AMATEUR PHOTO BY C. J. HALPEN. 



WEST RICHARDSON POND AND MOUNT OBSERVATORY. 



enviable reputation, and comprises a num- 

 ber of log cabins planned on a style of 

 rustic elegance, types of the northland 

 woods, full of comfort and good cheer. 



We took the steamer Mooseluk for Up- 

 per Dam, 9 miles distant, arriving at 7 

 o'clock.. The genial John Chadwick, for 

 over 30 years in charge of the Upper Dam 

 property, bade us a cordial welcome. Some 

 of the guests who were there at the time 

 of our visit have made annual trips for 

 over 20 years. Among them were Mr. T. 

 B. Stewart and son Douglass, of New York 

 city, and Mr. J. C. Dougherty of the 

 Natchaug Silk Co. 



From the veranda of the hotel we are in 

 view of both Mooselukmaguntic and Mole- 

 chunkamunk, and facing the " Grand Old 

 Pool," which forms the connecting link 

 between them. 



On either hand one sees 

 "Pine sheltered shores that stretch 'neath 

 Northern skies. 



And under them a dreamy forest lies." 



The Upper Dam was built in 1845-7 and 

 is a massive structure of granite and tim- 

 ber. It cost $300,000, is nearly a mile long, 

 including wings, and has 21 feet head, to 

 low water gates. 



During our stay we had the good fort- 

 une to see 3 of the gates opened, owing to 

 the high water, and were told that over 

 15,000 horse-power was running through, 

 all wasted. 



We stayed 2 days at the Upper Dam, and 



then, having selected a suitable spot for 

 camping, pitched our tent, ran up our little 

 silk flag and were ready to receive callers. 



We fished 2 days with indifferent success, 

 taking a goodly number of trout weighing 

 from y 2 to i l /2 pounds. The third morning 

 I decided to try my luck above the dam. 

 At the East end a gate was partly open, 

 and through it the water was rushing, 

 making a strong current. Parallel with it 

 a pier extended into the water a distance of 

 30 feet, and between the pier and a boom, 

 some 20 feet distant, several snags had 

 drifted, so, in order to cast a line here I 

 was obliged to make an opening. Secur- 

 ing a rafting pickpole, I struck the pick 

 firmly into the snag nearest the pier, and 

 by hard work succeeded in pushing it off 

 far enough to secure the other end of the 

 pick against the planking of the pier; then 

 I was open for business. 



My rod was a 6 ounce lancewood, rigged 

 with a click reel carrying 300 feet of silk 

 line. Casting 30 to 50 feet up the cur- 

 rent, and allowing the fly to drift down 

 the rapid water to the gate, I secured, 

 after a few casts, a handsome brook trout 

 weighing about a pound, which was re- 

 turned to the water. A few more casts 

 and I struck- something that caused me 

 to think the dam had broken away. I 

 was fishing above that " ornery " pick- 

 pole which was midway the pier, when, as 

 my line straightened out in the current 

 close to the gates, my reel screeched, and 



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