Terms, Four Dollar* a. Year ) 



Ten Cent* a Copy. 

 6 months, $2 ; 3 months, 



Year ) 



is, SI. I 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1879. 



For Forest and 'Stream'and Rod and Gun, 

 CHICKAREE. 



IB a wide-spreading trea 



A apry chickaree, 



With heart full of glee, 

 Dad chattered a noisy good-morning ; 



And seamed In his fun 



To be telling some ono 



Of the work he had done 

 Hla nest in the branches adorning. 



A bright squirrel guest 



He had brought to his nest, 



And wa8 doing hla best 

 In showing his snug little dwelling ; 



He had said in his pride 



He wonld like to reside 



With her as a bride,— 

 And that is the tale he was telling. 



So high In the beach, 



So far out of reach, 



So cosy for each, 

 And a brown-thrush too for a neighbor ; 



She could hear the bird sing 



While nuts he would bring— 



Or any sweet thing,— 

 And love would thus hallow his labor. 



They could see the sun set, 



And tell how they met, 



And would never regret 

 The day they had started together, 



To work and to play, 



From danger away, 



From day unto day, 

 Whatever the season or weather, 



The gay little guest 



Acoepted the nest^- 



She thought It was best- 

 Where the beautiful branches were spreading ; 



And tho' coy and demure, 



Deal t willing and pure, 



Said " Yes " to her wooer, 

 And the wood-bells rang out for a wedding. 



In the wide-spreading tree 



They alng " Chickaree " 



With hearts full of glee, 

 And chatter a noisy good-morning ; 



While he in hla way, 



Light-hearted and gay, 



Is seeming to say, 

 Her love now his home is adorning. 



J. C. Burnett. 



For Forest and Stream and Hod and Gun. 



§owtf ih$ {feotmectimi itf % Hjjmoq. 



OUR trip was made in a double canoe, and, though not 

 of the latest model, it carried us through places which 

 would surely have wrecked an ordinary canoe. It was of 

 half-inch pine, fiat bottom, 15ft. long, 20in. across bottom 

 and 32in. on top, with great sheer. It was rigged with low 

 kneeling seats and cross-bars to sit upon, which arrange- 

 ment gives perfect control in rough water ; but its use is at- 

 tended with rather less comfort than " riding a rail." This 

 canoe weighed about fifty pounds when dry, but when 

 soaked, as on our last carry, a ton or so would be a fair esti- 

 mate, though, like our big trout, I shouldn't care to see it 



"We left Second Lake Aug. 20, with something like a hun- 

 dred pounds of baggage, too much for the canoe, as we 

 found out in the first rapid. I will not relate in detail the 

 adventures of the first fifty miles to North Stratford, the 

 first town on the railroad, for the canoeist will hardly care 

 to have his boat transported, beyond this point. Enough to 

 say that we were four days running this , distance, which 

 time covered the most wretched series of mishaps on record. 

 The water was very low, and, in the words of an old colored 

 man who attended us on some of our earlier excursions, the 

 river was "all bottom" and "mighty jubous." "White 

 water" was something we had never encountered before, 

 but a capsize and general smash up the first day out showed 

 us that we couldn't successfully drift through rapids. 



From North Stratford the river winds along quite rapidly 



at first, and then, with long smooth reaches where the quiet 

 beauty of the ever-changing shores and stream, seemed a 

 grateful relief after the three miles of gravel bars above the 

 town. A little back from the river, here grown to consider- 

 able size, the mountains rise with sometimes only their 

 forest-covered tops appearing above the banks, while in the 

 wider places the whole landscape appears, the hills gradual- 

 ly rising as they approach the White Mountains, fifty miles 

 south. This is a farming country, and eggs, milk, and sup- 

 plies generally, are cheap and of the best. Teal are seen 

 every mile or two, as are black ducks and mergansers at that 

 season. Our rough appearance after two months in the 

 woods caused us to be taken for river men ; to our advant- 

 age, perhaps, for these rather reckless characters command 

 great respect among the inhabitants, who take some care to 

 avoid provoking them. The upper half of the river is gen- 

 erally clear of logs before July, and until this time no canoe- 

 ing can be done. 



The Fifteen Mile Falls commence in the town of Dalton 

 and end in Lower Waterford. Their name would seem to 

 indicate their length, but it is eighteen miles by river from 

 the long bar at the upper end to the rough ledges about the 

 Last Pitch, and for two days and a half our ears never lost 

 the constant roar. We chose our camps between two bars, 

 if possible, but even then the sound would fill our dreams 

 and greet us on awakening. If one wishes to enjoy merely 

 a quiet voyage on smooth water he can get a farmer's wagon 

 and ride around the falls in style, or, if the water be very 

 low, it is better to carry, unless one has a decided taste for 

 wading over boulders and sacking a canoe all day. But 

 with a good state of the water, say a foot higher than is 

 usual m summer, and a double canoe, I could ask no wilder, 

 more thrilling excitement than would be afforded by a run 

 through these rapids. They open with a gravel-bar nearly 

 a mile long, followed by an equal extent of smooth water in 

 which to take breath. I would add, parenthetically, that the 

 term " gravel " seems to be applied by the rivermon to all 

 boulders of less size than a small house. On account of the 

 low water we could get along only by alternately wading 

 and paddling. The flat, water-soaked bottom of the canoe 

 would slide over a rock and yield considerably without 

 splitting, though the sensation produced by this operation, 

 while going with lightning speed down the current, was not 

 agreeable. A boat with an inflexible keelson would inevita- 

 bly have been wrecked. 



We worried along over six or seven miles of shallow, 

 screaming gravel-bars to the Middle Pitch, which was run 

 in good style. In fact, for seven or eight miles' further, in 

 spite of some terrible thumps, we ran wherever the volume 

 of water was sufficient. But when we saw the dark water 

 shattered to spray and foaming with a heavy roar down Hol- 

 brook's Bar, for the first time we dared not trust our over- 

 loaded boat to the current. Heavy rains to tbe northward 

 had doubled the volume of the river since morning, and for 

 more than a mile we could see the water rushing down, with 

 the huge black boulders standing grim and immovable in the 

 leaping spray. It took us all the afternoon to " lead by " 

 this bar, being nearly swept off several times. Often one of 

 us would slip off a rock into seven or eight feet of water, but 

 the other would hold the canoe fast, and in this way a wet- 

 ting was the only result. As we had not been dry since 

 leaving the lake, the plunges of this day did not cause much 

 discomfiture. Next morning an easy carry of less than a 

 mile ended our trouble as far as long rapids were concerned, 

 and we were by no means sorry to hear the roar die away be- 

 hind as the canoe sped away down the swift and still rising 

 river. The surges were then six or seven feet high in the 

 last part of the pitch, but from the high rocky bank a single 

 passage could be traced where a light canoe might live. 



The rivermen have worn a good path on the west shore, 

 for even they carry around all but their best boats, though 

 the rocks are far below the surface when the drive passes 

 this point. A few miles below is a short carry at Barnet 

 Pitch, Mclndoo's necessitates another of a few rods, and 

 finally a hundred rods around Dodge's Pitch, a few miles 

 from Mclndoe's, leaves us clear water more than forty miles 

 to the Lebanon Palls near White River Junction. Here are 

 three pitches which we did not try to run. The Pranconia 

 Mountains are visible for many miles below Mclndoe's, and 

 a few days' tramp through them and the White Mountains 

 would be a most enjoyable feature of a voyage down the 

 river, but in our own case the time was too limited. Four 

 miles below W. R. June, is a little fall not difficult. to run. 

 We passed this on our last day's run of over sixty miles, in- 

 cluding a short carry at Bellows Falls, and on the eleventh 

 day from Second Lake pulled up at our little wharf at Brat- 

 tleboro, none the worse for seventy .five days' spent on the 

 Upper Connecticut. x. 



, SALMON FISHING IN CANADA. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



Why is it that so few of our anglers indulge in the glorious 

 sport of salmon fishing ? Perhaps because those who tell you 

 your first fish will cost $'500 do not want what they call their 

 "sanctuaries" made so public, and therefore scare us by 

 magnifying the cost of the trip. I am satisfied that very few 

 of the many who read your valuable paper are aware that 

 within forty hours by rail from this city as good sport can be 

 found as anywhere under the sun, in a river, thanks to pro- 

 tection of the right sort, where one of the oldest Indian 

 guides told me only last summer there were ten times as many- 

 salmon as thirty years ago, when among the first he guided 

 strangers to the fishing grounds, and where an angler can go 

 and have one week's fishing for an expense not exceeding 

 $100, not including tackle, of course. I refer to Metapediac, 

 a delightfully located settlement at the confluence of the Me- 

 tapediac and Restigouche Rivers, in the Province of Quebec, 

 Canada, a station on the Intercolonial Railway, 302 miles east 

 from Quebec, and reached in less than 22 hours from Mon- 

 treal, or 12 hours from St. John, N. B. 



The Restigouche means "the river which divides like the 

 Hand," alluding to its separating into five large branches, 

 which are the Metapediac or Musical River, TJpsalguitch or 

 Blanket River, Wetarrokegewick or Large River, Mistoucbe 

 or Little River, and the Waagan or Knife River. Where the 

 main river enters the Baie des Chaleurs it is three miles wide 

 and very deep. Prom tide water to its source, near Lake 

 Temisconata, it is 200 miles, and drains 5,000 square miles of 

 territory. Its waters flow over a bed of rock and pebbles, 

 and are always clear and pure as crystal. The wild grandeur 

 of its scenery is beyond description, especially that portion 

 where it forces its way through the mountains." 



Here on its upper waters the eagle, unmolested, builds its 

 nest upon high cliffs, the bear and wildcat sectete themselves 

 in caves and rocky fissures ; the moose and carriboo brous» 

 upon their favorite food ; and salmon, fearless and free, re- 

 flect the sunshine in the deepest and darkest pools. At 

 many of the windings a grand panoramic view is produced, 

 impressing one with the idea of some mighty amphitheatre 

 situated in the midst of Nature's wilds, which completely 

 dazzles the eye with delight, and for the moment almost 

 overcomes the mind with awe. 



[This description is taken from the " Intercolonial Railway 

 Guide Book." For a lengthy article read Harper's Magazine 

 for 1869. It is entitled the "Restigouche," by Chas. 

 Hallock.l 



After leaving the cars at Metapediac, you find yourself 

 very near a good hotel kept by Mr. Daniel Frazer. Here you 

 can be fitted out at short notice with all the requisites, guides 

 (Indians), canoes, tents and provisions for camping out if one 

 takes a notion that way, and in fifteen minutes time from the 

 hotel be on the pools where the salmon are lying, and in ten 

 minutes more know what it is to be playing a twenty-five 

 pound fish (which was brought to gaff in forty minutes), as 

 was my experience last summer, although late for the best 



The season when the salmon begins to take the fly varies 

 more or less every year. What is called the first run are all 

 large fish ranging in weight from 30 to 40 pounds each, and 

 even as heavy as 42 or 45 pounds have been taken, and they 

 are fighters I can tell you. It is seldom one of these fish is 

 killed in less than two hours, and we have known some of our 

 most renowned and experienced anglers to get hooked on to a 

 sulker that took him four hours to bring to gaff. When they 

 are in the mood of it you must follow them down swift and 

 dangerous rapids and bring to bear all the skill and knowledge 

 of the oldest and most experienced canoemen, with cool heads 

 and strong arms. 



Besides good salmon fishing there are fine large trout to bo 

 had in all the streams. You have only to go up the Meta- 

 pediac River to Cooks Brook on Mill Stream or some of the 

 other well known resorts, and be sure of bringing back a fine 

 string. Last July I put my canoe, guides and other outfit on 

 the up-train that comes along at Metapediac about 7 o'clock 

 A. m., and at 8 o'clock was on the Metapediac River, 20 miles 

 up stream, casting for whatever might happen to be inclined 

 to take the hook. On our way down two salmon were hooked, 

 but as I was a poacher as far as those fish were concerned, it 

 might not be well to say whether they were brought to gaff or 

 not, but what can an angler do who is fishing for trout and 

 salmon insist upon getting on his hooks? At the mouth of 

 the Assametquaghan River, I took in about fifteen minutes 22 

 trout that weighed when we got back to the hotel at night 

 40i pounds, and they were all beauties and very gamy. At 

 my first cast three fish struck me at the same moment, and I 

 was not aware that I had more than one fish hooked until I 

 saw three tails working up stream. As I was heavily rigged, 

 and my guides were getting dinner, I dragged them all out on 

 the stones at my feet, and they weighed "3^, 1|, 1^ pounds. 

 My Indians said that was the first time they had seen three 

 fish of that size taken at one cast, but it is often done in those 

 streams that abound in large trout. The season when large 

 numbers of trout may be taken is from the middle of August 

 to late in the fall. There never has been a time, even in the 

 early part of July, that I have not had a good day's sport 

 when I went for it. 



Tour readers may by this time be getting tired of my long 

 story, and want to know more fully the particulars of a trip 



