Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy, i 

 Six Months, $2. f 



NEW YORK, JULY 11, 1889. 



I VOL. XXXII.-No. 25. 

 j No 318 Broadway, New York. 



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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



The Conemaugh Flood. 

 To Plunder Campers. 

 Snap Shots. 

 •The sportsman Tourist. 

 The Straits of Georgia. 

 Trouting on the South Board- 

 man. 



Trout and Big Game in Colo- 

 rado. 



The St. Regis District. 

 Natural History. 



Snakes' Weapons. 



A Few Facts About Loons. 



Florida Crocodiles and Birds. 

 Game Bag and (rtns. 



Holding on and Ahead. 



Pattern and Penetration Tests 



Bear and Deer in North Caro- 

 lina. 



O'Donnell's Note. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



New York Fish Laws. 



Chicago Fishing Waters. 



The Bay of Quinte. 

 Fishculture. 



San Francisco Fish Markets. 



Carp as a Spawn Eater. 



The Kennel. 



The Pointer Club. 



Pete the Dog. 



Los Angeles Dog Show. 



Importing Dogs. 



Dog Talk. 



Kennel Notes. 

 Rule and Trap Shooting. 



Our Team Abroad. 



Range and Gallery. 



The Trap. 



Chicago and the West. 



Boston Tournament. 



Michigan State Shoot. 



Dominion Day Shoots. 

 Yachting. 



Regatta Week on the Sound. 



Beveily Yacht Club. 



£ing sing Y. C. Open Regatta. 



New York Y. C. Cruise. 



Seawanhaka C. Y. C. Cruise. 



International Yacht Races. 



Steamers and the Rules of the 

 Road. 

 Canoeing. 



Corinthian Mosquito Fleet. 

 ' Royal C. C. 



Answers to Correspondents. 



THE CONEMAUGH FLOOD. 



THE coroner's jury on which, fell the duty of investi- 

 gating the terrible floods in the Conemaugh Valley 

 has given its verdict. It is reported to have found that 

 the owners of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club 

 were guilty of negligence in not making their dam secure. 

 On the other hand it is stated, and, we think, has not 

 been denied, that the members of the South Fork associa- 

 tion employed the very best expert engineering talent 

 that was to be had to make monthly examinations of the 

 dam on their property, and carried out their recommend- 

 ations. 



During the first few weeks after the appalling catas- 

 trophe by which so many lives were lost, the public mind 

 was so excited by the calamity, and so many wild reports 

 concerning it were flying about, that it was impossible 

 to form a calm judgment as to the causes of the occur- 

 rence, or to take an unprejudiced view of the respons- 

 ibilities in the matter. Now that the excitement has 

 died away, a good deal of definite and authoritative in- 

 formation is being made public, which throws light on 

 the conditions which prevailed just previous to the dis- 

 aster, and which enables us to say why the calamity 

 took place. 



The State weather service of Pennsylvania has recently 

 published a topographical map, showing the amount of 

 water which fell in all parts of the State during the two 

 days which preceded the disaster. This map shows that 

 the earlier statements as to the rainfall were not greatly 

 exaggerated, and warrants the belief that even without 

 the bursting of the. South Fork Dam the floods of that 

 memorable storm would have been very disastrous. 



In the northwestern corner of the State and along its 

 eastern border, the rainfall was less than one inch. A 

 large area in the western portion of the State and a nar- 

 row strip west of the Delaware River region, the two 

 aggregating perhaps 30 per cent, of the whole area of the 

 State, received from one to four inches in these cwodays, 

 while in the great central belt, comprising not far from 



40 per cent, of the State, the rainfall was from four to 

 eight inches. In the Conemaugh Valley and near Wil- 

 liamsport the deluge even exceeded eight inches. 



It was never expected nor intended that the South Fork 

 Dam would sustain such a pressure as was brought upon 

 it by this unprecedented rain storm. The responsibility 

 for its fall under such circumstances ought not to be 

 placed on the owners of the dam. They appear to have 

 taken all reasonable precautions to keep their dam safe. 

 Neither can we call this disaster an act of God. The re- 

 sponsibility for this disaster should be placed just where 

 it belongs, and that is on the people who have stripped 

 the Allegheny Mountains of their timber. Steadily and 

 without pause this work of devastation has gone on. Floods 

 from melting snows and from spring rains, causing the 

 streams to overflow their banks, and to work damage to 

 the extent of millions of dollars, have not served to warn 

 the public of the dangers to which certain communities 

 were exposed through this greed for gain. At last came 

 the flood which swept away Johnstown and destroyed in 

 an hour thousands of lives aad millions of property. Will 

 this lesson teach the State of Pennsylvania and other 

 States that some regard must be paid to nature's laws'!* 

 It is to be feared that it will not. 



The lumbermen will still be permitted to strip the 

 mountains of their timber, and to prepare their rocky 

 slopes to throw off the water which falls upon them just 

 as a shingled roof sheds rain. A single calamity, no 

 matter how overwhelming, will not teach the needed 

 lesson, but when widespread disaster and suffering come, 

 as come they must if the work of destruction is not 

 checked, then here in America we will follow the ex- 

 ample set us in the Old World, and care for our forests. 



TO PLUNDER CAMPERS. 



THERE is a class of land-sharks, growing in numbers 

 and of greedy appetite, who appear to be possessed 

 of the notion that they have a lien on the universe and a 

 mortgage on all outdoors. They stake off so much of 

 their claim as they can get some sort of title to, or as 

 much territory as they can cover with their hirelings, 

 and then proceed to lay tribute on intruders. Their par- 

 ticular prey is the camper, who pitches his tent on one of 

 their lake shores or drops a worm into one of their brooks 

 or follows the trail of game through some of their woods. 



The time was when a man might go into the North 

 Woods and camp out without peril of being made to 

 stand and deliver, or of being hustled off by "Reserve" 

 guardians. That time has not gone by for a stil. very 

 large extent of territory, but all too much of the choicest 

 area of the Adirondacks is coming into the possession of 

 those whose sole aim is to exploit the natural wealth and 

 do what they can in the way of plucking sportsmen. 



To the Adirondack Reserve concern— already noticed 

 in our columns as charging campers so much a night for 

 the privilege of camping on the Au Sauble Lakes district, 

 and which now proposes to charge $1.50 per day per rod 

 for trout fishing — there must now be added, in the list of 

 those who prey on sportsmen, the Northern Adirondack 

 Railroad Company. This road in conjunction with lum- 

 ber companies controls a large extent of country in the 

 Northern Adirondacks, that district described in a com- 

 munication printed on another page to-day. The railroad 

 and the lumber concerns bave published a notice in local 

 papers setting aside all their territory with the waters 

 therein as a private park for the propagation and protec- 

 tion of game and fish; and their plan is, as reported to 

 us, to police this district and impose a camping license 

 fee on all visitors who enter the territory by way of rival 

 lines. 



An Adirondack lumber company posing as having in- 

 terest in game and fish protection is a spectacle for gods 

 and men. As a cold fact, the lumbermen mean to get all 

 the money they can out of their lands. To do this they 

 are now disposing of the hemlock to tanneries, whose 

 men by the hundred are cutting the trees and peeling 

 the bark; and all the hardwood, big and little, is being 

 worked up or is going mto charcoal. They are, in short, 

 as expeditiously as modern methods can hasten the work, 

 skinning the lumber and reducing the territory to that 

 briar-patch and brush conditi"n which after fire has done 

 its work will mean blackened desolation. 



The hoplessness of the situation is that all these enter-, 

 prises appear to be within the sanction of the law, ar*! 

 there is, therefore, apparently no redress* 



SNAP SHOTS. 

 fT^HOSE of our readers who have visited, or may intend 

 *- to visit the Canadian Dominion, will be glad to learn 

 something about a new book connected with that region. 

 It is entitled "Historical and Sporting Notes on Quebec," 

 and is from the pen of J. M. Le Moine. It contains a 

 large amount of historical facts, within a small space, not 

 easily accessible to the average tourist, and also an 

 account of the sporting facilities of that portion of the 

 Dominion lying between the city of Quebec and the head- 

 waters of the famous Saguenay. It was in 1862 that Mr. 

 Le Moine commenced his career as an author, and from 

 that time to the present he has published not less than 

 twenty-seven volumes connected with the history and 

 scenery, the traditions and people of his native province, 

 twelve of them in French. Taken together they form a 

 fitting monument to the man who is to-day the leading 

 and most successful author north of the St. Lawrence. 

 One of the novelties connected with the volume here 

 mentioned is that it is divided into two parts, and while 

 the first is inscribed to Her Royal Highness, the Princess 

 Louise, the second part is dedicated to the Yankee author, 

 and long our correspondent, Charles Lanman. 



At the last meeting of the Commission in charge of the 

 National Zoological Park Mr. W. T. Hornaday was ap- 

 pointed superintendent of the new park. Ever since the 

 project to establish a national zoological garden was first 

 set on foot Mr. Hornaday has been extremely active in 

 pushing it forward. He has been in charge of the collec- 

 tion of animals for some time on exhibition in the Smith- 

 sonian grounds, and has been signally successful in in- 

 creasing their number and in making the limited funds 

 at his command go as far as possible. Possessed of great 

 energy and a large experience with animals, acquired in 

 many quarters of the globe, Mr. Hornaday promises to 

 make a very efficient superintendent. It is understood 

 that the negotiations for the land along Rock Creek, 

 where the park is to be located, are well advanced and 

 that there is every prospect that before long the Govern- 

 ment will be in a position to begin the work of preparing 

 the park for its future inmates. 



A butcher named Miller, employed by the man who 

 has the contract for furnishing beef in the National Park, 

 recently killed a bear which was prowling about the 

 slaughter house at Norris Geyser Basin, and was promptly 

 ordered out of the Park by Captain Boutelle, the Super- 

 intendent. Miller claimed that he shot the bear in self- 

 defence, but Captain Boutelle declined to go into the 

 merits of the case, saying that whether Miller was justi- 

 fied in killing the bear or not, he would have to go, as he 

 had violated the rules of the Park. If the Superintend- 

 ent listens to excuses for infractions of the regulations 

 from one offender he will have to do the same for all 

 others. We do not understand that the Superintendent's 

 orders require him to hold court and try offenders. His 

 duty is to enforce the regulations established by the Sec- 

 retary of the Interior. 



It appears to us that the Selectmen of Boxford, Mass., 

 are making wholly needless pother about a dog case, 

 which is said to perplex them. A statute provides re- 

 muneration to owners for damages inflicted by dogs on 

 domestic animals. A mad dog in Boxford, it is said, bit 

 another dog, which was valuable, and which died of the 

 bite. The owner put in a bill for remuneration. The 

 Selectmen hesitate to pay for the damages because they 

 do not know whether a dog is to be classed with other 

 domestic animals. As Massach usetts dog owners are re- 

 quired to pay a stiff tax on these animals there ought to 

 be no question about their legal standing. Let the Box- 

 ford Selectmen pay up. 



It was announced last week that a syndicate had pur- 

 chased 390,000 acres of land in the Adirondacks, 306,000 

 acres of which were of virgin forest; and that this entire 

 country was to be lumbered. The extent of this deal has 

 drawn attention anew to the depletion of the Adirondack 

 forest area, and the suggestion has been put forth that 

 the Legislature shoull step in and prevent this syndicate 

 from carrying out its plan. The only way in which that 

 could be done would be for the State to buy the land; 

 and it is not at all probable that it will do this. 



We are desirous of obtaining a copy of the volume 

 index for the following volumes of Forest and Stream; 

 2, 8, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13 and 15. 



