130 



FOREST 'AND ■' STREAM. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



BK V0TKD TO FHXT) AMI AQDATIC SrOBTS, PRACTICAL 'NATURAL HlSTORT, 



Fish Cm.TURE, the Protection op Game, Preservation op Forests, 

 and the Inculcation in Men and Women of a Healthy Interest 

 in Out-Door Recreation and Study: 



PUBLISHED BY 



forest and Jf/mwf §ttbJMittg §am^t(v. 



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NEW YORK, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1877. 



To Correspondents. 



All communications whatever, intended for publication, must be ac- 

 companied with real name of the writer as a guaranty of good faith, 

 and be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Company. 

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&r Trade supplied by American News Company. 

 CHARLES HAXX.OCK, Editor. 



T. C. BANKS, S. H. TURRILL, Chicago, 



Business Manager. Western Manager. 



THE RIFLE MATCH. 



" T)EACE hath her victories no less renowned tban war," 

 -t gays old John Milton, and certainly the success of the 

 American riflemen against the chosen experts of the world 

 during the past week completely fills the bill as a victory of 

 peace. It is a triumph, too, which brings no pang and no 

 bitterness to the vanquished. They love that thrill of exulta- 

 tion, that joy of superiority which it is the luck of the Ameri- 

 can riflemen at this time to enjoy, but in chronicling and ap- 

 pending this great victory, Americans and fair-minded men 

 generally will not omit to recognize fully and freely the rare 

 quality of excellence and manly bearing of the defeated team. 

 Before the battle, in the modest way in which they spoke of 

 their own abilities during the struggle, in the all-absorbing 

 manner in which they entered into the task before them, and 

 in the moment of their final overthrow, when they were the 

 first, in the person of that model gentleman sportsman who 

 has so efficiently filled the post of team captain, to frankly 

 acknowledge before the assembled people, " We are defeated, 

 and I congratulate you upon the magnificent team you 

 brought into the field." The British riflemen were not beaten 

 because of their weakness. They were not an inferior team, 

 else they could not have climbed to the proud distinction of 

 surpassing all previous record. In nothing of experience or 

 honorable effort were they inferior to our own men, and our 

 numerical lead is but the formulation of certain recognized 

 advantages we possess, and which the British riflemen fail to 

 grasp. The victor}' is a noble one, in its inception, its prep- 

 aration and its completion. Hard work and patient toil of 

 body and hand, guided and governed by an intelligent grasp 

 of points of advantage, have been crowned by their legitimate 

 result in an overwhelmingly high score. It is somewhat 

 gratifying to cast our minds back a few years to the months 

 preceding the first Irish-American match of 1874. How our 

 prominent rifle companies, without a single long-range 

 weapon in their stock, sent in all haste to England for speci- 

 mens of the best English and Irish match rifles. They were 

 brought over, and with them, as a base of operation, our 

 American companies set at work to bring out the magnificent 

 arms of which the world to-day can show no superiors, and 

 this merit on the part of the American breech-loading small- 



bore rifle to acknowledge in the purchases which the foreign 

 team men are making of the line of "Old Reliables." 



But with such magnificent opponents, men of such varied 

 experience, of thoroughly ripe judgment on matters of rifle 

 shooting minutie, and by record of work, by preliminary care 

 and by present form should be ranked with the first, how 

 comes it that they suffer so emphatic a defeat as that of the 

 13th and 14th, when they were left ninety-two points in the 

 rear. There is, of course, some allowance to be made for the 

 Americans in that they were fighting on familiar ground; but 

 too much must not be placed upon that, as the conditions 

 must have been most favorable to the British team to enable 

 them to foot up a score surpassing all previous match records 

 on any range. One percentage of preponderance represents, 

 rather than anything else, our advantage in weapons, in posi- 

 tion, and also in that organization, discipline and harmony 

 without which no team, no matter what the task set it, can be 

 successful in its endeavors. Not even the smooth-working, 

 mutually helpful, and compactly organized band of six rifle- 

 men who so well and manfully upheld the interests and glo- 

 ries of American marksmanship on the Dollymount sand-bar 

 two years ago, showed better working form than did the team 

 of eight men, under Gen. Dakin, during the battle just passed. 

 There were losses through individual omissions or commis- 

 sions. Bruce fixed his wind-gauge on the wrong side, and got 

 the only outer of the match for his party. Four misses are 

 recorded "droppers," every one of them, and in this connec- 

 tion the rifle companies are to be congratulated upon the 

 elimination of those " unaccountables " which up to this time 

 have been the thorns in the side of the American riflemen. 

 They are gone, and our experts need no longer fear that their 

 best efforts will be checked or set at naught by the weakness 

 of their chosen weapons. 



The story of the match, the tale of the conflict is recited at 

 length in our news columns. It is well worth a careful read 

 ing, and through the figures the careful reader should see the" 

 motives, incitements and obstacles which filled the path of the 

 experts at the firiDg points. The days were exceptionally 

 favorable ones for high scores, but it required in addition men 

 of exceptional judgment and ability to secure the phenomenal 

 totals found in the figure record. There were some misgiv- 

 ings expressed in certain quarters before the match as to 

 whether our representatives could be depended upon to uphold 

 the credit of American marksmanship against the world and 

 particularly against the formidable challengers we have had 

 the honor of defeating. It is especially gratifying to note 

 that these doubts have proved groundless ; that the principle 

 of "natural selection" has given us a triumph hitherto un- 

 paralleled in the annals of rifle shooting. For the first time, 

 we believe, a programme of team selection has been carried 

 through from announcement to its consummation in victory 

 without tinkering or altering, not that we are yet willing to 

 admit that a proper direction ary power should not be reserved 

 in conservative, trustworthy hands. To Bruce and Blyden- 

 burgh sufficient honor cannot be awarded. Their success 

 shows that there is no monopoly of honor at rifle shooting, as 

 there is no royal road to proficiency. Any young man willing 

 to keep himself in that perfect form of nerve, skill and pluck 

 may gain similar triumphs in this healthful and fascinating 

 sport. 



Some see in these repeated— we can hardly call them mo- 

 notonous — victories of the Americans a repressive influence 

 which will leave us soon without ere a competitor ; but this 

 view of the case is not borne out by any direct or implied ad- 

 mission of the foreign riflemen. The Scots will come again. 

 Australia has bespoken a future engagement, and certain it is 

 that our British visitors, with their famous record of perse- 

 verance and pluck, will be moved by this first repulse to try 

 again. Gen. Dakin, in his speech at the end of the match, 

 .gave them a neat little thrust in hoping that they would bring 

 a team able to beat the record of the Americans, that the home 

 squad might be forced to win its way into the slight mragin 

 left below perfection. 



There are many phases of the past match which deserve 

 comment and special chronicle, and from the study of which 

 valuable lessons may be drawn. The methods of gaining vie 

 tory pursued by our team are known and open. We place no 

 selfish, restrictive patent upon these things ; our hope is 

 rather that our fraternal competitors may avail themselves of 

 any advantage known to us, until the contest between us shall 

 be narrowed down to one of sheer personal skill, and in the 

 opening vista of the future let us hope to see many more of 

 these peaceful invasions and good-natured conflicts, and that, 

 no matter whence it may come, the best team may always win, 

 and its defeated competitor be the first to acclaim its honor- 

 able victory. 



STRAY NOTES FROM THE EDITOR 



Bayfield, Wis., Sept. 6, 1877. 



I AM just off for Duluth by the Atlantic. I am kept mov- 

 ing so fast that I can scarcely snatch time to drop even a 

 flying note. I have had a most enjoyable trip here and at 

 Ashland, closing the trouting season in proper form by taking 

 from the fantastic roads that border Lake Superior some beau- 

 tiful trout with fly, a performance that Eugene Prince declares 

 has never been witnessed before at this season of the year. 

 Friend Pratt's Chequamegon House is constantly filled with 

 guests, and so is the Island House at. Bayfield. Sam Fifield, 

 X. M. C, is the tutelar saint of this region, and when you get 

 into Northern Michigan you are in his dominion. From 

 Steven's Point, north, the Wisconsin Central Railroad runs 



through the tangle-est wilderness I ever saw, and if any one? 

 wantB bear or deer in quantity he can drop off at any station, 

 beyond Phillips. At Butternut Creek, Messrs. Cook and 

 Campbell of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad had a 

 private car, and were catching 30-pound maskelonge by the. 

 dozen : they had ladies with them, and were comfortable. 

 When once you emerge from the wilderness into the delecta- 

 ble land on the shores of Lake Superior, you realize the entire 

 fulfillment of your dreams. It is a beautiful and pious coun- 

 try, and there are twenty-two Apostles scattered all around. 

 As you arrive, through the glancing waters in Capt. Patrick's 

 little steam yacht, island succeeds island so rapidly that the 

 doctrine of the Apostolic succession becomes a fixed and infal- 

 lible fact, whatever may be said of the Duluth, which lies 

 just beyond, and the aphorisms of Proctor Knott. By the 

 way, Col. Hull, the proprietor of the Clark House at Duluth, 

 has a pet owl named Tommy, which knows more about the 

 price of lots all around Duluth than any other man, except 

 the Colonel ; only he keeps his own counsel, like a wise man, 

 and doesn't tell all he knows. 

 I've just time to post this and "skin out." 



St. Paul's, Minn., Sep. 12. 

 By courtesy of Northern Pacific, the St. Paul & Duluth and 

 the Sioux City Railroads, I have been enabled to visit many of 

 the chicken grounds in the State of Minnesota. The best 

 shooting is beyond Brainerd on N. P., and all along the west- 

 em line of the Sioux CityR. R, where the birds are very 

 abundant. Last week, Capts. Chas. A. Messiter and Fitz 

 Mathew, late of the British Army, and well known to sports- 

 men on both sides of the Atlantic, bagged 400 birds in a few 

 days' shooting. They went west on Sep. 10th via Northern 

 Pacific R, R. ,to Fays & Bismarck, where there is good shooting 

 all along the line. At Brainerd they joined the shooting party 

 of Mr. Jerome Marble, of Worcester, who were fitted out. with 

 the business car of the company, and a special car for bag- 

 gage and dogs. The Englishmen will return about Nov. Is?. 

 The readers of Forest and Stkeam may expect to hear from 

 them betimes. These Minnesota Railroads appreciate the pa- 

 tronage of sportsmen, who are generally the pioneers of emi- 

 gration and settlement, and cater for them to the best of their 

 ability. They take good care of men and dogs, and charge 

 reasonably for reasonable service. It is well worth the while 

 of Eastern sportsmen to go West and spend the months of 

 September and October. They will get enlarged ideas of 

 sport, and find something still to learn. The pin-tails are in 

 prime order now, and those who can spare the time had bet- 

 ter set their feet on the prairie now. The distances seem 

 nothing when you get used to them. Some time I shall have 

 something to say of my chicken shoot with Tom Cantwell and 

 Joe Hicks, of Brainerd, over the true blues, Tank and Sulli- 

 van, and the orange and white setter, Tasso. We set out at a 

 spanking gait behind Col. Weed's splendid cross-match (black 

 and white) team, streaked it over a hundred miles of prairie 

 and returned at 2:40 speed through a rain storm that filled up 

 the creeks and sloughs and set things afloat generally. Joe 

 Hicks says, "If that wasn't the wettest rain I ever saw, then 

 my name is Wa-wa- walker." Hallock. 



Madelia, Minn., September 14. 

 Have just got in from the toughest day's shooting imagin- 

 able, with thirty-four chickens shot near here on the line of 

 the Sioux City R. R. ; thermometer 92° in the shade and a 

 red hot gale blowing; all over the prairie birds are driving 

 down wind and across field at 2:40 gait, all shot outside of 

 twenty-five yards. Dogs suffering badly. Shot in company 

 with "Doc" Warner, Superintendent American Express Co. 

 here, and John Swainson, Esq., joint author with Richardson 

 of the Fauna Borealis, a hale Swede of sixty years, whose 

 legs never tire and whose ardor does not flag in hot or cold 

 weather. Warner sent his dog-cart ahead on a platform car 

 —and a most remarkable vehicle it is— carried men and dogs 

 all under canvas ; the dog house astern and separate from the 

 rest of the wagon; refrigerator and camp kit amidships ■ water 

 butt in front and storage room all over for miscellaneous traps • 

 a large basket for the game. I have an idea that one of us 

 will write up this trip. 



Blakely, Sept. 14. 



Dropped off here this morning, en route for St. Paul 

 and tried our hand on the ruffed grouse on the Minnesota 

 River bottom and the ridges back of it. Bagged eight, and 

 walked back to depot in the heaviest rain that has fallen here 

 since June 28. This Sioux City railroad route runs through a 

 famous bird country, which has only been hunted in places. 

 I have seen the prairie fowl sitting on the barn yard fences 

 quite tame. Many of the sloughs are already filled with mal- 

 lard ducks, and teal are beginning to arrive, in quantity. The 

 cool weather which shall follow this rain will bring them in. 

 I shall reserve my duck shooting for my canoe trip down the 

 Mississippi next Monday, when we expect also to get some 

 woodcock, snipe, bass and maskelonge. It is delightful to the 

 sportsman to travel over this road ; he and his dogs are well 

 taken care of. It is gratifying to me to be able to find out 

 these choice hunting grounds in person. More anon. I am 

 keeping the cream of my notes for future use. Hallock. 

 _. — -©.. — . 



—We are forced to devote the major portion of our columns 

 to the great international contest. It being the event i 

 year, no apology seems necessary. Those who have no taste 

 for rifle matches will certainly excuse, as the probabilities are 

 that the like will not occur agaiu for some years, ami 

 own particular vanity often has to be catered Jto, 



