176 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 31, 1889. 



SAWDUST IN STREAMS. 



Editor Forest ami Stream: 



I have been thinking for a month that I would write 

 you on the disputed question of the injury to trout 

 streams caused by sawdust, but fearing that some one 

 might remark that "fools rush in where angels fear to 

 tread," I have refrained from writing until your article 

 of Feb. 21 on the subject has shown me that you agree 

 With my experience so fully yourself that it is safe for 

 me to venture. 



Two of my personal friends, Livingston Stone and 

 Charles Hallock, have sent you letters expressing entirely 

 opposite views, and from his own point of view each is 

 right. It is only a repetition of the old story of the two 

 knights and the silver shield. From a different point of 

 view I can see another complexion, while I also see both 

 of theirs, and from my own experience can arrive at 

 both their conclusions. 



Let me explain, without being too prolix, if possible. 

 This village, where I now write, and where I spent the 

 first seventeen years of my life, is situated on a high, 

 gravelly glacial terrace, about 100ft. above the Counecti- 

 cut Kiver and projecting from the base of a range of 

 hills, of which the first rise may be 300ft. more. This 

 terrace is just a mile long, and is cut off by a trout brook 

 at either end. The brook at the lower end is a very small 

 one, fed by springs in the first range of hills not a quar- 

 ter of a mile back from the village, but has always held 

 and still holds trout, and on it Mr. Stone established his 

 '•Cold Spring Trout Ponds." 



The brook at the north end is much larger, and comes 

 plunging down through a deep gorge known as the 

 "Devil's Gully," from a higher terrace, some three miles 

 long and about 100ft. higher than the village. At the 

 head of the "Gully" have been for many years a saw 

 mill and grist mill, and there was 50 years ago a large 

 millpond, now silted up. This pond again was formed 

 by the union of three brooks, one a very short oue like 

 the first one mentioned, one perhaps a mde and a half or 

 two miles long, but too small to carry a mill, and the 

 third one much larger, having another sawmill on it 

 about two miles above the first one, and heading some 

 two miles still further back among the hills. Now, 

 "when we were boys," we never thought of fishing in 

 the "big brook," when the sawmills were running; we 

 could not get any ti'out. They were not killed by the 

 sawdust, but had simply cleared out in disgust, and gone 

 up the two other brooks, where we always found plenty 

 in the spring. 



Later in the summer, when the water was low, and 

 the mills were not in operation, they went back to the 

 big brook, and then we went there too, and often got 

 some big ones. I left home in '41 and for the first half 

 dozen years I always had a fortnight's vacation in June, 

 most of which I spent on these and other brooks. After 

 that I saw but little of them for many years. During 

 •that time another sawmill was built on the big brook, 

 about intermediate between the two mentioned, and just 

 where the brook came out from the hill on to the upper 

 terrace. 



Here at the upper end of the long meadow, above the 

 millpond, was a sluice gate, dividing the stream in time 

 of high water, and sending part of it northward in the 

 channel of another little brook, fed by springs also, which 

 finally pitched down into the meadows at the north end 

 of the upper terrace, about four miles above the village, 

 where there was another old sawmill and pond. This 

 last brook was noted for its big trout. It was very small, 

 except when it got the surplus water from the sluice, but 

 very cold and clear, and had been ditched out most of 

 the way through a nearly level tussocky meadow. On 

 coming home again to live a few years ago, the fever 

 came on me to try my old haunts, and I went to the last- 

 mentioned meadow. I found the old tussocks all filled 

 up with decaying sawdust from the new mill, the stream 

 sluggish and unwholesome, and not a trout could I find in 

 all the three miles to the upper mill, which was gone, as 

 well as the dam and pond, and I made up my mind that 

 the sawdust had in this case exterminated the trout in 

 some way. perhaps by choking their spawning grounds, 

 perhaps by driving them down to the river to seek more 

 congenial habitations. 



I tried this brook again last spring, but could find 

 nothing in it but a swarm of yellow-bellied minnows, 

 which i suppose the trout vised to feed on in the old days. 



The big brook gave me a few trout, but the other two 

 Bmaller ones not a bite, and my sister, who always has 

 lived here, tells me that both those brooks were fairly 

 dried up a few years since, owing to the cutting down 

 of the old forests at their headwaters. 



Now, my conclusions on the matter are this, that in 

 sluggish streams, where the sawdust can settle on the 

 spawning beds, it is sure destruction to the trout; that it 

 does not destroy them mechanically, by getting in their 

 gills, but that they do not like it, and will get away from 

 it, either by hiding under the banks for a time, as in the 

 case of the old intermittent country sawmills, or by 

 deserting the streams, as they have done in the Ammo- 

 noosuc's and John's and Israel's rivers, which were once 

 full of them. 



In a swift mountain stream like those Mr. Hallock 

 speaks of, where the sawdust cannot settle in beds, and 

 where the mills do not run unceasingly, I have no 

 doubt of their survival, for I have caught many in the 

 "Devil's Gully" aforementioned, and always felt sure of 

 a good one, in old times, in the little pool at the foot of 

 the fall, where the streams from the sawmill and grist- 

 mill wheels came together, but never while the sawmill 

 was running. 



I therefore conclude that if sawdust is not in all cases 

 absolutely destructive to trout, it is still very injurious, 

 and that the mill owners should, if possible, be restrained 

 from throwing it into the streams. 



These old country sawmills also furnished winter 

 quarters for the trout in their ponds, which were, many 

 of them, long and deep, and were a favorite resort for the 

 big fish in mid-summer, when they found shady retreats 

 under the old stumps and water-soaked crooked logs 

 which usually strewed the bottoms. In this way they 

 helped to counteract the evil effects of the sawdust in the 

 spring. Von W, 



OHAKIiESTOWN, N. H. 



At a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce held at 

 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Feb. 25, the proposed enforcement 

 of the act of 1873 requiring the burning of sawdust was 

 deprecated by the majority of the members present, It 



was argued that, on account of this act, mill owners had 

 been obliged to close down, and there would be a shortage 

 of 9,000,000 or 10,000,000ft. of lumber this season. Many 

 persons depending on the industry for a livelihood would 

 be driven out of the country for lack of employment. 

 There has been great injury to shipping, the number of 

 vessels required to take away lumber being reduced one- 

 half. It was contended that sawdust does not interfere 

 either with fish or navigation. Most mills are placed at 

 the head of tide waters, and do not, therefore, injure the 

 fish. The following resolution was passed: 



Whereas, The department of marine and fisheries have 

 recently issued a notification to the lumbermen of this 

 province, calling their attention to the provision of the 

 statute 3G Vic, chap. 65, entitled "An act for the better 

 protection of navigable streams and rivers," and also to 

 clause 2 of the statute, 31 Vic, chap. 60, "The fisheries 

 act," and intimating that the law would be rigorously en- 

 forced; this chamber is of opinion that the full enforce- 

 ment of the law would be attended with hardship, and in 

 many cases serious loss to the mill owners and others 

 without corresponding good to the interests of the coun- 

 try or of the fisheries; therefore resolved, that this cham- 

 ber is of opinion that if the word sawdust is eliminated 

 from sec 14, sub-sec 2 of the fisheries act of 1868, and 

 from sec. 1 of the amending act of 1873, the public inter- 

 est will be sufficiently served, and at the same time it will 

 relieve the mill owners of the province from an unneces- 

 sary expense and loss; and that a copy of this resolution 

 be forwarded to our members at Ottawa, with a request 

 that they will use their influence with the government to 

 have the desired change made in the law. 



TROUT FISHING THROUGH THE ICE. 



IT is a pity, but it is probably true, that Maine trout are 

 suffering from fishing through the ice more this sea- 

 son than ever before. The sport — Maine papers call it 

 sport, and it is being followed by lawyers, doctors and 

 even clergymen and statesmen — has had a boom in the 

 wrong season. It would have been far better had the 

 sport never been heard of. But the idea of fishing for 

 trout through the ice has suddenly become popular in that 

 State, and parties from Bangor, from Houlton, from 

 Machias, from Farmington, from Lewiston, and, in fact, 

 from every considerable town or city, have been made up 

 to go a-fishing. The weather has been favorable. The 

 snow is not deep on the ice nor in the woods, and even 

 the more distant ponds and trout lakes have been easily 

 reached. The lumber roads have been followed up, and 

 by guides who are acquainted with the winter haunts of 

 the trout, their seclusion has been invaded. With what 

 results? If newspaper accounts are true, and if verbal 

 reports are true, they have been taken by thousands. 

 From a pond in Somerset county a party took one day 

 last week over 300 trout. At the Katahdi'n Iron Works a 

 good deal of fishing through the ice has been done, and 

 great numbers of small trout have been destroyed. 

 Hardly a county in the State, where there are trout 

 ponds, has been free from this winter fishing. 



The Rangeley Lakes and the ponds adjoining have suf- 

 fered worse from this winter fishing than I at first had 

 supposed. Large numbers of those noble trout have 

 been taken. Taken by "inhabitants of the State." Yes. 

 The law provides that inhabitants of the State may fish 

 through the ice for trout, after the first day of February 

 each year. But not a soul of those parties that have 

 fitted out from Boston, Providence, Manchester and other 

 cities in New England, has been stopped from fishing 

 through the ice, and that, too, for trout. It is true that 

 these persons have not made a show of trout fishing, ex- 

 cept to their friends. "Pickerel" is the term used, but 

 trout have been brought home, outside of the State of 

 Maine, It is a fact, though I am ashamed to say it, that 

 I have been offered one of these trout, and I am not at 

 present a resident of Maine. It was a large one, but I 

 had no use for it. When it comes to eating spent 

 trout in winter, I shall stop complaining in the Forest 

 and Stream and go into the fresh fish busines. Then 

 everything that is a fish will be a fish, whether legally 

 and fairly" taken or not. 



But this fishing through the ice for trout lacks even the 

 semblance of sport, even if the statutes of Maine do 

 sanction it, after the first day of February. In the first 

 place the trout are not in condition fit for food. They 

 are not sufficiently recuperated from the debilitating con- 

 dition incident to reproduction. Indeed, it is a fact well 

 known to the guides and the votaries of winter fishing 

 that the holes for fishing through the ice have to be cut 

 in the near vicinity of the best spawning grounds in the 

 lake or pond, and that it is absolutely essential to success 

 in winter fishing, even as long as the ice lasts, that one 

 shall know where the spawning grounds in the lakes and 

 ponds are located . The location of these breeding grounds 

 once known, it is an easy matter to take nearly every 

 large trout in the pond. Indeed the position of the fish- 

 ing holes on a pond, cut by one acquainted with winter 

 fishing on any particular pond, are "all in a clump." 

 They are just where the trout are, and with live bait it is 

 an easy matter to take every trout in the vicinity, and 

 this means all the trout in the pond. Hence the great 

 numbers in some of the catches reported this winter. But 

 it is all the more a shame. The trout have been shut up 

 in darkness for several months under the ice. They are 

 spent and emaciated from breeding and the lack of food. 

 A glimmer of light through the fishing holes attracts 

 them. A live bait is offered, and the work is done. The 

 lubber on top of the ice hauls the fish out by sheer 

 strength of his arms. The hook is a large one; the line 

 a strong one. There is little ceremony. A jerk, and the 

 noble fish is on the ice. The sport must be fully, equal to 

 that of handling the sledge hammer in a hog-killing 

 establishment, only that the hog in this case stands on 

 the ice above instead of being hit over the head by the 

 butcher bef ore the knife is put to his throat. The damage 

 to the trout from such fishing is distressing to contem- 

 plate. The lakes and ponds of Maine will show much 

 poorer fishing in summer for the next few years, by 

 reason of what is being done this winter. 



Now it looks very much as though the Maine Legis- 

 lature was about to ad journ, adjourn for two years, with- 

 out doing anything to remedy this destruction of trout by 

 ice fishing by inhabitants of the State. Indeed it is prob- 

 able that that body will have adjourned before these lines 

 are scanned by the readers of the Forest and Stream, 

 It is a shame! Maine people expect sportsmen and lovers 

 of the rod and reel to visit them with well lined pocket- 



books, and to pay heavy bills for entertainment, and the 

 only entertainment they offer is to fish in waters that 

 have been stripped by such fishing as described above. 

 Talk about dynamite! It is as easy to strip a pond of 

 trout with this winter fishing as it would be by the dis- 

 charge of deadly explosives in summer time. Indeed 

 the extent of the damage of winter fishing would be 

 wider than that of fishing with dynamite. The dyna- 

 mite paralyzes every fish within a certain number of feet 

 of the explosion, and by quick work the half dead fish 

 are dipped out with nets. If the work is not quickly 

 done some of them escape. Cut a hole through the ice 

 on a pond where the trout have been shut up in total 

 darkness until the first day of February. The gleam of 

 light attracts every trout for a long distance. The poor 

 fish are half starved. The bait is a live one. Result: 

 Every trout is taken within sight of the hole. How far 

 this sight extends no man knows. But all this fishing 

 through the ice on the best trout waters in the world- 

 might be— must go on a couple of years longer, unless 

 such literature as the Forest and Stream shall accom- 

 plish much of the work for which it is designed, and 

 make sensible and reasonable men see that fishing through 

 the ice is far from true Bport. Special. 



THE* FLY-CASTING TOURNAMENT, 



NEW YORK, March 16.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The National Rod and Reel Association met this 

 day at the laboratory of Mr. E. G. Blackford, to arrange 

 for the coming tournament. Committees of arrange- 

 ments, etc, were appointed as per inclosed list. It was 

 decided to hold the tournament on Thursday and Friday, 

 May 23 and 24. The rules of last year, having seemed 

 satisfactory to all concerned, were continued in force 

 Avithout making any change. It was decided to raise the 

 funds with which to buy medals in gold, silver and 

 bronze, and to do away with prizes of fishing tackle 

 heretofore so generously given by the trade; and the 

 prize committee was instructed to raise the money, some 

 contributions being immediatelv made by members 

 present. G. Poey, Sec'y (P. O. Box 3049). 



COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. 



Capt. William Dunning, Chairman. 



Hod. H. P. McGown, Cuttyhunk Club, Massachusetts. 



E. G. Blackford, New York Fish Commission. 



S. M. Blatchforcl. Squibnoket Club, Massachusetts. 



Dr. E. Bradley, Blooming Grove Park Association, Pennsylvania. 



Martin B. Brown, Wa-Wa-Yanda Club. 



Henry F. Crosby, Willowemoc Club, New York. 



D. W. Cross, Oneida Club, New York. 



Francis Endicott, Richmond County Game and Fish Protective 

 Association. 

 C. B. Evarts, American Fisheries Society. 

 William C. Harris, St. Lawrence Club, New York. 

 Dr. James A. Henskill, Black Bass Club, Kentucky. 

 Thatcher Magoun, Massachusetts Game Protective Society. 

 C. H. Mallory, Icht hyophagous Club, New York. 

 Fred Mather, Fly Fishers' Club, London. 

 J. C. McAndrew, Restigouche Club, New Brunswick. 

 James L. Vallotton, Pasque Island Club, Massachusetts. 

 J. S. Van Cleef, Willowemoc Club, New Vork. 

 Edward Weston, Greenwood Lake Association, New York. 

 Col. Locke VV. Winchester, Restigouche Club, New York. 

 Louis S. Wright, Westminster Kennel Club, New York. 

 H. L. Ziegent'uss, D.D., Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 

 J. A. Roosevelt , Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 

 M. D. Eddy, New York. 

 Hon. Daniel O'Reillv, Brooklyn. N. Y. 

 Gen. Rodney C. Ward. Brooklyn, N. Y. 

 Dr. George Tro wbridge, New York. 

 James L. Cornell, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

 W. L. Andrews, New York. 



Committee on Ground*.— Martin B. Brown, Chairman; Francis 

 Endicott and H. P. McGown. 



Committee on Prizes— C. A. Bryan, Chairman; H, P. McGown. 

 C. Van Brunt and Edward Eggert. 



The president and secretary being also cx-ojftcio members of all 

 committees. 



RULES GOVERNING- THE CONTESTS. 



Rule 1. All persons competing for prizes shall pay an entrance 

 fee in each contest, as follows: Members, two dollars; non- 

 members, five dollars. Memberships may be obtained on the 

 grounds from the secretary. 



Rule 2. No one shall be permitted to enter an amateur contest 

 who has ever iished for a living, who has ever been a guide, or 

 has ever been engaged in the manufacture of fishing tackle for 

 sale. 



The judges in the different classes shall appoint a member to 

 see that the tackle is at all times during the contests in accord- 

 ance with the rules and reciuhements of the association. The 

 judges in any particular class, on appeal, shall have power to de- 

 cide on all mat ters relating thereto, and their decision shall be 

 final. 



Rule 3. No single-handed fly-rod shall exceed lift. Bin. in 

 length, and it shall be used with a single hand. 



Rule 4. In single-handed fly-casting any style of reel or line 

 may be used. A leader or casting line of staple gut not less than 

 8ft. in length will bo required, to which three flies, one stretcher 

 and two droppers shall be attached. 



Rule 5. No allowance of distance shall be made for difference 

 in length of rods; but in the contests with light rods of five 

 ounces and tinder, an allowance of one-half ounce will be made 

 in favor of such rods as have solid reel seats. 



Rule 6. Persons entering these contests shall draw lots to de- 

 termine the order in which they will cast, and must be ready to 

 cast when called upon by the judges. 



Rule 7. Each contestant will be allowed ten minutes in which 

 to cast for distance, and will then stand aside until called in bis 

 turn to cast for accuracy. In casting for distance each contestant 

 shall inform the judges of the contest when he intends to begin to 

 compete. His time allowance of ten minutes shall then begin to 

 run, and shall continue to run without interruption until its ex- 

 piration, or until the contestant voluntarily withdraws from the 

 stand. Should, however, the contestant's rod break, time to re- 

 place the broken joint shall be given him. No allowance of time 

 shall be made to any contestant for any other reason whatever, 

 it being the intent and purpose of this rule that each contestant 

 shall abide by his own accidents, except as herein specified. 



Rule 8. The distance shall be measured by a line with marked 

 buoys stretched on the water, said line to be measured and verified 

 at least once each day of the tournament by two or more officers 

 to be designated by the president or secretary. A mark shall be 

 made on the stand from which the buoy lino shall be measured, 

 and the caster may stand with his toes touching this mark, but 

 may not advance beyond it. Should he step back of it, unless 

 directed to do so by the judges, the loss in distance shall be bis. 



Rule 9. The stretcher-fly must remain at the end of the casting 

 line in all casts. The others are not deemed so important. 



Rule 10. In casting for accuracy each contestant *ball be al- 

 lowed twenty casts at an object in or on the water, 40ft. distant 

 from him. The distance at which the stretcher fly shall fall from 

 the mark shall be noted for each cast. These distances shall be 

 added together and divided by twenty. Forty points shall be al- 

 lowed to him whose averaged aggregate is the lowest. The other 

 contestants shall be awarded lower scores in accordance with 

 their comparative excellence. 



Rule 11. The ultirnato scores of the various contestants shall 

 be determined as follows: To the distance in feet each has been 

 adjudged to have cast shall be added the scores assigned for ac- 

 curacy, and prizes shall be awarded in accordance with this 

 aggregate. 



Rule 13. To prevent fouling the measuring line and accidents 

 to spectators, in the fly-casting contests the points of all fly-hooks 

 shall be broken off balow the barb. 



Rule 13. In the absence of an appointed judge the president or 

 secretary shall fill the vacancy. 



Rule 14. Salmon Fly-Casting.— The foregoing rules shall govern 

 where applicable. Rods may be used with both hands, and only 

 one fly shall be required. Accuracy shall be contested for at a 

 mark'60ft. distant from the caster. 



Rule 15. Black Bass Minnow Casting— All general rules which 



