Deo. u, 18S3. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



389 



tile Old Forge, in midsummer, as undisturbed by human 

 COmpaaionshi]) asif yolS were a-struddle of the highest peak 

 of. the Rocky Mountains, when there wasn't so much as a 

 log shanty on the whole line of the Fulton range or (with 

 one exception) from Barttett'fi away down to DoWriie'a Lunil- 

 iug. Most of the good fellows whom I was wont lo meet 

 in those far-back summer rambles have made their last 

 "east," ami are now, I trust, enjoying Infinitely higher fe- 

 licity on the bants of that "pure river of water clear as 

 ery slid, "so graphically portrayed by the lonely seer upon 

 thelsle of Patinos Some of' thenv-ulas! how few— still 

 remain to illustrate the beneficent influence of the gentle ail 

 upon the tniud and heart and physique of its happy brother- 

 hood. Here is a note just received from one of them. Al- 

 though to him the grasshopper may have become a burden, 

 the golden bowl is not yet broken, nor has his good right 

 arm yot lost its cunning. ' fits heart still pulsate . 



will tO all men, especially to those who "deal justly. walk 

 humbly," and love to go'a-tishing. He has the gentle spirit 

 pi the dear old master's, and whether, hereafter, his annual 

 visits shall be many or few lo the pleasant, place? where 

 he has for thirty years found retirement, recreation, re- 

 pose, and a higher conception of the munificence and loving 

 kindness of the Heavenly Father, the recollection of his 

 friendly courtesies and quiet ways will ever be a pleasant 



e often met him in the woods and 

 ality: 



memory to tho: 

 enjoyed his kii 



FORKST J l 6l 



bleak ai ntlu ol 



up. 1 to give us a 



ronton au.l ther 



met there, ami 



made tuy thirti 



not with my usual en: mismsm. 1 miss cue menas line yourseit. As 



you can readily inia.eme. many chaiiRy-s have occurred iu thirty 



years, and, of many who were ouee our forest eoiiijMninns, 'there 



th.'h-pleasniii w;iysaV!ii\i.^cus'eo'i,-..{,a,",i, 1 ! ! .i'" : i, , ',. v li ,,:', :. : ■-. „',',.' l.'.n 

 to remember how many have passed awav with wliom 1 have taken 

 ■sweet counsel' in the dear old wends, hut. whom 1 « ill see no more 

 rhts side Die dark river. Yours, very truly, .1. R, B," 



With but .three days at my certain disposal, Manchester 

 ^ndlts adjacent waters seemed the mosi available. I had 



heard of the pleasant valley through which clear streams 

 meandered, and 1 found it all it was claimed to lie, "beairti- 

 fill for situation," and a very paradise in itself and in its 



surroundings. If I had hart no other purpose than to fish, 1 

 need not have lel'l the valley. L rilled ray creel as quickly 

 as 1 desired. The weather was superb, the water was in 

 prime condition, the responses weie prompt, and the weight 

 of ihetish and their guim.y qualities even more inspiriting 

 than their numbers. "But 1 wished to explore as well as to 

 angle; to till ray lungs with the pun- o/.oncoi themouiitams. 

 as well as to till my creel with Ihe speckled deni/.ens of the 

 pearly brooks; to camp out, if bul for anight . as well as to fish. 

 I had heard of a. liny lake perebed«upo'n Uic summit id an 

 adjacent mountain many hundreds of feci above the valley, 

 difficult of access, as retired as any peak in the CoIoradOfK, 

 " xys available to those 

 s pnmipf to avail me- 

 nd in the early gloam- 

 irise. At the'endof a 

 e tops. As the 



and well stocked with larso trout al 

 Who had the skill to catch them. 1 v 

 sell' Of the protl'er of an escort' thither, 

 big I found myself casting in vain to 

 half hour the full moou came up ovei 



unclouded rays fell upon the fair bosom of "the ruffled 

 waters, I realized something of what Tennyson meant when 

 he wrote of "Ihe shimmering glimpses of a stream." The 

 tiny waves looked like rippling rolls of molten silver, and 

 when the moon had reached an elevation where her beams 

 could flash full upon the face of the forest-bordered lakelet, 

 it made up a picture which has remained witlt me through 

 all llie.se intervening years, it was for I his and such as this, 

 equally as for the delight aitorded by the pastime itself, 

 that 1 'had always made my semi-annual visits to the quiet 

 places where trout and contemplative anglers are pleased to 

 fin-gather. 



But this beautiful picture, goTgeOus and fascinating as it 

 was, did not till full the measure of my desire and expecta- 

 tion. While 1 had been casting and watching the silent 

 inarch of "the silver empress of the night," the tire had 

 been kindled, the pork had been sliced, and the frying pan 

 .■ food ready to do its office, hut no trout bad been taken. 

 The idea of goiug supperless to bed was not pleasant. The 

 long tramp and keen mountain air had given me an appetite 

 more biting than the chilly atmosphere with which we were 

 environed. I had resolved to retire discomfited alter an- 

 other cast when I bethought me that what the scarlet ibis and 

 brown hackle had failed to accomplish, might, under the 

 favorable conditions of the hour, he effected by a well-poised 

 dusty miller; and I was not mistaken. The first cast was 

 followed by a rise. In five minutes a two-pound trout was 

 rcm.M 1 or dissection, and in twenty minutes, eight others, 

 aggregating nine pounds, had been taken in out'of the wet, 

 wherewith I was content and reeled np for the night. 



The repast that followed was fragrant, luscious and all 



the slanting rays of the morning sun admonished me that it 

 was time to try the virtue of a morning cast. 



And 1 cast, but nothing came of it. There was not a lip- 

 pic on the surface of the water, and as far as I could reach 

 it seemed like easting upon a floor of glass. Every moment 

 the sun elan was extending, and before I had become on 

 tirely hopeless ol a rise, ihe" whole lake shone like a- great 

 mass of burnished silver. I was soon encouraged, however, 

 some hundred feet beyond my east. As there 

 nit nor raft available, the "break" might as 

 11 a hundred miles away as where it was. I 

 a entice the sportive brutes shoreward, but L 

 S spirits from the vnsly deep,"— they 

 the inoic I cast the more they jumped, 

 inapproachable distance. Of course It Was 

 I looked about for some mode by 

 the tables upon my 



■ bet 



daut— s 

 "good ( 

 say as n 

 brush C£ 

 dew, an 

 aroma ; 

 such a c 

 sleep al 

 have dt 

 compani 



ifeast as alwav 



igestion 

 tchfo: 



iopy s 



ithis 

 Who had 



incessantly that I i 

 curdling story 1 hat 

 mortal peril 'that b. 

 the haunts of veno 

 brief intervals of si; 

 which I kuew to hi 

 in 1. Is. 1 be gnawing 



Wealthy tread of * 



Dines "to an honest angler when 

 waits on appetite." I cannot, "however, 

 iy night's repose. A hastily constructed 

 cieutly protected us from the fast-falling 

 layer of hemlock boughs— emitting an 

 f BS the fabled nectar of the gods— was 

 ings might envy. When thus disposed 

 ea to me without wooing, and it would 

 occasion but that my inexperienced 

 never before, camped out, chattered so 

 ught revenge by reciting every blood- 



bout 



the 



to im 



Mile 



sts. 



The 



s sounds, 



u" n 



hilt. 



B, ul 



the 



s ner 



vous 



vimif 



- of 



"VV 



ml 's 



roll 



into 



'brca 



w : a« neithei 

 well ha 

 did my ._ 

 was like 

 wouldn't come, 

 but always at an 

 provoking, and of coins 

 which I could 



alii 



lausad by the flisfit of prowl 

 1 scratching of hungry grill 

 T rabbit, but which he, in hi 

 excitability, magnified into the unpleasant pro 

 hear or wild cat." His frequently repeated "Hist!' 

 that!" had become monotonous, and I was passim 

 peaceful slumber when 1 was slartlcd bv a yell' 

 timid friend which could only have been born ol 

 fright induced by actual contact with some tan-it 

 If his alarm was not justified it 

 couch had been invaded bv B pi 

 had been attracted by the frag ram 

 meuts of our evening feast. '" Th 

 trader took flight, for he stood 

 going, but went at once) was follimcu "j- 

 011 the part of my friend and by blissful unconsciousness 

 OB my own part, until a full chorus of {forest minstrels and 



>wling woodehuek, who 

 i of the discarded frag- 

 s intrusion (when the in- 

 ot upon the order of his 

 ■ed by profound silence 



portive tantalizers. 1 discovered near by two dry logs-'- 

 barely two — which, it' properly joined together, Would suf- 

 fice lo bear me up it carefully manipulated. Withes were 

 procured, hastily twisted and used in the conventional way 

 known to all old woodsmen. A few minutes sufficed to 

 finish the work after a fashion, and while the (ish were still 

 "making the water lioil" with their sportive antics, my fly 

 dropped in the very center of their circle, and was taken be- 

 fore it had fairly touched the water. The movement of 

 fisher and fish was spontaneous. Bul the fish had t lie ad- 

 vantage. The lake gave him "scope and verge enough" to 

 do his besl, while I stood poised upon a structure so frail 

 that, its dislocation and engulfment was threatened by the 



light* motion. To play the fish was not so difficult, but 

 how lo land him without toppling over was a problem whose 

 solution troubled me not a little. But it was accomplished 

 — not ouee. but many times in quick succession. If con- 

 science makes cowards of us all, impunity often makes us 

 inexcusably presumptuous. My good luck had this effect 

 upon myself, and while playing what afterward proved 

 to be a two-pound trout, I found the tw 7 o slicks which 

 formed my raft slowly diverging. Here was a di- 

 lemma, ft wouldn't do to drop my rod and risk 

 the loss of my fish; nor would it do to allow either log 

 to take ils departure without an effort lo prevent it. I soon 

 discovered that one of the withes had broken, and my only 

 hope was to use my feet to hold the rail together until I 

 could finish my fighl and paddle ashore. But my efforts iu 

 this direction rather tended to widen the breach' than close 

 it. and while my fish was at his best 1 found myself in the 

 attitude of the. 'Colossus of Khodes or the American eagle, 

 who stood with one foot, on the Pacific and the other on the 

 Atlantic while he dipped his beak in the. majestic Missis- 

 sippi. My straddle was simply prodigious, and il contin- 

 ued to broaden with ever increasing momentum Until my 

 feel seemed IIS remote from each Other as Ihe Hebrides from 

 the Rocky Mountains. There wa.s, in short, a great gulf 

 between them, and I was rather pleased than otherwise 

 when I found them once more brought into close proximity 

 and rendering me useful service in my efforts 10 swim 

 ashore— which, in lids instance, I found to be even more 

 easy than "rolling off a log." But during all these novel 

 experiences and unexpected mishaps the "ruling passion" 

 did not forsake me. 1 may not have been able all the time 

 to keep a "taut line" upon my fish, but I held my rod, 

 and so soon as I could touch bottom I resumed the lie/hi ami 

 landed my two-pound trout as coolly as if nothing" out of 

 the ordinary had happened since he rose to my fly. 



A rousing fire and a luscious breakfast soon put every- 

 thing to rights; and with a better eonslrucled rat'l and' a 

 keener /.est for the sport, I resumed my fishing, and iu an 

 hour or two had a full creel with which to replenish Ihe 

 larder of friends in waiting al the foot of the mountain. 



(I. D. 



THE BLUE-BACK TROUT. 



Sth:tliini.< t?g<l(($8U. 



IN the FOttEST a.vd 6'JMtEAM for November 80 occurs the 

 following sentence quoted from Mr. Livingston Stone, and 

 Which is properly queried in a toot-note by the editor: 



"Brook trout were thought to attain the- weight of nine or 

 ten pounds until the famous ten-pound trout caught by Mr. 

 GeOrge Shepard Page in the Bangeley Lakes was declared 

 to.be aamo oqmm." 



As at present advised, I do not believe that any "tea-pound 

 trout." is a Sabno oquasm. This leads me to' ask the ang- 

 ling constituency of Foiiest and Stueam for information 

 concerning this fatter species, 



The National Museum has received from the Raugele 

 Lakes two species of Balvelmvs — charr or ■'brook trout. 

 One of these is the common brook trout— S'lUr'imu feu 

 Una/is— and to this species all ihe large trout which I hav 

 seeu from the lakes belong, Possibly the great lake trout 

 (Sidn-linus uni.itit/cux/i) lives there also, but I have seen no 

 specimens. 



the so-called "blue-back trout" (Sal- 

 So far as we know this is the smallest 

 to seen none that would weigh half a 

 ns are on record from any waters 

 lan th 



titlwtiinis ttrrttini* (<lun\hrr) (Jill and J or —The Arctic 

 Trout.— Victoria Lake and Fliiehere; Beach. 



3. Mrrh:„,<.i */,«/«,///, (Fabriciusl (fill and .for.— The 

 Greenland Trout, — Greenland and Arctic America. 



4. Sili-fthiim vuditifi (Walhaum) Jor. and Gill— The Dolly 

 Vardeu Trout.— Northern California to Kamtsebatka. 



o. Sihvlinun fontiunlh ( Mitchill) Gill and Jor,— The Brook 

 Trout.— Georgia to the Arctic Circle. 



Qalvslinit* iKimiiiiriixh (Walbaum) Goode -The Great 

 Lake Troul or Mackinaw Trout.— Great Bake Region to Now 

 Brunswick and northward. 



0. ib) SaMUnviiuiinayeus'Ii meottvt (Agassia) J. and G. — 

 The Biscowet. — Lake Superior. 



7. Sahiw purpurtttUS Pallas— Clarke's Trout.— Mourerey 

 10 Utah, Montana and Kamtsebatka. 



7. (b) Salmo purpura! at hinnhawi Gill and Jor.— Lake 

 Tahoe Trout.— Lake Talme and ils tributaries, 



7. (f) «'''»" /'"ijiunihix xtomiit* (Cope) J. and G — Kansas 

 River to Montana. 



7. (&) Sahno pit>rpiirniit* imwkri Beudire— Waha Lake 

 Troui.— Waha Lake. Washington Territory. 



8. Stil/nu Kpiliintu Cope -Hio Grande Trout. — Rio Grande, 

 and Utah Basin. 



8, (])) Siiliiin xiriloru* pleurii'iru* (Cope) Jor.— Rio Grande, 

 etc. 



it so/,,, ,,;.,,-,, /err/' Biebardson- -Sh-i-lheud.— Sail Fiancisco 

 to Alaska. 



10. SaititQ tijdftu Gibbons — Rainbow Trout. — Rio San 

 Luis Rcy to Oregon, and perhaps northward west of the. 

 Cascade Range. 



1 1 . Kilmo Miiur I.. — Common Salmon. — Atlantic coasts of 

 Northern America and Kiirope. 



11. (b> Saimo tttJur Dtbuqo (Grd.)Gill and Jor. — Laud- 

 Locked Salmon.— Lakes of Maiae. etc. 



12. Uiie<ir/ii/ite/,n* ,,< r/,v (Wal.)Gill. and Jor.— The Blne- 

 Blaek Salmon or Redfish —Oregon to Kamtsebatka. 



IS. Oncor^fneftm iti*utch (Wulb.i f Jor. and Gilb.— The 

 Silver Salmon.— San Francisco to Alaska. 



14. Qtteorlajnrliiix toknwgt&a (Walb.) JOl', and Gilb.— The 

 Quinnat Salmon.— San Buenaventura to Alaska and North 

 exn China. 



15. Otictrrhynchw ht<, (Walb.) Glill and Jor— The Dog 

 Salmon.— San Francisco to Kamtsebatka. 



10. OnwrhynrfMi yorbvMJw. (Wall..) (Jill and Jor.— The 

 Humpback Salmon. — San Francisco lo Kamtsebatka. 



17. Stfii'ulux ,„,(,:/., taii Richardson— The Incouuu.— Mac- 

 kenzie's River. 



18. T/tymuUu.i xi-iuif, r Rich— The Grayling.— British 

 America and Alaska. 



18. (b) WiymaUm «ignifer Meohr (Cope),!, and G.— The 

 Michigan Grayling. — .Miehiuai) to Montana. 



19. CoffflOMli iilllih,,' Rich— The Tullibcc.— Great Lakes 

 and northward. 



20. Corr-t/imv* nit/ripiHiiin (Gill) Jor.— The Blue Fin.— 

 Lake Michigan, 



■il. Vofogomii urbxli Le Sueur The Lake Herring. — 

 Great Lakes and northward. 



21. (b) CoitfffMO-i !'/•(< i/r' ulsai Jo?,— I ii ■■ Si.sco. — Lakes Of 

 Indiana and Wisconsin. 



'.'-. C";, ■•■ laun tin Bean. — Alaska. 

 28, Goreffouus »■• /•/■'/ Gihr. —Alaska and Siberia. 

 & I, Cton .'/'». iu lioyi (Gill) Jor, — Cisco of Lake Michigan. — 

 Great Lakes. 



25. Caret/onus hbretdaricust Rich— The Musquaw River 

 Whitetish.— Great Lakes to New Brunswick and north 

 ward. 



26. Goregonm chpeflormfo (.Mitch.) Milner— The White- 

 fish. Great Lake region. 



27. Cotrijoiius krriuimlli Alilncr— Artie America. 



2S. Hoivfjoivm r/mti/i ifntrriili" Rich — The Menomouec 

 Whiictish. — Great Lake it-gion northward. 



20. ('■inr/omiii u>tlh'<nnsoui Gnl— The Rocky Mountain 

 Wbitcfisb.— Utah to British Columbia. 



David S. Joiidan. 



l.MJiAN.i ITsrvBnsinr, Bloemiagton, Dec. . , tssa. 



K 



spei 



: Rangeley Lakes. It has, 

 and described as a new 

 wrest (Proc. Zool. Soc, 

 f Arctic America, about 

 las also found it in Kumlien's 

 d Gulf. It is probably an Arctic 

 keeps a hold in the Rangeley 

 ct iu the other lakes, of Northern 



* SnJm. 



n lake 



The otln 

 Wlinus oqimssa Gr.i.). 

 American trout. 1 1 

 pound. No speehr 

 iu the United Slates othci 

 however, been recently d. 

 species by Dr. Guuthcr a 

 London, '1877, page 47(5) i 

 Discovery Bay. Dr. Bean 

 collection fro'm Cumbcrlai 

 fish, which for some reason 

 chain, but has become exiit 

 Maine, if it ever lived in th 



As to the habits of the blue-back trout, nothing seems to 

 be known beyond the following from the original descrip- 

 tion by Girard : (Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Ilisi., IV., 1854, 

 3630 ' 



"The abode of the blue-back is the Moosemegantic Lake, 

 in which it is concealed during the greater part" of the year, 

 but about the loth of October it comes near shore and as- 

 cends iu shoals the Kenebago for the purpose of spawning. 

 Half a mile above its mouth the Kenebago receives the out- 

 let of Lake Qquaaaft, the trout then leave's the Kenebago to 

 the left and runs towards Oquassa Lake, where its voyage 

 comes lo a close. After the middle, of November it goes 

 back into Moosemegantic Lake and is seen no- more until 

 October of the next, year." 



I. I US hear from lite anglers about il. Specimens are still 

 needed. 



I give here a lisL of the North American SaiHi 

 present known : 



Non-rrr ameiucah sAi.uomiMB, 



1. BUmeUimn ogutma (Gid.) Gill and Jor —'Idle Blue-Back 

 Trout,— Rangeley Lakes to Arctic Circle 



A NEP1GON TROUT. 

 [From our Kegulai- Gflioagn Correspondent,] 



the good fortune ul; your correspondent to chance 

 Dr. Hamilton, of Monmouth, III., one of 0111 Con 

 grcssmen and enthusiastic sportsmen and anglers. I say 

 "good fortune" because he gave me some charming material 

 for a "fish story," only it was. a true one and vouched for 

 by the most honorable and prominent gentlemen of the good 

 lit tic State of Town. It concerns the Nepigou River of the 

 Lake Superior region, and a live pound brook trout. Now, 

 reports are had many times of these monster beauties, but 

 never was the sketch of a five-pounder ..ecu about this sec 

 lion before. Mr. George Thurston, the gentleman who 

 eapiurcd it. is a member of tie; faculty of the Stale Univer- 

 sity of Iowa, and a surgeon-major of the L. S. A. lie tells 

 the story veiy prettily in 1 be following letter. All parties 

 are famous here iu Chicago, and the boys will look for the 

 cut of the fish: 



"I believe 1 wrote you just on the eve of our departure 

 from Prince Arthur's Lauding for the Nepigon, per steam 

 tug. The point was reached altera pleasant run of ninety 

 miles, lauding at Bed Rock, where we went into 1 amp, as 

 our arrival was Ihe first of ihe seal on, to await tbe coming 

 of other parties. My first fishing expeditions weremade 

 in this vicinity, Where the fish are not very plenty, bul 

 large. The first one caught by me weighed live pounds. 

 I send you the sketch made at the lime by Mrs. TuurMon 

 and sent wiih a letier to the State Press, a newspaper pub- 

 lished here (letter cut out and inclosed). 



Other parties having arrived, we hired a couple of Indian 

 guides and proceeded iwelve mitts up the river in a birch- 

 bark canoe, which Mrs. Thurston enjoyed very much, lo a. 

 point at tile foot of the second ra puis called' Camp Alex- 

 ander, which is simply a tongue of laud formed by an 

 abrupt turn in Ihe river upon which I cuts are sometimes 

 pitched. It is, however, a glorious place, and the fishing, 

 although not as good as further Up, is every I hing that any 

 reasonable man can ask for. We caught about forty here. 

 averaging fully two pounds, quite a number four, four and 

 oiic-liaif'aud live pounds. 'Ihe (ish are tnl, en with the fly, 

 tO which ihey rise mnsi, beaulifully, sometimes leaping 

 several feet out of the water, 



Xhe character Of the country is exceedingly rock), ami 

 Whether yob "whip" Ihe wafer from yOUECanbe, orfioni Ihe 

 huge boulders along the stream, is a mailer of choice. There 

 are'no entanglements like those met with on (he south shore, 

 causing one to make eonsl ant references to one of the Ten 

 Commandments, 



Hillock has given a very correct and not overdrawn ac 

 count of Nepigon. It is undoubtedly otic of the grandest 



