Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Teems, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copt. I 

 Six Months, $2. | 



NEW YORK, APRIL 1, 1886. 



I VOL. XXVI.— No. 10. 



| Nos. 39 & 40 Park Row, New York. 



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Editorial. 



Railroads in the Park. 



Why Not Wait? 



Shall Selfishness Win? 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



Salmon Fishing in Sweden.— n. 

 Natural Hibtorv. 



The Audubon Society. 



Spring Bird Notes. 



Grouse in the Snow. 



Taxidermists and Milliners' 

 Agents. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Recollections of a Sportsman. 



The Ami Deer Hounding Law. 



Ontario Game Seasons. 



Rifles and Bullets. 

 Sea and River Pishing. 



Trout Season Opens. 



Boston's Trout Display. 



New York Bass Law. 



Bass Flies. 



Trouting. 



The Sunapee Trout. 



Trip to the Intermediate Lakes. 



Our Big Bass. 



CONTENTS. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



Tip-Ups For Pickerel. 



A Close Count. 

 Fish culture . 



The American Fisheries Society. 

 The Kennel. 



The Newark Dog Show. 



New York Dog Show r . 



The New Hnven Show. 



The Boston Show. 



The Irish Setter Club. 



American Kennel Club. 



Kennel Management. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Trap. 

 Canoeing. 



What the Toronto C. C. are 

 Doing. 



A New Cruising and Racing 



Canoe. 

 A Trip to Unknown Lake. 

 I Yachting. 



The Cruise of the Coot.— xvni. 

 I A Handy Keel Sloop. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



RAILROADS IN THE PARK. 

 r pHE Yellowstone National Park is a beautiful reservation 

 J- which belongs to the people of the United States. 

 Each citizen has in it certain rights which are equal to those 

 of every other citizen. At various times in the past, indi- 

 viduals and corporations have endeavored to secure in this 

 public reservation certain exclusive privileges, which cannot 

 be enjoyed without detriment to the rights of others. Such 

 attempts to infringe upon the rights of the people have 

 hitherto been prevented. A bill now before Congress, and 

 favorably reported by both Houses, gives to a private corpora- 

 tion the right to build a railroad through this Park. The 

 building of a railroad means introduction of settlements, 

 destruction of the forests, driving off of the game, inter- 

 ference with the natural wonders of the reservation. Even 

 more important than this, it means the building of other 

 railroads in the Park, so that the natural beauty of the region 

 will be utterly destroyed forever. 



We believe that the people will not submit to this. We 

 believe that this continent is long enough and broad enough 

 to accommodate its population without encroachment on this 

 little spot, which has been set aside as a park, in which every 

 American man, woman and child, and the children of our 

 children, have an equal right. 



The bill granting the right of way to a railroad through 

 the National Park has been sent back by the Senate to the 

 Committee on Territories, to which all matters concerning 

 the Park have hitherto been referred. This committee knows 

 something about the Yellowstone Park, and may be ex- 

 pected to take an intelligent view of the matter. Senator 

 Manderson, we are quite sure, understands the situation, 

 and the deep interest which he is known to feel in the Park 

 justifies the belief that he will give the subject a thorough 

 investigation. 



The report of the House Committee on Public Lands, who 

 reported a substitute for the original House bill granting this 

 right of way, is almost precisely similar to the Senate Com- 

 mittee report on which we commented last week. The two 

 documents furnish abundant internal evidence that if they 

 were not prepared by the same hand they were at least in- 

 spired by the same head, and that the information which 

 they purport to contain came from one source. The same 

 foolish and untrue statements are made in both, the same 

 testimony quoted and the same conclusions drawn. The 

 projectors of the Cinnabar and Clark's Fork Railroad seem 



to have prepared both reports, and both are so weak as to 

 show conclusively that no good reason can be furnished for 

 asking for the railroad. 



The fatuity of the statements made is utterly in- 

 comprehensible. It is distinctly affirmed that there are no 

 objects of interest, nor any timber, nor any game along 

 the line of this proposed railway. Now, every one at all 

 familiar with the Park knows perfectly well that on the line, 

 as proposed to be run, there is at least one great body of 

 timber along the East Fork; that Soda Butte Springs, an 

 exceedingly interesting group, which flows an effervescent 

 mineral water, are directly on this line; that the fossil forest, 

 a locality unequaled of its kind for interest and extent any- 

 where in the world, is on the line where the proposed railroad is 

 to run ; that one of the most important bands of bison in the 

 Park ranges between Slough Creek and Specimen Ridge, or 

 in other words on both sides of the proposed railroad line. 



It will not be forgotten that about a year ago, when the re- 

 port reached Livingston that the Vest bill had become a 

 law, there was a rush of land claimants from that town into 

 the Park, and that one of the first claims taken up was Soda 

 Butte Springs. It will also be remembered that it was stated 

 at the time that plans had been laid by which all the great 

 body of timber on the East Fork would be taken up by a cor- 

 poration. These steps sufficiently indicate that there are 

 some people who believe that there are objects of interest, 

 game and timber, in the region through which this railroad 

 is to run, and this may furnish a hint as to the eagerness of 

 its projectors to obtain their right of way. 



There is good reason for believing that a railroad cannot 

 be built through the Third Canon of the Yellowstone. This 

 great trough is about 800 feet deep, and is cut out of rock 

 which is in part volcanic and in part granitic. Its sides are 

 in many places almost vertical, it is tremendously rough, 

 and if it be practicable to build a roadbed through it, this 

 can be done only at vast expense. This may not be known 

 to the projectors of the Cinnabar and Clark's Fork scheme, 

 but it is the fact. 



On the whole it seems probable that these people desire 

 to obtain a right of way for their railroad in order that they 

 may be able to take up under cover of this grant certain 

 extremely desirable locations within the Park, from which 

 after three years' occupancy — when, the railroad not having 

 been built the right will lapse — they can only be expelled 

 with great difficulty. 



It is curious and interesting as showing their methods of 

 work, to note the attempt made by this corporation to get 

 all that they can in the way of a grant. The House bill, in- 

 troduced and referred Jan. 7, 1886, provides that unless the 

 road be constructed and in running order within one year 

 from date, the franchises granted by the act are hereby 

 declared to be forfeited. The Senate bill, introduced Jan. 

 11, declares that unless the road be completed and in running 

 order within two years, the right of way shall be forfeited. 

 And the third bill, recommended Feb. 23, 1886, by the House 

 Committee on Public Lands, and favorably reported by the 

 Senate Committee on Railroads, provides that the right of 

 way shall be forfeited unless the road is completed within 

 three years. Given a session of reasonable length, and these 

 people would introduce bills enough to give them a quarter 

 of a century in which to complete the road. This would, 

 perhaps, be equivalent to a twenty -five years' lease of Soda 

 Butte Springs and the fossil forest, to say nothing of other 

 points of interest. 



One more point deserves attention — a point which bears 

 directly on the whole question of railroads in the Park. 

 Section 3, after declaring that the right of way shall be for- 

 feited after three years in case the road shall not be com- 

 pleted within that time, continues : 



Provided, That the grant hereby shall not be held or construed as 

 exclusive, so as to prevent the allowance of the locating other roads 

 along the valley or route adopted under this act, under such grants 

 and regulations as Congress may make and pro vide and the courts 

 equitably administer. 



This clause is susceptible of more than one construction. 

 It may either mean that other railroads are to be permitted to 

 penetrate the Park, or it may be a practical nullification of 

 the time limit on the building of the road. It was probably 

 introduced with a double purpose. Those who framed it 

 can point to it with an air of conscious virtue as evidence 

 that they are not monopolists, that they ask for no exclusive 

 privileges ; and if the bill passes and the road is not com- 

 pleted within the time specified in the act, they can then 

 form another corporation, have another bill passed giving it 

 a right of way over this line, and can then turn over the 

 property of the Cinnabar and Clark's Fork Railway Com- 

 pany to— themselves. 



The Park grabbers, as we have abundant reason to know, 

 are shrewd. They will bear a lot of watching. 



WHY NOT WAIT? 



WE have come to the flayed end of another winter. 

 The earth's white carpet is worn to shreds, and 

 nature is making ready to weave her a new one of green, 

 with all sorts of flower patterns that ought not to "fail to 

 please the most fastidious." Some of the bluebirds have 

 escaped the guns and snares of the milliners' collectors, and 

 are with us again, the return of the robin -has been 

 announced, and the song sparrow is tuning up his pipe for 

 the spring concerts. The crystal hatches will soon be off 

 the streams, and the fishes will once more get a look at the 

 sky, and at the angler, who is now beginning to overhaul his 

 tackle in anticipation of the opening day of the season. 



The ducks and geese and snipe and shore birds will 

 presently be on their way to northern breeding grounds, and 

 too many sportsmen are making ready to give them a most 

 inhospitable greeting as they pass or tarry for a few days of 

 rest. Too many sportsmen will be ready with the old and 

 poor excuse for this wrong doing, "If I do not shoot them, 

 some one else will," which is worth nothing, for it is not at all 

 certain that some one else will kill the bird that you spare, 

 and that it will not go safely to its breeding ground and 

 return to pay ten fold interest in the fall for the lease of life 

 you have given it. You would recoil with horror from the 

 thought of killing a doe heavy with young, for you are an 

 honorable and conscientious sportsman. And yet, all the 

 females of these birds of passage are carrying eggs more or 

 less developed, the hope of the abundant continuation of 

 their species. And your example is worth something, as 

 every man's is, yours perhaps worth far more than another's. 

 If you did not get shooting in the spring, it is not unlikely 

 that some one else would stay at home, simply because you 

 did. 



Another excuse and a no better one is, "If we do not 

 shoot ducks and geese and snipe in spring, we shall have no 

 shooting till summer woodcock shooting comes," which 

 ought not to come at all. Why not wait till autumn for 

 sport worth having, and concerning which one need have no 

 qualms of conscience? Is not sport, like love, "the sweeter 

 for the trial and delay?" 



Let the gun rest for a few months longer, and then when 

 the steel blue skies of autumn endome the bluer waters and 

 the varied hues of frost-painted woods and russet marshes, 

 you shall reap your reward if it is no more than the con- 

 sciousness of having faithfully done your duty. It is some- 

 times nobler sportsmanship to spare than to kill. Assuredly 

 it is so at this season. 



SHALL SELFISHNESS WIN? 



THE citizens of this State are awaiting with much solici- 

 tude the action of the Senate at Albany with respect 

 to the bill repealing the anti-hounding law. 



The principles involved are clearly defined ; the issue is 

 well understood. The advocates of the repeal at first posed 

 as philanthrophists, desirous only of preserving the deer 

 from the market pot-hunters, and contending for the privilege 

 of hounding, only that the deer might be made "shy" and 

 their salvation from the still-hunter thereby assured. The 

 shy theory has been exploded, and by the hcunders perforce 

 abandoned. The market still-hunter has been proved a bug- 

 aboo and the hounders have practically given him over. 

 From concealment behind one false pretense and another 

 they have been driven to finally avow their true purpose to 

 be present gratification of their own desire to hound deer. 



The issue is one between individual selfishness and public- 

 spirited concern for the true interests of the State. The 

 question for the Senate to decide is whether it will grant to 

 the hounders temporary gratification by permitting them to 

 put the dogs on the trail and exterminate the deer, or 

 whether the deer shall be preserved for the people of the 

 State, a perpetual source of wealth and public benefit, to be 

 used and enjoyed in any manner compatible with its wise 

 conservation. 



On the side of the present wise law is public economy, 

 present and future. On the side of repeal of that law are 

 improvidence and selfishness. Between the two the Senate 

 ought not long to hesitate. The bill to repeal the law should 

 not pass. Selfishness should not win the day. 



The Recollections of a Sportsman, of which the first 

 paper in the series is given in our Shooting columns to-day, 

 will cover experiences in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Vir. 

 ginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Minnesota, 

 Iowa, Missouri and Texas. They are written by a gentle- 

 man whose wide acquaintance among sportsmen will make 

 these reminiscences doubly interesting. 



