ill 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



verdure and gaudy flowers; for they roll away in undulat- 

 ing lines until they are lost in the distant horizon. They 

 are devoid of trees, except where a slender margin decks 

 the bed of a meandering stream as it babbles on its way to 

 mingle its waters with the mighty Columbia, so that the 

 view is unbroken from horizon to horizon. Their solitude 

 may also be unbroken, save by a group of Indians moving 

 camp or out on a hunting expedition, or a long train of 

 "prairie schooners" that winds in and out among the many 

 bluffs. There is very little of the picturesque in Eastern 

 Oregon, for magnitude, as in all basaltic regions, is 

 the . prevalent expression, The traveler's sense of the 

 strange and grand is constantly aroused, but seldom the 

 quieter emotion produced by picturesqueness, and which 

 lie frequently longs for. The most common, and, indeed, 

 the only strikingly individual scenery in this division, is 

 the mountains of many-formed basaltic rocks that spring 

 abruptly upward from the plain in many places, and the 

 terraces of" the same material that skirt the river. As I 

 passed up the Columbia my attention was riveted by these 

 terraces, which hugged the stream so closely as to leave no 

 shore in some places, while they towered to such an alti- 

 tude as to make our steamer look a most insignificant atom. 

 They resemble the Palisades of the Hudson very much in 

 arrangement, but the comparison can go no further, for 

 the latter are mere pigmies compared to them. There is a 

 sameness about Eastern Oregon that one soon wearies of, 

 but along the course of the Columbia there are so many 

 deep canons, falls, eccentric ledges, and brawling cascades 

 that the interest never relaxes. I followed it upward to 

 where it joins the Snake River, in Idaho, and found some 

 attractive objects every few miles. Not the leasi interest- 

 ing are the Indian graves seen quite frequently. These are 

 readily recognized by the horse hide stretched on a pole 

 that surmounts the stockades, for the Snakes kill a pony to 

 take each departed warrior to his abode in the spirit land. 

 Indian weirs for catching salmon, poles for Summer en- 

 campments, and occasionally a lodge of some wandering 

 tribe are seen along the banks, but they only add to tne air 

 of wildness and solitude the. region possesses. The tourist 

 fond of bold, striking scenery, and desirous of enjoying that 

 weird romance which Indian life has for many, will find a 

 trip through Oregon and up the Columbia as far as Idaho 

 one of the pleasantest that can be made on the continent, 

 while the lover of the rod and gun will find it unsurpassed 

 by any region on earth for indulgence in his favorite amuse- 

 ment. The material advantages of the State, its scenic 

 charms, and wealth of animal life, cannot be made known 

 in these notes, which must necessarily be comparatively 

 brief; hence all that can be done is to give a glimpse that 

 will convey a fairly correct impression of its many sources 

 of wealth and pleasure. A tour through the State will 

 cost about $150, including the fare to and from San Fran- 

 cisco, and for that sum the tourist will reap as much of the 

 pleasures of travel as he can in any portion of the world, 

 if rapids and cascades, erratic crags, deep chasms, grand 

 old rivers, dense forests growing in tropical luxuriance, 

 gentle vales, and immense plateaus and rugged hills and 

 lowering pinnacles clad in robes of eternal snow possess 

 any charms for him. It is both a Switzerland and a France 

 combined, and while it equals them in some scenic beauties 

 it excels them in many, and is, therefore, well worthy of a 

 pilgrimage from all students and lovers of nature. 



John Mortimer Murphy. 



For Forest and Stream. 



\ 



SPORT IN NEVADA. 



WADSWORTH is situated on the C. P. R. R., 

 Washoe county, Nevada, on the Truckee River, 

 distance to Pyramid Lake eighteen miles, the reservation 

 for the Pah Ute Indians. The lake is an extensive and 

 beautiful sheet of water, slightly salt, and abounds with 

 innumerable water fowl. Gulls and pelicans breed here 

 on some of the rocky islands, and many eggs of the gull's 

 are gathered during the breeding season. 



Commencing about October 20th and until March the 

 trout leave Pyramid Lake and Mud or Winnemucca lakes, 

 and ascend the Truckee River to spawn. During this sea- 

 son a great quantity are taken, in fact it is the chief source 

 of subsistence to the Indians. During the past year up- 

 wards of fifty tons of trout were shipped from this station 

 to Virginia City and San Francisco markets. They are 

 taken entirely with hook and line, the law prohibiting the 

 use of seines or other fixed machines, and all dams are 

 furnished with fish ladders to enable the trout to reach 

 Lake Tahoe, or any of the tributaries of the Truckee. 

 They take minnow or grub worms readily, but the favorite 

 and most successful bait is fish spawn, tied up in mosquito 

 bar, cut in squares of about two inches and firmly tied 

 with thread. They resemble a large sized strawberry, and 

 make the most successful bait I know of. The favorite 

 manner with the Indians is the spear, with which they are 

 very skillful, and the spear itself is a novelty and entirely 

 different from anything I have ever seen or heard of. It 

 consists of a verv light and flexible handle about fifteen 

 feet Ions:, at the "end of which are two prongs of wire, us- 

 ualy NcTS, to this is attached by a stout line two very 

 sharp points about half inch long, which slip oif the ends 

 of the wire when the fish is struck, and have a tendency 

 from the peculiar formation of the points, to cross them- 

 selves jn the fish, making ft next to impossible to pull out, 

 as it only requires a very gentle shove to strike deep 

 enough to' make it secure. No fish, however large, can get 

 oif, unless, the lines which are attached to the points and 

 connected with the handle should break. The Indians 

 post themselves near the spawning beds and only kill the 

 male trout, which always accompanies the female during 

 this operation. The largest male will drive all the small 

 ones off. The Indian takes advantage of this fact, and 

 never disturbs the female, but as soon as the largest male 

 is killed the next will take his place, and the Indian will 

 wait patiently by those beds and pick off all the male hsh 

 as fasi as they appear. To anyone not experienced in the 

 art it would almost be impossible to see the fash. 1 he 

 spearing is all done during the day time and a novice 

 might stand near the bed and not see a fish all day. lhey 

 resemble a dark yellow cloud in the water, and the spear 

 is allowed to float, down the current until opposite the ob- 

 ject, when a very gentle stroke makes the fash secure. 



Minnow find spawn are the principal baits used by those 

 using rod and line. The fi^h weigh from four to nine 

 pounds, and are darker than the Eastern salmon trout.. 

 These come mostly from Pyramid Lake, but another species 

 called the silver trout come from Winnemucca Lake. Both 

 kinds are taken freely during the season in the Truckee 



River; 100 pounds per day to the rod being of frequent oc- 

 currence. No other fish inhabit these waters that I- know 

 of, except the black mullet, or coyies, as the Indians call 

 them. They come up the river later than the trout, but 

 are not molested by the whites. The Indians take and 

 dry them for their Winter's food, which with the pine 

 nuts form their principal source of Jmbsistnce. 



Humboldt Lake, the Sink of the Humboldt, as it is 

 usualy called, is about forty miles from here, in close prox- 

 imity to the railroad, and abounds with all kinds of water 

 fowl, ducks, geese, swans, curlew^, snipe, &c. The shoot- 

 ing, however, is very dirlicult, owing to the absence of 

 cover, as no flag or tule grows near the lake- Very few 

 fish are taken here, and of a small size. The water is 

 stronglv impregnated with alkali, and hardly fit to use. 

 About "eight miles west of Wadsworth the country becomes 

 mountainous. Here a few mountain quail, grouse, and 

 sage hens can be found, but not in plentiful quantities. A 

 few black tail deer and occasionally mountain sheep are 

 found, but more an exception than the rule. Jack rabbits 

 abound in every direction, and any quantity can be killed— 

 twenty or twenty-five per day would be an average day's 

 work for one gun. They are usually in good condition, 

 and weigh from six to seven pounds when full grown. I 

 shot one mountain quail this season about eight miles from 

 here which weighed exactly three-fourths of a pound, and 

 know I have killed much larger ones, but never put one on 

 the scales before. I also shot four sage hens, or cock of 

 the plains, the same day. Still the shooting in this vicinity , 

 is poor, but the fishing during the season is excellent, in 

 fact the best I have found on the coast. " Lake Tahoe, situ- 

 ated on the summit cf the Sierra Nevada Mountains, about 

 eighty miles from here, is a great resort for pleasure seekers 

 during the heated term, and affords very good trout fish- 

 ing, the fish being usually taken with the spoon or min- 

 now. These fish will frequently weigh thirty-five or forty 

 pounds and do not resemble the Truckee trout. Independ- 

 ence Lake, about fifteen miles from Truckee, abounds with 

 a small variety of trout which would average about a pound, 

 but are highly prized by epicures. They take grasshop- 

 pers or flies very readily, and afford fine sport. The lake 

 is entirely surrounded by mountains covered with timber, 

 but game is scarce; still a few deer, mountain quail, and 

 grouse are taken. Sierra Valley, however, is the most 

 frequented place for sportsmen in this section, as there is 

 such a varity of game. Stages run into the valley from 

 Reno and Truckee; distance about thirty miles. Here 

 may be found quail, grouse, deer, ducks, rabbits, and 

 brook trout in all the small streams in abundance. Next 

 to Hope Valley this affords the best shooting to be found 

 in this State. Hope Valley is rather isolated, and too far 

 from the railroad to be accessible to the sportsman from a 

 distance, but parties fit out at Carson and Virginia City, 

 and usualy meet with good success. I start for Tulare 

 Lake, California, in a few days for a week's duck shooting, 

 and without exception it is the best place I know of for 

 that kind of shooting. I was there last Fall and shot with 

 a party of professional hunters, The lake is about eighty 

 miles long and abuut twenty wide, with a strip of tule, or 

 flag, near the shore, from one to four miles wide. Every 

 variety of ducks and geese known on the coast are to be 

 found'here. Shooting is principally done from duck boats 

 hid in the tules and over decoys. One hundred birds per 

 day, on morning and evening flight, are about the average 

 One hunter last Winter killed 2,200 ducks in eleven and a* 

 half days with onegun, and a muzzle loader at that. This 

 was not flock shooting, but all done over decoys on a pass. 

 Two guns have frequently killed three hundred on the 

 morning flight. J. Lockwood. 



Wadsworth, ^Yas^ioe■ County. 



.»»»- 



REFLECTIONS FROM 



For Forest and stream. 

 ROCHESTER. 



IT must have been about this time of the year that Burns 

 penned the lines— 

 "Now westlin 1 winds and slaughtering s^ns bring Autumn's pleasant 



weather, 

 The moorcock springs on whining wings among the blooming heather." 



And although we dwellers in the domain of Brother Jon a- 

 than designate our lands and game by. other names^fc 

 prevail in the "land o' cakes," no one can fail to se^p; 

 aptness of the quotation as applicable to field sports in our 

 own favored land. What though we have neither moor, 

 moorcock, nor blooming heather, we can well bear the 

 loss while our prairies are free and the pinnated grouse 

 struts proud lv o'er the lea, or leads the startled covey on 

 rapid wing to safety in the slough or cornfield. We have 

 no poetic heather, but surely the tints and glow of Indian 

 Summer are ample compensation to theJover of natural 

 scenery for the deprivation; and for whirring wings back 

 me our ruffed grouse against the world. Of this latter 

 bird, the pride of our Eastern woodlands, most sportsmen 

 retain interesting reminiscences illustrative of its wonder- 

 ful cunning, instinct, sagacity, or whatever you call fts 

 power to baffle its pursuers. The destruction of the woods 

 and the great increase of population hereabout has lament- 

 ably decreased the chance for a bag of partridges near this 

 city, but it was a famous place, I am told, in the brave 

 days of old. The "Dugway," "Hopper's Hill," and "Red 

 Creek" were all noted reoorts for grouse in other days, but 

 alas, their glory has departed. Although not yet a gray- 

 beard, I can myself remember when many a thrifty covey 

 or pack of grouse and bevy of quail could be found just 

 over the border of the Flower City. Many readers of 

 Forest and Stream have seen the Rochester Driving 

 Park; others have heard of the famous ground where 

 Goldsmith Maid astonished the equine world by her speed, 

 but not everv sportsman who has been there knows that a 

 decade of years ago the immediate locality of the park 

 was a small paradise for the field sportsman; yet so it was. 

 The field north of the grounds then contained Merchant's 

 woods, and had a wonderful attraction for grouse, wood- 

 cock, quail, rabbits, and pigeons. Here it was that the 

 writer first found acquaintance, outside the books, with 

 those interesting subjects ; and, good lack, muckle was the 

 sport he there enjoyed. Why, even as late as two years 

 ago, the likeliest place I knew of to find a wisp of snipe 

 was in the first field south of the Driving Park, now cut 



up into building lots, (for sale by — , at 's block.) 



Oh, most woeful progress! 



"Thus shall memory often in dreams sublime, 

 Catch & glimpse of the days that are over; 



Thus, sighing look through the waves of time 

 For the Ion* faded glories thty cover." 



That pernicious animal, the pot hunter, has a heavy 



score to settle for his share in cutting off the game with 



us. Without him the woodman's axe could not have 

 wrought such mischief with the game. To show how 

 powerful for evil your downright unconscionable pot hun 

 ter is, I will relate an instance given me by a fellow sports- 

 man whom I met on a recent excursion. He was after 

 plover and I mushrooms, and as neither birds nor fund 

 were abundant we naturally fell to bemoaning the degene- 

 racy of these later times, and speculating as to the cause 

 We were standing on an elevated field, and Johnny S. a 

 crack shot and generous sportsman, pointed to a woods' a 

 short distance off and with visible excitement and india Qa . 

 tion told me that a year or two before he was walking 

 through the wood in early Summer, accompanied by his 

 old dog Burt; the dog pointed, and on calling him off a 

 grouse was found on a nest containing twenty-two eo^s 

 He did not disturb the nest, but gave orders (it"was on*his 

 father's farm) that no one should molest the bird. In a 

 week or two after one of the farm hands, passing that way 

 heard a shot, and fearing the worst hurried to the nest id 

 time to see the big rascal taking the dead grouse from off 

 the nest where he had shot her. S. was immediately ap- 

 prised of the disaster, and thought to have alien hatch the 

 eggs, but a weazel, or other vermin, destroyed them. 

 Johnny searched the city for three days to catch the wretch 

 whose vulture swoop had destroyed such promise of sport 

 but the villain was never detected, and I suppose never will 

 be until that final day of settlement in the Jewish valley 

 where doubtless among those on the left hand will be seen' 

 distinguished above all the rest by the heat of his chains! 

 the murderous poacher who slaughtered that grouse. I 

 need not add that the ruffed grouse has been indeed a ram 

 avis in that wood ever since. But there a few to be found 

 here still. A week or two ago a companion and I, while 

 seeking what we might find in a small unpretentious piece* 

 of cover, flushed six or eight grouse quite unexpectedly. 

 Only one fair shot was had, which fell to me, but nothing 

 more substantial than a cloud of feathers could be found 

 when the smoke lifted. When the leaves fall in that cover 

 perhaps I shall try again, and may be with better result. 



Nearly every man in Rochester who owns a gun was 

 greatly agitated just previous to the opening of quail shoot- 

 ing. It had transpired that several bevies of quail had 

 been seen in a certain locality south of the city, a mile or 

 two out, and, to be sure, the knowing ones made ample 

 preparations to give them a salute early on the morning of 

 October 1st. I wasn't there to see, but am told there were 

 more men, guns, dogs, and horses on hand than could be 

 seen at a batteau on the preserve of my Lord Tom Noddy; 

 but the spoil was not as heavy as that on the ground of his 

 lordship; in fact, I believe nine brace, divided among I 

 don't know how many, was the result of the onslaught; 

 but then the boys were out of practice, for there has been 

 but little trap shooting this Summer, and woodcock were 

 almost as scarce as the great auk. Is it Summer shooting 

 that causes the scarcity of woodcock, or is the apparent 

 scarcity periodical, like the return of the ten year panic, 

 seven year locusts, and u sich?" If it is the July shooting 

 that makes the trouble then %way with it to execution, oif 

 with its head, for under the innocent guise of woodcock 

 shooting I fear many a dark and bloody deed of violence 

 is done to other winged game; many a grouse and quail is 

 brought to an untimely end, even before their days of use- 

 fulness have begun. If I was not bound by the most sa- 

 cred ties of friendship— if I did not feel that to betray the 

 trust reposed in me would be an act of treachery only sec- 

 ond to that of Benedict Arnold, 1 could a tale unfold that 

 would freeze the young blood of each particular sportsman 

 in the land, and make them with loud voice demand the 

 abolition of Summer shooting. If the injunction of silence 

 was removed from me I could tell of a respected and trust- 

 ed young man of ancient lineage and noble descent being 

 led through a concurrence of circumstances to stain an hon- 

 orable escutcheon by killing a hen grouse with a young 

 family on the 3d of July! I have said that if I was at 

 liberty to speak I might tell these things. I might relate 

 how this young man, whose previous career as a gentleman 

 and a soldier was without spot or blemish, was led by his 

 evil genius to try a certain swamp for woodcock— how, 

 when a great rustling occurred in a bush, he thought a 

 Megatherium, Mastodon gigantious, or some other gigantic 

 cuss, was after him, and how he boldly fired both barrels 

 at the intruder— how, a moment after, one of the party 

 picked up a sorely wounded grouse, which, on examina- 

 tion, was found to be past medical aid or hope of recovery 

 —that on consultation it was then and there determined to 

 put the bird out of pain and proof of guilt out of exist- 

 ence—how this sage resolve was carried into effect, and tiie 

 victim devoured. I could tell such a story, but I won t, 

 and yet such an event might occur from the inability ot a 

 law-abiding sportsman to distinguish the kind of game 

 that rose. When this suppositious incident occurred u 

 was noticed by all present that .Nature concurred witliiaw 

 to forbid the taking of game out of season, for the nesu 

 was tasteless and actually unfit for food, con Arming, j° 

 that extent, the assertions of the editor of Forest and 

 Stream before the National Association, When sucu ac- 

 cidents happen to conscientious sportsmen it is certain'* 

 unwise of the law to lead into temptation, Iw toieratius 

 Summer shooting, parties who would not scruple to aom 

 tentionally an act that its author deeply deplored. 



Our long billed favorites, the snipe, have been here son 

 time, and given great sport to a certain few of us wM 

 tunately know a locality where they can generally De iou 

 in the season. Here let me parenthetically thank tne-O™ 

 ring engineers who did not make the canal banK »w< 

 proof, for many an hour's sport with Scolopax. f 0l > cl[n , 

 you, if numerous little streams did not leak out or ^ 

 ion's ditch and spread over the meadows adjacent w 

 would be but little snipe shooting near here. & » ' 

 some of us have filled our bags several times lateiy 

 Wilson and white robin snipe, or sandpiper. I nave 

 to harbor no love for ring engineers, but lor tnew 

 grounds I am greatly their debtor. *; ..„„.„„ n 



There is to be a free-for-all rifle shoot this ff ™ 00 f V 

 the new range at Rattlesnake Point, on the east suit ; . ^ 

 Genesee River, near its mouth, and as I would tain 

 I must now bring this communication to a close. 



Bocheder, October loth, 1875. 



Mtffr 



-***m 



—The visitors to the gardens of the Philad el pbia Z ^ 

 ical Society are so numerous that m eignt w ^ 

 receipts were $48,000; the average attendance jv g 

 With such prosperity the society will oetove jvn I is in- 

 one of the best collections of animals known. ^ 

 tended to prepare a very full collection of Ameiu- 

 mals for the Centennial. 



