THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL. 



[Entered ipeoraing to Act. of Congress, to the year 1879, by Hie Forest tad Stream Publishing: Company, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at 'Washington. 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JULY 24, 1879. 



IT MAY NOT BE. 



JOHN 0. w 



TT may not be our lot to wield 

 A The sickle in the ripened field ; 

 Nor ours to hear, on Summer eves, 

 The reaper's song: anions the sheaves. 



Yet where our duty's task h wroufthi 



Iu unison with Rod's ureal, thnueln . 

 The near and future blend in one, 

 And whatsoe'er is willed is done. 



And ours the grateful service whence 

 Comes, day by day. Die recompense: 

 The hope, the trust, the purpose stayed, 

 The fountain, and the noonday shade . 



And were this life the utmost span. 

 The only end and aim of man, 

 Better the toil of fields like these 

 Than waking dreams and slothful ease . 



But life, though falling like our grain'. 

 Like that, revives and springs again ; 

 And, early called, how blesl are they 

 \\ ho wait In heaven their harvest day ! 



JP^ (gmie and ^mh of Jthskn. 



[FitOM ram Sins, 'iat, COnREgPOKIipKT OK BllAliD THE jA.MESTOW!S-.l 



Editor Fwe$t and Stream :— 



I PROMISED you nry first impressions of Alaska. I 

 partiaUy fulfill my promise by now taking advantage 

 of the twilight and jolting down a few. Wl ien j-ou will 

 get them is a case of '■ quion Babe I " We found on arrival 

 here, that although we were three weeks from San Fran- 

 cisco, yet our dates (May 23d) were the latest, and they 

 still stay so, for the monthly mail steamer is now thirteen 

 days overdue, although we know that she left San Fran- 

 cisco on time, for she left .when we did: and we little 

 thought that as alio under steam parted company, heading 

 direct for Sitka, and we. forced by a northwesterly wind 

 almost as directly away from it. that we would arrive here 

 first, and have to send out, a relief party to look for her. 

 And if she don't come— if she has come to grief, through 

 some one of the many dangers which those who navigate 

 these seas encounter, when or how we shall send our mail, 

 becomes a problem second in importance only to the mate 

 to it, when and how shall we ever get any? 



We live in hopes, though. Our little steamer, with a 

 gallant party, well armed with how it/.er, G-atliu, rifles, and 

 revolvers, well provisioned and equipped, has been favored 

 with splendid weather, and will probably fmd her, if she 

 is between here and Wrangel. Before this letter is finished 

 II know. 



This has been the longest day in my life, and at the 

 same time one of the shortest; the sun rose at 3:03, and 

 set at 8:58, seventeen hours and fifty-five minutes of unin- 

 terrupted sunshine, and the weather has been, except that 

 there was no haze, like an Indian summer day. For the 

 first lime, since our arrival on the 11th, we have been aide 

 to revel in the entirety of the magnificent scenery. Not a 

 cloud has to-day hidden from our eyes the summits of any 

 of the grand mountains which surround us; they have 

 stood in relief against the blue sky, in strong contrast, one 

 with another : the higher ones of three thousand feet, with 

 peaks bare of trees, but covered with mantles of beautiful 

 white, from which, radiating toward the dense forests are 

 ravines filled with snow, and in the sunlight resembling 

 ribbons of silver : then Still nearer to us. the lower moun- 

 tains and high hills, covered to their tops with dense f , di- 

 age; and surrounding us. the nearest within a hundred 

 yard radius, areflpoks of balsam covered islands. Can 

 you imagine the Thousand Islands, emboweredin Hie Adi- 

 rondack's, with the Aln- 



Sitka lias hern fearf,., ._.. •., -scenery no har- 



bor m the world is its equal, not excepting Naples and Rio 

 de Janeiro. They have Vesuvius and the Sugar Loaf, we 

 have Vestora, eternally snow clad, and Edgecombe the 

 beautiful. 



Sitka's climate has been maligned ; we have been here a 

 week and have had but one bad day ; one other day it 

 rained considerable, but it was not a hard, pelting, drive- 



you-into-the-house kind of rain, but a gentle fall of drops, 

 so little that it seemed as though they originated in a 

 vaporizer, and with our rubber clothes' and boots, we set 

 it at naught, and hunted and fished as though it rained 

 not. Between rains the climate is dry. and our guns do 

 not suffer, as on our own sea coast. 



Sitka's resources have been maligned. In a commercial 

 point of view it jiat/.% and could be made to pay better, but 

 all that comes into another branch of my correspondence. 

 I will not bore your readers, nor emasculate other letters 

 by telling you ought of its lumber, its minerals, nor its 

 status politically. I will get at what I know will prove of 

 more interest, and it too. is of great importance, viz.: its 

 fisheries. A branch of the Euro Suir, or Japan Gulf 

 Stream, sweeps by here and so warms the surrounding- 

 seas, that they are filled with life. Algae, of variety and 

 size that are wonderful, and fish beyond calculation ; cod in 

 plenty, and five-pound sea bass, and Norway haddocks, 

 halibut, and strange fish that I know not, are so abundant, 

 that from the Indians who attend us, a "bit "will pur- 

 chase all that ten men can eat ; and the salmon will soon 

 be here in crowds : they are just beginning to run, and the 

 canning factory of the "Messrs. Cutting, of San Francisco, 

 has begun operations for the season. -'How are the 

 mighty fallen," I reflect, when I see a lordly salmon rest- 

 ing in the bottom of the canoe of some filthy Indian to be 

 traded off for a few crackers, if sold ashore, or for ten 

 cents from one of us, who are "ruining the prices." 



There will be good shooting soon: the ducks come next 

 month, and by that time the grouse will have grown large 

 enough, and both are in profusion. Venison is plentiful— 

 and such venison. I had on my table to-day a piece of a 

 saddle, for which (the whole saddle) I paid a dollar, and it 

 had streaks, or rather layers of fat, over half an inch 

 (hick : the flavor was excellent. By-the-way, my table is 

 a good one, aside from my groceries, which I would pay 

 dearly enough for had I not secured them in San Fran- 

 cisco. I have grouse, speckled trout, salmon trout, sal- 

 mon, sea bass, cod, etc., splendid crabs, good clams, fresh 

 eggs, radishes, and onions, and if we stay until fall shall 

 have as good potatoes, beets, and cabbages, as any one 

 could wish. Our only meat is venison, the town possesses 

 one cow only, and she is unprovided with a spouse ; goat 

 meat I forgot ; that can be had by those who want it. All 

 of these things are very cheap, except the vegetables. (I 

 am promised green peas uext month.) So we eat and grow 

 fat, wdien we thought to have had commons. 



I " went a-fishing " to-day ; I was tired and with a head- 

 ache, from a lot of very tiresome '■ pow-wow." A woman 

 had died the night before, and another had been accused 

 by the " doctor" as a witch, and was to be killed accord- 

 ingly. In Sitka all failures on the part of the medicine 

 man are by him attributed to witchcraft, and the unfortu- 

 nate accused lias no more chance than, in the days of our 

 disreputable Pilgrim forefathers, did a woman under simi- 

 lar circumstances in Salem. Of course we stopped, and 

 insured that it would stay stopped, the sacrifice of the old 

 lady, and then, as I said, I went a-fislu'ng. 



Four miles from the ship, a beautiful little river, fed by 

 the melting snow on the mountains, makes its way to the 

 sea, debouching in a bay a mile in width, formed by pre- 

 cipitous mountains, the ravine of the river, and two or 

 three others snow lined, furnishing the only breaks to the 

 contour. I went for trout, and I got them— got so many. 

 and so easily, and so unscientifically, thatthesport palled 

 on me. A hundred rods from the mouth of theriver we 

 found the remains of a heavy crib dam and flume, where, 

 in olden times, the Russians* had a saw mill, now gone to 

 ruin. In the deep and swirling water under thedam the 

 trout were plentiful and hungry. I was well fitted out 

 with my Orvis bass fly rod and appropriate gear, and I 

 gave my first cast with a "coachman," a " scarlet ibis, " 

 and a " hackle, for I could not guess what color nor shape 

 they wotdd prefer. It was all the same ; not a rise could 

 I get; and at last I was reluctantly compelled to adopt 

 the bait of the country, with which, yielding to urgent 

 advice, I had provided myself, and that was salmon roe. 

 It is quite tenacious, and a bait will sometimes catch a 

 second fish. With a sinker on my line and a "fob" of 

 roe on my hook, it was but an instant before' 1 had a good 

 fish. And for two hours our catch was uninterrupted, 

 except for the lime required to play the large ones. I had 

 no landing net, and standing as "I did some fifteen feet 

 above the water, I felt a little nervous at first when I found 

 t necessary to lift the tish with the rod, but the little rod 

 .•as sound, and landed fish of twice its weight Without ai 

 ccident. 



The trout were of two varieties, the most plentiful be- 

 Og what are here termed salmon trout. I should call 

 •out. They are a slimmer fish than the fon- 

 if thirteen inches length weighing just thir- 

 — bile one of our Adirondack trout of same 

 ;h over seventeen ounces. The back is 



Thirty-six of these, ranging from eight to thirteen inches 



in length, rewarded my two hours' work, and with them 

 four genuine speckled trout, with crimson specks and red 

 fins, and tail squarer than the silver trout, hut not, I think, 

 as square as our eastern fish, These were about four to six 

 ounce fish. Neither of the varieties bit sa vagely, like our 

 trout. 



At this season the salmon are daily expected to be- 

 gin running up this and the other rivers in the vicinity 

 to spawn. It is probable that the instinct of these fish, 

 who undoubtedly depend upon this spawn for their daily 

 rations, has taught them that they need not rush to secure 

 a bit of roe. So they take it easy and mumble at the bait, 

 like kittens would, but when hooked they are quite gamy 

 : "'I :.i',\'L-d ,','-i, -.;,:.]., -v.iide sport Mv i w, , >„ mrs work filled 

 my fifteen pound basket, and I've* worked many a time 

 from daylight till dark for much less. 



We can do no shooting as yet. The grouse are bringi n g 

 up their young, the geese have been here and gone north 

 until fall, the ducks have not yet arrived, and the elk and 

 bear, with which we are assured the forests are well pro- 

 vided, are a little too far off for us to get at until we shall 

 have exhausted the resources nearer home. It may hap- 

 pen that some of us will have a bear hunt on hand "quite 

 unexpected like." Indian River and Saw Mill Creek 

 where we go for trout, will soon teem with salmon. I am 

 told that in certain pools, and in shallows, the water each 

 year is black with their heads, each with mouth wide open 

 striving to follow the example of the youth whose motto 

 was "Excelsior." Then Indians scoop them up and pre- 

 pare their winter's supply of smoked salmon, which to 

 them is nearly the only food : and the bears too— brown 

 bears and black bears, and worst of all, cinnamon bears- 

 come to the the feast and fill up on salmon. Since I saw 

 the big one in Woodward's Garden, San Francisco, my 

 ambition to encounter a wild one has been greatly modi- 

 fied. There are one or two narrow places on the trail along 

 the face of the cliff that leads up to the dam, and should a 

 bear happen to meet one at aboutsuch a place, one or the 

 other would have to take water, and I fear that it might 

 not be the bear. 



Before I left the East, everybody when they bade me 



"good-bye," had a little commission, al way sthe same 



"bring me some seal skin." I want to answer a dozen or 

 so of my friends at once. There are no fur sealskins 

 to be obtained here. Nearly all of the fur seals are cap- 

 tured on the island of St. Paul (or John), or St. Matthew, 

 a thousand miles to the westward, a delightful abode of 

 storms, and unknown reefs, and mountain currents, and 

 fur seal and sea lions, which I would farpreferto hear my 

 friend Eliot describe and talk about than to visit in person. 

 Here I find beaver, and fox, and otter, mink, mountain 

 sheep, deer, and bear skins, but no fur seal. 



The California came in early this morning, having been 

 detained at Port land, till she is fifteen days overdue, a long 

 time for us to wait for mail and papers. She brings us 

 dates to Juno 1st, but no Forest and Stream's for me • 

 please remedy that defect. The steamer leaves this after- 

 noon, and I must wind up. PlSECO 



Sitka, Alaska, Jane 31; st, 1,879. 



For Fr>rcxt mul Stream and Hnd and Gun 



GREVE SHOOTING IN FRANCE. 



AFTER the gathering of the grape harvest in France 

 there is found, among the vineyards, a bird called 

 the greve, which offers to the sportsman as tine an oppor- 

 tunity to display his skill as the most ardent lover of 

 shooting could desire. Little larger than our common 

 robin, difficult to approach, and as rapid on the wing a3 



B than 



a blue-rock, it requires moi 



steadiness to bring down i. 

 nethod most pursued in hunting 

 iportsman stations himself on the 

 lends in beaters to (lush the bin 

 jump up with a peculiar whistlin 

 toward the [nearest woods. Thei 

 wl,. 



a quickness and 

 ut gamy bird. The 

 i is as follows • The 

 ide of lli.. vines and 

 When Hushed they 

 [ise and fly straight 

 that they offer a 



usi take- them astheyfh 



•banco to the marksman, 

 over his head. 



One day hist October 1 Ballied forth withseveral friends, 

 prepared for a grand battle, and. having prevailed on some 

 lie little boys of the neighborhood to accompany us as 



them sih 

 tinalis 



teen o 



length would 



Of an olive green, dark on top and shading down at the 

 dian line, so that the transition from the green to the sil 7er 

 side and white belly isnot abrupt. In the green portion 

 there are pale yellow specks. The head is like that of the 

 for, Una I is, but somewhat longer, the tail is forked, and the 

 second dorsal has the true trout development. From head 

 to junction of tail the body resembles that of a mackerel. 



beaters, together with their 



y different breeds and sizes as one 

 we made our way to tin ■ nearest vinet 

 were pretty sure "to find the object of oi 

 the beaters into the vines we 

 outside and awaited, not long, however 

 well fixed in our respective positions t 

 greves was heard and Out they darted 

 These must have been fifty of (hem. -.,< 

 number, I was unable to kill one, a 



the latter 



being of as 

 ouiu well imagine) 

 . amidstwhich we 

 i search. Sending 

 ! ourselves on the 

 for before we were 

 if whistling of the 

 in even- di 

 Iv -i it of all that 

 1. in fact, I was not 



alone in my misery, since only one of the pariv killed his 

 bird— while the rest had missed as clearly as myself, and 

 as for the birds, well ! thev were far beyond reach— no' 

 doubt laughing m theirslecves, (provided they were gifted 

 with such an article) far in the midst of the woods, where 

 it would have been folly to pursue them. 

 At the next vineyard we flushed, not the expected greves > 



