222 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 12, 1888. 



Every person who is sufficiently interested in the National 

 Park to do his share toward securing protection for it, is in- 

 vited to send for one of the Forest and Stream's petition 

 Mantes. They are sent free. 



SALMON FISHING ON THE GRAND 

 CASCAPEDIA. 



MY friend M. sends me under date of Sept. 20, 1887, 

 this account of his salmon fishing trip on the Cas- 

 capedia: 



I can hardly do less, since you afforded me the oppor- 

 tunity for so much pleasure, than write and tell you 

 somewhat in detail how we made the trip and what for- 

 tune bef el us. 



Mr. B. and I left Boston on the night train over the 

 Boston & Lowell and Central Vermont railways. We 

 reached Montreal in due time, and after breakfast at the 

 Windsor, drove to the old fellow's whose name you gave 

 me. His stock of salmon flies was not very large, per- 

 haps because it was toward the close of the season, and 

 they were not over well tied. He had no flies tied to 

 small hooks. We bought some of him, and then went to 

 Costen's, where each of us got a rod, line, reel and gaff, 

 some dark flies, large and small, together with necessary 

 duplicates. After dinner we had a drive part way round 

 the mountain and out to Lackine, and so back along the 

 river to the city and to the hotel in time to get our traps 

 ready for the Quebec boat. At the hotel, just before 

 leaving, a gentleman came to me, and putting out his 

 hand, asked if "this is Mr. M." Behold our friend Per- 

 kins whom I had known at Yale, instead of some un- 

 known Perkins whose acquaintance I had yet to make. 

 Our trio were comfortably put aboard the steamer, with 

 all then- impedimenta, and had a beautiful night for the 

 trip down the St. Lawrence. In the morning B. was a 

 trifle under the weather, so Perkins and I sallied out 

 together to fill out what was lacking in our kit and to 

 purchase a few green groceries. Small flies were not to 

 be found of the desired patterns in either Montreal or 

 Quebec, though I managed to get a few dark-fairys in 

 Montreal. 



Next day we took the Intercolonial for Dalhousie, and 

 had for company an old salmon fisherman who had been 

 on the Cascapedia the week before, Mr. A. F. Light, C. E., 

 government engineer of railways for the Province of 

 Quebec. He proved a very interesting companion. 

 When we got on board the Admiral in the evening we 

 learned that the Governor-General had telegraphed to 

 have the boat wait for him. He had been to Mitis to 

 meet a son who was coming out from England. The 

 next morning it was announced that "His Excellency" 

 would probably not be at Dalhousie before half past nine 

 or ten, and we improved the time by visiting the salmon- 

 freezing establishment. The proprietor had made a glass 

 case and in it placed, for the Governor-General to see as 

 he passed through, ten salmon, whose united weight was 

 4801bs. It was a magnificent sight, and you may well 

 imagine roused our enthusiasm to begin the sport. Shortly 

 after 11 o'clock the Governor- General came on board and 

 we got under way. He was very polite, and said that 

 before saying anything else, he wished to apologize to 

 our party for delaying it, but that it was really not alto- 

 gether his fault. I introduced B. and Perkins, and we 

 chatted pleasantly with hirn until we reached the mouth 

 of the river. Peter, Alfred and Aleck Barter, Peter's 

 boy, Hamilton, John Willett and Tom (I've forgotten his 

 other name) were waiting for us with their canoes, and 

 had been since early morning. Perkins stepped into 

 Peter's canoe. B. into Alfred and Tom's, while I, who 

 came last, had Aleck Barter and John Willett, and so 

 we divided off through our Btay. 



I enjoyed the voyage up the river exceedingly. I have 

 canoed a good many hundred miles, but I never saw such 

 poling as the men on the Cascapedia do. We had a first 

 rate supper, a happy augury of other good meals to come, 

 and turned in to the music of pattering rain. Before 

 morning it cleared and was as cold as Greenland; but the 

 first day at Woodman's (Sunday) was the warmest of all, 

 90" I think, in spite of the chilly promise of the early 

 morning. After a sufficient length of time had elapsed 

 after our dinner to make it safe to stir without bursting, 

 we went through the woods to the Governor's camp to 

 return a pair of rubber leggings which he had loaned 

 Perkins the day before. Our exalted friend was not at 

 home. On the way back we met Captains H, and S. of 

 his aides, whom the Governor-General had sent to offer 

 us a day's fishing on his waters, if we tired of ours. 



When Monday morning came we were afield early — 

 before breakfast. B. , as he was to leave us on Wednes- 

 day, took what the guides thought was the "best chance" 

 at the salmon pool. Perkins went up the stream, and I 

 fished the pool at Woodman's from end to end. As each 

 canoe came to the landing on this first morning, I am 

 confident that each one of us expected that the others 

 must have taken a big salmon, basing our exspectations 

 partly on the proverbial luck of greenhorns, partly on the 

 fancied superiority of the other fellow's guides, and partly 

 on the imagination that as each one knew he had had no 

 luck, the others must have had better. We did get a 

 good many trout in one place or another, notably in the 

 basin below Woodman's of the little stream which drives 

 the saw mill just above the point where it falls into the 

 river. There B. and I pulled out many on Monday after- 

 noon, and B. got a good string on Tuesday, so with what 

 we all took he had a fine box of trout to take home with 

 him Wednesday. I had the best trout fishing at the 

 mouth of Trout Brook, though there was a large raft of 

 cedar sleepers right in foont of it, and no large fish rose 

 to my flies. The water in the river was very low and as 

 clear as crystal. Whenever we poled across the big pool 

 at Woodman's, as many as ten or a dozen big salmon 

 would lazily wag' their way to one side or the other of 

 our course to our intense disgust, as we thought it was all 

 there, only we could not get it. When, too, we whipped 

 the river through the quick water at Woodman's, or down 

 at the Salmon Pool| the heavy "chunk" of an unseen 

 salmon as he fell into the water, or the perfect sight of a 

 thirty or forty-pound beast as he raised himself partly or 

 wholly out of the water to poke fun at us, made us only 

 too sensible of our aggravating situation. 



Wednesday morning early B. left us, and we missed 

 his genial companionship very much, and Perkins and I 



fished on. It was rainy nearly all day on Wednesday, 

 but did not rain heavily. In the evening I went with 

 Aleck and John down to Alfred's, where there was to be a 

 party. Peter and his boy went down also, for word had. 

 come that Alfred had brought up a stranger from the 

 ferry when he left B. in the morning. The stranger 

 proved to be a Mr. B., of Montreal, son of a business 

 friend of ours, and whose brother I had known. The 

 party was not very numerously besought (as the Swedes 

 say), and word was brought during the early evening of 

 the death of Peter Barter's wife's sister. I left between 

 9 and 10. On the way up stream, while going up close to 

 the bank on the right, a mist cloud suddenly rolled along 

 the port gunwale like a young cyclone, and wet my whole 

 left side, besides throwing a lot of spray over my specs. 

 Aleck, as soon as he could pull himself together, and John, 

 who heard the rumpus, "allowed" that we had struck a 

 salmon, who, like ourselves, was poling up the shallow 

 water, and Aleck assured us that the fish walloped his 

 tail over the edge of the canoe just back of my arm. So 

 much for a real and rather unusual rencontre. 



All day Thursday it rained very hard. My head turned 

 itself, for some reason unknown, into a barometer, and 

 with fidelity recorded an unusually great depression of 

 the atmosphere in a regular snapping headache. Perkins 

 was to leave in the morning and wanted to pay.his re- 

 spects to the Marquis before he went, so we headed up to 

 New Derreen. My head was too bad for me to think of 

 enjoying a call, so, when we reached the Governor's 

 camp, I asked Perkins to go up alone, and, with his own, 

 present my respects. That scheme did not work, how- 

 ever, for Capt. S. came down to the landing and per- 

 suaded me to come and take a cup of tea, which Lady 

 Lansdowne poured. It was very good, too, and did much 

 to cure my headache; so much so that after a heavy 

 shower had passed over, and I had taken leave of Lady 

 Lansdowne and her niece (Capt. S.'s wife), I was ready 

 to accept the invitation of Capt. S. and Capt. H. to try 

 their trout fishing above the camp. I passed Perkins who 

 had gone on ahead coming down again, for it had begun 

 to rain once more, and he wanted to get home and 

 pack. 



We dropped the kilMck at the head of the long reach of 

 dead water, where there was quite a current. In the 

 course of a few minutes my Leonard rod was bending 

 under the weight of a big trout, and I began to think of 

 bringing him to the landing, when, by jolly! flies and 

 casting line all went free, and it was a good leader too. 

 It was so dark and rainy that I veneured what I other- 

 wise dislike, a double leader, and it served me well. 

 Three or four big fish broke loose close up to the boat, 

 but when the next big one pulled out the line, I made 

 the boys put for the shore, as if it were a salmon, and after 

 a good play we landed him, no longer alone, but with a 

 good-sized mate on the stretcher. In the course of an 

 hour or so I took 16 or 18 nice trout, and then we paddled 

 down to supper, past the Princeton Pool, where you took 

 your 36-pounder, and in spite of the darkness made our 

 home landing in safety. It rained all night, and the river 

 rose perhaps 3 or 4in, Perkins left early the next morn- 

 ing, and just as he left called out, "I hope you'll get a 

 salmon before night. I'll bet you will!'' and I was a 

 widow. All day the rain continued to fall. I rested the 

 pools all day. After supper, I neared the kitchen door 

 where the guides were seated, and seeing that they were 

 not averse to going out, said, "Well, we can't catch any- 

 thing here." We went up to the head of the pool. Two 

 canoes with two Boston men were on Mr. Barnes's side, 

 one near the head of the pool, and one opposite the big 

 rock, right in front of Woodman's. 



At the then stage of the water, two rocks were partly 

 out of the water. Looking down stream there was a bit 

 of still water at a point where two ripples joined. After 

 one drop, I sent the fly — a little silver-doctor — into that 

 angle. A good trout followed the shortening line to the 

 landing net. At the next cast I thought I saw an eddy 

 from a rise, and after waiting a minute or two threw 

 back to the same spot. Something touched the fly. Was 

 it a trout or a salmon? Probably the former, as I had 

 about given up all thoughts of a salmon. But, then, it 

 did not feel to me quite like a trout. I looked to my reel 

 to see that all was clear, and, as luck would have it, found 

 the line had taken a loop over the handle. I cleared it 

 and payed out a few inches with my hand. In less than 

 a second the reel was singing like mad, while clear across 

 the river a fish leaped fair out of the water. The word 

 came then: "Take up your killick, John, and hold her 

 where she is." A cedar sleeper had lodged across one of 

 the rocks, and as I reeled in and brought the salmon 

 back again, it was an even chance whether he would not 

 in some way get the line foul of the sleeper or even try to 

 jump over it. He was courteous enough to allow me to 

 let him down the current without touching the sleeper, 

 and the men put the canoe up close to the shore, where I 

 had. a good chance to draw him out of the current. Sev- 

 eral times as I brought him near the canoe he turned and 

 made a rush. It was almost too dark to see the leader 

 and try to gaff him, but finally, after getting the quarry 

 between the canoe and the shore and dropping him down 

 to a little below the stern, Alec, from the beach, sent the 

 gaff home, and John rapped him over the nose with the 

 long flat stone which Aleck had, with some premonition, 

 placed in the boat, and the tragedy was over. Night 

 dropped the curtain, and I had killed'my first salmon. I 

 felt much pleased, you may be sure. The salmon was a 

 fresh-run fish, and weighed a few ounces over 121bs., as 

 bright as silver and very fat. 



Next morning, Saturday, we went down directly after 

 breakfast to the salmon pool. After pulling in a fair- 

 sized trout, I was somewhat astonished to see a grilse go 

 sailing through the air with my fly in its mouth, and no 

 less grieved to discover shortly afterward that my fine 

 was coming back to me free. I had never seen a grilse 

 before. The guides were really crestfallen at this turn of 

 bad luck. But when we had dropped a little, and an- 

 other trout had come to the landing net as the forerunner 

 of still another salmon, a second grilse soared out of the 

 water, as though that were the only proper way for a 

 grilse to take the fly. He was a merry little fellow, and 

 jumped in all six times before he gave in. It proved to 

 be a regular little butter ball, and weighed just 41bs. Of 

 course \ felt pretty well content with a salmon and a 

 grilse to send home by the Monday boat. Sunday was a 

 rather lonesome day. The guides went home, and a per- 

 fect stillness and quietness reigned. On Monday morn- 

 [ ing I sent the salmon down to Peter, and he and Mr. B. 

 ' put them aboard the steamer. The fish reached their 



destination in prime condition on the following Wednea- 

 day afternoon. 



Encouraged by the success of Friday evening and Sat- 

 urday morning, I fished diligently on Monday and Tues- 

 day, but not a salmon rose, although there were two 

 lying just above the quick water at the head of the pool 

 at Woodman's. I did discover a fine trout hole some 

 distance above this on Monday afternoon, at a point 

 where a very tiny stream fell into the river, and got a 

 splendid string of trout out of it, over forty in all, includ- 

 ing two or three that would weigh over two pounds each. 

 On Tuesday I supplemented the catch with enough to 

 make up a good box to take home. Wednesday morning 

 was fine and clear. After the farewells to the Woodman 

 household, we dropped down the river to Peter Barter's, 

 where Alfred was waiting with his horse and a borrowed 

 buggy. We had not gone over 150yds. when Alfred drove 

 into a rut in the road and broke a spring. It was quickly 

 decided to return me and my traps to the canoe, and that 

 Alfred should take the horse and ford the river, borrow 

 another wagon of his brother-in-law, and meet me at the 

 ferry. I really saved time by this maneuver, besides" 

 having a very pleasant glide down the river. 



On the way home my precious box of trout got left 

 over at Nashua, but by some good fortune it followed me 

 closely, and was sent up to the house about 8:30. I had 

 had the box repacked at St. J ohn, and the fish were per- 

 fectly fresh, and created quite a sensation in our family, 

 one surpassed only by the arrival of the salmon two days 

 before. Now, my friend , I am afraid you got in detail 

 more than you bargained for, but as it was you who sent 

 me up to the beautiful Cascapedia, and made my outing- 

 such a very pleasant one, you must at least accept my re- 

 newed thanks in large measure, and forgive the weari- 

 ness which the reading of the historiette must cause 

 you. M. 



A SNOWSHOE TRAMP. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In putting up some snowshoes to-day, for which I 

 trust I shall have no further use until next winter, I was 

 reminded of a letter received from John Danforth some 

 time ago, in which he tells of a walk he took on show- 

 shoes in January. 



The letter is dated Chesam, Canada, and says: "On' 

 Tuesday morning I put on my snowshoes at Camp 

 Caribou (Parmachenee Lake, Maine) at 7 A. M., and ha 

 nine horns I had traveled to this place, a distance of 

 thirty miles. There is a winter road, but as there is no 

 travel on it, I did not follow it, but took a straight shoot 

 over mountains and through swamps, and came out 

 within half a mile of my destination. The day was bad 

 for the work, as it snowed all day and of course loaded 

 my shoes. About noon I came by chance across the lone, 

 Indian of the Magalloway, Archie Annand, and we built 

 a fire and made our tea in the same pot. Archie wa?, 1 

 swearing mad because some wandering Frenchmen had,: 

 been to one of his camps and burned all of his woodS 

 Archie got there very late one cold night and had some '■ 

 trouble in getting warm." 



A snowshoe tramp of thirty miles in nine hours during : 

 a snowstorm is a good, healthy, blood-churning walk, 

 particularly when the thirty miles includes crossing the 

 Boundary Mountains between Maine and Canada. In a 

 later letter Danforth said the snowshoeing was excellent}; 

 about his camp in March, as there had been no rain in. 

 northwestern Maine to make a crust. During a second 

 trip to Canada Danforth said he saw hundreds of acres of 

 deer yards and dozens of deer. About my own house the 

 snowshoeing has not been as good this winter as last, 

 when it was prime. In writing of winter in April I use 

 the present tense because we still have banks of snow six 

 feet high. The snow has been so light that it was like; 

 walking on feathers, or there has been such a hard crust 

 that snowshoes were safer indoors than out. A. N. C. 



Glens Falls, N. Y. 



The Old, Old Story. — Seneca, Mo., March M.—Fditoti 

 Forest and Stream: We have been having some fine' 

 weather for duck shooting, and some of the sportsmen 

 have been putting in the time along Grand River, which' 

 is only thirty minutes' ride from this place on the train. 

 We can take the train here at 8 o'clock in the morning, 

 and half an horn later be at the river, where the duckV 

 are plentiful at times. Yesterday one man killed 17 in 

 two shots, and only lost one. The same party has been 

 killing from 25 to 60 in one day's shooting. In the even* 

 ing, when the shooters would come home, they would 

 come over to the store and tell me all about what they 

 had done, and as I am rather inclined to like shooting, 

 their duck stories set me wild for a day's shooting on the 

 rivers. I say rivers, as Neosho and Spring rivers comtf 

 together there, and then it is called Grand River. On 

 Thursday morning last Walker and the writer put off f or 

 the train, bound for the river, loaded down with shells, 

 expecting to kill more ducks than we could bring back 

 to the tank. The train was on time for once. We 

 boarded her, and in a short time she pulled up at the 

 tank near the river. We were off at once, and in a few 

 minutes we were slipping along the river in search of the 

 thousands of ducks reported to be on the rivers. But* 

 alas, we were one day too late; just the writer's luck on, 

 such hunts. Most of the ducks were out in the fields, or- 

 gone on their journey north, for we saw but few. We 

 first went down Grand River, and not having any suc- 

 cess, we came back and went up the Neosho, and there 

 we met with hard luck. We had discovered about fifteen 

 ducks in a slough, and as they were very scare, we took 

 great precaution, sneaking on them so as to get a gooo> 

 shot while they were on the water, and had picked a ; 

 good place for the wing shot, and were waiting for them 

 to get in range, so we could make a sweeping shot. Whea; 

 Walker said "Now is our time," and we were just raising; 

 our guns to our shoulders, when bang went another 

 man's gun from just below us. Now our only chancev 

 was to get them as they flew. We made good shots, kill- 

 ing one with each barrel. Our friend only got two. Hj$ 

 had walked so near them before he saw them that he did 

 not have time to wait, as they saw him as soon as he did' 

 them. If he had waited half a minute longer we would* 

 have killed at least six ducks, as Walker had six covered 

 with his gun and I had three that were sure mine. This 

 ended our duck shooting for the day, as this bunch wafi 

 all we saw up that river. We turned again down Grand 

 River, but did not find any ducks, then came back to the 

 tank, and took the 6 o'clock train for home rather dis? 

 couraged with our luck. — F. 



