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THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL. 
[Entered According' to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, hy the Forest and Stream Publishing Company, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
NEW YORK, THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 1879. 
For Forest, and Stream and Bod and Gun. 
AWAY TO THE HIGHL ANDS, AWAY! 
BY NATHAN UFHAM. 
A WAY to the Highlands, array! 
IA- Dame NaUi re is now at her best: 
She is donning her bridal array, 
And in garlands of daisies is drest: 
In the flush of each morn 
Some rare flower ia born 
That our youth trill renew, 
If wo lavo in its dew, 
For the fortunate Under is blest! 
IL 
Away to the hillsides, away, 
And partake the sweet breath of the rose! 
Its fragrance will brook no delay, 
As it reckons late-comers its foes: 
To show its deep scorn 
It leaves them a thorn ; 
Nor will deign to unfurl 
Its bright. petalB of pearl, 
It bo loves at gray dawn to disclose. 
in. 
Away to the woodlands, away 1 
The robin Is piping his song; 
He awakes at the first peep of day, 
And leads out the gay choral throng: 
Their songs, to the skies 
As Bweet incense arise ; 
And joy will be ours, 
If with birds and with flowers 
Wo unite the glad hours to prolong. 
For Forest and Stream and Bod and Gim. 
L A CORRESPONDENCE between Judge Kinney of 
IA Staunton, Virginia, and myself, based upon letters 
I had seen in Forest and Stream relative to the excel¬ 
lent trout fishing to he found in the north branch of 
the Shenandoah River, convinced me that this was the 
plaoe to go to. I enlisted the sympathies of an editor, 
and on the 6th of May we started from our home in 
Western New York for a week’s trout fishing in the “ Old 
Dominion.” 
The morning after our arrival at Staunton, an early call 
from the Judge and a cordial welcome extended assured 
us at once that we were among friends ; which assurance 
was heightened when we wei’e escorted to the club room, 
where an informal Sunday morning reception was ten- 
tered us, and we met the best crowd of fellows we could 
wish to find. Among them were Captain Doyle, Captain 
Bumgardner, Mr. W. L. Olivier, Dr, Carter Berkeley, Mi - . 
Ned Echols, and a dozen more. 
The Judge took us to his home, and, after dinner, such 
as only the superintendence of a real daughter of Vir¬ 
ginia can produce, a walk about the city was in order. 
Immediately upon our arrival we learned that there 
had been heavy rains in the mountains, and that the 
streams were swollen enough to interfere seriously with 
the fishing, but we had come resolved to spend a week at 
“ Shiflett’s ” and fish the North River ; and next rooming, 
although the sky wore that heavy leaden aspect bespeak¬ 
ing a wet day, we piled our traps into an excellent cov¬ 
ered rig, and behind a pair of good horses with the Judge 
as Jehu, we rattled out of town toward the Alleghanies 
piled up in the west like a gigantic green wall. 
Arriving at the ford of the middle river we found the 
water foaming, hut we crossed without mishap, although 
the treacherous element lapped against and into the wagon 
box occasionally. And now the rain came down again, 
and the outlook was anything but flattering; still we 
floundered on through mud and water and at last reached 
Stribling Springs, thirteen miles from Staunton. This 
watering-place lies in a beautiful little valley just at the 
base.of the North Mountain, and consists of a large hotel 
and a number of neat cottages surrounding it. It is a Bum¬ 
mer resort of considerable notoriety, owing to the variety 
of mineral waters found here. Within a hundred yards of 
the hotel are an alum spring, sulphur spring, chalybeate 
spring, and freestone spring, all neatly housed; and hun¬ 
dreds of people visit hers yearly to drink the waters, fish 
in the adjacent streams, and shoot deer and turkeys in 
the mountains. Mr. Charles Kinney, the proprietor, is 
my ideal of the old school Virginia gentleman. Hospi¬ 
tality and good living are among his leadmg character¬ 
istics, and the hearty welcome accorded us, as we drove up 
all wet and hungry to the porch, will never be forgotten. 
After a hearty dinner, which our host facetiously 
called “ a snack,” we held a council and decided, owing 
to the depth of water at the fords, to go horseback over 
the mountain by a bridle path to “Shiflett’s,” our desti¬ 
nation. While we were deliberating the rain ceased, and 
having donned our old clothes, hung on our creels, and 
placed what extra toggery we would need in a bag, 
which was thrown across the pommel of the Editor's sad¬ 
dle—he being the feather weight of the party—with fish¬ 
ing rods grasped firmly and cigars alight, we started. The 
Judge and Editor being old cavalrymen looked on the 
journey with pleasure, while I, all unused to the saddle, 
liad some misgivings as I looked up the steep sides of the 
mountain, and I could not help wondering how 1 was 
going to hold on to my bridle rein, rod, and the pommel 
of my saddle simultaneously, when my steed struck a forty- 
five degree angle ! 'But it was not so bad as it looked: 
the path was well Worn, and the grades comparatively 
easy, so I forgot the novelty of my position in contem¬ 
plating the beauties all about me. Here was nature 
unadorned, here the forest primeval. Who knows but 
Washington himself, when in his younger days he roamed 
with cluiin and compass, toiled up this same path, which 
is nothing more than an old Indian trail. Possibly his 
eye took in the very scene that burst on mine, when 
pausing at the summit we gave ourselves over to this ex¬ 
quisite feast of vision. The vallev of Virginia stretched 
away at our feet like a magnificent garden, its eastern 
confines guarded by the battlements of the Blue Ridge 
full thirty miles away. All about us filed the peaks of 
the Alleghanies wooded with magnificent timber to the 
very tops. Elliot’s Knob and Big Bald, lifting their stately 
heads above the lesser peaks, seemed to look down con¬ 
temptuously on their humbler brethren. It was on one 
of these same “humble brethren” that we were resting, 
and mighty glad were we that it was no higher now that 
the summit was reached. Our descent was easy, and 
varied in my case by a tendency to slip over the horse’s 
head instead of the crupper as in the ascent. 
Soon the murmur of the North River's welcome sound 
came borne up the mountain side to our ears, and in a 
short time we reined up on the bank, and prepared to 
ford. Here was another experience for me, but we passed 
in safety with no other mishap than a shoe full of water. 
We were now fairly in the North River bottom, aud, as 
tlie Judge assured us, but three miles from “Shiflett’s,” 
with a good path and only one more ford. Encouraged 
at the prospect we pushed on merrily, and soon came to 
evidences of civilization in the way of snake fences and 
cultivated fields. Reaching the last ford, we crossed, and 
there, in the midst of fields of waving grass and grain, 
was the place for which we had been looking ever since 
we left the Empir estate, “Shiflett’s." One,would scarcely 
look for so civilized a habitation in this great wilderness 
where the nearest neighbor is three miles away. It con¬ 
sists of a substantial log house, two stories in height, with 
an L adjoining, in which is the dining-room and kitchen. 
At either end of the upright, built outside, as is the Vir¬ 
ginia custom, are great stone chimneys offering pleasant 
suggestions of wide-mouthed fireplaces sputtering with 
fat pine knots and hickory backlogs. The house is about 
two hundred yards from the river, and midway are the 
barns, a little primitive in their construction, perhaps, 
but comfortable. The old man is well to do, having 
three thousand acres of land, embracing all styles, from 
tlie perpendicular to the horizontal. Several hundred 
cattle, suitably branded, browse upon the mountains, 
and the sturdy old mountaineer and his sons clad in 
homespun are as happy and care-free as Robin Hood and 
his merry men. 
After giving us a hearty hand shake aud bidding us wel¬ 
come io “White Oak Lick,” Pap—as they all call him— 
led us in to supper. Now don’t let any one imagine that, 
because “Shiflett’s” is away up in the mountains, they 
don’t have anything to eat. Listen : On that supper ta¬ 
ble was some of that “mast-fed” bacon immortalized by 
“Asa” in this paper not long since; hominy, fresh, 
wliite bread, ana grass butter, peach aud apple butter, 
good cotfee, hot corn bread, lettuce, sweet milk, pickles, 
and peach and whortleberry pies; and every tiling was 
well cooked, clean and wholesome. So when at an early 
hour we tumbled into downy beds, we vowed that not 
half the virtues of “ Shiflett’s” had been told ns.” 
But we came here to fish, and, in spite of the high 
water, we sallied forth after any early breakfast and Baw, 
what we had not seen in many a long month, the sun 
rise. And a sunrise in tlie mountains is something well 
worth the effort to witness. Everything is so peaceful 
and quiet. The lofty summits, tipped with gold, while 
the base of the mountains are in shadow, makes a con¬ 
trast one never wearies of gazing at. 
The North River, in which we soon had our lines, is a 
brawling mountain stream which heads away up in the 
Alleghanies, miles above “Shiflett’s,” Uniting with the 
Middle and South branches below Staunton, it forms the 
Shenandoah, which, flowing north, drains that fertile 
valley bearing the same name, and is lost in the Potomac 
at Harper's Ferry. The term river as applied to this 
stream is a trifle strained, as it seldom spreads out over 
six rods in width. An experienced fly fisherman with 
an eleven-foot rod, could cover every inch of good water 
in wading down. A perfect trout "stream, the water is 
clear, cold, and so pure that to drink it is like taking a 
draught of pure oxygen. FulL of rapids, pools and ed¬ 
dies, it is just the place for the fish to lurk. The most 
indifferent angler's eyes would dance to see the North 
River in good tide. But unfortunately it was not in good 
tide this morning: the water was flush anil discolored. 
But don’t think we caught nothing. Why, the Judge 
was to leave us at noon to return home, and we had to 
catch some, and we did. A good, big basketful of as fine 
trout, running from seven to ten inches in length, as ever 
gladdened the heart of a lover of “ the gentle art. After 
lie had gone, much to our regret, lea ring us his kindest 
wishes for our success, we went earnestly to work, and, 
although the weather remained fine, the river during our 
whole stay was too Iiigli for any great fishing. But wp 
caught enough to satisfy the demands of sport, and more 
than enough to eat. "We had trout for breakfast, dinner, 
and supper, until we were tired of them; and often would 
we slight the speckled delicacies for the "mast-fed.” it 
is only a waste while fishing at “Sbiflett’s” to catch more 
trout “than you can consume, for you can’t give them 
away, for the simple reason that there is no one to give 
them to. 
One would think tliat company would be scarce at this 
place ; but this is not so. Nearly every night during our 
stay, some wandering herdsman, fisherman, or distant 
neighbor, would drop in at tlie ever-open door, take sup¬ 
per, stay all night, and off again at daylight. 
It was decidedly enjoyably after wading the river all 
day. to get on dry togs and sit around the cheerful fire¬ 
place, whose warmth was always acceptable after night¬ 
fall in this elevated region, aud while enjoying our pipes 
to listen to the old man’s stories of deer aud bear hunts, 
and how the deserters and offscourings of both armies 
during the war used to come through tills very pass, aud 
were never turned away unfed from his door. He told 
us of a neighbor of his, an old mountaineer and hunter, 
named Todd, who lived three miles above on the river! 
A peaceful old man, who at last met a violent death at 
the hands of a gang of ruffians. A remarkable character 
was he, whose history as a lnmter and scout would read 
like a romance. 
Time slipped rapidly away. We would fish up and 
down the river until we liad trout enough, never getting 
so far away as to “ lose our bacon ” at meal time. Then, 
through the heat of the day, we wouldlie around, smoke, 
sleep, and generally give ourselves up to the perfect rest¬ 
fulness of this lovely vale. 
One day we took a long horseback ride over the-moun¬ 
tain bridle-paths, and to show the peculiarities of wliat 
is known as the *' narrow-gouge” railroad route by which 
we returned, I will say that by actual count we forded 
the North River twenty-one times within three miles. 
I think it due the shooting and fishing fraternity, that 
a short description of the family of our old friend SJfif- 
lett be here recorded. Mrs. Sliiflett is a quiet, unobtru¬ 
sive body, but of decided opinions when necessary, as 
witness a .remark she made on election day when the old 
gentleman returned a little late from Mount Salon where 
the polls where held. “ Whiskey is good iu its place, but 
thar is such a thing as carrying it too fur." " I say r" 
quoth the mountaineer in reply, and that is all he said, 
She is an excellent cook, and her duties in that capacity 
are onerous. ‘ ‘ From early dawn till dewy' eve ” she bakes 
and boilB, roasts and fries, for the multitudinous hungry 
mouths that gather round the board three times a day. 
There were only seven of the children at home. Jack.“a 
sturdy fellow of twenty-eight, was at the head of the 
farm. Three daughters, all young women grown, and 
very pleasant, intelligent girls, by-the-way, fully occupied 
tlie spare time of the susceptible newspaper man, while 
three bright boys, aged respectively teu, twelve, and fif¬ 
teen years, completed tlie group. 
Friday evening we were delighted at the arrival of 
three friends from Staunton, Messrs. Doyle, Olivier, and 
Cook, These gentlemeu had come out to take a half¬ 
day's sport with us, and all return to town together. So 
next morning wo bade “ White Oak Lick " and its pleas¬ 
ant inhabitants adieu, and fished down the river three 
miles to the ford where the wagon waa waiting. Here 
we cleaned our trout, and they tilled an eight-pound bas¬ 
ket comfortably. Then tlu'eo of us walked throe miles 
over the mountain to Stribling Springs where another car¬ 
riage was waiting, while the other two drove around tlie 
base of the mountain, teu miles over the roughest kind 
of a road. We foot-pads got there first, and bad clean 
clothes on before the rest drove up. A short stay here, 
just long enough to breathe the horses, and we were off, 
arriving in Staunton shortly after nightfall. 
Monday we took a trip over the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Railroad with Major N. H, Hotolikiss, general traveling 
