224 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



dozen upright, poles set in the ground, connected at their tops 

 by saplings, which answer the purpose of rafters, constitute 

 the frame of the (possibly intended) mill-house, and a patch 

 of clapboards, about 6 by 9 feet over the hopper, complete the 

 building(?). The undershot wheel and nether stone are at- 

 tached to the sWn-.e shaft, and the apparatus was industriously 

 clattering away in its attacks upon one grain of corn after an- 

 other as we passed. Half a dozen or more parties were sitting 

 around awaiting their turns, and others passed and met, lug- 

 ging in their sacks upon their shoulders. Soon after crossing 

 Horse Lick we came to the main river, and were encouraged 

 by evidences that it had not been materially affected by the 

 rain; but a few hundred yards on, Hig cried: "I told you 

 so," pointing to muddy water. The encouragement afforded 

 us by sight of the cold water was momentarily banished, but 

 Mack's observing eye soon took in the surroundings, and he 

 correctly attributed it to drainage from a cornfield above. 



By this time the clouds had dispersed and old Sol beamed 

 upon us with a fervency which threatened to inflame, till our 

 umbrellas were unlimbered and whirled into position. Two 

 miles above Horse Lick we reached the confluence of Middle 

 and South Porks, where appearance supported Hig's prophecy 

 that the muddy water would greet us, for Middle Fork was 

 concealed from view by an intervening chapparal, while along 

 stretch of the South was visible thick with mud. No corn- 

 field offered an explanation of that, and a repitition of that "I 

 told you so" silenced the crowd, till round the next turn in the 

 road was disclosed to our delighted vision a limpid liitle river 

 whose charming features elicited from one of the party the 

 iinaaimously approved exclamation, " The loveliest stream 

 that I ever saw and the water just right." 



Our spirits rapidly crept up to that graduation of the scale 

 which is denominated enthusiasm, and the first experiment 

 upon Ben with our supply of the spirit snstaining article was 

 made. He declined, but Hig and I joined in a " here's to the 

 Middle Fork." The team Was severely blown, and we had no 

 alternative but to drag slowly, wearily and perspiringly along 

 cheered by Mack's monotonous hum of something abouj, 

 "Ben's level, shady road," which needed but a cornstalk fid- 

 dle accompaniment to bring his music up toji standard which 

 would warrant its comparison in point of melody with the 

 grasshopper. Just before " high twelve " we hove in sight of 

 the judge's farm, the most extensive in all that region. For 

 nearly a mile nature has provided him a line of fence which 

 fills every requirement of the Granger standard, it being a 

 perpendicular bluff of rock, forty to sixty feet high, which is 

 undoubtedly pig tight, horse high, and bull strong. How- 

 ever, the owner has met those requirements about the other 

 three sides of his inclosures with worm fences of square white 

 oak rails, and the evidence of neat, thrifty farming proclaimed 

 the judge a good liver. 



At last from the crest of a small knoll Ben pointed out our 

 destination, and the hay-harvesters were seen leisurely ap 

 proaching the spacious farm house for their mid-day meal. We 

 were recognized as the expected party of fishermen as soon as 

 seen, and met at the stile with a cheerful greeting and cordi.J 

 "Alight and make yourselves at home." There was little 

 agility displayed in alighting, for our five and a half hours 

 shake-up had about converted us into gelatinous masses of mus- 

 cular rheumatism, but we made it on to the front porch, an i 

 left our Ben to unload the wagon, while we attended to the 

 formality of introductions, and stretched our legs. 



Discussion of fishing was the next thing after a refreshing, 

 and the farm hands were divided in opinion as to our pros- 

 pects of killing many fish, but all agreed that we need have no 

 uneasiness about easily procuring an ample supply of minnows 

 or about the waters becoming too muddy, for they had 

 never seen it so. In fact, till two years ago the highest rises 

 were perfectly clear and a catfish had never been caught. We 

 were happy. A description of an extraordinarily large cop- 

 perhead, which Hig. espied coiled upon a bed of leaves within 

 three feet of our wagon track, and translated to the happy 

 crawling grounds of all good snakes, with a missile from a 

 Smith & Wesson 33, would have suggested the antidote to a 

 snake bite, had a. reminder been necessary, but that toddy be- 

 fore dinner was Assured. It was passed first to Ben. He in- 

 formed the compounder that he rarely drinks anything just 

 before eating, unless very tired, and as he had ridden the last 

 two hours, believed he didn't want any. t: i'ou fellers harr-t 

 got much nohow," was his concluding apology for not join- 

 ing us. 



When mention was made that we should heed some one to 

 catch minnows for ua, one of the harvesters volunteered the 

 information that he hadn't cut any hay before thai morning 

 for two years, and was about used up, which declaration was 

 promptly classify d with Hen's, about the piut which he in- 

 tended to get, Hud that weary scythe-sliuger with approval ol 

 his employer, had soon bolted a busty dinner, shouluereel the 

 seine, and started briskly for a neighbor a mile away, to han- 

 dle the staves. After a hasty dinner, we leisurely rigged our 

 rods while enjo^ ing a post-prandial cigar under the old shade 

 trees in front ihe house, and discussed the programme, We 

 left home prepared to purchase a canoe, and fish back to the 

 depot ; but were forced to abandon the cruise, from the fact 

 that all the vessels which navigated those waters had been 

 wrenched from their papaw and hickory -bark mooring, and 

 carried off by iceberg?, on arise last spring; consequently, 

 Ben was engaged to have his wagon at the Judge's at a cer- 

 tain hour, as we knew that nothing ornamented with springs 

 lighter than a peddler's wagon covdd stand the racket of the 

 road we had traveled. 



Through necessity we agreed to make the Judge's headquar- 

 ters, and ft ntcnt ourselves to put in the time bank-fishing 

 principally. 



Our host accompanied us to the river, about three hundred 

 ^ards from the house, and we seated ourselves in the shade 



—beside a little spring, whose waters needed no ice to make 

 the teeth ache— to await the coming of the bait-catchers. They 

 soon arrived with an ample supply of choice minnows, and 

 we cheerfully followed our guide half a mile up stream to a 

 celebrated hole. We passed many where the temptation to 

 make a cast was almost irresistible, but plodded on till the 

 favorite was reached ; and soon half a dozen reel poles were 

 set out at different points, and the entire party seated in a 

 shade awaiting the announcement of a bite by the clicks of 

 our "Mesks." 



It whs scarcely, three p. m., and we were on the rise. The 

 heat was almost intolerable at the margin of the water, and 

 the first half hour without a'nibble was most agreeably passed 

 under a beach tree, in enjoyment of the Judge's narrative of 

 numerous sporting incidents connected with his thirty-nine 

 years residence upon that aqua iwoi/nita to fishermen who 

 use a reel. We discovered that nearly every pool, ford and 

 shoal of the river has received a name from some individual 

 or incident connected with its local history, and that they are 

 not only as readily recognized by residents by names, as are 

 the streets of a city bylts its police, but as familiarily men- 

 tioned by name as are their neighbors. 



The one at which we were located is the Parish Hole, named 

 for an old pioneer angler, who long years ago sprang from his 

 favorite seat upon a huge rock, a distance of ten feet, into the 

 water and captured with his hands a twenty -five pound sal- 

 mon which broke his line after he had succeeded in leading 

 him almost ashore. The music of a click brought us all sutT- 

 denly to a perpendicular and Mack rushed to his rod to find 

 thfit the game had let go, and his minnow was dead. 



That symptom was amazingly inspiring, and Hig nimbly- 

 waded to the opposite bank, whilst I pulled up and moved to 

 a point below, where 1 knew there must be sport in store, leav- 

 ing Mack and the Judge in statu quo. 



Isaac Jackson Tussey, a nine years old, black-eyed, hatless 

 native lad, whose features resembled a fox's, and whose suit 

 of coarse black hair, closely shorn and admirable stair stepped, 

 cut by mother, is certainly the thickest growth I ever saw 

 upon a human head, accompanied me, carrying my minnow 

 bucket in one hand and his short papaw pole and homespun 

 line in the other. 



As we proceeded, Isaac's tongue began its first wagging 

 after our meeting, and his first remarks were to the effect 

 that he was the best fisherman for a boy in all that country. He 

 declared that he had never missed a fish in his life, and had 

 always wanted "one of them there things," referring to my 

 reels, and knowed that he could ketch plenf y of big fish if he 

 had one. If Isaac meant that he would gratefully accept one as 

 a present the hint wasn't appreciated. We inclined to suspect 

 the juvenile, as not one of the natives approached us directly 

 with a request, but in justice to them be it said a natural and 

 easy politeness was characteristic of every one that we met. 

 When I had arranged my rods satisfactorily I conducted 

 Isaac Jackson to a safe distance, and encouraged him to go 

 for the sunfish and little goggle eyes. A lively tug at his 

 hook soon invited a jerk which sent it wnizzing into the 

 branches of a tree in his rear, and Isaac had, for the first time 

 in his life, jerked without catching a fish. He appreciated 

 the situation, and without an effort to loosen the hook, auto- 

 matically turned and looked me squarely in the face with 

 what I imagine the dazed expression of that y T outkful celebra- 

 ty whom the calf kicked — presumably the same boy who let 

 the bird go. I have not indulged very extensively in tensing 

 children since I almost severed the left thumb with a keen- 

 pointed barlow in imitation of a feint I had seen made of 

 plunging a knife into a boy, and I aided Isaac in disentang- 

 ling his line without an intimation that I remembered his in- 

 troductory observations. 



Isaac was himself, after half a dozen more ineffectual efforts 

 to hook the bait stealer, and naturally referred his disgrace to 

 the hook, in which I agreed, and proposed that he hurry to 

 the spring and bring me a bucket of fresh water whilst I put 

 on a good hook. The water was aLmy side by the time I had 

 strung my first fish, a half pound goggle-eye, and looped a 

 choice Kirby to his line. 



A handsome sunnsh rewarded Isaac's industry at next jerk, 

 and "I kaowed that I couldn't ketch nuthin' with that 

 durned old fly-hook" was uttered with the exultation of Hig.'s 

 first ''I told you so." About an hour after we had taken po- 

 sition the Judge joined his namesake and myself, and informed 

 us that Mack had a pair of fifteen-inch black bassonhis string 

 when ho left him. 



He confidently informed me that the vigor with which the 

 first pulled out the line and made the click buzz, excited the 

 old angler of 40 years' experience into a tremor, which culmi- 

 nated in a case of regular old fashioned buck ague when the 

 game was hooked and began fighting valiantly for liberty j 

 and that the second was transferred to the string at the ex- 

 pense of a recurrence of the ague in a modified form. As we 

 were half a day's journey from an ice-house, and had before 

 sunset captured as many as could be consumed at supper 

 iind breakfast, we " pulled up" and reached the house in time 

 to dress our fish and have a dish served at supper. The 

 hostess kindly inquired in what manner we preferred them 

 cooked, but that was left to her convenience and discretion, 

 aud within half an hour of the time the first fish was taken 

 ffOm the strings, killed and dressed, we were summoned to a 

 meal, who e appetizing features need no further elaboration 

 to a Kentucky fisherman than mem ion of the dishes- Fish 

 hot, literally ''browned to a turn;" warm, short, hot cakes; 

 hot, amber-colored coffee, whose aroma would be favorably 

 conspicuous in a collection of handkerchief extracts ; firm 

 yellow butter \ cold sweet milk, whose relationship to cream 

 was not traditional, and transparent mountain honey in the 

 comb. The ijM dint of some responsible acquaintance 

 who has been there, would scarce suffice to convince us 

 that the fabled feasts of fhe gods were more deliriously 

 tempting to a mortal than our first supper on Middle Fork. 

 Oblivious of forenoon hardships, jolts and fatigue, the hours 

 till ten o'clock glided by in enjoyment oi the weed and our 

 host'3 recital of numerous exploits of fores and stream. 



In the early years of his residence there be not infrequently 

 brought in a black bear as a trophy of the hunt, and deer 

 were as plentiful as squirrels are now. The bear, beaver and 

 panther are no longer found, but wildcats, foxes, raccoons 

 and turkeys are plentiful ; a deer can be started almost any 

 day within two or three miles, aud an otter is occasionally 

 captured upon the river bank. Till the passage of our State 

 fish law, and consequent removal of traps and nets, the na- 

 tives relied principally' upon them for their supplies of fish ; 

 but the law is scrupulously observed, and pole anil pug-fishing 

 are the only modes practiced. 



Wednesday morning we were up with the dawn, good as 

 new from a night's refreshing sleep on beels of down, between 

 immacula'e -sheets, and the rising sun found us acting upon 

 the early-bird theory, after paying our hostc ss the gratify- 

 ing comphment to her breakfast of leaving little or nothing 



for the cook aud waiters. 'Twas eight o'clock befon 

 first alarm was sounded, and Hig. eleclan d that he was 

 vinced of the correctness or ihe Judge's advice to 

 morning sunshine touches the stream before pusjaii-g off , and 

 should certainly not outrage Somnus by springing from that 

 feathery paradise next morning at the first cock-crow. 



There were but two dug-outs within ocr reach >s boll 

 which were kindly placed at our disposal, but they were too 

 clumsy to be hauled over all the shoals, and we hadn't a pair 

 of wading boots in the party, consequently were compelled to 

 get them, into the most convenient position. The larger is as 

 steady as a scow, but had not been completed, and its bi >ttom 

 of five indies in thickness rendered it laborious to pad 

 on still water even, and impossible to float it out of the inila 

 stretch of deep water upon which it had been launched. 

 The smaller had been dug out of a comparatively small pop- 

 lar tree, and the only labor in shaping the Outside was the 

 removal of the bark and rounding the ends; consequently the 

 loss of a jaw-tooth from one side renders a landlubber's main- 

 tenance of his equilibrium, when afloat in that vessel, next to 

 an impossibility. Mack and I had it brought up and ventured 

 to cross in it, where we could see bottom plainly, but Hig de- 

 clined the experiment. When tired of bank fishing we re- 

 paired to the big canoe and water, and began a cruise of ex- 

 ploration which disclosed indications that we thought could 

 d'SCOtfnt the pools from which we had taken many fine, gamy 

 fish. 



A large rock emerging from the water near a ban 

 which were half a dozen saplings, which had been used for 

 rods, encouraged us to "set out." While we walked up the 

 river to a resident's well of limestone water, at which we pro- 

 posed spreading lunch, we found that the reported distance. 

 had been computed by t^e coon skin standard, which is to 

 '• measure with the hide and throw in 'he tail," and Mack was 

 the individual to both propose the walk, aud before the i 

 was sighted, to urge that we turn back, but that was one of 

 chances to pay an instalment upon the debt he owed us for • 

 Hig's opposition to his various propositions, anil he determined- 

 ly pushed ahead, cryirg "Come on, come on !' and we w. arily i 

 came. Three instead of one-half miles were walked before we 

 found the house, but a quaff from the " old broken bucket, ' 

 which hung in the well," made our hearts glad, and the addi- 1 

 tion to our supplies of a pitcher of cold sweet milk, on which j 

 the cream remains, and a plate of brittle onions that had been ' 

 pulled from i he bed that morning, and placed in a vessel of ! 

 water, contributed largely to the inner man comforts. Keali- ] 

 zation that we were nearly two miles from about one hundred J 

 dollars worth of fishing tackle without a picket guard stimu- ' 

 lati d us to a tpeedy return. Everything was just as we left. I 

 except that one sndl had been hopelessly entangled by the min- 

 now, and was sacrificed to a speedy change of base. We moved • 

 quietly ovar a sunken drift, and hooked five salmon within; ' 

 fifteen minutes without succeeding in landing one. Hi-*-, ' 

 brought one of about three feet in length plainly to view- upon 

 the surface. In his efforts to prevent entanglement in the net- 

 work of logs we had discovered to exist a few feet beteatb .' 

 but his rig was too light for the struggle, and the fish gained ' 

 his haunts and his liberty. It was disheartening, but we 

 lingered, despite conviction that to land even a three-pounder : 

 into a landing net there was impossible. After half-an-hour's- ■' 

 waiting in vain for a renewal of the fun, Mack requested tdl 

 be put ashore, that he might find a place 'where chances were-, 

 equal, and Hig and I resolved upon adoption of the same, ex- 

 cept we put Mack out and stuck to the canoe. We counted 

 ourselves in luck, for scarcely had we located before Hig.., 

 captureda valiant pound and a half bass, and Hig.'s supposed ■ 

 whale of the stream had seized my minnow and elarted for the 

 middle of the river. I paid out the line till there was appre- 

 hension that the 150 feet would be insufficient, but was soon 

 relieved of the apprehension by discovering that he was mak- 

 ing back. The hue was cautiously pulled in till the float 



• '. up within twenty feet of the canoe, danced about 

 few moments, and again disappeared, when Hig. exclaimed "a 

 jack! a jack!" from "which I dissented, but was puzzled to 

 conj' c ure what was. Tightening on him a vigorous pi.l) im- 

 bedded the hook, and the fi.ht began. His dropped his rod, 

 seized the landing net, and moved to a convenient position to 

 give aid, in the meantime offering valuable advice as to the 

 management of what be clearly saw was a whopper. Just 

 here I must add that my companion has given me my first 

 lessons in angling for game fish, and his advice was recognized 

 as valuable, though deemed superfluous from freqent repetition.* 



My nine foot Japanese nine-sixteenths in diameter at butt, 

 seemed taxed beyond its capacity to keep him from the log 

 de which lay the canoe, and for which the fish was 

 struggling, but successfully without the strain, though the tip 

 was frequently brought almost ic contact With the butt. Hig. 

 still contended that it was a jack, but 1 argued from the com- 

 parative sluggishness of hi- runs that it Could not be. At List 

 he showed himself plainly, dropped off the hook, and 

 peared. What was it* An infernal chain, el cat of about three 

 inches length. 



Hig. fell back upon his seat and roared like a menagi rie on 

 a spree, till I was speechless from confusion, though 1 at first 

 contended that it was a large eye running with my minnow, 

 and declared that it was nol it I was hauling him. 



Still 1 couldn't see just where the laugh cane in. Within 

 twenty minutes I enjoyed a repetition of the ex i 



lite, and the luxury of taking the wind out of Mr Hig- 

 gin's sails by successfully leading a four pound bass into the 

 landing net after a prolonged fight, without the slightest ev- 

 idence that the fellow would ever give up. My compa 

 declare that in all their long experience iht-y never bat 

 such gamy fellows as those of the Middle Fork. 



Arret- carefully unhooking and returning to their native 

 element all the small fry, we daily took as many- choice a 

 lings a;:d black bass as "the large family could consume. 

 ing anything lighter than a half-pounder too small to go o.i, 



As all our sport was near the "big road," we arrested the 

 tention of every traveler, and enjoyed a confab with 

 passer-by. All expressed surprise, that we should have cb - 

 July to go fishing, and advised us to return after the 

 white frost if we wish to catch big jack and salmi 

 ing thoroughly imbued with that very wish, we made ai 

 ments then and there for a return in October Every i 

 seconded a vow to make the trip from Livingston to the ju 

 horseback or afoot, if the fates held in store for him t hi 

 icitt u- enjoyment of killing a few of those varieties oi 

 even the hngerlings afford sport. 



The day Ben was to return for us, Hig. and i left instruc- 

 tions that "he be sent tip the river with the wagon, as v, ■ 

 posed going nearly two miles from the house to put : 

 few remaining hours, whilst Mack took his favorite 

 small bucket of mi ■ wn till he m 



wagoner. Failing to get a bite at our salmon drift, wc 

 youth at the paddle, and crept quietly along the 



