326 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[NoybmbbrSS, 1880. 



slay longer ? I had cainped on tlie outlet of Fourtl) Lake un- 

 til Uhm'i,' wns nolliing new lluTC. The iuimeiipe limher eul 

 b)r Govcrme})! lo dam the lakes had favnished me chips uiid 

 Imrk, within six rods of my shanty tent. Intelligent, cul- 

 tured men had stopped iit my camp daily lo see the eightien- 

 pomid eauue and the little peniiyurue who had paddled her 

 over 50n miles without a guide! I wanted one week on the 

 .still waiei' of the .Moo--(' Uiver. Why, it wa.s just t.he time lo 

 start. I built :i fire ihal marked my Uisi, chance at Govern- 

 ment chips and cnuld he seen for" miles, put my dullle in 

 Bhape, and at daylight .struck out for Jones' camp, 18 iniles 

 below. 



1 .stopped at " Buell's camp " on the 3d to bid the quiet old 

 owner a lust good-bye, and I had a la.st argument witUPeri-ie 

 on the relative merits of our fiiM: ii i 

 relied him all over fhe Fnllmi (. i i 

 llie rain while he fished his den ■ 

 his tma' and couldn't get iiway ,, i ,■■ 

 s;i}- thill lie can furnish the best, ca- 

 Tllvcv will 1? Ihat I know of; ur/d h 

 end of lit) feet of line in a way that ]: 

 ground. 1 have no interest, "in the ., 

 good cast for the particular waters I am ii.shing 



From uiy camp on Fourth Lnke lo foot of Fultou Chain, 

 7 miles, 100 rods carry, and 1? mi'. . i.. .T... -i-.' camp— a little 

 OTer 10 miles. Viulfiuu'l/.-i if.v . Not that .Tones' 



Camp is m'f/v)" at all. hill '.he lii, ■- , >, i Im Forge AiouBO 

 is delightful and/(.»'7/.v. ComJEu .li.^.u i i-ujjjped al tlie old 

 de-serted house uiarked on Coi ton's map as the "Arnold 

 House." For years this was the headquarters of guides, 

 frappers, lumters, surveyors, tourists and speculators. How 

 many^ of the present geuer.'ition who pass by the doors of thi.s 

 old budding have the least idea of the tragical events connect- 

 ed with the old house and the large, sandy, weed-gi-own 

 clearing about it ? 



The liuck-boarils that almost brush its sides as they pass it 



' lial. havbig qi 

 . . I. -II i,e held me in 

 |.i_ l.il.sand I wasii, 

 , il.> liuii tiie juslice lo 

 of hies for the Jloose 

 can throw them at the 

 ts me quite in the hiick- 

 r bu8ines.s, bat I like a 



and the Moose ^ 

 Willi such a reci 

 Ihni .ln:.ei>h Ha: 



■ The Piiiui" 



The Forge Hou.se, two and a half 



■escnt slarling point for the Fulton Chain 



•s. But there is not a house in the State 



,s the old '■.'Vrnold place." Here it was 



li. aftir losing a princely fortune in the 



I I line out of the plentiful iron ore 



I' i i^jniir. And here it was that 



I'l with the "Injun," "skinned 



.... -.l,, unides put It. 



iFir.li I. like, nearly two miles from the 

 outlet, and it is four milts fn.m the Arnold place to the out- 

 let by water, with a carry of SO rods, while by trail it is two 

 and a half miles. The quarrel had lieen bitter. Knives were 

 drawn and blood shed, but hunters and giudes were there in 

 force and the men were kept apart. 



"You never see Christmas," .said the Indian, tiercely. 

 "You never sec to-morrow," said Foster, as he look his rifle 

 and disappeared in the forest. 



Whc-ii the Indian left the Arnold place with his canoe, two 

 friendly whites went with him. They did not really suspect 

 danger: but, as tliev were passing Indian Point, single tile, 

 ■ " "lian in the middle, old Foster rose up, 

 Mer. The Indian gave a yell, " 

 --■ill: ■■ Me dead nian :" Even 

 ii-l.'d through his hinss and hf 



' Tn 



il)|ied 

 ^ sai.i 

 ihled 



tliree cm 



withri.ni. 



his pail'i 



it FoFIrr 



into the %vaiLr hl.uI. 



Every man w ho goes up the Fulton lakes knows "Indian 

 Poiid"'a!Kl "Indian Rock." I have passed them more than 

 a score of times this summer, tmd never without a thouglitof 

 the tragedy that occmred at this s|X)t. Because it ha])pe,ned 

 that Foste'r, after a tedious touniavnent iri theconrls on atrial 

 for murder, got clear on a |)lea of self-defence and came to 

 Tioga County. Pennsylvania, to linisli his days, being justly 

 afraid of llie"Tiidi!);is who had sworn his death. 



Lastly, there is the room where the elder Arnold, father of 

 "Ed.""aud "Ote" Arnold, " Brown's Ti act guides" of the 

 pre.scnt, shot and killed the guide. Short, in a foolish quarrel 

 about a dog chain. It v.a.i a lirutal deed, and no man here 

 has one word of e.vcusc or e.vlemiation tor it. The family 

 say that after the shooting Arnold w-ent into the bush, direct- 

 ing a daughter to hang a white cloth out of an upper window 

 if his victim died before sinulown. Short died about 3 i-. M., 

 the cloth was duly huntr out and Arnold went over to Nick's 

 Lake, weighted h'imself heavily with stones, and waded out 

 of his depth, coolly drowning himself. There was a eoffin 

 buried at IJooncvifle, anyhow, and a funeral al fended by the 

 Arnold family as mourners. Bur the prevailing opinion is, 

 here, that the funeral was n sham and lluil Arnold, who knew 

 the woods to perfection, calmly walked e.ver to Canada, th.al 

 being quite as easy and more agreeable than to drown hini- 

 .self. Quite a tragicrti spot is the " Old Arnold Place." 1 

 .spent a couple of Iiom- wandering about the sterile clearing, 

 counting and inspecting the rooms, noting the bl'oken furni- 

 ture and discarded tin or iron ware and the moldy boxes, Ij.ir- 

 rel8, etc, that remain as they were left in the ]ar.ae and com- 

 modious cellar The ruins of a dozen castles on' the Phinc 

 would have leas interest for me. 



a what was once the 



a.s a bunk, well filled 



half full of ashes, had 



Ige, and the bunk had 



liy some sleeper, who 



' he deer which feed at 



tnelvflelds. Below the 



river, but on a small 



ly rowed or paddle.l ^ 



For a time beyond 



i.as been afavorite Jand- 



■eeii here no more, luid 



' goes iq) tlie channel 



■ge House to Jones' is 



, above the rapids there 



ar, dr\-. spi-uce-covered point. Just 



■ay, and as I swnmg around in .sight 



id"l a plump lillle ye.arliug buck, aU 



Ihe ahorthln'; and within fortyyards 



down withiu five rods uf him and 



islling and suortitig his loudest, went 



high, defiant bonnd.s. My rifle was 



' i the levolver, which wotdd have 



vay in my knapsack. Ah, well! 



if venison, bear meat. 



There w» 



,a i-nsly scythe hanaing 



drawinc-roo 



m. and in an npjjcr room \ 



with soft, d 



y ./ru.'^.s. An n'd lO. -vil. 



recentU'ber 



1 used forn-Mi-! :. , :, nd 



been used ^ 



rilhin two •■• • ' ' -. 



had corne to 



thecloariiJ- \-' 'iiii'li n- 



early monii 



g or late evening iu the lo 



house is the 



landinir^not on the main 



pond with a 



1 outlet to the Moose, easi 



and this 1.- 



nding ig almost classic. 



even the old 



;st Indian tradition, this h 



m'l for tllc 1 



It men ; but the birch is s 



evrii 1 lie nai 



row lilue boat of the toiide 





Halfway from the Foi 



"LitdefCi., 



ills." and ( went y-five rods 



is, i.n the left hank, a cf 

 here there is a good rnm 

 of the point there he slo 

 ready beg-imiiug to show 

 of me. Ho lei me drift 

 then, raising- his Hag, wl,i; 

 off with a snecession of h 

 back at the Forge House ; 

 done for him, was tucked 

 Let him live, I have had 



and trout even if I never taste eithei' ugain. Only one does 

 not like to miss such a chance. By the time he was out of 

 hearing the rapids claimed my attention, and, shooting swift- 

 ly down the narrow channel, 1 glided into the deep, smooth 

 water below foraapleastmta si.x'-railepaildle as one could wish. 

 The weallier was perfect, the banks thickly studded with 

 trecB, mainly spruce and balsam, and I caught frequent 

 glimpses of beaver meadows, with the light, graceful foliage 

 of the tamaracks showing beftutifully as a background to the 



dark, sombre cvergreetis of the river lianks. The six miles 

 was passed too quieklv, and I ran the canoe into the tiny 

 landing thtit Eri Jones had preiiared for tier, let hiin take her 

 to the boat-house, and laid away the paddle, feeling that my 

 canoeing was over for the season. I have not stepped into 

 her since. 



Jones' camp is pretty nearly a forest solitude. A high hill 

 lo the south, across the river ; another to tlie north and ca.st, 

 and deep, heavy woods on all sides. It is empluilieally a 

 place of rest. The low. constant murmur of llie rapids, a 

 hundred yards Vielow. is audible at all hours of the day and 

 night. Tome it is .somnoh-nt music. Often, when Jones 

 and his son were olf fishing, 1 dropjied asleep over ]Den and 

 paper, lulled iiv the low, unvaryimi monotone of rnshing 

 waters, and at night it wa.s better I'hai^ an opiate. 



Here I rested, fished a fit tie, wrote less, and loafed away 

 my last week in the woods. It is worthy of mention tliat we 

 ha'd brook trout on the table every day of my stay. I got to 

 care very little for them. In coinmon with the majority who 

 come here I much prefer the lake salmon. We made the 

 evenings shorter by exclianging notes. 1 have been some- 

 thing of a wandere'r by sea and land, while Jones is a Forty- 

 niner, has been a tame'r and catcher of wild horses and was 

 in the thickest of the fight at the Panama riots, when 

 Walker's actions got two steamer-loads of passengers into the 

 hottest kind of w-ater and cost nearly or quite a thousand 

 lives. 



He is well po,sted, loo, on the North Woods and matters 

 pertaining thereunto, and he gave me some interesting and 

 instructive points not laid down in the books. Owning a 

 camp, with boats to let and licing on the guide list himself, 

 he could give stories and incidents concerning tlie guiding 

 business quite amusing and perhaps slightly suggestive to the 

 prospective tourist. For instance lake the following, for the 

 truth of which I can vouch. 



Dick Cragoc is a Brown's Ti'act guide and a good one. 

 Last season he had a party consisting of a gentleman and his 

 wife, who came to the woods for rest, recreation and amuse- 

 ment, and as usual the gentleman brought a breech-loader, 

 with which he was an.'iious to kill a deer. But his vacation 

 ueared a close and he had been unable to get a shot. The 

 lady, who was his constant companion in boating and fishing 

 excursions, also desired to see how it was done, for once, and 

 thus the seiilleman lo his guide : 



" Dick, 1 can'i go out without shooting a deer. Get me a 

 shot to-morrow^ and I'll give you five dollars." 



Dick got the dogs out early", while he lay off on the lake 

 with his boat and party to cut the deer off. The hunt was a 

 pretty fair success all "round— even for the deer. The dogs 

 succeeded in driving the deer (a doe, as usual / to water. Dick 

 succeeded by rapid rowing in cutting her off and getting a 

 "tail-holt.,"" which, by the way, is afavorite "holt" with 

 the average guide, and the gentleman emptied his six-shot re- 

 peater at her head as Dick held on to the tail, and actually 

 missed with every shot. 



Then the woman was aroused. " Cragoe," said she, " it's 

 a shame. Let her go, and I'll give you more than my hus- 

 band gave for his shots." 



Dick kne\v Ids little biz, and he knew her word was good 

 a.s gold, fie loosened his grip on 1 he tail and the doe scuttled 

 (liriaish the lily pads, climbed the bank and was soon safe in 

 her forest hom'e. The gentleman paid his five dollars like a 

 man. and next dav the party went out. On leaving the lady 

 handed Dick a package, sa'yimj:: "Don't 0|>en it until we 

 are .iway," The package contained a tine silk handkerchief 

 with the name of Dick's wife ueatly worked iu one corner 

 and also a ten-dollar grccnbsick. 



Dick's account of the himt borders on the humorous. "It 

 was," he says, "one of the most satisfactory hunts I was 

 ever into. The man got six shots at a deer, fifteen feet off, 

 at less than a dollar a shot. Anybody would give that much. 

 The lady was satisfied .and well pleased, while the doe ought 

 to be. "it stood me in nigh on to twenty dollars, and I don't 

 feel as I ought to be dissatisfied if the deer did get away from 

 us." 



Dick would feel insulted if anybody should hint al cheeki- 

 nesa or extortion. 



Aaother case of deer liuntiug came within my own know- 

 ledge in August last. "Slim Jim," a muscuhir guide of the 



Forge House elnn, had a pari v of one, a Mr. George B , 



of Philadelphia, who was rather profitalile, Jim's bill, foof- 

 iuL' u!) to about «li5. Jim was faithful, took good ciue of 

 his man, and did not overcharge him. Therefore, when J\lr. 



B exi_iress(>d an earnest desire to shoot one deer before 



goins out, it was Jim's bounden duty to get him the chance. 

 As tloatiug wa.s a failure they went over to the North Branch 

 Lakes, with Jim's old speckled hound for a right bower, to 

 try (hiving, and there met another i)arty, with Si Hehner for 

 guide. 



Hebner's purty had killed deer before, and were an.viousfor 

 venison rather than the fun of shooting it. Therefore, when 

 Jini explained ihat his man was very desirous of .shooting a 



ilcer, and asked Si to assist, it wms agreed that Mr. B 



sluiiild liuve a siiot if [lOHsible. It turiied out quite possible. 

 The di/r— a due again — came to water along way froi* the 

 boats and niiule for the opposite shore. By dint of his best 

 rowing Hclmer succeeded in cutting her off"at the last insttmt 

 and turning horout into the lake, ivhere he got the tail hold and 



wailed for Mr. B to shoot. One would suppose that the 



merest tyro who ever fired a gun might he atile to shoot a 

 deer in tfie head while it was held fast by the tail, but the 

 shootiiiL' of I he tourist is often fearfully and wonderfully 



done. 3Ir. B ptit a heavy eluu-ge into the doe's hind- 



tiuarters, within a fool of Si Hclmer's hand, pretty well des- 

 troying a hindquarter of venison and drawing some very 

 energetic remark from Si. 



Slim Jim was stoppinsr at Buell's Camp, and on the return 

 of the party Jlr. B. remarked, with a satisfied air. "Well, 

 you can score one for me." 1 should say so. 



Small wonder that the uuidos have, as a rule, little faith in 

 the shooting of their parties, at least until they have been 

 tested by actual trial. 



If Ihe'se rough notes find favor, I will at another time give 

 some hints for parties who wish to go, in light boats or 

 canoes, through the wilderness without guides. Nbssmuk. 



A P.urry Foii Arkan's.ss. — Mr. H. N. Fuller, general 

 eastern agent of the New York. Lake Erie and Western 

 Railroad.left the eilv Saturday evening to join a party who 

 go on a hmiting expedition to the Swan Lake country, thirty 

 'miles from Nevrport, Ark. They will camp oul two or 

 three weeks and the Forest ai;d SrKE.iM is promised a re- 

 port on the game found. Tire party consists of Jlessrs. H. 

 N- Fuller, Hon. William Brown, Jacksonville, IU. ; Mr. 

 Ilempstead, Professor H. C. Hammond, Little Rock, Ark. ; 

 William Benson, James T. King, Jacksonville, Ark. -, Colonel 

 Hughes, St. Louis, tHo. 



GAirE AND FISH ABOUT DENVER. 



WHILE glancing over your always 'interesting pages, 

 I am reminded that it is a long time since 1 con- 

 tributed even a paragraiih to the common fund. And first, 

 1 desire to compliment you upon the very great improve- 

 ment in yciur journal, and especially witiiiu the last year. 

 It shows prosperity and the just appreciation iu which it is 

 held. Its place in public esteem, or as an authority upon 

 the subjects with which it deals, eaimot be questioned 

 hile its standing grows stronger vsuth each and every 



•eedii 



Tliis reiiifin has been especially favored the present au- 

 tumn Willi an almndaut supjily of water fowO.' The ducks 

 came early, have been plentiful and in excellent condition. 

 The "The Great Ameiienii D.'sort" would not seem from 

 its name a natural resort for welibed feet ; yet, thanks to the 

 .system of irrigation we are obliged to pra'cticc in order to 

 promote agriculture, this portion of it is fast becoming a 

 favorite spring and fall resting place for the migrating 

 docks. I'he irrigating canals till U[) and keep fuU ponds 

 and little lakes all V.ver the cmn\\r\ throuirh which thev are 

 extended. These soon become tilled with aquatic plants 

 which supply food and shelter for the birds and they linger 

 about them for days or weeks. 



Just now the niiirkels are also plentifully Supplied with 

 geese. Owing to ilie rapid filling up of the coimtry, the 

 pushing forward of the fmntiiT seUlements, imd the exten- 

 sion of our moinUain system of our railway.s, large game is 

 growing scarceand more and more dithcull to reaVh. A f:dr 

 supply of venison and tm occiisional elk, or bear yet find 

 their way to this market, but it is very different troiii a few 

 years ago. Buffalo meat is hardly e\'c"r seen, and even ante- 

 lope is no longer common. There has been good sport this 

 fall in Middle and North Parks, and ^\'est of them, but 

 very little of the meat killed has come to Denver. Elk have 

 been killed most, mule deer next, and then antelope. A 

 mountain sheep is hardly ever seen any more. 



The diminution of fish has been even more rapid and 

 marked than the destruction of game. During the last Sum- 

 mer mountain trout have been a rarity in the Denver mar- 

 ket, and when found they have generally been shale and un- 

 palatable to tho.sc whose I nste liad been educated to estCcm 

 them only when fresh from their native element. The f.U't 

 is the streams on the easlern slupe of the mountains are 

 nearly depleted of their finny deni/.ens, and those of the 

 western .slope will soon share the same result. JMeantime 

 very lillle is being done to make good the loss. We have a 

 Fish Commissioner ^yho is zealous to enthusiasm, but the 

 last Ijegislatiae iravc iiim but ft 1, 000 for two years' expenses, 

 and of course he can do but little. 



He has obtsinrd in the last season a few German carp from 

 Prof. Eaird, which prospered well under his care until di.s- 

 tributed among the various portions of the Spite a lew weeks 

 ago. He has also prosecuted successfully a number of of- 

 fenders aa'ainst the Stale fish law. An inqiortanl test case 

 transfeiTed from Weld County to this, imd fought to the bit- 

 ter end was concluded only a few days ago, the offender be- 

 ing ".siiiched" to the full extent of the law. If the commis- 

 sioner could seciu-e an appropriation sufficient to establish a 

 hatching hou.se, and then our fish protective laws could be 

 made a "liltle more eflectivp, it would not be difiieut to keep 

 good the fish supply of tlie State with even the more delicate 

 and vahialile v.arieties. As it is every artificial pond soon 

 teems with the common, eoiirser kinds "which "bent nothing." 



We have long hail a kind ot passive game protective asso- 

 ciation here open lo membership in all ])arts of tte' State. It 

 has done something occasionally in securing punishment for 

 \iolation of the game and lish laws, and Im-i i ' ■ im.iM -hed one 

 other thing which is a gratifying leeomi" " ,i|i u trouble 



and cost. The (piail was not indiginon- .. i:, i.-i-n, and 

 the first thiiia: the association did was losecini^ a supjily from 

 both East and West. These were coloui.7:ed in the farming 

 districts, and stringent laws passed for their jirolecliou. It 

 is not yet la-svful to kill them at any season of the year, and 

 the consequence is that Bob White is numerous in"iuost, or 

 all of the valleys east of the momiUtins. At harvest time Ills 

 notes are heard in every field, and he can be seen on every 

 fence, while he is almost as taine as the domestic fowls. The 

 Ciiliforuia Viiriety disappeared— probably migrated South- 

 ward. 



This has been a phenominal year iu this region ; first an 

 excessively severe winter on the western slope of the moun- 

 tains with an extreme snow fidl, wliile on east it was very 

 mild, with hardly any precipilalion ; then a remarkably dry 

 spring and eariy summer all over; succeeded by unusually 

 frcqneiil rains from the middle of Jidy to the present time, 

 (only recently it has been mainly suow). For more 

 than a month past there has been rain or snow, 

 or both every two three or foru' days, and the streets 

 of Denver have rivalled those of an Illinois towni for mud. 

 The "oldest inhabitant "never saw the like before; he'll 

 swear to Ihat. I'or the Inst week it ha? been cold, frosty 

 and icy ahead of time, and I am just wishing I could follow 

 Al Fresco's chart "away down " along the Southwest coast, of 

 Florida, until the genial springUme comes again. 



W. N. B. 



Denvm; Ool., Nov. 14. 



vK 



THE ST. REGIS RIVER REGIOIL 



I HAVE just returned from the woods, where 1 have been 

 in camp for the last ten weeks. I camped most of the 



lime on the Sixteen-Mile Level of the middle branch of the 

 St. Regis Puver, above Blue Mountain, lait visited several of 

 the ponds and other streams in that vicinity, while there. 

 With three others I went to Long Pond, thi-ee miles west of 

 the Level, where we found some of the best front fishing I 

 have had in several }ears. Wc caught a fine lot of large 

 trout there, from :; lb. to 1 lb. m weight. We also found 

 good fishing in the outlet, but tlie fish were not of BO large a 

 size as in the pond. I did not find the fishing as good in 

 the Level as I diil last season, owing, no doubt, to gill nets 

 being set in the spawning beds last fall. 1 was informed by 

 persons who were trapping on the Level last October that two 

 men from the northern pnrt of the county came therein tlmt 

 month and caught over SOOlb.s. of trout with gill nets on 

 the spawning beds. One of the men came up to the Level 

 with boat, tent, etc., and I have no doubt a net among hia 

 liaggage, just before I left. I would h,ave stopped and kept 

 a watcii over him, but could not stay longer, so 1 arranged 

 with the trajBpers to keep an eye on liim, and it he put a net 

 into the water to let me know it and I would bring him to 

 the District Attorney's notice. 



