FOREST AND STREAM. 



389 



and play on them. But you imported a very fine gun the 

 ,other day, did it meet your expectations? 



Aries.— Perfectly. It ought to have done so, as it cost 

 not quite $625 laid down here. It makes just the pattern I 

 wanted. 



Papilla. — Do you shoot then to a pattern ? Oh ! Alcibiades 

 of guns! 



Aries. — Of course I do. Men have so many different 

 ideas about things. Of late years our own gun-smiths are 

 paying attention to patterns I am pleased to say. I include 

 all patterns under three categories. There is first the gun 

 which shows on a thirty inch target a concentration of 

 shot in the centre, the bulk of the shot going there, and 

 ^ith but few pellets on the outside ; another gun makes 

 ;t,lie cullender pattern, where every square inch of the tar- 

 get has a shot or tw r o in it; there is even a third pattern, 

 where the pellets are thrown at five or six different points 

 in the target in qnantity, tliose centres having their occa- 

 sional shots around them 



Papilla. — Which pattern do you prefer? * 



Aries.— It is according to what I want to use my gun for. 

 The first gun I would take for geese, when I wanted to kill 

 one bird certain. The second for snipe and flocks of birds, 

 but the third gun I would like best for ducks. It may be 

 the dilettanteism of sporting as to results, but it is perfectly 

 possible to get guns to shoot in these ways, if you 

 know where to buy your guns. 



Papilla. — You are indeed worth listening to. 



Aries.— Now I must confess, that all you have said to me 

 about cheap guns may be true, but to return to your watch 

 question . I suppose a machine can make the various parts, 

 in fact the whole movement of a watch. 



Papilla.— Certainly. 



Aries. — Can a machine regulate a watch, adjust it? Find 

 -out the faults, theidiosyncracies of the time keeper? 



Papilla. — Of course not, some skilled hand workis mostly 

 necessary. 



Aries.— Hand work has nothing to do with it friend Pa- 

 pilla. It is head work which comes into play here. When 

 I pay $500 for my English gun, I divide the bill as fol- 

 lows : Material twenty-five dollars, not more. That means 

 eost of iron, steal and wood. Labor $200, that includes all 

 the barrel forging, boring, lock filings, braizing, wood-cut- 

 ling, and more delicate finishing. Now something else 

 comes in ; the brains of the foreman of the shop, or of 

 Stlie maker of the gun, who has tried the gun may be one 

 hundred times in altering the barrels or the bore a little 

 erery time he shoots nay gun, until he gets it to throw the 

 Shot exactly to suit his fancy or mine — well, that portion of 

 itlte expense, I put down at $275, and I do not think I am 

 paying a penny too much for it. Now when I say that I 

 am perfectly willing to give a good round sum of money 

 for \\\y gun, 1 expect to pay for the time and skill employed 

 in adjusting the gun, and I affirm that the best English 

 inukers do this work, wheu they are paid for it, and do it 

 thoroughly and conscientiously. That is what I mean by 

 the secrets of the trade. 



Papilla. — You pay then for the experience of the gun 

 maker. Well it as richly merits compensation as any thing 

 else. In fact, Aries, I must confess there is a great deal of 

 reason in what you say. 



Aries. — i a m forced too to allow that as to th.> feasibility 

 of manufacturing good cheap breech-loaders at home, why 

 what you have mentioned to me, when I think it over, leads 

 me to suppose that it might be done. 



Papilla.— Might be done? Why it is clone to-day. 



Aries. — Do you shoot with one of your breech-loading 

 guns made by the grossas you said? 



Papilla. — Of course I do. 



Aries, —And it satisfies vour requirements? 



Papilla. — Perfectly. 



Aries. — And my English gun suits me. We are then 

 both contented, and there can be no differences between 

 us. 



Papilla. — I suppose Achilles could not have fought as 

 well unless he had had a silver bossed shield, a mirror for 

 the Graces and a glaive of exquisite workmanship When 

 I have time I will look up my Homer. 



Aries.— And the Spartans, who did wonderful slaughter 

 with their more homely weapons? 



Papilla.— GhatiDi a son gout. That is it, aint it? 

 Aries.— Precisely, only that there was but a single Achilles 

 who could afford to shoot with a $600 breech-loading, 

 whereas the general herd of Thracians, Lacedaemonians, 

 Spartans and Greeks, generally had to use much cheaper 

 guns when they went after their game. 



Papilla.— I will excuse your classic anachronism. 



+>+■ 



THE EAGLE RIVER COUNTRY. 



For Forest and Stream, 



THE Eagle River probably furnishes the best trout fish- 

 ing of any river in Colorado. It is seldom visited, 

 except by a few straggling miners and the Ute Ino.ians. 

 There is a trail leading up the valley of the river which 

 runs from Tennessee Pass to one of the U. S. Ute agencies, 

 but it is seldom used. Daring the past summer the head 

 waters of the Eagle River was surveyed by Dr. F. V. Hay- 

 den's U. S. Geological Surveying party. We found it nec- 

 cessary to oamp a few miles from the Holy Cross Moun- 

 tain, as there was so much fallen timber we could not get 

 a pack train over it, although repeated trials were made. 

 Each time we were forced to turn our backs to the uncon- 

 querable fallen timber and loose rocks and return to camp 

 with bruised and foot-sore animals. In fact there was 

 scarcely a horse or mule in our outfit that was not the worse 



for wear. Many of the men also suffered from hard knocks, 

 and to add to our discomforts, it rained steadily for nearly 

 two days. Finally a party was made up to ascend the Holy 

 Cross Mountain at all hazards. Those, who intended clim- 

 bing the mountain selected the best animals in our herd, 

 strapped a pair of blankets, poncho, and a few provisions 

 behind their saddles, and set out for the mountain. AVhen 

 leaving camp they thought they could reach the mountain 

 top in a single day, but when they had been out two days 

 one of their party came to camp with a woe-be-gone look, 

 and said, "Bill! have you got any b-'ead baked?" Said 

 Bill (our cook) soon emptied the mess boxes of their con- 

 tents, and our delighted visitor left us ™uth a full s^omaph, 

 and some bread, a pail of baked beans, and a smiling coun- 

 tenance. That night he reached his famishing party, and 

 there was a merry making at timber line on the mountain. 

 They reached camp the next night, having completed their 

 work on the mountain top. Our provisions were becom- 

 ing low, so the writer and our hunter concluded to kill some 

 game or catch some fish. I had heard several buck elks 

 "whistle" on a mountain side near camp, so we concluded 

 to try them first. We found many fresh trails, but the 

 noise made by the bells of the "bell mares 1 ' and the shout- 

 ing of the packers had scared away all the game. We re- 

 turned to camp with a few grouse, (Tetrao obsevrvs,) deter- 

 mined to try our luck the next day in another quarter. 

 Early the next morning we saddled our horses, took part of 

 our bedding, some provisions, some dry tea, (we were 

 out of sugar,) a piece of bacon, some bread, two tin cups, 

 and a large stout iron gray pack horse, whieh we promised 

 to load with meat, fish or fowl. After leaving camp we 

 descended a steep hill, about two miles from our starting 

 p( int, and having made our way through numerous beaver 

 dams, camped in among some huge boulders, which entire- 

 ly concealed ourselves and animals from the outer world. 

 When searching for a place to camp we started two deer and 

 a bear. We only heard them break cover, but after hun- 

 ting up their trails > found we had frightened awa} r tw T o 

 does and one grizzly bear. When our animals were picket- 

 ed, we made a fire, and then built a shelter tent with our 

 rubber ponchos and a blanket. By the time our tent was 

 completed the fire had "burned up," so we poked out some 

 coals and brewed our tea over them in the tin cups. A few 

 pieces of bacon were frizzled over some sharp sticks, which 

 were eaten with bread, and with our tea we had a fine 

 lunch. The sun was then getting low and my "pardner" 

 remarked "it is time the deer were coming down from the 

 hills to drink, and we may as well get ready to meet them.'' 

 We repicketed our horses so that they might have better 

 feeding, and taking our rifles, (a Ballard and Sharpe,) we 

 separated, and set out on a still hunt. My companion fol- 

 lowed up the West Fork of the Eagle River, while I went 

 clown the main river to watch a lick. It was sometime 

 after dark when we reached camp. When reaching it I re- 

 plied, "What luck?" "Didn't see a hoof." "Neither did 

 I." "This will never do," said my companion. "We 

 must try the trout in the river as soon as the sun brings out 

 the grasshoppers in the morning." . After supper we turned 

 in. At daybreak, the next morning, we made bedding, &c. 

 in a pack, which was handed over to "old gray" for trans- 

 portation. In two hours we reached the fishing ground. 

 When our animals w r ere attended to and our "traps" made 

 snug, we armed ourselves with spruce branches from a 

 neighboring tree and commenced a raid on the grasshop- 

 pers. As fast as they were captured w r e put them in an old 

 rubber coat sleeve, tied up at one end with a string, from 

 the leggings of my companion. We soon had all the bait 

 we wanted, and with our willow poles, landed eighty-five 

 pounds of trout in three hours. The water of the Eagle 

 River is remarkably clear, and the large trout can be easily 

 seen before taking the hook. At the point where we were 

 fishing the river is not over ten yards wide, although it is 

 very deep in many places. I landed thirteen large fish on 

 a small boulder in the river, and could have easily caught 

 others if our hungry men had not been awaiting us at 

 camp, which was a long way from our fishing ground. 

 The trout caught were large, light-colored, and regularly 

 spotted, but only half way up the body from the tail. They 

 proved to be excellent eating, and the flesh of some of the 

 larger ones was the color of that of the salmon, when 

 cooked. We reached camp in the afternoon, and our artist, 



Mr. H , made a fine drawing of a group of our largest 



fish, which were arranged on a manta. 



J. H. B., U. S. G. Survey. 



Dr. Hayden, in charge. 



^» » : 



For Forest duel Stream. 



RIFLE SHOOTING IN THE OLDEN TIME 

 AND IN THE PRESENT DAY— CREED- 

 MOOR— ACCURATE SHOOTING, &e. 



T 



HE Writer of this can remember very well when per- 

 cussion caps and cartridges were unknown and flint 

 locks alone were used on rifles and shot guns, and many 

 a day has he followed his father and his uncle, who were 

 famous shots and mighty hunters in their day, in the*back- 

 woods of Ohio ami Virginia in quest of deer, turkey, coon, 

 squirrels, and ruffed grouse. He has been at western shoot- 

 ing matches and hunts, and chased the red fox with old 

 men who can remember the Clarks, Lewis's, Pae's, Ken- 

 tons, and Doddridges of the valley of the Ohio. He has 

 sat by the cabin fires and heard the old trappers tell their 

 stories of "hairbreadth 'scapes by flood and field," of bear 

 fights, contests with Indians, and wonderful and fatal shots 

 at long distances; but he is satisfied that if these festive 

 old sports could break the cerements of their bumble 

 tombs, and te&ite forth with their long shooting irons, 



stockless, and with the obsolete flint locks, they would be 

 as much amazed as was Irving's renowned hero of the 

 Catskills when he gathered up the remains of his old mus- 

 ket. They never dreamed that rifle shooting could be 

 brought to the perfection it has now attained— hitting a 

 turkey at two hundred yards, or a deer at three hundred, 

 was an event to be talked about for a lifetime. We have 

 known famous old rifles named "Old Betsy," "Honest 

 Lige," "Truthful Reuben," &c. All of them had a mar- 

 vellous history. In this day, however, they would be 

 worthless except for old iron. If the old rifle shooters 

 could have lived to see a Creedmoor or a Wimbledon, they 

 would feel as far behind the age in which they hunted and 

 shot as the man wdio had been used only to country wag- 

 ons and came suddenly upon a train of cars at full speed. 



That rifle shooting is destined to become a great national 

 sport in America there can be but little doubt, and when 

 the desire to excel and improve begins to take hold of the 

 vigorous and sport-loving people of the west and south we 

 will-see a great demand for the best guns and shooting ap- 

 paratus that can be made. Amateur rifle clubs will be 

 formed in every county throughout the forty States and 

 Territories of the Union. Literature concerning marks- 

 manship, the "butts," the Forest and Stream, will be in 

 demand. Grand national and State tournaments will be in- 

 augurated, and thousands of competitors will in time an- 

 nually contest for superiority, and away yonder in the not 

 very distant future we think we see the victorious Ameri- 

 can "team" issuing forth with the championship of the 

 world on their banners. 



Without disparaging the great achievem-. nts of the rep- 

 resentatives of other nationalities, or making any invidious 

 comparisons, we think we may be allowed to indulge in a 

 little egotism, and possibly "to brag," to some extent, about 

 what we have done on this side of the water, considering 

 we have not yet turned the corner of the first century. 

 We have made advances in the sciences, arts, agriculture, 

 and gunnery, and wherever there has been a demand or a 

 need for men, women, children, or things, they have been 

 forthcoming. It would be strange, then, if we could not 

 produce rifle shooters who shall compete with the best on 

 the planet. 



Steamboats were needed to navigate our vast rivers — 

 Fulton invented them. Lightning communication was 

 called for, and Professor Morse put up the wires. A fast 

 sailing yacht was required, and Steers made the "America." 

 A trotter was wanted, and Flying Dutchman did three 

 miles in 7 :32, and then came Dexter, who brought the time 

 of the Dutchman, which was 2:80 2-3 to the mile, to 2:17^, 

 eclipsing the world. A racehorse of endurance and speed 

 was needed, and that mighty equine hero, the blind stal- 

 lion now at Woodburn, Kentucky, appeared m 1855 and ran 

 four miles in 7 :19f, which has never yet been equalled. 

 When the chess world became excited Paul Morphy was 

 brought to the surface. He sailed for Europe, and after 

 singly defeating the champions of the Old World he played 

 five games against twenty-five of the best players that could 

 be produced, on five different boards, blindfolded, and 

 won the majority of the games. He then challenged 

 Staunton, the great Englishman, who intimated that he 

 would only play for a stake, and when Morphy was di- 

 rected by his friends in New Orleans to offer to play for 

 $50,000 a side, or any larger amount that might be agree- 

 able, Mr. Staunton declined. 



We have some very big things here besides men and 

 women. We have extensive rivers and lakes, mountains 

 and valleys, vast trees and high falls, and now w T e are 

 called upon to produce eight marksmen who are to com- 

 pete with those vigorous and intelligent" sons of Erin who 

 bore off the celebrated Elcho Shield from the English and 

 Scotch shooters at Wimbledon, ^¥e can but try, and while 

 it will be dollars to cents that the gallant Celts will return 

 to the "ould sod" after their match- here as victors, still 

 we have every confidence that we have the material here 

 to make the champion shots of the world. At short range 

 shooting, deliberate aim or at the word, or at three-quarter 

 inch suspended bullets, the gallery of Mr. Conlin has pro- 

 duced the most remarkable marksmen the world has yet 

 seen. The shooting of Captains Travers and Paul has been 

 surpassed and thrown quite iii the shade. For example, 

 Mr. William Hayes made 175 consecutive bulls eyes at 

 seventy-five feet. Mr. Hamilton, at the same distance, 

 made 354 bulls eyes out of 359 shots; 155 consecutive. He 

 made also forty-five consecutive bulls eyes at the "word 

 one," which is the best ever made at the "word." He also 

 made forty-one bulls eyes out of forty-five shots, the other 

 four shots measuring one and one half inches, string meas- 

 ure; besides this, he hit the one and one half inch bulls 

 eye five consecutive shots at .the word "one." We shall 

 send you an article upon the requisites, as we understand 

 them, for a good rifleman, rifle shooting in its anatomical 

 aspect, and also some hints upon preparation and training 

 for a match. Old Shot. 



— A New Haven editor spent last Sunday in Slawson, and 

 attended church. When the contribution box came around 

 he was in a doze, but on being nudged, hastily explained, 

 "I have a pass." — Danbury News. 



-***. 



— "That dog of yourn flew at me this morning and bit 

 me on the leg, and I notify you that I intend to shoot it the 

 first time I see it." 



"The dog is not mad." 



"Mad! Iknow he's not mad. What has he got to be 

 mad about? It's me that's mad." 



+*+ 



— What is the difference between a loaf o' bread and a 

 loafer bom? One rises in the dough; the other dozes in 

 the rye 



