S26 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. 18, 1886. 



of a lighter weight of arm and lead with more powder for the 

 hunting rifle. 



Thei-e is no donht hut a measiirahle cutting down of heavy lead 

 and the larger caliaers :9 to come, and we can already see an 

 earnest of this in the ncv\' riflo which, after much in vestiga tion. 

 has recently heen adopted for the British Army. The caliber has 

 been cut down from ,45. the old arm, to .40, and the weight of the 

 bullet has been reduced 96grs.. while the foi-mer powder charge of 

 85grs. is retained, with the efl;ect to give a far greater muzzle 

 velocity, a decidedly flatter trajectory, much less recoil, and a 

 much more eif ective and desirable arm in every respect, which 

 the English press lauds as by far the most efficient service gun 

 possessed by any nation. 



Major H. W. Merrill's experiments (see Forest and Stream 

 Sept. 17, 1885) with a round ball in muzzleloader shooting at target, 

 equal parts of powder and lead, resulted just as was to be ex- 

 pected, and accord with my own experience in the same line. 

 The FoBEST AND Streajni's extensive trajectory test atCreedmoor 

 in September and October, 1885, fully confirmed Major Merrill's 

 tests. F. M. Wilcox. 



Rochester, Mich. 



"That reminds me." 

 195. 



ON the 12th of November, 1880, Ed C. and the witer 

 were duck hunting on the Bungay River, just north 



of the enterprising town of A , in Massachusetts. For 



five mUeB above the town the river flows shiggisUy over 

 a tortuous course through an almost impenetrable swamj). 

 The day was bright and clear, and more like October than 

 Novemljer, although the banks of the river were fringed 

 in places with thin ice. 



"We had proceeded about thi-ee miles above the town in 

 our home-made canvas canoe, and having bagged one 

 wood duck wej'e anxiously looking for its mate, which 

 had flowii on ahead. Ed sat in the stern and wielded the 

 double-bladed paddle, while I sat in the bow, gun in 

 hand. Both were seated on top of empty soap boxes, so 

 that the naturally cranky canoe became a thing of life in 

 earnest. 



Suddenly out from a bend in the river just ahead flew 

 the duck, and, following the river, flevr well to my right. 

 Hurriedly I tried to bring my aim in line with the bird's 

 course until I had swung my gim as far to the right as I 

 could without movmg from my seat on the box, when I 

 fired, and immediately, my box giving a Im-ch, landed me 

 on the gunwale of the canoe, while Ed performed various 

 antics in his endeavor to keep the boat from upsetting; 

 but it was no use, and gently I was dumped backward 

 into the river, while Ed followed head first. 



We had upset in the channel, where the river was 

 about thirty feet wide, and soon the heads of both ap- 

 peai-ed at tlie surface, while just in front of us floated the 

 canoe bottom up. 



Both grabbed the canoe and scrambled on to her, but 

 in our eagerness we overdid the matter, and the boat 

 lazily diunped us head first into the water again. 



Abandoning the boat we swam for shore, and reaching 

 shallow water we endeavored to wade; but the mud was 

 so soft we were obliged to crawl turtle fashion, and made 

 shore two sony-looking fellows. 



Hardly had we reached dry land when Ed said, with 

 all earnestness, "Did you get the duck?'' and, as I turned 

 to answer him, he slowly took a corn cob pipe from his 

 mouth, which he had firmly between his teeth during the 

 accident, and remarked, "You haven't a match, have 

 you?" 



With some difiiculty we pulled the canoe ashore, un- 

 loaded our overcoats, which were stowed in the bows, 

 made our way through the swamp to hard land, and then, 

 with boots working like suction pumps, sti'uck into an 

 easy run which we held till we reached home. 



The next mornmg we fished up the gun and powder 

 flask, but the shot pouch remains bm-ied in the mud to 

 mark the spot. L. W. J . 



"NESSMUK'S" POEMS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have been a long-time admirer of your sensible as well as gifted 

 contributor "Nessmuk," and I was delighted to learn that you in- 

 tended to print and publish an edition of his poems. Such a boot 

 will not only be heartily welcomed by all the sportsmen of this 

 country, but by men of purely literary taste and culture, who, 

 mayhap, loving, still, do not linger, as many of us do, amid the 

 joys of the forest and the stream. "The Arkansas Idyl" fills a 

 corner in my literary "eye" never filled before. Inimitable as it 

 is original, it is the equal of many things in Bret Harte or John 

 Hay's books. The old man is a master, whether in bringing io^vn 

 a gobbler with a rifle, or Mdien he essays to handle the gray goose 

 quill. Let all men who take joy in the woods, who appreciate the 

 rare gifts and good sense of "Nessmuk," send on for his book. I 

 did so the moment my eyes met your notice this week. J. M. S. 



Camden, N. J. 



Address all cnmmun'icat^lons to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



IN DEFENSE OF ALASKAN TROUT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



When, in the Forest and Stream of June 8, of the 

 present year, I quoted from Capt. Beardslee's article in 

 "Fishing ^vith the Fly," Orvis-Cheney collection, I had 

 not seen the original, but, as I then stated, my informa- 

 tion was derived from a reprint of the article in the 

 Alaskan, a newspaper j)nblished in Sitka. Since retm-n- 

 ing to the land of books I find that the Alaskan did not 

 print the article entire. As the pioneer fisherman with 

 the fly in Alaska — the successful one at least — I desne to 

 enter a more vigorous protest against his unjust accusa- 

 ■ tions, which, at the date referred to above, I was ignorant 

 of. He says: "There is not, I am convinced, an Alaskan 

 fish, which, through any merit of its own, is entitled to 

 an introduction to the' angling fraternity through the 

 medium of this volume, and to the companionship of the 

 beautiful fac-similes of the flies, which in life they 

 scorned. 



"Fi'om personal observation and collected information, 

 I am prepared to accuse all the salmon family w^hich are 

 found in Alaska, of the grave ofiiense of utterly ignoring 

 the fly, either as food or plaything, and of depending 

 upon more gi-oss and substantial resoiu-ces," 



As the author observes he has preferred a gi-ave charge 

 against the trout of Alaska, but that it is undeserved I 

 am equally i>repai'ed to maintain. 



During the two seasons I was in that far-away country 



I took from its rivers and lakes nearly one thousand trout 

 with the fly. Therefore, I think I am justified in holding 

 a contrary opinion to Capt. Beardslee. From the very 

 commencement of om- trip to Alaska I had been told that 

 the trout there would not rise to the fly. We reached the 

 Pacific by way of the Strait of Magellan, and in our mess 

 was an old j^laskan cruiser, who was stationed there in 

 the sloop-of-war Cyane, shortly after the transfer, and 

 who, though no fisherman himself, had imbibed the tradi- 

 tion from others mitU it was a part of his Alaskan creed. 

 From every one I heard the same story. 



About the middle of the season last year we were in 

 company for a short time with the U. S. S. Pinta, 

 stationed in Alaska. Among her ofiicers were several 

 who indulged frequently in the sport of trout fishing. 

 One, an ardent sportsman, was then four years in Alaska. 

 None of these believed, until our coming, that the trout 

 would rise to the fly; and some even then denied that the 

 trait was possessed by the Sitkan trout. If that be so or 

 not I cannot say. My experience extends upward from 

 the boundary line, but stops short of Sitka by about 

 eighty miles. However, some one must have been edu- 

 cating the trout up there too, if what I saw in the Alas- 

 kan last spring be true. It was to the effect that the fish 

 in the lake near Sitka were then rising to the fly. 



The first to give me encoiu'agement was William An- 

 derson, of Port Simpson, British Columbia, who is a 

 sportsman, naturalist and artisan, making his own flies 

 and using them, too, in the capture of fish. Port Simp- 

 son, it is true, is not in Alaska, but it is so near the boun- 

 dary line that it is not probable that the fish of the two 

 sides have different habits. 



I can give the names of a mimber of fishermen who 

 will testify fi'om their own experience that Alaskan 

 trout do not scorn the fly. But I shall content myself at 

 present with one whose name, I beheve, is familiar to 

 most of the angling readers of the Forest and Stream. 



Last year the excursion steamer, on which was Mr. 

 Charles 'Hallock, lay alongside of us replenishing our 

 empty coal bunkers. I went with him to the stream and 

 lake in om* vicinity. The exciu'sionists were all loose on 

 shore : some were'fishing, and others were spearing and 

 shooting at the salmon with revolvers. As we made our 

 way along the rocky stream, Mr. Hallock made a few 

 casts into it and likewise into the lake outlet. At the 

 latter locality he desisted after one or two casts on ac- 

 count of the bushes at his back. But he caught one fish 

 in the stream going up. It was small, it is true, and, if I 

 remember rightly, he put it back into the water ; but it 

 was large enough to demonstrate the fact that Alaskan 

 trout will rise to the fly. I little thought, as I witnessed 

 the capture of that small fish, that it would be of im- 

 portance to me, on account of the wide reputation of its 

 captor, to refute a charge made against all its kind in 

 Alaska. T. H. Streets, P. A. Surgeon, U. S. Navy. 



U. S. 0. & G. S. Str. Patterson, Mare Island, CaL, Nov. 6. 



STOVES IN CAMP. 



Editor Forest and Stream t 



I feel for yom prosaic friend and critic (F. D. _Fay- 

 thorne) a tender sorrow. In fact, I am possessed with a 

 combination of grief— poignancy at his lack of interest in 

 the beauties of natm-e in combination with the ecstatic 

 glory that attends all true angling, and commiseration 

 at his ill-fated assault upon the pleasing reminiscences of 

 my friend and camp companion, "Kingfisher." 



After reading the comments of his "critics," who illus- 

 trate so thoroughly the poverty of his piscatorial am- 

 bition, one feels that the "ghost is laid" and there is 

 nothing more to say. But for the "side-issue," or "stove'' 

 matter, interjected by the philosophic "Seneca," it were, 

 in fact, mere surplusage to add another word. "Seneca" 

 evidently labors under a gross misapprehension. Per- 

 sonal observation enables me to say that the services of 

 that stove are wholly discretionary and cidinary, and that 

 it is by no means a "creature of necessity." The broad 

 camp-fire nightly illuminates the vast arches of the forest 

 where the tents of the "Kingfishers" are spread, and the 

 hungry fisherman is at liberty to broil liis bacon on a 

 forked stick over the glo^nng coals, and to boil his coftee 

 or fry liis fish till brown and crisp on hot embers drawn 

 outside the curhng blaSe, or he can humbly accept the 

 ministrations of that prosaic stove — ^the "last relic of 

 civilization." And then it is such a "Httle one" it ought 

 not to count — especially where conveyance is easy and 

 angUng waters accessible. "Seneca" might take it under 

 his ai-m and run away with it as easily as the clown gets 

 away with the pig in "Humpty Dumpty." 



Some lately printed expressions of the veteran angler, 

 D. D. Banta,~upon what constitutes the conditions of true 

 camp fife, are just here h\ point. We quote: 



There has been some acrimonious debate anent what ougrht to be 

 taken as a part of a camp outfit, hut I have as yet failed to see any 

 room for debate at aU. It is, or ought to be, a question of comfort 

 pared do\vn bv convenience of transportation, and it may readily 

 be seen there must be a good deal of room for variation in camp 

 outfits, and, therefore, no need for any one to ^o to war about it. 

 When one goes tramping in the M'oods and carries his outfit on his 

 back he reduces his pack to the least compass and weight the bare 

 necessaries of life mU let him. And so, if one takes his outing 

 along a lake shore or on a river, he will not fail to consider with 

 the question of his wants the carrying capacity of his boat. In 

 like manner does he when he goes on wheels to a stationary camp. 

 In every case he balances what he esteems as camp conveniences 

 with his nower of transportation, and so it may readily be seen 

 there can be no iron rule fixing what shall be adjudged a proper 

 camping outfit and what not. * * * Comfort, that is the word- 

 that is the key to the situation. The more comfortable our camp 

 is the better it Avili subserve our purpose, the more sui'ely will we 

 dream sweet dreams of its pleasures in days to come. 



"Kingfisher" is a veteran angler from "way back ;" a 

 lover of the silent woods and the laugliing streams ; a 

 close obseiwer and admu-er of natiu-e in all her moods ; 

 of rare endurance in all hardships incident to forest ad- 

 venture ; thorouglfiy skilled in the art of "roughmg it" 

 when it suits his whims ; a genial companion whether in 

 camp or on the jaunt : and his apt and humorous de- 

 scriptions of camp life have, no doubt, been a gemune 

 feast to the readers of Forest and Stream— (Faythome 

 omitted, solus). 



There were a variety and spice in the last trip of the 

 "Kingfishers" to Micliigan and Canada— from the ship- 

 wreck and Indian rescue on the "raging" St. Mary to the 

 grand hau-raising leap of "Old Knots" on the flymg tra- 

 peze at Pelston— from the patent "toe-trap," or mosquito- 

 MUer, at Echo Lake, to the baptism of "Old Dan," at 

 Douglass Lake— which surpasses all previous experiences, 

 and vmder the photographic pen of "Kingfisher'" would 

 prove rarely interestmg. Won't he favor us with thi 

 recital? 



Franktort, Ky., Nov. 8. 



A COINCIDENCE. 



I HAD finished my dinner and settled myself before a 

 pleasant fire on Saturday evening last, to read and 

 inwardly digest my Forest and Stream of the Thursday 

 pi-eceding, always pleasant, but now particularly so, as 

 the rain, sleet and wind without beat on the panes, a re- 

 minder that summer with its pleasiu-e of outing was gone, 

 and we must look to the pages of your welcome journal 

 to reflect the days we have enjoyed in the woods and on 

 the waters; in fact, we may if w^e will, enjoy and have 

 always with us, the pleasures of the Forest and Stream. 



My eyes fell on "In Northern Michigan" — that interested 

 me, "for I've been there. I read on — "July 3, 18S2," "Elk 

 Rapids," "Lake View Hotel." That's funny, I said, why I 

 was there myself that date at that hotel, and on the 5th I 

 too took the steamer Queen for the head of Torch Lake, 

 Why, thought I, this must have been the party that left 

 the Queen at Clam River, and that I met afterward as I 

 came out at the mouth of the river at Bellau-e, or what 

 was left of them after the mosquitoes liad feasted three 

 days upon them on the reedy shores of Grass Lake. Be- 

 fore I finished the article I find the identity fuUy estab- 

 Mshed by the wiiter who recites meeting me at the mouth 

 of the river with my guide, and recounting my experience 

 and sport that I enjoyed, to them, Thiis, more than fom- 

 years after, on a bleak November niglit, and a thousand 

 miles from the scene, I am able to enjoy thi-ough yom- 

 pages, and see all the surroundings of meetmg these 

 brother sportsmen on that July day in the woods of 

 Northern Michigan. 



Well, my gentle friends, I did have good sport those few 

 days I spent on Centi-al Lake and the Intermediate Chain, 

 and though I have had good bass fishing in many places 

 since, I have often thought of the tiip and meeting j^our 

 mosquito-bitten faces that day. I have never seen the 

 tune since when the bass bit so recklessly, and came to 

 net so reluctantly, as those days on Central Lake. They 

 seemed to snap at anything cast toward them, and double 

 after double did I take, until I began to think, what shall 

 I do with them ? I didn't want' to stop the sport, such 

 days are rare, and yet it is against my grain to kill more 

 than I can use or give my friends. But Henry, the guide, 

 helped me out of the ti-ouble by saying, "You know we're 

 on oiu' way down, and by sundown we can reach the head 

 of the rapids above Bellaire, and dark wiU bring us to the 

 village where any of the people vsdll be very glad to have 

 them." So I kept on, returning every one but the largest 

 and finest that came to net, and by sundown we had 

 reached the head of the rapids with a boat's bottom 

 covered with as handsome a lot of small-mouths as one 

 seldom sees. Among them were a half-dozen of large- 

 mouths and three or four pickerel, the last of from 6 to 

 121bs. The latter brutes I despise and never tiy to save 

 one when hooked unless he be a large one; that is if, 

 there's anvthing as good as yeUow perch around, when 

 there isn't Vhy I'll catch pickerel. They are a little bet- 

 ter than nothing to catch, but not much better than 

 nothing to eat. 



Twice I lost a monster bass, struck in deep water just off' 

 the weedy shoal, and though the guide was an excellent 

 man to handle the boat, and I played the fish at my best 

 for two or three minutes, during which each one sprang 

 more than once a foot or more clear of the water, giving 

 us a good view of then size, a desperate lunge and an un- 

 lucky bunch of weeds gave them such vantage that both 

 broke away with part of a leader trailing in their wake. 

 The good people of the village seemed well pleased to get 

 such fine fish, and it did not take long to portion out all I 

 had as soon as it was known tliey were given away, not 

 sold. I reserved a half-dozen for the keeper of the little 

 tavern, or "hotel," as the sign rather ambitiously desig- 

 nated it. where I was to lodge, for m;^ own supper and 

 breakfast and such other guest as might wish to enjoy 

 them. After giving away all but those I had kept for 

 myself I gathered up my rods and followed by the gnide 

 with the fish and duffle went up to the aforesaid hotel, a 

 little two-story frame house in the center of a group of 

 eight or ten more buildings which made up the town, 

 and which faced each other at intervals among the 

 stumps of a clearing. Asking if we could find supper and 

 lodgings, and being answered in the affirmative, I turned 

 the fish over to the proprietor's care. We soon had fish 

 for supper, whatever might be said of tlie rest, and I 

 settled myself with my pipe outside for a sm(ike and chat 

 with the natives sitting around the door. 



The gnide soon crept oft" to bed, Avhere they put him I 

 did not know, but when I signified to the proprietor that 

 I would go too, he lit a short bit of candle, and I followed 

 him upstairs and into a room with one bed and a man 

 already fast asleep in it. The worthy host set the piece 

 of candle on a box and prepared to say good-night, while 

 I begged to know where I was to sleep. He nodded to- 

 Avard the bed on which lay a big, blue-shirted, brown- 

 bearded man with his stockings on, snoring in a subdued 

 but regular way, tliat gave evidence of great power when 

 once liis throttle valve was fully open, "He'll shove over 

 when you get in, he's all right, a regular boarder." I 

 mildly but firmly suggested that I was not in the habit of 

 sleeping with "boarders,'" regvdar, irregular, or ti-ansitive, 

 and that unless he could furnish me with a room, or at 

 least a bed to myself, that I should take my blanket and 

 camp outside. After bustling about he fixed me up a 

 couch by myself in the corner of the room with the 

 "regular boarder," and I tm-ned in. 



I 'will spare the reader a description of how I passed 

 tliat night, but when tilings got quieted down, the 

 "regular boarder" in the other end of the room opened 

 up his fog horn, and sleep was impossible for me, tned as 

 I was. 



And now, brother anglers of that party— if you'll take 

 a little kindly advice from an old camper without feeling 

 ofl'ended — when you go again don't take such a lot of use- 

 less duffle along to wear yourselves out lugging about, and 

 don't camp on a low shore of a grassy lake with the tim- 

 ber at your backs, if you don't want to be devoured by 

 mosquitoes. When I saw your camp that day I wondered 

 you still lived to tell the tale, but it was not my funeral; 

 and advice from strangers is not always welcome. ^ How- 

 ever, next time don't stop short of Central and you"U find 

 plenty of bass— and if you camp right— few^ mosquitoes. 



New York, No v. 10, 1886. DORRS L. FINN. 



The "Wild West" May go to the Head.— A Carson, 

 Nev., newspaper says that in the Carson River above 

 Empu-e the fishing is good, but below the town fish will 

 not bite, "having lost thek teeth from salivation by the 

 mill chemicals." 



