these cormorants and allow their desecrating 

 hands to utterly destroy the last vestige of our once bountiful 

 supply of game in order that a few paltry dimes may be 

 clutched within their tly hands. God forbid that argu- 



uieut should be needed here. Brother sportsmen, the solemn 



responsibility of this great wrong rest* upon you. Ponder 



11 these words of warning !ind"awake from your lethargy 



', it is too late to save our beautiful forests from utter deso 



lation ami our broad fields from becoming a desert waste. 



Springfield, Mass. Shadow. 



A HUNT IK WEST VIRGINIA. 



AS very few sportsmen do ever come wnhere to hunt 

 anything except deer and wild turkeys I have an idea 

 that they" think we have no partridges: but if so they are 

 mistaken. On Wednesday of last week four of us made up 

 our minds to go up the country about eighteen miles and stay 

 a day or two for the shooting, not that we have not plenty of 

 birds around here, but as we knew this grouud pretty well, 

 we wanted a change. So we started one morning about three 

 hours later than we had agreed upon I had iiy colt, Nat. 

 had his horse and Tip and Jim got the wagon, or at least 

 what was a wagon once, for it is now in its dotage Then 

 we had to take some dogs, and, as each man thought bis 

 dog or dogs were the best, we had to take them all, namely, 

 Rover and Don, belonging to Tip ; Dash and Bruuo, belong- 

 ing to Nat, .ind Grand Duke (who, by the way, has been 

 mentioned in your columns before this), who belongs to 

 the writer. After we had traveled safely for three miles the 

 wagon broke down, which did not surprise me in I he least ; 

 but as I was driving, of course the others said it was my 

 fault, so I let. Nat take the reins, but something else break- 

 ing in a very short time, he also resigned his responsible po- 

 sition and took a back seat. At last we arrived at friend 

 Dick's, where we received a hearty welcome in true Virginia 

 style. After talking hunt a good deal and helpiug a pretty 

 girl to knit, the hum of the spinning wheels made me feel 

 sleepy, so we all turned in, with the expectation of having s 

 good day's hunt on the morrow. Bui, as the old darkey 

 says, " Blessed am they who 'spects little ; 'cause why — they 

 ain't gwine to be disapp'inted." 



When w r e opened our eyes after a sound sleep it. was pour- 

 ing, and we lelt like using some of Bret Harte's favorite ex- 

 pressions, but as we were supposed to be very good young 

 men we refrained from giving ourselves away, especially as 

 our friend who had taught us knitting the night before was 

 withiu earshot. After eating anremendous breakfast out of 

 spite for the bad weather, we strolled to the barn to see after the 

 horses. But the w T eathersoou drove us into the house, for the 

 rain was coming down as if the prayer of the countryman 

 had been answered who prayed: "Oh, Lord! take the stop- 

 per out of the bottle of the universe and pour down Thy 

 blessings upon our heads. Amen." 



Now we will draw a curtain over the proceedings of that 

 day knowing you will not, miss much. But the next morn- 

 ing being clear and beautiful, with a soft, blue haze lying on 

 the distant mountains, and a crispness in the air which made 

 one feel like a gal lop over the fields, and our spirits having 

 gone up in proportion, we started, after a great deal of time 

 being lost in fixing our traps, which, by the way, should have 

 been done the day before. 



In front of us lay field after field, stretching away to the 

 hills, and beyond these the high mountains of the Alleghany 

 range towered up toward heaven losing themselves in the 

 blue sky, as if God had opened the gates of heaven to let 

 them enter. On we went drinking in the beauties of the 

 scene till at last the dogs came to a stand, and then all other 

 thoughts gave way to the excitement of the moment. After 

 gettiug sixty birds our ammunition gave out, and we were 

 forced to return home starting up covey after covey on the 

 way. When we arrived at the house we found every- 

 thing just as it was when we left. The pretty girl was 

 still" knitting, her mother spinning and the fire blaz- 

 ing brightly. It certainty was a picture that will live 

 in my memory for some time to come. After supper 

 one of the neighbors came in to know if we would 

 like to go coon hunting, and as usual we entered into the thing 

 with all our hearts. So we got some hounds belonging to 

 our host and went out into the blackest night 1 ever saw, 

 trusting to luck to find the right way ,- but, as we ran into 

 first one fence and then another, we soon found it was "no 

 go," and sent a boy back for some rich pine wood to be used 

 as torches. After a little while we got a possum, but, as no 

 coons were around, we w^ere about to turn hack, when the 

 hounds suddenly started up a fox, and then we were all ex- 

 citement. We ran and ran, but the dogs were much too 

 quick for us, and as we were on the top of a mountain we 

 built a roaring fire, knowing full well that the fox would 

 double and come, back very near, which was the case, as it 

 passed not fifty yards from us ; tut the hounds were tired, 

 so we sent off post haste two miles for more dogs, and while 

 we were waiting for them I looked around me. The scene 

 was truly grand; for, as Bret Harte says, "the roaring 

 camp-fire, with rude humor, painted the ruddy tints of 

 health" on all the hunters' faces who were gathered around, 

 making a tableau few would care to miss seeing, while an old 

 sportsman was telling a wonderful story of an adventure he 

 bad had in his youth. " But as he spoke, from clustering pine 

 and cedar a silence seemed to fall, and the fir-trees, gathering 

 closer in the shadows, listened in every spray," while I stood 

 as if it were all a dream, watching the torch of the man who 

 went after the dogs appearing and disappearing in the dis- 

 tance like a Will-o'-the-Wisp. It certainly was like fairyland. 

 The fire crackled, the blaze went up high above us, casting a 

 weird light on the trees, while they in their turn cast queer 

 looking shadows which lost themselves in gtooni. The bay- 

 ing of the hounds grew fainter and fainter in the distance, 

 till they died away altogether, only to begin again, corn- 

 coming nearer and nearer every instant, till, by the time they 

 reached us, the other dogs had arrived, so we put them on 

 the trail and soon had the fox cornered. The dogs stopped 

 baying and we rushed to the rescue There was another 

 scene fit for any artist. The fox had run down a ledge 

 of rocks till it could go no further, then suddenly 

 turned back, as if to retrace its steps, but finding us 

 too near for any chance of escape in that direction, he paused 

 a moment as if weighing his chances of life, and without a 

 moment's warning leaped into what appeared to us infinite 

 space. We stood on the rocks holding our torches above 

 our heads and peering down into the black darkness beneath 

 us, and yet while we" gazed, uncertain what to do, the voice 

 of a dog arose in one sharp bark from the depths below. We 

 held our breath to listen, " while a silence seenred to fall," 

 but it did not last long, for iu a moment the noise of a 

 struggle among the leaves came up to us. A bark, a groan, 

 and then all was still as death. While our torches flickered 

 and glared in the darkness, throwing au unsteady light on 

 the surprised faces of our party, there we stood looking at 

 each other as if the earth had opened and swallowed up our 



fox, till one of our old hunters brought, us back to our senses 

 by saying, " Well, boys, we may as well try and get down in 

 that ere hole or we will stand a good chauce of going home 

 minus a fox." So after a great deal of trouble we reached 

 what seemed to me at the time to be a bottomless pit, but 

 what turned out to be a kind of bear's den ; not that there 

 were any bears in it ? oh, no, but there on one aide lay a 

 tumbled mass of fur which might have been taken for one. 

 It was the dog and fox all in a heap, the former holding on 

 to the throat of his enemy. We soon got him off, and while 

 one of the party shouldered the fox we tried to find an easy 

 way out. But'it was "no go," so we scrambled up the best 

 way we could and went, home pretty well tired out. The 

 next day it was raining very hard when we started for Berke- 

 ley, and we felt like again quoting from the countryman 

 who prayed, after it had rained more than was needed, " Oh, 

 Lord ! When we asked you to take the Hopper out of the 

 bottle of the universe we did not mean for you to lose it. 

 Amen." But in spile of the loss of the stopper we reached 

 home in safety, and then began the fun of relating our ad- 

 ventures, without any regard for the size of the stories. 



'fy Springs, W. Va- Viotoe. 



METHODS OF TRAPPING BEAVER. 



IN the fall of 1866, with one companion of congenial 

 taste, I took passage on the steamer Wabuno (since 

 foundered, as stated in the Fokest and Stbeam,) lo the out- 

 let of tlie Seguin River, thence by csnoea to the numerous 

 lakes and tributaries on the headwaters of that then un- 

 known stream. Supplied with six months' provisions and the 

 uecossary camp equipage of hunters and trappers, we 

 pitched our tent. This was made of poles arranged inthe form 

 of a rail fence, corner- thatched with hemlock boughB, a tem- 

 porary protection for provisions and utensils. The location 

 selected was between waters of the Seguin aud Magvetawan 

 Rivers. 



We began operations by building a log cabin, dimensions 

 about twelve feet square, roofed with troughs of hollow 

 cedars, choosing trees six to eight inches in diameter. After 

 cutting and splitting in lengths sufficient to reach across the 

 roof we laid one cover with hollows up and the next with 

 hollows lapping over the edges of first cover, thereby forming 

 a roof which never leaked, and strong enough to bear any 

 fall of snow with safety. We were now ready to commence 

 our business of trapping ; to illustrate some of the means 

 lesorted to will be my aim in this article. The beavers there 

 were not of the domesticated kind ; but the bank and house 

 beavers which at that time were quite plentiful on the north 

 shore, and there is no record of their cultivating the ac- 

 quaintance of civilized people that I am aware of. If any 

 readers of the Fokest ash Stkkam should attempt to make 

 a practical application of hints offered here, it is ray sincere 

 hope that the results may be more satisfactory than some 

 tests I have made of so-called hints of trappers, who claim 

 to make trapping easy to all. For trappers earn their bread, 

 aud perseverance is absolutely necessary to their suxess, as 

 any man experienced iu the business will testify. 



Descriptions of beavers' dams and conical two-story houses, 

 built in tlie shallow water near the head of the ponds, have 

 been often given and are familiar. After finding fresh, cut- 

 tings of timber near the dams, showing the presence of 

 beaver, begin operations by cutting a channel through the 

 dam one foot wide and the same in depth; take two sticks 

 about two feet long and the size of the finger, and sharpened 

 at both ends ; plant them firmly in the trench, inclining up 

 stream, the points about six inches apart and just below the 

 surface. Set the trap opposite one point and one foot fur. 

 ther up stream, six inches under water. If too deep, fill 

 with stones to the required depth. The beaver, when visit- 

 ing the break to repair it, will first attempt to swim through 

 the channel, and, swimming against the sharp points, will 

 involuntarily throw out all fours to stop further progress, 

 and will be caught by the hind foot, which is directly over 

 the trap. 



Another method is to set Ihe trap in the trails leading to 

 fresh cuttings on the banks, or find wffiere a t$3e is partly 

 cut, setting the trap near the stump, as the beaver will 

 usually finish his work the succeeding night. The trap 

 should be set on the outside of the trail, as the feet of the 

 beaver will be placed there in traveling, making two rows of 

 l racks several inches apart. Do not. use a green stick for a 

 stake, as beaver will make short work of it, and you will 

 thereby lose both game aud trap. Use seasoned hemlock or 

 tamarack, which will not be cut, or tie firmly to a stone with 

 the inner bark of bass wood. 



Beavers cut their winter wood late in the fall, first felling 

 small trees, usually of birch, and cutting in lengths from 

 twenty to thirty inches, which wood is placed evenly on the 

 bottom near the houses and furnishes food after the ice shuts 

 thrm from the banks, and is carried into the houses, stripped 

 of the bark aud carried outside, where it is strewed around 

 promiscuously, where it may be seen in the spring, or by 

 cutting through the ice in winter. 



After this food has become water-soaked and stale you 

 may begin winter trapping. First ascertain if the houses" are 

 occupied, by looking down the chimney, as it is termed by 

 trapp rs, which is the opening left iu the top of the house 

 for ventilation, and is thickly interlaced with twigs. The 

 breath and warmth of the inmates keep it open through the 

 snow, and it is covered in unoccupied houses. Approach 

 carefully, and when satisfied that the family is a 1 home you 

 may stamp against the walls with your snowshoes, and by 

 listening at the chimney as the frightened beavers lake to 

 the water you may count the number ; then you w T ill after- 

 ward know when all are captured. The beaver will then 

 take refuge in other houses, of which there are usually sev- 

 eral in each dam. In traveling to aud from tiie house under 

 the ice there will be a hollow space formed, which you may 

 locate by pounding on the surface until it gives back a hol- 

 low sound. Cut a hole near this channel, and take three 

 poles, one dry and two fresh, green birches, one inch iu 

 diameter ; plant them firmly in the bottom in a triangular 

 form, and one foot apart, projecting through the ice. Set 

 your trap, placing the ring on the dry pole ; lower the trap 

 with hooked poles, allowing the ring to slide down with the 

 trap to the bottom, placing the trap between the green poles. 

 The beaver, when finding the fresh wood, will first cut l hem 

 near the ice, and, finding them fast at the bottom, will at- 

 tempt cutting there, which will end in his being caught, if 

 the directions have been properly followed. I have caught 

 beavers by this method in eight feet of water. 



Still another method is by cutting into the channel near 

 the house after driving the beavers out, and following them 

 from house to house, making it impossible for them to return. 

 Watch the openings in the swift water above until driven 



