FOREST AND STREAM. 



355 



tie Wichita, where we camped for the night; spent 

 the evening shooting at turkeys on the roost. We scared 

 them a good deal, but took breakfast again without meat 

 thinking, however, that when we got to civilization again 

 we would let any one try Dr. Franklin's vegetarian rule 

 that chose to, but none of it in our'n. Early next morn- 

 ing, near the deserted Wagefathe city, two of us came 

 upon a. large bull buffalo feeding on the flat. After crawl- 

 ing a half mile we found ourselves near enough to shoot. 

 We shot, but our game looked up coolly, then trotted off 

 slowly for about three hundred yards, and stopped and 

 gazed at us. I then gave him a shot in the flank, when he 

 galloped off lively over the hills. My companion then 

 took his horse, that had been left some distance back and 

 followed after him, giving him a chase. I left him to en- 

 joy his fun as he might, and I took over to a bunch of four 

 or five that I saw feeding by themselves. I got within a 

 hundred yards, rested myself well, took a drink out of my 

 flask of nerve quieter, then rested my gun on a large rock 

 and fired— but with the same success. They left me lying 

 there thinking myself anything but what I had boasted on 

 being, and that was, "a crack shot." Just then my com- 

 panion came up, and said that he had killed the buffalo. 

 The wagon came near, and we told them to go to the first 

 camping ground they sould find, and we would go out for 

 more buffaloes. We found plenty. We walked about ten 

 miles and shot at several, but the monsters would invari- 

 ably go off with the bullet. It became very monotonous 

 to us, and we went back to camp as hungry as bears and 

 as savage as Kiowas. After another lunch of our veget- 

 able diet we took a horse and a mule, and we two Nimrods 

 again went out for camp meat. My companion (whom I 

 called Red Fox, because he shot at a snag, mistaking it for 

 a red fox) rode the horse and I the mule. This aforesaid 

 mule was as intelligent an animal as Balaam rode when he 

 went out to cuss the Jews; but his intelligence ran the 

 wrong way. He knew a mesquit bush at sight; he knew 

 they had thorns on them, and when Bed Fox and I 

 "rounded in" a few buffaloes for a chase, imagine my tem- 

 per to see this son of a donkey stop and run round a mes- 

 quit bush as carefully as though walking on eggs intended 

 tor Christmas egg-noggs. Red Fox cut out a fine bull and 

 chased him about two miles, while I and my mule brought 

 up the rear. When we got to him he stood at bay, and 

 showed that he was badly wounded. I gave him a' shot 

 from my Burnside and he fell over, dead. I then cut off 

 his scalp, the tip of the tail, and after cutting out a good 

 steak, we started for camp — about four miles. It was dark 

 when we left the carcass, and it was not a very interesting 

 ride; for although we had seen no Indians, yet we knew 

 that we were at their tender mercies should they happen 

 to be in the vicinity. However, we rode to camp, tired 

 with our day's labor. We looked at the stars, said a verse 

 and retired to our blankets. Several times during the night 

 we saw (in our excited dreams) whole herds of large bull 

 buffaloes. At one time we were out on our favorite(?) sad- 

 dle-mule, and after wounding one of them, he chased us up 

 hill and down, till the mule gave out, and I then went on foot 

 with Mr. Buffalo after me. I then made for a large cliff of 

 rock, and the buffalo, it seemed, was still in hot pursuit, 

 his eyes glaring at me fiercely. .Never had I seen so ter- 

 rible a monster; he was as large as an Asiatic elephant! 

 Just as he seemed to be up to me I awoke to find myself 

 performing several feats of a gymnasium on the wae^on 

 wheel, upon which I had clambered, thinking it the cliff 

 of rocks. My companion was growling about the blank- 

 ets I had just pulled off from him, and said he'd have a 

 buffalo robe to sleep on next night, and would see if I 

 could rob him of his bedding in that manner. Early next 

 morning we took the horses and crossed the creek, over 

 which we could not cross the wagon, and went to the car- 

 cass qf the dead buffalo and skinned him. Red Fox and 

 Friday went off, and the former returned shortly, saying 

 he had killed two buffaloes, and that the latter had lost his 

 gun and would look it up. We returned to camp with the 

 robe, hitched up the wagon, and drove to the carcass of 

 one of the bulls, cut up the meat, took off the robe, 

 and as it was now nearly night, and a "norther" was com- 

 ing up, we struck out for tali timber. Darkness finally 

 compelled us to stop, as further traveling was impossible, 

 and we camped for the night in a cave at the side of a 

 bluff. The night was bitter cold, and we experienced con- 

 siderable inconvenience from it; but we soon had a large 

 fire, and with the addition of the two buffalo robes to our 

 stock of bedding, we put in a very fair night, all things 

 considered. Many were the remarks of anxiety about 

 our lost man — whether he had been thrown and had lain 

 pn the prairie all the long night, or whether the Indians 

 had taken him in "out of the wet," were the leading con- 

 jectures. But, to our relief, when we arrived at the ford 

 next morning we learned that he had crossed there, and 

 was, at that time, safely quartered at Harold's Ranche. 

 After searching for his gun several hours he looked for us, 

 and not finding us, he directed his attention to the ford, 

 hut failing to find it, he camped just below it. He had 

 had nothing to eat since morning, and as he had no gun he 

 was compelled to go without rations until next morning. 

 He built a large fire, lariatted his horse to a large stone, 

 and then sung himself to sleep in his saddle blanket. At 

 the river we salted our buffalo beef, packed away our tur- 

 keys, of which we had a good many, and started for the 

 settlements. We got home after being out from Gaines- 

 ville ten days. With the exception of suffering from 

 scarcity of water for about four days of the time, we had 

 a very good time, and none regretted the trip. At the time 

 we camped in the cave in the mountain we had but one 

 pint of water to drink between the four men, and doubt- 

 less would not have had that but for the forethought of 

 one of the men, who, after emptying a pint bottle of "chill 

 tonic," filled the bottle with water. A buffalo hunt is a 

 splendid place to teach a man temperance— even in water. 



Buffalo Bill. 



S™k Hld n ltei[** 



THE McCLOUD RIVER RESERVATION. 



THE United States fishing grounds on the McCloud 

 River, Shasta County, California, in charge of Mr. 

 Livingston Stone, have been set apart for fish culture by 

 the President of the United States through the interven- 

 tion of Hon. Spencer F. Baird, United States Commis- 

 sioner of Fish and Fisheries. The Canadian Government 

 long since saw the necessity of setting aside reservations 

 for the purpose of conducting their fish culture operations, 

 and have five or six stations solely under Government con- 

 trol. The action which our own Government has*taken, 

 at the suggestion of Professor Baird, could well be sup- 

 plimented by extending the movement to other States in 

 which there are public lands suitable for the purpose. By 

 so doing, aid and encouragement would be given to the 

 State Commissioners, private enterprise be stimulated, and 

 the incalculable importance of providing by artificial 

 means for a restoration or recuperation of a depleted fish 

 supply be brought home to the people generally. Another 

 movement which we should like to see imitated is that 

 commenced in Virginia, by which pisciculture is made a 

 part of the curriculum in the colleges. An accurate ac- 

 quaintance with its details is valuable to the possessor as a 

 trade or a profession. 



The recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior, 

 With the President's endorsement, is given below. The 

 description referred to in the President's order was pre- 

 pared by Mr. Stone from a rough survey of the fishery, 

 and covers a strip of land following the course of the 

 river, 850 yards in length and 200 yards in width:— 



Department op the Interior, [ 



Washington, December 7th, 1875. J 

 Sir:— 



I have the honor to recommend the reservation for pisciculture, of the 

 smallest legal subdivisions within which the premises on McCloud Eiver, 

 California, represented on the diagram herewith inclosed shall be 

 found to be embraced when the lines of public surveys shall have been 

 extended ever the same. 



The request is made at the instance of Professor Spencer F. Baird, 

 commissioner under the act of February 9tb, 1871, (16 stat. 594) and the 

 Commissioner of the General Land Office, informs me that the records 

 of his office present no objection to the reservation. 



(Signed) Z. Chandler, Secretary. 



On the back of the Secretary's letter was endorsed the 

 following order by the President :— 



[copy.] 

 Executive Mansion, Dec. 9, 1875. 



Let the tract of land described within be measured for 

 pisciculture, as recommended by the Secretary of the In- 

 terior. U. S. Grant. 



.*<H». — — 



LIMING PONDS AND STREAMS. 



Gainesville, Texas, fiov. SOtJi, 1875. 



_ «*.«. — — — — 



The Northwest Passage.— Pacific whalemen have 

 roade an interesting scientific discovery this season. A 

 few years ago they reached the whaling grounds in August 

 only to be obliged to leave them in September. This year 

 they remained until October, and might have delayed 

 Jonger, so far as peril from the ice pack was concerned. 

 They went within eighty miles of the mouth of MeKenzie 

 River, where sailing vessels have never been before, aud 

 say that a steamer, aided by the currents, might have gone 

 through to Baffin's Bay without difficulty, and t 

 Tiystery of the Northwest pass& 



%ir Rochester, N. Y., January 3d, 1876. 



Editor Forest and Stream :~ 



I see Dy your issue of December 80th, that some of your correspon- 

 dents recommend putting lime in the headwaters of small streams in 

 order to kill the fish that would eat the small fry that you wish to stock 

 the streams with, then to put a screen below, so that the obnoxious fish 

 could not get up, nor the young fish could get below until they grow 

 large enough to take care of themselves. Now, my opinion is, that if 

 you put lime enough in any stream to kill the fish, you will not ouly kill 

 the fish, but every living thing that is in the creek, and when every living 

 thing is dead in the stream you may as well put your young fish on the 

 land as to put them in water where there is no feed; for in both cases 

 they would surely die. Seth Green. 



We have already printed a good deal from Seth Green 

 and other authorities showing the objections to liming 

 waters for the sake of substituting one kind of fish for 

 another, but no one seems to have discovered a practical 

 method for accomplishing the object desired — for instance, 

 the eradicating of pond pickerel and the substitution of 

 speckled trout. We can evoke no satisfactory informa- 

 tion from the best informed. Small ponds may be drawn 

 off, and most of the worthless fish picked out, but more or 

 less fish will always escape, and soon multiply four-fold. 

 With large bodies of water, the difficulty is vastly greater. 

 One would have more success in attempting to clear a 

 chamber of mosquitoes at midnight. Every one knows 

 how satisfactory this procedure is. When every mosquito 

 has been hunted down with a candle and threshed out with a 

 wet towel, the operator retires to his bed, and no sooner 

 gets into a drowse than new legions assail him with fierce 

 music and reduplicated attacks. 



FISH CULTURE IN MARYLAND. 





a recent meeting of the Maryland Academy of 



Science the report of the section of Ichthyology 



upon the subject of the preservation and increase of the 



food fishes of Maryland was read; from it we condense the 



following : 



" The wealth of Maryland in food is greater than any 

 other State in proportion to its geographical area, yet we 

 are behind many other States in adopting adequate means 

 of increasing our supply by "artfiicial cultivation," and 

 by protective legislation. The shad and herring are prob- 

 ably the most profitable commercial fishes of the State, yet 

 are rapidly decreasing in numbers, from excessive fishiug 

 and other causes. The remedy recommended is not only 

 to prevent excessive fishing or obstructions to their passage 

 up the rivers to their spawning grounds, etc., but to en- 

 courage 'artificial production.' 



" During the past fifty years the mountain streams feed- 

 ing the Potomac have diminished in power from the denu- 

 dation of forest land, and the supply of fresh water being 

 lessened, the salt water has replaced it, and thus the 

 formerly profitable shores of the lower Potomac have been 

 abandoned for those higher up. The probability is that in 

 thus solved I course of time, as the supply of fresh water diminishes, the 

 X water oiUhe ocear. will faks ite I'lace, until the herring will 



not seek the river at all to spawn, but the alewives or other 

 fish will. The herring fishery will then of course be de- 

 stroyed in such localities. This would indicate that it may 

 be useless to attempt to stock a river with fish that have 

 never existed there, for apart from the cause of excessive 

 fishing, fish will leave water that is not adapted to their 

 condition and seek some other locality. 



" The report refers also to the new mode of catching her- 

 ring by the weir. This, if not regulated in length by law, 

 will do more harm to the Potomac fisheries than all other 

 causes combined. If its use is persisted in it will drive the 

 fish away from our waters entirely. 



" While so much attention has been paid to the culture 

 of the shad and salmon, etc., within the last twenty years, 

 it seems strange no attention has been given to the artificial 

 breeding of herring. It would not only be the means of 

 adding greatly to our wealth, but the supply of mackerel, 

 cod, blue fish, haddock, trout, etc., that feed on the her- 

 ring, would return to our waters. These larger fish, also 

 the black bass, pickerel, etc., are seen in large numbers at 

 the mouths of our rivers when the young herring are mak- 

 ing their exit. Herring are more prolific than shad, and 

 more hardy in their young state. 



"Our efficient Commissioner Ffrom the Western Shore 

 has done much for the fisheries of the State thus far, hav- 

 ing put over four million of young shad in the Potomac, 

 Susquehanna and other rivers, consequently we must ex- 

 pect an increase of shad in these rivers in the course of 

 three or four years." 



Mr. Pearson Chapman, Sr., a resident of the lower Po- 

 tomac, has watched the habits of fishes for fifty years, and 

 corroborates fully the theory of the members of the Sec- 

 tion of Ichthyology in the matter of excessive fishing, and 

 also the use of the gill-net. The latter, he says, catch only 

 shad, while the seine catches great quantities of catfish, 

 eels and mullets, which follow the shad or herring to prey 

 upon the eggs and young fish. He refers also in forcible 

 terms to the destruction of the spawn by the dragging of 

 the sinkers of the gill nets on the bottom of the river. 



He dwells at some length upon the importance to the 

 State of an effort to hatch the spawn of herring as well as 

 shad, artificially, for while the u shad is the rich man's 

 luxury, the herring is the poor man's living." 



The "glut" shad appears in the river about the 10th of 

 March generally, and commences to spawn about the last 

 of April. During May a species called the "May" shad, a 

 a fish of good flavor and fat, generally appears, 



This shad is now nearly extinct, chiefly because of the 

 war made upon it by the gillers. In the month of June a 

 very large and stout shad of another species makes its ap- 

 pearance. Its flesh is remarkably white, bnt soft and com- 

 paratively tasteless. 



During the month of September, as the young shad are 

 returning to the ocean, immense numbers are caught in 

 gauze seines, to be used for bait. This practice he strongly 

 condemns. 



The "branch" herring makes its appearance about the 

 same time as the "glut shad, and follows the creeks into 

 the small branches to deposit its spawn; hence its name. 

 It goes up the shallow streams as far as it can flutter. 



The "branch" herring does not decrease in numbers as 

 rapidly as the "glut" herring, for the reason, probably, that 

 the latter spawns in the river, while the spawn of the for- 

 mer, being in small streams, is not disturbed by the gill- 

 nets. 



The "glut" herring is about half as large as the branch 

 herring, of much finer flavor, has a small, round black eye 

 (the eye of the branch herring is peculiar) and never goes 

 up into the branches . 



Fifty years ago we had five distinct varieties of the her- 

 ring: First, the "branch" herring; second, the common 

 "glut" herring, early in April, but in later years later in 

 April, and for the last three years they did. not appear at 

 all in April; third, the "poplar back," now extinct; fourth, 

 the "dunbellies." being of a light color underneath, now 

 very scarce; fifth, a fine fat fish, called the "May flipper," 

 called so from jumping higher out of the water than the 

 other kinds; these are occasionally seen now, but not in 

 gluts. 



During the last fifty years the season has been growning 

 later. A half contury ago the shad and herring fisheries 

 commenced from the 15th to the 25th of March, and ended 

 about the 1st of May. Now they commence about a month 

 later, and end about the 25th of May. 



While shad and herring have been gradually decreasing, 

 the perch is as numerous as heretofore. This may arise 

 partly from his pluck and courage in defending himself 

 from his enemies, and partly because they spawn in shal- 

 low water and late in the season. 



The flounder is nearly extinct in the Potomac, but has no 

 enemy other than the "war" loon, and kindred ducks, such 

 as the "gogler," etc. The Virginia, or winter shad is not 

 seen now. Its flavor is such that it is not in demand if 

 found. The gar is now nearly extinct about the middle 

 waters of the Potomac, but is still caught in great numbers 

 down the river, much to the annoyance of the gillers. The 

 sturgeon is also becoming very scarce . While three a week 

 may now be caught by one man, a boat load could once 

 have been taken in two or three hours. But the greatest 

 decrease of all fish is observed in the number of the shad 

 and herring. From forty to fifty years ago, where the 

 catch at one haul (estimated) was from two to three hun- 

 dred thousand, now from ten to twenty thousand is con- 

 sidered a great haul. 



BROOK TROUT FREE. 



EOOHESTEB, N. ¥., 



Young brook trout will be delivered free of expense at the New York 

 State Hatching House>t Caledonia after February 15, 1876, to ail persons 

 oesirine them to stock public streams or ponds in this State, or they wil 

 be sent to any address on the parties paying traveling expenses of a Btte»» 

 senger to accompany them. For further particulars address 



Seth Green, Superintendent. 

 Horatio Seymour, 

 Edward M. Smith, 

 Robert B. Roosevelt, 

 Commifsioners of Fisheries. 



— The head of a turtle, for several days after its separa- 

 tion from the body, retains and exhibits animal life and 

 sensation. An Irishman had decapitated one, and some 

 days afterward was amusing himself by putting sticks in 

 its mouth, which it bit with violence. A lady who saw 

 the proceeding, exclaimed, "Why, Patrick, I thought the 

 turtle was dead!" "go he is, ma'am; but the crayther's 

 not sensible of it." 



