FOREST AND STREAM. 



419 



VACATION RAMBLES IN MICHIGAN, 

 "WISCONSIN AND MINNESOTA.— No. 9. 



By the Editob. 



Dboembeb 27, 1877. 



Gentlemen : The record of my summer rambles must have 

 already become prolix, and should end with the year that is 

 drawing to a close. Lack of materials with which to make 

 letters is certainly no cause for winding up the series, for the 

 great West is redundant of material. A prairie of pages lies 

 spread out constantly before us there, from which to cull un« 

 ceasing knowledge and experiences in nature, and 1 never 

 weary in the study or acquisition thereof. But I fear tbat 

 the facts, as I now present them at this late day, have be- 

 come withered and vapid, like the flowers which I gathered 

 in summer. The spangled vesture of June, which covers the 

 prairies where I have roamed with a radiant and illimitable 

 glory, as far roacbing as the expanses of Paradise, bear vivid 

 contrast to the sere landscape of autumn, where the solitary 

 golden rod and coreopsis nod and rustle among the dead and 

 fallen leaves of verbenas and wild geraniums. At this season, 

 in years gone by, the ground has usually been mantled with 

 snow ; now I am reminded that it is bare, and that the prairie 

 fowl are still enabled to gather a doubtful subsistence from 

 the dry seeds of grasses and lupines that rattle out with the 

 sweep of the passing wind. Of course, severity of weather 

 may, and is likely to, follow, but a reference to carefully pre- 

 served meteorological tables informs me that each alternate 

 year, through any given period, with almost invariable rule, 

 is mild. The mean temperature of each alternate year varies 

 fully three degrees. The present should be the mild year. I 

 have, therefore, hoped for the preservation of the birds and 

 good shooting next season. 



Last year there were many conditions unfavorable for full 

 bags for the sportsmen. The prairie fires destroyed the eggs 

 in spring ; drought and heat succeeded in mid-summer and 

 throughout September, and the birds migrated to localities 

 where food, and especially water, was more abundant. In 

 hunting through both the northern and southern ranges of the 

 State of Minnesota, I found that birds were abundant near to 

 water reservoirs. The presence of farm buildings did not 

 seem to frighten them off, for I repeatedly saw them roost- 

 ing on the barn-yard fences. But one might traverse twenty 

 miles of unoccupied and tenantless land, and, if there was no 

 water, would scarcely flush a bird. Both the pinnated and 

 sharp-tailed grouse are migratory, to the extent of changing 

 their residence in quest of subsistence when necessity requires. 

 So are all other wild animals, perhaps. On the prairies, as 

 the river beds which were " booming " in spring gradually 

 become dry in summer, the buffalo, the mustangs, the deer 

 and the feathered tribes resort to basins and reservoirs, where 

 the supplies of water still hold out. The pack animals which 

 suffer from thirst, waterless, after prolonged marches, scent 

 the water from afar and drag themselves to it. Even the in- 

 stinct of domesticated stock teaches them to wander after 

 food and water in seasons of prolonged drought. There is, 

 then, nothing .remarkable in the periodical or occasional ab- 

 sence of game from long-frequented localities, and it does by 

 no means follow that old haunts will not be occupied again. 

 I expect next season to pick up a wagon-load of birds, 

 where three veteran gunners with best of dogs hunted last fall 

 in almost fruitless search. 1 do not even agree that much 

 hunting on the open prairie drives away birds irretrievably, 

 Nay, by scattering it preserves them. In the later fall they 

 pack and are wild. Throughout the winter they forage, and 

 if stress of hunger drives them back to the stubble fields 

 whence they were driven in fall, there they will be found in 

 the spring. Where the carcass or grain is, there the fowls 

 are gathered together. Flies always ^congregate around the 

 bung-hole. 



Naturally the recollections of my vacation m Minnesota are 

 chiefly of shooting. I went there after birds, and wherever 

 there were birds, got them. But, bless me 1 what a place for 

 game was the "land of theDacotahs" when I visited it twenty 

 years ago. I remember, as we tracked over the primitive, 

 unsettled prairie in July and August, the young and old 

 fowls fluttered continually up and out of the cover close by, 

 and after flying a few yards, settled down leisurely into the 

 grass and scrub again, scarcely noticing the disturbance. 

 Acres of dead-ripe strawberries gleamed among the parti- 

 colored flowers, affording the birds a luscious dessert for the 

 time being. So thickly did the berries cover the ground that 

 the soles of our moccasins became saturated with the juice, 

 and as our wagons creaked over the level or undulating trail 

 the sun-dried axles mingled their shrieks and groans with the 

 blood of the crushed, which bespattered and stained the 

 wheels. Big bucks would occasionally "rise" a knoll and 

 take a survey from the top, while gangs of 'deer were fre- 

 quently jumped from their noonday siestas in the " drains" 

 and "cooleys." No wonder the sons of Hiawatha regarded 

 the domain of their ancestor as a Paradise into which no 

 trespasser or unbidden stranger should come without toll or 

 forfeit. With self-complacency they had watched the steady 

 progress of white settlement westward— nay, even with in- 

 difference had they observed it j for did not the great lake 

 " Michisawgyegon " and the trackless forests of Wisconsin 

 interpose Ave hundred miles of land and water as a barrier to 

 their advance ? Nevertheless, the tidal wave of immigration 

 rolled in resistlessly upon them, like when the ocean is stirred 

 by an earthquake. The tomahawk was momentarily uplifted, 

 and then it dropped listless and paralyzed for further mis- 

 chief. Since the massacres the Indians hare been peaceable 



and submissive. The Sioux and Chippewas have even scarce- 

 ly quarrelled among themselves. Those upon the reservations 

 have just sufficient energy to sit and be fed, while the more 

 enterprising among them roam about very much as they used 

 to do in the halcyon days of their uninterrupted freedom and 

 barbarism. Their tepees, or bark and skin houses, are scat- 

 tered all over the land. One meets them in the forest, beside 

 the lines of railways, and in the outskirts of villages and 

 large towns. They are as common as dirt and twio* as dirty. 

 The stranger takes interest in them at first, but the novelty 

 soon wears off and the attention ceases. He looks no more 

 upon the Indian when he is red. 



Most people have an idea that all Indians are alike squalid, 

 stolid, beastly and brutal. They do not pause to consider 

 that the like social and intellectual distinctions obtain among 

 them as among other races. They are very apt to be hum- 

 bugged into the belief that the ragamuffin who tricks himself 

 out in green paint and turkey feathers, and courts attention 

 by strutting to and fro with a dingy blanket over his shoulder, 

 is a great brave or a chief of high renown. For this poor 

 clown the head men of the ^tribes entertain the same respect 

 that statesmen among us would bear toward a rag-picker or 

 hoodlum. The social grades and proprieties are jealously 

 maintained. Secret societies are numerous, and instituted for 

 various purposes. Often disturbances, raids and massacres 

 are set afoot by some one of these societies, without the knowl- 

 edge or approval of the tribe. The massacre in MinnesolS, 

 which occurred some sixteen years ago, was brought about 

 by such an agency, and many individuals friendly to the set- 

 tlers were compelled by the obligations of secret societies to 

 which they belonged to take part in a movement in which 

 they had no heart. There is a kind of free-masonry which 

 extends throughout the tribes all over the country, so that 

 they are enabled to communicate with each other by signs and 

 signals, either in company or at great distances. A notable 

 illustration was manifested in the fact that the tribes in Min- 

 nesota were informed of the Ouster massacre long before the 

 event was known to the whites. It is due, no doubt, to the 

 good sense and intelligence of well-known chiefs that the 

 peace has been so uniformly maintained in Minnesota for 

 many years. I believe that the sportsman may safely travel 

 wherever he lists, and often he will find the Indians to be good 

 guides and desirable assistants in camp. In these days, hew- 

 ever, when most parts of the State may be reached by rail- 

 roads, which traverse it from east to west and north to south, 

 the sportsman generally elects to avail himself of the luxuries 

 and comforts which the railway managers provide for them. 

 On all the lines are business cars, so-called, or coaches, which 

 are specially fitted with cooking apparatus and bunks ; these 

 can be chartered for a given period, and be run over the lines 

 to any point desired. I met several parties so equipped and 

 provided. 



Entering Minnesota by the great eastern gateway at Duluth, 

 which is easily reached by steamer from Bayfield, Wisconsin, 

 one can journey westward for five hundred and fifty miles by 

 the Northern Pacific BR., to Bismarck, inDacotah; or, halting 

 at Glyndon, which is two-thirds the distance, he may run due 

 north to Crookston; or, continuing beyond Glyndon to More- 

 head City, situated on the Bed River of the North, he may 

 take steamboat to Pembina and Fort Garry. Again, starting 

 from Duluth, he may go south directly to St. Paul by rail; or 

 taking the Northern Pacific Railroad, as before, he can run 

 West to Brainerd, and then take the newly completed rail- 

 road down the Mississippi River to St. Paul, switching off at 

 St. Cloud, if he chooses, to go west to Sauk Centre. From 

 St. Paul several railroads penetrate the central and south- 

 western parts of the State. On the line of the Sioux City 

 railroad, which follows the Minnesota River for many miles, 

 some of the best shooting may be obtained. On any route, 

 the sportsman has only to select his objective point, disem- 

 bark, and locate himself at some inn or hospitable dwelling, 

 where ordinary comforts are attainable. 



No State in the Union is more beautifully diversified. Riv- 

 ers and streams intersect it ; lakes and innumerable ponds of 

 all sizes are interspersed, some with bold wooded shores and 

 gravelly beaches, and others bordered with' rushes and grass 

 marshes that harbor great varieties of wild fowl. There are 

 vast belts of timber and trackless forests, where deer, bears, 

 wild cats, wolves and ruffed grouse abide ; prairies bare and 

 level as a floor ; and prairies undulating, and diversified with 

 clumps of timber and fringes of Cottonwood and aspen along 

 the creeks and streams, hung with drooping vines. There are 

 grass prairies where the pinnated grouse abound and the go- 

 pher digs his hole, and prairies of scrub oak and hazel which 

 harbor the sharp-tailed L grouse. Over all this broad domain 

 the deer and coyote lope at random, stately cranes stalk, and 

 hawks and buzzards hover. Twenty years ago the buffalo 

 made it his favorite pasture, but he has gone, and not even a 

 bleaching skull remains for a memento of his former presence. 

 And all the summer through, from earliest spring till autumn, 

 a flaming garniture of flowers bedecks the landscape. The 

 atmosphere is pure and vitalizing, and through its transparent 

 sheet, colors become intensely vivid. Objects at a distance, 

 however harsh, when approached, wear the delicate and slaty 

 hue of the wing of a dove or fading cloud. Mounds, bluffs, 

 forests, haystacks, far away, loom up large and distinct as 

 though close by. At mid-day the sun is reduced in size, 

 brought lower, and intensified to whiteness. At night the 

 magnificent stars come bursting from the firmament like re- 

 splendent diamonds. In the silence and serenity of the lonely 

 hoar, the wayfarer lies down, and folding his blanket about I 



him, reBts and sleeps. Sometimes the stillness is almost pain- 

 ful ; not a sound is heard ; scarcely the utterance of a solitary 

 insect disturbs the all-pervading hush. 

 So let my rambling pen rest here. Halloox. 



GAME PROTECTION. 



The Califobnia Fish Question.— The fishermen of Bui- 

 sun Bay and of the rivers are circulating the following peti- 

 tion to the Legislature : 



The undersigned, salmon fishermen of the waters of Suisun 

 Bay and the rivers affluent thereto, do most respectfully peti- 

 tion and thus will ever pray : That the laws for the protec- 

 tion of salmon be so amended as to prohibit the taking, catch- 

 ing or possession of them from ihe 15th day of August to the 

 15th day of September in each year, ami from the noon of 

 each and every Saturday to the netting of the sun on the next 

 succeeding Sunday, throughout the year. Your petitioners 

 represent tbat, from practical knowledge and observation of 

 the habits of this fish, they are convinced and conscientiously 

 believe that the thorough enforcement of such prohibition 

 would insure the perpetuation of his kind in our waters in 

 great and undiminished abundance. 



The Venison Mabket. — Two New York firms who were 

 the consignees of some 1,500 head of Minnesota venison which, 

 owing to the weather, they have been unable to dispose of, 

 have obtained from the Association for the Protection of Game 

 the guarantee of immunity from prosecution for the sale of 

 the same in the close season, which began January 1. While 

 this continued sale is in violation of the law, the game society 

 having no power to alter the law, it is one of those instances 

 where the spirit of the law may be considered rather then its 

 strict letter enforced. 



§¥ § ifl*- 



Boston— GhrUtmm.— There was a rifle contest at Lincoln's 

 gallery for three prizes, among members of the Forest and 

 Stream Rifle Association, distance 150 feet, each member 

 allowed ten shots ; possible score, 50 points ; first prize a box 

 of cigars ; second, $2 ; third, $1. Following is the score ; 



JWPuller 39 JCSmitli u 



George 15 Young 88 GS Niafceraon.. .."..*".'". 84 



James Emery, J r 88 PBRogers d7 



JDNlckerson 36 Freeman Emery «d 



J A Conquest.. S6 



Willowbbook Rifle Range. —There has been erected at 

 this range two new targets and butts, one each at 200 and 500 

 yards, for the use of six companies of the First Regiment 

 four in Hartford and two in New Britain. A suitable build- 

 ing and firing stands have also been built, and everything is 

 now in readiness for the battalion to practice. Captain 

 Woodbridge, inspector of target practice, will be busy during 

 the winter selecting and instructing a team to compete with a 

 team from the Second Regiment next summer, for the pos- 

 session of several prizes now in the adjutant-general's office 

 which were won at Oreedmoor by the consolidated teams of 

 the First and Second Connecticut regiments in 1875. 



Zettleb Rifle Club.— This popular club held its weekly 

 match at 207 Bowery, Dec. 28. Conditions— 100 feet off 

 hand, Creedmoor target reduced ; .22-cal. rifle,- possible 50: 



MBEngel 49 L A Beates \ K 



OGZetUar 48 M Bonier ?£ 



JohnDutil 43 W R (iroiirnan. . IS 



WMiller 4T FKramw TS 



MLRiggs 4T W Wiegaucit ...'' \i 



BZettler .17 K Zimmerman.... H 



CJudeon 45 K Donell J.i 



PFarbarur 45 R Connor.. . ?., 



P Fennlng 45 P Patteison * J 



Haokensaok Rifle Club.— This active club met on Dec 

 28 and shot for the Fream badge. The following are Hip 

 scores : a 



W Holberton 4 54544544 4-48 



ABBania 5 4 4 tf 5 5 4 t 6 4-2 



HL limns 6 ( 4 M H _4, 



E Ackerman «t 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 5-35 



BSEarle 4 33434SI; Tii 



BB*:z=r-™.^ ! 1 S i i I i • ti 



The badge having been won three times by Mr W Hol- 

 berton, it now becomes the property of Mr. Holberton. * 



New Oeleans Rifle Cldb.— At the last general meeting of 

 this club the following board of officers were elected to serve 

 for one year : Dr. J. C. Beard, president ; H. N. Sona first 

 vice-president; H. H. Haskiugs, second vice-president- L 

 A. Jung, recording secretary; P Mallard, Jr., assistant re' 

 coraing secretary ; Geo. Muiler, financial secretary • M Vnn" 

 derbanck, treasurer ; C. Kressnci •, shooting master • 'e T 

 Wenck, Wm. Mithoff, Jr., J. J. Piitn.au, assistant shoo'tht 

 masters; Capt. A. C. Smith, M. Wintrier, Cant, M C001 1/ 

 directors. * UUiie r» 



Fbogmook.— The military were out in full force on the 23rl 

 of December, and contested for the Christmas turkeys offered 

 by the Orescent City Rifle Club. The different commands 

 were well represented. Dr. U< orge Howe gobbled up the first 

 gobbler, J. M. Henderson the second, and the third will h» 

 claimed when he is out of the woods. 



r Geo Howe 5 4 4 5 4—22 BSLea 



Klley faetpll 5 5 4 4 4— ;2 L'O! Jon 



M Hemlerson 4 4 4 5 4— 21 ut' n 



lea Piffaul 4 5 4 5 3—21 ii iinrei 



GLewt-, Jr 4 3 4 4 5—0 



The third competition by tue Louisiana Field Artillerv 

 team for the badge, took place on the same day on the grounds 

 of the club, and was won by Private B. DeRoux. BelowW 

 the leading scores out of a possible .25 : 



B HeR'iux 3 4 4 8—l» JBLevecme K • * » ., „„ 



RPSclnnutz 3 4 4 3 i—. IS E Bwliiatr , 1 5 ? i~ 18 



E M MeiHeni 4 5 3:'. 3-i S M teanmdttT. it A lz\l 



The members of the W ashlugton Artillery Bifl e Club were 

 out for practice, bu owing to inclement weather not the usual 

 large attendance put in an appearance. Condi 1 ions-200 yards 

 off-hand, with Springheld rifle. No sighting shots allowed 



?K n aa'::::;:::::::v-l I tilt it it-* 



B8 Leathers .". ...A 1 J 1 Mo 



Henry Dupre .... 3 5 * *~ 39 



GeoWCliarletOB.. ..."..'.".::'.'.':» » « 



oei*wte»jr :::::::;::::::* It It % \ \ \ £* 



