254 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 18, W89. 



along its southern border, coming into the Teton Range. 

 On the western slope for twenty miles we could see a 

 vast fire raging to the northward of Mount Moran, and it 

 showed no diminution during the several days I hunted 

 in this range. It undoubtedly worked immense destruc- 

 tion, as no rain had fallen for weeks, nor did any come 

 while I was in this vicinity. Crossing from here I struck 

 the west bank of Snake River, about fifteen miles north 

 of Jackson's Lake, and here met a Large Indian camp, 

 and heard such shooting that I decided to pull out at 

 once. On the morning when we broke camp a fire, 

 which, judging from the smoke, must have been large, 

 was making strong headway in the mountains two or 

 three miles distant. On pushing up Pacific Creek, over 

 last years tracks, we found little game, but evidence of 

 there having recently been a considerable body of Indians 

 camped here. We made a break from here to try to 

 strike the head of Great Bull Creek by a due east course 

 over the Shoshone Mountains, but meeting impassable 

 canons we were forced off to the south ward, and 1 hunted 

 all along the southern parts of the Shoshone and Owl 

 Creek Mountains. All through this section of the country 

 I met large Indian camps, all of which had been very suc- 

 cessful. In one case, the morning after a six-inch fall of 

 snow, three of the bucks of one camp killed five elk, and 

 two inore of them secured three. As these Indians were 

 not going to return to the agency till driven in by the 

 weather, they undoubtedly killed a large number more. 

 Coming through Prior's Gap in November, I think there 

 must have been from twenty-five to thirty lodges of 

 Crows in the two camps I visited. They told me their 

 success with blacktail was very great. 



I am not one of those who think the Indians should be 

 deprived of then hunting privileges. On the contrary, 

 these should be liberal; but these roving bands should be 

 held in check as to the grounds they should hunt over, as 

 to the number of heads of the various fur-bearing animals 

 they should kill, and, above all, the greatest watchful- 

 ness should be exercised as to the state in which they 

 leave their fires. This is one of the prolific causes of the 

 forest destruction in this timbered country. If these 

 fires are left without being extinguished by water or dug 

 round and covered with sod to prevent their eating their 

 way into the surrounding dead leaves and brush, great 

 and frequent damage must and does ensue. On this same 

 question, not only the Indians, but every person, hunter, 

 tourist, prospector or other should be urged to use the 

 greatest care. I think a severe fine should be visited on 

 any one caught neglecting this precaution. 



I have no suggestion to make as to the means by which 

 the Indian shall be governed and directed in his annual 

 hunt. The person who enforces such regulations as may 

 be made in the future should be one who has the honesty 

 and also the nerve to carry them out in the strictest man- 

 ner. I have been favorably impressed by the Indians I 

 have so far met. They were* a civil, obliging and happy- 

 go-lucky set, and as iu one instance I was some three 

 weeks with the Shoshones, I had good opportunities to 

 observe them. One or two spoke very good English; they 

 were fair in their dealings. We purchased several horses 

 of them, and I am free to say I parted with my interpre- 

 ter and daily visitor "Indian Jim" and his associates with 

 regret. They urged me to come again this fall, and said 

 would post me on the bear ranges they might come 

 across. E. Pendleton Rogers. 



Hyde Pakk-on-Hudson, New York. 



CAMPS ON THE MENOMINEE AND BRULE 



By JOHN DEAN CATON. 



IN the fall of 1878 I tired of the conventionalities of 

 civilization, and longed for the quiet solitude of the 

 deep forests, so I invited a couple of young friends to join 

 me in an excursion to the wilderness of Wisconsin, where 

 they might get a taste of camp life. These young gentle- 

 men would now be called, a little west of here, "tender- 

 feet," but were enthusiastic for the new experience 

 which my invitation held out to them. 



We took the train on the Northwestern road in the 

 evening, our objective point being the Brule River, in 

 Wisconsin. At Marinette the next morning we were 

 joined by Jones, who was quite at home in the tent and 

 in the forest, and two Indian guides, who had been 

 previously engaged, and by noon reached Qmnnesec, 

 which was then a terminal point of a branch on the 

 Northwestern road, leading into the mineral region of 

 the State. This town was then only just begun, and was 

 situated only four miles from the Brule River. 



We engaged a team to take us to the river, and im- 

 mediately after dinner set out. The road was horrible, 

 as new roads through a dense forest are generally found 

 to be. In two hours we reached the river, where we 

 found our canoes had arrived a short time before, accord- 

 ing to previous appointment, and two guides, who had 

 been dispatched from Marinette the day before to bring 

 them up from a point below, where they had been en- 

 gaged. 



I will say now, for our guides, that they were the 

 highest priced and the best that I ever had. The two 

 eldest, who joined us at Marinette, were middle-aged 

 men. They not only understood all the arts of woodcraft 

 thoroughly, but Loth were excellent cooks, indeed, 

 among the best I ever had in camp. The biscuits they 

 made were equal to any I have ever seen, either on a 

 private or public table. The two which we met at the 

 canoes were young, stalwart fellows, willing and indus- 

 trious, and understood then business thoroughly. They 

 never had to be told a thing which needed to be done, 

 but with a thoughtful foresight anticipated every want 

 which could be felt in camp. They, too, were good 

 woodsmen, good canoemen, and good hunters, and all 

 spoke English fairly well. 



About two weeks before a party of nine friends had 

 left Chicago for the same region of country on a hunting 

 and fishing excursion. This was called the Mayor's party, 

 because it was headed by the then Mayor of Chicago, 

 with his wife and daughter. They, with two other mar- 

 ried couples and a young gentleman and a young lady, 

 constituted the party. As I had been previously informed 

 this party was camped four miles below where we struck 

 the main river, at the mouth of Pine River, where it 

 joins the Brule from the west. We determined to accept 

 their invitation to pay them a visit at their camp, and 



as soon as our canoes were loaded we shot out into the 

 rapid current of the Menominee, which aided the power- 

 ful strokes of our Indians to an extent which seemed 

 to make the pine trees on the shore fly past us. As we 

 turned a point above our friends' camp we opened afusil- 

 ade, which awakened the echoes of the forest as they 

 have not often been awakened in that unsettled solitude. 

 In a very short time our salute was answered with a wel- 

 coming salvo from the shore, and we were very soon wel- 

 comed with outstretched hands and warm hearts. We 

 found the entire party present in camp, except John and 

 Robert and their wives, who had gone out early in the 

 day on a match hunt between the ladies. All had gone 

 up the Pine in canoes with a grim determination on the 

 part of each man not to return without a deer killed by 

 his wife. Knowing the determined characters of both 

 men and their ladies, I expressed fears that we might not 

 see them before we should be obliged to leave in execu- 

 tion of our purposes up the river. 



I found our friends' camp perfect in all its appoint- 

 ments, with one large dining tent, one cook's tent, one 

 large store tent, one large sleeping tent for the Indians, 

 and four sleeping tents for the party. They had ten In- 

 dians for (heir service, two of whom were now absent 

 with the hunters. 



Our guides had pitched our tents a little to one side of 

 their encampment, having carefully cleared the ground 

 for the purpose, had improvised a table and seats around 

 it, and fixed everything in such complete order as seemed 

 to say that they inteuded to teach those other fellows 

 how to make a camp tidy and comfortable. 



We spent the balance of the afternoon in visiting with 

 our friends, receiving accounts of their experiences, and 

 found the ladies especially enthusiastic in their love for 

 camp life. We accepted their invitation to supper that 

 evening, and found their table groaning with luxuries 

 brought from the city, besides the trout and venison 

 taken from the Pine River and the pine forest. There 

 was no ambition to boast of the great number of the slain, 

 as they only desired to kill what the camp required: but 

 to supply the nineteen mouths which had to be fed gave 

 the few hunters of the party about as much sport as they 

 desired. 



About 9 o'clock in the evening John and his wife came 

 sweeping around the noint, and into the little cove where 

 the landing was, with a loud whoop from their Indian, 

 which told us of their coming, and that they were not 

 empty handed. This brought the whole camp down to 

 the landing with a rush; the Indians on shore holding 

 aloft blazing torches, which lit up the scene. John 

 sprang ashore with the agility of an acrobat, and grace- 

 fufiy helped his wife to land, and then we saw in the 

 bottom of the boat a fine buck, which we all knew had 

 fallen to her rifle. The chorus of whoops and yells 

 which went up from the throats of those twelve Indians 

 w as tru ly astonishing. Her kindness to the natives of their 

 party no less than her genial bearing toward her own asso- 

 ciates had endeared her to them all, and they perhaps 

 were the most gratified of any at her success. * Each of 

 them seemed eager to have a hand in landing that deer, 

 and when he was laid out on the ground before us, a 

 chorus of whoops and yells again rent the air. It was a 

 fine two year old buck, not over large, but large enough 

 to mark a great success. She had shot it from the canoe, 

 where the water was still, while the deer was standing 

 in the grass at the edge of the bank about 100yds. dis- 

 tant. She had shot it through the heart, and with one 

 high bound it fell all in a heap, never to rise again. 

 The buck was hung up in a conspicuous place, so 

 that Robert could see it when he came in. We sat 

 up late that night awaiting his arrival, but he did 

 not come, and when we tinned out the next morn- 

 ing he was still absent. About 9. o'clock he swept 

 round the point, and a whoop from his Indian called all 

 hands to the bank of the river, where he was just land- 

 ing, and in the bottom of his canoe lay another buck, 

 when the whooping and yelling of the night before was 

 repeated, with a hand shaking and congratulations of us 

 all, as soon as we could get near enough to the brave 

 huntress to permit of that gratifying ceremony. Her 

 deer was larger and with finer antlers than the other, so 

 it was admitted by all that she was entitled to the prize. 

 Not having succeeded in getting a shot the day before, 

 Robert went on shore, and with the help of his Indian j 

 had improvised a comfortable lodge of boughs, where 

 they had slept very well during the night, but were astir 

 at the break of day the next morning, and while the 

 morning was still gray the long-looked-for chance came, 

 and her shot, not less fatal than the other, laid at her feet 

 her first trophy, of which she might justly be proud, and 

 with it they returned to camp as before stated. Both of 

 these ladies had had good trainers, and were naturally 

 cool and deliberate, and if either had been affected by the 

 buck fever she was restrained until it had passed away. 



The day was pleasantly spent in camp visiting and 

 talking over the events of the three weeks during which 

 our friends had been in the wilderness. The ladies of the 

 party especially, enthusiastic about camp, manifested no 

 disposition to return to civilized life and surroundings. 

 That evening the mayor, his wife and daughter dined 

 with us. Our cooks had exerted themselves to make 

 their best spread, and the madam could not restrain her 

 compliments on their skill. After supper Robert and 

 John joined us, and as we sat round our camp fire, talk- 

 ing over sporting scenes, both past and present, Robert 

 remarked that six years before, when camped on nearly 

 the same ground we then occupied , he was with his gtiide 

 a few miles back sitting on a log to rest on the edge of a 

 small prairie when a fawn came trotting along, and laid 

 down in the grass not more than thirty yards away. He 

 very soon gave signs of uneasiness and pricked up his 

 ears to a vertical position. They were exactly in line 

 with each other, and, as he did not wish to kill the fawn, 

 he thought he would try and mark him, so if he ever 

 met him again he might claim him as his own! He took 

 deliberate aim at the ears, one of which covered the 

 other a little above the head, and fired, when the fawn 

 jumped up, shook his head, and acted in a manner which 

 showed he was somewhat dazed, and then ran off. 



"Now," said Robert, "I would give a little to know 

 whether I actually marked that fawn as I intended!" 



Jones immediately spoke up and said, "You did," and 

 went on to relate that four years before he had been 

 hunting with a party about forty miles distant from 

 where we then were. One of the party, a doctor, whose • 

 name he gave, had shot and brought* into camp a two- f 

 year*old buck with a hole through eaeh ear, about an 4 



inch above the head, which had caused great speculation 

 in their camp as to how those holes could have been pro- 

 duced, as they were as nearly alike in position as possible. 



When we arrived at this camp the mayor's daughter 

 had shown me a red squirrel, which the Indians had 

 caught alive, and placed in a small cage which they 

 improvised, and presented it to her. She was feeding 

 and petting it with great assiduity, and it was already 

 becoming somewhat tame and losing its fear, especially 

 of her. I suggested to her that she now had leisure and 

 opportunity of making observations of the habits of the 

 sprightly Httle animal, and especially suggested that it 

 would be interesting to know in what mode it drank its 

 water. The next day she told me that she had solved 

 that question, and that it drank by lapping like a dog, 

 and not by sucking the water into the mouth after the 

 manner of other large quadrupeds. She took me to her 

 tent, that I might observe the process. She was right, 

 but the lapping was so very rapid that it required the 

 closest observation to distinguish it. The young lady 

 had certainly succeeded in establishing one interesting 

 point in natural history, which was wholly new to me. 

 It might be interesting to study this subject in other 

 small quadrupeds. 



The next morning after breakfast we bade our friends 

 good-by and left for the Brule, slowly stemming the 

 strong current of the Menominee. On the way up we 

 had to pass a very strong rapid, which was finally over- 

 come, and we landed at the east shore at Bad Water 

 Crossing, and went into camp for a late dinner. When 

 we unloaded our baggage we found a nice saddle of veni- 

 son stowed away in one of our canoes. After dinner two 

 of the party with their guides crossed the river, and went 

 out on the trail leading to Bad Water Lake, which was a 

 mile and a half away, after meat for the camp. They 

 returned in the evening with a two-year-old doe, which 

 was hung up to ripen a little until the venison in camp 

 should be consumed. It is not advisable, especially for 

 those whose stomachs are not accustomed to it, to eat the 

 flesh of a common deer immediately after it has been 

 killed, for it is very likely to produce a diarhoea, while, 

 if allowed to ripen for a day or two, no such result need 

 be anticipated. 



This was a very pleasant camp close to the bank of the 

 river, and about five hundred yards from the large log 

 cabin of a Frenchman and his wife, who entertained 

 travelers and attended the ferry at that crossing. They 

 seemed to do a thriving business, for while we occupied 

 that camp many passed on their way to the lumbering 

 camps from ten to twenty miles above. 



While here it was arranged that two of our party should 

 take all the guides and go over to Bad Water Lake with 

 both canoes for an evening hunt, and if unsuccessful in 

 that they should try a night hunt on the lake, leaving 

 only Norman and myself to keep camp. A large supply 

 of wood had been brought in, and an abundance of cooked 

 provisions provided for our suppers and the refreshment 

 of the party when they should return. After the party 

 had left we spent our time pleasantly, visiting the couple 

 at the cabin, making purchases of moccasins and arctic 

 socks of the vivacious little French lady, and reading and 

 lounging in camp. When the sun had descended pretty 

 near the horizon I observed Norman go over to the fire hi 

 front of the Indians' camp, where the cooking was done. 



He pushed the brands together, put on new fuel, got 

 out some potatoes, peeled them, and sliced them into thin 

 flakes as he had seen the Indians do, which he put in a 

 frying pan with a little water and some fat. He then 

 went to the deer, which was hanging up near by, cut out 

 some choice bits, which he placed in another pan. Then 

 he seemed to hesitate a moment and finally hollowed out 

 to me: 



"Judge, do they make tea with cold water or hot 

 water?" 



I answered him that I thought they usually used hot 

 water for making tea, whereupon he measured out about 

 two and a half cupfuls of water, which he put in the tea 

 kettle and set it on the fire. He then brought out the 

 tea chest, and when his water was boiling he dipped 

 his hand into the chest and grasped as much as he could 

 hold with one hand and called out to me if I thought 

 that was enough, and at the same time threw the whole 

 into the kettle. I told him I thought that would do. In 

 the meantime his other culinary operations had been 

 going on, and after he had set the table in the most artis- 

 tic way he called out to me that supper was ready— to 

 come and eat. The potatoes were cooked to a turn, and 

 were on the table; the frying-pan of venison was passed 

 (I always prefer to have the venison passed directly from 

 the frying-pan to the table), when he inquired if I thought 

 that tea was done. I told him I thought it was. 



A few minutes before this Jerome, an Indian guide, 

 who spoke English well, who was camped, with his family 

 a mile or two above us, and who had visited our camp 

 several times, came down in his canoe, which he tied up 

 and walked up to camp. He said he was going down the 

 river to try to get a deer. I asked him to sit down and 

 take supper with us, but he excused himself, saying he 

 had had Ms supper. 



About this time Norman took off the tea kettle, and 

 filled a pint cup full of his tea, which he set before me, 

 with a can of condensed milk, saying, "Here, Judge, try 

 my tea." Of course it was as black as soot and not less 

 bitter. I put in a liberal supply of condensed milk, took 

 a sip of the fluid, which fairly bit my tongue, when I 

 turned to Jerome, who was sitting a little way off, and 

 said, "Here, Jerome, if you won't eat with us you will 

 surely take a cup of tea. This boy has made more than 

 we can drink, and it is pretty strong, too, and will help 

 to keep you awake in your hunt." He took the tea gladly 

 and tackled it earnestly, and disposed of it fairly by the 

 time Norman had got seated at the table, and giving his 

 tea a slight sip, which was evidently enough forliim, 

 Jerome having emptied his cup, Norman suggested he 

 had better take another as there was plenty of it, at the 

 same time handing it over to Jerome, who took it with- 

 out reluctance, and swallowed it all, and, with his quart 

 of tea well stored within, he jumped into his canoe and 

 started on his hunt. 



The next morning about nine o'clock he returned with- 

 out any meat. When I asked him if he had seen no deer 

 he replied, "Oh, yes, I have seen about a thousand of 

 them, but they kept dancing about so that I could not get 

 a shot at one of them." Still he was not afraid to take a 

 cup of coffee with us, which, if he did not enjoy as much 

 as the tea, he seemed to take with a relish. 



[TO BIS GONGLUDED.] 



