FOREST AND STREAM.' 



333 



VACATION RAMBLES IN MICHIGAN, 

 WISCONSIN AND MINNESOTA.— No. 7. 



1/ 



By the Editob. 



November 29, 1877. 



Brethren : Because to-day is appointed Thanksgiving it 

 is no proof that Turkey is to he taken. Were I in Florida, in 

 the hammock back of Enterprise, about daylight in the morn- 

 ing, my gun might offer more positive testimony, and a full 

 report thereof follow in the columns of Forest and Strkxm. 

 Bur my story is now of Michigan, and I therefore continue it 

 from where I dropped it last week, 



Let me see: we had visited Pine Lake and its adjacent 

 waters, which ve reached by a channel communicating with 

 Lake Michigan at Charlevoix. In outlining the fluvial ge- 

 ography of the northern part of the State, I have been par. 

 ticular to show that it embraces an interior system of lakes 

 and rivers, large and small, divided into separate groups or 

 chains, each having its outlet into Lake Huron or Michigan. 

 From those large bodies of water the interior system is sepa- 

 rated by a narrow, circumscribing strip* of high land. It is 

 in reality a great basin in which, if full, the crests of the di- 

 viding ridges that separate the chains of lakes would appear 

 as islands. This basin we would enter by the inlets so often 

 referred to, one of which is at Cheboygan, another at Petos- 

 key, a third at Charlevoix, a fourth at Torch Lake, and a fifth 

 at Elk Rapids. The outside steamer makes the grand circuit 

 of the Michigan peninsula and touches at each of these points 

 connecting there with the smaller inland steamers. The first 

 three we have visited. We are now supposed to he on board 

 of the Van Raalte again, en route for the fourth at Torch 

 Lake. The voyage offers no features of especial interest to 

 the tourist, as most of it is made at a considerable distance 

 from the land. There is no boundary to the seaward side, 

 for the haze that rests on the natural horizon blends the water 

 and sky into one common blue, and the land that is only 

 ninety miles beyond is as invisible and inappreciable as the si- 

 dereal worlds which we are told exist in the infinite distances 

 of unmeasured space. We have only the circling gulls to 

 watch, and the listless sails of many three-masted schooners 

 and brigantines drooping in the glassy atmosphere of a dead 

 calm. The sky is hot . and coppery, and the motion of the 

 boat affords the only relief to the oppressive heat, which it 

 csarcely modifies. When we reach " The Torch " (as the 

 landing is locally designated) and come to a full stop, the 

 heat is consuming. There is a funnel cut for the passage of a 

 horse railroad track through the sandy ridge which separates 

 the two lakes, and here the solar rays concentrate and broil 

 the unhappy traveler until the atmosphere of Tophet becomes 

 etherial mildness in comparison. Fortunately the distance is 

 but half a mile, and when one finally reaches the grateful 

 shade of the eastern piazza of the " Lewis House," and gazes 

 out over the spreading lawn upon the unrippled surface of the 

 far reaching lake, he forgets that he ever suffered, and is wil- 

 ling to live on to rim the risk of repeated broils hereafter. 



The visitor is scarcely prepared for the luxurious civiliza- 

 tion which he finds at this popular resort — the sweeping car- 

 riage drives, the lawns, the fruit trees, the rookeries and beds 

 of flowers, the detached cottages for guests, the large, well- 

 furnished rooms, the wholesome, abundant table, and the per- 

 vading sense of home-life and comfort. The main structure 

 is a large, central edifice, with wings, standing on level 

 ground which slopes to the lake side. From its cupola there 

 is an extended outlook over the lake, which is a beautiful 

 sheet of water eighteen miles long, ranging from two to three 

 in width. Circumvallent hills inclose it; its Bhore-lines 

 sweep into graceful curves ; high points of woodland diver- 

 sify its contour and hob-nob from opposite sides ; its waters 

 are clear as crystal ; the stars and fleecy clouds gaze into it, 

 summer zephyrs Ian it ; festive bass and predacious pike dis- 

 port therein, and all the elements and nymphs of the water 

 toy with it tenderly as chosen mistress — "■ Queen of the 

 Lakes." I was told that it contained no fish, but experiment 

 presently revealed a five-pound bass, which came to the min- 

 now of a Louisville friend, whose common sense directed him 

 where to fish. I am amazed at the prevailing ignorance 

 among tourists of the first principles of angling. Kods have 

 they, but they angle not ; they have lines and reels, but they 

 retrieve not ; they pay the piper but do not dance. 1 am 

 certain that if amateur fisherine* would only study natural 

 objects, and use their judgment in angling as they do in the 

 ordinary pursuits of life, they would have less complaints to 

 make of bad luck, depleted waters and empty creels. Gun- 

 ners do not hunt ducks on the mountains, or rabbits among the 

 reeds of a marsh ; neither do they look for turkeys by the 

 sea-side, or ruffed grouse upon the plains. They shoot not 

 quail with bullets, neither do they hunt antelope with a shot- 

 gun, or run buffalo with hounds. Why, then, should they fish 

 for bass and trout, in places where they are not, or tempt then- 

 fastidious tastes with strange devices which satisfy not? 

 Most fish lie near to shore, because the minnows, small fry, 

 and creatures that inhabit the water congregate there ; and, 

 where food is, there do the fish throng. Yet novices gener- 

 ally seek the centres of lakes, where the water is often forty 

 fathoms in depth, and hope for luck in trolling, and success 

 in skittering the spoon and frog. In hottest weather, when 

 fish seek the coolest depths, they must he reached by deep 

 lines and proper methods, which have been repeatedly taught 

 your readers through the columns of Forest and p tebam, 

 since the first number of its beginning, and are especially .set 

 forth in the "Sportsman's Gazetteer," So, also, in trout 



streams, when the' speckled denizens gather about the spring- 

 holes, we may hardly expect to tempt them with a fly upon 

 the surface. One may take it for granted that there are fish 

 in all the waters of Michigan that are suitable for their health 

 and growth. Let him put no trust in assurances that fish are 

 not to be caught in this lake or that, but put the question to 

 the proof, so'undcm artem, as my friend Lord, folate Military 

 Inspector of Michigan, did in Burt Lake. He quietly tossed 

 over his anohor-stone into a deep channel near the shore, 

 where the weeds grow, and took sixty with minnow ! And 

 yet he was told that enly pike inhabited Burt Lake. 



The Lewis House is generally well patronized, for its repu- 

 tation is wide. Its guests come chiefly from Kentucky, In- 

 diana, Blinois, Missouri, Ohio and Michigan, as, indeed, do 

 nearly all the visitors to this section. While 1 was in Michi- 

 gan, I found only half a dozen Eastern names registered ; 

 there was one from Vermont, one from Boston, one from 

 New Jersey, two from New York and two from Pennsylva- 

 nia. This is the more remarkable, because two- thirds of the 

 population of Michigan are of Eastern origin— chiefly from 

 New York and New England. How much that is beautiful 

 and enjoyable in nature is lost by those who decline to go 

 West for recreation ! Those who read my letters shall not 

 plead ignorance hereafter. Very solid and substantial citizens 

 do the Eastern men make who come here to settle : with all 

 their disagreeable points and angles rounded off by contact 

 and attrition with the rougher but more generous Western 

 element ; with their narrow local prejudices eliminated, scat- 

 tered and lost on the unmeasured expanse of a domain so vast 

 that a thousand acres scarcely give the individual settler el- 

 bow-room; engrafting their fixed principles of social order up- 

 on the self-assertion and single-handed independence that has 

 hewed its way through the roughnesses of the frontier ; blend- 

 ing the amenities of a ripe civilization with an open generosity 

 that is not measured by the roughness of its garb ; tempering 

 prodigality with shrewd business caution— in a word, combin- 

 ing the good qualities of both sections with an advantage that 

 cannot be mistaken or ignored. I would not purposely speak 

 in disparagement pf either section, but I am convinced that 

 out of a union of the two stocks is bred a hardier, worthier and 

 better race of men. 



When we were ready to leave our hospitable hotel, the fine 

 steamer called the Queen of the Lakes awaited her passengers 

 at the little pier. The water was deep and bold, and we could 

 see the perch and shiners clustering around the piles in swarms. 

 I was surprised to see so large a vessel on inland waters. She 

 is of iron, very commodious, luxuriously equipped, and can 

 cany three or four hundred passengers at least. She is owned 

 by Dexter & Noble, a firm which has a blast furnace, mills 

 and large stores at Elk Rapids, forty miles below. Steaming 

 a few miles down the lake, and crossing to the eastern shore, 

 ?he touched at a landing known as "Russell's," where a stage 

 is in readiness to convey visitors to the Intermediate Lakes, 

 where there is a rough, but comfortable home known as the 

 "Island Camp." If the tourist desires, he can be dropped at 

 the mouth of Clam Lake, flowing into the east side of Torch 

 Lake. Passing up Clam Lake, he' will presently come to a 

 "narrows" leading into Grass Lake, which is joined to Inter- 

 mediate Lake by Grass River, a stream affording fine fishing. 

 Continuing down Torch Lake ' to its lower end, our 

 steamer enters Torch River, a crooked stream three miles 

 long, with charming windings through the woods, and thence 

 passes into Round Lake, a body of water about two miles in 

 breadth by four in length. From Round Lake we pas3 into 

 another connecting channel, called the Narrows, which leads 

 to Elk Lake. Rapid River enters the Narrows about mid- 

 way, and my comrade and I launched our Bond boat, and as- 

 cended it for several miles, taking a fine mess of- trout with 

 bait. Deer sign were not only abundant along its shores, but 

 we had the satisfaction of overhauling a goodly buck, which 

 had become mired in crossing the stream from a grassy island, 

 where it had been feeding. A large deposit of weeds and silt, 

 fully three feet in depth, had accumulated along the bank, 

 and locomotion through it was anything but easy. Although 

 we failed in our utmost endeavors to push our boat 

 through this, the deer surmounted it with many a gallant 

 plunge, and escaped to the woods. Meanwhile our loaded 

 Seott gun lay peacefully in the bow, and offered the creature 

 no harm, as the season for shooting was not yet open. At 

 evenieng a tug took us by appointment down through Elk 

 Lake to Elk Rapids, but not until we had been thoroughly 

 drenched by a passing shower. This shower, though unpleasant 

 to us, was much needed to quench large fires which had got in- 

 to the timber along the shores of Elk Lake, and also destroyed 

 some orchards and farm buildings. When we passed the 

 scene of conflagration, the red flames were still climbing the 

 tall trunks of the resinous pines, shooting out their hot 

 tongues, and shedding a lurid light upon the water. The out- 

 let of Elk Lake extends for a mile, emptying into Lake Michi- 

 gan, in what was once a series of rapids ; but now flows over 

 a dam which holds the water back for the mills as well as for 

 the purposes of navigation. Bass fishing was formerly very 

 good at the rapids, it is said, hut we failed to raise any fish 

 there. 



The town of Elk Rapids chiefly occupies a wide avenue 

 along the shore of the lake, and is supported by its blast 

 furnace and mill. There are some brick stores, several fine 

 residences, including those of the brothers Noble, and an ex- 

 cellent hotel kept by the Harsha Brothers. The Messrs. Noble 

 have a steam yacht here which visitors can sometimes obtain, 

 and a few days can be passed very pleasantly. 



The day before I left there was a gale which drove the 



waves of Lake Michigan against the breakwater with tremen- 

 dous force. From the windows of my hotel I watched the 

 surf leaping into the air and dashing itself into huge sheets of 

 spray which the wind drove inshore for many a rod. Seaward, 

 as far as the eye could reach, the surface of the lake was churn- 

 ed into foam, and the great billows came careering in 

 one after another, and broke in tremendous surf against the 

 sea wall and over the pier where several large vessels lay 

 moored. Then I could almost realize the fierceness of the 

 November storms which play such havoc with the shipping, 

 and make wrecks of unfortunate vessels driven ashore. At 

 evening the storm abated and the waves oalmed down, though 

 the sea still ran high. Then I somewhat wondered to see a 

 fleet of Indian canoes hoist their quilts and blankets for sails 

 and bear away for the head of Grand Traverse Bay, now 

 rising like corks upon the tops of the long swells, and anon 

 sliding down into the hollows with a lurch that threatened to 

 capsize them and spill out their precious loads of squaws, 

 papooses, dogs, pots and garden vegetables with which they 

 were freighted. But no mishap occurred, and these bold sods 

 of the forest proved themselves good navigators. They had 

 just visited Elk Rapids on one of their periodical trips after 

 family supplies. 



From Elk Rapids to Traverse City the interest of the jour* 

 ney is well sustained A glance at a map will show that Grand 

 Traverse Bay is bisected by a narrow peninsula or. cape which 

 the steamer has to double. Elk Rapids is on the eastern arm 

 of the bay, and Traverse City on the western. A bee line 

 from one place to the other would be less than one-fourth the 

 distance around. The steamer first crosses the east arm from 

 Elk Rapids to Mission Point, an old French missionary statio rt - 

 where some of the finest fruit in Michigan is raised ; then runs 

 due north until she reaches the point of the dividing penin 

 sula, which she gives a wide berth ; and then changes her 

 course to due south, and— to cut our journey and its story 

 short— finally reaches Traverse City, a place of some 3,000 

 population and much local business. This, it will be remem- 

 bered, is the terminus of the branch of the Grand Rapids and 

 Indiana Railroad which diverges from the main line at Wall 

 ton. Darkness and quiet are upon the town when we ar-" 

 rive. A few glimmering street lamps reveal some substan- 

 tial blocks of brick stores. Brilliant lights are gleaming from 

 the many windows of a large hotel known as the Campbell 

 House. Our omnibus carries us past all these, and apparently 

 to the outskirts of the town, where we are deposited before a 

 homelike house surrounded by gardens, and embosomed in 

 trees, which we are told is to be our headquarters. This is 

 the Traverse City Hotel, and is kept by Frank Lewis, who 

 is also proprieterof the hotel at Torch Lake which we have 

 recently left. We are made very comfortable for the night, 

 and when we awake in the morning our eyes rest upon the 

 sparkling waters of the Boardman River, which flows before 

 our door. Here the angler ought to be content. Imade.no 

 stay and can affirm nothing from my own experience. I may, 

 therefore, be pardoned for quoting what our friend Page 

 writes of the attr actions of this vicinity : 



" In the bay, muskallonge, lake trout, bass, pike and pick- 

 erel are very abun dant. Cedar Lake three miles, Bass Lake 

 e ght miles, Betsie Lake twelve miles, Long Lake six miles, 

 aind Traverse Lake ten miles from Traverse Cit} r , are especiall 

 ly fine. Perhaps the best fishing with the spoon, outside the 

 bay, is found in Carp Lake, eight miles northwest of Traverse 

 City, reached by highway. 



"Deep-water fishing is a variety of sport peculiar to this 

 vicinity. Taking one hundred and fifty or two hundred feet 

 of stout fishing line, and being properly provided with hooks, 

 bait, etc., the sportsman, procuring a boar, proceeds to any 

 part of the bay where the water is very deep, and lets down 

 his line. Presently a siskiwit (the deep-water lake trout, a 

 fish analogous to the Mackinaw trout, but much finer in flavor 

 and flesh), a Mackinaw trout, or a huge muskallonge seizes 

 the hook, and the sport begins The fish are very gamey, 

 and long before the quarry is safely landed in the bottom of 

 the boat, the fisher will have obtained excitement enough to 

 cause the adventure to be well remembered. 



" Brook trout are very abundant in this vicinity. The 

 Boardman, its branches, and all the streams in the neighbor- 

 hood of Traverse City, contain brook trout. No stream is 

 navigable except the Boardman, and that only for small boats. 

 Current swift, but not too deep for wading ; excellent sandy 

 bottom. Parties desiring can find good camping grounds at 

 the 'Forks ' of the river, State Road Bridge, Railroad Cross- 

 ing near Mayfield town line, and Smith's Farm, all on the 

 Boardman River. There are a few grayling in the Boardman, 

 known by the local name of ' Garpin.' Besides the Boardmaa 

 River, the various trout streams and ponds are Mitchell's 

 Pond, distant three and one-half miles from Traverse City ; 

 Hoxie's, seven miles; Whitewater, nine miles; Scofield, 

 twelve miles ; Hannah's Mill Pond and Cr-.ek, one half mile ; 

 Greitick, three miles j Beitner's Pond and Cr.ck, seven miles ; 

 also, the Racket, Joyton and Pine rivers, emptying into the 

 Boardman, as well as many smaller streams. Ntage fare to 

 Hoxie's, $1 ; to Whitewater, $1.25 ; to Mitchell's, 50 cents. 

 All other points reached by private conveyances. Guides 

 charge $2 per day; with boats, $2.50 to S4 per day; with 

 team, $4 to $6 per day ; boats only, 50 cents to $2 per day." 

 .Taking rail at Traverse City in the morning after breakfast, 

 we reach Reed City at noon, where Brother Adams furnishes 

 an excellent dinner for fifty cents. Here we can fish the 

 River Hersey for grayling and be sure of a fair mess. The 

 town is growing and prosperous, and boasts several fine 

 s-jeets, churches, brick stores and the like- All the country 

 north of here affords the finest deer shooting, as much of it is 

 almost a wilderness and but little hunted. There is a barbe 

 in town, whose name I forget — a long subscriber of Forest 

 and Stream — who studies his gospel from its pages and then 

 hies forth to preach and practice it upon the denizens of the 

 forest, and be always brings back something besides locusts 

 and wild honey, He showed, me s°we trophies of Ida ohas&, 



