Jan. 11, 1883.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



463 



r, i ii. "Their bold and defiant action in going on with the work 



before the lease has heen signed shows how confident tliey fed of 



Mi,- |r ability to handle Congress nnd lo consummate the great wrong 



on tlit- peopl" thai they has^e in contemplation. Their action in this 



Ifko that of the railroad companies that we so often read 



il -line ;1 line of track is laid la th? night to forestall an in- 



' il to :i Issued the nest day. In atUlit.on to the privileges 



ita enumerated it appears that thiacornpttny propose? to add to 



its occupations that of bree.litiir cattle and that the 'public" Park 



(see aci at March 1, 1&12), is to become the private range for its 



herds Those of your readers who arc familiar with cattle ranching 



It est of the Missouri River will readily comprehend that if this takes 



>■' ! the game, which these pseudo philanthropists pt'ofese to 



desire to preserve. will not long remain in the Park. The presence 



of the cattle will at once cause the deer and elk to flee to other 



Itiea where slock Is not so abundant. Much might be said with 



regard to the value of the franchises hoped to lie obtained under the 

 proposed lease, and the whol'y Inadequate return which the govern 

 ment is to receive, put I have contented myself with pointing out 

 soaieof the bad features of the project and the bad methods by 



i to be secured The United State* government 



appears to delight in giving away its mast valuable pc.sessions— wit- 

 ness the many land grants in tuepast-butl had supposed that the 

 d r of grabs wat over. Certainly these speculators arc very bold 

 and shrewd bul ; thej Succeed in consummating (bis great outrage 



!Bll 01 i Si [he entire public press. 



Commenting on the above in connection with the report 

 on the subject by the .Senate Committee, the Timei says 



editorially: 



T .e enterprising gentlemen who obtained from the Acting Secre- 

 tary of i he Interior a very advantageous lease of 4,400 acres of land, 

 comprising inosl of I he world-renowned natural curiosities or the Yel- 

 low-tine "Park, may hove been actuated by the most patriotic mo- 

 tives, and may have merely a secondary interest in the gainful pos- 

 sibilities of (heir bargain , But a people who have grown somewhat 

 suspicious of the methods by which exclusive rights are obtained 

 over huge portions of the national domain, will lie relieved to find 

 that the Senate Committee which has had the subject trader cnusid- 

 ioil has pronounced against both the validity and the expediency 

 of the lease in question, The bill which has been prepared defining 

 and strictly limiting the powers of the Interior Department in regard 

 to the Yellowstone Reservation is clearly demanded by the public 

 Interests, and ought to receive prompt attention from the Senate, 

 The lessees exlohii somewhat suspicious haste in proceed lug lo ex- 

 ercise the righta granted them under very dubious authority, and 

 they oannoi be too booh restrained from carrying out what looks like 

 a very bold gra b of property which neither the actual or the Acting 

 Secretary of the Interior ought to have temporarily alienated. 



Oihei papers express similar views. An. editorial in the 



('■mum, trial Ailcri'tis,:,- soys: 



1 1 Is the tendency of grand national show places to foster monopoly 

 .ml ::ii.nj.,!i Niagara, which has hitherto held the post of honor 

 uin ':u i V- gi\-at sights of America, has already lost the greater part 

 1 its patronage through the colossal impositions and grand army of 

 bacpies, It is only a matter of right that the Yellowstone National 

 Iv.'.-l;, which i-; coming t j the frout as a leading natural attraction*, 

 should be protected In the interests of the public by the government. 

 No one can possibly object to the granting of leases to men who will 

 open up the Park and enter to the comfort and convenience of visit- 

 ors; but these should only be granted under certain conditions and 

 understandings, and it is but simple justice that every one should 

 have a fair ohnuee. The Senate appears to have the welfare of this 

 great national attraction at heart, and is to bo congratulated upon 

 its recent action. 



The Tribune also has an editorial on the subject, which 



There seems to be. little doubt that the Interior Department 

 Seeded its authority when it agreed to lease substantially the whole 

 of Yellowstone Park to a company of capitalists for a term of ten 

 years. The act of Congress approved March 1, 1872. by which the 

 Yellowstone tract was made a public park, provided that the Seere- 

 tarj ol the Interior might, "in his discretion, grant leases for build- 

 ing purpo-es for terms not exceeding ten years of small parcels of 

 ground at such places in the Park as shall require the erection of 

 buildings for the accommodation of visitors." The lease to Rufus 

 Ilatch and others, which was promised by the Interior Department 

 In September last but which has not yet been signed, gives them ex- 

 clusive control forlen years of l.liO acres of the l'ark. This vast 

 tract contains the geysers, great falls and Yellowstone Lake, all the 

 principal objects of interest to the visitors, so that the lease is prac- 

 tically B SUH ender of the whole 3,300 square miles ol' the Park ' to a 

 prlvuP s octaiion of capitalists. In return for this valuable privi- 

 I ige the United States will receive only a nominal rent of u sum not 

 exceeding two dollars an acre, and the lessees bind themselves to 

 erect only one hotel building. 

 It is easily apparent that this lease is a violation of the spirit of 

 ij i i of 18JS. A tract of 4.440 acres cannot be called a "small par- 

 i el 1 ground" required for the erection of buildings for ihe accom- 

 .., j lotion Of visitors. To be sure the ground is let in seven different 

 trael of 61 OCn i . h, but then they are included in one lease and 

 are ail leased to the same persons, Itwua clearly the intent of the 

 law ■loimv, each separate grant of land used for the erection of a 

 hotel, thus encouraging rival establishments, which would prevent 

 the extortions upon visitors which are certain to arise from a mon- 

 i. el privileges. The Park is for the people and should 

 ■ in ill..- interest of the people rather than iu the interest 

 ifspe tatore, ft is clearly not inthe interest of the people to put 

 ii a il i -nil. us of t'.ie Park worth visiting In the exclusive con- 

 tnii of a single company of capitalists who will be able to mnlte all 

 .■ n , ips oaehotel. While the lease provides that the public 

 .■-.-. o all the natural curiosities of the region, it, 

 also sseess uthoritv to forbid visitors remaining or^comp 



A.m i' ■. I jestlonaWe provision Of the lease is the granting to the 

 lessees the exclusive rigbi 61 transportation of visitors by stage or 

 others be I trough the Pfl rk. This Is open to the same objection as 

 i , ..elusive hole) privilege— that il will permit and encourage ox- 

 i ton. A still further objection to the lease lies in the fact that it 

 Drill permit the wholesale destruction of game lu tho Park The 

 ■ n on Territories in the Senate have reported through Mr. 

 Vest a biil which meets all these objections, and by clearly defining 

 the power; ol the Interior Department,makes any future mistakes of 

 the Hud fl bleb this (ease appears to be impossible, and at the same 

 lime prevents the fulfilment of the contract which the Assistant 

 : i i,y of the Interior has made with Mr. Hatch and his associ- 

 ates. The bill appears to be clearly iu the interest of ihe people and 

 ought to be passed. 



The Eeralil handles the subject in its usual vigorous style, 

 and joins its powerful voice to those already quoted in sup- 

 port of the Senate Committee's report. It says : 



The Senate Committee on Territories is entirely right in objecting 

 to the concession to a S™ \ oil; company nf the txc'.ir-ive right (0 

 build and manage hotel*, construct rends, run stages and operate 

 telegraph lines in the Yellowstone Park. Exclusive rights in regions 

 interesting only for their peculiar natural att.-actions already exist hi 

 some parts of the United states to the great profit of the managers, 



ii i annoyance, in many ways, of nearly all visitors. Hotels are 

 nilt wherever best suits the convenience, not of tourists, but the 

 owners. Hondo are laid and stages or bouts are managed in the 

 same way. so the traveler is practically restricted to whatevel . n bo 

 seen, done or eaten with least expense or trouble and at the most i e- 

 muneratlvo prices to the autocrat of the locality. Such. monopolies 

 cannot now be ahated, for they exist through purchase of land. b«t 

 there Is uo possible excuse for establishing one in the Yellowstone 

 Park. Hotel privileges in the l'ark should lie for. limited periods only, 

 and subject to revocation for cause; they should be as numerous as 

 maybe demanded by properpersons; the sites should bed err, 

 not by tho builders, but by engineer officers charged with the duty of 

 not allowing buildings to mar the more interesting portions of the 

 scenery, and control of ground should he limited to the area abso- 

 lutely required by the buildings. The location of the roads, also, 

 shield lie determined by government engineers, so that individual 

 parsimony orgreed cannot possibly make one interesting place inac- 

 cessible, so that the traveler may be compelled to remain longer at 

 another. Not one -Ingle hillock, geyser, pool or tree should pass 

 under the exclusive control of any Individual or company. Our 



monopoly-cursed country will ngse orol etthegM 



National Park so perfectly that any 6ne can visit it wlthoul being 

 the mercy of a single p.'i-e.n, lino or "combination of capitalist 



It will be seen from what lias been printed above that 

 there is but oue mind among the New York press upon the 

 project which this curious company hare so hardily pressed 

 forward, and which they hoped to have rushed through and 

 confirmed without an examination. The watcl.ful vigilance 

 of Senator Vest alone defeated the project, and if the peo- 

 ple are still to have their Park they will owe it to him. 



The Cuvier Club ol' Cincinnati, O ., well known as one of 

 1he largest and most influential gams protective societies of 

 the country, is the first to acknowledge and appreciate the 

 crying needs of the National Park as voiced in (he report 

 of General Sheridan, dated September 20, 1832. At a meet- 

 ing held early iu the present month, the attention of the 

 club was called to tho subject of this report, and the follow 

 ing resolution offered i 



Whereas, The Cuvier Club, of Cincinnnti, has read and approved 

 the recommendation of Lieutenant General Sheridan hi his report 

 to the War Department, November i, l($2, as to the extension of the 

 boundary of the National Park as therein described ; therefore. 



Resolved, That we respectfully and most earnestly urge upon the 

 members of Cmgross from ths First and Second Districts of Uhioto 

 exert all their influence to secure the extension aforesaid, and to 

 order the protection thereof by the military power, if necessary, as 

 suggested in said report. 



The resolution was unanimously adopted. 



The Cuvier Club has a membership of 900. 



game preservation if they will provide shcUei and food for 



The Cuvier Club of Cincinnati hel 1 its annual anitinz 

 last week, r report of which, reaching us lot late, for laasr 

 lion to-day, will be found in our next issue. 



A Novel Catstridoe. — A recently devised explosive for 

 use in firearms consists of paper prepared by a secret 

 chemical process and rolled into a compact, cylinder, much 

 resembling in appearance a firecracker. It may be exploded 

 by the ordinary percussion cap, or by a bit of fulminate 

 in the end of the cartridge itself. This cylinder of 

 paper is inserted into the chamber behind the bullet, 

 or it may he attached to the bullet ami both in- 

 serted together. When exploded the cartridge is, in theory, 

 entirely consumed, leaving the barrel of the arm free for 

 another charge. Our tests of this new invention have not 

 been sufficient to warrant an expression of opinion as to its 

 merits; but; as we said long ago. it is probable that the 

 sportsman of the future may use an explosive which shall 

 bo in principle verv like this new device. 



The Guinea Fowl.— A correspondent suggests the pos- 

 sible utility of the guinea fowl as a game bird. We believe 

 that in the -West :■ Indies, where this bird has been acclima- 

 tized, it has reverted to a wild state, and is considered game. 

 We can conceive of no reason why it should not thrive iu 

 the southern part of our own country. There may be it 

 question whether the wild guinea fowl w»uld lie to the dog, 

 or whether it would not Mush and take to the trees. The 

 lame birds will lie to a dog. We should be much pleased to 

 have any information ou the subject. The experiment 

 seems to be worthy of a trial. 



The PtSHEitins KxnmmoN,- Goods for the International 

 fisheries Exhibition at London, this year, will be received 

 until February 15. They may be sent to Washington, orlo 

 Mr, E. G. Blackford, Fulton Market, New York, but must 

 be marked "For the Fisheries Exhibition," and a memor- 

 andum of contents on the outside of the box, as well as the 

 name of the person sending them. 



Among Their Friends at Albany all men who are 

 interested iu game pro'ecliou may count Mr. James Geddes, 

 of Syracuse, a member of the Assembly. We congratulate 

 the spoilsmen of the State on their having in the legisla- 

 ture bo sensible and fearless and honest a champion of 

 game protection. 



Care for tuk Quail. — The present fall of snow empha- 

 sizes the necessity of mttkiug some provision for the quail. 

 Hints of how this may be done have been published in this 

 journal, and a note will he found in another column of this 

 issue. Let it be remembered that a very little practical at- 

 tention to these matters just now will do more good than 

 several hundreds of hours' talk. Individuals and game 

 club3 may accomplish a great deal in the way of practical 



1^ Sportmum §£oitri$L 



NIMROD IN THE NORTH. 



BY LIEUT. ERED'k SCHWATKA, T\ 8. ARMY. 



I.— Bruin Borealis. 



IN choosing the subject of Nimrod in the North, in goa? 

 oral I shall confine m;,self to such hunting scenes &3 

 passed under my own personal observations; but I shall 

 still try to describe the sportsman in the polar wastes, with 

 all his trials. and triumphs, bis cares and his comforts, his 

 camps, his singular native allies and 1 heir wonderful and 

 ingenious hunting implements, aud above all, the game ho 

 may pursue, or that may pursue him. 



Men have hunted for all reasons, from dire necessity to 

 frivolous fun, and from the equator across every parallel to 

 the pole; and ibis quality bus broughl forth as instruments 

 to the accomplishment of its cuds the simple swing and 

 stone, the bow and arrow and boomerang of savages and the 

 rapid magazine rifle of the civilized modern world, deal- 

 ing d'eathat astonishing distances and unerriue eeif'.inly, 

 Let us transfer this latter weapon into the Torrid Zone, 

 and 1o confine ourselves to our true subject, Nimrod in t,:e 

 North. 



The writer, as a member of the AmericanFranklin Search 

 Parly, that prosecuted its objects in the Arctic lor. a little 

 over'two years, during 1879 and portions Of its contiguous 

 years. He had many rare opportunities to gain ti know- 

 ledge of the fauna of the frigid zone in interesting en- 

 counters. This party, mainly through the vigilance of its 

 friendly native hunters and allies, subsisted almost wholly 

 on the game cf those regions during its sojourn there; anil 

 during its sledge journey or a year in' length, but one month's 

 provisions were taken, making this little band of seventeen 

 people with their forty odd dogs, truly Nnnrods iu the 

 North, to procure their necessary subsistence from day to 

 day. To the man, civilized or savage, who procures" his 

 daily food from the chase, that chase may lose much of its 

 true sportsmanlike character. The constant every -day en- 

 counter with game soon reduces exciting incidents to 

 monotony and converts the disciple of St. Hubert into a 

 peculiar kind of pot-hunter, if such strong epithets can be- 

 properly bestowed upon the huttian being/ who may be said 

 to have the same right to these products of nature as any 

 other, so long as they conduce to his well being and exist- 

 ence. Still this business principle rif hunting brings civ- 

 ilized man, when he has once acquired it, into the very best 

 position possible to study and portray his victims.* their 

 habits and haunts, and ail that is interesting in connection 

 with them. He is a much better observer than his equally 

 consckntiousbrother who views the. enthusiasm of the chase 

 through the distorting lenses of the amateur, rendered highly 

 chromatic by an excited imagination. 



It is not intended to give a strict treatise in a zoological 

 sense, of the many animals 1 saw on my trip, even could I 

 improve upon those who preceded me iu such an under- 

 taking; and thus I make no presumption whatever, but I 

 desire to present my observations in as popular a way as my 

 pen can command. However strongly I may adhere" to tin's 

 rule, there is no denying whatever that the student of nature 

 has widely extended the pleasure that can be derived from 

 ihe Chase, be it polar or tropic, and he who is both naturalist 

 and Nimrod has at his command all Ihe elements for the 

 maximum enjoyment of tne hunter iu all latitudes. 



If was on ihe 19th day of June, 18T3, that my little party 

 of four white men. consisting, beside myself, of Colonel 

 Win, M- Gilder, second in command; Henry Klutschak, 

 ■iiul Frank P. Melius, and Esquimau Job. the celebrated 

 Esquimau guide and hunter, left the -harbor of New York 

 lo prosecute a two or three years' search in the polar wilds 

 for the records, (races, relics or information of Ihe brave 

 British captain, who had gonethare many years ago, m v< i to 

 return, and of whom BO very little was known. Small as 

 the party was, which circumstances bad thus confided to 

 my care, Ido not hesitate to state thai I assumed ihe reerjons- 

 sihili'y with much diffidence. I had seen no Arctic exper- 

 ience whatever, and a careful perusal of the literature of 

 those regions showed me that the leaders had in every ease 

 served previously iu subordinate i apacitics and were thus 

 placid in possession of thai most valuable of information, 

 the. information of practical experience, True, an Amer- 

 ican cavalry officer's service rtn the frontier is" oftentimes 

 that of milch arduous field duty, and occasionally the 

 severest oi "inter exposure; but all these in m\ mi ud faded 

 into insignificance as I read of the colossal ice fields many 

 hundreds effect in thieitness, and stretching as far as tha 

 eye could reach; the thermometer so low that mercury 

 fiozeaiu. cast into bullets was fired Ihroiieh thick hoards, 

 and Strong and powerful while men staggered around as if 



intoxicated from the effects of breathing the terribly 

 cold atmosphere of those regions. 



Mv only guide and counsellor in the party lor thai dreary 

 land of desolation was ''Esquimau Joe," or simply Joe, as 



we used to call him; and he is already well knows lo those 

 converainl with Arc'.ic exploration as Ihe laitliful guide 

 and companion of the lamented Captain ll.dl on hisiuo 

 Franklin search expeditions, and also on Ihe celebrated 

 Polaris expedition, when Joe and a portion of that party 

 had the memorable uc-drifl of more than 3,000 miles from 

 .Smith Sound in Upper Greenland to ncarthe ishfud of New- 

 foundland, occupying 19(5 days, through the long Antic 

 winter, during which tinu: Joe' wiib (be assistance of an- 

 other Esquimau, Hans, maintained a parry of nineteen souls 

 wiiii tb.ir rifles. That rifle of Joe is now sacredly held by 

 the Smithsonian Institute in Wasbinelon as a prominent 

 memento or tho longest ice-drill thai bus ever been recorded 

 or endured 1 shall have occasions ir. reic r lo Joe End his 

 many pleasant chats of his former bunting experiences 

 when we were "living buried many feet is nealh the suow 

 in the curiously constructed abodes of Ihe denizens of these 

 regions. 



it is my intention iu this and the following papers to take 

 each prominent animal or class of animals in the Arctic, 

 and relate nil that may be Interesting concerning each 

 before proceeding to another; leaving all the minor items 

 of interest, us the dogs aud sledges, the hunting implements 

 of our friends of the frigid zones, »s well as the people 



