302 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. 8, 1888. 



ment would make an appropriation of five million dollars 

 annually for forest administration, and sanction the im- 

 portation of a competent staff of European officers? It is 

 practically useless to advocate it, the country is not ripe 

 for it. As little may we hope to do any good by provid- 

 ing an establishment for the control of lumbermen's oper- 

 ations. A small establishment might be sufficient to 

 guard the forests if they were absolutely closed and the 

 laws against trespass rigidly enforced, but to ."auction 

 exploitation and attempt to direct and control it would 

 require a much larger establishment than would be re- 

 quired to work it govemmentally. It is impracticable, and 

 any money expended in that direction is waste. 



If the forests continue open to private exploitation, re- 

 production by departmental agency is the best use to 

 which the annual grant can be applied. 



In face of the general indifference with which this im- 

 portant problem is regarded by the Legislature, it appears 

 to us that the measure best calculated to bring about a 

 system of reform in forest management would be for the 

 chief of the Forest Division to select a block of forests 

 conveniently situated for the supply of fuel to some min- 

 ing works, which could not conveniently be supplied 

 from any other source, work this together with the tim- 

 ber in the block by governmental agency, leaving the 

 remainder of the forests uncared for, and devoting every 

 energy to working the experimental division or block at 

 a profit, while making all necessary provision for repro- 

 duction. A well-chosen and compactly timbered block 

 of a hundred thousand acres or so would suffice for the 

 experiment, and this being worked at a profit for three 

 or four years and the problem of uniform reproduction 

 solved, the difficulties of extending the system would 

 disappear like mist before the sun. 



NOTES ON WESTERN FLORIDA, 



I.— DOWN THE CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER. 



SOME years ago, during one of my spring rambles in 

 the South, I chanced to drift, on a rather primitive 

 steamboat, downtlie Chattahoochee River into the western 

 arm of Florida. I made quite a stay at Apalachicola, and 

 from that quaint old place as a' center, explored by 

 numerous expeditions the surrounding wilderness and 

 adjacent coast. 



It is a strange country, a land of mysterious swamps 

 and silent, awe-inspiring pine forests, a land uninhabited, 

 and, I fear, almost uninhabitable; just a bit of romance 

 may here be found, too, for in direct contrast to its pres- 

 ent savage condition, the would-be explorer is constantly 

 coming upon the remains of past civilizations that speak 

 of the Spanish rule of long ago. It is one of the few parts 

 of this great Union of ours that has receded rather than 

 advanced in the last fifty years. Old natives will tell 

 you of a time, long "befo' de waw," when this was a 

 settled country, and if you penetrate far enough into the 

 barrens to the west of Apalachicola, yours will be the 

 novel sensation of standiug on the site of a once populous 

 town of which not a vestige now remains — verily no 

 common experience in America. 



I found the country, the people and the shooting so at- 

 tractive that I have returned with every spring, and have 

 hunted, fished, walked, sailed and canoed over a great 

 portion of the country and down the Gulf coast. During 

 several of these trips friends have accompanied me and 

 have yielded as readily to the peculiar fascinations of the 

 land as did I. As a hunting ground I know of none 

 superior to it, while the fishing is exceptional. The fol- 

 lowing series of articles are some of the results of obser- 

 vations during the past three years. 



Permit me to introduce you to a trio, not Faith, Hope 

 and Charity, but a real live three, with perhaps a quota 

 of those virtues but not the virtues themselves. First, 

 Bondclipper, a rare sportsman, one who, notwithstand- 

 ing his years of business, yet preserves his old boyish love 

 of sport, and who brings down his bird with as much 

 skill as he bags the much more agile dollar. In the ad- 

 ventures that succeed this introduction Bondclipper is 

 supposed to be in search of health. It seems to be a com- 

 mon failing of humanity always to search for what we 

 already possess, and all of us have our hobbies that it 

 would be the refinement of cruelty to take away. So it 

 'is with Bondclipper; he is always ill, and notwithstand- 

 ing the fact that he can the down any ordinary athlete 

 in a day's hunt, he doses himself as though death were 

 very imminent. Not that I would have you understand 

 that he is one of those tiresome hypochondriacs, who are 

 forever talking of dying and other unpleasant things and 

 boring you with a graphic account of their sufferings, 

 real or imaginary; he suffers in silence, and Ms moans 

 fall on no ears save his own. 



Next, Rusticus, a hunter from the ground up, one who 

 has spent the best of forty hale, hearty, vigorous years in 

 the fields and forests with his shotgun, etc.; one by whom, 

 if dog, gun and ammunition be given him, naught more 

 w asked. His creed is to keep his gun clean, his dog well 

 fed, never to miss a fair, open shot, and to avoid having 

 anything to do with a rifle. That is his strong point, a 

 vigorous contempt for a rifle; his hatred for that accur- 

 ate weapon is boundless. Now, as Bondclipper and I are 

 fair rifle shots and have a preference in that line, we are 

 continually the objects of scorn and ridicule from Rusti- 

 cs; this we return to the best of our ability, but some- 

 how our repartee seems to strike him, like the weapon 

 we uphold, m only one place, while he strikes us all over 

 with the nne, stinging shot of his satire; perhaps, how- 

 ever, our wounds are the deepest. 



As becomes my great modesty, allow me, lastly, to in- 

 troduce myself. Of my characteristics and peculiarities 

 I shall say nothing, leaving the reader to judge them as 

 lie may choose. Unknown quantities are designated by 

 w'f ? y « ^^npt unknown qualities receive the same 

 letter? So I shall figure m the future as "X " 



We three, one spring day, after a hard winter's work, 

 decided that it was absolutely necessary for our physical 

 well-being that we take a hunt. Where? This was a 

 hard point to decide, but after mature deliberation, and 

 a vast deal of study of guide books and railway folders, 

 partly through my advice, we made Florida the point of 

 our expedition. All of us are hunters used to roughing 

 it, and we all yearned, with that feeling that sometimes 

 comes to even the most refined or rather the least savage 

 of us to get absolutely away from civilization and the 

 beaten track of tourists. On the St. John's we knew 

 the inevitable horde of exquisitely gotten up sportsman 

 would he ever present, shooting at every sand snipe that 

 chanced to show its unwary head, and in fact that but 

 little good hunting country was left in northeastern 

 Florida. The western portion of the State, however, is 

 one vast wilderness, in certain places unknown and al- 

 most unexplored. Great possibilities existed for us in 

 those clear places on the maps, that indicated the thinly 

 settled country, so we finally decided upon the following 

 plan. We would go to Eufaula, Ala,, take the steamboat 

 down the Chattahoochee River to Apalachicola, and 

 thence guided by circumstances we would seek sport 

 wherever found. 



One April morning found us bag and baggage in Eu- 

 faula, awaiting that rather uncertain means of trans- 

 portation, a Southern river boat. The sleepy little town 

 did not present a very progressive picture of the New 

 South, the busy season being virtually over, cotton all 

 sold and everything dependent upon and awaiting the 

 coming crop, now just planted. For the next five 

 months the place would slumber in the sun, dead to all 

 appearances of trade, and then would spring once more 

 into commercial life animated by the influx of the great 

 mainstay of the land — King Cotton. 



It is a typical Southern town, and a very beautiful one 

 with its wide streets and grand avenues of superb old 

 oaks. I never have seen such trees anywhere else outside 

 of England. They line the sides of every thoroughfare 

 in Eufaula, and some of the streets have a row growing 

 right in the middle, whose branches joining those of the 

 sides, make tunnels of living green that afford pleasant 

 protection from the noonday sun. 



The regulation Southern homes are everywhere painted 

 the inevitable white, with green blinds; stiff and un- 

 gainly enough would they be elsewhere with their square 

 box-like architecture; here, however, set amid groves of 

 magnolia trees and literally covered with rose vines they 

 are beautiful and picturesque. Dame Nature tones down 

 the glaring white and rounds off the unsightly right 

 angles with her ever charitable hands. 



We managed to while away the long day somehow, 

 playing billiards on somewhat antiquated tables and 

 strolling about the quaint old streets. We were not sorry, 

 however, when at five in the afternoon a whistle an- 

 nounced the coming of the boat; and away we went in a 

 rickety old hack down the almost alpine road that leads 

 from town to the landing. We reached there just in 

 time to see the little steamer rounding the bend. Down 

 the narrow winding stream she came, puffing and blow- 

 ing like a porpoise. The landing was effected with all 

 the commotion and confusion that one sees on the float- 

 ing palaces of the Mississippi, the mate swore quite as 

 hard, the stevedores sang as cheerily, and from the ring- 

 ing of bells and shouting of orders, one might have sup- 

 posed that the Great Eastern was "laying to," 



We embarked, and having seen to the stowing away 

 of our somewhat extensive baggage, sat down to supper. 

 These Chattahoochie River boats are ran under excellent 

 management and the fare on all of the steamers is very 

 good, much better than on many of the more traveled 

 streams of the North; indeed the trade of this somewhat 

 obscure river is eagerly sought after, as there are several 

 lines, the competition has produced a most happy effect 

 f or, passengers. 



I know of no stream in the South more inviting for a 

 tourist than the Chattahoochee. The scenery is almost, 

 if not quite, equal to the famed St. John's of eastern 

 Florida, and while Southern rivers do not present much 

 variety of landscape, the vast expanses of woods and 

 cypress swamps have a beauty and fascination all their 

 own. 



The moon was full, and after supper we lounged around 

 the deck, enjoying the balmy softness of a Southern April 

 and watching the dark wall of forest slipping by. There 

 was but little talking, and the only noise that broke the 

 stillness was the weird chorus of the deck hands. A 

 careless, happy lot these stevedores, working night and 

 day for a bare subsistence, singing, laughing and joking 

 from morning till night, their tongues going as steadily 

 and as tirelessly as their limbs. Occasionally we stop 

 at some wood yard, where a sign over the heaps of pine 

 indicates that the pine may be bought at a dollar 

 a cord. Pine flambeaux are lighted, two gang planks are 

 run out and over them the streams of dusky porters 

 hurry. First they carry one stick at a time, then two, 

 then some ambitious fellow shoulders three, until vieing 

 with each other, five of the huge sticks form a load. 

 Fast and furious they work, while the great pile fairly 

 melts away to the time of their melodious improvisa- 

 tions. It is a picturesque sight, as lighted by the ruddy 

 fitful glare of pine torches, which softens down the 

 coarser features of the scene, makes the dark background 

 of woods seem like the boundary of the world ; and play- 

 ing on the ebony faces and gnarled corded arms of these 

 Hercules brings to one's mind some of the tales of the 

 Calibans of Hungarian forests. What a pride these 

 stevedores do take in their strength; they seem not like 

 ordinary drudges, but rather athletes, striving the one to 

 outdo the other. Great burdens are hoisted on muscular 

 shoulders as if the merest trifles. Constantly and over- 

 all sound their wild songs, improvised chants of mean- 

 ingless words and monotonous air that rise and fall in 

 weird cadences vibrated with pathos and full of peculiar 

 beauty and passion, born of that talent inherited from 

 savage ancestors of African wilds. 



The mate of a steamboat, that rough and ready, hard 

 swearing magnate, is a most interesting character. In 

 his person is centered the negro's idea of the summit of 

 earthly ambition and power. He is looked up to and 

 obeyed as little less than a god, and in point of fact he is 

 a most tremendous personage. Watch him a while and 

 be convinced of his greatness. Heard you ever such a 

 wonderful command of profanity? Not the ordinary, 

 weak expletives of a luxurious and effete civilization, but 

 great, strapping, four-jointed oaths that fly to the mark 

 like a streak of lightning and fairly rend 'the ah with 



their intensity. He swears at everything, at the men, at 

 the cargo, at the weather. He adds a syllable to every 

 word, a rope, for instance, is a "dainrope." From morn- 

 ing till night he keeps up one continual blue stream. But 

 it is harmless and hurts no one. The negroes rather en- 

 joy it; it affords amusement to the passengers and satis- 

 faction to the mate, so are is content and the boat moves 

 on by the combined force of steam and oath. 



The banks of the upper river are abrupt and very beau- 

 tiful; sometimes they tower to great height, their precipi- 

 tous sides variegated by band-like strata of rock and their 

 summits crowned with the brightest of spring foliage. 

 Hundreds of clear brooks meander through picturesque 

 canons and mingle their clear waters with the dark cur- 

 rent of the larger stream. Occasionally through openings 

 in the forest we see plantations with their broad plowed 

 fields and clusters of white-washed houses. In these river 

 bottoms are some of the finest cotton and corn lands of all 

 the South. 



At Fort Gaines the cliffs tower to an exceptional height 

 and on their summit is perched the pretty little town. All 

 the villages of the upper river have some such elevated 

 position, for these Southern streams that glide along in 

 such a lazy apathetic manner during the dry season, 

 become fierce as Alpine torrents when swollen by the 

 rains of spring. 



The upper river is very difficult of navigation on account 

 of the numerous sandbars, and also because of the con- 

 stant shifting and changing of the channel. A place that 

 may be passable on the down trip of a boat will perhaps 

 ground her high and dry on the return. Every high 

 water erodes great masses from the banks, and the debris 

 is carried away to be deposited on some forming bar that 

 will cause the pilots to seek new passes. Then there are 

 a great many snags — trees that have grounded on the 

 bottom of the stream, and whose branches project above 

 or remain concealed a few inches below the surface of 

 the water— a serious danger to many captains. There 

 have been many accidents, and the life of a Chattahoo- 

 chee boat does not average five years. A few years ago 

 the E-v eringham was burned between Eufaula and Colum- 

 bus with a loss of some twenty-three lives. 



The next morning by ten o'clock the bluffs had almost 

 disappeared, and we steamed all day through a densely 

 wooded and perfectly level country. The stopping places 

 are few and far between. Occasionally we would tie up at a 

 bank where no signs of human habitation could be seen, 

 and leave a lot of supplies to be gathered by the owner 

 whenever he might chance that way. Several times, in 

 answer to hails from the shore, we stopped to take on 

 some solitary passenger; as an accommodation boat our 

 craft certainly filled every requirement. 



We passed an enjoyable, lazy day, sitting around the 

 deck, popping with our rifles at occasional ducks and 

 divers, and watching with interest the phases of an almost 

 changeless scene. There were but few passengers besides 

 ourselves — two or three planters, several lumbermen, a 

 local politician, and that inseparable parasite of railways 

 and steamboats, a drummer. The portion of the long 

 cabin allotted to ladies was monopolized by a poor, for- 

 lorn, yellow-looking little country woman, with the com- 

 plexion of a pumpkin and an air of constant embarrass- 

 ment. She spent all of her time in the deep contemplation 

 of her shoes, to judge by her eyes; and did not stir out of 

 the hot, stuffy cabin all day. A boat is an excellent field 

 in which to study human nature; brought by the confin- 

 ing hmits of a deck or cabin, whether you will or no, into 

 communication with all classes, One may see much that 

 is novel and interesting in even the most unpromising of 

 companions, and may realize that, after all, different 

 classes of people, animal-like, have each their respective 

 habits, which are almost as universal and regular as are 

 the ways of different species of beasts. Our comrades 

 were no exception to this natural law. but true to their 

 several kinds, acted accordingly. The planters spoke of 

 "befo' de waw" and crops, and made numerous visits to a 

 certain cabin (No. 23, I think) from which they would 

 emerge with a great clearing of throats and wiping of 

 mouths, in a manner most plain in its meaning. The 

 lumbermen, green as the timber they cut, were perhaps 

 the most original of all, being true representative of that 

 class that gives the lower Chattahooch.ee what importance 

 it possesses in a commercial sense. 



The local politician was evidently on the canvass; he 

 was the essence of politeness to every one; talked lumber 

 to the lumbermen, talked tariff and other stupendous 

 problems of government to the planters, drank whisky 

 with every one, condescendingly spoke to the vision in 

 yellow of the cabin, to her great and evident terror; and, 

 in fact, made himself generally amusing — and natural. 

 It is not necessary to add that this great and awe-inspir- 

 ing personage had a very red nose, and was distinguished 

 from common humanity by the wearing of an antiquated 

 Prince Albert coat, of about the luster of a looking-glass. 

 That genial animal, the drummer, after spending an hour 

 vainly trying to get up a flirtation with the galvanized 

 corpse of the saloon, finally turned to his own sex, be- 

 came acquainted with every one in a very few minutes, 

 told numerous stories, more or less shady, and made him- 

 self generally popular. True, he would insist on trying 

 to impress upon our minds the grandeur and sublimity of 

 the firm of A. & B., and brought into his anecdotes the 

 tale of how he had sold such and such a bill of goods here 

 and such there; but all in all he was very agreeable— at 

 least I thought so, until, at whist, he persistently led 

 from his short suit, then in righteous wrath I cut his ac- 

 quaintance. 



Once, when we stopped for an hour to take on an un- 

 usually large load of wood, my two companions and I 

 took our guns and stirred up a covey of quail in an adja- 

 cent field. After killing six between us we were obliged 

 to leave the rest and return to the boat. The quail shoot- 

 ing for the entire length of the river is most excellent, 

 birds everywhere and very tame and easily gotten at. 



At 1 o'clock we reached Chattahoochee, a most dismal 

 looking place, consisting of little more than a hotel and 

 depot; it is right in, or rather over, a swamp, for the 

 houses are perched upon high piles to keep them above 

 the periodical freshets, though I understand, that a mile 

 or so away there is quite a little town. The Pensacola 

 & Atlantic R. R. here crosses the river on a fine iron 

 drawbridge. Our passenger list was largely augmented 

 here by the coming on board of a comic opera company. 

 Verily, this is a world of contrasts. Here, as we sup- 

 posed, far away from everything of the kind, in the 

 midst of a wilderness, it was somewhat startling to come 

 upon so high an evidence of civilization, almost as un- 



