98 



FOREST AND STREAM 



before, 'and amused ourselves opening oysters with spikes 

 and penknives, a small "boy providing us with all the bi- 

 valves we wanted by wading a short distance into the 

 water. One day was enough for us at Point Lookout, and 

 after a farewell repast of chicken legs we took the steamer 

 up river that night. During the past summer there have 

 been perhaps half a dozen families at this place, occupying 

 the villa and the most habitable of the cottages, but they 

 brought with them from the city furniture, provisions, and 

 all the requisites for housekeeping. Fish, oysters, and 

 crabs may be had here in abundance, but everything else 

 must be brought from Washington or Norfolk. The fish- 

 ing here is said to be much better than at any of the points 

 above, and particularly for sheepshead. Occasionally a 

 sea turtle is caught. Lcvst year two men, while fishing from 

 a canoe, hooked a turtle which towed them across the Po- 

 tomac to Cone river before they could secure it. It was 

 finally captured and sent to Washington, and when killed 

 weighed 350 pounds. 



The most popular resort on the Potomac at this time is 

 Marshall's, two miles below Piney Point, and one hundred 

 miles from Washington. Until this year it was little known, 

 save to sportsmen and a few persons who value comfort 

 and independence more than fashion. The accommoda- 

 tions were somewhat limited, consisting of a two-story and 

 a half dwelling and country store combined, and a cottage 

 with tw r o rooms. This year a large three-story building 

 was erected, and a steamboat wdiarf built, and the place is 

 now known as the St. George's Hotel. The buildings are 

 directly on the St. George's river — more properly an inlet — 

 which extends four miles above, and three miles below 

 unites with the Potomac and St. Mary's rivers. The Poto- 

 mac is in full view, and but a quarter of a mile distant 

 across the tongue of land on which the St. George's Hotel 

 is situated. At the end of this point, less than half a mile 

 from the hotel, are the Straits, a shallow strip of w r ater be- 

 tween the main land and St. George's Island, through which 

 canoes pass in going to Piney Point. But for this passage 

 they Avould be compelled to sail entirely around St. George's 

 Island, a distance of ten or twelve miles. I have been thus 

 particular in describing the topography of the place from 

 reasons that will appear later. The surrounding waters are 

 everywhere shoal near the shores, and are filled With oyster 

 bars, which arc often encountered in the most unexpected 

 places by sailing parties. Oysters are found in every direc- 

 tion, but those used at the hotel are brought in canoes from 

 the St. Mary's river, and delivered alongside the wharf for 

 ten to fifteen cents a bushel. They are measured and thrown 

 overboard, to be longed up when required. Half a dozen 

 canoes lay at the wharf for the use of the guests, and a 

 colored man is always to be had to sail them. No extra 

 charge is made for the use of the canoes, nor for the raw 

 oysters, of which one may eat a fill at any time from day- 

 light to dusk. Indeed, there are no extra charges for any- 

 thing, your dollar a day (if you stay more than a month, 

 otherwise $35 per month) covering all necessary expenses. 

 A blue shirt, an old pair of pants, a broad-brimmed straw 

 hat, such as may be had in the store for thirty cents, 

 is en regie for costume, a coat being essential only wdien you 

 go to the table. A Saratoga trunk is therefore unncessary, 

 a good sized valise holding all that is required in the way 

 of outfit. You will rise in the morning not later than sun- 

 up, and take a bath in the tubs or tanks at the end of the 

 wharf. These are perforated boxes, which may be let down 

 to any depth required, giving you all the benefit of a buff 

 bath in the salt water without coming in contact with the 

 sea-nettles. After your bath you will find your way to 

 where two or three colored men are shucking oysters for 

 the kitchen, and eat a dozen or more of the bivalves just 

 from the waiter. It is then time to dress for breakfast, 

 which meal will consist of whatever panfish have been 

 taken by the fishermen in their gill nets the previous night 

 —spot, crokers, small rock, or taylors— stewed and fried 

 oysters, fried chicken, hot rolls, corn bread, W T affles, and an 

 abundance of milk. After breakfast nearly everybody ad- 

 journs to the summer house, midway on the slender wharf, 

 at the end of which are the bath-houses. Around it the 

 canoes are moored, and here the sailing parties are made 

 up. Some of the ladies, who dare not venture farther on 

 the raging St. George, will seat themselves with a book, 

 newspaper, embroidery, or crochet work, and watch the 

 children crabbing. Their outfit for this sport is very sim- 

 ple, and success certain. Having procured a chicken's 

 head from the cook, it is tied to a string, weighted with an 

 oyster shell, and thrown overboard. It will hardly reach 

 bottom before* it is seized by one of these voracious Crus- 

 tacea, and often with so firm a hold as to be drawn upon 

 the wharf. A net with a long handle is necessary, how- 

 ever With which the crab is dipped up as he nears the sur- 

 face and dropped into a box or barrel for transportation to 

 the kitchen. This is fine sport for the children, who can 

 sit in the shade and catch crabs until they tire. Albeit, 

 these shell fish have been both scarce and small this year, a 

 fact which no One was able to account for. The soft crab, 

 a great delicacy, must be sought for at low tide, on a shady 

 shore, among the tufts of sea grass. Here it lies helpless, 

 and is picked up by the fisherman as he wades along with 

 observant eve. These not only furnish a favorite dish for 

 the table, but bait for all the Potomac fish except the 

 sheepshead. 



Between twelve and one o'clock, the ladies having had 

 their baths, a crab and oyster lunch is in order. This is 

 partaken of under the boatshed, on the shore. The crabs 

 are sent down on a large tray, with condiments and soda 

 crackers, and a colored boy brings a basket of oysters. 

 The work bench or an old boat serves for a table, and all 



fall to sans cerennonie. Then a siesta. For dinner there 

 will be oyster or chicken soup, boiled and baked sheeps- 

 head, oyster pie, chicken, duck, and goose, and a dessert 

 of peaches and cream. After dinner the canoes will be in 

 requisition again, and the croquet balls set in motion. For 

 supper there will be cold fowl, stewed oysters, ham, cakes, 

 and milk ad libitum. Soon after supper dancing commences, 

 and is kept up until midnight. Such is a brief outline of a 

 day's doings at the St George's Hotel. 



The facilities for sailing are unsurpassed. If the w r aters 

 of the Potomac are too rough to venture upon, there is the 

 more quiet St. George's. You may go for miles inland, 

 wuth little coves branching off on either hand; here a com- 

 fortable farmhouse and there a negro cabin; here an or- 

 chard and there a tobacco patch. Or you may go down 

 the St. George's three miles, and rounding a point knoAvn 

 as Cherryfield, enter the St. Mary's river, and visit the old 

 colonial city of St. Mary's, where landed the first settlers 

 Of Maryland. The St. Mary's is three miles wide at its 

 mouth, but soon narrows, only to branch off in various di- 

 rections into inlets, wdiich furnish scenery of the most 

 charming and picturesque description. It is considered 

 quite an expedition to sail around St. George's Island, but 

 by far a pleasanter one to land and visit a Captain Adams, 

 whose garden and orchard contain the best of fruit. Here 

 may be had figs, peaches, plums, pears, nectarines, melons, 

 and apples in the greatest abundance, and at trifling cost. 

 A party of four ate all they could on one occasion, and 

 went aw T ay laden down, at a cost of only twenty-five cents. 



Another favorite sail is to Piney Point, distant one and a 

 half miles by land, but nearly three miles by water. The 

 course is down the St. George's to the Straits, on opening 

 which the Piney Point lighthouse comes into view. Once 

 through the straits it is plain sailing, but the navigation 

 otherwise is somewhat difficult, and the inexperienced hand 

 is apt to run his canoe hard and fast on an oyster bar. 

 Sometimes he may push off with his steering paddle, but 

 oftener he will have to jump overboard and pull his craft 

 into deep water. On "steamer nights" parties are made up 

 to go over to the Point to greet the new arrivals or speed 

 the parting guests. The boat is due on her down trip at 

 ten P. M., but on her up trip not until midnight; so that 

 while in one case everybody is home again before twelve 

 o'clock, in the other it is sometimes one, two, and three A. 

 M. before all is quiet on^fche St, George's. 



Twice a w T eek the steamer Lady of the Lake lands a mail 

 punctually from Washington at Piney Point, and it is 

 brought over by wagon to Marshall's, this being the post 

 office. No sooner is the rumbling of the wheels heard than 

 the parlor is deserted, and everybody rushes for the store. 

 The mail-bag is emptied upon the counter, Mr. Marshall 

 dons his spectacles, and seizing upon the letters calls off the 

 names amid a terrible din and confusion. Envelopes are 

 hurriedly torn open, messages shot to and fro, exclamations 

 of satisfaction or regret uttered, and then, the letters hav- 

 ing been disposed of, the newspapers are in order. The 

 most momentous news is, however, of secondary import- 

 ance to a "Letter from Marshall's," and this I have found to 

 be the case at every watering place I have visited. Let 

 them say what they will, people do like to see their names 

 in print, and to have it known that they are "out of town." 

 Woe unto the watering-place correspondent who ignores 

 this craving for newspaper notoriety. Even the indolent 

 Bohemian, bent only on taking a respite from quill driving, 

 is not safe from the assaults of neglected fair ones, but is 

 waylaid in verandahs and beseiged in his cottage, as the 

 writer can testify. Of course w r e had a Mrs. Grundy among 

 us, but she tarried not long, and, on the whole, a nicer, 

 jollier, happier set of people than were congregated at the 

 St. George's Hotel last summer it would be difficult to find. 



I had intended deferring what I had to say concerning 

 the fishing until another issue, but there is so little to be 

 said that it may as well be said now. Up to the 1st of Sep- 

 tember the fishing had been exceptionally poor. In June 

 two young lads struck a school of rock, and, with soft 

 crabs for bait, took forty pounds in a short time. There 

 was no line fishing after that worth mentioning until about 

 the 1st of August, when a fine string of white perch was 

 taken in the mouth of a cove on the St. George's, a mile 

 above Marshall's. All through the summer, however, the 

 regular fishermen were bringing in sheepshead daily, with 

 occasional intermissions. Seven was the highest number 

 caught in one day by one man; two or three being the or- 

 dinary catch. The sheepshead are caught at Sheepshead 

 Rock, a mile or so above Piney Point, and in huddles, or 

 hurdles, at the lower end of St. George's Island. The bait 

 used is a species of clam known as the man-nose. The 

 hurdles are small enclosures formed by driving poles into 

 the bottom, the bark being retained. The theory is that 

 the fish feed on this bark. There must be a depth of water 

 not less, than ten or tw r elve feet, and a rocky or gravelly bot- 

 tom. Hand lines are used, and when a fish is caught a small 

 cord is made fast through the gills arid attached to the boat. 

 They are thus towed to a market, and When purchased are 

 tied to the wharf to swim about until required for the table. 

 The price paid the fishermen last summer was fifty cents a 

 piece for sheepshead, large and small. They are sometimes 

 taken weighing twenty-five pounds and upwards, but the 

 average of the past season would hardly exceed ten pounds. 

 The fishermen complain that the gill-nets in use lower 

 down destroy the fishing in this vicinity. This is no doubt 

 true, and moreover, the fishery laws of Maryland are fre- 

 quently and openly violated along the Potomac by boats 

 from the Virginia shore. The penalties are severe, but no 

 captures are made, and the illicit traffic goes on. 



A word should be said of the tajdor, to my taste the best 



fish taken in these waters. It may be taken with a troll, or 

 wuth a hand line, soft crabs being used for bait in the latter 

 case. Those who fish for sport, however, prefer to use a 

 cedar pole, without a reel, and to feel the weight of the 

 fish before landing it. Some parties were quite successful 

 in the latter part of August, bringing in from fifty to one 

 hundred good sized fish, but the .best fishing is in Septem- 

 ber. Spot and crokers were sometimes taken with hook 

 and line, but the supply for the table was furnished by the 

 nets. 



As for shooting, partridges are very abundant in this re- 

 gion, and later in the season the duck shooting will be 

 good; and occasionally a shot may be had into a flock of 

 wild geese. Of smaller game no note is taken by the in- 

 habitants, and the gunner from the city must find it out 

 for himself. Chaeles A. Pilsbuby. 



-*♦>■ 



GROUSE SHOOTING IN INDIANA. 



Centebyille, Indiana. 

 Editoe Fobest akd Steeam : — 



Arriving at the little railroad station of Remington (on 

 the L. P. and B. E. R.), in Jasper County, Indiana, we 

 were met by Joe, wdio was soon busily engaged in loading 

 our baggage into his big two-horse, covered, spring wagon, 

 said baggage consisting of a soldier tent, centre-pole, barrel 

 of crackers, sugar-cured hams, ten pounds ham sausage, 

 twenty-five pounds of butter, one dozen loaves bread, salt, 

 pepper, one cheese, tobacco, shot guns, ammunition, blank- 

 ets, &c. , and we were soon on our way northward over the 

 broad, green prairie, and our dogs had to run to keep up 

 with our fiery team. 



We had searcely gone three miles from the station, when 

 a prairie chicken (pinnated grouse) whirred away from the 

 side of the road. Shot guns were then got ready, and pres- 

 ently two more Avent sailing past ; but one was brought 

 down, by whom I cannot tell, as we all fired at once, and 

 each claimed that lie had hit it, Every now r and then our 

 dogs w r ould start one, sometimes half a dozen in a drove, 

 but they were too far off for a shot, and we w r ere anxious 

 to get to our camping-ground. We saw a few sand-hill 

 cranes and ducks, in sloughs, or places where there was 

 water. About sunset Ave arrived at our camping-ground, 

 a place which certainly did credit to Joe's judgment in se- 

 lecting it, for it was a nice little grove of scrub oaks and 

 hickory trees, while on the w T est ran a stream of clear, pure 

 water. He had brought his cooking utensils — frying-pans, 

 skillets, pots, coffee-pots, &c. , wuth him, 'and in a very short 

 time we had our centre-pole put up, all our traps unloaded, 

 while Dick, the sable cook, had the coffee (Java) made, and 

 we sat down to as good a supper as was ever eaten, at least 

 it required no trouble to clear the table of any remaining 

 fragments. We sat around the camp fire until late at night, 

 smoking our meerschaums, relating stories of former hunt, 

 ing and fishing, and then rolled ourselves up in our blank- 

 ets to sleep. To sleep? No, for the Major's sonorous 

 snore made it impossible for me to sleep, so I lay awake un- 

 til nearly midnight, listening to the myriads of katydids in 

 the trees, and the chirp of crickets in the long grass down 

 by the creek ; but finally I went into dreamland, and did 

 not awaken until the sun was at least two hours high, when 

 Dick called me up for breakfast. We had some fried 

 grouse, which one of the party had shot that morning, and 

 we all partook. 



We then went to work in earnest — six men and four dogs 

 — and as the game Avas plenty, the dogs had no trouble in 

 finding it, and Avherever they pointed we were sure of chick- 

 ens. We made it a rule not to fire until they had got about 

 thirty yards distant, when we seldom failed in bringing 

 down the game. At noon we had succeeded in bagging- 

 forty among the whole party, nine being the largest num- 

 ber shot by any one. We did not go out again until even- 

 ing, when we brought in seventeen more. Supper, smoke, 

 to bed, and the same snore of the Major's; but I was so 

 tired that I soon slept. Thus we passed the time for five 

 days, killing all the chickens Ave needed, and occasionally 

 brought in a brace of fat ducks. On the afternoon of the 

 fifth day we removed our camp near to the Kankakee river, 

 but still on the same creek, and in a grove also. During 

 the middle of the day Ave generally laid in the shade and 

 read or smoked, and did not try to kill any game, except 

 mornings and evenings, nor did Ave kill any and throw it 

 away, as no true sportsman Avill do this ; but after the first 

 day Ave killed only Avhat Ave Avanted to eat, and had chicken 

 fried, roasted, or steAved every meal, varied occasionally by 

 a brace of roast ducks. Joe AA r ent to a farm house, about 

 ten miles off, and brought back a lot of fine melons. 



Sunday, w r e read, smoked, and slept, and no one thought 

 of taking his gun. We spent five days at this camp, then 

 sung our "parting song," took doAvn our tent, loaded the 

 wagon — not forgetting to take home a half-dozen chickens 

 apiece — and w T ere on our Avay to the station again,, after hav- 

 ing killed over 200. chickens, and having ten days of rest 

 and recreation, with a hope and a promise to meet again at 

 this place^next summer. 



September and the first tAVO Aveeks in October are more 

 pleasant for hunting than August, as the nights are cooler, 

 although we did not experience any discomfort from the 

 heat, as there was always a good breeze. 



Later in the season the game is generally a little scarcer 

 and wilder, but there is always plenty of game. We met par- 

 ties avIio had killed many more chickens than we had. I 

 would advise any Avho go to do as Ave did, take tent and 

 provisions, and you can hire a Avagon and from team farm- 

 ers near any of the stations along the railroad west of Lo- 

 gansport, and a wagon can go over *iy part of the prairie. 

 There is good shooting along the railroad for miles on both 



