Forest AND Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. ) 

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NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 12, 188B. 



J VOL. XXV.— No. 16. 



( Nos, 39 & 40 Park Rq-w, New York. 



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Forest and 8cr«un PnbHahtnc Oo. 

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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



A Trophy from the Yellowstone. 



Possession in Close Season. 



Another Sj^ndicate. 



Back to Grindstone. 



Steam Yacht Racing. 



Resources of the Northwest. 

 The Sportsmau Tourist. 



F.ast of the Cascades. 



In Lonesome Canyon. 



Amateur Photograph^'. 

 NATmiAL Histors. 



Life as a Protector to the Earth. 



Notes ou the Vu'ginia Black- 

 snake. 



Birds of Michigan. 



Crayfjsli. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Antelope in Kansas Draws. 



Soutnein Ducking Grounds. 



California Game Notes. 



Game in the Pine Tree State. 



A Texas Quail Shoot. 

 Camp-Fire Flickbrinos. 

 Ska and River B'ishing. 



The TournamenT. 



Odd Angling Experiences. 



Ska and RrvTSK Fi.shing. 

 A Tramp for Trout. 



FiSHCULTURE. 



Carp in Ohio. 

 TtiE Kennel. 



The Robins Chib. 



The Fjastern Field Trials. 



News from High Point. 



National Fieid Trials. 



Kennel Notes. 



K'enuel Management. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



The "Forest and Stream" Tra- 

 jectory Test. 



Range and GaUery. 



The Trap. 

 Canoeing. 



CiistoDis ReguJatious and Visit- 

 ing Canoes. 



Executive Committee Meeting. 



The Dockrats' Clam Bake. 



Canoe Complications. 

 Yachting. 



American Y. C. 



Not an American Idea. 



A Short Cruise in the Bonita. 

 Answers to Correspond snts. 



ANOTHER SYNDICATE. 

 'T'HE failure of the Yellowstone PHrk Improvement Com- 

 *- pany i.s ancient history. Xo doubt from its composi- 

 tion it would ultimately have fallen to pieces of its own 

 weight, but we had the pleasure a couple of years ago of 

 .giving it a few blows which helped to shatter the structure. 

 It was a grand scheme— that of capturing*^ the whole Park 

 and all its privileges for a period of ten years— really grand. 

 But in its execution it was a failure. 



Another syndicate has now been gianted by the Interior 

 Department very liberal rights within the Park. This com- 

 pany have been given a lease authorizing the erection of six 

 hotels, the establishment of telephone and stage lines, and 

 the placing of a steamer on the Yellowstone Lake. These 

 are large privileges, but the names of those who are interested 

 in this project give promise that the work which they have 

 undertaken to perform will be well carried out. The names 

 of the gentlemen forming this syndicate are given as M. D. 

 Carington of Toledo, C. B. Wright, Frederic Billings and 

 J. C. Bullitt of Philadelphia, John Perry and Charles Gib- 

 son of St. Louis. Messrs. Wright, Billings and Bullitt are, 

 we believe, in the direction of the Northern Pacific Railway, 

 and the two former have at various times been president of 

 that road. The other gentlemen are sa;id to be prominent 

 capitalists in their resj)ective localities. ■ 



The lease authorizes the erection of hotels at the Yellow- 

 stone Lake, the Lower Falls, the Mammoth Hot Springs, the 

 l^orris and Upper Geyser Basins, and at a point on the 

 Grand Canon. It is stated that plans have beeii prepared 

 for the erection of the hotels and that work will he begun 

 as soon as the weather will permit. 



The unsatisfactory hotel accommodations in the National 

 Park during the past summer caused somewhat serious dis- 

 comfort to many of the people who visited this region. Since 

 the Park has become so popular and the number of people 

 who go through it has so greatly increased, the need of a 

 good hotel has been greatly felt. Many of those who make 

 the trip are entirely unaccustomed to anything approaching 

 rough living. They come out from the East with the idea 

 that the hotels of the Park are like those to which they have 

 teen accustomed, and thej' expect every accommodation 

 and comfort that would be found in an ordinary and well- 



kept hotel. In this they have been disappointed. At the 

 National Park Improvement Company's hotel the service last 

 summer was as bad as bad could be, and to get anything fit 

 to eat w^is a matter of the utmost difficulty. 



We may feel sure that the proposed new hotels will be 

 very ditlerently managed. Aside from the business advan- 

 tage of having them properly kept, it will be greatly to the 

 interest of the Northern Pacific Bail way to have them models 

 of their kind., and some of the members of this new" syndi- 

 cate being interested in the railroad, it seems reasonable to 

 believe that the two corporations will work harmoniously 

 together, each doing all that it can for the interest of the 

 other. 



The persou.s interested in this new project are energetic, 

 reputable and successful men, who may be trusted to carry 

 out in the best manner possible whatever they undertake. 

 In this respect they are very different from some of those 

 irresponsible speculators who were prominent in the defunct 

 National Park Improvement CJompany. 



POSSESSION IN CLOSE SEASON. 

 A N important game law case was decided in the First 

 District Court for Bristol coiinty, Mass. , last week. 

 Suit was brought against a game dealer for having in his 

 possession a number , of quail prior to Oct. 15, the beginning 

 of the Massachusetts open season. It was shown that the 

 quail had been killefl in Connecticut and shipped from that 

 State into Massachusetts. The Court held that this did not 

 constitute a valid defense, the wording of the statute being 

 very explicit on this point: 



Whoever takes or kills * * * a quail bet ween tlie first day of 

 •Tanuary and the fitteenth day of October, or, within the respective 

 times aforesaid, sells, buys, has in possession, or offers for sale any 

 of said birds, whether taken or killed in this Commonwealth, or 

 elsewhere, shall bo punished by fine of twenty dollars for every such 

 offense, except that any person may buy, sell, or have in possession 

 quail and pinnated grouse in January, February, March and April 

 if not taken or killed contrary to the provisions of this chaptf r. 



That is good law. In this case the birds came from an- 

 other State, but for every one bird brought fi-om Connecti- 

 cut the Massachusetts dealers have ten taken in their own 

 State. Under the Massachusetts law the market dealers' 

 scandalous evasion upon plea of imported goods cannot 

 hold. The Massachusetts Fish and Gauie Protective Asso- 

 ciation deserve commendation for bringing this case to such 

 a termination. 



By the way, the quail exported from Connecticut must 

 have been illegally taken out of that State, for the Connecti- 

 cut statute expressly forbids shipment of game. The will- 

 ingness of the game dealer, Cheever, to deal in contraband 

 goods is only a fresh illustration of the dou't-give-a-conti- 

 nental-about-the-game-law spirit of most game dealers, and 

 shows how hollow are their pretensions when they pose as 

 friends of game protection. 



A TROPHY FROM THE YELLOWSTONE. 

 \ /V/ Y, have now at this office an old-fashioned Sharps rifle 

 * ' which has a little history— a history with a moral 

 attached. It will be remembered that last summer George 

 Reeder and John Ferguson were arrested in the National 

 Park and brought before Justtee Metcalf, where they were 

 charged with killing two elk and eight beaver. For one 

 reason or another the trial of the two men was postponed 

 from time to time, but at length it came off, and resulted in 

 the conviction of both of them. Reeder was an old market- 

 hunter ; and for several yt'ars it has been an open secret that 

 he has been supplying the hotels with game illegally taken. 

 As the senior and leader in the olfenses of which he was 

 convicted, he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment in 

 the common jail and to pay a tine of $100 and costs. His 

 partner in the affair, a much younger man, was sentenced 

 to pay $75 and costs; both to .stand committed till 

 the fines were paid. Their horses, guns and pelts 

 were confiscated according to law and were sold 

 last Monday at the Interior Department at Washington. 

 Two or three years ago we had seen in George Reeders 

 possession a capital heavy Sharps rifle. It was not so heavy 

 as an old-fashioned buffalo gun, but in all essentials seemed 

 to us what a hunting gun ought to be. Thinking it likely 

 that this was one of the guns to be sold, we sent on to an 

 agent in Washington tind had him bid in this gnu to the 

 Forest and Stream. It has just been forwarded to us. 

 It is worth all that we paid for it, though it was not pur- 

 chased as a speculation. We secured the weapon simply 

 because it is in the fitness of things that a rifle confiscated 

 because of illegal use in the National Park should find its 



way to a journal that has done so much to protect and pre- 

 serve the Park and its game. 



It is a serviceable arm, and ought to have been put to a 

 better use than killing game in the National Park. It is a 

 Sharps .44.70, thirty-inch barrel, weight twelve pounds. 



BACK TO GRINDSTONE. 

 'T^O a large number of our readers the news will be wel- 

 come that they will meet again, for the third time, at 

 the old camp on the St. Lawrence, The question was con- 

 sidered at the meeting of the Executive Committee on Sat- 

 urday last, and after some debate, it was decided to hold the 

 1886 meet on the old site. Objections have been made by 

 some who wish to visit a new place each year, and by 

 others who desire a location that would be more favorable to 

 certain sections, as the Eastern States, and these objections 

 have been carefully considered, the Commiltee desiring to 

 comply with the will of the majority. The fact that the 

 Commodore, on whom much of the work must fall, was a 

 resident of the locality, had its influence, and also the ques- 

 tion of expense, tis a camp at Grindstone this coming year 

 will be much less expensive than any new^ location. Had 

 the other site proposed been selected, in Lake Champlain, it 

 would not have been pos.sible for Commodore Rathbun to 

 be present in advance and to superintend its preparation, 

 while at Grindstone he can do the work with comparative 

 ease. 



The main feature of next season's meet will be the presence 

 of a party of English canoeists, and it is the duty of all our 

 canoeists, East or West, to do all they can to make a good 

 showing on that occasion. Some who desired a new loca- 

 tion may be inclined to stay away; but it should be a matter 

 of national pride with all to make the meet as large and im- 

 portant as possible. 



The finest canoes and the best sailors will be gathered 

 there, and no better opportunity could be afforded to novices 

 who wish to study canoeing and to those at a distance who 

 have never visited a meet, to become acquainted with the A. 

 C. A. and its members. 



The East will be well represented ; now what is needed is 

 a good showing from the Western canoeists. It is hoped 

 that this year will see the fulfillment of the plan just pre- 

 pared by the Association for its extension in the West, and 

 that it will be marked by the hearty cooperation of Western 

 canotdsts with their fellows in the East in welcoming and 

 entertaining their visitors. 



Teachers of Morality, who themselves, when out of 

 the confines of their own circle, violate law and bribe other.s 

 to join in the immoral business, ought to be brought up with 

 a short turn. It is a pretty story that is told by our corre- 

 spondent "Special," in his account of some professional men 

 in Maine. It is a pleasure to add the other side, for many 

 hundreds of professional men go to Maine every year who 

 are law-abiding in the woods as well as out, and whose 

 morality is not of that tenuous sort that fades 

 away the second they leave home. There is 

 some reason to hope that in course of time, all men, of 

 whatever station in life, shall recognize their obligations to 

 be good citizens wherever they may chance to be. The 

 progress in this respect is at least encouraging; and there is 

 no reason to despair of a final change in public sentiment, so 

 universal and decided that game laws shall have obedience, 

 not unwilling but hearty and sincere. 



Dog Skeletons. — We printed last week a note from Mr. 

 Frederick A. Lucas, of the National Museum, requesting 

 assistance in the museum work of completing a series of 

 crania and skeletons of typical dogs. When a good dog 

 dies send him to Washington. This will aid science; and 

 it will be a much more sensible and fitting course to pursue 

 than to inter the carcass with funeral rites and, as was done 

 not. long ago in the case of a famous dog — with indecent 

 and blasphemous reading of the burial service. 



The "Stgns" point to a favorable season for wildfowl 

 this year. In another column will be found some notes of 

 the coast shooting grounds most readily accessible. We 

 hope before very long to give an unusually detailed and 

 reliable description of the Atlantic seacoast shooting and 

 yachting resorts^^ 



Amateor Photography is one of the most pleasant and 

 satisfactory pastimes to follow in conjunction with pleasure 

 excursions and camping expeditions. The art of taking pic- 

 tures is by no means difficult ; and the prints serve as most 

 admirable souvenirs of the scene.s and incidents they recall. 



