316 



RECREATION. 



OUR CONTRIBUTORS. 



IX. 



Hon. I. N. Hibbs. 



He was born in Illinois, in 185 1, but crossed 

 the plains, with an ox team, when 11 years old. 

 His first experience in fishing- and shooting was 

 on that long journey. Fish and game were 

 abundant all along the old emigrant trail, and 

 young Hibbs became expert in the use of rifle, 

 rod and gun ere the caravan reached its destina- 

 tion. 



Hibbs settled in the Wallowa valley, in Ore- 

 gon, where he engaged in farming and stock grow- 

 ing, and where he lived for many years. Ducks 

 and geese were so abundant there that they were 

 a serious nuisance to farmers, and these men gladly 

 furnished ammunition to anyone who would shoot 



on their farms, and thus save their wheat crops. 

 Hibbs here got to shooting geese on the wing, 

 with a rifle, and made large bags in this way. 

 Later he began hunting big game and has killed 

 all the varieties, of both large and small game, 

 known to the north Pacific slope. 



He now lives in Lewiston. Idaho. He served 

 his adopted state as a member of the legisla- 

 ture in 188 1-2, and was appointed postmaster at 

 Lewiston, by President Arthur, a position he held 

 for many years. 



Newton Hibbs is known to the sportsmen of 

 America as the writer of many charming stories 

 of field and stream, of mountain and plain, of 

 camp life and western adventure. He formerly 

 wrote under the pseudonym of Roxey Newton, 

 but latterly under his own name. Notable 

 among his literary work is the chapter on 

 " Moose Hunting in Idaho," in the " Big Game 

 of North America," which has been pronounced 

 by many critics the best paper on that sport ever 

 published. 



FISH AND FISHING. 



HOW THE LITTLE GIRL CAUGHT 



THE TARPON. 



" While the guests at Hulett's hotel were quietly 

 eating breakfast, one morning last week, a young boy 

 of about ten years, Myron Barnet by name, stepped 

 into a small canoe and started to paddle to the island, 

 in front of the house. After getting several rods from 

 the shore, a large pickerel leaped suddenly from the 

 water near the side of the canoe, and before the fish 

 had time to get out of reach, the boy had him by one 

 of his gills and succeeded in landing him safely in the 

 boat. On measuring the fish it was found to be 41 Vi 

 inches in length and 20 inches in girth, and to weigh 

 16 pounds, being nearly the length of the boy who 

 caught it." — Albany Times-Union. 



I handed this to an old guide of mine who, 

 when he had finished reading it, said : " That's 

 nothin'. When I was down at Punta Gorda, I 

 used to row for gentlemen as was fishin' for 

 tarpons. One day I took Mr. Wood and his 

 little girl out. She were only 11 year old. 

 We fished a long time without gittin' a strike, 

 and jest as we was goin* to take up the anchor 

 and move, a great, crackin' big tarpon come 

 shinnin' across the bay, leapin' and vaultin', like 

 Satan were after 'im. He come strait fer us, 

 and jest afore he got to the boat, he made a 

 great runnin' jump and passed clean over the 

 bow, where the little girl was a-settin'. We hol- 

 lered to her to lay down ; but do vou suppose 

 she done it ? She made a grab for that 'ere fish, 

 and just as he was goin' into the water, she 

 caught him by the tip end of the tail, yanked him 

 back into the boat, jerked her hat pin out of her 

 hat and stabbed him right square between the 

 eyes. She driv' the pin into his brains clear up 

 to the nub and killed him deader'n a smelt. She 

 did, honest! Then we tuck up the anchor, 

 pulled ashore, and measured and weighed the 

 fish. Well, sir ; he was six foot and two inches 

 long, and weighed 187 pound. He did, honest." 



''And how much did the girl weigh?" I 

 asked. 



" Oh, she weighed about 60 or 70 pound, I 

 reckon." 



Princeton, 111. 

 Editor Recreation : 



While fishing in the upper part of Senachwine 

 lake, last summer, \ noticed a good many dead 

 fish on top of the moss (which, by the way, was 

 more dense than usual). The fish were from 

 two to three inches in length, and most of them 

 were young black bass. At first I was unable to 

 account for so many dead fish, but thought some 

 disease had broken out among them. 



Presently, however there was a swirl in the 

 water near my boat, followed by a small bass 

 breaking water. The little fellow landed plump 

 on top of a clump of moss, and all his efforts to 

 regain his native element were fruitless. His 

 struggles became weaker, and it was evident that 

 unless aided soon he never would grow to be a 

 three pounder ; so I placed the paddle beneath 

 him, lifted him into the water and he soon re- 

 vived and swam away. 



Senachwine lake has furnished, in the last 50 

 years, fish for all comers and still is the home of 

 thousands of black bass and pickerel. The grave 

 of the Indian chief, whose name the lake bears, 

 is still pointed out on a bluff near the lake. 



G. O. Greene. 



