Skptembee 32, 1881. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



149 



Flowda Phinkkk Si-oktsmun. —Point Pleasant, W. Va., 

 Sept. 12.— La-t winter with a party of five, brought together 

 partly through correspondence in your paper, I made the 

 trip down the river Kissitumee in Florid*, through Okeecho- 

 bee LaKe, and l hence into the head of the OaloQsabatchie, 

 ami out to Hie Gnlr at Puma R ssa. We were out seven 

 weeks: had delightful weather; and found abundance of 



fame and fish We consulted ' Al Fresco " before leaving 

 aoksonville, and he gave us i lie benefit of h : s experience in 

 gion. Ours was the first sporting party to pass from 

 Okeechobee to the Gulf by water, though many have tried 



C. 



<\\vEy.>\iA, N. Y., Sept. 17.— Will Thomas changed his 

 mind in regard to grouse shooting. Went out witli the "Dea- 

 con'' Thursday last and killed his first grouse ; says Critten- 

 den's dog Jersey is an ungrateful beast, for after feeding the 

 dog a pound of crackers and coaxing him to the woods, he 

 disappeared, and he did not see him again until his return to 

 the store at night. Bye-the-bye, the dog will not hunt for any 

 one but. his master. Thomas also won the gold badge at the 

 club shoot at; their grounds, Friday, Sept. 16. Loomis and 

 Lewis, the two veteran fishermen, report fishing in the Caz- 

 euovia Lake for the past eight days the best of the season 

 The dry weather continues, and grouse and woodcock are 

 scarce. Hammbrless. 



Long Point Club.— A correspondent recently inquired 

 about the Long Point Club rules, respecting outsiders shoot- 

 ing over their preserves. The rule is to allow no shooting by 

 non-members, except by invitation of some of the club men 

 3T at least by their special permission. 



Tub Lyman Rifle Sight is said to be having a large sale 

 this season, and the results yielded by the use of this inven- 

 tion are said to be excel'ent. 



Squirrels arc reported abnundant about Pittsburg, Pa. 

 The season in that State is now an open one for this game. 



NEW YORK SCHCETZEN COHPS. 



Hamlin. Tne corps le 



•Doat. rorthelli-lihuut-. \ 

 sion was then formed at 

 at Thompson's I'avUmn. 

 Hwasnol nntehea until 

 ladles' prlz© tiowllin: COI 

 There was a prize for ea 

 and Mirer sets, toilet Si 

 tttamisomo cologne box 

 mwlng are tins leadtnes 

 gMrs. weuorocB 64, Mrs 

 46, Mrs. Meyer 45, Mrs. 1 

 Wlss Mia liuner 39, M 

 Unset:'-!. 



1 (The snooting matin v 

 shots at liny yards, sti 



lie Now Tork- Schuetzcn corps to the 

 s held Wednesday and Tliurslav, Sept. 

 w York at ii a. m. Wednesday on the 

 Oiej" arrived at ts o'eioek-. a proces- 

 y marched In to au elaborate dinner 

 r dlnuer the. shooting was In order, but 

 xt morning. During Hie afternoon the 

 took plaee, each lady bowling 10 balls. 

 Dlestant, and among tliem were gold 

 ei ure frames, worn boxes, satchels, a 

 iited by Major Aery, album, etc. Fol- 



fens 51, Mrs. Wehrenbcrg is, Mrs. Aery 

 44, Mrs. Mahnken 4'i, Mrs. Saunl^ si), 

 nnJe E. ilimer 39, Mrs. I,emke31. Mrs. 



nOer the following eondltlons: Three 



times : 



I'hKMn i l. -.-:>•. i\ Wilms n 7-M Bnimmorhopp; 5 12-16 



Mn.1 <;eo Aery. 7 '-16 Oapt Klein.. T m-lfi II Koeheran... 7 i:i-lii 



ll/'-ute.r 8 lfl-lfi Fuller 9 5-16 JMlilase.... 911-16 



C Mahnken. ..to 5-10 F Brunte 11 :i-lii f Lange. h fi-ifi 



Jbhn Bohling.15 e-16 A Stefrens....l2i:i-K, \vni Klein... .13 s-n; 



.1 u Mi-v. r. ...::; r-lii F KundahL. ...13 11-16 \v Lcmkc .13 13-16 



lien ohrt 13 14-ia II Helnceke...l4 we Fr Hanson.... 14 6-HS 



J. - , Kii.^ni:n-k..ii l.-i-n; m Bern-man... .is M volkman....1a 3-ts 



Tliniiieinian... 15 11-16 K I.aig 16 11 Evera 16 11-16 



A \\ l.einke... 17 13-16 A Kenkow....l9 4-16 JUKler 21 3-ie 



.Ml l i-:c- 1 1 .... -2 1 -.16 P a Wanne- C A Nagol....25 7-10 



Oapt Busch...23 0-16 macher. 23 7-16 



Maior Aery also won the Foubst and Stream cup lor the best bulls- 

 eye. In the Judges Match tin; tlrst prize, a handsome gold-headed 

 cane, was won by Mr. Genii s, and the second, a silk umbrella, was 

 won by Mr. hotiman. on Wednesday evening the large dining-room 

 ol the hotel was prepared for dancing, and the members and guests 

 assombled and heartily enloyed themselves up to a late hour. After 

 Hie prizes had been presented Major Aery assembled his company 

 and proposed three lieany cheers [or Mr. Thompson, proprietor of 1 he 

 hotel where the corps had made their headmiai ots, « uich were given 

 Willi a will. The company and their guests then marched to the 

 depot and took the train for New York, where they arrived In due 

 time, thus ending anoi her one of the never-to-be-forgotten excursions 

 of the New York .schuetzen Corps. 



|#r and §iver ^iuhinq. 



1 recommend no sour, ascetic life. I believe not only In the thorns 

 ou the rosebush, but In the roses which the thorns defend. Ascectt- 

 clsm is the child of sensuality and superstition. She is the secret 

 mnuicr of many a secret sin. God, when he made man's body, did 

 not give us n fibre too much, nor a passion too many. I would steal 

 no violet from Urn young maiden's bosom : rather woiUd 1 flit her arms 

 villi more fragrant roses. But, a lite merely of pleasure, or chiefly of 

 pleasure, Is always a poor and worthless life, not worth iJie living; 

 ;i i , linaatjsfactory inllts course, always miserable in Its end.— 

 Thrift,,,- P.irkfi: 



FISH AND GAME IN THE NORTHWEST. 



Pout Walla Walla, W. T., Sept. 4. 



I have just, returned from my usual summer's expedition in 

 l he interest of the National Museum at Washington, D. 

 C. This time I was out after fossils. A number of copies 

 ot the paper remain to be read yet, and 1 lmve only got 

 I hrough a few of the latest ones. I see in the number of A u \t, 

 18 mention, ia made of the "Wicked Fishing Wheel" taken 

 out of the San Francisco Kreninr/ lintk-Un. 'Every word of 

 tint article is true. I have seen the wheel myself this sprin?, 

 and commented on it to a number of parlies who should be 

 interested in the preservation of the salmon in the Columbia 

 river, but I presume that such talk is perfectly useless. The 

 only thing I will not vouch for is that Ihe wheel is patented, 

 as 1 don't know that positively. I cannot conceive how 

 people can be so blind that when interests amounting to $3 - 

 000,000 are al stake annually they will not use a little com- 

 mon sense. It is irue that a law has been enacted by the 

 Oregon Legislature providing that all nets must be taken up 

 on Saturday evening and must remain up till Monday morn- 

 ing, but as the salmon have to run the gauntlet of nets, not to 

 r.peak of fishing wheels and other devilish contrivances, for 

 about 200 miles from the mouth of the river near Astoria to 

 Celito above the Dalles, Oregon, it. can readily be seen that 



those fish that pass the mouth of the river unobstructed be- 

 tween Saturday Highland .Monday morning tun into the hets 

 a short distance above on Tuesday and during the balance of 

 the week. 



Livingston Stone estimates that a salmon travels only two 

 miles a day, twenty-fourhours^ in the UaCramen'o River, 

 and three miles in the Columbia, »""(iti Jordan and Gilbert in 

 American N&hmif*$, March, 1881. l think ibis is <■■ atfder- 



ably utidci-tstimated, as some of these fish travel over 900 

 miles from salt water to reach their spawning grounds in 

 northeastern Idaho— namely, in the Lemhi River and the 

 headwaters of the Salmon Kiver near Atlanta, Idaho. The 

 latter place is over 9u0 miles from salt water, to my certain 

 knowledge, as I have traveled over a good part of that, coun- 

 try on various occasions, and have access to some of our best 

 and latest maps. Now, at Stone's rate of travel this would 

 be 300 days. Salmon certainly don't commence to run be- 

 fore March 15, and on the 5th Of August I have seen numbers 

 of these fish at the extreme headwaters of the Salmon itiver, 

 and previous to that in I ho Lemhi and other tributaries near 

 Challis and Salmon City, Idaho. You see this does not tally 

 at all. 



There are more canneries established every year, and now 

 they have some between the Dalles and Celito, Oregon, about 

 180 miles from Ihe mouth of the river. There is a slough 

 near one of those canneries between the Dalles and Oelilo 

 that is so crowded by these fish that a single Indian cau keep 

 the cannery supplied, I am told. 



I think it is safe to estimate that, not one fish in a 1,000 

 that starts up the river reaches its spawning grounds. Com- 

 paratively few run up the Columbia proper. The Clearwater 

 and the Salmon rivers arc Hie spawning grounds par excel- 

 lence of the qninnat salmon. Unless an artificial hatchery 

 like the-one on McCloud River in charge of Livingston Stone 

 is soon established on one of their favorite spawning grounds 

 (and it seems to me that the vicinity of Challis or Salmon 

 City, Idaho, would be a very proper place, particularly as 

 either place is near the Utah Northern Railroad, and easy of 

 access) the salmon will soon be a thing of the past in the 

 Columbia River and its various tributaries. The immense 

 drain can only be kept up by artificial means, and it is strange 

 that those persons most vitally interested in this matter 

 don't take some steps to protect their own interests. I know 

 that there is a sort of hatching establishment on the Clakmas 

 River, tut this covers but a small portion of territory, and, I 

 believe, has never been very successfully operated. 



If a flshway was constructed at Oregon City at the Falls of 

 the Willamette it would open a number of fine and eminently 

 suitable streams to these fish, and the cost to construct such 

 a flshway would be very trifling. I understand that a sum 

 of money had beeu appropriated by the Oregon State Legis 

 lature, but the Bill was vetoed by the Governor. This may 

 not be true, I only state what I heard ; but I do know that 

 tfere was no flshway there some three months ago, and you 

 could see the fish jumping by the hundreds trying to get over 

 the falls. So much for the salmon. 



Our sharp tail grouse are rather scarce in the vicinity of 

 Walla Walla, and it is a bard matter to get at the true cause 

 of the scarcity. There are a number of theories. Squirrel 

 poison, no doubt, has something to do with it, so have the pot- 

 hunters, and snaring the birds in and out of spason has its in- 

 fluence as well on the diminished supply. The fact is, they 

 are getting scarcer and scarcer every year. Blue grouse, 

 the Ganace obscurus, are still reasonably plenty in suitable 

 localities, and will remain so for some time to come. Oregon 

 ruffed grouse, or Sabinei, are also met with now and then, 

 but they never have been plentiful about here. The upper 

 John Day River country, where I spent the greater portion of 

 the last two months, is still well stocked with all the three 

 species, and is likely to remain soas the birds are but little dis- 

 turbed. The mule and white-tailed deer, elk and bear are 

 also plenty in that region in suitable localities, and you can't 

 go astray for trout. Fine specimens of Salvw purpuratun 

 and Salmlinus malma can be caught in the John Day and al- 

 most any of its tributaries. The country is rather rough, but 

 it is a perfect sportsman's paradise for any one that is not too 

 fond of comfort. 



I sec that the snake-climbing controversy is being revived 

 again, but I consider it pretty well settled. I supposed near- 

 ly every one knew that the constrictor family could and did 

 climb, but it seems a good many consider even their climb- 

 ing unusual : but I cau assure you that if your non-c'.imbing- 

 snake expert, who had the impudence to even discredit Audu- 

 bon's statement that rattlesnakes were occasionally found in 

 bushes, is not satisfied about their ability in climbing I can 

 furnish, him a few more instances of rattlesnakes being found 

 in trees which have come to my knowledge since. These oc- 

 curences are not nearly as rare aa I supposed. While out 

 this summer I saw a rattlesnake lying on top of a bowlder 

 with almost perpendicular and smooth sides, which was at 

 least five feet high. The snake was sunning itself, and any 

 snake that could climb that bowlder could get up a tree just 

 as easily. 



I was quite successful, and made a very interesting collec- 

 tion, comprising head, jaws and bones of extinct mamalia, 

 fishes, turtles, reptiles ; leaves and plants Of the Mi i enc am 

 Pliocene period, which will be sent to the National Museum 

 as soon as I can get them catalogued and repacked. I have 

 not heard anything yet about the smaller species of fish sent 

 on last year or the otber things In that collection. I believe 

 there is a new snake in the lot, however, and perhaps some 

 other things. C. Hendibb. 



THE GAMY CATFISH. 



I'.EMISISOKNOES — I. BT OLD lliiKOKY. 



IN iny younger days, say fifteen Or twenty years agone, I 

 used to flab for cattish, and thpmjht there wasn't much 

 better sport than to have a light rod, » multiplying reel, and 

 a sea grass line, say abdivl -i- . S spool cotton, and 



then lish for them in swift water same as 1 would for bass. 

 In fact, how I name to fish specially for eat thi , 

 that 1 frequently struck a cat. when I expected a bass, but 

 not being like the old Virginia darkey who, '* when he went 

 culi.in', went a catliu'," and threw everything else back. I 

 always took all 1 c >uM get 



Well, as T said I Uli a ht if was fine, sport, but in an evil 

 hour I wad in some Eastern book;, descriptive of Western 

 fishes, that the catfish was a slow, sluggish fish, easily caught 

 by an\- one. with any kind of tackle or bait, generally only 

 caught by negroes with night lines, and thai there \vil« 

 neither sport nor honor in their capture. This gare dec n 

 siderable of a set-buck, but all Ihe Same, my lit-t impressions 

 are retained, and I hold that the forked -tail blue cat is worthy 

 of being classed among the game fish, although of his half 

 brothers, the yellow cat, mud cat, speckled cat, and all other 



line, a com 

 walking stic 

 heavy fOI 



cats, I won't say anything. Yet these grow i o much larger 

 size. The heaviest blue cat I ever lauded only weighed 

 twenty-one pounds, and I took it with bass tackle. 



Many are the encounters I've bud with these forked-tail 

 follows and many times I've had to give up whipped, but 

 we won't count them. Just now I recall a little spree with 

 one, who had me at a foul, when I was fishimr for minnows, 

 using a very small fly hook, a yard of No. 30 cotton for a 

 line, and a "three-foot switch picked up on the bank for a 

 rod, when "chuck" down went Ihe vial cork which I had 

 for ft "bob," and when I wanted to pull up, the thing 

 wouldn't come, but started oil into deep water, flow I 

 kepi, the pressure on that fish, always keeping it pulling on 

 an angle so as to describe a circle of six feet diameter, until 



lally I made it turn belly up, and giving it a grip on the 



ick landed it, a fish of four pound's. Perhaps I couldn't 

 hold a bass of same weight in that space, but I'd give him a 

 powerful ttwsle. 



Another time I was about thirty feet out on a leaning wil- 

 low six inches through, fishing in the eddy of arnilldim on 

 Salt River in north Missouri, using a small-sized sea-grass 

 non spool reel, and one of those abominable 

 k combination rods, when I struck a fish too 



'0, and it made for the boils of the dam thirty 



, _/ds away with race-horse SDeed. How I shinnied back off 

 that little tree, holding my weakly rod high up to clear the 

 tree top, my thumb on the spool, giving line foot by foot as 

 I was forced to until, when I reached ground, but a few 

 yards were left and the fish still going. Presently, though, 

 the tension told on the fish, and leaving the boils it made a 

 straight break down stream, in a current like a mdl tail, for 

 the river was up. A tree standing in the water twenty feet 

 from the bank was in the way, and I quickly found there 

 waa no way but to go round it, which 1 did, hip deep, and 

 after a two hundred yard chase finally brought my game to 

 the bank, where my companion, the veteran angler, "Bill" 

 Lewis, from the Blue Grass region, stood ready with the 

 gaff and brought it in. It measured three feet two inches, 

 and weighed thirteen pounds. A yellow cat of same length 

 would weigh sixty. 



Of course this one didn't kick and make high jumps like 

 the bass and pickerel that I've caught down among the Thous- 

 and Tslands, but you bet he made a good pull and satisfied 

 me that catfishing is a deal of sport if you can't do better. 



I have found out. too, that, using light tackle I could find 

 more catfish than others could who used ordinary lines and 

 hooks, 



One time I went into business on a heavy scale. Dowu on 

 Main River, as we called it, the boys had been telling awful 

 tales of how, when they had set out hooks, they had caught 

 fish of five to ten pounds' weight and how other fish bad 

 swallowed these ten-pound baits, and sometimes they would 

 find their lines broken up. Some of them had seen the heads 

 of these monsters as wide across as a beer keg is long, but 

 none had been captured. I resolved to give the matter a trial. 

 So I went to our blacksmith shop and forged a hook from a 

 file, making it about six inches long, two and a half in the 

 bow and giving it the real Kitby side twist, which latter was 

 a mistake, as the sequel will show. It was, though, a real 

 good hook and in later years did good service as a gaff, but I 

 finally lost it by loaning it to a comrade, who, poor fellow, 

 went in his skiff too near the edge of a dam in high water 

 and went over. 



I took this hook, spliced it to a coil of twelve-thread ma- 

 nilla rope that I had, and for bait took a soft-finned catfish 

 weighing three pounds, which I that day caught specially for 

 the purpose. All things being ready, I drove down about 

 i tight to the place where so many fish had been devoured and 

 proceeded to "tie my dog loose," anchoring him to a swing- 

 ing limb of a convenient elm tree. Next morning, on going 

 back, I had the satisfaction of seeing my line hauled taut, 

 while an occasional yank gave evidence that something was 

 going on at the t'other end. It didn't take long to haul in 

 forty or fifty yards of the line, but then there was a " kick", 

 anda boil and a splash, but I held on like grim- death to a 

 nigger — so to speak — but 'twas all n. g. A few plunges and 

 theline fell slack and there was nothing to prevent my haul- 

 ing in. I found my bait had been swallowed, but that con- 

 founded side bend had prevented the hook having the desired 

 effect ; reason being that while my calculation was that the 

 bait would be swallowed head first operations were begun at 

 the tail, thus turning the hook point clown and burying it in 

 the body of the bait, and when I pulled all the fish had to do 

 was to open his mouth and bait and all came back the same 

 way it went down. I went home wiser, but disgusted, and 

 have not set a line since. 



ANGLING IN NORTHERN SCOTLAND. 



THE fact that the name of Mr. Archibald Young appears 

 upon the title page of an angling guide to Sutherland* 

 is a guarantee of its reliability, Mr. Young is better known 

 to the fishculturists of America thau to the anglers, from his 

 long conned ion with the culture and protection of the salmon 

 fisheries of his country. 



The book will prove a handy pocket oompauion to any 

 one wishing to try the salmon or ihe trout in the waters of 

 northern ScotlamL It contains a map of Sutherland, Caith- 

 ness and parts of Cromarty and Ross. The additional mat- 

 ter in Ibis second edition consists of a visit, paid by the au- 

 thor to Ihe singular and picturesque Island of Handa, near 

 Scourie, on the west coast of Sutherland. 



In the first chapter tic reader is treated to a comparison 

 between the county of Sutherland in the seventeenth and 

 eighteenth centuries and in the present day, which is, to au 

 American, a revelation. Thai, any other land, in what we 

 cad the "Old World," was in a s"mi-barbatvus stale two 

 hundred years ago, if me except Africa and such portl n>S OS 

 arc still in fat condition, is a surprise to those of us wild 

 ao? not fitmiliax wi h Ihe local history of remote counties of 

 Great Britain. Our author quotas Franck, a Orom,wellfen 

 trooper, v> hose " 'Northern .Memoirs" were written iu 1008, 



to show that the inhabit!! m s of this mountainous ami beau- 

 tiful cuuntry were then "almost us barbarous as cannibal"," 

 who. when they kill a beast, "boil him in his hide, make a 

 caldron of his skin, brovois of his bowels, drink of his 

 blood and bread arod meat of his carcase." Pennant de- 

 scribed the same country as one which seemed to have been 

 so torn and convulsed that the shock shook off all that 



Now, Mr. Young informs u">, these authors would be sur- 

 •Thoi .\ie,-i-"s s SkBJcHer's I OQtae I to - a'i.eii, .1. by| VrcW, 



