r.i° 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



VACATION RAMBLES IN MICHIGAN, 

 WISCONSIN AND MINNESOTA.— No. 7. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



Devoted to Field and Aquatic Sports, Practical Natural History, 

 Fish Culture, the Protection of Game, Preservation of Forests, 

 and the Inculcation in Men and Women of a Healthy Interest 

 in Out-Dook Recreation and Study: 



PUBLISHED BY 



Sorest mi Mtrmq §nhlishina @ompMg. 



—AT— 



NO. Ill (old No. 103) FULTON STREET, NEW TORK. 



[Post Office Box 2832.] 



TERMS, FOUR DOLLARS A YEAR, STRICTLY IN ADVANCE. 



Twenty-five per cent, off lor Clubs ol Three or more. 

 •-•♦ 



Advertising Rates. 



Inside pages, nonpareil type, 25 cents per line ; outside page, 40 cents. 

 Special rates for three, six and twelve months. Notices In editorial 

 columns, 60 cents per line. 



Advertisements should be sent In by Saturday of each week, If pos- 

 sible. 



All transient advertisements must be accompanied with the money 

 or they will not be inserted. 



No advertisement or business notice of an immoral character will be 

 received on any terms . 



*,* Anv publisher inserting our prospectus as above one time, with 

 brief editorial notice ca iliu:; bM ention thereto, and sending marked copy 

 to us, will receive the Forest and Stream for one year. 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 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. 

 Names will not be pubis Aied if objection be made. No anonymous con 

 trimitlons will be regarded. 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with brief 

 notes of their movements and transactions. 



Nothing will be admitted to any department of the paper that may 

 not be read with propriety in the home circle. 



We cannot be responsible for dereliction of the mail service if money 

 remitted to us is lost. No person whatever is authorized to collect 

 money for us unless he can show authentic credentials from one of the 

 undersigned. We have no Philadelphia agent. 



t&~ Trade supplied by American News Company. 

 CHARLES IIAIXOCK, Editor. 



S. H. TURRILL, Chicago, 



T. C. BANKS, 

 Business Manager. 



Western Manager. 



TO GERMAN RIFLEMEN. 



Desirous of increasing the interest among our numerous 

 German friends in regard to rifle shooting, the Foeest and 

 Bteeam and Rod and Gun will present to the best team of 

 twelve— team to be composed of active memb'ers of some 

 shooting club— a gold medal, to be called " The Foeest and 

 Btbbam and Rod and Gun Peize Medal." The rules and 

 regulations governing this match will be found in their 

 appropriate place in our rifle columns. Entries may be made 

 at the office of this journal on or before January 20, 1878. 



As a great many of the leading riflemen of our N. R. A. of 

 America are Germans, and as their school of arms was com- 

 menced under German auspices, we may venture to express 

 the belief that the contest will be a spirited one, and likely to 

 bring out the best shots in the country. The design for the 

 gold medal is now in the artist's hands, and we will, as soon 

 as practicable, have an engraving of the "Forest and Stream 

 and Rod and Gun Medal " produced in our columns. That 

 spirited rivalry, which has lately existed between two famo.is 

 clubs, may find in this medal a new source of friendly 

 contest. i B- 



The Post and Station System of Finland.— In a recent 

 issue of Foeest and Stream we published an article from a 

 prominent American resident at St. Petersburgh, Russia, 

 which introduced some reference to the post and station sys- 

 tem of Finland, veiy generally correct in its statements, 

 though not so fully so as to escape the attention of Mme. 

 Selma Borg, the eminent lecturer and vocalist, who being a 

 native of the country, has had the best opportunity to be well 

 informed of the facts. We quote the subjoined extract from 

 this lady's letter : 



Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Dec. 1, 18TT. 



Finland suffers under many heavy burdens, inevitable to a subjected 

 country; among these the "Post and Station" system is one. Owing 

 to the tardiness on the part of the Russian Government to keep its 

 word and grant Finland its lawful representation by Diet, tins system 

 still exists, until the railroads now in operation, and others projected, 

 shall partly do awa7 with it, as the steamboat traffic already partly has 

 done. Imagine the farmer obliged to pay a tax in form of regular p< o- 

 vision of horses and men for the posts and for travelers. This pay is 

 not worth mentioning, ltis merely nominal, and thus these peasfa 

 tain travel and the post for all who please to come and go at their ex- 

 PSftfij. For that. |S what our Post station system in Finland amqunts to. 



By the Editoe. 



December 13, 1877. 

 Gentlemen : I bave said several times that for travellers 

 not pushed by stress of business, which vacation tourists are 

 never presumed to be, the journey from Grand Rapids, Michi • 

 gan, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is far more enjoyable by 

 steamer than by rail. Jotting down incidentally in my last 

 letter a few of the objects of interest to be seen in the forty 

 miles' run by rail from Grand Rapids to Grand Haven, you 

 will remember that I had placed myself and luggage on board 

 the Transportation Company's huge steamer Amazon, and 

 steamed out of port upon the broad waters of the lake. It 

 was midnight and calm. All on board were in repose, ex- 

 cept the watchers and the ponderous machinery. The motion 

 of the great engine was almost noiseless ; its pulsations and 

 deep breathings came so regularly that it seemed asleep, but 

 active, like some giant somnambulist with his functions in 

 full but unconscious play. And all the passengers slept on 

 securely without apprehended gale or fear of hidden shoals, 

 and enjoyed their undisturbed rest until the morning twilight 

 dawned. With its first gray, and afar out at sea, came little 

 buntings, sparrows and warblers circling about the vessel, 

 perching upon the rigging and hopping about the deck. 

 Good luck to seamen do these feathered attendants always 

 bring, and the woes of the Ancient Mariner certainly await 

 the unhappy man who wantonly harms a filament of their in- 

 nocent heads. So the sailors say. Presently the sky began 

 to redden in the east, and the watery horizon grew lurid ; 

 and out of his bed of crimson and yellow, beside the limpid 

 lake, Pcebus arose, and all the surrounding water was irradi- 

 ated. All ruddy and aglow from his early bath, he set forth 

 on hi3 daily round, warming to his work like a lusty pedestri- 

 an, and making a straight push for Milwaukee, where he ar- 

 rived at 9 a. m., beating the Amazon by an hour ! 



Long before we reached the port, the white walls of the 

 beautiful city could be seen gleaming in the sun, one-half 

 resting like Venice on the sea, the other apparently rising in 

 terraces up to the crown of a cliff, where spires, domes and 

 broken ranges of buddings gave charming effect by the variety 

 and beauty of their outlines. As we near the shore, the vessel 

 enters a belt of discolored water which the eye can follow 

 into the embrace of two parallel piers, whose ends are guard- 

 ed by twin lighthouses. This is the debouchure of the Wis- 

 consin River, tinged and saturated with the dyes of hemlock, 

 spruce and tamarack, that grow in the swamps and ridges of 

 he " Big Woods," hundreds of miles inland, whither we are 

 bound. Its coffee-colored path is as distinct from the clear 

 green of the lakes as the milky way is from the blue of the 

 heavens. If not a path of light, however, it is a path of 

 abundant commerce and a royal road to wealth, leading right 

 into the heart of the city like the great arterial channel which 

 it is, whose pulsations are felt to the extremities of the conti- 

 nent. Great warehouses enclose the huge steamers as they lie 

 at the wharves, stuffing them with cereals of all kinds with 

 the merciless tenderness of assiduous nurses, until distended 

 satiety creates glut in the market, and excess of production 

 returns to plague imprudence. Milwaukee's purse is most 

 always full. Like the beak of an octopus, it lies in its cen- 

 tral portion, which is splendid with edifices of cream-colored 

 brick and variegated stone, and empties itself into the spa- 

 cious suburbs, where its retired millionaires and well-to-do 

 merchants live sumptuously, but not ostentiously, surrounded 

 by shrubbery, flowers and embellishments, numerous, natural 

 and artificial. The private residences of Milwaukee are cer- 

 tainly most attractive. They are chiefly found upon three or 

 four avenues, the principal one bordering the lake, along 

 which there is a superb drive over a macadamized road, with 

 pleasant places of resort for visitors along the route. My 

 friends of the rifle club drove me over as much of the city as 

 my short visit would permit, and seemed to be pleased with 

 the happiness I enjoyed. They were glad because I was glad, 

 and I was glad that they were glad that I was glad. So we 

 were all glad. 



The members of the Milwaukee Rifle Club comprise some 

 of the best sharpshooters in America, whose scores are al- 

 ready recorded. They are emulous rivals especially of the 

 Rifle Club of Chicago with whom they have frequent trials of 

 skill and interchanges of social courtesy. Their range is ad- 

 mirably adapted for practice and replete with cjmfort and 

 convenience for contestants. There is also a pleasant park 

 near the city for pigeon contests. I will say nothing in ful- 

 some adulation of Milwaukee or her citizens, but I can say 

 truthfully that Bhe deserves her title of " Queen City of the 

 West." I would have tarried longer within her hospitable and 

 trte-embowered precincts, but my friends Pratt and Phillips of 

 the West Wisconsin Railroad, were telegraphing me f i om the 

 Chequamegon House at Ashland, to come up to Lake Superior 

 before the trout season closed. So I bade adieu to valued 

 friends, promising to return. That promise, however, lies 

 tabled for next year. 



Twenty years ago I spent a considerable time in the west- 

 tern portion of that section of Wisconsin which has since 

 been penetrated by fhe West Wisconsin Railroad, which 

 crosses the State from cast to west near its middle line. Until 

 last summer this was ths frontier railroad; Little btil forest 

 lay to the north of it. Through that forest clear streams of 

 delightful coldness flowed, and it was no task to take trout out 

 by the hundreds for each clay's fishing. Keither WW 



isolated case to be interviewed by a bear while wading a 

 stream with my rod. The brutes would come down to the 

 water side to drink in the mid-day heat. Deer were most 

 abundant, and old Starkweather, the hunter, whom I men- 

 tioned in my " Fishing Tourist" as having met while be had 

 his cabin in Potter County, Pa., used to say that he believed 

 there were two hundred bear and five hundred deer within a 

 radius cf five miles from his cabin on the "Menomen." That 

 was a great country for pelts in those days. Starkweather 

 moved out there because he was crowded out from Potter 

 County,- but now it is more settled and civilized around the 

 Menomen than Potter County ever was. Perhaps it was cu- 

 riosity to see. what was to be found in the unbroken forests 

 beyond and to the northward of so generous a region that in- 

 duced the projectors of the Wisconsin Central Railroad to 

 push their line into its territory. For many years a railroad 

 had been in operation from Milwaukee to Stevens Point, a 

 busy, thriving lumber entrepot on the very frontier of civili- 

 zation. Along its route were many flourishing cities and 

 towns, and the daily trains rumbled along the shore of plea- 

 sant Lake Winnebago with its many lacustrine villages, pene- 

 trating into the interior, and picking up business here and 

 there at numerous way stations until, as we have said, they 

 halted at Stevens Point, 165 miles northwest of Milwaukee. 

 This was the tiltima thule, as St. Louis was once ; and here, 

 just as there, trappers and Indians brought in their pelts, and 

 outfitted again for the woods. Great drives of logs came 

 down from the upper waters of the Wisconsin and the hum- 

 ble houses of the employees clustered around the many mills 

 that whipped the logs into lumber with mechanical celerity. 

 Lodging houses and groggeries were numerous, and the din 

 of fiddling and double snuffles was heard in the pipe-beleaguer- 

 ed and smoke-stained rooms. Not altogether changed is Ste- 

 vens Point of to-day, for it was only on the 1st of July, 1877, 

 that passenger trains, with their motley complement of pro- 

 specters, homesteaders and sightseers, reconnoitered into the 

 wilderness beyond. But Stevens Point is no longer the fron- 

 tier. The frontier now lies on the romantic shores of Lake 

 Superior, and a goodly line of settlements has sprung up all 

 along the intermediate route. The railroad schedule indicates 

 no less than twenty-four towns between the two termini, 

 which are 186 miies apart, making the entire distance from 

 Milwaukee to Ashland 351 miles. These twenty-four towns 

 no doubt have a future. Some of them have no present. 



Several are represented by a row of one and two-story frame 

 buildings, which were groggeries in full swing when the road 

 was being constructed, but are now deserted. There is not a 

 germ of life or growth in them. Frequently, a lumber mill, 

 with its surrounding cabins and store, has already formed the 

 nucleus of a considerable community. There are a few clear. 

 ings that promise to be goodly farms. Two or three towns 

 already have populations of a couple of hundred or so. Com- 

 paratively speaking, much has been done ; the resources that 

 have been already developed are sufficient to invite the atten- 

 tion of immigrants, and give encouragement of a rapid future 

 settlement. But the whole country is new, and therefore 

 offers to the sportsman and tourist novelties of experience 

 and sight-seeing that he will not find on older roads. Halt- 

 ing at most any given station along the route, it would not be 

 difficult for a good woodsman to secure a bear or deer at short 

 notice. There are many lakes and streams which afford good 

 fishing. Beyond the town of Phillips the entire route is 

 through a succession of swamps and forests of primitive 

 growth. Piles of bark are encountered at intervals-, huge 

 logs recently cut have been hauled out to the roadside ; pells 

 of coons, bears and wildcats are stretched upon the sides of 

 the cabins ; Indian hunters stand statue-like on the edge of 

 the forest and peer at the train asit.pasaes; an occasional 

 hound or well-made pointer or setter indicates some interest 

 in sport. But for the loss of voluminous notes and memo- 

 randa, I could specify many localities by name which invite 

 the attention of the angler and gunner. Of buds there are 

 pigeons and ruffed grouse in abundance. Butternut Creek, 

 which connects two lakes filled with large pike and rausca- 

 longe, is a favorite resort for the guests at Ashland. It is 

 fifty-four miles distant. One can go down in the morning of 

 one day and return on the evening of the next, finding tolera- 

 ble lodgings in a frame-house at the creek. As I passed 

 through, a business car stood on a siding, which had been 

 chartered by a Chicago party who were fishing in the lakes. 

 This car afforded every convenience for camping. Between 

 Butternut Creek and Ashland are some expensive iron bridges, 

 and much labor has been expended upon the road-bed. In 

 this region are many fine trout streams, as well as waters that 

 abound in muscalonge, lass, pike and perch. 



The attractions of Ashland and vicinity more than compen- 

 sate for the tedium of what would otherwise seem a long and 

 monotonous journey. It is a relief to emerge from the gloom 

 and taagle of the sombre forests into the open fields and 

 pleasant lines of houses that border the broad ChequanjegCfl 

 Bay. A modern omnibus takes the tired traveler from the 

 station to au inviting hotel of modern construction, whose 

 broad piazzas overh ok the bay. Spacious rooms invite rest 

 and an abundant table is provided for tho wayfarer. In the 

 uncertain light of the fading day we can scarcely ducern tho 

 surroundings, but we feel that they are pleasant ; and so we 

 retire for the night, with feelings that our anticipation 

 to be satisfied, and that the coming day will fulfill the 

 ises that hive becu h Id out to us. 



I leave for a subsequent letter some description of the sport 

 tim C;!l 1 xwlly charming summer 



