Terms, Five Dollars a Year. 
Ten Cents a Copy. 
NEW YORK, THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1874 
Volume 2, Number 11 
17 Chatham St. (CityHall Sqr.) 
For Forest and /Stream. 
BALSAM LAKE. 
W ALTER, stay your restless paddle 1 
Noiseless let our “dug-out” drift; 
Listen to the dreamy murmur 
Of the outlet o’er the rift. 
All along the sedgy margin 
Booms the frog, and further out 
Hear the far-off splash and ripple 
Of the ever-rising trout. 
From the hemlocks grouped together 
In the hollow of yon hill, 
Looking down the silent valley 
Of the shadowy Beaverkill, 
Floats the rapture of the woodthrush, 
And anon the startled bark 
Of the fox, gives distant challenge 
To our camp fire’s fading spark. 
Slow the crescent moon is rising 
O’er the hemlock’s shattered crest, 
And the lonely owl has seen it 
From yon gulley in the west. 
Hear him hoot far up the mountain, 
Pausing in some noiseless flight, 
Calling us in hollow accents— 
Who—are you—down there—good night! P. C. B. 
Unmsotd 
For Forest and /Stream . 
BY SIDNEY WTLMOT. 
) OWN in Kaudiyohi County, by the shores of Green 
Lake, lives a brave woman who would blush if I were 
write her name for the papers, but who did not hesitate 
good earnest to shoot three fine deer when the fair op- 
rtunity came in her way. I thought it was a “yarn” 
len a neighbor first told me, but when I met her husband 
: completely verified the story. In the absence of her 
sband Mr. A-s’, A-1, a Swede, came running in 
gerly asking, “Where is Mr. A-? I want him to get 
i gun and shoot three deer which ‘Fanny’ is keeping in 
; lake.” “Fanny” is the most useful setter I ever saw. I 
11 tell you more about her another time. Mrs. A-re¬ 
ed, “If you will row the boat I will go and do what I 
l” Taking down her husband’s gun she went with the 
:husiastic Scandinavian and in two hours came back 
'limphantly with a doe and two fawns as the trophies of 
skill. I am sorry I cannot give the filling in of the 
ture; but as truthfulness and not exaggeration is char- 
• eristic of the choice Forest and Stream, I will not 
; iw upon my imagination. I should like to have seen 
1 sport—the panting Swede—the aroused lady—the saga- 
'us clog. The lake is not less than two miles across at 
7 Point and two hours’ pulling, shooting, shouting, bark- 
must have made it lively indeed. I think I must ask 
\ t0 write it out for us. 
want sometime to tell you about ‘‘Fanny,” and I may 
Yell do it now. She is a black and mottled setter—not 
i large, but powerful, with silky hair, lustrous and 
j,)oth, beautiful ears, deep, soft, loving eyes. I never 
r them but once, but shall never forget them. She is a 
jr iplete retriever—excellent for chickens—will bark part- 
S es , tree bears and make herself generally useful. Her 
ijaer toldme, “She is my market . In duck season she 
!'hidden in the grass and brings me home on an average 
f )zen a week, which she catches alive.” Mr. R_ an 
did hunter, assured me he had frequently captured a 
i fu h by merely frightening them with a shot. The fat 
li‘ffg ducks would waddle out on the shore and the dog 
Eg their tracks would bring him every one. It is five 
j,,' S ^ce, falling in love with the beautiful creature, I 
||ged her owner to let me have a puppy from her. Four 
! $ later, when I had changed my home twice and given 
j;, ex Pectation, I received a line from Mr. A-, saying 
vvas ready to redeem his piomise and send me a fine 
a puppy. And in due time the little dog came by ex- 
s - He is full grown now and I hope will have some¬ 
thing to say for himself in your columns some day. I do 
not often look at his beautiful form rvithout thinking of 
the gentleman and sportsman at Green Lake who remem¬ 
bered for four years his verbal promise given to a passing 
stranger as he stopped for a hunter’s lunch near his cottage 
door. Pardon so much personality, but I did want to put 
such kindness on record. I am “chock” full of brag about 
“Dan,” my first setter, whom I, of course, think a wonder¬ 
ful dog, but I will spare you. 
Colonel Crittenden, at Fort Abercrombie, on the western 
border of Minnesota, in command of the 17th U. S. In¬ 
fantry, has in connection with a club in his regiment a fine 
pack of dogs. Two fine stag hounds from General Custar’s 
pack—descendents from a pair Duke Alexis gave him—sev¬ 
eral choice greyhounds, a string of fox hounds, rare 
pointers and setters, with some immense Newfoundlands 
made as fine a sight of dogs as ever gladdened the eyes of a 
lover of dogs in the west. I am told it never takes them 
more than four hours to go out and catch an antelope. It 
is reported that General Stanley had one greyhound in the 
Northern Pacific Exploring Expedition last summer, which 
alone caught twenty-seven antelopes. 
One Tesult of the formation of a Sportsmen’s Club at 
Brainerd—the headquarters of the Northern Pacific Rail¬ 
road, where the road crosses the Mississippi River—is better 
attention to the raising of good dogs. Curs are at a dis¬ 
count. Good dogs cost no more to keep, and aside from 
those who make it a business, gentlemen are glad to see 
well bred dogs multiplied. 
The N. P. R. R., from Duluth, on Lake Superior, to 
Bis mark, on the Missouri River, passes through a country 
well adapted to sport, I do not say the woods are all alive 
with game, but there is abundance of it, and it increases as 
the Indians are kept closer upon their reservations. There 
are moose, elk, deer, bears, wild cats in the dense woods 
east of Brainerd. Probably fifty deer were killed within 
three miles of Brainerd last winter. West from Brainerd 
to the Red River the country grows more open and streams, 
lakes, marshes increase until you reach the wonderful Red 
River Flats. Here it is entirely within bounds to say ducks 
can be found by the million. The shallow ponds, the 
streams, the larger lakes are alive with them. It is no un¬ 
common thing to see a thousand at once from the car win¬ 
dow. Passing on a hand-car, between stations, with a good 
dog, one could make a big bag without leaving the track. 
At times prairie chickens, (I am content to use the popular 
nomenclature,) are almost as abundant. At Fargo, in Da¬ 
kota, it ceased to be any sport to shoot chickens last fall, 
and one party from Duluth, including Rev. Mr. Heberton, 
a most accomplished hunter, after bagging eighty chickens 
one afternoon gave up in disgust, it was so hard to make the 
chickens fly. But it is not always so. It is marvelous where 
so many chickens hide on other days. From Fargo, on the 
Red River, for 250 miles out to the Missouri, the country is 
mostly open rolling prairie. Rivers and lakes are compar¬ 
atively rare, but when found, abound in fish and attract 
great quantities of game to their wooded shores. A gentle¬ 
man who went through on the.first train to Bismark, after 
the snow was cleared, reported seeing “a thousand antelope,” 
i. e., a great many. A personal friend last fall counted 
thirty antelope while riding from Fort Totten to Fort 
Seward; elk, wolves, jack rabbits, and other game also 
abound. Buffalo are rare, as hostile Indians beyond the 
Missouri watch the fords jealously to prevent their crossing. 
If you will notice the map of central and northern Minne¬ 
sota you will see that lakes abound as in no other State in 
the Union. Nor are they largely marshes or mud ponds, 
but clear lakes with gravelly shores, spring fed, and many 
of them of wondrous beauty. Lieut. Maury, unless I am 
very much mistaken, has said Minnesota has more lakes 
than all the rest of the country. Of some of these, and of 
some rare water excursions whiph may be made on them, 
and the beautiful little rivers which traverse them, I will 
gladly speak in another paper. We hope the visitors from 
the mother country will bring some of their wonderful dogs 
to the matchless prairies of Minnesota and Dakota. Fair 
fields and fair play for all dogs and no roughs to interfere. 
The general manager of theN.P.R.R. assured me he would 
extend all possible courtesies to gentlemen from abroad 
bringing their dogs to a match. Indeed this kindess is 
characteristic of all the officials of the road, many of whom 
love dogs and guns, and some of whom are active members 
of the Brainerd Club. I am personally acquainted with 
Mr. T. P. Cantwell, Secretary of the Brainerd Club, 
and know he will cheerfully and thoroughly answer any 
questions which your patrons may want to ask him. 
For Forest and Stream. 
TROUT OF THE TRUCKEE RIVER. 
N OT having seen a regular speckled trout or brook 
trout, as they are called, for many years, 1 have al¬ 
most forgotten their appearance, but these trout are vastly 
different both as to size and habits. First let me say the 
waters of the Truckee River extend from Lake Tahoe, (the 
head of the Truckee,) to Pyramid Lake, the sink thereof. 
Tahoe is already known to fame for its fine trout and beau¬ 
tiful surroundings, its unknown depths, treacherous “buz- 
zum,” subaqueous hot springs, and romantic scenery. It 
is a great resort for tourists, situate on tie line between 
Nevada and California in the Sierras. The Truckee River 
flows from its north end, and is its only outlet of import¬ 
ance, but the river is fed all along its course by mountain 
streams of melting snow till it debouches in this basin, 
where is built Reno, and in which agricultural pursuits are 
carried to some extent through irrigation, the Truckee fur¬ 
nishing the water supply. The river leaves the basin after 
an easterly course through it by a canon, and passing a 
little northerly empties into Pyramid Lake, a large body of 
water wiihin the confines of the mountains, but not quite 
so picturesque as Tahoe or Donner Lakes. The country 
around it affords excellent grazing ranges. Pyramid Lake 
abounds with feathered game, swan, geese, ducks, &c., the 
latter of several species, and is the winter quarters of the 
trout. As soon as the river begins to rise in the spring 
they start on their pilgrimage for Tahoe, with their bellies 
full of spawn, and in such vast schools that it is no trouble 
to get as many as one wishes by simply going to the river 
for them. The Washoe and Piutes Indians are great fish¬ 
ers, and the loads they take are surprising. They spear, 
and grab and bait for them. Getting out in the middle of 
the stream on a rock, they await one’s coming, jab a small 
spear in his back and pass him out. At the several mill 
dams, with a grab hook, made by fixing four large hooks 
in a “hunk” of lead, attached to line at end of pole and 
throwing it at the foot of the fall and jerking it out vigor¬ 
ously they manage to hook from the large numbers gather¬ 
ed there to go over when the water is high enough, great 
quantities, hundreds of pounds daily at one dam. I do not 
yarn this at all and venture to say that several tons of trout 
have been taken this way at the dam here in town at the 
season of the year mentioned. Standing on its bank near 
the falls one can see the trout jumping the dam every min¬ 
ute. The grab hook takes the greatest quantity next the 
bait; either spawn tied in a small sack of mosquito netting 
of pink color or a minnow does the business. The Isaac 
Walton, be he Caucasian or native American, fishes any¬ 
where along the river, but usually where it runs deepest 
and smoothest, whereas I believe the brook trout of the 
east is taken from foam of cascade and rapids, and by con¬ 
cealed anglers. Concealment is not necessary here. The 
bait is thrown out as far as pole and line will cast it and let 
float down with the current, properly leaded to cause it to 
sink near the bottom, just to escape the rocks and sunken 
logs, and when all the line is out is pulled up and thrown 
again out and up stream. The trout takes it freely and is 
easily landed, not by jerking the fish out of the wet, but by 
playing him ashore. I have seen some fly hooks used by 
fancy anglers, but they do not seem to be a favorite bait. 
Spawn or minnows are preferred. Hooks are used from 
number four to larger. The grab hooks are much larger. 
The Kirby hook is preferred to the Limerick. Now as to 
appearance and size of the trout. There seems to be two 
distinct species, though similar in appearance. Instead of 
