NEW YORK, THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 1877- 



TROUT FISHING. 



EV PANren COKKOLLY. 



Across the fields and through the dew 

 We briaklj trudge with cofl and basket ; 

 The morning sun, en:;v 



Makes even eel « n ■ LSI 



The woods before are Sari a 



With here ami there a golden alunmer, 

 And over many a wayside pool 

 The glancing beams make shade and shimmer. 



With lisping, low-voiced monotone. 



The brook Hoses by in curves and sallies, 

 And bears its rippling music down 



To daisied slopes and verdant valleys. 

 But now to wort with rod and line, 



And dainty flies on trusty leader. 

 We'll take the first auspicious sign, 



And cast beiow yon slanting oedar. 



A gleam, a splash 1 By George, he's fast : 



A lusty fellow ! And how he rushes, 

 Now here, now there, then swiftly past 



A band of fem and alder bushes ! 

 The whistling line spins merrily out ; 



He leaps and flings a sparkling torrent 

 Of crystals round, then wheels about 



And heads straight up the foamy current. 



Behind a bowlder now he darts, 



And now across to deep recesses 

 Beneath a branibly bank, then starts 



For sheltering beds of tangled cresses ; 

 But all in vain ; subdued at last, 



He yields and faintly gasps and flounders ; 

 1 Tis o'er, your sportive hour is past, 



O royal prince of plump two-pounders ! 



Again with feathery touch the flies 



Dance lightly over pool and shallow, 

 And darting through reflecting skies 



The wary trout retreat or follow. 

 A " eoachman " now their fancy takes. 



And now a " miller " or now a " hackle," 

 And many a plunging beauty breaks 



To try our skill and test our tackle. 



Still higher, higher mounts the sun, 



The morn hastes on and moon is nearing ; 

 New sounds come lightly borne upon 



The breeze that blows from copse and clearing ; 

 The low of klne, the jangling bell 



That tells where browsing herds are straying, 

 The quail's shrill pipe in lonely dell, 



The watch-dog's bark, the hound's loud baying. 



Still down the grassy marge we go, 



Now listening to the tall pine's moaning. 

 Now catching from a glade below 



A drowsy mill's perpetual droning; 

 Still on the miller's brown-faced boy 



Stands knee-deep in the shining water, 

 And near, with startled glance and coy, 



The miller's comely, dark-eyed daughter . 



So, through the long, bright balmy day, 



In varying shade and sunshine ranging, 

 We speed the hastening hoars away 



Where sound and scene are ever changing. 

 Till all the hills are dashed with gold 



That pales and dims eve's dawning creBcent, 

 And twilight falls on Held and wold. 



Like veiling gauze o'er forms quiescent. 



V For Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun. 



"WH 0d S mvm vt ee ifc'fof" 



SOME time since I promised you some notes regarding this 

 classic stream, but instead of something interesting I shall 

 merely contribute a chapter of mishaps and disappointments. 

 In my boyhood days, in my Northern home, before I had made 

 a record of so many mile-stones on the way of life, and before 

 numerous crow-foot wrinkles adorned my physiog, I often 

 sang 



"On the Old Suwannee riber," 

 and little did I think at that time that I would run its rapids, 

 or take shelter under the hospitable hurricane deck of the 

 3teamer D. L. Yulee. 



Supplied with, a Delaware river gunning skiff, a representa- 

 tive of the colored persuasion, rifle, rod, blankets, coffeepot 

 sugar, coffee, Chicago canned beef and pilot bread, I left 



Jacksonville on the 11th of last June, at 6 t\ M., on the lum- 

 ber train. I arrived at the Suwannee River at the crossin* of 

 the Jacksonville and Tallahassee R. R. at 5:30 a. m. Near 

 this point the Wisblacoochee unites with the Suwannee, and 

 a beautiful river is the result. The water is comparatively 

 clear and pure ; and the banks are rocky and about fifty feet 

 high. 



At C a. m. we were afloat and rowing down stream. At a 

 point about one mile below the R. R. bridge I espied a rapid 

 and landed to take an observation, and concluded that the best 

 channel was on the left-hand side of the river. Reaching the 

 boat I took the oars and away we went as merry as a marriage 

 bell. Proceeding half a mile another rapid appeared ahead, 

 and we took the left-hand as the law did not direct, aud we 

 experienced no difficulty in reaching smooth water. The day 

 was cloudy and no 'gators appeared to enliven the scene with 

 their meek and placid countenances. Experiencing a hanker- 

 ing for a fish dinner we threw a spinner overboard and trolled 

 for many a mile without being favored with so much as a 

 glorious nible. At Ellaville we were informed that trout (bass) 

 existed in great quantities, but we are inclined to question the 

 veracity of our informant. The river is rapid, the bottom is 

 hard, jagged limestone rock, the banks are very abrupt ; bay- 

 ous, sand banks, creeks and lilipads do not exist between the 

 R. R. bridge and Old Town, and as a consequence fish must 

 be scarce, with the exception of sturgeon and catfish. The 

 former were airing themselves every few minutes ; as our 

 motto was onward, we could not stop for bottom fishing, and 

 our midday meal consisted of coffee, Chicago beef and hard 

 tack. 



During the day we passed several clearings and primitive 

 boats fastened to trees on the river bank, indicative of com- 

 fortable inglesides within reach. At 4 p. m. it commenced 

 raining, and as I was unprovided with a shelter tent the pros- 

 pect looked moist. I noticed a rapid ahead and kept to the 

 right. Reaching smooth water I was gratified at sighting the 

 steamer D. L. Yulee. Pulling alongside I was greeted by her 

 affable commander, Capt. Reddick. He ordered his crew to 

 remove the dunnage, and in a few moments my boat was on 

 the steamer's deck. I had been troubled during the day with 

 an attack of diarrhoea, and being unprovided with snake bite 

 antidote I inquired of the captain if he had any bourbon on 

 board, and received a negative reply. He however produced 

 a bottle of cromatic Schiedam schnapps, of which I absorbed 

 an allopathic dose with happy results. Memo: when suf- 

 fering from diarrhoea schnapps are not to be despised. I in- 

 quired of the captain the distance to the R. R. bridge, and was 

 informed that it was about 28 miles by land and 55 by the 

 course of the river. 



The steamer makes monthly trips up the river carrying pro- 

 visions to the loggers' camps, and on her return takes a raft in 

 tow. Having landed freight we started late Wednesday 

 morning, and reached New Troy at noon. At this place two 

 stores exist where creature comforts can be obtained, including 

 fresh eggs at 20 cts. per doz., and snake antidote of fair 

 quality. After dinner we commenced descending the river 

 with the rain falling in torrents. We looked in vain for 

 for alligators, for it is admitted that these varmints hate a 

 shower bath as Old Scratch does holy water, and retire to the 

 shelter of the bottom of the stream. We tied up early Wed- 

 nesday and started Thursday morning. Old Sol enlivened 

 the landscape with his beams, and the 'gators put in an ap- 

 pearance ; and occasioually a slumberer would have his 

 dreams disturbed by the disintegrating effects of a Winchester 

 or Springfield rifle ball. At noon we landed at Old Town, and 

 while the captain attended to freight I strolled to the Chaly- 

 beate Spring, distant from the landing one-eighth of a mile. 

 The spring is very large, and it can be reached through its 

 run by a small steamer. We found the water cool, trauspar 

 ent as ether, and highly impregnated with iron. During the 

 winter months the climate at this point is all that can be de- 

 sired, and we feel assured that the dyspeptic or consumptive 

 patient could spend a few days or weeks at this point with ad- 

 vantage. Bream of large size can be caught along the river 

 bank in sufficient, quantity to keep the frying-pan busy : quail 

 exist in immense numbers ; at the store, eggs can be purchased 

 at 15 cents per dozen, and chickens at 25 cents per head. 

 At the store will be found a po3t-office with a semi-weekly 

 mail. Visitors would receive a hearty welcome from my es- 

 teemed and venerable friend, Senator Cottrell, who resides a 



short distance from the spring. The colonel is an old-time 

 Floridian, and is proverbial for suavity, hospitality and kind- 

 ness to all. 



We left Old Town with its hospitable inhabitants, and en 

 route amused ourselves during the afternoon by disturbing 

 the slumbers of sundry 'gators ; and in the evening we reached 

 the Boom, distant from the Gulf sixteen miles. Logs are cut 

 up the river and driven to this point where they are made up 

 into rafts. At daylight, Friday, we took a raft in tow and 

 reached the Gulf at 9 a. m. Some of your readers will accuse 

 me of inhumanity in destroying 'gators ; and to such I will 

 simply say that I am a member of a game protection associa- 

 tion, and make it a rule to destroy 'gators on all occasions. I 

 will admit that a beneficent Creator .formed the 'gator for a 

 wise purpose, but the end for which he was created has been 

 attained. Before the appearance of man on the scene his 

 'gatorship was useful for gobbling up and destroying fish and 

 the young of aquatic birds ; but man requires all these lux- 

 uries for his own specific uses, and the services of the saurians 

 can be dispensed with. Florida is cursed with numerous 

 bipedal pot-hunters who kill game in and out of season, and 

 they deserve similar treatment to that which I am in the habit 

 of extending to alligators. Between the necessities of our 

 residents, and the destructive tendencies of 'gators and pot- 

 hunters, our game will soon become a thing of the past. 



This river differs from most of the streams of Florida, as 

 the banks to within a few miles of the Gulf are high, rocky 

 and steep. In many localities the soil is of good quality and 

 well adapted to the culture of cotton, corn, oats, sugar-cane, 

 barley, potatoes, grape and the orange. From our knowledge 

 of the grape, based upon experience in vine culture in more 

 than one climate, and for a long period of years, we feel as- 

 sured that it wotdd prove a success on the high and undulat- 

 ing banks of this noble river. The surface soil is, as a general 

 rule, a sandy loam with clay sub-soil, which is underlaid by 

 oolite rock. A capitalist named Ross has purchased over four 

 thousand acres of land in one tract on the river within twenty- 

 five miles of the Gulf, and he is arranging for its settlement 

 by a willing and industrious class from the West. 



We landed at a wood-yard on the western side of the river, 

 about twenty miles from the Gulf, where we found a fine field 

 of corn of about seventy-five acres. In the centre of the field 

 I noticed three large orange trees, probably twenty years old, 

 and to our surprise, they passed through the cold spell of last 

 winter unscathed by the frost. In this case there was neither 

 wood nor water protection, and to my surprise not a leaf bad 

 had been injured. Taking the age and size of the trees, 

 coupled with their luxuriance, we are forced to the conclusion 

 that at least the lower portion of the river is eminently adapted 

 to the culture of the orange. The lands along this stream are 

 to a great extent unsettled, and are either State or U. S. lands. 

 The' former can be purchased from the State at one dollar or 

 less per acre, in accordance with quantity selected ; and the 

 U. S. lands can be pre-empted by actual settlers. The river is 

 a noble stream, the water is pure and soft, the section is 

 healthy ; and it is surprising that the region has not attracted 

 the attention of settlers. For cattle raising or wool growing 

 the entire Suwannee country is worthy of notice. From obser- 

 vations in Australia I have no hesitation in asserting that the 

 Merino with grades of nati" • sh ep would prove remunerative 

 if the Australian mode of saeep raising was introduced. 



The Suwannee has three mouths or channels, and the 

 person bound for Ceda; Keys must take the eastern. For ten 

 or twelve miles above the Gulf lilipads, reeds and grass bound 

 both sides of the river, and the piscator will experience no 

 difficulty in landing a mess of bass. One thing surprised me 

 much, and that was the absence of aquatic birds along the 

 river — proof conclusive that low lands or marshes do not exist. 

 The boat with a raft in^tow headed to the eastward, and soon 

 after leaving the river we were opposite to the' mouth of 

 Gopher Creek. This creek can be navigated by a smal', boat 

 for fifteen miles intojthe interior, and is noted for its a 

 gators and bass. I bade the captain good-bye and headn 

 the creek, expecting a good time among the 'gators and rish 

 We had proceeded about two miles when the plate of starboi d 

 rowlock parted at a screw hole. The wind was socthea?' 

 weather was threatening, and as little could be accom; I 



by paddling an overloaded skiff, I fouud discretion I' 4 



guide, and headed for the steamer. The steamer . it 



little headway against a^stroug head wind ; and wit' 



