484 



FORK ST AND STREAM. 



[JCI.T 20, 1882. 



ADIRONDACK SURVEY NOTES. 

 n.— CAMPS. 

 r pHE colored waiter at the Prospect House, in answer to a 

 -*- question, said: "Bears, sah? Yes, indoedy, dar's a 

 heap o' bears a-walkiu' 'bout dese yer woods. Leastwise I 

 hears de people say so, an' I takes dere word for it, for you 

 bet I don't go up yonder on dem mountains a-lookin' for no 

 bears. Tali, yah! No, sir; I'segot enough to 'tend to my 

 own business 'thout goin' a-foolin' wid bears. Dey comes 

 down ebry night an' eats outen de swill pail behind de back 

 do', but you can bet your sweet life I ain't 'bout dar when de 

 night comes." Mr. Baker looked at Mr. Mosserop as much 

 as to say, "Do you hear that?" and the latter returned his 

 gaze in a manner which led him to infer that if any bald- 

 headed gentlemen were about they might produce their bears 

 at once. The unimpressible Mr. Blake quietly looked round 

 the table to observe the effect of the waiter's assertion as to 

 the frequency of bears, but no further allusion was made to 

 the subject then. 



Some of our guides met us here, among them the famous 

 "Jack" Bheppard, Will Ballard, and Josiah Helmer, and as 

 the story of a man having been killed by bears off down by 

 Piseco was then an absorbing subject, we naturally asked 

 the guides about it- None of them took stock in the story 

 for the reason tbat the male bear was said to have been in 

 company with the female and three cubs, a thing that they 

 declared was "agin natur," and I have learned since that the 

 whole thing was a hoax. A she bear and three cubs were 

 killed here about that time, but no man has been killed by 

 bears hereabout in a long time. It must have been a sorry 

 joke to telegraph a man's family that a bear had killed him. 

 Some men would not relish such funny business. 



Leaving Blue Mountain Lake in four boats, and a barge 

 with 1,800 pounds of baggage, we went down through the 

 chain in single file. Through Marion River into Eagle Lake 

 and past "Eagle's Nest," and down the river again into 

 Uttawana Lake to the first carry, around the rapids above 

 Racquette Lake. These two lakes of the Eagle or Blue 

 Mountain chain arc yet in a fair state of preservation from 

 the attacks of man, and are undisfigured by hotels, having 

 only an occasional "camp," which, by the way, in the 

 Adirondacks has come to mean a commodious log house 

 used either as an occasional resort by a private party or a 

 backwoods hotel. A "shanty" usually means an open- 

 fronted bark camp, habitable only in summer. To my eye 

 these permanent camps disfigure the lakes, for they arc 

 always in plain sight from the water, detracting from the 

 idea which you love to cherish that you are here in the 

 character of Robinson Crusoe, and that you are removed 

 from all contact with humanity, except the small reserve 

 which accompanies you. Even tents would not be so un- 

 sightly, having an air of temporary occupation, and you 

 could hope that they would be. folded in the true Arabian 

 manner on the morrow and you would be left monarch of 

 all. A tent is the best and most enjoyable of all camps. It 

 is airy, free from insects, and can be moved to other parts at 

 pleasure, but if a man or a party build a "camp" they are 

 anchored, no matter how many neighbors come or what 

 attractions other lakes may offer. 



The log camps which I have seen between Blue Mountain 

 Lake and the Forge House, down the Fulton chain, Rue- 

 on tte, Big and Little Moose Lake, etc., have cost from $500 

 to $1, 500 dollars each. All have icehouses attached, and 

 many have outside kitchens, verandas, and are of consider- 

 able architectural pretensions. A contract is made with a 

 guide to build a camp of specified dimensions, and the work 

 ii done in the winter, when horses can be brought in to haul 

 the logs and to fill the ice house. The guide usually has 

 charge of the house when the owner is absent, and cooks for 

 him when be is in camp. It is true that we are a luxurious 

 people and the fact is not only visible in our city hotels and 

 on our railways, but also in the woods, where we go under 

 the impression that we are roughing it and friends at home 

 are wondering how we stand the hardships. 



It will be seen that these things strike me as singular. 

 True, for this is my first trip through the Adirondack wilder- 

 ness, asit is the fashion to call it, and I brought heavy boots, 

 blankets of wool and rubber, all of which had been left be- 

 hind, and were only used two nights and then abandoned. 

 I have slept on spring beds, under mosquito netting, and 

 with all the evidences of civilization about me, and I am not 

 pleased with it. In youth I have trapped in the Bad Axe 

 country (Wisconsin), and hunted and fished through Minne- 

 sota above Crow Wing, to supply a government survey with 

 moat. Not for pleasure, but for the necessities of life— in 

 fact as a business. This and liiree years of army life have 

 taught me to depend upon my own exertions, and lo have a 

 guide in the woods to get wood and cook, while I sat in a 

 i-linir was a new sensation, not calculated to relieve one from 

 his sense of dependence. I did, however, in my forays with 

 a single guide, insist upon the privilege of at least cleaning 

 the fish and frogs and preparing them for the frying-pan, 

 even if debarred from further participation in the cuisine. 



ing through the lakes mentioned above, one can see 

 the signal stations on the mountains which the survey has 

 erected with so much labor. These are erect poles on a tripod 

 built over the spot where the instrument stood, in a clearing 

 which enables a sight to be obtained of the surrouuding 

 moantains and lakes, and a triangulation to be made. The 

 clearing and establishing of a signal station often takes a 

 party of four or ti ve men from one to three weeks, according 



to the nature of the work. If the mountain has a flat top it 

 requires great labor to clear it of timber so as to see the sig- 

 nal from all sides. It begins to be evident from the talk of 

 those of the party who have been at it for some years, that 

 what with night signaling from ponds by rockets and flash- 

 ing gleams from mirrors by lonely operators on the moun- 

 tains, that labor with the Adirondack Survey is not wholly 

 a picnic. Little mountain climbing will fall to my lot, how- 

 ever, except over small ridges on some of the worst carries, 

 as I am only to observe the fishes of this region and take note 

 of their species and such habits as they may be willing to ex- 

 pose to view of what they may consider an impertinent in- 

 terviewer. 



Over the carry and down into Racquette Lake we went, 

 and stopped for dinner at Edward Bennett's, whom we found 

 busily at work putting up a new house in place of the one 

 burned last spring, from which himself and wife escaped 

 with barely their lives ; cleaned out of all their worldly 

 goods except an axe, which stuck in a stump nearby, and 

 his boats. With true grit, he is pitching in and making 

 another start with the axe which remained. After dinner 

 we left our surplus plunder with the old woodsman, Alva 

 Dunning, who is taking care of a private camp near Ben- 

 nett's. Here my diary says: "Flies worst I ever saw," but 

 as I find the same expression on most every page through 

 June, I cannot conscientiously ask you to believe it; in fact. 

 now that that month is passed, I have grave doubts of there 

 having been any flies. I was rather anxious to troll on 

 Racquette, but the boats moved too fast. I have managed to 

 take a few small cyprinoids on the way, but no trout yet. 

 Leaving the lake, we entered Brown's Tract Inlet, and 

 wound our way up its long, crooked, weedy length, beset by 

 flies which could not brave the breeze of the lake, but here 

 came in swarms, so that each man in the boats, fifty feet off, 

 had his head hidden in a cloud resembling a haycock. At 

 last the inlet was passed, and we came to a swampy landing 

 and a carry of a mile and a half over a poor, rocky trail to 

 the eighth lake, Fulton chain. Down this we went until a 

 little camp owned by Alva Dunning was reached, and we 

 halted for the night. F. M. 



FREDERICK DARWIN SHERWOOD. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Permit nie, while the earth is j'et fresh above him, to pay a tribute 

 •"o the memory of one dear to many of the readers of Forest axd 

 Stream, and who spent a portion of the last two years in the Adiron- 

 dacks— Frederick Darwin Sherwood. 



Suffering f rom an attack of hemorrhage of the lungs he sougbt the 

 air of the Adirondacks and the healing balm of their ever green 

 forests. He received substantial benefit, and his improvement elicited 

 much congratulation. Impatient, however, of coveted results he 

 exchanged the Adirondacks for the Eocky Mountains, and in October 

 last took up his residence in Colorado. The change -was not for the 

 better. During his slay there in the whiter and spring, he was not 

 substantially benefited. Sudden changes of temperature affected 

 him disastrously, and finally fatally, and he died in Pueblo of hemor- 

 rhage and pneumonia. 



The forest had impressed him finely, grandly. Writing from 

 Colorado he says: "This is like jumping out of one world into another, 

 and I assure you, that such treatment to one accustomed as I have 

 been to the grand old forests of my own native State of New York, this 

 is exchanging the balm for the blister." Again writing from his sick 

 bed he says: -'How one misses what he is deprived of . I can't help 

 thinking of the glorious old woods, and O, how much better 1 would 

 be with you at the foot, the little cascade in the grand old mountains 

 of New York." 



This death, somehow, sets the bead and heart in revolt at the mys- 

 teries of human life and destiny. Mr. Sherwood had just entered 

 upon manhood. Of fine presence and winning manners, high suscep- 

 tibilities, a manly frankness that at once conciliated favor, and the 

 very soul of honor, he was ambitious of the prizes of successful busi- 

 ness life, and was in a position in the metropolis where conspicuous 

 merit was sure to win him distinction. To high expectations and the 

 flattery of successful beginnings, succeed disappointment, disaster, 

 death. 



To know Mr. Sherwood was to love him. Those so fortunate as to 

 have met him in his forest home will remember the fascination of his 

 manners, and how with the attention of his loyal brother Frank, he 

 dispensed the hospitalities of his little camp. He shops peace- 

 fully in River Side Cemetery, near the village hamlet of Copenhagen. 

 Lewis county, New York. It is a beautiful knoll that meets the sun 

 in his coming, and the spot he chose for his final resting place. 

 Around it, away to the dim distance, lies the loveliest laadSca is ii 

 ridge and valley, varigated with the verdure of forest and field, and at 

 the far horizon, girt with hill and rampart capped with blue. Th< 

 pretty little river, typic.il of his slumbers, flows smoothly at his feet. 

 and the roar of its romantic .falls, subdued, softened for him hit 

 voices of love and peac3, sings his everlasting requiem. 



Rest, noble boy; forever more. * * * * 



"HAMAK" OR "HAMMOCK." 



Captain Bernard Roman, an early English writer on 

 Florida, designates hard wood land by the word "ham- 

 mock." 



Win. Bartram, as quoted by Webster, gives it as "hom- 

 mock/' which word Webster defines as "a small hillock or 

 eminence, sometimes covered with trees.'' 



Dr D. G~. Brinton, of Philadelphia, author of "Notes on 

 the Floridian Peninsula," a valuable and original work, 

 writes "Pine lands and hammocks, not 'hummocks,' the 

 latter is a New England word with a different signification " 



Captain Doughs'Duinmitt, who lived many year? on the 

 southeast coast of Florida, who was a man of intelligence 

 and education, and who was familiar with the Seminoles 

 and their language, before the Indian War of 1835, told the 

 writer in 1870, that the word was "hammock. " that it was 

 of Seminole origin, and signified hind where bard wood 

 timber and cabbage palms naturally grew. He spelled and 

 pronounced the word "hammock." Perhaps, hen , , i 

 distinguish it from the other word signifying "a hanging 

 bed of network," it would be well to adopt the authoi 

 W. W. Harney, and spell it "hamak," although that is too 

 much like the Spanish word "hamaeu," a hammock, or bed. 



8. C. C. 



TO THE JORDAN. 



NOT the historic river of Palestine, but a smaller and less 

 famous stream in northern Michigan, which flows into 

 Pine Lake, and through it into Lake Michigan. Thisstream 

 is well known to anglers as being the one which a dozen 

 years ago introduced the grayling, ThymallvH tHc-ohr, Cope, 

 though Mr, Le Moyne, of Chicago, to the fraternity of 

 anglers. At that time the existence of this fine fish in" the 

 United States was unknown to science; since that, however, 



species of grayling 

 continent. 



Wishing to make the acquaintance of this fish, in August, 

 1874, I went from Chicago, in a lake steamer, in company 

 with two young friends, to the village of Charlevoix, on the 

 northeast shore of Lake Michigan. As I can say nothing 

 more in praise of Charlevoix than that its climate is good in 

 summer, I will pass over the troubles and inconveniences of 

 the transit through that town, and begin with the steamer 

 which plied up and down Pine Lake, a small and uncom- 

 fortable craft which took us and our three boats and boat- 

 men fifteen miles to the head of the south arm of the lake. 

 This lake u a handsome sheet of water, clear and deep, with 

 high and well wooded shores, with a few scattered farms and 

 houses. Where the Jordan comes in the shores are low and 

 marshy. Here we left the steamer, and with our baggage 

 stowed in the boats, entered the river, which is about twenty 

 yards wide, with a depth of five or six feet, very clear anil 

 cold, with a stront! current and a gravelly bottom Nature 

 must have intended it for a trout stream of the most excellent 

 kind, and such it was, before it was devastated by the trout 

 hog, and the man who fishes for count. 



The depth of water diminishes as you ascend, but the cur- 

 rent is stronger, and navigation is" impeded by logs and 

 fallen trees, shores low and marshy, affording no camping 

 grounds. 



Three miles of hard work took us to a log hridge, and a 

 clearing with a log cabin, and three miles further we came 

 to a high bank on the north shore, where is the only camping 

 place for miles. We lauded and pitched our tent" in a grove 

 of pint's, but the ground had been much occupied by fishing 

 parties who had littered the place with dead fish, the odor 

 of which was not balsamic. A fine assortment of insects, 

 mosquitoes, gnats, and deer flies, greeted us with their vari- 

 ous bums of welcome, aud commenced business at once upon 

 the cuticle. 



After dinner I to >k a boat and went down stream, the 

 other two boats went up, I used a cast of three flies, seeing 

 that the trout were small— a red ibis and a red and a gray 

 hackle.. The trout were scarce as well as small, and lgotonly 

 ten, from four to six ounces in weight, returning to the river 

 all under the former size. Having heard of immense catches 

 in the Jordan, I concluded that either I had come at the 

 wrong time, or that the tisk were nearly exhausted from this 

 stream. The' two hoys used bait and 'got a dozen trout of 

 small size. 



August 8. — We all went up the river this morning about 

 three miles; found the river much obstructed with fallen 

 cedars and pines, like most: of the streams in the Michigan 

 wilderness. Came to a reach of still and deep water which 

 I fished very carefully for grayling, using light-colored flies 

 and imitation grasshoppers, the latter not taking anything 

 while ou the river. From a deep hole under the bank f 

 raised a good trout, and as 1 played him, another of rather 

 smaller size took the other fly, and I saved both, the brace 

 weighing one and a quarter pounds. At the next east I 

 hooked a grayling of half a pound, which I killed, being my 

 first of that species that I had ever seen, except in a bottle of 

 alcohol. I admired its graceful form and beautiful colors 

 for a few minutes while J rested the pool, and then cast for 

 its mate, which responded — the size about the same. By 

 enrefiil fishing i got five more trout from this pool, and then 

 lescended the river, casting from tin.' bows. I found fish 

 scarce, and brought in only lil'leeii in all ; but this wild wood- 

 land river was charming, aud, as Shakespeare says: 

 " The pleasant'st angling is to see the fish 

 Cut with their golden oars the silver stream, 

 And greedily devour the treacherous bait," 

 Which passage is evidence to me that in addition to his 

 otner gilts the great dramatist was n fly-fisher. 



August P. — To-day we moved our camp down to the mouth 

 of the river on the lake shore, where, in a fine grove of 

 nines, we pitched our tent near a cool spring. Went out 



this evening and trolled 

 bass. They were on tl 

 mouthed species from or 

 •m pickerel from three 

 then driven in by a heay 

 and half a dozen wild pi 

 lUpplied. The trout of thi 



th a spoon for an hour for black 

 feed, and I got ten of the small- 

 6b three pounds, and four North- 

 ) live poqndfl in weight, and was 

 diower. The boys shot two ducks 

 ous, SO that our larder was w r ell 

 river are of good quality. 



The grayling we did not eat, having promised to take home 

 specimens for a museum. 



August 10— I got some live bait this morning and trie 1 

 still fishing tear the camp, and took four bass £.< m two to 

 four pounds; I al.-o honked a very heavy one, wkch, after 

 a severe struggle, broke my hook. Perhaps I i ore too 

 heavily upon It Certain writers, who are fond of t xercis- 

 in<r their small whs at the expense of anglers, rema k Eh.it 

 the largest fish always escape, insinuating that the Wi ight of 

 these being an unknown quantity can be safely exaggerated 

 by the angler. In the nature of things the ar: est aid 

 st romrest should break loose and escape, oh I scoffer. Dies 

 not the merchant place his gooil,. in I fest light? Dies 

 not the lawyer exaggerate the merits of his side of the c -e'.' 

 Does aol the doctor sometimes represent his pati at M S 

 worse condition than the strictest regard to tmth w old 

 justify? And the angler, being human, may some -rnes 

 overestimate the size of his trout by an ounce or two with- 

 out a scruple. 



The boys brought in three good pickerel and two ha s of 

 I four pounds this evening. 



August .11.— Went up the Jordan this morning cs far as 

 Deer Creek, two miles. The trout were disincline o risi 

 so I added a piece of bait cut from a pigeon 

 sunk them to midwafcr. this was successful, and 1 t ok 

 from the first pQOl below the creek a couple of trout whic i 

 together weiehed 'wo aud Ihree-quat ter pounds; also four 

 of half a pound each, Tn the next pool I killed a grayling 

 of half a pound. 



Tennyson's brock, which "ran by little lowns and half a 

 hundred bridges," was not much like this lonely and tangled 



