May li. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



286 



with {heir aid the deer was killed, landed, disemboweled 

 andwas soon lying with our game in the boat 



Wo were soon adrift again, and long shadows on the 

 1-hgby's bosom told us the Say was closing, Awuybelowwe 

 Heard the welcome so;md of the Clara's double whistle. As 

 the current carries us down our game is counted: Thirty- 

 seven mallards, six teals, and one deer and turkey are our 

 trophies. Two great Mack columns of smoke are now just 

 below, and the steamer sweeps around the bend in full view. 

 Tiie broad, good-humored face of Captain Ham greets us 

 from the root, as he calls out, "What doyou want?" In re- 

 ply, I seized a del d mallard by the legs and waved it in the 

 air. The alarm whistle was blown and the engine slowed, 

 and as we ride the waves alongside, our friends, the officers, 

 welcome us with hearty greeting. Old Captain Bennett, the 

 mate, seized our rope as we Ehrow it aboard, then I was 

 jerked on the steamer by the arm and our boat hauled up. 

 W'e return the captaiti'a compliments to our skill by present- 

 ing him with the turkey, while good old Sam Rowe must 

 needs treat us all around, except the captain. P. B. M. 



THE TEXAS BLUE CAT. 



THIS is as pretty a country about here as man may wish 

 his eyes to rest upon or least upon. To-day Mr. Wil- 

 liam Elliot, a citizen of this place, and rnyself, rode around 

 the country some twenty miles, and I was'continually living 

 off into raptures of admiration; even I, who am an old fel- 

 low who has seen a great deal of the world. Imagine a great 

 rolling prairie, the smooth undulations sometimes rising so 

 high above the surrounding country, that being on top of 

 one, the eye has an unobstructed sweep for miles and miles, 

 and miles, so that you seem to stand on the loftiest spot in 

 the center of a round island in the sea, and feel that if you 

 could mount a little higher, you could see the billows break- 

 ing upon the shores all around, So strong is the hallucina- 

 tion that you hear, or seem to hear, the tumultuous, con- 

 fused roar of the waves as they dash themselves to pieces on 

 the shore. Observe dark lines of forest crossing the rolling 

 prairie, in every direction; these are the timbers that mark the 

 courses of the streams. The dark, rich green of the prairie 

 is often broken upon by great beds of wild flowers, and the 

 breezes from the "sweet south" are heavily laden with the 

 odors stolen from there. As we stood upon one of these 

 undulations, one of the mighty billows of the prairie sea, and 

 looked over the subjacent country, I said to my friend 

 Elliot: "Here was Paradise, and here was the Garden of 

 Eden. Here Adam and Eve disported themselves, fresh 

 from the hands of God. 



'Adam, the goodliest man of men since born, 

 His sons; the fairest of her daughters, Eve.' 



The San Gabriel yonder was the true Euphrates." 

 "And where," said Elliot, "wastbe bower? 



'To the nuptial bower 

 He led her, blushing like the morn.' " 



"It is gone," said I, "with Adam and Eve, but they could 

 not take Paradise away with them. Thus we old chaps who 

 set our whole hearts on money, can't pull it in the holes with us 

 when we go." 



But enough of this; let Adam and Eve take care of them- 

 selves; let's go back to the mutton. The soil of this country 

 is jet black, of enormous fertility, and when it rains it stick- 

 eth, to be sure. It will easily produce sixty bushels of corn 

 to the acre, seventy-live to 100 bushels of oats, (the latter 

 figure is often exceeded) 400 to GOO pounds of lint cotton, 

 tad twenty. to thirty-five bushels of wheat. These agricul- 

 tural resources, in connection with its unsurpassed natural 

 pasturage for stock, make- it a country in which we ought to 

 five contented and happy. If a man cannot be prosperous 

 in such a country as this, he should have his ears pulled off 

 and a poor dog's ears planted in their place. And yet he 

 would discredit and bring disgrace on the dog's ears." The 

 people about here are not only well to do. but many of them 

 are very rich, and growing richer fast. 



What a pity a man's foresight is not as good as his hind- 

 sight! And yet if it were so, we would all be so smart that 

 we could not cheat and swindle one another, and there 

 would lie none of the valuable race of fools left. We would all 

 be rich together, so (here would be no poor folks for us to lord 

 it over and strut before, and this would make ua very mis- 

 erable. On the whole, it is perhaps better that our foresight 

 in not so good as our hindsight. When I first saw this 

 country in 1859, I could have bought every foot of land on 

 which the bright town of Taylor now stands, and all in the 

 vicinity thereof, for one dollar an acre or less; and the fel- 

 low selling it would have thought that he had cheated me egregi- 

 ously. N ow these same lands — not including those in the 

 town, of course— would readily fetch from $12 to $40 an 

 acre, and those neighboring the town much more. Large 

 bodies cannot be touched at any price at all, those holding 

 them believing that it is not possible to make better investments 

 anywhere. And yet I did not buy. All the better for me, 

 perhaps, as T might have growu too proud and scornful, and 

 stubborn of heart, m my great prosperity. I might have 

 waxed so proud that I could not be persuaded to write even 

 a line for Fobhbx and Stream. And this state of things con- 

 tinued until about six years ago, when the International Rail- 

 road pierced through the rolling prairies. Then all of a sud- 

 den Taylor sprang into existence, and the lands shot from 

 nothing away up yonder. And they are still shooting higher, 

 and higher, and higher, in spite of the fact that, Texas has 

 such innumerable acres just as good as they, which are cry- 

 ing for purchasers to convert "their untenanted wilderness 

 into busy scenes of industry. Some few miles from Taylor 

 as fine lands as any may still be got at $5 to $6 an acre. ' 



This region seems to have especially attracted rich people 

 from abroad. Among these is Hon. John li. iloxie, ; ex- 

 Mayor of Chicago, who purchased some 7.000 >.,<■ 

 and has built up as noble an estate as you will find in all 

 the land. Here he has artificial lakes" fed by glorious 

 springs, gushing like natural artesian fountains" from the 

 bosom of the prairie; some of these lakes stocked with Ger- 

 man carp, othe, 'ornia salmon, and others with 

 the native black bass and oth . ■'. It is a u amusing- 

 thing to see the carps fed. They are as tame as house cats! 

 Throw crumbs of bread on the, water and they will swarm 

 to the surface by thousands, it seems to me wonderful 

 Carps thrive in Texas. They will grow 'two feet 

 long in two years, and fat-bellied in due proportion. They 

 gem to Luxuriate and revel in Texas. They have found their 

 Paradise here, and none of them will ever wish to go to 

 Germany. If tin- carps in Germany knew how well their 

 W A ttei are getting along here, 1 believe they would all quit 

 Germany and swim across the Atlantic and come to Texas. 



That is just what the German folks are doing. They seem 

 to thrive here just like the carps. 



The California salmon in Mr. Hoxie's lakes are doing well, 

 but not so well as the carp. Their' introduction into "Texas 

 IS an experiment whose success is not yet assured. 



Mr. Elliot and myself finding ourselves on the banks of 

 the San Gabriel, and having some tackle about us, couldn't 

 resist the temptation to fish a little. We first got some angle 

 Worms by turning ever logs in the forest; with these on the 

 hook we soon had a supply of minnows. Putting these on 

 longer hooks and stronger tackle, we went to work in 

 earnest. In about an hour we had a dozen fine black bass, 

 two large blue cats, and several perch as big as a man's hand 

 and bigger. With these we concluded we had enough, and 

 like true sportsmen, and no pot-hunters, we quit when the 

 sport was just beginning to get warm. Elliot being a 

 bachelor, and I being away from home, we gave away most 

 of our catch. I reserved the biggest cat we had. I took it 

 to a restaurant man and told him to cook it in the very best, 

 style he knew how, and that if the fish was large enough, to 

 divide it in three several parts and cook each part in a vari- 

 ant way. I charged him to have the whole ready at eleven 

 o'clock at night. He promised to do so. The fish weighed 

 a fraction above nine pounds. My purpose in this was to 

 test the cat, in a fair and impartial way, as to his merits as 

 an article of food. My friend, Mr. Charles Hallock, in his 

 "Sportsman Gazetteer," frequently belittles the cat as being 

 only fit for niggers. I had a suspicion, from my former ex- 

 perience of this fish in the woods, that he had been very 

 unjust to the cat. 



At eleven o'clock sharp Mr. Elliot and myself were 

 promptly on hand, and so was the cat cooked iu "three vari- 

 ant, ways: First— Nicely baked, with dressing and sauces, 

 garnished with celery and parsley; second— plain roast, on 

 the_ griddle, with salt and pepper and a little celery; third, 

 plain fried. We abstracted ourselves from all the world 

 besides and addressed our whole palate to the fish, not as 

 gourmands, not as epicureans, but as philosophers investi- 

 gating a great subject. We found the baked part most ex- 

 cellent, flavor rich and savory, and it was our unanimous 

 conviction that nothing can be better. We found the roast 

 very good indeed, and such 'a dish as no man's palate could 

 growl at. It was our unanimous opinion that had we not 

 eaten so much of the bake first, we should have found it a 

 puzzle to decide between the bake and roast. We found the 

 fry good— crisp, tender, juicy, and delicate flavor. If was 

 our verdict that the blue cat of Texas, taken from the spark- 

 ling waters of the highlands, is a superb fish, fit to be fed to 

 the gods on Olympus. Indeed, when served right, I know 

 of no fresh-water fish that is better. 



Mr. Hallock praises the channel cat as a fine table fish. It 

 may be that our blue eat of Texas is his channel cat, but if 

 so, it is not known in this State by that name. He is a 

 handsome, active fish, dark bluish on" the back, snow white 

 on the belly, and is particularly distinguished from all other 

 rats that I know of by his large bright eyes. The other 

 fresh-water cats have very small, mean eyes. The blue cat 

 does not grow so large as the yellow cat. I do not think 

 that I ever saw one that exceeded a dozen or fifteen pounds 

 weight, and usually they are much smaller. I call him a 

 game fish, for he fights both strong and lively. 



If any of the readers of Forkst jotd Stkeam should feel 

 an interest in this country about here, and want more in- 

 formation, I commend them " to William Elliot, Esq., of 

 Taylor, who I am sure will take pleasure in responding to 

 them. He is a New York city man, who came here six or 

 seven years ago as a railroad surveyor, was one of those who 

 first laid off the town of Taylor, and naving waxed rich by 

 buying and selling lands and buying again, he thinks there 

 is no country like this, and it does his heart good to talk 

 about his country. Moreover, he is not proud, as I probably 

 should be if I were so rich. 



lam now going over to the Eio Grande to eat tartUlas, 

 fryotes and chiie, con earns for a while; to talk with the black- 

 eyed senoritas; to interview the rattlesnakes and the peccar- 

 ies; to converse with the Jurassic coal beds; to get sun- 

 burnt, etc. isr. A. T. 

 Taylor, Texas, April, 1882. 



[Jordan gives three "channel cats;" the fork-tailed channel 

 cat, lchthalurus furcatns; the robust channel cat, I. robuSius; 

 and the common channel cat, or blue cat, I. punctatus. The 

 latter is a bluish fish which when young is of a bluish silvery 

 color spotted with olive]. 



THE GUIDE'S STORY. 



[From advance sheets of Mr. T. Sedgwick Steele's "Paddle and 

 Portage."! 

 66"\7"E never heerd me tell about the man who fust tried to 

 A make maps o' these 'ere woods, did ye?" said Hiram, 

 as he tossed an extra log on the fire. "Wall, it's a long story; 

 but I'll try an' load the cart'idge so the bullet won't go far, 

 as I see Nichols a-blinkin' over there like an' owl at high 

 meridian. It was 'long about the autumn of 1870, if I remem- 

 ber right, that a feller by the name o' Way cum up from 

 down below an' took board in Greenville, foot o' Moosehead 

 Lake. He was quite a spruce lookin' chap for these 'ere 

 regions, an' though still under twenty-one years of age, had 

 seen a deal o' the world in his little day. Wall, Johnny 

 (that was his name,) had come to rough it, an' take his 

 chances for life with the rest of us, though it was said he'd 

 heaps o' money, an' mighty fine fixin's at home; but be was 

 one of them advent'rous splinters as arc idlers flyin 1 round 

 a-wantin' to see more an' more, an' git into wuss"and wuss 

 every step they go. Us boys was mighty busy that year 

 a-loggin' an he enj'yed the fust winter so ra'ttlin' well among 

 us that he cum back the next season. When th< 

 good an' deep in Jan'wary, an' snow-shoein' was jus! flue, 

 we two arranged a huntin' trip an' started with our rifles an' 

 all the provishuns we could truss on our backs toward 

 Chamberlin Farm. We hunted about there some days, but 

 finally made a hand-sled, strapped our kit on to if, and by 

 dint o' pushin' and haulin' made our way over the fruz sur- 

 face o' Chamberlin and Eagle Lake, to Smith Brook. Next. 

 day we pushed on to Haymoak Brook an' as it emu on to 

 rain we built a hut of bark and camped. 



"Johnny was a restless feller, an' fur all tired out with the 

 pull through to camp, thought if we were goin' to stay long 

 and hunt we'd better Lay in more provishuns. He "was a 

 plucky Uttle feller, too, "an' 'though not much used to the 

 woods, could f oiler a 'spotted line' with the hi 

 So he made up his mind to Switch back to Chamberlin Farm 

 an' git enough provishuns to last out the trip. J 

 this a rather crazy freak, for I felt pretty 

 manage to pan out with what, we had. But Johnny wanted 

 to be sure. Like all city fellers he had a peevish bread- 



basket, an' fur all he'd spirit enough to rough it in ' 

 ways, he couldn't weather the trial of goin' without hits 

 straight meal no-how. 1 did all 1 could do to hold hie | 

 lint if was no use; then I offered to go back with hi'ifi, but, 

 be was bent on doin' the trip alone, an' leavin' m 



camp. So, after buryin' his part; o' the kit in t, 



stood ready to start. 



"He did'nt want to go back the same way we had 

 but had planned to skirt around back o' the lakes, you know 

 —a mighty unsartin kind of bizness, bovs, for a feller ■ 

 in a hot-house. 



"But he plead so hard I finally give in to hint, an' with 

 the pomt of my ramrod I marked out his course in the 

 scow, Says I, 'You see here, Johnny, that, mark 1 jist made 



■: ■ across Haymoak Lake to Stink Pond. Now don I 

 foigit.it:,' says 1. 'to keep right on your course to Foi 

 hake, for that there line leads intoHittle Leadbetter Fond 

 an' by a foot-track, will take ye :,. Cha.ub -,'!i;: >,■•■ ,r,, 

 then yer all hunk. There's an old log.camp on. the Leac let- 

 ter, right there,' says I, diggin' the rod into the snow, 

 go further than that to-niglil,. Gamp there, no matter how 

 early ye reach it ; lie over till mornin' an then push. on. ' 



"It was the wuss shoein' I ever did see, and I ought not. 

 to've let the boy go, but I'd said yes, an' I'm not one of them 

 fellers who goes back on his word. 



"I budded on Way's haversack, filled it with graham 

 bread, stuck his hatchet in bis belt, slung his rifle over his 

 shoulder, and with many misgivin's saw him disappear in the 

 woods. After he'd left I commenced to get kind o' nervus 

 like, an' wish I hadn't let him go. Afore night I begun to 

 feel terrible skittish about him!" I lit my pipe, cleaned 

 gun, cut boughs and bark from the trees to make our camp 

 more snug, an' tried by f ussin' round to get the lad out 

 mind; but 'twant no use— it didn't work" wuth a cent So 

 buryin' the balance of our kit in the. snow I started back tq 

 Chamberlin Earm by the old path and camped thai 

 on Haymoak Lake, reaching the farm the next night. 



"You will bet boys I was scared to find that Way had not 

 got in, but I thought p'raps he was restin' at the old io? sain i 

 I had pinted out for Mm on the. Leadbetter. Join 

 'toter' came, along the next mopning from the logging camp 

 —don't you think, he hadn't seen a hair of him either; Wall, 

 the way I got into them snow-shoes was a caution— the deer's 

 hide was gathered over my toes and heels quicker than trout 

 takes a fly, and I was a-slidin' off into the woods like mad. 

 I kept goin' and goin' hour after arter hour, as if the devil 

 hisscif was arter me; if was the best time I ever made on 

 snow-shoes, even on a moose track. 



"At two o'clock I reached Way's camp of the ni?ht before 

 and follerin' his 'stoat' (track) I kept on arter him and in two 

 hours saw him stumblin' along through the snow in front o' 

 me, like a lost sheep. I give a shout of joy, and then a will 

 halloo, as I dashed on arter him. But he plunged on with- 

 out turnin' a head— he didn't seem to hear me. 1 

 agin with no better effect, 'Somethin's up. He's not hisse! f 

 by a long sight,' I said to myself; an' the way I put forrard 

 through that snow would have done honor to" a pair o' the 

 seven leagued boots. Jist as I come up with him, and i 

 about plankin' my paw down on his shoulder, I heerd him 

 give a gasp, an' then he stumbled and fell in a parfect heap 

 at my feet. 



" 'Johnny! Johnny!' says I, 'Brace up. Hiram's here, and 

 yer all safe.' But he was so far gone, ho skarce knew me. ' 

 To his belt was tied a partridge: but this was all tic provi- 

 shuns he had left, and with his half froze hands ha could but, 

 jist hang on to his rifle. I took his gun an' haversack, an' 

 goin' before broke down the big drifts with rav snow-shoes, 

 an' cleared a track for him to toiler. But he "was so .. 

 an' benumbed with cold, that every little while la- 

 the snow like a wounded animile, an' begged me to let him 

 alone. 



" 'Hu-am/he moaned, T can go no further. I am so 

 tired. I fee] so sleepy. Go on yourself, an' leave me here ' 

 But I warn 't a lad o' that kind." I knew pesky wed what 

 that there sleepiness meant; it meant nothiii I 

 closin' of eyes once an' forever; he would have been cold, 

 stiff, stone dead in half an hour. It didn't take me moreii 

 a brace o' minutes to find a remedy for this. Whippin.' out 

 my knife I cut down a stick from one o' the young trees on 

 the road, an' the way I laid it round that poor feller's body 

 would have been a sight for the chicken-hearted, I tell ye. 

 I beat him like an old carpet until his bones were sore.' I 

 fairly warmed him, which was jist what was wanted; air 

 what with whippin', kickin' him, an' at times cartin'him 

 along on my back, we soon made mile after mile on our way. 



"Those were long hours flounderin' on through the snow; 

 but at last we reached Chamberlin Farm, though to fell a 

 gospel truth I felt we never would git in. 



"As luck would have it there was a doctor ther 

 Corinth, an' with his help we were soon at work . 

 gittin' the frost out of Johnny's hands an' feet, an pumpiu' 

 life into him. In a week he was up an' about, good as new, 

 an' hunted with us till the followin April afore" goin' out o' 

 the woods. 



"As I learned from him urterwards, Johnny had lost his 

 way between Fourth Lake and Leadbetter Pond. ' 

 there was over three foot deep, an' as the rain had elogj 

 his snow shoes lie turned into an old lotrgin'-road tie. i 



diskiveied an' this took the feller right smack off 



He folk-red the old road 1 ill dark, an' not oomin aero ' 

 old log cabin I told him about, made for the 



i tree, which he reckoned was fiftv foot lugh at the 

 feast This he set firs to, an' sat ah uight watclfin il burn 

 down. Fallin' asleep towards mornin'"! when b 

 he found the merk'ry had goneajong .■ , an' 



that his feet, though wrapped iu four pair o" socks had 

 frozen. What the poor fella- suffered till I found h 



have been terrible. Afore leavin' Green villc that p 

 John Way made the fust of a lot. o' maps o' Moosehead ] a] i 

 an' all its surroundin's. Arterwards he jined ,l 



rhieh 1 used to sell on the boats, aiid this is 1 

 ity for nearly all the late maps of these 'ei el 



A Colorado St \te Asm >i ivrroK.— Denver, Co;,,, .;,. 



).^-A meeting will he held in this city or ' 

 No. 480 Larimer street, ai 8 O'clock P. M., with 

 the. organization of a State Bpprtmen's - 

 primary object being to bring the shool ing and spoi tin.: i 

 and clubs into intimate, social and personal n 

 arrangement for tournaments, etc.; and also to sc 



i ion for the. protection of game, birds and 

 1 1 erem it, is improper to pursi 

 encouragement of our citizens in 1 1 

 parietfeeandnnmbeis of game, birds i i 



.'"'juragetiiei'it. of subordinate club.- 

 ations f i: enforcement of law > for the p. ol 



tion of game, birds and rish, 



