\ NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1874. 
Volume 2, Number 14 
17 Chatham St. (CityHall Sqr.) 
For Forest and Stream. 
THE ROYST ER ER’S PARADOX. 
BY A. J. M’GINKS. 
[Late Dialect Professor in St. X's College , and now Resident Director of 
a Street Crossing Company.] ^ 
M USING near a Limestone Quarry, 
Micaceous lava by my side, 
Wrapt in melancholy—sorry, 
I watched the trapezoidal tide. 
The Tmesis singing in the skies 
With stereoscopic euphony, 
The harsh Ophidian’s towering cries, 
Ne’er roused my deep cacophony. 
At length I woke in climax wild 
And peering thro’ the glimm ering sheen, 
Upstarted, wondering how beguiled 
Had sulphuretted cynics been; 
For, right before me stood a form 
Arrayed in cataplastic guise, 
And in his hand, from murder warm, 
A syncope of hugest size. 
He waved his sarabund on high, 
His catapnltic visage frowned, 
While flashed his therapeutic eye 
On fossil bivalves crusted round. 
“Thou subterfuge!” I hoarsely cried, 
“What pericardium brought thee here? 
Thou diatribe of perchloride! 
Prepare to meet thy lager beer!” 
The beetling cliff incumbent reared 
Behind the Roysterer’s paradox, 
And soon his concrete head appeared 
Infinitessimal on the rocks. 
MORAL: 
When prophylactics raise their heads, 
Or Legislative lenses frown, 
Ne’er pause where plastic folly weds, 
But strive at once to knock them down. 
For Forest and Stream. 
|ptf! fellow atom 
ITS charm s" FOR S PORTSMEN. 
M ANY of the journals and periodicals have occasion¬ 
ally made mention of the famous Yellowstone Val¬ 
ley of Montana, and have spoken of its many natural 
wonders and curiosities, but few, if any, have made any 
reference to its advantages as a field for the sportsman. 
Of its famous geysers, its curious mud fountains, its frost- 
lihe incrustations of every hue and shade, its magnificent 
lakes, its thermal springs and varied scenery, accurate ac¬ 
counts have been given by Donne, Hayden, and others. 
But that it is the favorite summer resort, the Newport and 
Saratoga of the grizzly bear, the California lion, and innu¬ 
merable varieties of fur-bearing animals, and of the feath¬ 
ered tribes; that the lakes, both large and small, fairly teem 
with trout, and, as one writer says, “there are no small trout 
there, few if any weighing less than a pound,” almost no 
°ue has heard. 
This natural basin was once the crater of an immense 
volcano, the smothered fires of which still burn far below, 
showing their power by the immense jets of water, some¬ 
times three hundred feet in height and ten in diameter, 
which they force up. At present it appears as a sheltered 
valley, from twenty to forty miles in diameter, at an alti- 
u ue of some 6,500 feet above the level of the sea, well 
hooded and watered, and surrounded by mountains whose 
tops are covered with eternal snow. Entrance to this val- 
e y is through the canon of the Yellowstone, and this can 
c gained only during the months of June, July, August, 
jmd September. There is also a trail over the mountains, 
ouehing the upper end of the valley leading from the great 
r ° s hone Falls and head of the Snake River, via the head 
Waters of the Madison and Gallatin rivers—both of which 
ave valleys similar to, but much smaller than the Yellow- 
tb° Ile ~~ t<) tlle & reat Buffalo range between this district and 
c Missouri. This is known as the Bannock trail. 
The sportsman will go by the Pacific Railroad to Evans¬ 
ton or Cheyenne, and thence to Fort Ellis, Montana, which 
last place is but five or six days from the Great Basin, with 
fine hunting and fishing all the way. He will require heavy 
clothing, and all the requisites for camping out. The travel 
will not be found especially difficult, nor will the danger 
be great, as the Indians, having a superstitious reverence 
for the valley, believing it to be the abode of the Great 
Spirit, never enter it. Says one writer:—“The only traces 
of Indians we had seen were some shelters of logs, rotten 
and tumbling down from age, together with a few poles 
standing in former summer camps; there were no fresh 
trails whatever. Appearances indicated that the basin had 
been almost entirely abandoned by the sons of the forest. 
A few lodges of Sheepeaters—a branch remnant of the 
Snake tribe, wretched beasts who run from the sight of the 
white man, or any other tribe of Indians—are said to in¬ 
habit the fastnesses of the mountains around the lakes, 
poorly armed and mounted, obtaining a precarious subsist¬ 
ence, and in a defenceless condition. We saw, however, 
no recent traces of them. The larger tribes never enter 
the basin, restrained by superstitious ideas in connection 
with the thermal springs. A party of three can travel with 
perfect safety, so far as Indians are concerned, in any part 
of this district by keeping watch upon their horses at 
night, as the lions would make short work with them if an 
opportunity was afforded, horseflesh being their favorite 
diet.” Whether the present Sioux imbroglio will make 
any difference in this respect I am unable to state, but in 
so far as the Great Basin itself is concerned I presume it 
will be little or none. 
To give an idea of the abundance and variety of game I 
append a few paragraphs taken from the official report of 
Lieut. Doane, Secorfd United States Cavalry, who visited 
this valley in 1870. This officer started from Fort Ellis, 
Montana, on the 22d of August, struck the l r ellowstone in 
about eight hours; entering the valley through the great 
canon of the Yellowstone. The Yellowstone abounds in 
trout; the writer says:—“The Yellowstone trout are pecu¬ 
liar, being the largest variety of the genus caught in waters 
flowing east. Their numbers are perfectly fabulous, but 
their appetites extremely dainty. One may fish with the 
finest tackle of eastern sportsmen, when the water appears 
to be alive with them, all day long, without a bite. Grass¬ 
hoppers are their peculiar weakness, and, using them for 
bait, the most awkward angler can fill a champagne basket 
in an hour or two. They do not bite with the spiteful 
greediness of the eastern brook trout, but amount to much 
more in the way of subsistence when caught. The flesh is 
of a bright yellow color on the inside of the body, and of 
a flavor unsurpassed.” 
I think all the Yellowstone trout are salmon trout, though 
the brook trout is, I believe, caught in most of the moun¬ 
tain streams of this region. 
“Our mess table was here supplied with antelope, hare, 
ducks and grouse killed during the day (on the march), and 
with fish caught ad libitum in the afternoon.” 
Passing through the canon, and arriving at the mouth of 
Gardiner’s River, the Yellowstone “at this point shrinks to 
half its usual size, lost among boulders of the drift, innu¬ 
merable masses of which choke up the stream in many 
places, forming alternate pools and rapids, which afforded 
great delight to the fishermen of our party. Coming into 
camp in advance, passing through a grove of pine on the 
margin of a little creek, I was met face to face in the path 
by two magnificent buck elk, one of which I wounded, but 
lost in the woods. Shortly afterwards Mr. S- started 
up a small bear, which also got away. The ground was 
everywhere tracked by the passage of elk and mountain 
sheep, and bear signs were everywhere visible.” 
Three miles below the Yellowstone Falls the chasm is 
1,050 feet deep; on the “caps of the dizzy heights above 
the mountain sheep and elk rest during the night.” 
Entering the Great Basin over the high ridges, as they 
descended they “found a large flock of mountain sheep, 
very tame, and greatly astonished, no doubt, at our sudden 
appearance. Elk were feeding in small bands on the other 
side of the valley, and large flocks of water fowl were fre¬ 
quently seen sporting in the river channel. Here trout 
were caught in abundance.” 
At the Great Yellowstone Lake, at the mouth of creeks 
emptying therein, 7 are “large, swampy districts, flooded, 
and the resort of myriads of water fowl. The waters of 
the lake “abound with trout to such an extent that the fish 
at this season are in poor condition for want of food. No 
other fish are seen; no minnows, no small trout. There are 
also no clams, crabs, nor turtles— nothing but full grown 
trout. These could be caught in mule loads by wading out 
a few feet in the open waters at any point, with a grass¬ 
hopper bait. Two men could catch them faster than half 
a dozen could clean and get them ready for the frying pan. 
Caught in the open lake, their flesh was yellow; but in bays 
where the water was strongly impregnated with chemicals, 
it was blood red.” 
“The whole valley is filled with pools of water, a resort 
for great numbers of waterfowl. The ground was trodden 
by thousands of elk and sheep. Bear tracks and beaver 
trails were also numerous, and occasionally was seen the 
footsteps of a California lion. During the night we were 
several times disturbed by the dismal screaming of Cali¬ 
fornia lions, and in the morning found their huge tracks 
close around the camp. In the evening a grizzly bear, with 
cubs, was roused by some of the party, but as they had not 
lost any bears she got away with her interesting family 
undisturbed. These animals are very numerous in the 
basin, the green grasses, berries, and pine nuts affording 
them abundant supplies of food. The small lakes are per¬ 
fectly alive with otter, which may be seen playing upon 
their surfaces at nightfall by hundreds. Beaver, mink, 
and muskrat are also abundant. 
“In the evening large numbers of fish were caught, Pri¬ 
vate -catching fifty-two large trout fall that two men could 
carry , in less than an hour. In the early morning we were 
serenaded by a couple of lions, their melancholy voices 
echoing through the heavy forest with a peculiarly wild, 
mournful sound. 
“The water fowl on the lake deserve a passing notice. 
These include swans, pelicans, gulls, Canada geese, brant, 
and many varieties of ducks and dippers. There are also 
herons and sand hill cranes. Of pelicans, immense num¬ 
bers sail in fleets along the lake, in company with the ma¬ 
jestic swan. The gulls are of the same variety as those 
found in San Francisco harbor. I think the pelicans are 
identical with those found in the great lakes on our north¬ 
ern border, but am not sure, as we did not get a specimen. 
There are several low, flat islands in the lake, which are 
always white with them at the close of the day. Of the 
birds and animals of the forest, I have seen of each several 
not down in the books—comprising, of birds, a sort of large 
mocking bird, two varieties, belonging, I think, to the 
genus ‘corvusf two kinds of woodpeckers; two or three 
specimens of grouse; also a guide bird, resembling a black 
bird, but larger. I saw but one of these, the day I went 
to the bottom of the Great Canon; it hopped and flew along 
from rock to rock ahead of us during the whole trip down, 
waited perched upon a rock while we were resting, and led 
us clear to the summit again in the same manner, making 
innumerable sounds and gestures constantly to attract at¬ 
tention. Others of the party remarked birds of the same 
kind, and acting in the same manner. The common birds 
of the basin are eagles, hawks, ravens, ospreys, prairie 
chickens, and grouse. Of animals, I saw several species 
of squirrels and weasels, which do not appear in the books. 
We saw no snakes of any kind in the basin. 
“Crossing the river we moved down to a central point of 
the valley, and camped in a little grove of pine timber near 
the margin of a small marshy lake, around which were to 
be seen numerous fresh signs of buffalo, driven out by the 
noise of our hasty intrusion.” 
It will thus be seen that the abundance and variety of 
game is not exceeded in any other part of the country, and 
from its being undisturbed by Indians is comparatively 
tame, so that no difficulty would be found in “making a 
large bag. ” 
