262 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
_ 
[Ocr. 30, 1984. 
The Sportsman Canrist. 
A VOYAGE BETWEEN THE LAKES: 
BY D. D, BANT A, 
Ty. 
Now welcome, Lake Keeuka! Hail to thee, 
Thou hill-hugged bosom of waters, hail! 
—Oountes-Kinney. 
ae morning of the third day dawned cool and clear, 
and our travelers, after a hearty breakfast, resumed 
theit voyage up the outlet. The littie boat was soon going 
ata good rate of speed up the quiet and deep stream, and 
on reunding the second bend above their camp, a mother 
duck with her half-grown family was, unexpectedly to all 
concerned, come up with, when with a creat fluttering and 
quacking, she made her way up stream, while her ducklings 
dodged into safe hiding places, and all was stillagain. ~ 
Searcely had the ripples set in motion by the mother duck 
died on the shore, when Brother Scott thought he saw a 
erouse, and they at once landed that he might go and shoot 
it. But his hunt was unsuccessful, and as he re-entered the 
boat, a descending canoe came into view. Its sole occupant 
was on his knees with body erect, and his steady strokes of 
the paddle sent his erait down stream at a speed the naviga- 
tors of the Wawa never dreamed of save in very swift water, 
A rifle, a blanket and a lantern stowed in the bow, war- 
ranted the Judge and Brother Scott in considering him pretty 
well equipped for night-hunting. 
Meeting him unexpectedly and in the wilderness they took 
more particular notice of his personal appearance than they 
otherwise would. His hair, cut short, was bristly and of a 
dull leaden color, while his chin tuft—the ouly beard he 
wore—was a tawny white. His sunken and corrugated 
cheeks had a leathery look, and his long, thin nose, was 
humped like a ‘“‘hog brace,” and his light gray eyes gleamed 
trom beneath a jutting and over-dleveloped eyebrow, 
Hello,” said the Judge as the fellow seemed inclined to 
pass on the further side without speaking, ‘“Are you lost or 
are we?” 
“7 don’t know whether you are or not, but I'l] be blank 
blanked if Iam,” he replied. 
“Well, I don’t think we are,” said the Judge, “‘but we 
were never here before. I suppose you live hereabouts?” 
*VYes, down the river a mile below the outlet.” 
“Hm, you'll hardly be able to go all the way home by 
Tiver,” suggested the Judge. 
And then there was an explosion. The man had a griey- 
anee and the Judge had unwittingly uncovered it, and now 
that the cover was off, the fellow poured forth such a torrent 
of abuse interlarded with such an array of unique and in- 
dictive maledictions leveled at the Chicago Lumber Company, 
ihe reported authors of the obstruction, as is seldom heard in 
places where men live, let alone in the wilderness. 
After the first burst of wrath began to subside he was 
asked several questions concerning the lakes and the country, 
all of which he answered willingly and intelligently, but 
when his questioners wanted to know something about deer 
shooting, eyeing the meanwhile his gun and lantern, he 
resumed his invective against the rich lumber company that 
was trampling on the rights of the poor and then moved on. 
Our yoyagers soon forgot the man and his grievance. The 
wrath and gloom that, like things of evil, had followed them 
at the beginning of their journey, had long since been left 
behind; and now, alive only to the sensations produced by the 
varied scenery about them and their spirits subdued by the 
drowsy influences of the morning, they journeyed slowly on. 
Brother Scott began softly humming to himself a familiar 
tune, and among the words that he ‘mumbled o’er,” the 
Judge heard: 
‘This is the way [long have sought 
And mourued because I found it not,” 
and he knew that Brother Scott was happy. 
At one place where water, sky, marsh grass, foliage, sun- 
shine and shadows combined to forma picture of exceptional 
peauty, they landed to get a photographic view, and while 
thé Judge was busy with the camera, his companion found 
a raspberry patch, where the ripe red berries hung in such 
large and tempting clusters that, after the picture was 
taken, the finder Jed the way back to it and in spite ofa 
nest of threatening ‘‘yellow jackets” close at hand, they 
gathered enough fruit to furnish their table the rest of the 
day. 
x short run brought them to the entrance of a stream 
from the south side. This flowed from a small lake two 
miles to the south known as Mud Lake and reputed to be a 
great deer resort. From it the canoeman of the morning 
hisid doubtless come. 
Right al the mouth of the stream the water was very deep, 
and a pele driven into the bottom signified that these fish 
were to be taken. Marcot had told them to stop there and 
try their luck fishing, but notwithstanding large numbers of 
fine-looking fish were to be seen through the clear waters, 
the spoons tendered them had no charms; and the travelers 
moved on. j 
‘A. half a mile further run, brought them into the Manis- 
tique Lake, In the throat of the outlet is deep water which 
all reports bespoke a noted fish pool, and the vanishing fins 
as the Wawa floated over the translucent tide, indicated that 
the reports were true. ; 
Our travelers were uo less astonished than charmed with 
the beauty of the scene that opened before them, as they 
entered the lake and gave vent to their feelings in frequent 
exclamations of surprise. Manistique Lake lies in a lime- 
stone basin and its shores, numerously indented with alter- 
nating ‘‘points’ and bays, are surrounded next the water- 
line with a narrow fringe, principally of white cedars, which 
gives way on the rising ground toa dense growth of hem- 
lock, intermingled with beeches, maples and other deciduous 
trees, ts greatest length is almost six miles, being from east 
to west, and its greatest width about four. Along the shores: 
is to be seen a thin white line made by blocks of limestone 
cast up from the rock floor of the lake, This adds to the 
picturesque effect of the scene, but the most marked feature 
is the islands. Four of these rose from the bosom of the 
erystal waters—four apparently round islands, covered with 
emerald forests. . 
‘Phe boatmen turned southward; they entered from the 
west and ran a mile or more to a long point extending out 
from the west shore. ‘This was not less than half mile long, 
and half the distance it was not to exceeed an average width 
of twenty feet. Its sides were well rip-rapped with broken 
Jimestone rock, and from its backbone sprouted a bristly 
hedge of dwarfed evergreens. On this rocky point they 
prepared their dinners, eating off the smooth surface of a 
limestone slab, 
From this vantage ground the west half of the north shore 
could be seen, together with the little clearings and some of 
the cabins of the six or seven settlers who have within the 
past three or four years moved in, All the south shore could 
be seen except such parts as lay behind headlands, and not a 
cabin marred the view, One small clearing showed where 
an Indian had undertaken to make a ‘‘claim,” but had 
fainted by the way. To sail down this south and wilderness 
shore to the portage leading across to White Fish Lake, 
lying three-quarters of a mile south of the Manistique, was 
the purpose of our travelers; but a mile to the east of them 
lay the nearest island, and it looked so inviting that they at 
once turned their canoes to it. As they approached it they 
discovered a flock of ducks in its vicinity, and to reach these 
a wide circuit was made and the island nearly cireumnavi- 
gated. The ducks escaped, however, and the island was 
found to be a long and rather narrow limestone outcrop, 
covered with popple saplings and fuzzy underbrush. Its 
beauty had vanished, and Brother Scott and his companion 
regretted that they had not kept on their original course. 
When ready to resume their journey, their ears were 
saluted with the sound of breakers among the rocks on the 
south side of the island, and on paddling around they were 
surprised to see the waters between the island and south 
shore lashed into fury by a sudden wind. One glance over 
the rough waters upset their purpose of going to the south 
shore just then, and turning northward the way to the 
largest island in the lake, three-quarters of a mile distant, 
was open and the water serene. As yet the wind was con- 
fined to a narrow belt on the south side of the lake, 
On reaching the large island they were mel by a man who 
invited them to land, and was pleased to show them the 
choicest of the raspberries that grew in abundance on it, and 
otherwise contributed to their pleasure. He was a resident 
of some one of the railroad villages lying to the north, and 
had come to the Manistique Lake with his wife and another 
woman on a sort of vacation, and this day they were berry- 
ing on the island. He had found the time to hang heavily 
upon his hands, and pressed the Judge and Brother Scott to 
make their camp for a few days in the vicinity of his stop- 
ping place, assuring them that if they would do so he would 
paddle the boat. for one of them to shine a deer. ‘‘) can’t 
shoot,” said he, ‘‘worth a blanked cent, but I can paddle 
like thunder!” 
The generous and rather unusual offer ef the man was de- 
clined, and once more setting forth on their cruise, they 
made a wide detour eastward to escape the shallows on the 
northeast of the island, 
This island contained about seven acres, and like the other, 
was an outcropping of the Niagara limestone. It was coy- 
ered with timber common to the country, and had a lagoon 
in the center. It was a mile to Hawhbuck’s landing, and 
although the wind had begun to blow in custy puffs on the 
north shore, as before on the south, the Wawa was driven to 
that landing in a short time. - 
Hawbuck’s house stood on rismg ground about fifly yards 
from the water’s edge, and between the two was a flower 
garden filled with pinks—pinks and nothing but pinks—ot 
all colors and growing to perfection, The house itself when 
seen at a distance outlined against the somber forest, had ap- 
peared to be large and roomy, but a near view showed that 
it was the merest log cabin; still there had been an effort at 
adornment. There was a porch overlooking the lake, and 
the four sturdy sapling columns with the bark on that up 
held its clapboard roof, had recently been painted a bottle 
green, Above the door was a diamond-shaped ornament, 
carved with a pocket knife out of pine wood, which was 
likewise painted green. On the edge of the porch floor was 
a varied assortment of battered cans and cracked crockery, 
all painted green, and improvised into flower pots, from 
which rose-moss, witch-in-the-green, touch-me-nots, bachelor- 
buttons, and other old-fashioned flowering plants were 
blooming, and by the side of the door, swinging to a wooden 
pin, was a bird cage containing its twittering little bird, 
whose ancestors had originally come all the way from the 
Canary Islands. In response tou sturdy knock on one of 
the sturdy sapling columns of the porch, the mistress of the 
castle appeared and the wandering knights stood speechless 
before her. There she was, a young dame in a neat gown, 
bright-eyed and smiling, and with a head covered with a 
mass of quivering and carefully-kept brownish curls; while 
there they were, ragged and unkempt, the Judge’s collar 
open at the throat, and Brother Scott’s trousers out behind. 
Instinetively the former felt for his open collar, and the lat- 
ter felt behind, while the dame, tossing her elastic curls, 
showed her pretty teeth, and disclosed her English origin by 
dropping her h’s. Handing them chairs they were soon 
seated, but scarcely was this done when & young man came 
in who wore tightly-fitting trousers, and boots with heels re- 
markably small for his feet, The first thought of the two 
knights was that he was the lord of the castle, but he soon 
gaye them to understand that he was only the ‘‘neyvy” of 
the lord, The ‘‘neyyy” displayed a churlishness seldom 
met with in frontier life. The knights were charmed with 
the place and proposed camping there for the night, but he 
knew of no suitable place short of “‘yan yander pint,” which 
was a mile away. Then the Judge asked him if he could 
buy some potatoes, 
‘Yes, how many do you want?” 
“A peck.” ‘ 
“A peck?” exclaimed the ‘‘nevvy,” with a dash of con- 
tempt in his tone, 
“Lord, man,” said the Judge, “you don’t think we want 
to buy your entire crop, do you?” 
And the dame who was standing in the door shook her 
elastic curls and shayved her pretty teeth and laughed a little 
laugh, as if she thought it all very funny, r 
Taking a hoe, the potato trader set out for the patch, in- 
viting one of the knights to follow him. The Judge by 
this time had managed to button his collar, and had carefully 
seen to it that his shirt was well thrust down beneath his 
wuistband, and feeling quite comfortable he made no move- 
ment to follow; thereupon Brother Scott gave the Judge a 
you-go sort of look, but it was all in vain. The Judge was 
asking questions about the seasons on the Jake, and the dame 
was protesting without the aid of h’s that she ad lately come 
to the region, and her elastic curls were quivering and her 
pretty teeth gleaming and her bright eyes beaming. Brother 
Scott, seeing that he had to go, tacked off the porch rather 
awkwardly but nevertheless safely and got away. After 
the potatoes were dug he went up the hill to where Hawbuck 
was plowing a tract of stumpy ground with oxen, and the 
two had a brief talk about the country and the fishing. Mr. 
H., it seemed, had lived about five years on the lake, but up 
to about a year ago had done nothing but trap. Every im- 
Hawbuck’s Landing, 
provement at his place worthy of the name had been done 
within the past year; all before that was a blank, ‘‘He left 
the impression on my mind,” said Brother Scott that night, 
as at the camp-fire they talked over the incidents of the day, 
“that he is in his year one.” 
“And so he is,” replied the Judge, ‘for the curly-headed 
Hnglish wife has been with him only since last spring.” 
“How did he ever happen to get her?” asked Brother 
Scott, as if the Judge could know, : 
But the Judge did know—at least undertook to tell the 
story—how H., five years before and the dame, then a miss 
in her teens, living with an uncle in New York, had been 
lovers, and how a fascinating dry goods clerk had come tem- 
porarily between them, and how he had fled the country and 
taken up his abode on this Jake. Wor four years no word 
had been heard of him, and the English girl, broken down 
in health, was taken by her uncle to the Upper Peninsula to 
regain it, and who should turn upas guide aud boatman 
over this very Manistique Lake but her old lover; and what 
else could they do but kiss and make up and go to house- 
keeping inthe old cabin. ‘‘It’s ‘the old, old story,’ ” con- 
cluded the Judge, 
“Love! Love! Old song that poet ever chanteth, 
Of which the listening world is never weary.” 
To the romantic tale as told, Brother Scott gave a listen- 
ing ear, and when it was through hesaid, ‘‘Yes, it might be. 
Every cabin along here doubtless has its romance, and the 
one you haye woven from a very slender thread, or, what is 
more to the purpose, from no tliread at all, is as likely to be 
true as any of them.” 
Our voyagers were encamped on the second headland from 
At the first they had found the cedar 
thicket practically impenetrable, but at the second was a 
good and accessible camping ground. Their little tent was 
soon set up in an open space, and boughs cut und a bed 
made. Over the coals the Judge broiled a pike they had 
hooked on their last run, and around a glowing hardwood 
fire they sat till a late hour, weaving romances and seeing 
visions of flower gardens and elastic curls and Manistique 
beauties in the blinking coals. 
STONY ISLAND. 
12 has come to be an accepted fact that the black bass is 
to be the main reliance of the every-day angler. The 
purl of that untainted stream where alone the brook trout 
will consent to dwell, has grown fainter and fainter upon 
the ear of careless or unappreciating men, until now it is 
substantially true that its sweet music and sweet waters, 
like many good and worthy things in life, are chiefly for 
the possessors of time and money. He, therefore, who 
makes known to the craft of anglers the sure dwelling place 
of black bass, confers a favor that will be sufficiently recog- 
nized. 
In the Fornst AND STREAM of Oct, 2, ‘“Podgers” relates 
his search for and finding the sportsman’s paradise about 
Cape Vincent on the St, Lawrence. Let me call the atten- 
tion of your readers to a localily just this side of paradise, a 
cis-Podgersian paradise, as it were. 
Where the waters of the great lakes begin for the last time 
to gather themselves, and to feel the mighty traction of the 
sea along the channel of the St, Lawrence, and 1n the com- 
pany of others that serve to introduce you to the greater 
company of the Thousand Isles, lies Stony Island, It is 
reached from Watertown inthe State of New York by a 
branch road to Sackett’s Harbor, and thence by the propeller 
Dayan, which runs Tuesdays and Thursday to the head of 
the island, It is between three and four miles long and one 
broad, and lies ten miles ont in Lake Ontario, Its rocky 
foundations on the north rise to a headland barely respecta- 
ble. Elsewhere its low surface and sloping shores, conyerge 
into fine points that continue as reefs far out from water 
line. It has bays and shallows which are the homes of 
countless black bass. 
Ten families have eked a living for years from its thin soil 
and fat fishing. Sportsmen have lately furnished to some a 
substantial aid to their resources, and with the growing fame 
of the island for fishing must come their best harvest, July 
and August are its proper season, May and September, on 
the island, have hints in their atmosphere of winter, that 
are somewhat rough and forbidding for the proverbially, 
gentle angler. ‘‘Benoits” is the name of a family at ‘the 
Head,” who, in an every-day sort of a house and outlying 
cottages, minister to the wants of fishermen in the way of 
beds and food. They can find boats and boatmen for appli- 
cants. Prices are low. 
Many atime while in camp on the island has the writer 
stretched himself upon the beach of asummer night and 
with delight and sweet forgetfulness watched the moon ride 
througb the southern sky, touching, with its silvery shcen, 
the white crests of the wayes that break upon the rocks and 
sand, There has he easily imagined the warm south wind, 
rustling the leaves of beach and maple on the shore and 
laden with the cool moisture of the great water, to be the 
air of a tropical clime, whose night it was. How softly 
breathed the wind, how the light of the stars and of that 
ereater luminary mellowed the darkness far out on the lake, 
disclosing now and then the white sails of some tacking 
schooner, ; 
Neighboring Calf Island (romantic name) on such a night, 
with its encircling line of breakers, with its low shores and 
flat surface, with its slim-trunked elms, whose branches 
spread in a thick-leayed crown, looks for all the world like 
some “pleasant isle of Ayés beside the Spanish Main.” ike 
all time were like such nights who would not be a lotos 
eater on yonder island, 
‘Po watch the crisping ripples on the beach 
And tender curving lines of creamy spray, 
To lend our hearts and spirits wholly 
To the influence of mild-minded melancholy.” 
Had the writer the confidence to believe that it would be 
of interest sufficient for the valuable pages of FermsT AND 
SrrEam he might recite how on a fine day in August he took 
ship—a small yacht—at the port of Oswego, and with two 
other wise men, two boys and a sailor, slid away over the 
blue waters thirty miles in five hours to “Stony,” how he 
went to bed at Benoit’s and was awakened from his sleep of 
innocence by being rasped with a long pole thrust m from 
out of doors by a facetious compagnon de voyage, who thought 
this business a necessary preliminary to imparting the infor- 
mation that the wind had chopped about, and that our craft 
must sail away to ‘the Foot’ (of the island) or go aground; 
how we sailed away and barely escaped beaching the Idler 
at the Foot; how we camped for three delightful nights and 
days under rainy and starry skies in a ragged lean-to on jhe 
a 
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