FOREST AND STREAM. 



491 



im-SPAO* IS Ivii'iiis.— This morning I received a note 

 ErrralS friend, from which ] extract (lie following^ 'Last 

 summer while at S — , l saw some coin pigeons frying 

 around my father's place. My brother told me Lotaken 

 BhOfr, 1 stepped into the bouse, ami grabbed mv gun, whieli, 

 by the way. had at l.h? iinizzl"' two Uglltlj felted corks. Not 

 noticing these at' the lime, I placed two shells in ihe 

 chambers, .lust a- I ■stepped outside the birds were 

 passing over, 1 fired, killed no bird, but thought my 

 whole" head was gone; After thinking tor a while 

 what made mv gun kick 80, I noticed one cork in the left 

 barrel. Then'] knew that I had shot the other eork out. 

 bu1 it injured nothing. It W»S my Lefever lmmmerless." 



■■■.,.- i.ast. summer I w$8>preseni when a gitn bursl 

 in the hands of a friend. In this ease it. was absolutely 

 Certain thai there was no obstruction in the banel; the cart- 

 ridge in. this instance had been loaded Uv myself and con 

 taieed H\ drams of dunking powder. The gun was labeled 

 "Win. Monro A- Co.," which is neit Hie earn.- ot a mak, r. but 

 sirnplv a trade name.. An examination of the ruptured bar- 

 rel disclosed the fact that the metal at the seal of rupture 

 Was little thicker than the pap«(rOn WlVlCll 1 write. Beware 

 of cheap and bogus-gnus, especially if you are a-Ce.Ki-;-, 



HOItX. 



Portland, Bte., Jau. IsL— Reading the different artVles 

 upon this subject in Pokest axd Stream, I am reminded of 



. e that came under mv own observation a few years 

 ago, where a. member of the Maine Kilie t-lub had the bar- 

 rel of a rim; lone-range Wesson rifle spoiled by blowing a 

 rag from it which bad come off the, cleaning rod ahotit, fif- 

 teen inches from the breech. Being unable (as he thought) 

 to remove ii otherwise, he inserted a cartridge and "tired it 

 out." The result was that the barrel was bulged at the 

 point where the rag rested, and it new one had lobe pro- 

 cured.— 0. L Baii.ky. 



Bellows Falls, Vt.. Jau. <j ,_ ] see in your paper I he ques- 

 i.ion. is air-space iu rifles dangerous'? I should say yes. I 

 experimented that, way some years ago with a very heavy 

 barrel anil tired about one hundred shots with the ball up 

 from one-eighth inch to one inch without injury to ih'e 

 rille. I have left the bullets Within two inches of muzzle 

 and tired them out without injury but my advice is not to 

 iryit. for unless your barrel is Very heavy and strong you 

 won't tind till of ihe pieces.— B. 



[ have on several occasions tircel a Springfield Military 



B. L. ritie with a cork in the muzzle, and have seen other,- do 

 ie -ame. have also seen them Bred many I tmes xvir.ii an oiled 

 rag in the muzzle; and I never saw any bad result from it, 

 nor does it seem to seriously a licet the shooting. 



rjsHU ami IJombek SSwu Shot.— EdSor Feint ami 

 titrcam: I see thai vour correspondent "Wells" says he. 

 doubts the statement {made of a dee, being killed here 'with 

 Naflahot. etc. NqwI will reiterate that statement* that 



i, ,.id deer was killed with No. 9 shot a little over twenty 

 yards, measured distance, four drains of powder, and one and 

 one-fourth ounces Shot. Col. V. J. Shipman offers to send 

 his .sworn statement before justice that the above is correct 

 He is [he man thai killed tlie .leer. The -hoi D 

 tinted the bide, but the ribs ah 

 broadside, a Utile quartering, bear 



A NICK. 



WuiTi. Dt.Kit. --PiMsburg, Pa.— Editor Wrwst Ultd 

 %l>eam: Some time- last yeai r noticed it publication 

 in voui paper which gave the names of several parties 

 who had shot white deer, ami e\er\ one who had killed 

 one had met a violent death. Now, on December '?«. 188..'. 

 I lo\ il Loudermilk shot a white deer on Winding Ridge, 

 one utile from Selbyspon. Garrett county. Md. We wall 

 anxiously await the result of the above. — R. T. (', S, 



ily pent 



'he deer w as running 



iff. yours for truth— 



%m mid giver <0ishittg. 



-•.-,!>,, .■th:„,,:. May'l rain above all almanacks, tilt 



Tie- carriers sail, una the King's tislmigiiger. 



Ttide like Ariea upon a trout to London!" 



i wfflgiyaliBeelorttly food 



Ho fish that risetli in the mud; 



Hut trout nut pike, that low to swiiii 



Where the gravel from the l.rhu 



Through the pure streams may tie eeel) ; 



Orient pearl fit lot ■' Q.neeu, 



Will I give, thy love to v. it,. 



And a shell to keep them iu ; 



S0| .1 llsli in ell mj IffOOl 



That, shall disobey ihy look. 



But, wh 



And froju thy white 

 I thanK- thee, honest 

 Of any other, that ' 

 Draw thee unto then 

 To bring thei 



mi take 



ill 



cries 



. mi ie/'/re,iM/,.e^mti;'i'.ii, 



WINTER TALKS ON SUMMER PASTIMES. 



X. — SKVI.UAI. UKUKVATsT TOPIC*. 



Forced froto their home-, a melancholy train, SotttsiiiUJi. 



J FIND the following paragraph in a fairly- written book, 

 printed in England fifteen years ago, with this title, 

 "Ohiplouuurgan; or, Bile by Ibu Camp Fire in Dominion of 

 Canada and Newfoundland, by Richard Lewis Daslnvood, 

 XV. Regiment." 



"We were much surprised and disappointed at the paucity 

 of salmon on our way up the Cascapedia, and when we 

 reached the ForKs only succeeded iu killing two after 

 several day's fishing. We therefore came to the conclusion 

 that the liver as regards salmon was u myth, and decided 

 to return to the sea," 



This visit was made in July, 1803. "The Forks," where 

 barely two salmon were killed, are about fifty miles from the 

 mouth of the river, and. "on bis way up," i.'ol. Daehwood 

 and his companions passed a score of pools where I have 

 killed mauy scores of salmon, and which no one novv-a -days 

 with a it v sort of skill could flsh without being ainplv re- 

 warded for Ihe tine- and toil required to reach them. 



The "pauciiy" experienced by this party in 18B2 can not 

 be attributed either to their waul of proficiency or to their 

 ignorance of the habits of the fish, for the Colonel was an 

 old salmon angler, having fished all the best salmon waters 

 of the "old country/ 1 and was accompanied by a gentleman 

 a:i noted foi his skill as for his eccentricities. Nor could 



their ill luck have resulted from their want of knowledge of 

 the locality of the pools, lor some of them are so conspicu- 

 ous that any "wayfaring man. though a fool," could not 

 have made a mistake. Or, if these gentlemen could have 

 possibly overlooked them, their Indian guides would have 

 been sure io point them out, fori have always found them 

 quite as anxious that their employer should have "luck" as 

 he was himself to make a. good score. 



To what then could this "paucity of salmon" in litis long 

 famous river lie attributed? Making nil due allowance for 

 any want of skill or knowledge or application on the part of 

 these gentlemen, 1 am inclined to attribute their disappoint- 

 ment i(i the fact that the salmon were not then in the river 

 in any such numbers as they have been since, and for this 

 reason; 



Twenty years ago thai river and all others were open to 

 all coiners, whether with net, rod or spear, and because of 

 this facl it had not only been thinned out, but by the mer- 

 ciless way iu which the fish were hunted ill season and out. 

 season— in the estuary, in the pools and on the spawning 



la— they were given [io opportunity to multiply , By tills 

 persistent slaughter, continued for years in all rivets acces- 

 sible to the salmon purchaser and packer, the kingly fish in 



the lower Provinces would very SOOn haw. shaied the fate of 

 their predecessors in the Upper Canada waters and in our 

 owu rivets on the south shore of Lake Ontario and (lie St, 

 Lawrence. For it is not simply from far-back tradition that 

 we know that salmon were once abundant in these Lake 

 Ontario tributaries. 1 have myself (when a lad) seen canoe 

 ads of salmon brought into "Little. York," now Toronto, 

 by the Indians, who had captured them in the rivers "Hum- 

 b'er" and "Credit" at the bead of the lake. 



.V venerable gentleman of Keesville (Mr. Arnold, now de- 

 ceased) once told me that in 1818, he had purchased a salmon 

 freshly caught at Oswego for a " York shilling," and that 

 for several years afterward they continued to be lakeu iu 

 great numbers in that neighborhood. And you may reincm 

 her that Mr. Weed was moved by then-collection- awakened 

 iy the account I gave of "my (irsl salmon," to publish in 

 lie I'riliti hi some years ago, the account of his capture of a 

 almon in Onondaga Greek, near the present site of the 

 ilv of Syracuse: lie then lived in that neitrhbor- 

 hood. One night he observed the Hashing of bright lights 

 along the creek, and on going out to see what was up, he 

 found a parly of Indians with spear-; and clubs, killing sal- 

 mon as they were trying to force their way over the shal- 

 lows of that stream. II was then and there, borrowing a 

 spear from a friendly Indian, he killed 1th first salmon. To 

 us of lo-day this fact seems incredible. Nevertheless, that 

 incident was but one of a thousand like it occurring in the 

 shallows and pools of all the streams which then made their 

 way, unobstructed by milldams or other harriers, to the lake. 

 But for these obstructions, supplemented by clinking saw- 

 dust and poisonous chemicals, many of these streams would 

 have continued tu be what thev once were, the chosen resorts 

 and spawning beds of this "favorite tish. whereas now. 

 not ti salmon, except at one or two points, where thev have 

 been or are bcintr artilie.iallv propagated, is seen in an'v river 

 between Aloitf real and Hamilton, t would not complain of 

 this if it had been a square question between progressive in- 

 dustry and the extermination of the lordly salmon: but we 

 now know that, in many rivers, their extermination was not 

 nccces.sary to the development of industry. If the. mill- 

 dams had been constructed so that the fish could have sur- 

 mounted them ois is easily practicable), salmon would have 

 continued to ascend the streams, and would still be found 

 in waters from whence .they have been driven by the erec- 

 tion of these impassable barriers. Although the Dominion 

 government is endeavoring to undo the mischief already 

 done, I fear it. will take, many more years to replenish than 

 it. did to deplete these once prolific salmon waters. 



A. year or two before this developed "paucity" of the. 

 Cascapedia and other rivers of the lower Provinces, having 

 learned by experience that it would be too late to lock the 

 Stable dOor after the horse was stolen, stringent laws w T eri 

 passed by Parliament to protect the fisheries in all water 

 under government control. But, unfortunately, while tin 

 original laws contained sundry useful provision's, thev were 

 fatally defective in that all persons were "forbidden to fish 

 for, capture or kill fish by means of spears, except only 

 the Indians." This exception rendered the law practically 

 nugatory. The deadly spear had been the chief cause of ail 

 the mischief, and so long as this permission continued it 

 would be impossible to bring the rivers fin the neighbor- 

 hood of localities where the speared tish could be exchanged 

 for rum and tobacco) back to their original status. This 

 when Col. Dash- 



the salmon: and they are next rjf kin to that noble ffsh in 

 habit, weight, flavor, and every gamy quality. 



Until w ithin a very few years not many anglers on our 

 side of the line were in tlie habit of "going for" salmon. 

 Even so recently as ten years ago a "Yankee" was seldom 

 seen on the besi rivers." But they have of late multiplied 

 twenty -fold, and if they do not now they soon will consti- 

 tute a majority of the "simple wise men. " to whom the gentle 

 art has become irresistibly fascinating; and the fact is not 

 altogether agreeable to our English cousins, whatever our 

 Canadian neighbors may think' ol it. The London Fidd 

 gives expression to its displeasure thus: 



"The principal rivers are. leased by Americans, to w horn 

 money is no object. When they take'a fancy to a particular 

 river, there is no mistake abOUt it, they will' have it," 



And the MM only speaks the simple truth. The New 

 York Club, of Which President Arthur. Mr. Vander- 

 hilt. Pohert Dun and a score of other wealthy gentlemen 

 are members, paid a fabulous price for the besi portion of 

 the Restigou'che, and Mr. Blossom and his associates. Were 

 almost equally liberal in the price they paid for the lower 

 twelve miles of the t'aseape«Lin. These are, by all odds, the 

 best rivers in the Provinces. Other first -class 'rivers will be, 

 if they have not. already been, similarly secured "by Ameri- 

 cans, "to whom money is no object." And the opportunity 

 io so has been greatly facilitated by the recent riparian 

 isions. Previously, uie government officiate had supreme 

 itrol, and they were not. always indifferent to the'soilcita- 

 as of their home friends. Leases, like kisses, often went 

 by favor, as more than one American bidder has hud occa- 

 sion to know. But, individual owners are not likely to forego 

 a good offer from a "Yankee" to accept, a poorer one from a 

 "Kanuck." The result will be a more equitable distribution 

 of leases and permits and an iuereased influx of American 

 anglers. So be it. Men wdio have money to spend for 

 coveted enjoyments can expend it for nothing more health- 

 ful, harmless and exhilarating than in the delight fill pastime 

 of tingling for salmon. Gr, D. 



ipedia. and to that fact may 

 of tlie river as he found it 



became in a few years tin 



1 it will so continue, uulefii 

 m shall work as mischiev- 



speariug clau: 



wood made his trip up the Ca 

 be attributed the then "pauoil 

 Soon afterward, spearing eve 

 hibited, and as a result the. ri\ 

 most noted on the continent: 

 the recent riparian rights dee 

 ously as many believe it will. 



I made my first visit to the Cascapedia iu '74. Xt that 

 time the stringent fishery laws — including the prohibition 

 against spearing by Indians as well as by all others — had 

 been in force for eight or ten years, and, however it, may 

 have been before, it certainly "was not then true that "tin 

 river as regards salmon was a myth." Its wafers wen 

 teeming with the lordly fish, and their capture afforded all 

 the excitement and sport any reasonable angler could desiri 

 Whether at the "Sheddou" Pool," ten miles, or at "tl 

 Forks," fifty miles above the mouth of the river, fish wei 

 found in satisfactory numbers. But I had other proof than 

 that, furnished by Col. Dashwood that it had not always 

 been 60; Mr. Best, an intelligent habiU'M. who occupies the 

 last; house on the river (ten miles from the bay), and who 

 has lived on the river lor thirty years, told me that Hie tish 

 i- so abundant as the'ythen were; that they were 

 far more numerous than ten years previously, and were in- 

 cr»asing in numbers every year. In asking him how he 

 accounted for the increase, bis response was. "A strict 

 guardianship and no more spearing by anybody." 



But something more is necessary to" keep up the supply, 

 even though the recent riparian decision shall not work the 

 mischief apprehended. 'The nets at I lie mouths of the 

 rivers should be raised for two or three instead of one day 

 in the week, to enable a larger number of fish to reach their 

 spawning beds. Now that every .pool on every available 

 river is persistently fished, a much larger percentage of im- 

 migratiou is necessary to keep up the supply. If this is not 

 secured, even with the otherwise effective protective laws, 

 there will be inevitably a rapid diminution of salmon avail- 

 able to either seine o r fly. 



But the sea-trout will remain, whatever may become of 



FISHING IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 



\\ T F are having a regular snowstorm to-day, Dec. Hit, 

 T T something with which we are very rarely regaled in 

 this section of the country; the sidewalks are already 

 covered to the depth of about an inch, and numbers of peo- 

 ple of both, sexes arc vigorously engaged iu the pastime of 

 snowballing. Woe betides every teamster, horse car driver 

 as unwary pedestrian who attempt to pass certain corners 

 particularly adapted or devoted to that sport, and the crash 

 of breaking wdndows and shattered glass doors occasionally 

 breaks in upon me as I sit writing in a room fronting on 

 Mission street. 



Until tlie last week the weather, however, has been de- 

 lighlfut with us, and the opportunities for successful hunt- 

 ing and fishing jauuts have not only been numerous, but 

 have been improved to the utmost by many of our local 

 sportsmen. Heavy bags of canvas-hacks, mallards, sprig- 

 tails, and green-winged teal are frequently brought in, 

 and the fishing in tlie bay is better than it has been for 

 many years. Hearing glowing accounts of the sport fur- 

 nished by the submarine denizens that frequented the 

 vicinity of Goat Island, located near the middle of the bay, 

 and not far from the route followed by Ihe steam ferryboats 

 that ply between here and Oakland, four of us whom " I will 

 designate as Harry, Bob, Oeorge and the undersigned, deter- 

 mined to pay theiii a visit at the first opportunity, which 

 occurred about a week ago. 



Now. "Forked Deer" does not, unfortunately, claim a 

 place amoug those elegant and accomplished scientific ang- 

 lers, who write so charmingly of the deftly thrown fly, the 

 lordly salmon ami the gamy*, gorgeous trout, although he 

 has caught a few of both of those splendid fish by the very 

 primitive appliances in vogue along the frontier; a fairly 

 successful manipulator of the shotgun and rifle, his pisca- 

 torial experience was chiefly acquired in early youth in 

 yanking out bullpouts and"' suckers, with a rig generally 

 consisting of a beanpole, to which yvas attached" a" port iou 

 of his kite string, with a ring hook .and angle worm at the 

 lower end. and a lead sinker and a "bob" like one of the 

 burjys outside the Golden Gate, located at suitable distances 

 up the line. As we expected to use a rig something after 

 this style in our Goat Island trip, I have deemed this ex- 

 planation necessary in order to forewarn those who only tind 

 pleasure in the split bamboo and the braided silk with its 

 feathered lure, so gaudy but so deceitful, occasionally, to 

 both fisher and fish. 



We set sail early one beautiful morning from the Market 

 street wharf in a Whitehall boat with a small leg-of-mutton 

 sail. The bay, lightly milled by a gentle breeze, was dotted 

 over all its broad expanse with sailboats, yachts, cutters, 

 merchantmen, coasters and war vessels. We dashed merrily 

 over the sparkling waves, breaking up the long lines of gulls, 

 pelicans, surl ducks ami loons that lay off the shore in 

 thousands. Arriving at the island wc drew the boat up 

 upon a little pebbly beach, laid bare by the receding tide, 

 and proceeded to prepare our lines and bait, yvhich had been 

 thrown heller-skelter into the boat in our hurried departure 

 from the city. The lines we employed were so different, 

 from the bungling affairs I used years ago on the Narragan- 

 sett. and were, moreover, so perfectly adapted to their in- 

 tended use, that I cannot refrain from briefly describing 

 them even at the risk of imparting no news to your readers. 

 On the extreme end of the line was a lead sinker of half a 

 pound weight, necessary in this instance on account of the 

 strong tide. Ten inches above it, tied iu the middle at right 

 tingles with the line, was a brass ciossbar about si\ Inches 

 long, with an eye at each end. from which proceed two 

 guys or stays that, met and yvere fastened to the main line 

 about four "inches above the bar, and which served to keep 

 it in position. Two hooks were then fastened to pieces of 

 milliner's wire about six inches long, and one tieil to each 

 eye of the crossbar, so that when the sinker just touched 

 the bottom the bait hung three or four inches 'above. The 

 advantages of these lines arc as folloyys: They seldom 

 tangled, held the bail not only in the most inviting 'position, 

 but also where the fish could be most certainly hooked, were 

 exceedingly sensitive to the bite of the stna'lh ,-t fish, and 

 finally by having the line below Ihe bar a little weaker than 

 that above, we were able to retrieve the line witli the loss of 

 only the sinker when entangled on a rocky bottom. 



Arrangements having been perfected, we pushed out tiom 

 the shore about fifty yards, and. casting the anchor, pro 

 reeded at once to business with hooks carefully baited with 

 bits of salt herring and a kind of "thousand-logs r'worra. found 

 abundantly on the rnussle beds. Our lints had not been in the 

 water more tfian five minutes before a. veil from George and 

 an excited movement in the bow of the boat, where fie wis 



