480 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan, », 1889. 



ce with the hatchets showed it to be over a foot thick, 

 and we were in despair. It would take half a day to cut 

 a dozen holes, even though we had an axe. I started for 

 the nearest house to get one, and found there a gentle- 

 man who had been fishing the lake for several days, but 

 not feeling well had not gone out" this morning. As he 

 would leave in the evening he told me that opposite 

 the camp was the best fishing place. He had cut twenty 

 holes there which were only lightly frozen over, and we 

 would find a box with some live minnows m it about 

 forty rods from the holes, to the west in a spring by the 

 shore to which we were welcome. Here was luck! Just 

 like a fairy tale, where the prince turns up at the proper 

 time to rescue the beautiful maiden. The gentleman, 

 whose name we never knew, had a dozen or more pick- 

 erel of perhaps two to four pounds, and the prospect of a 

 similar catch, and the strange surroundings, kept one of 

 our party awake most of the night. We merely opened 

 the holes and left them for the morrow, gathered wood, 

 cooked supper— coffee this time — talked about camp life, 

 fishing and hunting, and turned in on the boughs. I re- 

 member reminding John that no herd of deer had been to 

 the lake for a drink, and hoped the bears would not dis- 

 turb us. while he answered with a snore that might have 

 been genuine, or a hint that the time for talk was ended. 

 I sat up several times to see if it was morning, and once 

 felt sure that it must be day, and that the sun had for- 

 gotten to rise. The moon was full and well up, and this 

 betokened midnight, but it seemed as if it must be a mis- 

 take. It was colder, and, piling more wood on the fire, I 

 walked out, first seeing that the priming in the pan of the 

 pistol was in order, so that if a bear should come he 

 would surely be mine, and then I wondered if it would 

 be best to have his skin made into an overcoat for myself, 

 or if I should have a rug made of it for mother. The rug- 

 was decided on after a struggle to give up the coat, and I 

 crept up to an old oak as silently as the crisp snow would 

 allow. 



After the echoes made by walking had subsided, the 

 stillness was oppressive. The bright moon cast strange 

 shadows which fancy wove into such forms of life that 

 the situation was uncomfortable, and to retreat to the 

 shanty might bring a host of wolves, bears or other 

 beasts directly upon me. A sensation of fear was mingled 

 with one of cold, and camping in the wilderness where 

 bears are plenty did not have the roseate hue at midnight 

 that it had borne in the morning. If only an owl had 

 hooted there would have been a relief to that dreadful 

 silence, for I was familiar with that bird and it* cries and 

 hootings. Should I fire the pistol to scare the monsters 

 which surrounded me, or should I call for John? A know- 

 ledge that I would have to explain matters, and a dim 

 consciousness that when John told the story of the adven- 

 ture to our schoolmates I might be the butt of ridicule, 

 prevented either course being taken. After long con- 

 sideration, and with a heart trying to burst its ribbed 

 inclosure, and with pistol at full cock, I carelessly stepped 

 a few steps in the direction of the shanty, which lay full 

 in the moonlight forty rods away. The assumed oarelees- 

 ness must have deceived the monsters, for when 1 faced 

 about and presented the pistol in their direction with the 

 intention of lolling the foremost, and then rushing for 

 the shanty, not one had stirred. Several repetitions of 

 these tactics brought me to the fire, when John asked: 

 "Where have you been?" "Me? Oh, just out to see what 

 a beautiful night it is and to see if any game is about.'' 

 He yawned and said: "Put on some more wood and 

 turn in, there is no game here that stirs at night except 

 rabbits and skunks, and the snow makes so much noise 

 that they'd hear you a mile off. I heard you go out and 

 then you stopped a long time; what were you doing?" 

 ""Watching for game," said 1, and, after firing up, turned 

 in, to count |the stars across the Hudson, for the bright 

 moon had extinguished them at the meridian. What if 

 a bear shonld come in the shanty? The flint of the pistol 

 was let down, but the weapon was at hand. John was 

 unimaginative, unpoetical, a plain matter-of-fact fel- 

 low, and rabbits and skunks were all that he had seen 

 when he was here before. How- did lie know there were 

 no deer, wolves and bears about us? 



The holes were reopened in the morning while John 

 was in the bush cutting tip-ups, and the lines were baited 

 and set before breakfast. Sausage, crackers and cheese 

 were beginning to weary the appetite, but John said that 

 pickerel would surely be on hand for dinner, and so it 

 was. One fish, small at that, was taken at noon when 

 we came back from our woods tramp. The place where 

 the monsters gathered at midnight, near the old oak, 

 showed only tracks of mice, birds and rabbits, but as 

 John knew nothing of the demons that had peopled that 

 wood ten hours before, it did not seem necessary to refer 

 to it. A south wind had sprung up toward morning and 

 the snow was already softening. There was less crunch- 

 ing under foot, and a few dead leaves that had hung on 

 the trees through the freezing weather began to flutter 

 down on this mild Christmas morning. We came upon 

 the track of a man, made after the snow had hardened. 

 The edges of the crust were broken, perhaps the track 

 was only a day or two old, and as it led in our direction 

 we followed it. Soon John said: "This fellow is snaring 

 partridges," meaning the bird we now call ruffed grouse. 

 " How do you know?" He pointed to a low hedge made 

 of twigs and brush and said: "There is his 'fence,' and 

 we'll see what he has got." This was a thing that I had 

 heard of, but had never seen, and so was very curious 

 about it. The fence had been m ade before the snow fell , be- 

 cause there were no man tracks along it. The trapper kept 

 a few feet from it, and we passed the first opening where 

 we saw that he had been and perhaps taken a bird out 

 since the snow fell, but not before it crusted. The second 

 opening contained a bird, and we held a discussion on the 

 ethics of snaring game. John said that we had as much 

 right to it as the unknown had. "But isn't it stealing to 

 take the bird that he has caught?" I asked of my mentor. 

 "No," answered John, "it is not stealing to take from a 

 thief, and I heard Jim," meaning a well known Albany 

 sportsman, now living, "say that it was agin the law to 

 snare a pa'tridge, and that the man that did it was a 

 thief, and I'm goin' to have that bird, anyway." "But, 

 John, he will track us to camp, and make us 'give it up, 

 and likely get us in trouble." As he took the bird from 

 the snare he designated the place where the snarer might 

 go to warm himself, if he chose, and added some other 

 remarks as he kicked down the fence, set in the frozen 

 ground. Two more grouse and a rabbit came to us in the 

 same way before we returned to camp. 



As I sit in a cosy room writing this storv, on a Christ- 



mas eve more than forty years after the events, I want to 

 thank John Atwood, a boy of whose company I was fond, 

 but of whose companionship I was repeatedly warned as 

 one who was good for nothing except to loaf about the 

 woods and who had rather play than work, for the first 

 lesson I ever received in game protection, and of the 

 right of game to its life under the law. I had doubts as 

 to our right to take this game, but John removed them, 

 and to-day I would do the same thing, if occasion offered. 

 I was but'a small boy, made timid by what I thought to 

 be a wilderness, because it was ten miles from homeland 

 even if we were justified in taking this game we might 

 be made to regret it. We never heard of the trapper, 

 who may not have made his rounds for some days after. 



The horse pistol was not discharged, although a pileated 

 woodpecker seemed to be too familiar with the bold hunt- 

 ers, and only dodged around a tree as we came near. 

 John said he wasn't good to eat and didn't harm anybody, 

 and after aiming at him and being assured that he could 

 be dropped, as the bird ventured on our side of the tree, 

 we left him pecking away, unconscious of his peril, a 

 second lesson in sportsmanship. 



The stillness and the absence of life was surprising to 

 me. No herds of deer, with a great stag at their bead, 

 crossed our paths and invited a shot. Bears, wolves and 

 catamounts did not come to us to be slaughtered, and we 

 returned to the lake to find the solitary pickerel men- 

 tioned above. The holes had not frozen over and there 

 was a little water about them. The white ice at the edge 

 of the lake, that from which the water had fallen, and 

 in cold weather shows those curious markings, had fallen 

 in and lay in confused heaps. The chickadees were en- 

 livening the scene by flitting from tree to tree and, best 

 of all, breaking the intolerable silence. 



Although the baits were changed and fresh live fish 

 put on, we did not get another fish. If you are told that 

 we cooked that pickerel for dinner, and had the rabbit 

 for supper and breakfast, and took the birds home, that 

 ends the story, for I am tired of writing it on this anni- 

 versary when I have several stockings to fill before I go 

 to bed, and it is midnight now and the moon is shining 

 brightly— the same moon that wrought the monsters in 

 the woods about Kinderhook Lake more than forty years 

 ago. Fred Mather. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



C CHICAGO, 111., Dec. 29.— The despatches for this dis- 

 ' trict yesterday morning contained the following in 

 regard to a very important arrest made for violation of 

 the State fish laws: 



"Aurora, 111., Dec. 27.— This afternoon an officer ar- 

 rived from Elgin and served papers upon Messrs. Jame- 

 son, Stolp, Hoyt, George and other owners of the water 

 power in this city, commanding them to appear for trial 

 at Elgin within ten days and answer to the charge of 

 violating the State law in the matter of refusing to con- 

 struct a fishway in the dam in Fox River. Leading 

 manufacturers in Geneva and Carpentei ville were also 

 arrested. Mi-. Stolp. who is one of the principal owners 

 of the power here and who has operated the woolen 

 mills for fifty years, said to-night that they would refuse 

 to construct the fishways for the reason that it would 

 entail a great and needless expense and would be an irre- 

 parable damage to the water power. He said that they 

 had bought this power of the Government in 1842 and 

 had deeds signed by President Tyler, and they did not 

 propose that they should be denied the privilege of re- 

 gulating their own private property. Besides, there 

 were no fish in Fox River, and the law was not only un- 

 just but nonsensical. He declared they would light it 

 to the end." 



Commenting on tins, the Chicago Mail, a very bright 

 evening paper which occasionally bears marks suggest- 

 ing the presence of a sportsman upon its staff, had yester- 

 day the following editorial remarks: 



"A number of mill men in this State have been arrested 

 for refusing to provide fishways in their dams. Without 

 considering whatever may be the merits of these particu- 

 lar cases, it may be said that the enforcement of the law 

 regarding fishways is most desirable, and that the fishing 

 associations and authorities which institute such siiits are 

 doing a good work. The fish commission in Illinois is 

 fortunately something more than a mere bureau of ideas, 

 and is doing a great work in stoclring the streams, and 

 lakes, and ponds, and increasing the food supply of the 

 State. Its efforts should be supplemented by the force of 

 a vigorous public opinion favoring the enforcement of 

 every law for the propagation and preservation of fish, 

 and to create this opinion the impression must be done 

 away with that the statutes are of a character to imply a 

 laxness as to the observance of their provisions. Let the 

 law be enforced thoroughly for a year or two and the 

 good results following will be so apparent that there will 

 be no sympathy extended those who suffer for disregard- 

 ing it, Illinois affords a magnificent field for pisciculture. 

 There are large rivers and small ones, and there are 

 thousands of lakes and ponds, the waters of which are as 

 well adapted for the raising of fish as are the prairies for 

 the raising of cattle. Great progress has already been 

 made in the right direction, and the work which the 

 present fish commission is engaged in cannot be carried 

 forward too vigorously." 



These words are comment enough, they go to show the 

 growing respect for sport and sporting possibilities which 

 is apparent in this country. As to the absurd statement 

 of Mr. Stolp that he didn't propose to respect the law be- 

 cause it was "unjust and nonsensical," I trust he will be 

 sharply taught the fact that he isn't arbiter for the people 

 of Illinois, and they don't look to him or his indorsement. 

 If there "are no fish in Fox River," the need for the law 

 is apparent. Put in the fishways and give the fish a 

 chance. His "fight to the end" is asinine. The Bshway 

 would be cheaper. E. Hotjgh. 



A Dinino Cab Line to the Pacific Coast.— The completion of the all rail 

 line between Portland, Ore., and San Francisco gives the Pacific coast trav- 

 eler an opportunity to patronize the famous Dining Car and Yellowstone 

 Park Line, the Northern Pacific Railroad. The sportsman traveling In the 

 West, whether a lover of the rod or gun, naturaUy seeks this road, pene- 

 trating as it does the lake park region of Minnesota, and running through 

 the valleys of such trout streams as the Yellowstone, Gallatin, Hell Gate, 

 Clark's Fork, Spokane, Yakima and Green Rivers, for a distance of fully 

 1,500 miles, as well as lying immediately contiguous to the finest hunting 

 grounds in the United States, viz., Tne Big Horn, Snowy Belt, Bitter Root, 

 Coeur D'Alene and Cascade Mountains. Information in regard to this 

 region can be obtained by addressing Charles S. Fee, General Passenger 

 and Ticket Agent, N.R. R„ P, St. Paul, Minn.— Adv s 



THE RHODE ISLAND COMM ISSION. 



WE have the annual report of the Commissioners of 

 Inland Fisheries of Rhode Island to the General As- 

 sembly at its January session, 1888, including the work done 

 the previous year. Ten thousand eggs of landlocked salmon 

 were received from the U. S. Fish Commission and hatched 

 by Mr. C. A. Hoxie, at Carolina, R. I., where the fry will be 

 kept until it is a year old, when it will be distributed in 

 various waters of the State adapted to their nature. 



One hundred and five thousand brook trout fry were pur- 

 chased and 40,000 of them distributed by the Commissioners 

 and the remainder by persons interested in stocking certain 

 waters. Much public interest is now taken in the attempt 

 to restock the streams with this fish, and the efforts will be 

 continued. Black bass are now well established in the vari- 

 ous ponds and rivers of the State and only require protection 

 during the spawning season. 



Shad have increased and are reported to be more abund- 

 ant than for some years previous to the restocking of the 

 waters. Carp have been distributed in 1886, but the Com- 

 missioners are without any report from the persons to whom 

 they were sent. 



The bay and coast fisheries is a subject which, sooner or 

 later, must have the careful consideration and legislation 

 needed to afford better protection during the spawning sea- 

 son, or they will cease to be a source of income or an attrac- 

 tion to the summer resorts of the State. Prices of most 

 kinds of fish have been quite as high as last year. 



A report of the expenditures of thirteen States for stock- 

 ing their waters in 1886, as well as that of Rhode Island for 

 1887, is given, as well as the list of the different Fish Com- 

 missioners. 



THE FISHES OF GREAT ECO HARBOR BAY. 



WE have the report of Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, ichthyolo- 

 gist of the TJ. S. Fish Commission, on the fishes 

 observed in Great Egg Harbor Bay, New Jersey, during the 

 summer of 1887, printed as an extract from the Bnlletin of 

 the TJ. S. Fish Commission for the year. It coniprises 152 

 pages and three plates, which contain fifty-eight figures. 



The seines proved effective in taking eighty-six species. 

 The largest seine was 20 fathoms long and 10ft. deep, but it 

 was too small for the capture of skates, rays and sharks. 

 For the latter fishes Dr. Bean thinks the net should be from 

 60 to 70 fathoms long and about 15ft. deep in the bag. Some 

 of the species which were found in abundance by Prof. S. F. 

 Baird, when he explored these waters and made a report 

 thereon in 1854, were not seen, and upward of thirty species 

 which were not recorded by Baird were found last year. 

 The sheepshead was not taken in 1854, and is not abundant 

 now, but adults are occasionally caught with the hook, and 

 the young were found in moderately large numbers at 

 Beesley's Point. On the other hand, young drum were 

 found to be abundant by Professor Baird, but Dr. Bean 

 failed to find any; neither did he see the young Llttjaniis. 



A day or two before his arrival at Somers Point a cargo 

 of 40,000 mackerel was landed there by one of the menhaden 

 steamers, and a few days later a fishing schooner took 10,000 

 off Squan, N. J. These mackerel were of the kind known as 

 "thimble-eye," an earlier species than & scoiubrus. There 

 are no pounds nor traps in Great Egg Harbor Bay, and 

 seines were used, which is contrary to law. Fishing with 

 hand lines is very satisfactory, and large catches of weak- 

 fish and kingfish' are made in this way during the summer. 

 Gill nets are used in winter, the principal yield being white 

 perch. At the time of his departure, Sept. 1, the only good 

 catches of weakfish were made in the ocean adjacent to the 

 bay. 



A CENTURY OF SAWDUST. 



Editor Forest and. Stream: 



I was delighted with the intelligent way in which your 

 correspondent "Piscator" handled the sawdust question in 

 your issue of Dec. 27. It is a comfort to listen when a well- 

 informed person speaks, but in these days of callow pre- 

 tension experience is usually elbowed back from the front. 



Iu my opinion the famous Mill Brook, of Plainfield, Mass., 

 which has a record of a century as the finest trout water in 

 the Hampshire Hills, supplies those very conditions and 

 corroborative data which "Piscator" declares are essential 

 to determine what pernicious effect the presence of sawdust 

 has upon the denizens of mill streams. Here is a water- 

 power which carried no less than thirteen manufactories 

 fifty years ago. These included a tannery, a sawmill and 

 factories for making brush and broom handles, whipstocks 

 and cheese and butter boxes, all of which discharged more 

 or less sawdust and shavings into the streams, to say noth- 

 ing of three satinet factories and a felt hat factory, whose 

 waste must have been deleterious to fish life. Most of 

 the buildings ha ve since been destroyed by fire or tumbled 

 into pieces by decay, but the old foundation walls and dams 

 remain, and untold tons of tanbark and sawdust still cover 

 the beds of the abandoned mill ponds knee deep, all of it in 

 a perfect state of preservation, as I happen to know from 

 wading the, stream last summer. Nevertheless, the brook 

 continues fairly stocked with small trout, despite the sup- 

 plementary fact that it has been unmercifully fished ever 

 since the memorial days of the "Mountain Miller," fifty fin- 

 gerllngs per rod being not unusual now for a day's catch. 

 Besides, at no time within my recollection have there been 

 less than three sawdust producing mills on this stream at 

 once, so that it may be asserted that its waters have not been 

 normally dear for a century. Where the current is rapid 

 and the water broken by ledges or boulders, the presence of 

 the sawdust is scarcely perceptible, but at mill-tails, and in 

 the basins above the dams, it accumulates in quantity and 

 remains, becoming water-soaked and ..sinking to the bot- 

 tom. Obviously, in localities where the entire bottom 

 is imbedded by sawdust, fish can neither spawn nor feed; 

 but it happens that such deposits do not form on their 

 breeding places, nor is the area of their foraging ground 

 appreciably diminished by their presence. Even in the 

 half -emptied and now useless ponds, the current constantly 

 scours out a central channel through the sawdust, leaving 

 the bottom clear and pebbly; so that, in fact, these local 

 beds are of no more detriment to the fish than so many sub- 

 merged logs. The trout can range far and wide without 

 encountering them at all. Yet. strange to say— that is, it 

 must seem strange to those persons who take it for granted 

 that sawdust kills fish— the most likely places for the larger 

 trout are these self-same pebbly channels in the old ponds, 

 along whose edges, despite a hundred freshets and ice- 

 shoves, the persistent sawdust and tanbark lie in wind- 

 rows so deep that the wader feels as if he were going to sink 

 out of sight whenever he puts his foot into the yielding 

 mass, every movement of which stirs up a broadening 

 efflorescence which spreads for rods away, distributing itself 

 throughout the stream. From these sawdust beds I can 

 always fish out three or four good trout with a cautious fly, 

 and at certain times the surface is fairly dimpled with 

 breaking fish, which presumably are after larvae and insects 

 which the sawdust has harbored, though careful investiga- 

 tion might discover other inducements for their congrega- 

 ting there. 



In passing I would remark that this Mill Brook is fed by 

 seven lateral brooklets, which tumble into it from the adja- 

 cent hillsides at intervals bet ween dams, and are so effectu- 

 ally protected by overgrowth that they must always serve 



