[October «, 1881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



185 



and breakfastless toward the shore in Lhe dingy, accompanied 

 by guns, ammunition, false biids ami the paraphernalia of 

 the fatal art. 



"Bay snipe, " a term that includes all the sandpipers, 

 plovers, sanrterlings, waders and snipes that follow the a 

 In their annual migrations from their summer nesting places 

 in the neighborhood of Hudson's Bay to iheir winter feed ins; 

 places "away down South'*— nobody knows exactly where 

 or how far up ,■ .,■ i/;iy gregarious in their nature. 

 Therein lies a wcakuess that has proved most fatal to them 

 and thinned their numbers from countless myriads that once 

 fairly swarmed along the shore of the Mantle Ocean during 

 the gummer ami early autumn to a few desultory birds thai. 

 scarcely ever constitute whaj is in sporting technique known 

 as a "flight," which means a continuous movement of flocks 

 sufficient to give the gunner remunerative and satisfactory 

 Sport for one or more days at a time. These birds are of all 

 Sizes, from the sickle-bill curlew, that stands as high as a 

 Shanghai chicken and weighs one-half as much, down to the 

 tiny '■ ox-eye," or "hawk's eye"— the name and its deriva- 

 tion both being in doubt— which is about as big as a wren aud 

 furnishes as much food as though one bit one's thumb. But, 

 large and small, they are all possessed of eyes so bribiant and 

 clear, and powers of flight so strong, that they would rarely 

 be shot were they as shy and crafty as they tire strong aud 

 beautiful. Their social qualities and individual affections 

 are too largely ceveloped for their good. A " solitary trav- 

 eler," or a ilock making its way safely up in the blue empy- 

 rean, far beyond the reach of even a "wire cartridge," on 

 perceiving another flock, real or imitated, calls aloud with 

 pleasure in soft, musical whistling notes, and on receiving an 

 answer — a poor simulation often of its own call — descends 

 confidingly to death aud destruction. There are few more 

 exciting experiences in i£e sp:-;r.,sman s life than ir 

 "whistling up" a flock of buy shipe to the decoys. The 

 man conceals himself in an artificial "blind," or by piling 

 seaweed up around him, while ho lies on bis back in a w&teB- 

 proof coat. Our Fishery Commissioner was a sportiug syba- 

 rite, aud sat in a camp chair and had an artist's umbrella 

 to shield him from an excess of sun, so he had to build a tall 

 blind of bushes. The Superintendent, always discovering 

 new ways of doing things, while he approved the camp chair, 

 repudiated the tall bushes and built up a huge rampart of sea- 

 weed, simply because seaweed was abundant along the shore, 

 and so seaweed being naturally there should have been the 

 best thing as a cover. But. the Commissioner argued that 

 such a mountain of seaweed would scare all the birds out of 

 the bay. 



The decoys, or "stools" a3 they are usually called, are 

 made of wood in a rough way and paiuted not mere like the 

 natural bird than the law allows. A long stick is thrust into 

 their body for the double purpose of legs and to set them up 

 with on a shallow, sandy point, which is always chosen. 

 These roughly manufactured, spurious snipe are, however, 

 wonderfully deltirive, and at a short distance cannot be dis- 

 tinguished from a flock of living birds. As soon as the pre- 

 liminary preparations are made, the stools set out and the 

 sportsman hidden, the latter expects the former to "open 

 the ball"— that is, a single bird say, already perhaps having 

 seen all bis sisters, bis cousins and his aunts killed by similar 

 ambush and trickery, is wending his solitary way to the fair 

 sandbanks of the South. He catches sight of the -false pre- 

 sentments, joy fills his heart— which has learned nothing by 

 experience— and in them sees possibly his lost kindred. He 

 calls aloud ; the false friends or relations seem to answer, 

 though their voices are hoarse— from wet feet and cold, 

 doubtless. 



Unsuspiciously he drops from lhe clouds; and with out- 

 stretched neck and expanded wings he sails gracefully and 

 confidingly up to the blind. There is a flash of lightning 

 and a roar of thunder, and his body lies dead upon the sandT 

 while his s"ul has gone to the " Happy Hunting Grounds of 

 the Hereafter," to he murdered over and over again through 

 all eternity; for if there are Happy Hunting Grounds, there 

 must inevitably be hapless game to hunt. A flock, likewise, 

 comes in the same way, only crowding ami jostling one an- 

 other and hurrying to be first in at the death ; and then the 

 sportsman's happiness is supreme, and his art tested to its 

 utmost, for then he can only be said to have justified himself 

 if he shall have kitted two or more with the first barrel, as 

 they are crowding and crossing one another ,- and at least one 

 with hi3 second barrel, 



As much depends on the sportsman's skill in whistling a 

 correct and loud imitation, as in his accuracy and rapidity 

 of aim. The variety of species is very great. Among tie 

 ordinary ones will be found the following, some still retain- 

 ing their quaint Indian names : The Sickle-bill curlew, a 

 large, brown bird, with a curved bill, which is occasionally 

 eleven inches long; the. Marlin, another brown bird, with a 

 bill nearly straight, in fact bent slightly upward toward the 

 p-iint ; the Jack curlew, like the sickle bill, but smaller ; the 

 Willet, about the same size as the last, with a light gray 

 body and black and white wings ; the Bull-bead, or Black- 

 breast Plover; the Golden or Greenback Plover, two fine 

 birds for the table, the latter the better of the two; the 

 griper, or large "iellowlegs ; the Small TellowlegS; the Do- 

 witch, or Dowitcher, an excellent table morsel, and the only 

 true snip-, oniithologically considered, in the entire list; Rob- 

 in-snipe, somewhat similar in appearance to the Do witch-, r ; 

 Braut bird, or Turnstone, a beautiful but rather tough varie- 

 ty ; the Kricker, or Shortncck ; the Peep, or Longshankc'd 

 sandpiper; the Ringneck; the Sand snipe; the Surf snipe 

 and the Ox-eye, and others which are seeu less frequently. 

 Every one of ihese has its own individual ami characteristic 

 whistle, which must be imitated by the gunner as nearly as 

 possible. Each variety must be distinguished and recognized 

 as soon as seen, for they often fly in perfect silence, and will 

 not notice the decoys unless called. They are recognized by 

 their si z;e, color and manner of flight; and an experienced 

 gunner, with perfect eyesight, can tell them apart at a pro- 

 digious distance. Of them all the "Jacks" are Hie moaj 

 wary, and as a consequence maintain their numbers less 

 diminished than any of the others. Some varieties, like the 

 Golden plover, have been almost exterminated, aud in olden 

 times a day's sport was not determined by count but, like 

 the Biblical f< ast, by bushel- baskelfuls. As ikey come to the 

 stand, they hover and set their wings, and drop their leo-s as 

 if to alight; and will ofton do so if undisturbed; hut the 

 true sportsman never wails for that, but picks out a crossing 

 pair or more and shoots at those. At the report lhe fright- 

 ened flock will dart about in terror, " skiver." asit is techni- 

 cally called, making the second shot as difficult as the first is 

 •asy. In a moment they will have so entirely regained their 

 corn-age that those which escaped will wheel and return for a 

 second or third shot, until sometimes they arc all killed. 



The sport, if it is good and the birds plen'y, is exciting. 



The variety of species, the difference of call and flight the 

 ancartainty of bringing the game within range, whet- "k is 

 hesitating whether to come or n->t, and the difficulty in se- 

 lecting the best part of the flock to kill the greatest number, 

 lend a charm which is found in no oilier kind of sport. Aim! 

 however on this par. ieular occasion there was error in the 

 calculations. The Commissioner's prophecy, like Vennor's, 

 was simply the contrary of what it ought to have been. In 

 spite of winds aud Waves, the movements of the planets and 

 the conjunctions of the constellations, there was no flight on 

 the ninth day of August, 1881. Seth Green having armed 

 himself with the ship's glass, not the customary glass of 

 yachting parties, and surveyed the horizon from the moment 

 it wa3 visible till the sun appeared, announced that there was 

 not a bird anywhere, and utterly refused to wait for them to 

 come_from some "undiscovered country," while there was 

 possible fishing to be had anywhere in the laud of the living. 

 As he knew nothing of this kind of shooting, it. was only 

 natural that he should make up his mind promptly and the 

 Commissioner surrendered to his views, with the saving 

 clause, grumblingly uttered, "ihat if there bad been thou- 

 sands of birds they never would have come near a blind made 

 of seaweed aud high as a bill." So the "white wings" were 

 spread aud the Au Kevoir leaped away on her course toward 

 the west. 



How they meant business and their destination was Fire 

 Island Inlet, the largest feeder of salt water to the Great 

 South Bay, a channel through which a considerable amount 

 of commerce passes and a spot that was once famous for the 

 excellence of its fishing, but which is now so hedged in with 

 pound-nets that the sport has greatly deteriorated, while fish 

 that spawn in the bay are almost entirely excluded from it. 



It is one of the marvels of American character that in spite 

 of its energy and euterpri-e it will allow the few to utterly 

 override aud trample under foot the rights and interests of 

 the many. T he Great South Bay has from time immemorial 

 furnished a living to-thousauda of dwellers on its shores. Its 

 wafers are whitened with the sails of the working boats of 

 its hardy aud laborious toilers ; its oysters are famous as far 

 as England, where -'Blue Points are received fresh daily," as 

 a restaurant sign informs the world. Its bottom is literally 

 covered with clams and mussels aud a few years ago hun- 

 dreds of visitors came daily in the summer months for the 

 Fport of trolling for bluefish off Pire Island. A sportsman 

 could at any time catch all the weakfish, kingfish or sea bass 

 he wanted ; or the poor man could, in a few hours, get food 

 enough with hook and line to keep his family a week. No 

 man suffered for food who could work aud who lived near 

 the bay; and no more happy and independent race of men 

 was to be found than those of the south side of Long Islaud. 

 Now some tweniy, certainly not over thirty, owners of pound- 

 nets luive changed all this; they have destroyed the fish, 

 captured young aud old, interrupted access to the spawning 

 grounds, drivon the boatmen to clamming and oystering ex- 

 clusively, until these industries a-e overworked, and have 

 brought poverty and suffering upon an entire community. 

 Aud yet the people submit. Ten thousand freemen are ruled 

 by thirty sell-created despots, wh I tax the others beyond 

 what would be dared by the greatest autocrat the world ever 

 saw. I have not space to explain the structure or working 

 of a pound net, but can only give the invariable experience 

 of the New York Fishery Commission, that where the pound- 

 net, wiih unrestricted length and mesh is introduced in any 

 waters the Ashing is in a few years exhausted. 



While the pound-nets have ruined the fishing in the bay by 

 excluding the spawning B?h from it, they cannot prevent 

 some, especially of the smaller kinds, from get) iug part of the 

 way up the channel. The "Cinderbed-i," so called from a 

 peculiar coral formation which grows on them, are the favor- 

 ite resort of porgies, sea bass and robins or gurnards, while 

 small blue fish are taken in the channel by what is called 

 "chumming." To the Cinderheds the Au Revoir flew as fast 

 as the wind aud our impatience would carry her. We 

 bought a hundred clams on the way from one of the working 

 boats, with which the bay is doited every working day in 

 the year, and as soon as we reached our destination cast an- 

 chor and went to fishing. Seth Green and the Commissioner 

 each rigged up his line, and no doubt the amount of skill, 

 erudition, research and experience involved in that operation 

 would be hard to describe. Catching a surreptitious view of 

 Mr. Green's rig-out, I found he had a silk worm gut leader 

 arnied with seven hooks, while the Commissioner bad fasten- 

 ed his hooks by short lengths to his line above the sinker, 

 half way to the tip of his rod. It is needless to Bay that 

 against such skill the fish stood no chance. There was a 

 pound net within n stone's throw, and I commiserated its 

 incapacity beside these formidable engines. Not satisfied, 

 however, the Superintendent arranged a wire bag, filled it 

 with bait that the fish could not get at, and hung il over the 

 side to attract them. Up came the fish by ones, by twos, by 

 threes at every cast, of all kinds, large and small. The 

 yacht's deck was covered with fish. Pish flopped ami 

 sparkled in the sun: fish bounced about lhe cockpit; fish 

 got uuder your feet ; fish hid away in the cabin. Baskets 

 and boxes were filled with fish, and had it not been for an 

 interruption the Au Kevoir would have been loaded down 

 with fish. While these two enthusiastic piscatorial artists 

 were lr>rd at it, with no signs of giving up, a stylish-looking 

 craft sailed by. It had a signal on which was the suggestive 

 figure of a fish, and beneath that the word "Bait," and the 

 Commissioner recognizing it at OUOe as the "chum boat," 

 shouted out that he wanted a hundred mossbunkers. ('hum 

 is bail, usually mossbunker, bony-fish or menhaden, three 

 names for lhe same creature, chopped up tine with a hatchet 

 and thrown overboard from time to time, while the fisherman 

 puts larger and more alluring pieces on his hook. The chum 

 gives out an oil which floats on the water and attracts the 

 bluefish, while the bail catches them. As the menhaden Is 

 oily and naaly to handle it is not a pleasant nor clean style of 

 fishing, but it is the only mode of raking bluefish which the 

 pound nets have left possible. Fortunately on this occasion 

 the bluefish were not plentiful, aud even high art cannot 

 catch what does not exist. So when a few had been taken 

 and the afternoon was spent, a ti-ih chowder was cooked in 

 Mr. Green's finest style, and eaten appreciating])'. Then 

 the yscbt was got under way, and headed for the outmost 

 verge of the extreme beach. 



On the western point of Fire Island iu'et— with the ocean 

 in front, the bay behind, the inlet to One side, and a vast 

 meadow to the other— Mr. Henry Haven. ever had erected » 

 castle and. Watch tower, like the knights of old with their 

 strongholds ou the Rhine. Mr. Havem yor, like the kuights, 

 is a marauder aud a freebooter, but, unlike them, he does not 

 levy toll on his bard-working fellow-man, but draws his 

 excise from the water and, the air. From bis beautiful and 

 comfortable "coign of vantage " he can issue forth upon the 



ravenous bluefish, which are bu<y preying upon their smaller 

 brethren, or he can meditate as be fishes hour after hour in 

 the hope of a bite from a sheepshead ; or he can mark the 

 flight of the bay snipe in the sky, or the motions of the ducks 

 upon lhe bay. For health aud pleasure, for the delights of a 

 free and independent life, for the benefits of abundant exer- 

 cise aud pure air, for the comforts of a cool breeze aud sleep- 

 laden nights there is no-hing to bo compared to a home ou 

 our sea beaches ; and the men and women who go to the 

 Adirondacks aud other wildernesse-i travel far and endure 

 much to obtain what they might find with far fewer draw- 

 backs at their very doors. In this most sensible movement 

 Mr. Havemeytr is the pioneer, whose ocean home will be 

 quickly followed by others, till every fooL of available sand 

 will be occupied. Unfortunately he was not at home, and 

 only the solitary lamp that hangs over the portals, a guiding 

 star to delayed mariners, and the deep baying of his hounds, 

 whose voices are enough to frighten away interlopers, gave 

 us a sad and sombre welcome, nud pressingly suggested that 

 we had better extend our journey a half mile further to Jesse 

 Conkluig's famous hostelry and the hospitable halls of the 

 Wawayanda Club on Cap Tree Island, upon the shores of 

 Whig Inlet. 



We did so, and I am sorry to say that we found the Wa- 

 wayandas very hospitable and the guests at Jesse Conk- 

 ling's very friendly and musical and Mr. Seth Green and the 

 Commissioner of Fisheries exceedingly sociable after their 

 trip upon the thirsty sea. They went to bed, though, after a 

 while, having received the promise Ihat " Ge -rge" should 

 wake them at five next morning and take them snipe shoot- 

 ing once more. 



Tue last words of Mr. Green to his new friends were : " I 

 have to-day fixed a rig to catcli salt water fi-h here, which 

 I have explained to the Commissioner, who will explain it to 

 you, aud which I have told him wid catch more fish twice 

 over than any other arrangement," — this was said obit viou3 

 of the fact that th? Commissioner had with his rig beaten 

 Mr. Green by two fish on a count of the day's catch — "and if 

 any of you would like to catch salmon-trout aud will come 

 to me, 1 will give you a rig for them Ihat will take more of 

 them than any plan you are acquainted with." 



Robert B. Roosevelt. 



SPORT IN NORTHWESTERN IOWA. 



BV S. Ei HAEEIS. 



TO the sportsman and tourist there cm be no more attrac- 

 tive region than northwestern Iowa. This remote cor- 

 ner appears to have been overlooked until recently by knights 

 of the rod aud gun, as well as by the rush of emigrants from 

 the Eastern States and Europe, who have been seeking'homes 

 in the fertile prairies of the West. 



I propose to condense, in as brief a manner a:i possible, in 

 a single ar iclc, a description of the country and its attrac- 

 tions to sportsman, tourist and farmer. 



By reference to the map it will be observed that uorth west- 

 ern Iowa is bounded on the west by Dakota Territory, and 

 on the north by Minnesota. Until recently it Ins bt en wholly 

 unsettled. The tide of immigration rushed by, leaving an 

 eddy here unvisited and undisturbed The locality was re- 

 mote from railroads, and the wonderful beauty of the c ran- 

 try and the fertility of its soil was unknown, except to the 

 venturesome hunter, who chased the deer and the elk over its 

 rolling prairie ; and to the disciple of Walton, who caught 

 the most beautiful of fish in the clear wat-.rs of its rommtic 

 lakes and running streams. 



The first railroad to break the solitude of this far-off land 

 was constructed from Sioux City, on the M-ssouri River, in 

 a northeasterly direction to St. Paul, on the Mississippi. The 

 next access to the country has been opened within the past 

 two years by the Black Hills extension of the Chicago, Mil- 

 waukee and St. Paul Railroad, which is now completed 

 through the heart of this region far into Dakota, with a pros- 

 pect of reaching Deadwood, within a few months, thanks to 

 that prince of Western railroad proprietors, Hon. Alexander 

 Mitchell, lbs venturer from bonnie Scotland, who found a 

 welcome among the p oneers of the West, where he rapidly 

 rose to wealth and distinction, and whose master baud is 

 seen in the magic with which the solitudes of the West sprung 

 into life, culture and commerce. The crossing of these two 

 roads is near the west side of O'Brien county, at the thriving 

 youug town of Sheldon, and near thecornersof Sioux, Lyon, 

 Osceola and O'Brien counties, which meet at one common 

 point. The two former counties border on Dakota, and the 

 latter on the State of Minnesota. 



For the past few years I have, when August came, laid 

 aside my law books and briefs, at my nome in Bucyrus, Ohio, 

 and made a tour to this northwest, to spend my annual sum- 

 mer vacation, making Sheldon my headquarters, where I 

 found abundant sport and whence I made excursions to Sioux 

 Falls, to Spirit Lake and other p ants of interest. 



Sioux Falls City is in Dakota, some thirty miles west of 

 the Iowa line, and situated on the Big Sioux River, It is but 

 five years old, and numbers near two thousand inhabitants, 

 with a rapid growth in progress. The river de-endsbya 

 series of rapids and cascade-, a distance of one hundred and 

 twenty feet iu less than half a mile, affording great wa'er 

 power. Two large mills are completed, the lower one having 

 been in operation for several years. The central f ill has been 

 purchased by some New York capitalists, w-io have recently 

 erected an immense mill, constructed of the igne ais r -ok, 

 which they blasted from the race. The water iBCOnveyed to 

 a turbine wheel through a seven foot iron pipe, and has a 

 head of seventy feet. This mill is just completed anil is one 

 of the wonders of this land of wonders. It will only be 

 surpassed by the celebrated mill of Gov. Washburn, at Min- 

 neapobs, which grinds fifteen hundred barrels of flour daily, 

 and when completed and ruu to its full capacity, is expected 

 to increase the daily product to two thousand barrels. 



Another point of interest is SpiritLikein Dickinson county, 

 Iowa, some thirty miles northeast of Sheldon. The popular 

 name would indicate but one body of water, yet, in redity, it 

 is a cluster of very interesting lakes. Theupperoneis Spirit 

 Lake. The next is East Okoboji, and the lover one West 

 Okoboji, all beiug connected by channels. Near the upper 

 lake, and only separated from it by a narrow timbered ridge, 

 cm the west, is Sunk Lake. By the appearance of the wall- 

 like bank, it is evident ihat the earth once covered it, and it 

 whs with its largo timber sud icnly sunk at some remote pe- 

 riod, of which even the Indians had no tradition. Deep 

 down in clear waters can be distinctly seen large trees with 

 their leafless limbs and branches s-anding uninjured. In- 

 terspersed with these are broken stumps aud fallen timber, 

 such as are found in primeval forests, all being preserved by 

 the pure water of the lake for untold ages. 



The outlet of this cluster of lakes constitutes the- Little, 



