Terms, Five Dollars a Year. ) 

 Ten Cents a Copy. j 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY. JANUARY 6, 1876. 



| Volume 5, Number 22. 



| 17 Chatham St. (City Hall faqr.) 



THE FLIGHT OF THE WILD GEESE. 



, 



BY ISAAC M'CLELLAN. 



HOWNK! honk! on stormy wings they cleave the upper air, 

 On gusty breeze, above the seas, their onward cohorts fare; 

 They come from frosty solitudes, where broods the Arctic night, 

 Where deserts grim, spread vast and dim, in the auroral light. 



The Esquimaux with bended bow, fast paddling his canoe, 



Their flocks hath chas'd, o'er icy waste of waters heavenly blue; 



On frozen shore of Labrador the Indian's steel hath sped, 



Bat vain the shaft,, and vain the craft, and vain the fowler's lead. 



In twinkling gleam of cold moonbeam, their dusky files I trace; 

 In wedsre-like throng, in column long, they speed the tireless race; 

 O'er craggy mountain sides, and over torrent tides, 

 The suadow of each column, in swift procession glides. 



D'er the far-resounding surge, on the dim horizon's verge, 

 : see their dark battalions on winnowing pinions urge; 

 Ver Lake Superior's sheet their clanging pinions beat, 

 ■Vhere Western plain and golden grain spread sumptuous pastures 

 sweet. 



n he bleak November cloud casts down its snowy shroud, 



ind the throbbings and the sobbings of the wind 3 are swelling loud; 



Che snowdrift hides the grass, the lakes are crystal glass, 



So warned the geese-flock legions to gentler regions pass. 



To the balmy Southern clime, where the orange and the lime, 

 V7ith bloBSom'd fruits, perennial shoots, are ever in their prime; 

 To paradise ambrosial, to banks of spic'd perfume, 

 Where forests wide and river side are prodigal with bloom. 



For Forest and Stream. 



pmbHngz in ffaBhingtoq f^mi* 



tov%. 



-** — * — — 



rHAT great region which borders the Pacific Ocean 

 north of California is now the most alluring field 

 >r immigrants, tourists, and the lovers of the rod and gun, 

 1 it cannot be excelled for agriculture and stock raising, 

 id is possessed of scenic attractions that are not sur* 

 issed by any portion of the world, while its immense for- 

 ts teem with a profusion of animal life, and its many 

 reams, cold as snow and pure as crystal, swarm with so 

 any finny denizens that the angler is lost in wonder at 

 eir number and variety. 



Of all that magnificent area, Washington Territory is 

 le of the most interesting sections, as it is yet a virgin 

 'hntry, being occupied principally by a few farmers, some 

 ock raisers, and half breeds and Indians, who are too in- 

 dent to utilize the wealth that surrounds them. As 

 westward ho !" is now the cry with a large number of 

 srsons who wish to forsake the sterile fields and inhospi- 

 ble climate of the Eastern States, I have concluded to 

 eat this territory from three standpoints for the Forest 

 I n~d Stream— namely, its topography, its mineral and ag- 

 Mltural resources and climate, its scenery, and the op- 

 I >rtunities it presents to the lover of the chase and the 



Howers of Walton and Cotton. 

 I The Territory has an area of 65,000 square miles, or 

 >out 41,000,000 acres, and of this over one third is cov- 

 ed with forests so dense that only the tropics will show 

 »y thing to compare with them in luxuriance of growth, 

 hile they are only exceeded in altitude and dimensions by 

 •e redwood forests of . Calif ®rnia. The wooded portion, 

 ! hich occupies the entire area between the Cascade Range 

 M the Pacific Ocean, is known as Western Washington, 

 W for the present I shall devote my special attention to 

 vpt.it being the most interesting to all classes except those 

 H>o desire to learn the extent of the grazing districts. 

 Tins region joins the State of Oregon on the south, being 

 'faded from it by the Columbia River, which acts as a 

 pundary line between both commonwealths for a distance 

 ;,;• SCO miles. Its physical conformation is similar to tbat 

 ji [ Western Oregon, being a series of wooded valleys, 

 prmed by eroism in, apparently, the Miocene epoch, as it 

 founds in fossiliferous shales and metamorphic rocks hav- 

 ijfc a basaltic base. 



Iu gazing at it from an elevated ridge it seems one mass 

 if dark green leaves, which extend to the horizon in every 

 pection, and whose gloomy, monotonous hue is only 



broken by a range of snowy peaks, which loom upwards 

 to the sky on the east and 1101th, and the heavy masses of 

 white flecked, cumulus clouds that loiter along their crests 

 during the Summer and Autumn months. These contrasts 

 of color, and the lack of the more pleasing hues, impress 

 the traveler most forcibly with a feeling of strangeness 

 which it takes some time to overcome, as everything seems 

 to have been created on the largest scale; and whoever has 

 analyzed the effects of scenery upon himself must know 

 that subdued, gloomy tints, combined with wildness, ex- 

 panse, and altitude, arouse emotions akin to awe and a 

 weary loneliness. If one wishes to thoroughly learn how 

 insignificant an atom he is in life, he has only to visit that 

 primitive solitude to be made aware of it, as he is there 

 surrounded on every side by rugged grandeur and cold, 

 stern sublimity. 



I entered the Territory from Oregon, and made my first 

 tarry at Vancouver, a small hamlet situated on the Colum- 

 bia River, about 120 miles from its mouth. This was called 

 after Vancouver, the celebrated English navigator, who 

 surveyed the Columbia as far as this point in the year 1796, 

 immediately after its discovery by Captain Gray, of Bos- 

 ton. It was from the fact that the survey was made by a 

 British officer that England laid claim to the entire region 

 watered by the noble river of the West; but as the assump- 

 tion was a mere quibble, the case was of course decided 

 against her when she subjected it to arbitration. She made 

 a strong effort to retain the country, however, by giving 

 the Hudson Bay Company the exclusive privilege of hunt- 

 ing in the region, and governing the Indians by British 

 laws. They erected a chain of forts throughout the entire 

 area, from the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountains, and 

 garrisoned them with Canadian voyageurs, friendly moashes, 

 and adventurers from Caledonia, whose duties were to not 

 only defend the country from the attacks of the treacher- 

 ous red men, but also to trap for for- bearing animals, and 

 to barter with their dusky foes. Vancouver was the most 

 important of these posts, its situation being central, so that 

 the furs could be shipped directly to England, as vessels of 

 5,000 tons burthen could load at its wharves. Since the 

 vacation of the country by this British monopoly, the town 

 has lost its prestige, and is now remarkable only for being 

 a military post and the Athens of the Territory. Its inhab- 

 itants are largely composed of ex-United States soldiers, 

 and their occupation in nearly every instance is to sell 

 whiskey whose merits are open to criticism. The garrison 

 grounds afford, I think, the handsomest view of any mili- 

 tary post in the world, for water, forest, and snowy pin- 

 nacles greet the eye on every side. 

 I visited the town to enjoy a deer with my friend Major 



"W , who was kind enough to consider that my love for 



the chase should be bestowed upon some Worthy object- 

 After spending a night among congenial companions, 

 whose hospitality is proverbial, I retired to the simple 

 couch in use among bachelor officers, and slept soundly 

 until the boom of the cannon aroused me in the morning. 

 A hasty breakfast was soon dispatched, and I was ready 

 for the sport which promised so much buoyant, virile plea- 

 sure, Our party was composed of five persons, including 

 an orderly, who had charge of half a dozen borrowed 

 honnds, and a French half breed, who acted as guide. In 

 half an hour after leaving camp we were in the midst of a 

 dense forest of those gigantic firs for which the Northwest 

 is famous, and a few moments later the dogs were set to 

 work on a fresh trail. They soon gave tongue, and their 

 melodious tones rang through the silent woods with a clear- 

 ness I had never before heard equalled. This was the sig- 

 nal for a scurrying race to get to some convenient points 

 in order to have a shot. The guide, who accompanied me, 

 placed me on a promising runway, and I had scarcely taken 

 my place ere a magnificent black-tailed stag {Cerous Colum- 

 bianus) broke cover not twenty paces from me. His head 

 was high in the air, and his antlers were thrown back, so 

 that he appeared in his most majestic view. I gave him a 

 low whistle; he halted to learn its import, and ere he could 

 decide upon moving I planted a load of buckshot in his 

 neck and shoulders. Before I could give him the second 

 barrel he was bounding through the shrubbery with those 



long, high jumps for which he is noted, and the last I saw 

 of him was an erect caudal clearing the branches of a fallen 

 tree. I was of course much piqued at my bad shooting, 

 and still more so when I was rejoined by my companions, 

 who commenced chaffing me most unmercifully, and pre- 

 dicting that we should have no luck that day, as I had 

 missed the first deer. The feeling of chagrin was bad 

 enough, but to be taunted good-naturedly with spoiling the 

 day's amusement was the acme of depressing pride. I in- 

 sisted that I had wounded the animal so seriously that he 

 could not run very far, but this only elicited a sarcastic 

 laugh, and the query if I did not think I ought to challenge 

 Buffalo Bill and other presumptuously redoubted hunters to 

 engage in a week's contest to test superiority. My victory 

 soon came, however, lor the guide, who was sounding a 

 mellow cow's horn to bring the pack, reported that they 

 must have overtaken the quarry, or they would have re- 

 turned in answer to his peremptory summons. This induced 

 two of us to follow the trail, which we did quite readily 

 by noting the condition of the fallen leaves, and we had 

 not proceeded half a mile ere we came to a brook, and on 

 its bank we found the animal dead as a stone, and the 

 hounds grouped about him. A joyous halloo from our 

 party soon brought the others, and I was the recipient of 

 theatrical congratulations, which were given demonstra- 

 tively as an antidote to the previous wounds. We dressed 

 the stag in a few moments, gave the entrails to the hounds, 

 placed the carcass on the limb of a tree, and then resumed 

 our sport. 



The dogs were next sent into a dense fern brake that 

 reached nearly to our necks. They were there about a 

 minute when a simultaneous cry from all startled us, and 

 ere we could recover our wits two does of the white-tailed 

 deer species {Gervus lueurus) bounded into our midst with 

 such suddenness that they were twenty yards away before 

 any one thought of shooting. It was then too late, as the 

 shrubbery was so dense that no shot could penetrate it, ex- 

 cept by mere accident, so we contented ourselves by ex- 

 pressing how surprised we were, for each person seemed 

 anxious to have some excuse. 



"We can get them yet, sir," said the half breed," for 

 they are white-tailed deer, and after running a short time 

 they will make for the river, and we can get there before 

 them," 



To the river we accordingly ran at our best speed, but 

 that was slow enough, owiug to the quantity ol fallen tim- 

 ber that strewed the ground, and the tropical luxuriance of 

 the salmon and whortleberries that were entwined to- 

 gether in thick, tangled masses. We were there, however, 

 and had our posts taken, before the musical chorus of the 

 pack began to approach us. Every eye then peered vigi- 

 lantly into the gloomy, silent woods as if they would pene- 

 trate the leafy coverts, and all assumed an air that indicated 

 a thorough determination not to be caught napping again. 

 The cry now became loud and clamorous, and very close, ,' 

 so every weapon was held near the shoulder. Bang! went 

 a gun in the glades, and bang! went another to my right. 

 These were followed by a joyous "hoo-pee," which indi- 

 cated that the nimrods were successful. On arriving on 

 the ground we found both animals dead, and their slayers 

 proudly gazing upon them. Congratulations were be- 

 stowed upon them, which they received as a matter of 

 course. One curious incident about the run was that both 

 animals kept together from the start, for nothing of the 

 sort had ever before come under the notice of our expe- 

 rienced guide. The only way in which he could account 

 for it was that they were pressed so closely by the hounds, 

 w r ho were famous for their fleetness, that their wits were 

 scattered so that they were not able to employ their usual 

 stratagems. They were, besides, quite young, so that 

 their inexperience, as much as any other circumstance, was 

 the means of leading them to death. One peculiar fact in 

 connection with the running of the two species of deer 

 common in Western Oregon and Washington Territory Is 

 that the black-tailed species heads for the hills and ravines 

 the moment he is started, and makes for the water only 

 when all other stratagems have failed, while the white-, 

 tailed prefers to run on the lowlands and in the forest, an4 



