108 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



[Aug. 29, 1889, 



prevent the frogs from jumping out, he clutched another 

 one with a grip that made it croak, and when he had 

 run the hook through both jaws exactly in the center, to 

 make it trail without twisting in the water, he made a 

 long cast astern and picked up the thread of his talk 

 where the "slippery cuss" had parted it, and who was 

 now out of sight among the rushes. 



" As I was saying when that tricky batrachian kicked 

 out of my hand, there are a good many things in the world 

 that we can't understand unless we know the reasons for 

 'em. Neighbor Ruttle's theory about the inflow of the 

 river is perfectly clear to Ms mind, and he has no doubt 

 been waiting a good while for a chance to work his suction 

 on a lot of suckers like us fellows, to show how easy it is 

 for a man of attainments to see through a hole in a grind- 

 stone, so to speak, and tell why the water back there 

 runs up stream at certain times, I tell you, James Mack- 

 erel, there's nothing like — great Caesar's bones ! stop the 

 boat. That must be the old maskalonge you have been 

 talking about so much," and the dissertation was cut 

 short as he stood up in the narrow boat balancing him- 

 self like a " teeter snipe," while the click of his reel 

 reeled off a few bars of lively music, always pleasing to 

 the angler's ear, whether made by pickerel, bass or mask- 

 inonje. 



But it was not the " old general," only a rank-smelling 

 Canada pike of three or four pounds, that after cutting 

 a few capers in the grass was summarily pulled along- 

 side and knocked on the head with the gaff handle, a 

 warning to others of his tribe not to trifle with old Knots 

 when not in an amiable humor. 



Knots detests a pickerel as a cat does mud, because 

 they are snaky and slimy and emit a disagreeable odor, 

 and he sets small store by them as a game fish; but a mile 

 further up lake another big one came so near smashing 

 his cherished bethabara rod in a long, determined strug- 

 gle that his notions about their fighting qualities were 

 all upset for the time, and when at last the old fellow 

 -^as brought to gaff he was ready to sit down and rest 

 his wear y wrist and " take his oath that this particular 

 longsnout had only missed being a maskalonge by hav- 

 ing the wrong spots and markings put on by mistake in 

 his infancy." It was a pretty fight, and Knots was so 

 pleased with the performance of his rod that he was in 

 great good humor all the rest of the way to camp. 



We took five or six more on the way up, but could get 

 no sign from a bass; and we began to think there were 

 very few of them in the lake, or that we had lost our 

 cunning and forgotten all our years of training as old- 

 time bass fishers. But no doubt the true reason we got 

 so few was that they were not in the humor to feed on 

 the baits offered them; or it was not quite late enough in 

 the season, as we had been told from the first; and it was 

 the more aggravating to stand on the dock of a clear 

 afternoon and see from two to half a dozen great lazy, 

 black-backed fellows sunning themselves in the shal- 

 low water out from the mouth of the little stream, fan- 

 ning the gravelly bottom with their fins as though it 

 were the only thing in life they had to do. 



We tried most of the arts known to the craft to fool 

 them; we would quietly cast a frog, minnow or young 

 perch among them from the screen of some bushes on 

 the bank; but they would swim leisurely off into deep 

 water without paying the slightest attention to the 

 tempting bait only* to get away from it; and then from 

 the dock we tried them with perch, shiner, frog, rubber 

 helgramite, phantom minnow, flies of divers hues, spoon 

 and grasshoppers. But tbey were blind to all our lures, 

 and we were fain to content ourselves with the sport to 

 be had with the ever-hungry Canada pike, hoping the 

 while that a maskinonje might occasionally slip in "be- 

 tween bites" just to vary the monotony. 



Charley had brought along a minnow bucket full of 

 genuine home-grown Kentucky fishin' worms — with a 

 pedigree— (about everything animate in Ole Kentuck 

 has a pedigree), and the appetites of then- epicurian high- 

 nesses, the bass, might possibly have been tempted with 

 these; but one of the camp rules forbade the use of 

 worms, even with pedigrees, for any fish except "blue- 

 gills," minnows, sunfish and other small fry, and any 

 "Kingfisher" caught insulting a bass by offering a worm 

 for bait would have been requested to "hand in his resig- 

 nation at an early date." But we kept on fishing for 

 bass, and kept right on taking pickerel tdl old Sam 

 "declar'd that if we didn't soon leave the lake we would 

 all have 'snakes,' " and that night a camp-fire consulta- 

 tion resulted in a determination to worry the waters a 

 few days longer and then break up and go back into 

 Michigan where the bass were not quite so particular 

 about their diet. 



The trip made by the Kentuckians up Echo River for 

 trout furnished old Sam with another "episode," but 

 this time it was in the nature of a dismal failure, as he 

 expressed it, "from start to finish." They had readily 

 found the mouth of the stream and followed it up for a 

 half mile or so to the riffles, where they left the boat and 

 took to the bank and fished along up for another quarter 

 of a mile, fighting mosquitoes and blackflies, and push- 

 ing their way at intervals through a tangle of low cedars 

 and underbrush to the stream, without getting a rise or 

 even a sight of a trout, and then the rain came down on 

 them, even as it had come down on Knots and the skip- 

 per at the lower end of the lake — very copiously and 

 wet; and as they had with great "hind sight" left the 

 camp hurriedly, and without their rubber coats, they 

 came back soaked to the skin, chilled to the bone, with- 

 out a solitary fish and as forlorn looking a pair of old 

 loon-atics as ever took shelter under a leaky cedar bush 

 in a hard rain to keep from getting wet. 



However, a change to dry clothing restored the circu- 

 lation of their blood and their good humor, and when 

 Louis announced supper, Sam was just winding up a 

 graphic description of " the miseries of a rainy day in 

 the bresh of upper Echo River and the delights" o' trout 

 fishin' in a crick that had nothin' in it but a passel o' 

 measley white suckers," ending the recital in a voice 

 that sounded like a buzz saw cutting its way through a 

 knotty hemlock log, with, "My feller fish liars, I'm 

 more'n ever convinced that the feller — I forgit his name — 

 that wrote in the Scripters that ' all men ar' liars,' was 

 mighty nigh right, an' ef he'd only said trout liars it 

 would hev bin a cl'ar case that he was lookin' 'way into 

 the futur', an' had in his mind's eye the present prevari- 

 oafcin' gineration o' this very region." Kingfisher. 



Tele revised and abridged edition of tlae A. O. U. Check List of 

 North American Birds, including the additions and changes made 

 in the supplement, will be sent post free on receipt of 50cts.— Adv . 



A TRIP TO THE UNKNOWN RIVER. 



ON the morning of June 4, 1889, a party of four gentle- 

 men left Columbus, O., on a fishing expedition to 

 the Unknown River, Michigan, Arrived at Sault Ste, 

 Marie, or the "Soo," we went direct to the ferry and 

 crossed over to the Canadian side of the river. By half 

 past 4 o'clock we had found a hotel that suited us pretty 

 well, and half an hour later were on the road to the 

 rapids, which are about a mile from the hotel. We had 

 promised ourselves trout for breakfast the next morning, 

 and we were going to have them if possible. When we 

 reached the rapids we found that it was almost impossi- 

 ble to throw a fly on account of the wind that was blow- 

 ing a perfect gale from the north; but with this against 

 us we took seven good-sized trout and got back to the 

 hotel before dark. 



The Canadian "Soo" is just now enjoying a boom in 

 real estate. Several new hotels and a large number of 

 dwelling houses have been put up in the last year, and a 

 goodly number are now being erected. The new ship 

 canal in course of construction is located just opposite 

 the United States canal. About 600 men are now em- 

 ployed in excavating, and more will be added as soon as 

 places can be found for them. Three years is the time 

 given for the contractors to finish the canal; then the 

 Canadians will "shinny" on their own side and Uncle 

 Sam will lose a lot of toll. 



We found the fishing in the rapids fairly good. We 

 could get all the 6 to Sin. trout we wanted, and occasion- 

 ally hook one 10 to 14in, long. Of course, the water in 

 the rapids is as clear as crystal all the time, there are very 

 few mosquitoes, and it is a pretty place to fish. Any one 

 used to trout fishing, either with fly or bait, can have 

 good sport here any day in the season. The St. Mary's 

 River affords fine bass fishing at a number of points. One 

 place, the Nebisk Rapids, is especially noted for its fine 

 bass fishing. August and September are the months to 

 come far bass. Any one desiring information regarding 

 this locality would do well to write to Mr. Peter M. Moore, 

 Deputy Fish and Game Warden, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., 

 who is well informed as to the trout and bass fishing, and 

 is a very obliging gentleman. 



The taking of whitefish is carried on by the Indians 

 altogether. Two of them in a canoe stait in below the 

 rapids and work up as far as they can, then the one in the 

 stern holds the canoe with a set pole, while the forward 

 one with his little scoop net scoops until he gets five or 

 six whitefish; then they return to the shore, sell the fish 

 for ten cents, get two drinks and go back to fishing again. 

 This is a nice arrangement for the tourist, for one never 

 fails to find Indians fishing in the rapids. 



On Sunday we visited the American Soo and took din- 

 ner with friend Kennedy of the Hotel Superior. Tues- 

 day morning we boarded the boat and started for the 

 Unknown River, about 140 miles distant, where we 

 arrived the next day at noon. We found the river very 

 high and roily, and the prospect for fly-fishing not very 

 good, but we concluded to make camp and wait until the 

 river went down. Our dinner of bacon, potatoes, bread, 

 butter and coffee was prepared and dispatched in short 

 order, as our fifteen -mile ride over a corduroy road and 

 the piny ozone had made us as hungry as bears. It took 

 us all the afternoon to arrange our camp, a broken ridge- 

 pole delayed us some, as we had to stop and make a new 

 one, but by 7 o'clock everything was in good shape, so 

 that we had nothing to do now except to cook out meals, 

 throw flies and fight mosquitoes. We were all about 

 tired out, and the prospect of catching any trout was not 

 favorable, but we voted that all should try and perhaps 

 some one of us would get one for breakfast. We tried 

 flies, but could not get a rise, then we tied on spoons and 

 got three trout in twenty minutes, the three weighing 

 o|lbs. We stopped fishing then, for we thought we 

 could get plenty in the morning; but alas! for our hopes, 

 that night a terrible storm came up, and it rained in tor- 

 rents for several hours. By morning the river had its 

 Sunday clothes on and was on a regular tear: and it 

 seemed out of the question to do much fishing for several 

 days. 



For the following ten days it rained almost every day, 

 keeping the river on a continual boom. We fished a 

 little every day with spoon and minnows and managed 

 to get enough trout to eat. Of course we had a good 

 deal of time on our hands these rainy days, but we got 

 along pretty well and managed to get four meals a day 

 between the showers. Our chief amusement was whist, 

 but we enjoyed every bit of our camp life. A mink 

 came to our camp every night for scraps, but he got in 

 the habit of eating the soap and almost anything else 

 that happened to be left out, so we declared war against 

 him. Charlie made a dead-fall big enough for a bear, 

 but Mr. Mink was not to be caught that way, there was 

 a darker fate awaiting him. We had two dozen pickles 

 sent us one evening, and as it was not our time of day 

 for eating pickles only two of them were disposed of at 

 supper, but the mink came that night and got the re- 

 maining twenty-two pickles, and was buried the next 

 day. Finally the weather became settled, the rain 

 ceased and the river got down to a condition for fly- 

 fishing; then the sport began in earnest. We had six 

 live-boxes stationed along the river at convenient places, 

 and all the trout we could save alive were put into these 

 boxes to be kept until we should start home. 



One side of the river is heavily timbered, but the side 

 on which our camp was located is cleared land extend- 

 ing half a mile back from the river. In the edge of the 

 clearing, a half mile from camp, is a farmhouse owned 

 by some lumber company, and is the only house on the 

 river. Mr, R. and his good wife run the farm and board 

 the men during the logging season. We are under obli- 

 gations to Mrs. R. for her kindness to us iu furnishing 

 butter, milk, eggs and many other nice things to eat. 

 The river is 75 to 150ft. wide. The bed in rocky with a 

 clay streak here and there that is as slippery as soap. 

 There are no logs, brush nor overhanging trees to bother 

 the fly-fisherman, and the stream is full of trout, big 

 ones too, as it was rare to hook one weighing less than a 

 pound. We fished in sight of camp nearly all the time, 

 scarcely ever going further away than half a mile. The 

 best flies we found to be black-gnat, brown-hackle, gray- 

 peacock hackle, silver-doctor, professor, royal-coachman, 

 Ruben-Wood, Govenor-Alvord, queen-of-the-waters and 

 the chippie. By far the most killing fly we used was 

 the one called "the chippie." It is a combination of red, 

 yellow, white and black and was gotten up and named 

 by one of the dealers in Columbus. The New York house 



who manufactured them made a poor job of the lot we 

 had. We have about a dozen flies on our fist that we 

 have sworn by for years, but we all had to acknowledge 

 the superior taking qualities of the chippie, and will here- 

 after have it on our list. 



We had a week or ten days of lovely weather, and the 

 days went by quickly enough as the time for breaking 

 camp drew near. Finally came the last evening we 

 were to spend in camp, and with it many regrets that we 

 must leave on the morrow. To celebrate the occasion we 

 finished up the day with a grand supper of everything 

 we had in the locker, A 81b. trout was rolled up in clay 

 and baked, and trout were cooked in several other ways, 

 and there, were baked pork and beans, boiled onions, 

 boiled potatoes, eggs one side, bacon, salt pork, bread 

 and butter, jelly eake, cookies, coffee and cream as thick 

 as your finger. The crowning dish was the baked trout, 

 which all pronounced good enough for a king. 



Before turning in for the niglit we had a summing up 

 of the trip, from the bear tracks we saw in the road to 

 the big trout we had played and lost on such and such a 

 day. George and Henry had kept the party in good 

 humor with their jokes and were voted the champions 

 in that respect. If any little annoyance had occurred to 

 anyone on the trip, it had been forgotten, and we remem- 

 bered only the pleasant things, and all voted our trip a 

 grand success. With thoughts of home and friends that 

 we should soon see we rolled up in our blankets and were 

 soon fast asleep. We were up bright and early in the 

 morning making preparations for our departure. The 

 live-boxes were hauled up and the significant number of 

 13 trout were dealt out to each one, making 52 altogether. 

 We had about 20 that would weigh form Ulbs. to 2Ubs. 

 each, several weighing about 31bs. each and 1 of 4|lbs. 

 These were carefully packed in two boxes with pounded 

 ice. The team came along about 9 o'clock, our traps were 

 put into the wagon, and jumping in ourselves we soon 

 left behing the beautiful Unknown and the camping place 

 where we had spent so many pleasant hours. Two days 

 later we arrived home safe and sound, with the trout all 

 in good shape. The trout were on exhibition all one day, 

 and several hundred people came to see them. Some 

 would not believe they were brook trout because they 

 were so large. Those who knew all about trout said they 

 were the finest lot they had ever seen. Jaok. 



Columbus, Ohio, Jul y 10. 



A WEEK IN THE LAURENTIANS. 



THE glory of the Laurentian region of Quebec is its 

 lakes and rivers. Apart from these, the whole 

 region, except for a comparatively few small clearings, 

 is 6o densely covered with a growth of timber, mainly 

 coniferous, that the contracted view affords nothing to 

 relieve the unbroken somber uniformity of the evergreen 

 forest. In a state of nature, the old trees, spreading their 

 gnarled arms on all sides, create with their foliage a lace- 

 work shade through which the softened sunlight pene- 

 trates in tremulous flickerings too subdued to support 

 undergrowth on the forest "floor, and the eye wanders 

 away through dim vistas, outlined by stately columns; 

 but one must wander far away into the Quebec wilder- 

 ness nowadays to reach the primeval forest. The 

 ubiquitous lumberman has been everywhere and removed 

 all the large timber, and a young generation springing 

 up in its place crowds the ground in the struggle for ex 

 istence, and the trees as yet branched to the ground 

 render the forest gloomy and almost impenetrable. 



But the first glance of water ordinarily suffices to dispel 

 the impression of monotony. Here by some sequestered 

 lake the forest-clad bills are seen reflected in its calm 

 depths, and the eye wanders over a wide succession of 

 hiiJ and dale to where some mountain chain bounds the 

 distant horizon; and occasionally the lake shore, rising 

 ten, twenty, or it may be fifty feet from the water, reveals 

 the massive gneiseic rocks, the foundations for these 

 sombre;solitudes. But one must go to the river's bank for 

 the realization of the wild grandeur which the lake 

 shores only suggest. The lake scenery may be fairly 

 characterized as soft, the rugged floor and walls of the 

 cavernous rifts of the rocks are concealed beneath the 

 calm surface of the lake which mirrors the blue sky in 

 its tranquil depths, fringed by the reflected forest in* the 

 deep shadow of its shores. When the banks of the rivers 

 are reached, the gloomy monotony of the eternal spruce 

 forest, and the soft beauty of the lake shore, alike give 

 place to scenes of wild grandeur, at least in those places 

 where the river running along the foot of some lofty 

 mountain has eaten into its base and brought the giant 

 masses of gneiss tumbling down, to obstruct its own 

 course and form alternate pools and rapids, leaving the 

 mountainside rising sheer sometimes fur several hundred 

 feet above the water's edge. If the rock were homo- 

 geneous in structure the effect would be comparatively 

 tame, but the massive ciystalline gneiss is often shat- 

 tered in situ into more or loss regular blocks, as if by 

 contraction or earthquake, and these superimposed one 

 upon the other on the broken face of the mountain, or 

 strewing the river's banks, present a scene of rugged 

 grandeur almost unparalleled. The gneiss rock of this 

 region is sometimes found as black as coal, and some- 

 times contains sufficient iron to render it a bright red. 

 Both varieties are found with perfect crystalline struc- 

 ture, constituting it perhaps the most beautiful stone on 

 the continent for ornamental architecture, while the fact 

 that it sometimes exists in comparatively regular massive 

 blocks would materially facilitate quarrying operations. 



But it is not my intention to boom* the Canadian gneiss 

 with the object of getting up a syndicate to work the 

 Laurentian quarries. The rock will have its market 

 value in the course of a century or two, and it is no use 

 trying to force matters. Besides, I did not start out to 

 describe the natural resources of the Dominion. I went 

 forth to breathe the fresh air of the pine woods, and to 

 cast a fly upon the still bosom of Canadian lakes and upon 

 the rapids and whirling eddies of its rivers, and I came 

 home so full of the exhilarating oxygen of the wilder- 

 ness, and of inward gratification at having found fishing- 

 waters that were all my fancy painted them, that I re- 

 solved to publish the news to the world of anglers, and 

 advise the weary toilers of the city who have never yet 

 tried conclusions with the sportive ouinanish to follow 

 my trail to Lake St. John in the wilderness, and its Dis- 

 charge through gorge and chasm, which constitutes the 

 head waters of the Saguenay. 



Day after day, week after week, the task has been 

 postponed in subordination to more pressing duties; but 

 the call was upon me. and the sense of responsibility in 



