890 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Peo. 10, 1885. 



mtd #ir^r ^fsftfng. 



Address aU commun/lcaHons to the Fgrest and StreaM Publish- 

 ing Co. 



KINGFISHERS NOT JAILBIRDS. 



Ediior Forest and Stream: 



Believing it ui}' turn to say a few words about the "King- 

 fishers" as law breakers and their accusers, I thank the Fon- 

 EST AND Stream kiudly and sincerely for its efforts to hunt 

 down the slander on us of having shot deer out of season 

 while camped on the shores of Black Lake, Michia;an, during 

 the summer of 1883, as set forth in an editorial, embodying 

 the con'espondence making the charges, in the issue of Sept. 

 24. Since the appearance of the editorial mentioned I have 

 been waiting to see if Mr. Miner, some of the "well known 

 merchants of Cheboygan," or "the ollicer that held the war- 

 rants," would have ilie manliness to come out from their 

 cover and do us the poor justice to sa,y there had been a 

 mistake in the identity of the party, but not a word nor line 

 has been seut forth by them, hence 1 am moved to write 

 down a few facts that "may act as a backset to Mr. Miner 

 or any other "vigorous prosecutor" who may take it into his 

 addlepate hereafter to make a charge of lawlessness against 

 a party of anglers who go to the woods and waters only for 

 honest, and legirimate sport. 



First, as a matter of strict truth, in all our camping and 

 fishing in Northern Michigan in the past six or seven years, 

 to my certain and positive knowledge, not one of the "King- 

 fishers" have ever shot a deer or even fired a gun at one. 

 In his first letter, dated Sept. 3, 1884, Miner says: "I send 

 you the record of the party while at Black Lfike last 

 summer," which would imply that we were there in the 

 summer of '84, but in his next, Sept. 15, 1884, he says: "I 

 was at Black Lake at the tune of the party being there, " etc., 

 and I take it lie meant 1883, although his first letter making 

 the chai ge was written more than a year after we had been 

 there, as we broke cam|j and arrived in Cheboygan on our 

 Tvay out on July as the Spencer House registei'^will show. 



It would seem fioui this that the ■member of the gnu club 

 at that place (Clieboygan), who is a merchant there," and 

 Mr. Miner were a good while making up their minds to show 

 us up— with no foimdation to build a charge on — as a party 

 of lawbreakers. During this time had Miner or the "gun 

 club man" been possessed of plain horse sense they would 

 have procured the names of the parties mentioned in the 

 warrants and seut them to Forest and Stream, when they 

 would have learned thai noue of them would fit a single 

 member of the "Kingfisher'' party, and Miner would have 

 s$.ved himself the humiliation of having to come down from 

 the lofty perch he took at the end of his first letter as "a 

 vigorous prosecutor of parties who violate our game laws." 



But I do not blame Miner in the matter as much as I do 

 the "gun chih man." fle acted the sneak in giving Miner 

 the information on which he made the charge, and then re- 

 fusing him the use of his name to help him out of the 

 "category" he got him into. It would appear to any one of 

 average vision that he left Miner to hold a bag with a big 

 hole in each end. and it is to be hoped that M. will profit by 

 the experience. I am charitable enough, however, to believe 

 that Miner thought he was doing a good work at the tiiai; 

 he would clinch his claim as a " vigorous prosecutor of vit" 

 tors, etc," but he started, out with rather much of a flourish 

 to V';^^ ir -:c 1 I -i r ii-.,- "vigofous punch- 



L moved to write, 



, .:!i n^HQ) about the 



facts, ]u jastice to myselt ys wclJ as the party, aiid K^'Jiest 

 him to substantiate the charges against them," and finally, 

 "If nothing is heard from Cheboygan, 1 will retract my 

 charges and consider it as an idle rumor, and tender the 

 party an apology for making the charges 1 did," As no 

 apology has been tendered, it may be presumed he has not 

 yet heard from Cheboygan, and the honorable member of the 

 gun club. We can afford to wait, as apologies don't count 

 for much as long as we are conscious of no wrong doing, 



This ECU n club man was pleased to say, "The 'Kingfisher' 

 party are a set of smdes, " I will simply say to the g. c. m. 

 that, if treating oru- neighbors with courtesy and respect 

 wherever we make our camp, meeting all our obligations 

 without a whine, leaving the latch string always hanging out 

 for an honest brother sportsman to pull and be welcome to 

 come in; if going to the woods because we love them, if 

 pursuing the sport of angling in a legitimate way, and de- 

 meaning ourselves as gentlemen, whether in the woods or out, 

 place us in the list of "snides," then is the "Kingfisher" party 

 a set of snides But (and I trust the hint may corhfort him) 

 there is one trait that the "Kingfishers" are not possessed of 

 in common with the gun club man — they never stab a man 

 in the back, or start a slander on a brother sportsman and 

 then hide behind a friend, leaving him to get out of the scrape 

 the best way he can. This is a kind of "cusseducss" we've 

 not got the hang of, if we are "snides." 



Now, a few words that may perhaps put the matter in its 

 proper light and fix the blame where it really belongs. 

 More than a month after we left Black Lake, a party of Cin- 

 cinnatiaus— and. I believe, two or three from Hamilton, O.— 

 went to the same lake for a hunt, with perhaps some fishing. 

 Some time after their return one of them told one of our 

 party, the Deacon, all about their trip; how they had killed 

 some deer, how badly they had been treated by old Merrill, 

 how on their refusal to pay him a certain sum he had war- 

 rants issued for their arrest, and how. through the interces- 

 sion of the ex-sherrifl' of Cheboygan, whom one of the party 

 happened to know, the officer holding the warrants was pre- 

 vailed, on not to serve them, etc. This is the shape in which 

 it was told to the Deacon, and he was asked to get me to 

 write up Merrill as a rascal, an old wolf, etc. (I was writing 

 of our Black Lake trip at the time); but I declined on the 

 ground that it was not our quarrel; that we had no special 

 grievance against Merrill, as we had been treated at least 

 fairly by him and had dealt squarely with him in return. 

 Merrill might be an old wolf, but he had not "wolfed" our 

 party to any alarming extent. 



Some months afterward it came to my knowledge that the 

 "Kingfishers" had been charged with shooting deer out of 

 season while at Black Lake, and I naturally concluded that 

 the other party had represented tiiemselves as the "King- 

 fishers" in order that we might be blamed for their misdeeds; 

 but within the past month 1 have had a talk with two of the 

 party, and T am convinced now that such was not the case. 

 These two, hovfever, admit that their party killed deer while 

 they were camped at Black Lake (tlicir camp was on the east 

 .shore, ours on the west), but could not say just how many. 

 They deny emphatically having paid Merrill $5 a head for 

 driving deer into the lake for them to shoot, but do ^a,^ they 

 pajA him $2 a day fm- hnnting for tbezo, Thf- majority of 



the party, it seems, left for home after a two weeks' stay, 

 leaving four in camp who remained till the Ist of October. 

 Merrill had been promised all the eatables and "camp stuff" 

 that would be left over when the party broke up, and when 

 only the four were left it seems he concluded it was about 

 time to grab on th« promised stuff or be left with a very 

 slim share by the time they got through with it, and accord- 

 intrly, when three of them were out hunting, leaving the 

 other as camp-tender, he presented himself at the camp and 

 began loading the things into his boat to take home. A 

 vigorous remonstrance did not stop him, but he was finally 

 "persuaded, " at the muzzle of a revolver, to let the things 

 remain, and was driven ofl' and told to stay away, at the risk 

 of bodily harm befalling him should he return. 



When they finally broke camp, and while on their way to 

 Cheboygan, they were met by the ex-sheriff, who told them 

 there was trouble in store for them; that warrants had been 

 sworn out for their arrest for killing deer in the close season. 

 He went back with them, saw the ofiicer who held the war- 

 rants—the real sheriff, as I understand it— and told him that 

 he knew theso boys; that they had been guilty of no great 

 wrong; that they had been bed about, and that they had 

 only killed a few deer for meat for the camp, etc , and he 

 was tinally convinced that they were a party of innocents 

 and "bully fellers," and they were let off scot "free; and then 

 some sneaking cur laid it at the door of the "Kingfishers." 

 That is the way the Kingfishers shot deer out of season. 



Cheboygan may certainly boast of a model officer. If you 

 are a "bully feller" you can kill deer in September for meat 

 throughout the territory under his jurisdiction, and run no 

 risk of having a warrant served, on your return from the 

 woods; and the "gun club man" will no doubt see to it that 

 W. -E. Miner writes to Forhst and Stream charging it on 

 some innocent party. 



This is briefly the substance of the story told by two of 

 the party (names not given by request), and if I have made 

 any mi.sstatement, let the sbei-iff or whoever held the war- 

 rants, or any of the party, make it known and 1 will correct 

 it with neatness and dispatch. Let the officer who held the 

 warrants, Mr. Miner or the "gun club man" write me 

 (^thi'ough Forest and Stream), giving the names in the 

 warrants, and I will send him the names of our Black Lake 

 party (for we are not ashamed of our name.?, nor of oru' con- 

 duct in the woods or elsewhere), and if there is one King 

 fisher's name written in any one of the warrants we will 

 break up our rods and never snifltheodor.sof the woods again. 

 Or they can write to the editor of Forest and STEEAAr, as 

 he has a complete hst of the names of both parties. 



It is plain we have been confounded with the other party, 

 whether maliciously or not I am not quite prepared to say, 

 and what I have written is as Iljelieve, only a plain duty in 

 defense of our good names as sportsmen. 



Mr. O. S. Merrill could give a plain statement of the whole 

 affair, and within the past year I have written him two or 

 three times asking him to do so, but up to date he has paid 

 no heed to them, for reasons best known to himself, and it 

 is no more, probably, than might have been looked for, keep- 

 ing in mind the fact that a clean statement would criminate 

 himself and place him in the same light with the others. 

 He miglit, however, do us the justice to say which of the 

 two parties is the guilty one. But the "Kingfisher.*" are not 

 worried over the final verdict, and we rest our case with the 

 brethren of the rod and the gun who know us, conscious in 

 our integrity as honest and law-abiding sportsmen. 



Touching the last paragraph of the editoral alluded to, I 

 may say to Forest and Stream that I do not profess one 

 thing in print and practice the reverse in the woods. I 

 preach honest sportsmanship and cold water at home. I 

 mraelicc the one and stick to the other in the woods, as I 

 believe ray comrades in many a pleasant camp will avoucl*. 



1 thanK Mr. Tosnlin for the good words for the "King 

 fishers" aud the iovil^tioQ to come where twenty-pound 

 lakers are waiting lo niskd the acqu'iintancc of Bob "and Kit. 

 I beg to remind bim, however, that the Black Lake trip was 

 not "an entire failure," only in the matter of bass fishing. 

 Otherwise it was a complete success, even to being accused 

 of shooting deer out of season, and besides a trip to the 

 woods is never a failure, "it is not all of fishing to fi,sh." 

 Concerning his "hope that the Carp Lake letters will be re- 

 sumed," 1 explain to him and to other readers who may have 

 taken an interest in them, that I will finish them up and 

 send them on at as early a date as possible. Should we ever 

 meet again the "old bass fighter" will give him a grip that 

 will in reality "start the blood from his finger ends." Mean- 

 while I send fraternal greeting from the "Kingfishers" to 

 "the family of anglers." 



"S. E. B."from away across the water at Menominee, 

 Mich , makes the emphatic assertion: "The charge that the 

 'Kingfishers' had broken our game law 1 know to be false 

 and without the shghtest foundation," etc. We do not re- 

 member meeting "S. E. B.," but he has the ring of good 

 metal, and if he ever runs across our camp, as old Ben 

 might say, "jist pull the latch string and walk right in with- 

 out knockin' an' we'll warm the cockle o' yer heart fur ye," 

 ("Old Knots" usually presides over the cockle-warmin' de- 

 partment) and it won't be with "Roscommon county mutton" 

 shot out of season, either. 



Last comes "Kelpie," from Central Lake, Mich., whose 

 testimony is extra valuable because our party is better 

 known, perhaps, in his neighborhood than in any other part 

 of the State, and because rather unlocked for by reason of 

 the little "pen scrimmage" we had a few years ago in the 

 columns of FoKEST and Stream anent the annual "pilgrim- 

 age" of the herrings of Central Lake. But I can assure 

 "Kelpie" that 1 hold no "scunner agin" him on that account, 

 having about forgotten it, as I consider I got rather the best 

 of the tilt — that is to say, I learned iomei.hing— and after all 

 it doesn't matter much whether the herrings run up on the 

 10th of November, the 4th of July or Washington's Birth- 

 day. And I have this to say about the swamps of the Cedar 

 River: I plead guilty to having hastily constructed a good 

 many very vehement, insect-killing sentences while floun- 

 dering through the tangles along the banks of that frigid 

 stream at odd times, and I have about made up my mind 

 that if there is a person "on the face o' this livin' airth" that 

 can fish the Cedar a mile without audibly and vehemently 

 expressing his feelings, he is too utterly good for this vale 

 and ought to shape up his temporal affairs and take his im- 

 mediate departure. But old Ben says, "Cussin' rnuskeeters, 

 an' black flies, an' punkies, an' bresh that poke ye in the 

 eye, don't count;" aud I agree with Ben in most trifling 

 inattera of this kind. With Ibis hitle diaression in "Kel- 

 pifc'b" case (he may perad venture find his name in my first 

 letters to Forest AND Stre.\m in 1881), I thairk him cor- 

 dially for his disinterested testimony in our behalf, and as- 

 sure hloi I ain pleased that he, whom I know to he a true, 

 iClefiiJ-hand/?d sportsman. Jias ;put ug io his first classr—thg 



sportsman's class— and not with class 2— the "dudes"— or 

 class 3— the "dead beats, " 



And I may say without laying claim to more than our just 

 due, that I have reason to believe our record is just as goodi 

 elsewhere as it is along the Intermediate region. We meet 

 all our obligations; we owe no neighbor a nickel that we 

 know of; we indulge in no illicit pi-actices, and we are not 

 ashamed to look an officer of the law in the eye if we chance 

 to meet one. We assume no air,s of superiority over the 

 farmer folk, believing them to be as good — or better, in a 

 sense— that we are. We go to the woods because we feel it 

 is good to be there, and we seek the waters for honest sport 

 and rest, that we believe make better men (and women) of 

 us. Conscious of our intent lo do right wherever we build 

 our camp-fire, all we ask is that truth be said of us aud we 

 will be content. 



This paper has grown much longer than first intended. I 

 again thank our friends who have had faith in us and ex- 

 pressed it in kindly words, and I say to Forest and Stream 

 that it will be our aim in the future to merit its confidence 

 and the good will of the brothers of the gentle craft, as we 

 trust we have in the years gone by. 



Kingfisher (for '-The Kingflshert="i. 



Cincinnati, O., ThanksgivlDg Day, 1885. 



Rocky MouNTAtN Whitefisii. — Ihe Meeker (Colo ) 

 Heredd says: There has been a great deal of cliscussiou 

 among White River sportsmen during the past summer con- 

 cerning a species of fish caught in White River and by some 

 called a whitefish and by othei-s a grayling. In order to 

 have the fish properly classified Major" Foley, of the cattle 

 firm of Folej' and Brasher, who spent several weeks hunting 

 and fishing on White River during the summer, placed one 

 of the largest "whitefish" caught during the season in alco- 

 hol and sent it to the Smithsonian Institute. According to 

 the report of Prof. T. H. Bean, Curator Department of 

 Fishes, Smithsonian Institute, we can in future call the 

 nrach-ii<amed fish the "Rocky Mountain whitefish," or, for 

 short, plain "whitefl.sh." The following letter, forwarded 

 by M!ij(.>)- Foley lo L. B. Bra.sher, comes from Ihe Smithson- 

 ian: '■( 'ouceriiing the 'whitefish' ,'-:ent by Mr. .J. L Foley 

 aud relened to in his letter to you dated Ocf. 'dS, ! dc.'-ire to 

 make the following report: The ."peeie-i ia Cor(:(/<//H/.s iriUlniii.- 

 sonii (Gii'ard), the common species of the region bL-twrcu the 

 Rocky Mountains and the SieiTa Nevadas. Concerning ihe 

 game'qualilies of this fish, we know very little except that it 

 has ()Cca,sionally been taken with the fiy. There is a full 

 description of the species iu the zoology of the Wheoh r sur- 

 vey, pages 68.2 aud 683. iu which reference is uunle to the 

 capture of this tlsh with hook and line. Elsewhere in ttijs 

 volume (page 638) we are told that the specie.s bites readily 

 during the fall of the year at a hook baited with leather-side 

 minnows. There is a rather poor figure of Coregoaus loill- 

 iarnsordiivi Part lY. of the 'Pacific Railroad Survey Report,' 

 plate LXVI. The species is described iu this volume, pages 

 326 aud 337. The original description of the species is in 

 the 'Proceedings of the Academy of National Sciences,' 

 Philadelphia, Vol. VIIL, page 136. In Bulletin 16 of the 

 National Museum the species is described, page 397, and in 

 the 'Transactions of the American Fish (Uiltural As-socia- 

 tion,' 1884, pages 33 and 37. The fish is known in some 

 parts of its habitat as the 'Rocky Mountain whitefish,' and 

 iu others as the 'Chief Mountain whitefish.' The distribu- 

 tion of the species is as follows: Clear streams and lakes 

 from the'Rocky Montains to the Pacific, northward to Ore- 

 gon ; found also in the tributaries of the Saskatchewan and 

 of the Upper Missouri.— T. H. BE.m." 



Camp Comfort. — Casselton, Dakota, Nov. 36. — The Ca.s- 

 selton Fishing Club met and organized Nov, 16 with the 

 following membership; H. P. Ufford, President;!. M. Mc- 

 Leod, Secretary; A. P. Neyhm-t, Trea.surcr. Isaac Wood, F. 

 S. Tjangdon, Will Rutledgearid W. P. Holmes, Memher.ship 

 restricted to twcive. Objects: Fun and fishing. The club 

 are in negotiation For a tract of land (m Detroit Lake, Becker 

 county, IVIinn., where they will erect cottage^ next summer 

 and inaugurate "Camp Comfort." A fishway is about to he 

 put in at the dam between lakes Melissa and Pelican which, 

 when accomplished, will give u stretch of over 200 miles of 

 fishing waters, through one of the finest chains of lakes in 

 the United States, 'if "Nessmuk," "Wawayanda," "the 

 Kingfishers," "JayBebe," A. N. Cheney, or any others of 

 the Forest and Stream brotherhood find themselves in the 

 Northwest next summer, and will call at "Camp Comfort," 

 the Casselton Fishing Club will give them a most cordial 

 welcome, and, with wind and water willing, show them as 

 fine bass fishing as ever fell to their lot. Three things the 

 club have absolutely tabooed : Fishing out of season ; catch- 

 ing more than can be utilized; and whisky drinking.— H. 

 P. Ufford. 



Eastern New York Fish and Game Association.— 

 Albany, N. Y., Dec. I. — Editor Fored and !Strcam: At an 

 adjourned meeting of the gentlemen interested in tnc preser- 

 vation of fish and game, held last Friday evening, a consti- 

 tution and by-laws were adopted, and the following officer.^ 

 elected: President, Dr. Samuel B. Ward; First Vice-Presi- 

 dent, A. N. Cheney; Second Vice-President, Gen, John F. 

 Rathbone; Secretary, W. W. Byington; Treasurer, John 

 Quinby; Executive Committee, Ira Wood, J. H. Manning, 

 Gen. R. Lenox Banks, James Ten Eyck, W. W. Hill. The 

 title chosen for the association is the "Eastern New York 

 Fish and Game Protective Association. Judge F. M. Dana- 

 kar, counsel for the Anglers' Association of the St. Lawrence 

 River, will be the counsel for this association also. The 

 list of officers is sufficient guarantee that the associatiou 

 means business, and they will be heard fr©m.— Salmon. 



ADIK0ND.40K FisHES.— Thc twelfth report of Supt. Col- 

 vin, of the Adirondack Survey, has been so long delayed in 

 jmblication by the red tape of the circumlocution office that 

 Mr. Colvin has decided to issue a pamphlet edition of the 

 special report on the Adirondack Fishes, made by Mr. Fred 

 Mather in 1883. The demands for this report have been, 

 quite numerous, and the superintendent has ordered 200 

 copies of the extract printed for Mr. Mather's use, in ad- 

 vance of the main report. The notes on the fishes will be 

 accompanied by a plate illustrating two new species, and 

 will be ready soon. 



ThE National Rod AND Reel Association. — New York, 

 Dee. 4.— The following circular has been issued: Owing to 

 some informalities in the organization of the meeting at the 

 close of the late tournament^, it has been decided to hold the 

 regular annual meeting for the election of officers on Tues 

 day, Dec. 15, at the office of Mr. E. G. Blackford, Fulton 

 Market, New York, at 3 P. M. Your presence is requested, 

 as buslaess of importance ia on hand. By order of pRAirpTa 

 Endicotsc President -Frbd MATJSBn, 8«3retery., 



