FISH AND FISHING. 



IN DARKEST NEW ENGLAND. 

 A subscriber sent me the following 



clipping- 

 Mrs. N. F. Prescott reports enjoying a fishing 



trip in the Granite State. Only 2 or 3 days were 



spent in camp, and 314 trout were caught hy Mr. 



and Mrs. Geo. Gilnian and herself. 



I wrote Mrs. Prescott for confirmation 

 of this report, and append her reply : 



On my return from the White mountains 

 I found your letter. I was much surprised 

 to hear my fish story had been put in 

 print, but will confess the statement is true. 

 I was sojourning at Campton, N. H. We 

 fished 2 days and camped 2 nights. I do 

 not know the names of the streams we 

 fished. Mrs. N. F. Prescott, 



Maiden, Mass. 



Wonders never cease. Here are 3 people 

 living in New England, which is looked 

 on as a seat of learning, culture and many 

 other things that good people strive forj 

 yet they seem densely ignorant when it 

 comes to a question of taking fish. They 

 took over 100 trout, each, in 2 days. Of 

 course the trout were fingerlings, but that 

 makes the offence all the more serious. 

 It is more than likely that many of the fish 

 were under the legal length, and that 

 these people violated the State law. In 

 fact, it would be almost impossible to take 

 100 trout from any stream in New Eng- 

 land, within a week's fishing, that would 

 measure over 6 inches. It is safe to say 

 that 75 per cent, of the trout these people 

 caught should have been promptly returned 

 to the water and allowed to grow to a 

 reasonable size. Instead of this, it seems 

 that Mr. Gilman and these 2 ladies kept 

 all the fish to swell their count. At least, 

 nothing is said either in the printed report 

 or in Mrs. Prescott's letter, about having 

 returned any of them to the water. I 

 deeply regret that some game warden did 

 not happen along about the time these 

 people were finishing their record to ex- 

 amine the contents of their fish baskets. 

 However, Mr. Gilman and his party have 

 now to face the public and answer to the 

 charge of having caught 3 times as many 

 trout as they should have caught. — Editor. 



MONTANA LAW DEFECTIVE. 

 It was the hope of those who deplore the de- 

 struction of those noble trout streams^ the Yel- 

 lowstone and the Rocky Fork, that the law to take 

 effect Nov. 1 would put a stop to their defilement 

 by coal dust, and that in the course of years 

 they would be restored to purity. However, a 

 perusal of the law proves this hope to be vain. 

 It is expressly provided in the law that it shall 

 not interfere with coal washing where the refuse 

 is turned into the streams. That being the case 

 the law need not have cumbered the statute 



books, as it is absolutely farcical and useless. The 

 Yellowstone river varies from a murky color to 

 an inky blackness. The source of defilement is 

 an inky deluge from the coal washings, and 

 within a mile it is thoroughly incorporated. Be- 

 ing a fine dust the coal washings float with the 

 river for probably 200 miles. At Columbus the 

 water is so thick with it that the river is ruined 

 as a trout stream. At Billings the Horr wash- 

 ings make the river perceptibly blacker than 

 Clarke's Fork after it receives the contribution 

 from Red Lodge. 



The slack from Red Lodge has not been quite 

 so destructive as the finer dust from Horr, but 

 under the new law it will be worse than before. 

 The coarse slack thrown in at Red Lodge did not 

 float far, but is packed between the boulders like 

 a coarse black powder. That was bad enough 

 to destroy a splendid trout stream, but now the 

 filth will be more thoroughly incorporated with the 

 water. When the question was asked what the 

 coal company will do with their waste 2 the reply 

 was: 



"Oh they will just wash it in. They have put 

 up a fine washing plant." 



The Horr nuisance has destroyed 175 miles of 

 the finest trout stream on the continent. The 

 Red Lodge plant has ruined about 80 miles of an- 

 other stream inferior only in size. The finest 

 trout streams left in Eastern Montana are the Still- 

 water and the Boulder rivers, both rising in the 

 Big Snowies, and putting into the Yellowstone 

 from the South. There is coal along both of 

 these rivers and their tributaries, and within a 

 few years they too will be destroyed unless the 

 next Legislature shall enact an honest measure for 

 the suppression of the nuisance. 



The defilement of these rivers is a serious loss 

 to the States, not only in depriving the citizens of 

 the greatest attractions for their summer outings, 

 but of the inducements for all outside sportsmen 

 to visit Montana; and all this is to save the coal 

 companies a little preliminary expense and in- 

 convenience. The sight of the Yellowstone now is 

 enough to make angels weep. It is a heastly 

 shame. — Independent. 



> 



*5 



UP TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 



The Dodge Manufacturing Company, of 

 this borough, makers of clothes pins, dump 

 the refuse of their plant, such as chips, shav- 

 ings, sawdust, etc., into Mill Creek, a trout 

 stocked stream. The Borough Council and 

 the Borough Solicitor have each in turn 

 tried to prevail on the company to cease do- 

 ing so, but to no purpose, and the com- 

 pany continues to grow bolder and bolder. 

 The refuse sinks, as soon as it becomes 

 water-soaked, to the bottom of the stream, 

 and there lies to a depth of one to 3 feet. 

 Is there not some action we can take in the 

 name of the League of American Sports- 

 men to prevent this ? Thanking you in ad- 

 vance for your advice, I am 



Ira L. Murphy, 

 League Warden for Potter County, Pa. 



This is the same old story. The sports- 

 men of the country are so slow in coming 

 into the League that we are without funds 

 to prosecute any cases outside of the city. 

 Even here, all money used in these cases 

 comes out of my pocket- 



