Forest and Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copt. ) 



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NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 22, 1887. 



I VOL. XXIX.-No. 9. 



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



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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



The National Park in 1887. 



A Caution to Shoal Yachts. 



Snap Shots. 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



Yellowstone Park Notes. 



Camping Out- 



Wachapreague. 

 Natural History. 



The American Badger and its 

 Congeners. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Tige. 



Maine Woodcock Shooting. 

 A Texas Camp Hunt. 

 Hunting in the Shoshone. 

 In the Brush.— II. 

 Shooting Notes. 

 Duck Shooting with the Aber- 



nakj. 

 Loading. 



Quebec Close Seasons. 

 Game Notes. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 

 "Wewabitcka. 

 Carp and Buffalo Fish. 

 Fish and Protection. 

 The Evening Smudge. 



Sea and River Fishing. 



Quebec Close Season. 

 Fishculture. 



Canadian Fisheries Depart- 

 ment. 

 The Kennel. 



Samuel Price. 



Manitoba Field Trials. 



Spaniels for Bench and Field. 



The St. Paul Show. 



Waverly Dog Show. 



American Field Trials Club. 



Beaufort— Patti M. 



Kennel Notes. 



Kennel Management. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Creedmoor Meeting. 



The Trap. 

 Canoeing. 



The First British Canoe Meet. 

 Yachting. 



The Trial Races. 



Larch tnont Y. C. 



The International Races. 



America and Gitana Match. 



Keep Off the Course. 

 Answebs to Correspondents. 



THE NATIONAL PARK IN 1887. 



THE Yellowstone Park Association is a corporation 

 composed chiefly of individuals largely interested 

 in the Northern Pacific Railroad. They have privileges 

 in the National Park which, though not exclusive, enable 

 them to secure the lion's share of the hotel business there. 

 Employed by them is the transportation company, of 

 which Mr. Wakefield is the head and front. 



The hotels this year are by no means so well managed 

 as they were last, and with one or two exceptions the 

 managers and employes are very unsatisfactory. Econ- 

 omy seems to be the only thing considered, and the com- 

 fort of the travelers is a secondary matter. 



As the Y. P. A. is substantially the Northern Pacific 

 Railroad, and as the transportation company is so closely 

 connected with the Association and shares its profits, 

 both unite to discourage any travel except on the "cou- 

 pon" tickets issued by the railroad. The profits of trans- 

 portation are not in the stage lines through the Park, but 

 are chiefly in the travel from St. Paul or Portland to 

 Cinnabar. The cost of a ticket to Cinnabar is at present 

 very high, whereas a ticket to Cinnabar and return, with 

 coupons through the Park, is relatively low. Thus, most 

 persons are induced to purchase "coupon" tickets. As a 

 consequence, most of the travelers are hustled through 

 the Park at a rate which prevents them from enjoying 

 fully the wonderful beauties of the region. 



In their efforts to discourage independent and individual 

 travel, the Y. P. A. and the transportation company act 

 sometimes in a very high-handed way. A case which 

 recently occurred may be cited as an example. A young 

 man who was passing through the Park tried to get a 

 Saddle horse from "Wakefield, but was told that he had 

 hone. The young fellow did not care to ride in the stage 

 with a lot of people whom he did not know, so got a 

 horse from Clark. On arriving at Norris Basin he had 

 great difficulty in inducing any one to take care of the 

 animal. They finally did so, however; but on his arrival 

 at the Firehole he was Unable to get any care whatever 



for his horse, and was obliged to picket him out and take 

 care of him himself. 



This is the account of the affair as it came to us from 

 private sources some little time since. More recently 

 we have the story as told in the Evening Post by the 

 gentleman who rode the horse: "I made my trip on 

 a horse; and thereby hangs a tale. * * * The 

 Yellowstone Park is not at present a part of our 

 republic, but it is a monarchy, and the king's name 

 is Wakefield. Mr. Wakefield owns the stage line, and 

 the object of the present arrangements is to make each 

 passenger buy a round-trip stage ticket, no matter how 

 much or how little of the Park he wishes to see. If he 

 endeavors to avoid this compulsion, he is deliberately sub- 

 jected to various disadvantages and indignities. Having 

 made up my mind to take a horse, I applied for one to 

 King Wakefield, but was told that there was none to be 

 had for a week or two. Then I went to Clark's and got 

 a horse there. But when I arrived at one of the hotels 

 and asked to have my horse fed, I was told that it could 

 not be done becaus? it was not a 'Wakefield horse!' In 

 some places I arranged matters by humbly apologizing 

 for not having a Wakefield horse, and by explaining that 

 I tried in vain to get one. But at one of the hotels even 

 this apology failed of its effect. At the Firehole they 

 absolutely refused to take care of my horse for any price! 

 The visitors all agreed that it was the greatest outrage 

 they had ever heard of." 



Strong language, but none too strong; for when a com- 

 pany, which has a lease and transportation privileges, 

 declines to take care of a gentleman's horse, it is about 

 time matters were inquired into. It is impossible to say 

 who is directly responsible for this outrage, but when all 

 is said, the Y, P. A. must be held to account. They have 

 the power to prevent such acts. 



Everything is done to prevent people from going in 

 any other way than by the stage on the regular route. 

 Camping parties are very few. In fact camping is prac- 

 tically stopped, simply because it is discouraged in every 

 possible way, and men who could outfit and guide camp- 

 ing parties have been, until within a short time, kept out 

 of the Park. And yet, if the public did but know it, a 

 camping trip is by far the most delightful way of seeing 

 the Park, and it is a wonder that more of the tourists who 

 visit it do not pass through it in that way. 



The policy of the Y. P. A. seems to be to drive all busi- 

 ness, except that which they are conducting, out of the 

 Park. They regard themselves as able to hire any one to 

 do work of any kind for them, and thus they endeavor to 

 supplant every one else by employes of their own. Even 

 the old Swede, who has coated specimens there ever since 

 the Park has been visited by tourists, is not albwed to 

 conduct any business on his own account. The Syndicate 

 have swallowed him up. They hire him at so much per 

 month and prohibit him selling anything. 



There has been great improvement on the hotel terrace 

 at the Springs. All the sage bush has been pulled up, 

 the trees trimmed and the place thoroughly cleaned. 



It is reported that in the Upper Geyser Basin sixty 

 green trees have been cut away by the employes of the 

 Y. P. A. , because, forsooth, they interfered with the view 

 of some of the Geysers from the. hotel piazza. This, if 

 true, is a crying outrage and calls for action on the part 

 of Captain Harris and of the Interior Department. There 

 is little enough green timber in the Upper Geyser Basin, 

 and that these trees should have been cut away just to 

 save indolent tourists a few steps is a crying shame. 



From all this it will be observed that while in many 

 respects the Park has been well cared for this year, there 

 are some abuses which require looking after. It seems 

 highly probable that next year there will be more com- 

 petition in the Park than there has been in the past. The 

 Union Pacific Railroad will no longer be content with 

 sending passengers in by stage from Beaver Canon as in 

 the past. Mr. Charles Francis Adams, President of the 

 U. P., who was in the Park this summer for the first 

 time, is known to have said that the Union Pacific had 

 been very remiss in their action about the Park, and we 

 may say on excellent authority proposes immediately to 

 have surveys made for a railway to the border, and by 

 the first of next season to have a first-class stage route 

 running from the terminus of the road to the Upper or 

 Lower Basin with good stock. When this railroad shall 

 take hold of the matter with vigor it will be greatly to 

 the advantage of the Park. 



A big blow, a free course, no fluke, and may the best 

 boat win. 



A CAUTION TO SHOAL YACHTS. 

 T^HE British yachtsmen now in New York for the 

 international races have been well entertained by 

 Americans, and they have been shown most of the sights 

 about New York, but it certainly was not in the pro- 

 gramme that they should witness the capsize of one of 

 the larger centerboard yachts in ordinary weather. That 

 they did not do so, however, is due only to good luck; 

 but Lieut. Henn and those of the Scotch yachtsmen who 

 were at Larchmont on Tuesday will have plenty to tell 

 when they return home. In smooth water and a moder- 

 ate breeze a yacht of 70ft. waterline came so near to a cap- 

 size that all hope of her righting was given up by those 

 on board, and they were undressing for a swim when 

 she finally came up. There was no gale, no "twister," 

 only an ordinary fresh puff that was perhaps unnoticed 

 until it struck. Only one man was drowned, no damage 

 was done to the yacht save the loss of a few sails, and 

 the matter will pass with little notice here, where such 

 occurrences are by no means uncommon; but the effect 

 on the visitors will be different. It would be very unfor- 

 tunate just now while American yachting is on exhibi- 

 tion before the world, if our visitors should be treated to 

 another Mohawk disaster before their eyes. It is late in 

 the season, the winds are growing stronger, and those 

 who will sail shoal centerboard yachts had better sail 

 them very carefully* or leave them at anchor until the 

 visitors have departed. 



SNAP SHOTS. 

 A T the annual meeting of the American Forestry Con- 

 gress just held at Springfield, 111. , the convention 

 adopted a memorial to Congress urging the adopt'on of 

 measures to provide for the protection of the forests; the 

 withdrawal of forest land from entry under existing laws; 

 the classification of forest lands; the creation of forest 

 reserves; the sale of timber on Government land; the 

 creation of a Commissioner of Forests in the Department 

 of the Interior and four assistant commissioners; the 

 organization of a force of inspectors, and an appropri- 

 ation of $500,000. 



Hon. Warner Miller has leased for fifty years a tract of 

 50,000 acres of timber land in the Adirondacks, which he 

 will protect as a game preserve. Senator Miller has not 

 been noted for any abnormally developed squeamishness 

 about jacking deer out of season on public waters; now 

 that he has a game preserve of his own it is to be hoped 

 that he will let his little candle cast abroad its feeble ray, 

 that Adirondack visitors who are not so fortunate as to 

 own great hunting tracts may recognize and emulate his 

 zealous regard for the laws of the land. 



The sport of dog swimming races has been carried to a 

 state of high perfection in Canada, where it has been 

 practiced for a number of years. New York once tried 

 it in mid-summer, but the interest proved transient. 

 This year Boston has addressed itself to the pastime with 

 all the enthusiasm of a boy with a new plaything; and 

 the journals of the Hub give long accounts of races in 

 which Newfoundlands, setters, collies and dogs of no 

 special breed whatever contend for honors. 



The Montana Legislative Assembly last winter author- 

 ized bounties of ten cents per head on prairie dogs and 

 five cents for ground squirrels. Since the law went into 

 effect the Territory has paid over $41,000 for 698,971 

 squirrels and 153,709 prairie dogs, and the treasury funds 

 having given out, a special assembly has been held to 

 repeal the law. The prairie dog is a comical little crea- 

 ture, but Montana residents do not see the humorous side 

 of him. Neither do those of Wyoming who are in pre- 

 cisely the same fix, being ruined by a similar tax. 



Deer hounding in the Adirondacks is practiced to some 

 extent all the year around by natives and visitors. Four 

 Troy "sports" were recently arrested on the south branch 

 of the Moose River, and were find $50 each. That region 

 has been a paradise for fellows of this kidney, and they 

 have gone so long unmolested by the district game pro- 

 tector that they imagined they had reasonable hope of 

 lasting immunity. 



The "Virginia Field Sports Association is growing 

 rapidly, numbering now over 400 of the leading sports- 

 men of Virginia, It has a bright future for good work. 



