402 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



[Dec. 20, 1883. 



tory reply is made to the charges the Superintendent ''must 

 go." 



It is a well-known fact that game was served on the tables 

 of certain hotels in the Park last summer, and it is difficult 

 to believe thai the Superintendent could have been ignorant 

 of this fact. If he did not know of it , he could scarcely have 

 been attending to his duties or else must be himself incom- 

 petent; while if he was aware of it, he should have taken 

 prompt measures to stop the hunters, and to bring the of- 

 fenders to justice. Moreover, all such violators of the law- 

 should have been promptly reported to his superiors. 



It is encouraging to see that Senator Vest's zeal for the pro- 

 tection of the Park is as unflagging as ever, and we trust 

 that, the time is not distant wiien all the measures which he 

 has so ably advocated for its proper care will have the cordial 



SUPPOI'I Ol' Congress. 



SA VE THE AUIROXDACA'S. 

 T)ART of the Adirondack territory is State, land; the rest 

 ■*• is private property. The most of the laud is valued 

 only for its timber. After the timber has been cut off, in 

 many instances, the owners refuse to pay taxes on their 

 property, and the land reverts to the State, 



Now the forests of these Adirondack Mountains are worth 

 vastly more to the people of this State than they are to the 

 lumber dealers. This tree-sheltered region is a great natural 

 reservoir, where the rainfall is collected and stored for the 

 supply of the streams and rivers and canals of the State. 



The lumbermen, who own a great part of the Adirondack 

 wilderness, propose to cut off the trees and convert them 

 into boards. This means that the Hudson River and the 

 other streams which How from the Adirondack water-shed 

 must dwindle away to insignificant rivulets, for it has been 

 amply demonstrated in the history of other countries, and 

 other parts of our own country, that if the natural forest 

 reservoirs an; destroyed, the water supply will cease. The 

 people of New York State cannot afford to shut tlicir eyes to 

 this fact. The Legislature at Albany this winter will be 

 called upon to take some action respecting the Adirondack?. 



Years ago, in the columns of this journal, we urged that 

 the State should assume control of the whole Adirondack 

 region. The press has taken up the subject in earnest, the 

 business men of New York recognize the gravity of the 

 danger that threatens if the forests are destroyed, The 

 Chamber of Commerce has prepared a memorial on the sub- 

 ject, which will be presented to the next Legislature. 11 is 

 proposed to obtain as many signatures to this petition 

 as possible. It has been sent to us for a very 

 practical purpose, and we print it here for that 

 purpose. It is hoped that every reader of the Foukst Kkd 

 Stbeam in this State will clip out this memorial, and having 

 affixed it to a sheet of paper, secure as many signatures to it 

 as possible. Then return to us and we will hand them to the 

 committee. 



Now, let every man who wauls to see the Adirondack 

 forests preserved do something to help secure their protec- 

 tion. 

 To the Honorable the Legislature of Ihe Statu o/Neic Tork, in Senate 



and Assembly convened; 

 May It please your Honorable Body: 



The Cliamber of Commerce of the State of New York is alarmed at 

 the daugers which threaten the water supply of the rivers in the 

 northern part of the State through the destruction of the forests whicn 

 protect their sources. 



The Chamber believes that the preservation of these forests is ne- 

 cessary to maintain an abundant and constant flow of water in the 

 Hudson, the Mohawk, and other important streams; and that their 

 destruction will seriously injure tbe internal commerce of the State. 

 As long as this forest region remains in the possession of private in. 

 dividual*, its protection from fire and lumbering operations will be 

 impossible. Believing, then, that tliis matter is one of very great im- 

 portance, and that the necessity exists for immediate legislative ac- 

 tion, we humbly pray your Honorable Body to adopt such measures 

 as will enable the State to acquire the whole territory popularly known 

 as the Adirondack Wil ierness, and hold it forever as a forest preserve. 



And your memorialists will ever pray. 



occasionally are called upon to chronicle some pretty tall 

 shooting in the way of figures on paper, yet there is reason 

 to think that some very accurate hitting has been done. 



With the winter there does not come a season of neglect. 

 Especially is this the case with organizations where shooting 

 is a part of the special work for which the body meets. 

 Shooting clubs and military companies may spend the win- 

 ter very profitably in learning, not merely in theory, but as 

 an art. something of rifle shooting. We have always been 

 of opinion that the full benefit of this quiet, inexpensive 

 armory drill has never been gained by our National Guards- 

 men, and every season's exhibits by certain of the regiments 

 before the butts have only served to convince ns of the 

 correctness of our views. There is a double wrong doue if 

 a man is ordered out to an open air range for ball practice 

 before he has earned the right to that sort of instruction by 

 proficiency iu the drill room. 



The holding of the rifle in off-hand shooting is a matter 

 which may and ought to be attended to indoors, and a 

 clumsy manipulation of the piece is very good proof that 

 there has been previous neglect and that the man is out 

 his place on the range, wasting his own time and squander- 

 ing the public money because of the incompetency or neglect 

 of some superior officer, 



It woidd not be a bad idea to have a careful examination 

 of the members of the several city regiments at the close of 

 the winter's drill season, with special leferenee to these 

 points. Let a careful system of armory drill be arranged by 

 the Rifle Inspector General, and then let it be understood 

 that a test will be made so see how far the instructions have 

 been followed. If it is seen (hat the men are lit to take a trip 

 to Creedinoor with profit to themselves and the State, then 

 let them go. But the present system of haphazard orders is 

 at least extravagant if not positively hurtful in that, it imposes 

 tasks upon the men for the performance of which they have 

 not been previously properly qualified. 



SUNDAY SHOOTING. 



SUMMER AND WINTER RIELE PRACTICE. 



THE cold weather has practically brought to a finish the 

 outdoor sport of the rifleman, and with the coming of 

 Thanksgiving Day there was a general clearing up of all 

 matches ami a putting away of rifles for the season. Here and 

 there are ranges where there is much off-hand work. Winter 

 houses at the firing points may assist in rendering the range 

 such a pleasant resort that the popping of the rifles may be 

 kept up all the year round. In such cases the shooters get a 

 very different set of elevations from what they were accus- 

 tomed to use during the hot days of summer, and there is just 

 as much enjoyment in tiring through an atmosphere with a 

 temperature of 20° as there is in having one of 70 . 



The season for outdoor shooting iu this latitude, however, 

 has really finished. It has been a profitable one, and some 

 capital .-.cores have been ,-hown on many ranges, and upon 

 the whole it may fairly be said that the art of rifle shooting 

 is in a flourishing condition. There is no great boom on the 

 subject, and in the mind of the public tin- defeat iu England 

 has place! the riflemen rather under a shadow, but the 

 generally has been well patronized, and we are ahead of the 

 point reached a year ago. Our National Guard is better ac- 

 quainted with its arms and in a more fit condition to do ser- 

 vice for the State if called upon. Many interesting matches 

 have been fought by our civilian marksmen, and while we 



IT is a very discouraging sign to see the perfect disregard 

 -*- shown the law intended to prevent Sunday shooting. 

 A year or so ago it was not an easy matter to get a haytnan 

 to go out with one lor a day's sport on Sunday; but now 

 very few obstacles stand in the way, and Sunday shooting 

 becomes one of the leading attractions of some places along 

 our coast, Where there is very little to see and much less to 

 shoot. 



•Beyond the prohibition of law, there are other strong 

 reasons which should prevent this thing. Birds that are shot 

 at every day of the week (Sunday included) will become 

 wild, and, with their method of staying far out in the open 

 water, where they can ciosely obsetve the approach of the 

 sportsman, is as bad as no shooting at all. It is like killing 

 the goose that lays the golden egg, for sporting hotel pro- 

 prietors and gunners to encourage Sunday shooting, and 

 thus rob themselves; for let a person visit a particular local- 

 ity and fail to shoot or hardly see any birds, no more money 

 of such a one will be spent there. New grounds will be 

 looked up, and only such places will be visited where game 

 abounds, offering the sportsman a chance for a shot. 



Birds that axe allowed one day of the week to rest and 

 feed will become sufficiently tame to be drawn to the stools. 

 If kept constantly on the wing, they will leave for a more 

 hospitable neighborhood. Many complaints are made by 

 professional gunners of the scarcity of game, and especially 

 the small birds, which in years past have flown in cloud- 

 like flights over the coast of Long Island. 



How could one expect anything different when seven days 

 of each week are given up to the indiscriminate slughter of 

 young and old — sparing neither the setting meadow hen, the 

 lonely sandpiper, nor even the little grass bird — but with 

 interminable shooting from early spring, throughout the 

 summer, midsummer and autumn, it. is not BtrBrJge that 

 the birds shoulcl be so scarce. The true sportsman should 

 denounce this business most emphatically, and even if uot 

 led by conscientious scruples as to trespassing upon the 

 seventh day, his desire to respect the Lord and protect the 

 game should be enough. 



In these days of fishcuHure, protective game laws, game 

 preserves, etc., it would seem as if indeed a backward move- 

 ment had set in. and all advantages derived from these would 

 be more than counterbalanced by the nest-destroyers of the 

 North, improved breech-loaders and Sunday shooting. 



There are other considerations which should affect the man 

 who wishes to tlo what is right, and give others the same op- 

 portunity. To those who regard not the restrictions of Sun- 

 day, we would say, that what you may see tit to inflict upon 

 yourself you have no right to bring upon others. To take 

 of half-starved birds— when the very stillness of 

 i lie flay would suggest their protection— is almost as bad as 

 robbing a hen roost. The grounds that would be covered 

 with birds il ' lc '£ l undisturbed will soon become a vacant 

 waste. The baymau who for six days of the week has not 

 seen the break of clay from his own cottage door, will find 

 that he cannot deny nature this seventh day of rest with im- 

 punity. The seventh day was intended to recruit the over- 

 taxed muscles and denied rest of the week, and nature will 

 have it or something must give way. 



The Sunday law should be strictly enforced, and no one 

 should be more diligent about its enforcement than those 

 who depend upon these sports for a living. 



Jpuj fyort8ti\nn ^anri^t 



DOWN THE YUKON ON A RAFT. 



BY LIEUT. FEED'S SCHWATKA, Tj. S. ArOTY. 



Part I.— Introductory. 



THE story which follows is a small painting of the au- 

 thor's recent expedition iu the far-off territory of Alas- 

 ka. The picture is tinged with the hues ol hunting adven- 

 ture, but unless time and musquitoes are considered legiti- 

 mate killings, our score, as will be seen, was rather small. 



The party, seven in number, left Portland, Oregon, in the 

 latter part of May, 1883, on one of the regular monthly line 

 of steamers that ply between this port and those in the south- 

 western part of Alaska. Stopping at Astoria, near the mouth 

 of the Columbia, a large salmon cannery was visited, and as 

 our vessel was loading" material from it for another in Alas- 

 ka, we were kindly received and ''showed around." The 

 salmon are caught mostly by gill nets (the size of the meshes 

 regulated by State law)," stretched across bars, bottoms and 

 shoals that experience has shown to be the best, and these 

 nets are examined mornings and evenings. The salmon, once 

 worth from two to five cents apiece at the canneries, now 

 bring ten and fifteen times the latter amount without a Cor- 

 responding increase in the value of the canned fish in the 

 English markets (for these marts consume the greater share 

 of the dozen million cans annually produced on this river 

 alone). This shows what immense profits were former!] 

 made. 



When the boats have brought the salmon to the canneries 

 and the. two interested parlies checked off the number, they 

 pass into the great barn of a building, and are placed under 

 a morgue-like "hydraulic apparatus to keep them cool until 

 cleaned by Chiuamcu. Then they pass to the cutting ma- 

 chine. This is a series of knives that at one revolution 

 divide the fish into a dozen sections, one of which maybe 

 etiten by European royalty, another by the gentle American 

 backwoodsman, and another — especially if there be any fault 

 in its canning process— may be used to supply our great ami 

 numerous army. Chinamen hustle these sub-salmon into two- 

 pound cans, with a certain amount of salt, and they then go 

 through a boiling and steaming process. It requires a couple 

 of sober men and a half a dozen well regulated clocks to do 

 this part of the business properly. The cans are then headed 

 aud solder themselves as they "roll down to the place where 

 they are tested and labeled with a modest American label, 

 that gives an exact portrait of the particular fish in that can. 

 Two dozen - 18 In.-. ) cans iu a box make a "case," the unit, of 

 commerce aud market reports. More than half a million 

 cases were shipped last year from the Columbia alone. The 

 cannery men are mostly' Chinese, the fishermen largely from 

 the Mediterranean, a jolly lot of drink-destroyers that would 

 pawn ten yards of blue ribbon for four fingers of "Cayuse 

 claret" (to' use. the Oregon vernacular), rather than for a lied 

 or a supper. 



1 can remember nearly thirty years ago when the Chinook 

 Indians fished these waters with' spears and canoes, a nighi 

 scene with the lighted torches in the bows forming a beau- 

 tiful sight. To The utilitarian, however, whose comprehen 

 sivc right does not extern! beyond the circumference of a 

 dollar, the present pictures are much the prettier in their 

 t;-old frames. These salmon, while running up a river to 

 spawn, will not rise to a tly nor even descend to a bait, and 

 a story was once current in these parts that many years ago 

 when'this fertile country was in dispute, parties were sent 

 out by the respective governments to see if it was really 

 worth anything more than spitting on their hands and shak- 

 ing their fists at each other. Sir Auonvmous Somebody, K. 

 C. B., on the part of Great Britain, visited it and investi- 

 gated it thoroughly with a hook and line— having heard of 

 the famous salmon of these regions— andhecause they would 

 not bite as thev did in the Shannon, he is said to have re- 

 ported that it wasn't worth an obstruction placed across a 

 river to raise its waters. Lewis and Clarke represented our 

 government, 1 believe, and as they were here only two years 

 and a half, and therefore had no time to spare I 

 order to read the instructions prepared lor them al the seat 

 of government, the salmon question did not enter into our 

 consideration; and Oregon is to-day a prospective star of the 

 first magnitude in the constellation of the American Union. 

 It is not strictly correct that these running salmon will not 

 bite or rise to a fly. Where they meet a serious obstruction 

 to their spawning migration, as a perpendicular falltoo high 

 for them to leap, they will not turn back to seek abetter 

 channel but persist in their attempts to ascend until the late- 

 ness of the season drives them back to SCO. At these places 

 salmon fishing with a rod and line is not wholly unprofitable, 

 aud during the last year or two several fishermen caught 

 these speckled athletes at the Willamette Falls on the main 

 tributary of the Columbia. So persistent were they m then 



leapings at this cataract, and so numerous, thi 



anchored out below the falls have been known to catch them 

 in varying quantities, according to the size of the craft aud 

 the person that, told the story. 



Leaving Astoria behind we plunged out into the broad 

 Pacific, and most of the passenger now took advantage of 

 this time to get the rest that had been denied them in the 

 hurry of the preparation for the voyage. At least Wfl had 

 their word for it as explanations for absence from tneals. 

 Rounding Cape Flattery, a few hours was spent in Necah 

 Bay, lightering a few- tons of freight ashore in Indian canoes, 

 while the weary passengers came crawling from theu- rooms, 

 pale with refreshment. The voyage through the Strait of 

 Juan de Fcca, if the day be clear, is very picturesque. On 

 the north is the high rolling pine-covered hill-laud uf \au- 

 COUVer/s Island, With here ami there a pretty open prairie 

 showing a white hamlet or two. and on our own country s 

 side is a duplication of the shore, bucked by the snow-covered 

 peaks of the Olympian range. Ml,. Olympus, the highest of 

 the group, has iiever been ascended by white men, 1 under- 

 stand, ami its impenetrable girdle of 'dense timber makes it 

 an undertaking of no small magnitude to even reach its foot. 

 The Indians are said to avoid the mountains, with religious 

 determination believing they are the abode of spooks, demons, 

 o-hosts and hobgoblins In general. Ahead, Alt. Baker of the 

 Cascade range, 15,000 feet high, breaks in on the scene. 



We arrived at Victoria in the forenoon of the Queen's 

 birthday, and every one of the bristling poles was flaunting 

 buntiugfrom its peak, and below every one was making hil- 

 arity the duty of the day. Not a pilot was to be had lor all 

 the inducements that could be given, all of them joining m 

 the general joy, although the Victoria (such was our ves- 

 sel's name) was blowing her whistle hoarse for three or four 

 hours to bring them out and pilot us in. Well along into the 

 afternoon a small boat put out having on board a pilot so 



