FOREST AND STREAM. 



847 



The "Pet Bear's" Owner Discharged.— Cincinnati, 

 O., Nov. 16.— P. W. Cm-ran, the saloonkeeper at 1002 

 Sheriff street, whoee pet bear killed Henry Dornbroech's 

 little girl last Monday, was arraigned in the Police Coml 

 yesterdaj'- afternoon on the charge of uianslan2:hter. 

 Sergeant Bradley of the poUc© force, Henry Huffman, 

 and the child's father, described the killing of the 

 girl and her woxmds. Dornbroech testified that he had 

 long thought the animal dangerous. He had taken every 

 precaution to keep the child away from the bears den. 

 He said the bear bit a man named Peny veiy severely 

 last spring. Dr. Carl Bock swore that he warned Curran 

 that the bear should be guarded after its attack on Fi-ank 

 Perry on June 1. For the defense James Ramsey, a 

 colored employe of Currans, testified that the bear was 

 always good-natvired. It was so familiar that one night 

 it came to his room and climbed into his bed. The witness 

 got up. Ramsey said that the Dornbroech child was 

 often found in the bear's yard, and on several occasions 

 he had carried it home, A cook at Curran's place also 

 testified that the bear was very tame and often played 

 with its owner. William Fleury said that a week ago he 

 saw the little girl sitting in the bear's den and hadcai-ried 

 her out. Dr. S, K. Barber said he was part Indian and 

 loved bears. He then related a number of amusing 

 stories concerning Curran's bear to show that it was tame 

 and playful. lie saw the bear bite Perry last Junp. 

 Perry and another man were fighting with chair s and the 

 animal, who had taken boxing lessons from Curran, took 

 part in the fight. The defendant's testimony did not dif- 

 fer from that of the other witnesses. Judge Hutchins, in 

 summing up, said; "This is -an important affau", and no 

 one deplores it more than the defendant. I saw him when 

 he was arrested, and he felt the child's death keenly. Mr. 

 Cm-ran was the owirer of the bear, and is charged with 

 manslaughter. The charge is brought on the theory that 

 the owner is responsible for the death of the child. If a 

 man owns a vicious, dangerous animal, whotlier a bear or 

 dog, and he knows it to be vicious, and does not take pro- 

 per care of it, then in law he must be guilty of negligent 

 homicide. It must be a case of gross negligence, how- 

 ever. Bears are not unf requently owned by people living 

 in large cities. They are ti-ained more or less. I am 

 satisfied that thi« bear was a sort of pet, and that Mr. 

 Cm-ran trained him from a cub. I think that he took 

 precautiors to guard against any dangers. The bear 

 might have been a dog tied up or a pi-ccipice. The child, 

 not arrived at years of discretion, ndght have been in as 

 much danger from either as from a tame bear. I think 

 that the guardians should have more carefully looked 

 after the child. The defendant is discharged." 



North Carouna Resorts.— Charleston, S. C, Nov. 

 14, — Editor Forest and Sti^eam: Being a regular reader 

 of your paper, which I subscribe for through my news- 

 dealer here, I desire to answer your query "Information 

 Wanted," and signed "Mar," The mountains of west- 

 em North Carolina will furnish your correspondent witli 

 air and scenery, ideas and diet different, I am sure, from 

 many places he can go to, the first two, I will venture to 

 say, equaled only by some of the scenei-y on the continent 

 of Europe. The second two he will find to perfection, for 

 the ideas of the ijeople will be new and the diet will be 

 of the plainest, but good , such as pure milk and butter, 

 plenty of chicken legs and good bread. I am really giv- 

 ing a sort of description myself, which I did not intend 

 to do; but in conclusion suggest to yom correspondent to 

 write to Mr. M, S. Farmer, Flat Rock, Henderson coxmty, 

 N. C, which is about ten miles from the Fi-ench Broad, 

 and also where I have a smnmer house. Farmer is a keen 

 sportsman, knows every inch of the ground Avithin fifty 

 miles, and will gladly give any information, I am sure. 

 For myself, I am up there from June to Oct. 20 and will 

 assist m any way to give "Mar" a pleasant time, and he 

 can be srure of a heai-ty Southern welcome. — Milbanke. 



Address ail commuiiicatimis to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co, 



ALASKAN TROUT. 



LITTLE FALLS, N. Y., Nov. 20,— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: I have read with much interest the letter of 

 Dr. Street in your issue of 18th, an interest not lessened 

 by the fact thai, the statements tlierein contamed are 

 apparently in direct refutation of those made by me in 

 my paper forming part of the Orvis-Cheney collection, 

 "Fishing with the Fly,'' which was to the effect that from 

 personal experience and collected information I was con- 

 vinced that the Salmo family of Alaska would not rise to 

 the fly. Against this grave accusation tlie Doctor enters 

 a very strong protest, stating that he in two seasons took 

 from the rivers and lakes of Alaska nearly 1,000 trout 

 with the fly. The facts stated do most certainly ' 'justify 

 him,'' and me too, "in holding a contrary opinion to that 

 given by" me. -While the "personal experience" remains 

 the same, the information given by Dr. Street not being 

 among that collected, nor having had any other of the 

 same nation, I naturally acce]>ted such evidence as I had. 

 As naturally, having no theory to sustain, I now accept 

 with thanks the Doctor's statements and congratulate 

 him on the excellent sport which he has had, but which i 

 missed. 



The Avorld moves, the accepted truths of one decade are 

 upset and shown to be errors by those of the next. Men 

 beheved honestly that the "sun do move." Now they 

 know it don't. But even eiTors have their value, by the 

 increased value they give to the ti-uths which explode 

 them. As in this case, the simple fact that Alaskan trout 

 will or will not take the fiy is of but slight iTuportance to 

 the angling fraternity, who, as a general thing, don't 

 have to go there and probably don't care whether they 

 do or not; but from a scientific point of view the question 

 whether from any cause a family of fish are in one part 

 of our country entnely devoid of an instinct and habit, 

 which in all others govern them, is a matter of interest to 

 all of us. and when so generally an accepted belief io re- 

 gard to the matter is so completely demolished it seems to 

 me that it is well worth while to pursue the subject 

 further, analj'ze the opposing statements and evidence, 

 and find if the real truth does not lie somewhere between. 

 To this end, and this only, I shall compare the Doctoi-'s 

 views and mine, criticising freely both siets in the interest 



of truth, and in so doing hope to smooth away some of the 

 sharp edges of the issue between us. 



First, then, the Doctor fisliing certain waters finds 

 there a situation entirely different from that which I 

 found while fishing others. IVly fishing grcimds extended 

 from Sitka, in lat. 57° 02', to Clulkhat, in lat. 59 20 , 

 over 100 miles to the northward, entii-cly in Alaskan 

 waters; Ids from the boundary line upward, but stops 

 short of Sitka by 80 miieij. As Sitka is but 113 miles north 

 of the boundary the Doctor's belt thus comprises a width 

 of about 60 miles, in regard to which the information 

 given by him stands almost alone and is thus valuable. 

 Perhaps somewhere in that belt stands the shield, of 

 which he, from the southward, saw the golden side, I, 

 from the noi-thward, the reverse of baser metal. The 

 Doctor has added weight to my testimony that (unt 1 his 

 advent) the belief that the Alaska trout and salmon were 

 "guilty as charged," was universal and sti-ong. All of 

 the information wliich I collected was to this effect. 



As for my personal experience, I have spent many 

 houis experimenting, not trying to catch trout; for I had 

 but to put on a salmon egg and be at once one of the sev- 

 eral who, at the same time fishing from the same pool, 

 kept a ti-out in the air contiimally. With a full assort- 

 ment of flies of aU styles and pattern, and ti-ying every 

 device known to me, I failed to get a rise. Once only did 

 I get a trout on a fly; the pool Avas clear and the trout all 

 nose down hunting and rooting for eggs, as plain to be 

 seen as though in the glass tank of an aquarium, I 

 trimmed a red-ibis to as near a resemblance to a fresh egg 

 as possible and let it sink among a lot of eggs; several 

 ti-out swam to it as it struck bottom and one got hooked. 

 I tried it again and again and failed. I looked upon this 

 exception as proving the rule. Joining thus in the gen- 

 eral opinion I made the accusation; and in so doing have 

 evidently made it too sweeping, I should have included 

 only Alaska trout in the vicinity of Sitka and to the north- 

 ward, where CA^ery stream is glacier-fed. 



As bearing upon the possibilities of difference of lati- 

 tude producing a difference in the action of the trout, I 

 will quote from a letter Avritten by me on Christmas, 

 1879, and published March 4, 1880. in Forest and Stream: 

 "Study cf the letter of '0. R.,'in yoiu: issue of Oct, 30, 

 helps me to another nice little pomt in natni'al history. 

 He describes (AVii ting from Portland, Oregon) very cor- 

 rectly the salmon trout {Salmo s2:)ectabiUs), of wliich I 

 have caught bushels this simimer, but which, in Septem- 

 ber, grcAv very scarce, and in October disappeared alto- 

 getlier from om- streams (those near Sitka). Coincident 

 with our loss was 'C. R.'s' gain, for in the streams near 

 Poi-tland he says they begin to apj)ear in September 

 and continue throughout October; tlierefore that the sal- 

 mon trout migrate in the fall to the southward seems 

 fairly deducible, but 'C. R.'s' trout take flies, om-s wiU 

 not." And other authorities show that in the streams of 

 Oregon and Washington Territory these trout take the 

 fly. 



Now if, as I presrmie possible, the bulk of the fish taken 

 by Dr. Street were the spectabilis, we have the boundary 

 line of the fly-taking habit carried much further north, 

 and it Avould be interesting to learn from him how far, 

 also in what month he found them, and if ire noted any 

 variation from month to month in then* numbers or habits, 

 I should also like to know if he caught in the streams any 

 of the clarMi, which species, as identified by Dr. Bean, is 

 the one Avhich is found near Sitka, only m the little lake 

 back of the town, in regard to which I quote from a letter 

 to Forest and Stream, dated Sitka, June 1, ISSO, 

 published Sept. 9: "About the 20th of May, very beauti- 

 ful trout Avere taken in large nimrbers from a little lake 

 just back of the toAvn, which on my chart is christened 

 Piseco. The habits of this trout are peculiar; every spring 

 for about ten days they are plentiful close to the shore 

 among the lily pads, and Avill bite on anything except a 

 fly." jyir. Street quotes from the AlasJmn: "However, 

 some one must have educated the trout up there too, if 

 what I saw in Alaska last spring be true. It was to the 

 effect that the fish in the lake near Sitka were then i-ising 

 to the fly." I cannot claim very strong basis for my belief 

 and statement that they Avould not, for I confess that I 

 did not try them as thoroughly as I did the spectabilis in 

 the stream. 



It was the first trout fishing of the season. We were 

 hungry for trout, both as fishermen and hungi-y men, for 

 sometimes our stock of eatables in Sitka was a very 

 limited one; and that season the ducks were gone, ptar- 

 migan unattainable, and even our stand-by, venison, 

 scarce. Several of us did try files, but as the trout lay 

 among the pads three casts out of four were fouls, and 

 we soon gave up and caught om trout on bait. A few 

 days after they came the sjoectabilis began to run into the 

 creeks; fishing for them was far pleasant er, and I for one 

 desei*ted the Take, As far as our experience goes we 

 could not get any of them on flies. If others have since, 

 they deserve reward for their jjatience. 



I afterward learned a few facts in regard to this trout 

 which I had intended giving to Forest and Stream, btit 

 being out of the country when I received the letter from 

 Major Wm. G-. Morris, the collector at Sitka, I laid it 

 aside and forgot it. 



During the summer after I left the Major put a good 

 boat on the lake, found these trout in the deep water and 

 caupcht great numbers of them, all on salmon eggs. We 

 fo nl none of these ti'out in the streams near Sitka, 

 al h jugh in classifying my specimen Dr. Bean Avrote as 

 follows: "Salmo clarMi, a non-migratory trout from the 

 fresh waters of British Columbia, Oregon and Washing- 

 ton Territory." 



My description of this trout was as follows: "Specimen 

 caught May 37 — Length, 9|in.; depth, 3|in.; wci^t, 5oz.; 

 colors — back dark broAvn, groAving lighter toward median 

 line, at which there is a logitudinal purple stripe extend- 

 ing from opercle nearly to tail; beloAv the median line 

 olive gi-esn, Ughtcning' to silver \vhite on belly. The 

 entire tinted poi-ticn has a beautif\il golden iridescence. 

 60 much so that when looked at from the rear, being held 

 in sunlight, the fish seems to bo gilded. Excepting the 

 belly , the sm'f ace is profusely sprinkled with oval black 

 spots, which mark also the dorsal, adipose and caudal 

 fins; the pectoral, ventral and anal fins are yellowish, 

 tipped Avith crimson; tail nearly square, but not so square 

 as the font inalis; it has hyoid teeth.'' 



The 'specixibilis I describe, "Somewhat sHmmer than the 

 fontincuis, one of loin, weighing just 12oz., back of olive 

 gTeen, dark on top, shading down at the median line so 

 that the transition from the green to the silver white of 

 side and belly is mot abrupt. In the green portion are 



pale yellow specks. The head re-^embles somewhat that 

 of ihe fo7itinalis, but is longer, tad forked from head to 

 junction of tai\form somewhat that of a mackerel;*' this 

 Avhen fresh run in from the sea ; after a short period in 

 f ret-:h Avater crimson specks, similar to thioee on tlie/on#-i- 

 nalir, develop and the fish grows much builder, appearing 

 much like one of our brook trout, that but for the forked 

 tail I thouglit him one. 



Now it would be interesting to know if Mr. Street 

 ! caught in any of the streams the clarJdi, if they too took 

 the fly, either in lake or siroam, and where Avas the sti-eam 

 in which Mr. HaUock caught a trout on a fly, it cotdd not 

 have been near Sitka, for to fish the outlet of the lake in 

 either of such streams involved a long and heavy tiip up 

 the mountains. 



Evidently Dr. Street has fished very thoroughly and 

 successfully a region of country slightly known, and care- 

 lessly included by me in my recorded denunciation; he 

 has shown plainly that I was not justified in £0 including 

 it; so better late than never, I noAv except this belt of 

 country, sixty miles in width and at the utmost as many 

 in breadth, and to be on the safe side and anticipate a 

 possible correction by some one of the enterprising men 

 who have penetrated to the extreme north of Alaska, and 

 perhaps fished its streams, I Avill except about five hun- 

 dred thousand more square miles of the Tei-ritoiy in re- 

 gard to which I have no personal knowledge. This, with 

 the Doctor's 3,600, leaves me but a small reserve, for with 

 the dozen streams alone, each eay five yards wide and 

 fished from one to thi-ee miles from their outlets. I think 

 fifty square miles Avould he as high as I can claim to know 

 anything about. 



If the Doctor has, as I hope and think likely, made 

 and preserved notes of his experience, I cannot but think 

 that they would, if given to your columns, prove not only 

 very interesting but very valuable. 



R-obably the Adews that I entertain as to the causes of 

 the failure of the ti'out I fished for to vise to the fly would 

 be either confimied or disj^rcA^ed. These are, first, to the 

 fact that all of the streams I have fished originate from, 

 and are fed by glaciers; to theee the trout come for the 

 sole purpose of feeding on the salmon's spawn, coming 

 Avith the salmon and leaving Avith them, the salmon 

 seekmg such streams to get totheii- cold heads to i?pawn. 

 Here, ibusily engaged in hunting for and feeding cn tlie 

 egg-s whicli^rest on the bottom, the trout pay no attention 

 to anything on the sui-face. 



In that i^art of the country files and insects of all sorts 

 are A-ery scarce, and probably net enough fiy over any 

 one stream in a day to give a fingle nip to even ten of 

 the countless trout, and if by any accident they should 

 notice a real or artificial fiy sliitteriug over the sm-face it 

 would probably scare tliem. Now if the streams fished 

 by Dr. Street further south have warmer water, and the 

 insect tribe is more fully represented , as is the case in 

 Waskington Territory soniewliat further south, it may be 

 that "he is right and I amriglit." I for one shouldte very 

 glad to add to my knowled2;e of Alaskan ichthyology that 

 which Dr. Street can furnish, and ho])e he will. 



L. A. Beardslee. 



ANTIQUITY OF THE FISHING REEL. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In that inccmpaialle wcik "fpcrt with Gun frd Pcd" 

 there is an article by the editor. Prof. Alfred M. Mayer, 

 entitled "On the Invention of the Reel." 



Prof. Mayer states the first mention of the reel that he 

 has been able to find is in Barkers "Art of Angling," 

 London, IGul. There is no mention of the reel in the first 

 edition of Walton, 1G53, but he refers to it in the second 

 edition, 1G55, as eomething used by others, although he 

 seems to have had but a sHght personal knowledge of its 

 use. The American editor of Walton, Dr. Bethune, say-s 

 m a footnote in the American edition of 1817 (for my 

 copy cf Avhich I am indebted to Prof. Mayer) that "the 

 history of the reel is a fijie subject for the angling archee- 

 ologist. Its origin is as yet in deep obecurity." During 

 the past summer I cut from a newspaper a slip, the con- 

 tents of which go to show that the reel antedates Bark- 

 ker"s mention of it at least GOO years and seems to lift its 

 origin from obECurity. I was so interested in the news- 

 paper cutting that I neglected to note the paper from 

 Avbich I took it, but think it Avas the American Art Jour- 

 nal. This is it: 



"In some notes upon an exliibition of antiquities, which 

 was opened in Tokio on the 1st of Novemlier,-^ tlie Japan 

 3Iail writes: 'There is one room, the contents of Avhich 

 alone Avill amply repay a visit. Its Avails are entirely 

 covered with pictures by the old Chinese masters. Two 

 of them, gems from an antiquarian standpoint, hang in- 

 side a case wliich stands at the entrance. They are by 

 painters of the Sung pericd — Baian and Riushomen— and, 

 apart from then merits as Avorks of crt, one of them es- 

 tablished the fact that reels Avere used by Chinese anglei'S 

 in the eleventh century. Wlaat is there that Chinese 

 civilization did not possess?' " Since fust reading the 

 above extract I have but little more than glanced at the 

 American and English angling journals, and it is possible 

 that mention has already bsen made therein of the fact 

 quoted, still I trust it may prope interesting and novel to 

 some, at least, of j'our readers. If the writer in the Japan 

 Mail had given a de cription o*' the reel of the eleventh 

 centm-y as it ajipeared when delineated by Mr. Baian or 

 Mr. RlusIion3n, he Avould pai-hips have gratified an 

 angler's nattu-al curiosity, but had he done so there is no 

 guarantee that the reel would not have been patented in 

 America inside of a month thereafter. A, N. Chenet. 



*1885 probably, as I cut tJie extract from tLe paper early in 1886. 



Trout Markings. — The trout in C Pond, in C toAvnship, 



Maine, have, in addition to then red spots about as many 

 black spots as a landlocked salmon. In other respects 

 they aie no different from other trout in adjacent waters. 

 What is the reason that these fish have the black spots ? 

 Last September while fishing in Rapid River, oppotitethe 

 old Oxford Club house, I caught a landlocked salmon 

 that had two rows of red spots on each side. I caught 

 several trout at the same place and two more salmon that 

 had only the black spots. Was that fish a hybrid or are 

 they occasionally found with red spots ? The fish was in 

 every other appearance like other sahnon. — S. J. Gerrish 

 (Lancaster, N. H.). 



Central Lake, Mich., Nov. 11. — The "herrings" made 

 their a,ppearance to-day. — Kelpie. 



