FOREST AND STREAM: 



273 



way of encouragement to ardent anglers, that the latter is a 

 dam site nearer dilapidation than the former. 



As we have intimated, the town is the growth of about five 

 years. The railroad, with its steamboat connections on the 

 lakes, has built it up. The stores and dwellings are chiefly of 

 two or three stories, neatly painted white. Plank sidewalks 

 are constructed all over the town. There are two excellent 

 hotels of three stories in height, with inviting piazzas for mid- 

 summer shade, having creditable stables attached. One is 

 called the ' "Occidental," and is kept by Mr. Bradley j the other, 

 the " Cushnian House," by the Cushman brothers. The table 

 at each is good, but I think that friend Bradley is apt to insti- 

 tute a good dinner at the expense of the'bther two meals. An 

 average adjustment woidd suit better. There are, besides, 

 several very desirable boarding-houses; also a bank, a news- 

 room, a cottage bowling-alley near - the cliff, several well-kept 

 billiard rooms aud restaurants, good barber-shops and various 

 other institutions for useful service oramusement. The railroad 

 depot and shops, with the coming and going of daily steam- 

 boats, stages and trains, with an occasional coastwise vessel 

 at the pier, give a business bustle to the place that is quite ex- 

 hilarating. Upon the whole the tout ensemble is metropolitan. 

 Shade trees have bceu profusely set outjwhere needed, and the 

 nucleus of a Methodist camp ground has been formed, the 

 railroad company having donated several hundred acres of 

 land near by, on which a few cottages have already been built. 

 What is already clone has been well done, and the impressioa 

 one receives is the probability of substantial permanence if not 

 extended growth. Central town lots are held at $1,000 each 

 and upward. One contemplated public improvement is the 

 erection of a lamp post and lantern near the town pump, which 

 is located exactly in the centre of the sidewalk on one of the 

 most traveled streets. Strangers make no effort to go around 

 this obstruction in dark nights. The population of Pctoskey is 

 about 5,000. 



It will be seen that Petoskey offers considerable attractions 

 to summer visitors who may desire to make it headquarters 

 for side excursions, and the erection of a large watering-place 

 hotel on the brow of the cliff is talked of. For local out-of-door 

 amusements there are boating, sailing, bathing and fishing in 

 the bay ;' walks and investigations along the beach ; picnics in 

 the groves ; drives to Bear Lake, Round Lake and Crooked 

 Lake— all of which contain bass and pickerel ; and hourly ex- 

 cursions by steamer across the bay to Little Traverse village, 

 an Indian reservation, where the red man luxuriates after his 

 own red fashion. 



The city of Petoskey honors the name of one of the higher- 

 toned of these aboriginals who still lives and occupies a large 

 two-story frame house near the mouth of Bear Biyer on the 

 outskirts of the town. Some of Petoskey's daughters have 

 married white folks, one of whom keeps an Indiau nicknack 

 and variety store of the pretentious height of three stories. 

 The few Indians of Petoskey town are qui'e civilized.; males 

 and females both dress as neatly as most residents of the place, 

 and m the same fashion. Old Petoskey is the most well-to-do 

 hair-lifter that I ever came across in my extended wanderings. 

 I am not sure but that he has other daughters yet in market. 



The trip across the bay to Little Traverse Village is novel 

 and most enjoyable. To a stranger, who watches the gulls 

 dipping into its iniiTor-like surface in July and August, it 

 seems incredible that a sheet of water so land-locked can ever 

 be lashed into the tempestuous sea it sometimes is ; yet it af- 

 fords absolutely no shelter to vessels. They can lie at the 

 pier only in calm weather ; and even in nrd-summer a casual 

 storm or squall does much mischief to shipping. The so- 

 called harbor is open and directly exposed to the most gale- 

 bearing winds that blow ; but vessels can generally take 

 timely warning and run over to Little Traverse harbor, which 

 is the ecmpletest shelter 1 ever saw. It is protected by lofty 

 hdls to the north and east. On the west a spit makes out 

 from the mainland in a semi-circular curve, and incloses the 

 little sheet of water lovingly and securely in its embrace 

 The entrance is on the south, and no one approaching it from 

 any other point of the compass would ever surmise that a 

 harbor was there. It is, however, deep enough and large 

 enough to shelter an armada. 



The houses of Little Traverse are chiefly the unpainted, 

 one-story log or board cabins of the Indians of the reservation. 

 The curiosities of the place are a dirty little mission church, 

 with an altar of tawdry tinsel, and the inevitable old woman, 

 whose age is anywhere from GO to 130 years. As a local curi- 

 osity, to while away the half hour allowed ashore, she may be 

 worth a niiuute's attention ; but the sensible visitor would 

 prefer to watch the boiling springs on the pebbly beach than 

 to listen to the bubblings of her garrulity. These springs are 

 three in number, all very cold ; the largest discharges a vol- 

 ume of water sufficient for a mill power. How these half- 

 civilized red-skins earn a living is mysterious. A protracted 

 induction into the arts of husbandry has not yet made them 

 titlers of the soil. Their houses are kept in fair order, how- 

 ever, and there is less filth apparent around them than in 

 many suburban purlieus. 



After a hasty climb to the bluff behind the town and a stroll 

 along the beach, we return to Petoskey, and having decided to 

 visit the island of Mackinaw, book for a passage on the little, 

 rough- weather steamer, Van Raalte. She is a quaint but 

 staunch eraft, having a co.sey enough cabin and seven or eight 

 state-rooms. Her certificate shows lhat her captain, Allan 

 Dodge, is qualified by a twenty-years' experience as captain, 

 pilot and engineer on fow of the great lakes. This is suffi- 

 cient assurance of capability, and we therefore confidingly 

 commit ourselves to bis. care, and grope our way out of the. 



bay under the dim starlight of a somewhat boisterous August 

 night. At three o'clock in the morning, after a sail of five 

 hours, we are summarily bounced out of bed, and, having 

 dressed with some celerity, are hustled out upon a wharf, 

 which we are toid is at our destination. Two comfortable 

 hacks convey a party of us to " Old Mission" Hotel, and we 

 again betake ourselves to another interval of sleep without 

 having more than a conception of the place where we are. 

 Meanwhile the steamboat continues on to complete her trip to 

 Cheboygan, leaving us a "lay-over" of two days, at the cud 

 of which time she will be around again and takes us up. 



I am assured that no one who has ever visited the Island of 

 Mackinaw will ever regret it. I found its natural local attrac- 

 tions more romantic and pleasurable than those of most places 

 I have visited. It is about nine miles in circumference, and 

 there are fine carriage drives across it with lateral roads to 

 points of interest on its sea-girt boundary. I wandered on foot 

 wherever I listed. I visited the site of the ancient fort which 

 the British drove the Americans out of and occupied in 1812. 

 It was -a terrific struggle for possession and defense, during 

 which a battery of a single gun was brought into play on each 

 side, with havoc that the historian has never dared transmit 

 to an anxious posterity. Some ruins of the old stockade and 

 earth works remain. Just here is a farm and buildings Which 

 occupy the centre of the island. It is the only farm on it. All 

 the rest of the island, not including the town site, lias been 

 set aside as a national park. Its natural points of interest have 

 been designated as follows : British Landing, Friendship's 

 Altar, Scott's Cape, Sugar Loaf, Arch Rock, Fort Holmes, 

 Maiden's Rock, Fairy Arch of the Giant's Stairway, Leaning 

 Rock, Point Lookout, Robinson's Folly, Devil's Kitchen, 

 Lover's Leap,, Skull Cave and Chimney Rock. As may be 

 inferred from trie names these objects are precipitous cliffs, 

 caves, arched rocks or conical peaks. The most impressive 

 are : Point Lookout, a sheer precipice southeast side of the 

 island, from which a far-reaching view can be obtained. It is an 

 angle of the cliffs, and its summit is about 200 feet above the 

 level of the lake. The Arch Rock is an abutment and arch 

 thrown out from the main body, or rather cut off from the 

 main cliff, at nearly a right angle with it. Its summit is 150 

 feet above the lake, the spring of the arch is 110 feet and the 

 span about ninety feet. The arch is three feet wide, and 

 visitors often cross, though the feat is trying to the nerves. 

 The Sugar Loaf is an isolated limestone rock, of a conical 

 shape, some eighty feet high, standing near tha centre of the 

 island. To climb to the apex is considered a feat of some 

 difficulty, but I have seen it done by two ladies. There is a 

 cave in its side about one-third of its height from the base, 

 large enough to accommodate half a dozen persons. In the Cave 

 of Skulls a party of Sioux once took refuge from their enemies, 

 the Ottawas, more than a hundred years asio ; but the Ottawas 

 kept fires burning at the entrance until a! 1 the inmates were 

 suffocated. 



Mdst correspondents entertain their readers with a history 

 of the early French occupation, and the subsequent trian- 

 gular struggle for possession by the English, French and In- 

 dians, with some synopsis of what the books contain respect- 

 ing the fur company's occupation, of which substantial evi- 

 dences still remain; but I prefer to speak of things present, 

 so that the reader may gather a better idea than I had before 

 my visit of what may be seen there now. Certainly, a sail 

 into the Strait of Mackinaw on a calm day is one of the most 

 romantic, not only by reason of its surroundings, but of its 

 historical associations to which we have referred. From the 

 offing one sees the town stretched along a semi-circular shore 

 under a bluff, very much as Little Traverse Village lies. Three 

 parallel streets occupy the level longitudinally, while the 

 ramparts of Fort Ma ckinaw crown the cliffs behind. The 

 fortifications are whitewashed, and.being embedded in foliage, 

 are most picturesque. Although several of the buildings are 

 old, like the. John Jacob Astor House and the Old Mission 

 they have been modernized, and the aspect of the picture is 

 anything but antique. Several pretty summer residences, 

 with gardens and fountains, adorn the street that follows 

 the line of the beach, and lend a home-like aspect. Nu- 

 merous two-masted Mackinaw boats and other craft at 

 anchor off shore, or alongside the little piers that reach out 

 from land, give animation to the pretty seme. Several islands 

 are within sight, and the extreme point of the peninsula of 

 Michigan lies opposite. Over there is located Mackinaw City 

 (on paper), and the prospective terminus of the Grand-Rapids 

 and Indiana Railroad, when it shall be extended. The prin- 

 cipal hotels are the "Old Mission, which I prefer ; the Island 

 House, a sort of hotel-boarding-house with a pretty lawn and 

 flower garden ; the John Jacob Astor Hous e, in the centre of 

 the village, with its entrance flush with the narrow street; 

 and the Lake View House, at the western extremity of the 

 town. All are comfortable and well kept, at from $3 to 

 $3 per day. Altogether the island is one of the most unique 

 and delightful places in the world. Twenty-five years ago, 

 Charles Lanman, the author-tourist, who now enjoys a hale 

 old age, described Mackinaw as he saw it, approaching it from 

 the North. 



" First was a perpendicular bluff crowned with a diadem of 

 foliage, at the foot of which was an extensive beach occupied 

 by an Indian encampment, where- the rude barbarians were 

 sunning themselves like turtles, playing fantastic games, re- 

 pairing their canoes, making mats, or cooking their evenmg 

 meal as fancy or necessity impelled. Oue sudden turn and 

 our vessel was gliding gently into a crescent bay which was 

 skirted with a cluster of trading bouses and ancient looking 

 dwellings, above which, on a bluff, was a snow white fortress, 

 with soldiers marching to and fro upon the battlements. * * 

 From time immemorial the Indiana have been annually sum- 



moned to this island for the purpose of receiving their regular 

 installments from the government in the shape of merchandise 

 and money, and on these occasions it is not uncommon to Bee 

 an assembly of three thousand fantastically dressed savages, 

 * * * Like so many of the beautiful places o n our West 

 era frontier, Mackinaw is now in a transition state. Hereto 

 fore it has been the Indian's congregating place, but its abo- 

 riginal glory is rapidly departing, and it will soon be the fash- 

 iomtble resort of summer travelers." 



These predictions have been verified. The peculiar location , 

 picturesque cliff scenery of Mackinaw, and the tonic charac- 

 ter of its climate, render it one of the most attractive watering- 

 places in the country. It can bo reached by steamer from 

 Chicago and Detroit, and there is also a line running to Sault 

 Ste Marie, which connects there with Canadian steamers and 

 points on both the north and south shores of Lake Superior. 

 Of course the place is entirely ice-bound in winter, and all the 

 hotels and cottages are deserted. The monotony is only bro- 

 ken by the arrival of a monthly mail, or the sound of reveille 

 on the ramparts of the fort. 



As I contemplated the beautiful island in the haze and mirage 

 of an August morning, as our little steam yacht spluttered 

 away from it toward Bois Blanc and Cheboygan, it was an 

 enchanted creation of dreamland, whose white cliffs were 

 ethereal structures, reflecting the light of a glory whose 

 source was brighter than the sun. Little by little it disappear- 

 ed in the distanceuntil it became aline of light on the horizon. 

 Bois Blanc Isl and was abreast of us in the near foreground, 

 and the rattle of lumber on the deck of a schooner becalmed 

 dispelled the illusion and reverie alike. Then a long line of 

 painted casks marking a channel filed past us, and presently 

 a steam tug puffed by noisily, going lakeward ; then turning 

 toward the land, we saw tall smoke-stacks of saw- mills reek- 

 ing forth black volumes of smoke, and the clustering houses 

 of a large town. Right before us were wharves with shipping 

 and steam-tugs, aud a wide strip of d irk-eolored water led 

 directly thereto, marking the channel where the Cheboygan 

 River empties its waters into the clearer and transparent 

 waters of the lake. This was our staiting-point for the first 

 chain of interior lakes which we proposed to visit. How -we 

 proceeded and what we accomplished I will relate in my next- 

 letter. Hallook. 



American Institute Exhibition.— The fine halls of the 

 American Institute Exhibition are crowded day and night, and 

 the opinion is that a better or more complete show of tie indus- 

 try of the country never before was brought together in the rne- 

 troplis. In rods, tackle, hooks, reels, flies and the whole para- 

 phernalia of the fisherman's outfit, the display made by Messrs. 

 Conroy, Bissett & Malleson, is wonderfully complete. In sev- 

 eral handsome cases may be seen rods of the most exquisite make 

 and finish, either those so light and supple yet so strong, suited to 

 trout fishing, or those of more massive build, adapted to tie 

 heavy bass which make the spray fly off Newpor' . An hour 

 can be spent profitably in examining the endless variety of 

 lines, hooks, flies and reels. The excellent reputation of 

 Messrs. Conroy, Bissett & Malleson is fully sustained by the 

 display made by them. It is a wonder that there are not 

 other exhibitors. The Bohemian Glass Works, who have 

 their wares smashed to pieces all over the country every day, 

 who manufacture the glass balls now used in trap-shooting, 

 make also a fine show. The rough glass balls which serve for 

 the same purpose, to which Capt. Bogardus has given his 

 name, are also on exhibition, made by Messrs. Hagerty Bros. 

 & Co. From the quantity of these glass balls which are being 

 shivered, their use extending every day, we might almost 

 fancy that the price of glass for window panes and tumblers 

 would be on the rise. That beautiful invention the sand blast, 

 which allows of the ornamentation of glass, at very cheap 

 rates, has some very fine exhibits" at the fair. Though a 

 mechanical process in some respects, nothing can exceed the 

 elegance and grace of the designs, and the admirable character 

 of the work. The various specimens exhibited by Messrs. 

 Hayes & Phillips, of 153 and 155 Centre street, attract par- 

 ticular attention. 



Ma joe Leech. — We call attention to a very kind letter 

 addressed to us by our very much esteemed friend Major 

 Arthur B. Leech. The gallant Captain of the Irish team has 

 a scheme, which we now present to the notice of American 

 riflemen. This suggestion of Major Leech's is not entirely 

 novel ; it is not to be regarded as achallenge. With the most 

 pleasant remembrances of Major Leech, in which we are sin e 

 all the readers of the Forest and Stream a>d Bod and Gfn 

 unite, we trust to hear frequently from this gentleman, who 

 has done so much to advance rifle shooting in the United States. 



— Oscar Jasigi, Esq., who has served for considerable time 

 as the Turkish consul at Boston, has just been promoted by 

 the Government of the Sublime Parte to be Consul-General. 

 His brother sportsmen will tender their congi at ulations. His 

 Excellency will spend several weeks next winter at Charlotte 

 Harbor, on the Gulf coast of Florida. We may mention, as 

 an evidence of this gentleman's enthusiasm, that he has twice 

 crossed Newfoundland in the interest of sport. 



Aet Lectures.— Rev. J. Leonard Corning, who has devoted 

 several years in Europe to the study of the History of Art, 

 has been invited by a number of our most eminent citizens t<* 

 give a course of lectures oh the subject. The eight lectures 

 are to be given in the hall of the Y. M. C. A. , beginning 

 November 1% n 



