IN THE COAST RANGE. 



95 



rock, feeling around in a pool for a fish 

 and when found and hooked fast to him 

 it was often a question whether I would 

 get the fish out or vice versa. The salmon 

 weighed 5 to 30 pounds. Salmon trout 

 would take grasshoppers, and mountain 

 trout both hoppers and the fly, preferring 

 the former. During June and July lamprey 

 eels ascended the river to spawn and 

 thousands of them could be seen clinging 

 to the rocks and slowly working their way 

 over the falls in the river. 



A quarter of a century ago this region 

 was a busy mining camp, many of the 

 creeks having been rich in placer gold; but 

 they have been worked out and the mining 

 now is confined mostly to quartz and cop- 

 per mining, with some placering along the 

 Illinois river. 



There were a few features of this camp 

 life that were not pleasant. Poison oak, 

 rattlesnakes, yellow jackets and innumer- 

 able bugs and insects had no charms. Rat- 

 tlers were plentiful, and while not seem- 

 ingly vicious, were often too close to be 

 agreeable. In going along the trail I fre- 

 quently found them coiled up, and on 

 several occasions I had to make a swift 

 hop, skip and jump to clear them. With 

 the poison oak I was less fortunate. I 

 got a dose of that, causing me intense suf- 

 'fering for more than a month. Applica- 

 tions of carbolic acid and glycerine, as 

 strong as the patient can stand it, are prob- 

 ably as effective as any remedy. One 

 should never go into that country without 

 a supply, as well as whiskey for possible 

 snake bites. Yellow jackets were so plenti- 

 ful that at times it was almost impos 



siblc to eat a meal without some of 

 them passing in, and there were fre- 

 quent occasions on which one's early 

 Sunday-school training came into requisi- 

 tion. A piece of meat hung up would be 

 eaten by yellow jackets in a short time. I 

 killed a large rattlesnake and laid it on a 

 log, intending to take a camera shot at it 

 later; but a few hours afterward there re- 

 mained only the skeleton. 



As the time of my friends was constant- 

 ly required at the mine, Sooner and I made 

 frequent jaunts into the surrounding moun- 

 tains, often going long distances, and fre- 

 quently passing the night in some deserted 

 cabin or rolled up in a blanket under a 

 pine or spruce. I always felt safe from 

 prowling "varmints," as my faithful dog 

 was ever on the alert. 



I spent the greater part of a year in this 

 camp and after bidding my friends a reluc- 

 tant adieu, I took the stage at Selma for 

 Crescent City, California. The route was 

 through pine and redwood forests, rhodo- 

 dendron patches and mountain scenery of 

 surpassing loveliness. I stopped several 

 days at Smith's river, a large stream full 

 of gamy trout. There I cast my last fly. 

 I found the fish, being nearer the coast, 

 larger and gamier than any I had pre- 

 viously taken. 



From Crescent City to Frisco I spent 

 most of the time on the deck of the little 

 steamer, watching the blowings of the 

 numerous whales and the skimming hither 

 and thither of the gulls, ducks, snipe, etc. 

 I know of no part of the country where a 

 summer or winter can be spent more agree- 

 ably than in the coast mountains of Oregon. 





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AMATEUR PHOTO BY N. PC'MEROY JR. 



HOME OF THE WHITE FACED HORNET. 

 Cirru inference 3 feet 7 inches, one w^y; 4 feet 4 inches the other 



