386 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Dkoembbe 15, 1881. 



what American pays for American ske'ches ? Let him go to 

 Switzerland Or the. Rhine. He painted, artistically, a name 

 on my canoe ; for I hurried her maker so that he did not have 

 time to do it, and I would as soon have a wife or daughter 

 without a name as an unnamed canoe. Still it ruins, and BtiU 

 ■we ■inhera/jUa cough night and day. Is it cheery ? Dowe 

 feel exhilarated? "Like the Grand Tuik?" as Mr. Quilp 

 remarks. .Not to any great cxieut, 1 should say. 



22d. Weather a little better. Better myself. Dinner at 

 Sam Lunakin's. Warmer. Winds. v\., and showers during 

 the night. 



23d. Already noted. 



24th. Paddled to Forge house. Wet again. Am wet all 

 the time. The whole Wilderness water-soaked, 



25th. Just a repetilion of 24'h for rain and wind. Tried 

 the spring holes joat, before and after sundown— with the 

 usual luck. Guides, boats and parties coming and going all 

 the time. 



20th. More parties and more rain. Many going out dis- 

 gusted. Tried liy-n-btng again— with no luck. 



27th. Weather fietti r. Am making up a blanket-roll, aud 

 getting ready for a good stait to-morrow, if it iB fair. 



28ih. Rained in the IV re part cf the day, but cleared off 

 in the afternoon, and I started for a cruise at 6 p. ju.— rather 

 late, as I fi und ; for, what with stopping at Ed. A mold's for 

 a visit, and loitering on the wav, night overtook me long be- 

 fore I reached the head of Fourth Lake. Hi re I found 

 a roaring torrent coming down the inlet from Fifth Lake, 

 which after an hour of hard w. rk I was unable to stern, and 

 SO drifted back into Fourth Lake, where I paddled around 

 until midnight, finally landing ou an island where Fieri Hesa 

 baa a good house aud camp. Here he lives, with his family ; 

 but happening to be absent just then, could not welcome me, 

 so I maile myself welcome to his open camp, found a lamp 

 and a good bed, lighted the one and took possession of the 

 other, managing to put in a few hours of solid sl^ep before 

 sunrise. Started early, and tried the inlet by delight ; but 

 the current was too stiff, and 1 was forced to back down 

 and take the carry to Fifth Lake. Found lha tislting camp 

 at the foot of the lake partially subu.erged and untenable. 

 Last year it was a fine camp to stop at; hut the State has 

 seen fit to back up 'he water in Sixth and Seventh Lakes with 

 a dam tenfeet high ; the gate hid just been raised ' by order," 

 and the pent-up waters were rushing downward to the Black 

 River, to turn mill-wheels and swell the profit sof some manu- 

 facturer or corpora 1 ion having influence at Albany. 



Making the threc-quar er mile carry from Fifth to Sixth, 

 I landed at the dam, and rested for a time to take in the 

 desolate scene. 



The water at aud above the dam was clogged with rotting 

 vegetation, siuiy tree-tops, and decayed, half-sunken logs. 

 The shore line of trees stood dead and dying, while the 

 smell of decaying vegetable mutter was sickening. Last 

 season Sixth Lake, though small (fifty-three acr.s), was a 

 wild, gamy place, and the best of the chain for floating. Its 

 glory ha'a departed. None care to stop there longer thali is 

 necessary. Seventh Lake, containing 1,01)9 acres, is the 

 second largest lake of the chain, and lies but a trifle higher 

 than Sixth. There is no rapid water and no carry-between 

 the two. and a dam that raises the water eight or nine feet 

 in the Sixth will rais-i it almost as high in the Seventh. The 

 channel up to Seventh was as plain a- a highway last year, 

 and pleasant withal. The present season finds the channel 

 wiped out, the forest of balsam, spruce and hemlock, con- 

 verted into a lUsrnal swamp of dying trees, foul, discolored 

 wateis, and fouler smells; while the channel has puzzled 

 more than one. guide v, ho had been used to the route for 

 years. However, by the help of a few blazed trees and 

 lallen timber, with short sections cut out of the trunks for 

 the passage of boats, I contrived to keep the channel and 

 debouched into the once pleasant Seventh, only to find it a 

 scene of desolation and decay. All along the shores 

 the timber was dead or dying; and the odor of rotting 

 vegetation was not suggestive of '"ozone," or balsam laden 

 breezes. 



As you enter the Seventh by the ou'let, turn to port, fol- 

 low the shore for 100 rods, and you will find an open, free- 

 for-all bark camp. It has been there for many years, and 

 many are the names and dates carved on the squared logs of 

 which the sides are built. I expected to find Sam Dumtkin, 

 with Doctor Noli and parly here, but they had left, though 

 their Are was still burning. So I stopped for a rest and Joi- 

 ner. Aero s the lake, looking by the high rocky point, you 

 could see, last season, a white, long strip of clean sand-beach. 

 Just back of the beach was a hedge-like row of green sbrub- 

 be>y, same fifty yards ■long, and just here cone in the stream 

 of Eighth Lake — the inlet of Seventh. This, too, is ail 

 changer). Beach, hedge and inlet are all drowned out. and 

 the dense for'st, for a Ions; distance, is under water on 

 either side. This is bad ; for the open spaces among the 

 trees are easily mistaken for the inlet by a stranger, while the 

 tortuous channel is hard to follow and tie; landing still 

 more difficult to find. And thereby I came to grief ; 

 for, taking an after-dinner nap, I must have slept 

 too long. The afternoon was clou ly, aud ray watch, that 

 very useful companion of the lone tourist, had got wet, aud, 

 though keeping up a feeble semblance of life, had become 

 utterly reckless ns to any proper division of hours and 

 minutes. The hands pointed to half-past two. The hands 

 lied. 



Probably it was nearer half-past five when I paddled leis- 

 urely across Seventh Lake, and, after losing half an hour 

 looking for the inlet,, started up the chanuel all right. I 

 ought to have found the landing in less tliau one and a half 

 rni.es ; but I went on and on, until the roar of the rapids 

 admonished that 1 had gone too far up stream. Also, 1 had 

 lost the marked trees which the guides have blazed to indi- 

 cate the route. Sol turned and paddled back, looting care- 

 fully for some sign of a landing. None was to be seen. 1 

 skirted along the north sin re, as near it as I could get, aud 

 got into a fearful rofifs of dead logs, submerged free-tops and 

 sunken brush, but no lauding. All at once darkness shut 

 down on that miserable, dismal forest, like a wet blanket. 

 A heavy black cloud showed in the southwest, and thunder 

 began to growl ominously. And now for the open channel ; 

 for any place, where dry ground may be found, with a 

 chance to put, up the shelter tent. Too late. One cud of the 

 canoe was last on a lloating log, and the first attempt to back 

 off resulted in sticking the other end in a scraggy tree top, 

 while the log stuck tighter than a brother. Il began t< i0 

 like an uncomfortable scrape. The canoe was hung up, stem 

 and stern, and the furious gust that usually precedes a thun- 

 der storm was roaring through the forest, tipping a balsam 

 or spruce over here and there, making one feel uneasy o.s they 

 plashed into the mud ly water, their loosened roots making 

 them an easy prey to the wind. Ou the heel of the wind 

 came the rain, and how it did pour ; while the lightning was 



almost incessant, and the thunder was highly credilable for 

 a country with so few advantages. 



I unjoiutcd the paddle, and, using the single blade, got 

 free of that execrable log. Then 1 worked free of the old 

 tree-top, and, aided by the flashes that lighted the whole 

 forest momentarily, got out into clear water, but quite 

 idiotic as to the points of the compass. So, as there seemed 

 lothing better to do, 1 sat still and watched the strange, 

 wild scenery, as shown in different colors by electricity. 

 There were, white flashes that appeared to dash all over the 

 forest in a broad, white glare of light, with no distinctive 

 point of stroke. Pale-blue, zig-zag chains, that gave a pecu- 

 liar ghastly light among trunks and limbs, and orange colored 

 bolts that seemed to my eye like round globes of fire. These 

 last struck twice within a short distance of the canoe — once, a 

 tree that, stood in the water, and once on dry land. I could 

 tell by the sound of the shattered tops, as theyplashed into the 

 Water, or clattered to the ground. Comfortless its the situa- 

 tion was. it was a grand display, also — a little unearthly and 

 a trifle scary. It was some satisfaction to reflect that I was 



Sirred in two companies, and a random bolt or a tumbling 



ep might be worth three thousand dollars to the widow. 



The storm lasted an unconscionable time, but was followed 

 by a bright, clear night, and when I had made out the north 

 star, I slowly wot kid down the channel, got into the lake, and 

 made the cmip again just as the eastern sky began to show 

 streaks of .light. "There was plenty of dry kindling wood in 

 the damp, and a rousing fire was in order, with a pint of 

 strong, hot tea, broiled pork, bread and potatoes. Thanks 

 to Ihe waterproof shelter-tent, I was capable of a dry blanket, 

 shirt and drawers, so, hanging my wet clothes to dry by the 

 fire, 1 swathed myself snugly in blanket and tent, lay down 



i fragrant browse, and slept the sleep of the just man. 



It is not to be supposed that a man, far on the wrong side 

 of fifty years, can take an all-night soaking in a wicked storm, 

 seated in a 16-lb. canoe, where, to rise, or even turn round, 

 may mean drowning — can turn out, after needed sleep, with 

 a general disposition to throw hand-springs, or perform 

 feats of muscular agility. I awoke at about 10 a. k. on the 

 morning of July 30, lame and sore, unwound mystlffrom 

 blanket and oiled shelter-tent, look a wash, built a huge fire, 

 made some strong coffee, arid tried my beat to make a cheery 

 thing of it. It wouldn't do. The miserable dead-line of timber 

 was about the only cheerful outlook ; it was a long distance 

 either way to human habitation or to human sympathy, and — 

 I was just mad. I limped down to the soddened beach, sat 

 down on a soaked log, and "nursed my wrath to keep it 

 warm." I cursed the weak, selfish policy (if it deserves the 

 name) that is turning the finest sylvan region on the face of 

 the earth into a disgusting malarial nuisance. I cursed the 

 miserable, illogical hoodlums, who, from high positions, sing 

 the praises of the Adirondacks, as a finer, more romantic 

 land than the Swiss Alps; begging that it be kept as a 

 "Slate Park — an inheritance for our children's children," 

 while, from the other corners of their mouths, they explain 

 how the waters that, by nature, seek the St. Lawrence, may 

 be dammed, backed up and turned, to flow into the Hudson. 

 (See Vei planck Colviu's reports, which I have before me.) 

 Now, let any man, with as much brains as a hen-turkey, 

 look over Oolvin's reports, and say what, (he result will be, 

 it his sugg-s'ions are ever practically carried to their consum- 

 mation. * * * * But, enough lor the present. " An' if 

 the beast an' brauka be spared " 1 will ventilate this subject 

 by another y r ear, quite to the satisfaction of all those who 

 advocate the damming of lakes and rivers, regardless of 

 health, recreation and the preservation of a region the like 

 of which does not exist on the surface of this globed earth. 



More anon. Nkssm ir k . 



A WESTERN TRIP IN A HUNTING CAR. 



DOUBTLESS many of your readers are more or less familiar 

 with the plan tor an annual hunt of certain members 

 or the Worcester Excursion Car Company, and have heard 

 or read of their success in the Great Northwest for five or 

 six years. At the risk, then, of repeating some things 

 which you may have already published, 1 will ask you to 

 allow a little space lo what 1 opine may a tleast be a rarity in 

 your columns — a lady correspondent that I may record some 

 particulars of this fall's bunt. It was my good fortune to 

 be a member of the bunting party which left Worcester on 

 the T7th of September last in the new and beautiful ear, the 

 "Jerome .Marble." I can readily sec the look of surprise on 

 the faces of some who wonder who could have been so 

 foolish as to take ladies on a shooting trip. And why not, 

 pi ay? We enjoyed it, our husbands approved it, and al- 

 though we could not shoulder a nine-pound gun all day, day 

 in and day out. as the gentlemen did, we frequently carried 

 our lighter breech-loaders, and climbed the hills aud scaled 

 the n cks, and crossed the plain, and tried to make the car 

 a plcasantcr and happier home for the gentlemen than it 

 would have been bad we been left at our own homes. We. 

 gained iiifonmuiMii, pleasure and health. Our husbands say 

 they enjoyed our company, and we are already agreed to one 

 thing — if we are fortunate enough to have the opportunity, 

 we are going again. 



Two ne.v cars were completed by the Jackson & Sharp 

 Company for the W. B. O, Co. on Sept. 15, the "Jerome 

 Marble" and ihe "Charles B.Pratt." As you have hereto- 

 fore printed a description of the " City of Worcester," the 

 original car of this i company, I will not burden you now 

 with details, but will refer to the great improvements made 

 as the result of three years' experience. The main saloon — 

 which is parlor, dining room and dormitory in one — is large, 

 airy and even luxurious. By a new arrangement of berths, 

 the room in daytime bears no signs of them. Beds, frame- 

 work, mattresses, pillows and curtains are all stowed away 

 elsewhere in lockers. A large private stateroom, containing 

 a cabinet bed, may be used in cases of sickness ; but, for- 

 tunately, it is not often in demand for that purpose. Of the 

 reading room, the ample wardrobes, lockers and dressing 

 rooms, the complete kitchen, pantry aud refrigerators, the 

 roomy lockers beneath the car for provisions, fuel and ice, 

 and of the three attendants — porter, cook and waiter — accom- 

 panying each ear, you have heard before. Every one of 

 these beautiful cars is indeed a home on wheels. 



Both the " Marble" and "Pratt" were chartered to hunt- 

 ing parties long before their completion, the former to start 

 from Worcester, the latter from Philadelphia. The "Pratt" 

 pariy was composed of gentlemen alone, and as the wives 

 of some of its members were given places on the " Marble" 

 the two parties seemed closely related, and after deciding on 

 the same route met frequently, first at Chicago and after- 

 ward at the hunting grounds. As I have said, we left Wor- 

 cester on Sept. 17, going to Chicago direct by way of Hoosac 

 Tunnel. Here we tarried long enough to learn the more re- 



cent reports from the prairie chicken country, and decided 

 to go on the Minnesota Division of the Northwestern R. R. 



At Redwood Falls we remained a week, aDd were very 

 successful, as well as at Canby, considering the moist condi- 

 tion of the prairie, The unusually severe rain storms of the 

 summer and early fall made chicken shooting more like work 

 and less like sport than ui der ordinary circumstances. 

 Chickens were plenty, and notwithstanding the' discomforts 

 of getting them on account of the water, we had more than 

 our fifteen ravenous appetites required, from the day the 

 first one was killed until we left them for larger game. 



Somewhat earlier than we originally intended we left the 

 Northwestern Railroad for the Northern Pacific, starting 

 from ils eastern terminus, St. Paul, on Oct. 3. We found 

 geese and ducks in great quantity and variety wherever we 

 stopped. At Troy Farm, D. T., graygeese were very abund- 

 ant. One of our party, its youngest member, shot sixteen 

 in an afternoon within less than a quarter of a mile from the 

 car. He did not bring them all in at one carry, but brought 

 all he could and returned for the rest. Our baggage car was 

 by this lime so overcrowded with game that we decided to 

 cross the Missouri and spend a. few days in sight seeing. 



The biidge between Bismarck aud Maudan is not com- 

 pleted, and we were ferried across the river on the N. P. 

 Transfer boat. Staiting from Mandan early iu the morning, 

 we went directly r to Liitle Missouri Crossing in the heart of 

 the wonderful i(ad Lands. 



I would gladly attempt a full description of this curious 

 country if I felt that I could do the subject even meagre 

 justice, without, encroaching too much upon your space The 

 strata of black and red and gray, the scorice capped butles, 

 the weird, desolate appearance of a city ruined by fire, the 

 yawning canyons, varied in their colors by ihe green cedars, 

 the red scoriae, ihe neutral tinted clay and rockB, and the 

 brown and black cinders and liguite, and, stranger than all, 

 tie hissing, burning pits, themselves the cause of all this 

 devastation, are things which once seen will never be 

 forgotten. By the courlesy of the officers at. Canton- 

 ment, "Bad Lands," we were enabled to ride nearly ten 

 miles from the track, over the rou^h country to a group 

 of burning pits. And as if to make our surroundings 

 an even greater picture of ruin, we were shown, as we 

 crossed it, the trail made by Custer when he went to his 

 death. The largest of the pits which we visited was 

 full I orty feet deep, and wide enough lo enable us, while 

 sianding on its brink and looking into the white-heated mass 

 of burning lignite aud baking clay below us, to feel that we 

 were indeed looking into "a raging furnace, whose fire 

 could not be quenched." I u reply" to our inquiry, "How 

 long have they been burning?" we are told to imagine for 

 ourselves, for the space already burned over is twenty-five 

 miles wide by a hundred and sixty-five miles in length, and 

 we instantly conclude that the fire was not lighted by one Of 

 our race. Pieces of scor as taken from the pits while hot 

 and fragments of petrified wood from the neighboring plum 

 were among the relics gathered and preserved by those of 

 our pai ty who cared for them. 



Great was our surprise lo find the ground covered with 

 snow when we reached Glendive, Montana, ou the evening 

 of Oct. 11. It was only a scare, however, for the warm sun 

 of the next two days lelt Ihe ground bare and dry again. At 

 Glendive wo had our first view of the now famous Yellow- 

 stone, aid through the kindness of the Norlhern Pacific 

 Construction Company our cars were taken to the then ex- 

 treme end of the track at O'Fallon, giving us a Tide of nearly 

 forty miles along the beautiful bank or the river. O'Fallon 

 is distant from New York over two thousand miles, and was 

 the extreme western point reached by onr party. Returning 

 Ihe same day to Glendive, onr gentlemen decided to accept 

 an offer of wagons and escort from the Commandant of the 

 military Post fur a buffalo hunt. We ladies could not well 

 share in this sport, and willingly agreed to remain at I he car. 

 A three-days' camping outfit was soon ready, and early Thurs- 

 day morning, under the guidance of five mounted soldiers, 

 all but one of the gentlemen started for a point thirty-five 

 miles northwest. 



Just at the appointed time and while we were looking for 

 them on Saturday afternoon they came iu sight, loaded down 

 with all the beef they could carry, and with the hides and 

 some of the heads of the eight buffalos killed on Friday. 

 This was indeed success, even beyond our most sanguine 

 hopes, and we will not soon forget the kindness of the offi- 

 cers of the Post, to whom we are so greatly indebted. 



After leaving Glendive, on our return trip, we halted at 

 Keith aud Sou'h Heart, at this season the best points on the 

 road for antelope. 1 could almost say we saw thousands of 

 them on our way from Mandan to Little Missouri. We cer- 

 tainly saw many herds of over fifty in each and some of over 

 a hundred. One of our party was fortunate enough to kill 

 one from the baggage-car while we were going at full speed. 

 An accommodating engineer checked his train and gave ub 

 time to bring it in. Before we recrossed the Missouri on our 

 return we had secured ten antelope and two deer, which, 

 with the eight buffalos, made our stay on tins division of "the 

 Northern Pacific remarkably successful. 



After stopping at Steele and Crystal Springs, where ducks 

 and geese were so plenty that it. seemed almost like murder 

 to kill them, we came back to Minneapolis. A special engine 

 took our cars to Fort Suelling, giving us time to enjoy the 

 magnificent view from Ihe Fort tower up and down the 

 Mississippi, and up the Minnesota, and a charming visit to 

 the Falls of Minnehaha. One. of our party having become so 

 infatuated with the country that he declared he was not 

 ready to return home, bade ns good-bye at St. Paul, with the 

 avowed intention of returning to the buffalo country. 



After our return home we found our expenses for the entire 

 trip, including everything, were about five dollars per day. 

 Can you imagine a more delnzh'ful vacation ?— IIicnuihtta. 



Ospiiev or Eagle— Stevens Plains, Me., Nov. 28— 

 Editor Forest and Strewn! 1 notice a, communic ition in the 

 last issue of your paper, signed " W," giving an account of 

 an eagle taking a pike from a mill-pond. "VV" first calls the 

 bird an eagle, then osprey, and then eagle again. Now. I 

 never saw an eagle, neither A, canadefttfs nor IT. leueaa 

 lux take fish in that manner, but have repeatedly seen the 

 osprey, P. earolinensin, do go! I suppose "W." meant osprey 

 when he said eagle. If not, I would like to ask if it is a 

 com inon habit of the eagle to procure his food in 'hat manner? 

 The shooting in this p-rl of the Stale has been very poor this 

 fall; no ruffed grouse to mention, squirrels fairly plentiful, 

 and a few Tail about make up the list: Have seen but one 

 flock of geese, and that a small one. — J Acre. 



[The bird referred to w.ia probably Fandion caroliiunm, 

 the fish hawk, but it may have been Ha imtm leueoeephalus, 

 the white-headed eagle. On the Pacific coast we have seen 

 the latter seize fish in tire water, though we believe it to be 

 unusual for them to do bo.~\ 



