FOREST AND STREAM. 



of returning small fry to the water gave great amusement 

 to the mountaineers — and friend Collins in particular, who 

 was working on the place, would break out at regular in- 

 tervals, after "studying" for a . while, with "And so you 

 throw back the little fellows! x Ha! ha! ha!" I doubt if 

 exhortations — which were constantly made — to the people 

 to do likewise, had any serious effect. Shortly after my" 

 return the Doctor came ^ith four fine trout, taken in the 

 Elk near the house. He had gone down without his net, 

 "not expecting sport, and found trout of large size rising all 

 over the pool. He had struck a number which he had lost 

 in wading ashore to land them in the absenee of his net. 

 We went to rest, therefore, with bright anticipations for 

 the morrow. 



June 15. — Alas, it began to rain shortly after we com- 

 menced to cast, and poured steadily all day, and at night 

 besides. In vain I stood, and sometimes sat, on a ledge 

 with my legs dangling in the water, protected as to my 

 other parts by an immense overhanging rock, casting and 

 resting by turns. Evening came, but even then the trout 

 would not come to the surface with such a rain beating it. 

 Score, 1 trout and 1 chinquepin perch. 



June 16. — Still raining, and the streams a "booming" 

 torrent. Talked about bears, "painters," rattlesnakes, po- 

 tato bugs, &c. There are few settlers in this part of Web- 

 ster Co. , and they are nearly all along Elk. Up Burgoo, 

 for instance, there are no settlements whatever, the country 

 being an unbroken wilderness for thirty or forty miles to 

 Greenbriar or Greeley, tire latter river being only eight 

 miles, however, in another direction. Bears are therefore 

 very numerous and often play havoc with the sheep. Ham- 

 rick's family had had a fine view one moonlight night of a 

 bear in full chase after his sheep on the hill-side just op- 

 posite the house. Deer, of course, abound, and there are 

 many "painters" and some wolves. Elk are no longer 

 seen. Rattlesnakes are often killed, particularly by sang- 

 ing parties (i. e., getting ginseng). Wonderful sang patches 

 found in the mountains and lost again, although carefully 

 sought,f orm the staple of many of the simple legends of these 

 parts. The bear and panther stories were of the usual sort. 

 Heard of a device for deceiving the potato bugs. "You 

 make your patch with the hills nice and sharp, and then 

 slip away and plant your potatoes somewhere in the woods; 

 Hie bugs will sit on the nice sharp hills until they starve 

 watching for the potatoes to come up." 



June 17. — The period of our banishment having ex- 

 pired, we concluded to return to John Hamrick's, hoping 

 that by evening the stream would be low enough there for 

 the fly. We could not have crossed the first ford, but for- 

 tunately Ben Ham rick was going to Valley Head on "Pete," 

 a stout mountain horse, and after crossing himself, with 

 his load of sang, &c, Pete was- driven back and carried 

 us over, riding double. Here we parted from Ben Ham- 

 rick — as fine a fellow as we have seen in the mountains. 

 At the next ford we passed over in a canoe, but we man- 

 aged to wade the last crossing, although the people thought 

 we could not possibly do so. We reached John llamrick's 

 before dinnertime and held a council of war. It seemed 

 certain that the Elk would not b'e low again for a day or 

 two. and as we had marked out rather an extensive pro- 

 gramme,, and our time was limited, we reluctantly decided 

 to turn our backs on this stream and push for Dry Fork. 

 We did not, therefore, have one-half the fishing we antici- 

 pated on Elk, but had the satisfaction of proving it to be 

 a fine stream, and reasonably hope for much better luck on 

 our next visit. The people all agreed, however, that the 

 stream is sadly altered from what it was a few years back, 

 when one needed only to skitter a coarse naked hook on 

 the water to take all the fish he wanted, and when trout of 

 fifteen, sixteen and eighteen inches, or more, were not 

 very uncommon. Elk river runs entirely underground for 

 a distance of five miles (except when swelled by rains) re- 

 appearing like a vast spring just above Jerry Cowgcr's. 

 Very many streams in West Virginia are like it in this re- 

 spect. After dinner we set our faces in the direction of 

 Dry Fork of Cheat, leaving Elk at Jerry Cowger's pas- 

 sing up its valley branch and descending the Elk water, 

 which, as before stated, is not a tributary of Elk but of 

 Valley river. A raven had croaked over our left in a most 

 dismal way while we were crossing the Brady place, per- 

 haps an omen of the storm which presently gathered fast 

 and dark. First we had a violent wind, making us appre- 

 hensive of falling trees, and then a heavy rain, with thunder 

 and lightning. It was nearly dark when we once more 

 entered the valley at the mouth of Elk Water and knocked 

 at the door of our former host, Mr. Crouch. He had re- 

 tired for the night, but fortunately Mrs. Crouch had not, 

 who quickly set before us a supply of bread and butter 

 and milk, with a dish of fragrant wild strawberries for 

 desert, We had made to-day about 25 miles. 



June 18. — We reached Beverly about four o'clock (dis- 

 tance, 18 or 20 miles) and were glad to rind Baltimore news- 

 papers for one week awaiting us at the post office. Here 

 we were told of a new road, part cut out and part just 

 blazed, to the sinks of Gandy, and this we straightway de- 

 termined to take, instead of crossing over from Beverly to 

 Soldier White's, on Dry Fork, fifteen miles lower clown — 

 for Gaudy is simply the main branch of the upper Dry 

 Fork stream. Leaving Beverly at 5 P. M., therefore, we 

 pushed on, six miles, to Billy Pritt's, some distance up the 

 Cheat Mountain. We had walked to-day about 25 miles. 



June 19.— Cheat Mountain is rather ugly to cross, but 

 we descended the other (Eastern) side in good condition. 

 Here we met a party of four or live horsemen returning 

 from the work of blazing out the _ new road, and as they 

 agreed that we could not possibly ford Cheat river on foot, 

 we engaged one of them to ride back a couple of miles 

 and put us over. We found the river formidable enough 

 from the strength of current, but think we could have 

 managed it, as we did Elk. The main branch of the Cheat, 

 or Shafer's Fork, is very long and rough, being hemmed in 

 between two mountains, and does not receive a single tri- 

 butary of any considerable size in all its course, differing 

 notably in this respect from the Dry Fork, which is formed 

 by or receives half a dozen streams of nearly equal size, 

 Glady, Laurel, Gandy, Red creek, Otter and Blackwater. 

 Higher up there are trout, but- it has been much fished, 

 while at the point where we crossed, and below, black bass 

 abound, called perch throughout this State. We had no 

 time to try any experiments on them, for we knew our 

 walk to-day was to be a very toilsome one over a succes- 

 tion of parallel mountain ranges. First, therefore, we 

 went up Shafer's Mountain and descended to Glady Fork, 

 and finding on it the last (and only) settlement in this direc- 

 tion, (it requires but one settler to make a "settlement") we 

 slopped a while for dinner. We saw some fishermen "pack- 

 ing" fish back to Phillippi or its neighborhood, but they 



reported the trout in Glady neither numerous or large. To 

 pack fish, is to salt them on the stream and carry them 

 home to be eaten leisurely for two or three weeks after- 

 wards like herrings, and this practice is one cause of the 

 deterioration of tire West Virginia streams. We were con- 

 stantly asked how we intended to pack our fish, being on 

 foot. After dinner we ascended Middle mountain and on 

 the other side crossed Laurel Fork, out of which hundreds 

 of small trout in a day have been taken this Summer by 

 parties from Beverly and beyond. We finally got on Rich 

 Mountain (a different range from the Rich Mountain men- 

 tioned before as a continuation of Laurel) and lost our way 

 from the new road, so that it was nearly dark when we reached 

 Spanogle\s, half a mile from the sinks of Gandy. "Thought 

 you men were pedlars, &c." We had made 25 miles or 

 more. The elevation of this region may be judged from 

 the fact that there was a white frost the morning before, 

 and, indeed, in some places a skim of ice. 



June 20. — Our original intention was to w r ait until Mon- 

 day and then fish down Gandy from the sinks of Armen- 

 trout's, our stopping place in former years, but we were 

 so strongly advised not to do so, the distance by the stream 

 being from 17 to 20 miles, and the way, in places, very 

 rough, wilh not a settlement between, that we reluctantly 

 abandoned the idea, particularly as we would be much 

 hampered by our baggage. We therefore determined *o 

 spend an hour or two in examining the sinks and then take 

 the short path to Armentrout's down the Dry Fork valley 

 proper, which runs nearly parallel with the Gandy Valle} , 

 the two coming together just at Aaron Armentrout's. Now 

 the sinks of Gandy deserve a better examination than we 

 made and a longer description than I have space for here 

 Next year we propose to pass through, and I may do more 

 justice to the subject then. We found to our surprise 

 that one may pass entirely through with little inconve- 

 nience, there being only a few places where it ii necessary 

 to stoop. We first went in about one hundred yards, where 

 the stream runs under a shoulder of Alleghany Mountains, 

 and found the cave so far to be about twenty feet wide and 

 as high ; in some places much wider and higher. We after- 

 wards entered the mouth, a mile below, and the cave was 

 of the same character, having also many side chambers, 

 and we saw a fine specimen of the whole. There are many 

 large caverns throughout this region, some well known 

 and more or less intimately explored, and doubtless many 

 more remain to be discovered. None, however, are like 

 this in being a natural channel for a stream also. At the 

 lower moutlumd.lying just inside is a long dark pool, 

 which I felt tempted to try for a large trout, but our rule 

 was to make no casts on Sundays. We were told that the 

 stream and cave were discovered by a man named Gundy 

 from the South Branch, who here spent a year during the 

 revolutionary war in order to avoid military service. At 

 ten o'clock we left the sinks, passed over a "low place" into 

 the Dry Fry Fork Valley and went leisurely down, arriving 

 at our old friend Armentrout's about five o'clock and meet- 

 ing a cordial reception. 



Junk 21. — Dry Fork and Gandy come together in Ar- 

 mentrout's meadow. Above this point the Dry Fork runs 

 under ground for half its course and therefore affords little 

 fishing, although trout arc said to pass freely in and out. 

 Below tiie junction the stream goes by the name of Dry 

 Fork (from its still sinking in the ground in places) until 

 it unites with Shafer's Fork, or main Cheat, thirty odd 

 miles down.- We spent to-day fishing about one and one- 

 half miles up Gandy and back. 1 think the trout have fal- 

 len oft both in numbers and size since last Summer, and 

 particularly since our first experience of the stream two 

 years ago. The Doctor admits the difference in size, but 

 not the falling off in numbers. Our rule on this stream is 

 to throw back all fish under seven inches, and we 

 therefore saved only 78 which toed this mark. We are 

 credibly informed that some years back trout might be 

 taken twenty inches long, but fourteen inches isarather un- 

 usual length now. It is sad to hear of the way in Which 

 the trout streams of West Virginia have been depleted, 

 and soon they will be nothing like even what they now are. 

 And no wonder. Last Summer the water was unusually 

 low, and everywhere we found the pools filled with green 

 bushes where the fish had been penned and the last one ig- 

 nominiously captured. At one place we saw six men and 

 boys standing in a circle "dulling" them out, (i. e. with a 

 wire loop on the end of a long pole), a horseman below 

 driving the school back whenever they would break 

 through. The ring leader of this party was a man who 

 commanded a company of "Swamp Angels" during the 

 war, composed of certain fellows of the baser sort, Who, 

 under the pretence of military service, kept the whole Dry 

 Fork Valley and adjoining regions in a state of terror and 

 wretchedness. One of them communicated to us the in- 

 formation that if a, stick be peeled white and laid on the 

 bottom, a trout cannot be induced or made to pass it. 



The people here assert that the black snake is a mortal 

 enemy of the rattlesnake, and that encounters have been 

 witnessed, in. which the former has been uuiformily suc- 

 cessful. 



June 22. — We went down to Isaac Roy's, about fourteen 

 miles, fishing occasionally, but not doing justice to the 

 stream. Trout fishing ends some five or six mile above 

 Roy's, and it is said the black bass are yearly ascending 

 higher, which, if true, I take to be a sign, and not a cause, 

 of the gradual disappearance of their betters. I have 

 already mentioned that the Dry Fork, although now quite 

 a stream, sinks and runs under ground, in places, except. 

 when the water is high. In Summer, both above and below 

 Soldier White's, you may pass for two or three miles see- 

 ing nothing but a dry rocky bed. After several prelimi- 

 nary showers, the rain set in steadily at four o'clock, and 

 we and all our belongings got a good soaking before reach- 

 ing quarters. Score, 60. Fish are nowhere so well cooked 

 as'at Roy's. 



June 23. — About a mile below, Dry Fork receives Red 

 creek, so called, and well named, from its color, even the 

 foam having a reddish tinge, particularly in high water. 

 We had fished a part of this stream hurriedly last year 

 with very good success and we were relying on it for some 

 of our best sport this Summer. Unfortunately, the un- 

 precedented lateness of the season and the recent heavy 

 rains spoiled our calculations, and we returned to Roy's 

 before dark with but 23. In one of the lower deep pools, 

 towards evening, I struck a fish which carried away my 

 entire cast, but whether it was one of the two or three 

 pounders which are said to inhabit here, or whether I was 

 indebted to the strength of the current, (it was at the head 

 of the pool), or my own unskillfulness for the loss, I will 

 not undertake to say. I should have mentioned before, 

 that both on Elk and Dry Fork we made a fair trial of the 



Mullaly flies, and our experience was that the arrangement 

 of the feathers over the point often prevented the hook 

 from taking hold in striking. We had some very small 



and neat flies, made for us by Captain , of Canada 



but the water was not fine enough to prove their excellence^ 

 and we held them in reserve, except the cochy bondhu and 

 harm's ear and yellow. The flies, which were obtained 

 from Poultney <fc Trimble, in Baltimore, answered all our 

 purposes on this trip. Both on Elk and Dry Fork the peo- 

 ple believe in the existence of valuable lead mines, and 

 Roy says that his grandmother, (I think) who was held in 

 captivity for some time, reported that the Indians were in 

 the habit of going up Red creek and returning with lead 

 which they moulded into buWets. On my narrating to hinr 

 the story of the boy who was about starting from a block- 

 house to kill a turkey gobbling on the mountain side, when 

 he was stopped by an old hunter who went instead, and came 

 back with an Indian scalp (see History of Virginia), Roy 

 exclaimed "Yes, yes; I know all about that; it was my 

 grandfather," or other relative. There are two small 

 mounds just by his house, from one of which bones have 

 been dug. 



June ^24. — We passed down Dry Fork to Golf's, a mile 

 below the mouth of Black Fork. The country is so rough 

 that for twelve miles nothing but a bridle path has been 

 made as yet, and traveling is very fatiguing, especially 

 over the Flannigan Mountains. Saw two' coons and sev- 

 eral pheasants. Last year we saw a duck swimming out 

 from shore with three young ones perched on its back, a 

 mode of locomotion I had never seen used before. I also 

 observed a large eagle hovering over another duck cower- 

 ing among the stones. Here we considered our trout fish- 

 ing ended, for after our late disappointment in Red creek, 

 we did not feel much in the humor for trying the only 

 other stream within our reach, Otter Fork, a very rough 

 Stream some three miles distant, in the heart of the mount- 

 ains. Elk Run, Roaring Run and Coburn, it is true, con- 

 tain a good many trout, mostly of small size, but they, are 

 unsuitable for tly fishing. As for the Blackwater, which 

 here empties into Dry Fork, we had last Summer, as- 

 cended it five miles from its mouth, but found no trout in 

 that part of this famous old stream. Nor do I think the 

 Falls, six or seven miles up, worth visiting any longer, ex- 

 cept tor the sake of magnificent scenery, and it would 

 have cost us a hard day's journey to get there— indeed, 

 the way is almost impracticable except at low water. The 

 last time I was there (in 1873) I had poor success— none 

 with the fly, and t think its glory has departed. At its 

 head, away \\p in Canada, in 1871, I found the fish to 

 swarm like minnows, but they were, without exception, 

 as small. Now the remaining part of our programme was 

 to fish for bass, down Dry Fork three miles, to its junction 

 with Cheat, arid then down Cheat 1o Rowlesburg on the If. 

 & O. R. U,, but an hour's experiment and observation of 

 the condition of the water, which was very black and 

 swollen, convinced us that to carry out our plan would re- 

 sult, in a mere waste of time, ami we determined, therefore, 

 to put up our tackle and endeavor to make the entire dis- 

 tance to Rowlesburg next day so as to take the evening train. 

 June 25,— Started from Golf's at 5 A.. M. without break- 

 fast,, taking the mountain road. On the Backbone we 

 Hushed a brood of young pheasanls, (ruffed grouse) and 

 the old bird charged me so vigorously, to my very feet, 

 in the huckleberry bushes, that I instinctively brought my 

 rod down to the position of "Guard against infantry." At 

 Nicholas Parson's we breakfasted and started again at 8. 

 An hour later we passed through St. George, which is the 

 county seat of Tucker, and waded Cheat for the last time. 

 At midday we stopped to take our favorite and only re- 

 freshment, a quart or so of milk, (see Tyndall's "flon'rs of 

 Exercise in the Alps"), and the good woman of the house 

 thought we were making off with Ihe pitcher. "Now, I 

 say, Mister, I want that pitcher." She apologized with Ihe 

 explanation: "I thought you were pedlars." In attempt- 

 ing lo take a short cut, some miles lower down, we got 

 entirely away from the road, and on the summit of one of 

 the loveliest mountains in these parts. We gained an ex- 

 tensive and magnificent view, but with the almost certain 

 prospect of reaching Rowlesburg too late for our evening 

 train, were scarcely in the mood for enjoying it. We 

 found it as difficult to get back into the road as it had been 

 easy to lose it, and our day's walk was certainly increased 

 four or five miles by this mishap. Finally, we arrived at 

 Rowlesburg at 0:45, having traveled quite' thirty-five miles. 

 We belonged in former days to Jackson's foot cavalry. 

 June 26. — Took the morning train to Oakland. 

 And so ended our tramp of two hundred and fifty miles, 

 from Grafton to Rowlesburg. It may be objected by 

 sportsmen that we show a record of comparatively few 

 and small fish taken for distance traveled, and the criti- 

 cism is so far just. Not only, however, were we too early 

 in the field in this backward season, especially for bass, 

 but the weather was persistently hostile. Our success cer- 

 tainly was not commensurate with our expectations. Bat 

 even if everything had heed propitious, instead of the re- 

 verse, the fisherman on Raugely and other Northern waters 

 would have had no cause to envy us, while we do envy 

 them their superior advantages-. The country is also 

 rather difficult of access, and, although the people cheer- 

 fully give the best they have, accommodations are rough. 

 Still, our trout, if small, are nimble and vigorous, the cli- 

 mate is bracing, the mountains and valleys are both wild 

 and beautiful, their streams of the purest, and we only 

 regret thaL the cares of the world do not permit us to look 

 forward to another visit earlier than a twelvemonth hence. 

 May pure contents 

 Forever pitch their tents 

 Upon tnesse downs, these meads, these rocks, tlie^e mountains, 

 Ana peace stilt slutubet by these purling fountains, 

 Which we, may every year 

 Meet when we come a fishing here, H. 



Quickest Steamship Passage Across the Atlantic— 

 The British steamship Germanic, a new vessel belonging to 

 the White Star Line, arrived at New York this morning 

 from Liverpool, having made the quickest passage on rec- 

 ord, the time being 7 days 19 hours and 35 minutes from 

 Queenstown, thus excelling the remarkable voyage of the 

 City of Richmond of the luman Line just two weeks ago, 

 when the latter came over in 7 days 19 hours and 58 min- 

 utes. The time in favor of the Germanic is 23 minutes. 

 Before these recent passages the Baltic of the White Star 

 Line led the Atlantic fleet in point of speed, her famous 

 run from New York to Queenstown in 1873 having been 

 made in 7 days 20 hours 9 minutes (mean time.) The next 

 quickest was the passage of the Adriatic of the same hue, 

 which run from Queenstown to New York in 1872 in I 

 days 23 hours 17 minutes.— Boston Journal;, 7th. 



