842 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. 25, 1886. 



Addrem aU communieations to the Forest and Strmm Pub, Co. 



THE GREAT ROSEAU SWAMP. 



IF the readers of Forest and Strkam wall examine a 

 map they will discov er t hat the entire northern half 

 of Minnesota, with the exception of a few settled locaU- 

 ties, is practically a wilderness, as much so as it ever was. 

 The principal part of this vast area is allotted to Indian 

 reservations. It is filled witli forests, lakes and rivers, 

 froni which the resident tiibes derive a very large pro- 

 portion of then- subsistence, the principal products being 

 game and fish, furs, snakeroot, ginseng, blueberries and 

 cranberries. The latter item alone is the source of a very 

 considerable revenue. But wild as this portion of Min- 

 nesota is, as a whole it is populous compared with some 

 isolated tracts to be found witliin its limits. The most 

 remarkable of these is the Great Eoseau Swamp in the 

 northwestern corner of the State. This swamp is as ten- 

 antless as the Everglades of Florida. Ordinarily it is not 

 a suitable dweUing place even for nomadic people. In its 

 true inwardness if is a collection of slouglis. catch-basins 

 and muskegs, filled with moss and peat, which constitute 

 the feeders of those streams wMch ai-e tributary to the 

 Rainy River on the east and the Red River on 

 the west. It occupies the crown of a sand ridge 

 fiUed with gravel and boulders which was thrown 

 up by an ice-shove along; the shore of what was 

 once a great shallow lake when the Red River 

 valley was submei-ged by water, and holds the waters 

 which it receives from rains and melted snows like a 

 sponge, constituting an almost unfailing som-ee of supply. 

 Oi-dinarily these muskegs are as impassable as quagmhes, 

 and being skirted by fringes of willow, alder and poplar, 

 hunting among them is wholly impracticable excei>t when 

 the leaves have fallen and intense cold fixes its grip on 

 the land and freezes everything solid. The past year, 

 however, has been exceptional. Early in last October a 

 sturdy woodsman starting from Hallock, in Kittson 

 county, by the old Roseau trail, traversed the entire inter- 

 mediate country to the south shore of the Lake of the 

 Woods with a two-horse wagon, can-ying a couple of 

 United States land agents, it being the first recorded trip 

 of the kind. Probably there has been no year or time of 

 year for a quarter of a centmy and perhaps a centiuy 

 when such a trip was j)racticable or possible: but this 

 year a drouth has prevailed over all that region. For 

 thirteen months there was scarcely rain enough to make 

 mud. The whole country has been as dry as a bone. 

 Catch-basins, which have hitherto afforded unfailing 

 water supplies, were dried to their bottoms and the baked 

 earth cracked. The moss became as crisp as dead autumn 

 leaves and the peat as diy as tinder. Some of the small 

 rivers which thread the adjacent prairie country at gi-a- 

 cious intervals ran out of theh- beds, and settler^ had to 

 haul their scanty suppUes for many miles. 



Now, I think it is safe to state, in view of the physical 

 conditions of the country and its peculiar adaptation to 

 the wants of the wild animals which inhabit it, that there 

 is no equal area on the continent east and south of Wash- 

 ington TeiTitory which to-day harbors such an assort- 

 ment and number of the indigenous animals of the 

 country, and I mention it as a zoological phenomenon 

 that there is no other known locality wliere so many of 

 the genus Cerinis are contained together as in this same 

 Roseau Swamp. Within an area of less than seventy-five 

 miles square are found moose, elk, caiibou and the dis- 

 tinct varieties of blacktaU (mule) and whitetail deer. 

 Tlie two latter, scarcely ever found together, here meet 

 on the common boundaiywliich separates their respective 

 habitats. The caribou is seldom found elsewhere ta com- 

 pany with either of them. The elk heroically contests 

 the easternmost limit of his present range; the caribou 

 occupies the most southern confine of liis; while the 

 lordly moose, noblest of the Cervidoe, stalks the middle 

 ground of that gi'eat northern thoroughfare of migration 

 which extends from Nova Scotia to Alaska Avithout a 

 break or interruption- Besides these five represent- 

 ative mammals, thero are black and brown bears, 

 and hares of three kinds, not to mention numer- 

 ous species of Mustelidce or fur-bearing animals. There 

 are also two varieties of geese, and several of 

 ducks, wliich breed in the tall grass of the swamps, which 

 grows often eight feet high, besides a great many ruffed 

 grouse and a few sharptail grouse. The country is not 

 only adapted by nature to the different wants of all these 

 creatures, but it has been protected by fortuitous cu'cum- 

 Btances, aa well as by its inaccessibiUty, fr-om the intrusion 

 of game hunters. The rapid advance of human invasion 

 into this far-off corner, which eurromided and closed in 

 this great natural preserve on all sides, halted when it 

 struck the borders of this swamp; and so we have a rare 

 menagerie coralled and hemmed in, though fed and 

 protected by the environment which keejjs desti-oyers out. 

 Even the red man does not venture here. As I have said, 

 it ia not a suitable dwelling place even for an outlaw or 

 refugee. For a quarter of a century at least there liave 

 been few visitors to this wilderness "except three or four 

 families of Indians, who have a permanent village near 

 Roseau Lake, and a small crew of loggers who have been 

 cutting pine for some years past near the headwaters of 

 the Roseau River, seventy miles east of the town of 

 Hallock, in Kittson county. It has not been unusual in 

 past years for bears and other animals to follow the belts 

 of timber which skirt the rivers leading out of the swamp 

 in the open prairie, and so vmwittingly stumble into 

 civilization. Once a big bull moose smprised the people 

 of Hallock by running directly through the town on its 

 way to the Red River, eight mUes distant, and at another 

 time a black bear disturbed the equanimity of the school 

 children dm-ing the session, and was ultimately shot for 

 his temerity. 



As long as five years ago I described this phenomenal 

 tract in some of the magazmes or newspapers and called 

 the attention of sportsmen to its advantages, but the lo- 

 cality seemed to be regarded as mythical by most persons; 

 and sages shook their heads and said that "l had town lots 

 to sell because I suggested Hallock as an outfitting point, 

 when there was no accessible way into the wilderness, 

 except by the old Roseau trail. N^evertheless, corrobor- 

 ating testimony has been brought out of the woods year 

 by year ever smce; and this year more than ever by reason 

 of the drouth and the fires. Moose meat and venison are 

 almost a staple supply this fall on the tables of Kittson 



county, and trophies of the chase, in the shape of heads, 

 hides and antlers, are scattered about the country. Re- 

 ferring to these I have seen a singular, freak of nature 

 which shows the horns of a moose and the horns of an 

 elk on the same osfrontis. One-half of this pah of antlers 

 IS of a moose and the other half of an elk, and each is 

 perfectly developed. I have not been able to ascertain 

 what the beast who wore these horns was hke. I would 

 not suppose that hybridity would manifest itself in 

 the horns alone, though I 'should think that hybridity 

 under the conditions of the present habitat of 

 the two animals might perhaps be possible. Black- 

 tail deer are quite common on the western outskirts 

 of this domain, and as many as five carcasses have been 

 brought in by two hunters as the result of a five days' 

 hunt. Caribou are more frequently killed than elk, the 

 moss barrens and muskegs being peculiarly adapted to 

 their wants and habits. The foolish Indians this fall set 

 fire to the tall slough gr-ass, driving the big animals out of 

 their lairs and the small game into such cover as the fire 

 did not reach. The poor creatm'es were quite at theh 

 mercy. Tlie land agents met a party of red men who had 

 killed four moose and an elk, and were on the track of 

 another. Two young men went in from Hallock, and 

 after three days' absence brought in a fine yearling moose 

 which weighed 4001bs. They found ruffed grouse huddled 

 together in the thickets which the fire had left. If at any 

 time the bush were well beaten a dozen rabbits would run 

 out. Plover and sandpipers kept close to the dry water 

 holes for lack of any other places more moist. The fate 

 of all game might be deplorable if the proportion of hunters 

 were greater. But the denizens of the Roseau Swamp are 

 not to be exterminated now. Theu" immunities and preroga- 

 tives will be restored as soon as the blessed ram and melt- 

 ing snows fill up the empty sloughs and desiccated swamps, 

 and hunting will be for years to come as good as ever. 

 When November snows cover the ground so that the game 

 can be tracked and before the severest cold gets its icy 



go"-ip on the land, then is the most auspicious time to hunt, 

 unttng is done chiefly in the saddle, both on account of 

 the wide range and the greater facility of moving and 

 packing the carcass. It is believed by some people that 

 deer and their kindi-ed can be stalked more successfully 

 on horseback than on foot, as the quarry is said to be less 

 suspicious of approach. Usually there is a good month 

 of fine himting weather previous to Christmas time. 



There are those who have doubted the presence of 

 moose in Mimiesota, yet within the past week two noble 

 heads have been lying in front of a leading gun store in 

 St. Paul, which were shot near Brainerd. The moose not 

 only is found in Minnesota, but his range is nearly across 

 the enthe portion of the State lying north of the line of 

 the Northern Pacific Raihoad," Its occurrence is most 

 frequent in the central part of Cass county, near Crooked 

 and Eagle lakes and WiUow River, and northward across 

 the Rainy River boundary into the Canadian Province of 

 Kewatin, which is a favorite stamping ground. 



Charles Hallock, 



TRAVELS IN BOON GAH ARRAHBIGGEE. 



FROM THE DIARY OF JOSEPH GOATER. 



EDITED BY F. H. TEMPLE BELLirW. 



(Oontimied.) 



* * * A LTHOUGH all the male inhabitants of the 

 J\. Arrahbiggee country are taught to be soldiers, 

 sa\'ing only the learned class, who are at once priests, 

 doctors, lawyers and governors, stiU there is a special 

 class of warriors, a kind of autocracy, who are distin- 

 guished from the rest by doing no menial labor, such as 

 gathering grain and fruit, building boats, weaving the 

 gobwich, feUing timber and the like. In this class the 

 nose and forehead are higher, the eyes larger and the 

 features generally finer. They are also taller and better 



GOOETA TUBES. 



built, indicating at some remote period the admixture of 

 a superior race. The leai'ned class have many of the 

 same characteristics, Avhich are preserved by inter- 

 marriage, so that the physical and mental traits, as well 

 as the offices are hereditary. It is of the warrior 

 and hunter class I now wish to speak. They are trained 

 from their infancy upward in the use of aU kinds of 

 weapons, and in the practice of feats of daring and skill. 

 While their studies under the direction of the Mullooch 

 or learned class are almost confined to learning legends 



NATIVE EX.JOYING HIS GOORTA CUP. 



of the loyalty and heroism of their ancestors, and to the 

 art of making and improving weapons. For, strange as 

 it may seem among a savage people, they devote much 

 time and attention to the improvement of old arms, and 

 the invention of new ones. The consequence is they have 

 a greater variety of weapons than any other equally 

 uncivilized people. Four times a year tliese wamors 

 hold fetes of two and three days each, one to celebrate 

 their emancipation, when a bridge which connected then- 

 country with what is their hell was swept away, and so 

 released them from immediate communication with the 

 evil spirits of that region, and gave them immunity from 

 f oraj'"s those demons, the legends say, were wont to make 

 on their happy homes. 



The second festival is in honor of the birth of Groorta 

 the hero, who was instrumental in bringing about the 



afore-mentioned happy result. He is said to have liad a 

 thousand hands of metal and to have cast the bridge into 

 the water, while his breath could blow away mountains.* 



The third festival celebrated the bkthof MuUooch, their 

 Moses, Confucius, or Bramah, I will not say Mahomet, 

 for their teacher was of a gentle and tender nature, op- 

 posed to war and bloodshed, and more after the pattern 

 of our Clirist than the pagan prophets. The fourth festi- 

 val was in honor of theh mothers, when all the males 

 brought gifts and paid homage to their maternal relatives, 

 mothers and grandmothers, if living, or to their graves 

 if dead. If it so chanced that tlie male was too far away 

 to reach his mother's grave by any reasonable amount of 

 travel, he would borrow a niother from somebody else 

 and so do homage to his parent vicariously. The Mul- 

 looch fete— a sober, dignified affair— was conducted by the 

 leaarned class. While the Goorta festival, on the other 

 hand, conducted by the warriors, was an uproarious, tur- 

 bulent and altogether exciting piece of business. 



It was all feasting, mock-fightmg, games and sport. On 

 this occasion I saw for the first time a pecuhar festive 

 cup that Avas as odd as it was ingenious. It was caUed 

 the Goorta cup, after their great chief, and it was as much 

 a point of honor to partake of it on his festival as it is 

 with us to eat roast turkey on Thanksgiving or the English 

 ]}lum pudding on Cliristmas day. How shall I describe 

 this three-ply beverage? In the first place imagine three 

 tubes joined together at one end, and emptying them- 

 selves into a fourth — larger — tube like the confluents of 

 a river. Fancy each of the three tubes provided Avith a 

 valve, a slight pressme on AAdiich closes the pipe. Noav 

 imagine three gourds placed on the ground side by side, 

 each filled Avith a different liquid, one SAveet, the other acid 

 and the third of vinous character. Now pictm-e to your- 

 self a naked savage lying on liis abdomen Avith his liead 

 over the three gourds, with one of the Goorta tubes in his 

 mouth and the ends of the other three immersed, one in 

 each of the gourds. Then further imagine the savage 

 sucking away with all his might at the liquids, stopping 

 up the different tubes one after the other, as his fancy 

 dictates, now sucking in the sweet, now the acid, 

 and now two at once and now altogether; in short, play- 

 ing a kind of gustatory symphony, and there you have an 

 Arrahbiggee rcA'cUing in his festive Goorta cup. I could 

 not help thinking, with a laugh, as I watched a dozen of 

 these feUows lying down in a circle, like the spokes of a 

 wheel, hoAv royally drunk they would get trying to play 

 Yankee Doodle in' that fashion, I tried the* instrument 

 myself and found it jjroduced the most novel eft'ect, and 

 was far from disagreeable. After all I do not see why we 

 should not have tunes for the palate as well as for the ear, 



*After the natiA'cs iDeheld me. discliarge my firearms, they called 

 me Little rxoorta, and held me in a jolly rL\ ercnce second only to 

 tliat they hestowed on their historic liero. I fancied, at times, 

 this fable might he the tradition of t^onie great engineei-in^ ex- 

 ploit in Avhlcb grunpowder pliiyod a p;irt. their hero being a 

 Chinese, 



THOSE MAINE MOOSE. 



SEVERAL weeks ago the Portland Press published an 

 account of the killing of a monster moose in the 

 Rangeley Lake region. The story came to the attention 

 of officers of the Department of Agriculture in Wash- 

 ington, and the folloAving letter was sent to the Pi-ess 

 from the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mamal- 

 ogy of the Department of Agi-iculture: 



To the Editor of the Press: Dear Sir— I notice iu the 

 daily papers a clipping from the Portland Press, stating 

 that "a mammoth moose" has recently been killed in the 

 Rangeley Lake region. For years I have been collecting re- 

 liable Tneasurenients of large moose, but the biggest "bull" 

 I have recorded is much smaller than the size mentioued in 

 certain early accounts of the animal. Hence I am particu- 

 larly anxious to secm-e trustwortJiy information of tlie size 

 of this "monster." The height at the shoulder is the most 

 valuable single measurement. Do you happen to knoAv if 

 accurate measurements were taken? If so, can you put us 

 in correspondence with the person Avho made them ? Very 

 respectfully, C. Hart Mekelam. 



A letter was at once sent to ISlr. E. E. Thomas, who 

 shot the moose, stating that accurate measurements were 

 desired. Tliis reply has been received, giving not only 

 the height of the monster, but a hunter's graphic descrip- 

 tion of the chase: 



Kennebago, Nov. .5, 188(5.— To the JEditor of the Press: 

 You ask for the size and height of the moose that I shot, and 

 the particulars in regard to nim. After the fishing season 

 was over I hauled up at the little steamer Reindeer and 

 started doAvn the lake, then up the stream to Little Keuae- 

 bago, and made my headquarters at the Wigwam (that is 

 well knoAvm to all the sportsmen that \-isit the Kennebago 

 Lake). I then paddled up and down the stream very care- 

 fully the first two days. I shot partridges that numbered 

 over thirty. Then I says, "Enough of this small game," and 

 stopped liring. On the afternoon of the second day I met my 

 game as I was shiAvly paddling my way down the Kennebago 

 stream that flo^\'.s from one lake to the other. About three- 

 fourth.s of a mile down the stream I beard something walk- 

 ing in the Avater, and to my great surprise a large coav moose 

 Avalked out on the bar about tATcnty rods alieail. My rifle 

 Avas on her in a .second, but before I had 1 iiuc to pull the 

 trigger a better specimen made its appearance i'rom the same 

 quarter, and the bearer of a splendid set of antlers was then 

 my mark. Q-he first bullet struck his neck but mi.ssed the 

 bone by one-half inch. This was unexpected, and as he 

 turned his head slowly around and began to think of the 

 way to go 1 put a bullet through his heart. That finished 

 him. He AA'ent aliout four rods and tell. The other moo.se 

 walked slo^vly away, and Ithen went to t he ^rounded moose as 

 he lay thrashing "in the w ater, and waited for him to be 

 quiet enough to use the knife. Then, to my surpri.se, the old 

 cow came ciuietly Avalking back, and came up Avithin .six rods 

 of me. She Avas not half so ]irctty as the one that lay in the 

 Avater. The long bristles on her back looked A^ery much like 

 those of a porcupine, and her nose turned up in a rather 

 ridiculous manner. I swTing my hat and shouted so loud 

 that I think your editors might have heard me if you had 

 been out in the open air. The Maine l.-w giA es a man but 

 one moose a yeai", and thics him $IW for every other one 

 killed the same year. But the coaa- left and I Avas glad. I 

 camped that night AAdth him. and the next morning a party 

 going up the stream helijed haul him out of the stream, 

 lie stood 18)^ hands high (Oft. 2in.), and weighed 8501bs.— E. 

 E. Thomas. 



Capt. Thomas, however, has a rival who has also shot a 

 very large moose, Tlris is a letter received fi-om Council- 

 man ElAvyn W, Love joy, of Lowell, Mass,: 



Lowell, Mass., Nov. 1, 1886.— To the Editor of the Press: 

 In your issue of the Press Oct, 33, 1886, you have 



