Not. 7, 1889.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



807 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, 111. , Oct. 17.— On one evening of last week 

 thcie were assembled at the Grand Calumet Heights 

 Club house Mr. Alex. T. LotcI. Mr. E. C. J. Cleaver, Mr. 

 Sarn Booth. Mr. Bird, Mr. Wilde, Mr. Fleming. Mr. Bis- 

 bpII, Drs. Davis and Jones, Mr. and Mrs. Melcalf, Miss 

 Folsorn and a number of other members arid guests of the 

 club, who had all run down to take a look at things and 

 may be get a bird or so. The ducks were not very abund- 

 ant and only a few were killed, although the time was 

 passed very pleasantly as usual. Partly owing to the 

 scarcity of game and partly in pursuance of an intention 

 formed long ago, Mr. Loyd and myself determined to put 

 in two or three days exploring the Little Calumet River, 

 one of the longest and least known of the streams of this 

 strange Calumet country, which lies along the coast of 

 Lake Michigan in a thousand ramifications of big lake, 

 pond, marsh and running stream. 



Tin re was a tradition that the Little Calumet ran into 

 Lake Michigan away down at the end of the lake, some- 

 where near Michigan City. Just where this point was 

 nobody seemed 1o know, but the supposition was that, 

 after passing through a great marsh to the south, this 

 stream either ran into thp lake or, like the Grand Calu- 

 met, stopped in the sand hills a short distance from the 

 lake, except in times of very high water. The current of 

 the Grand Calumet runs sometimes one way and some- 

 times the other, it being a very independent sort of 

 stream. A like independence seemed a quality of the 

 Little Calumet, and I, for oue, had always thought that 

 this stream actually ran into the big lake, flowing out 

 from, and not into, the larger Calumet waters, which 

 empty into the main drain way of the system at South 

 Chicago. The fact that I was so much, mistaken, and 

 that others also have been so, will show that there was 

 serious need for a little exploring, since no one we found 

 could give us any satisfaction. 



Mr. Loyd had traversed nearly every foot of the Calu- 

 met region except that portion referred to, and was curi- 

 ous about this. Himself a rare enthusiast on outdoor 

 matters, and much given to lonesome trips in the distant 

 "woods and along unfrequented streams, he was the best 

 of company and counsei, and his boat, along, slim,cayak 

 model of his own make, a splendid one for speedy travel, 

 made as suitable a vehicle as any two outdoor cranks 

 could ask for. In three minutes our plans were laid, and 

 on the following morning we bade our friends a tearful 

 adieu and started out, as did Messrs. La Salle, Marquette 

 & Co. before us, to brave the perils of an unknown land. 

 Tf the above named gentlemen had as good an outfit as 

 we had, they need not have feared very much. But we 

 had this advantage, that in case of failure of the lunch 

 basket we could fall back upon the farm houses and thus 

 subsist upon the country. 



The Little Calumet runs distant from Grand Calumet 

 Heights Club house, and it became necessary to make a 

 portage of about eight miles to start with. Not having 

 any Indians to carry our boat and shell boxes, the method 

 adopted by the early French explorers, we just loaded 

 the boat on the club wagon and rode off down the beach 

 and through the sandhills. We saw few wild animals on 

 this part of our journey, except a number of gigantic 

 bullfrogs, which had been washed up by the recent storm 

 upon the lake. Some of these frogs were as long as one's 

 arm, if frogs ever grow that large. What they had been 

 doing out in the cold and clear waters of the lake is a 

 mystery, but there they were, cast up on the sand, and 

 so stiff with cold that they could barely move. The assist- 

 ant club keeper killed eleven of them. Mr. Loyd and I 

 sat motionless in the boat with the dignity that becomes 

 all great explorers. 



It was noon of a cold and windy day when we turned 

 our backs upon the wagon that constituted the last link 

 which bound us to civilization, and with stern faces rowed 

 around the first bend of the river in search of a warm 

 place to eat lunch. This we found among the wild flags, 

 and so seriously did we devote ourselves to this duty that it 

 became apparent at once that we must either find a farm- 

 house that night or eat the dog cake that Mr. Loyd had 

 brought along for his semi-Gordon dog Grouse. Failing 

 that, there was nothing left but cannibalism; and as I 

 looked upon Mr. Loyd's willowy figure I shivered with 

 apprehension and wished that he were a trifle fatter. I 

 was going to eat him, though, if we didn't strike a 

 farmhouse. 



We had not rowed an hour before we discovered that 

 the Littte C ilumet was a fantastically crooked stream. 

 It was so crooked that I could reach across the neck of 

 some of the bends and pull Grouse's tail as it hung out 

 at the stern of the boat. Same time he would have to 

 travel half a mile before he got to where I was, on the 

 front seat of the boat. Moreover, the river was bardly 

 wide enough for our two pairs of long outrigger oars, or 

 deep enough to flood us over all the bars. Lastly, and 

 worst of all, it didn't run the right way. 



"Look here, Alex," said I, '• I didn't agree to come 

 along and discover no blame river that don't know its 

 own mind any better than this one. This here creek is 

 geographically billed to run into Lake Michigan, and yet 

 'here we are pulling against the current all the time. I'd 

 like to know if this is going to last all the way, and if 

 not, how soon we're going to get over the divide." 



' Tt ain't no way to discover things to go to work kick- 

 ing before you've got out of sight of tow," said Mr. 

 Loyd. "You want the moutb of the river brought to 

 you on a silver plate, that's what's the matter with you I" 



I subsided after this rebuke, and we rowed along 

 steadily for several minutes. Wind and current were 

 both against us, but the two pairs of oars made the long- 

 river racer walk along lively. So, quarreling amiably, 

 and lamenting the absence of game in unison, we slid 

 over mile after mile of water, passing through a wide 

 marsh-valley which seemed for the most part entirely 

 dry, now running close into the big sandhills, beyond 

 which we could hear the roaring of Lake Michigan, and 

 now winding out to the distant line of low timber on the 

 other side. We calculated our gait to be about five miles 

 an hour, and therefore when we landed at a little sand- 

 hill farm late in the afternoon, we thought we must have 

 traveled between fifteen and twenty miles from the little 

 village of Lake, near which we had launched our boat. 

 We learned that our surmi.-es Avere nearly correct, but 

 our informants, three flaxen-haired Swedish women, 

 gave us no very flattering or very intelligent account of 

 that portion of the river ahead of us. The youngest and 

 tes^loofeiag of the three ; upon whom Mr, Loyd tried his 



most artful blandishments, coolly informed us in very 

 broken English that if we wanted to go very much 

 further up we had better get out and carry the boat. 

 No knowledge could be gotten of the relations of the river 

 and the lake. It was about three miles to the lake, about 

 seven miles to Chesterton, and beyond that all was a 

 blank. 



"I dinks dot river he run at Valaparaiso," said the 

 young lady. "Purdy soon you can yoonip ofer him at 

 Valparaiso, I dinks." 



Now, Valparaiso is away down in Indiana, and not 

 any where near Lake Michigan, Moreover, we knew it 

 must be twenty or thirty miles to Valparaiso in direct 

 line, and on that basis it would take us about a year to 

 discover all the river properly. We were not pleased, as 

 we had only three days to devote to exploring purposes, 

 but it seemed certain that much remained to be done, 

 and we therefore went back to the boat. 



Half an hour before dark I broke one of the oars, and 

 our progress after that was slow. The liver at times was 

 very narrow and shallow, but again it would expand into 

 wide pools whose bottom we could not find with the 

 longest oar. The stream had lost its marshy look, and 

 was more like an upland river. The total volume of 

 water seemed nearly equal to that noticed twenty miles 

 below. 



When night shut down upon our exploring party, we 

 were out in the middle of the marsh with not a friendly 

 light in view in any direction. We hauled up our boat, 

 and taking with us only our arms and astronomical in- 

 struments, labored across the rough marsh to a grove 

 where we thought we had seen a house. We found the 

 house, but no one w^as at home, and we gladly accepted 

 the pilotage of a Swedish boy whom we met and who at 

 last led us to a pretty house "lying high on a hill. Here 

 we found an old Swedish farmer and his wife, simple, 

 good hearted and kindly people as ever lived. These 

 took us in, got us a good supper and a good bed. Their 

 quiet life does not bring them much in contact with the 

 outer world, but their quaint ways and simple hospitalitv 

 made a delicious experience for us, and we have promised 

 ourselves that next summer we will see Mr. and Mrs. 

 Samuelson again, if Providence spares their gray hairs so 

 long and we are still exploring things. 



Mr. Samuelson told us that half a mile above where 

 we left our boat the Little Calumet was joined by Salt 

 Creek, which stream ran at the foot of the hill whereon 

 the house stood. It was Salt Creek that ran into Valpa- 

 raiso. Salt Creek was a good fishing stream, with plenty 

 of bass and pickerel. The Little Calumet was not larger 

 than Salt Creek. It ran through many obstructions'of 

 fallen logs and the like to Chesterton. Once it was 

 dammed at Chesterton, and there were wells there. 

 Now the dams are probably destroyed. It was about 

 seven miles direct to Chesterton, and about seven miles 

 above Chesterton there was a sort of marsh in which the 

 Little Calumet took its rise. It did not touch Lake 

 Michigan or go anywhere near it. We could not get up 

 the stream more than a mile or so further with a boat, 

 and above Chesterton we could do nothing at all by way 

 of navigation. We might rest assured that the only way 

 we could get our boat over to Lake Michigan was by way 

 of a wagon portage. 



That svas the way we explored the Little Calumet, and 

 the way in which we exploded the erroneous ideas about 

 the mouth of that celebrated stream. It is now estab- 

 lished that the Little Calumet begins in a marsh, like 

 any ordinary stream, and runs down hill, after the fash- 

 ion of most rivers. It is impossible to sail down this 

 stream, or up it, into Lake Michigan. In its upper reaches 

 it is like an upland creek, lying well below steep banks. 

 In high water it overflows its banks, but at the time of 

 our visit the "marsh" through which it runs was perfectly 

 dry and there was nothing watever to attract wildfowl 

 to it. 



We named the pool on whose bank we had landed Lake 

 Alex. Nyanza; then, not wishing the public to be at the 

 expense of fitting out an expedition to discover us, we 

 set out early on the next morning upon our return jour- 

 ney. The wind was favorable, and we spread our sail, 

 and such were the sailing qualities of Mr. Lyod and his 

 boat, that we actually sailed 12 or 15 miles of that pro- 

 digiously crooked stream without putting out an oar. 

 Our long, low, piratical craft, favored now by wind and 

 tide, flew swiftly on, and Grouse, who followed on the 

 bank, was kept on a steady trot. We went so fast, and 

 so engaged did we become in an argument over trie 

 Foeest and Stream gun tests, that we sailed by the vil- 

 lage of Lake in an unguarded moment, and the first thing 

 we knew it was nearly night, and we were in a marshy 

 section of the river which we had never seen before. We 

 now began to see a considerable amount of game. Mud 

 hens were present in thousands, and there were also 

 many ducks and snipe. The marsh was now wide and 

 wet, and as far as we could see seemed fit for game and 

 full of it. We passed the Michigan Central bridge, and 

 came to the Pittsburg and Ft. Wayne bridge. 



"We must be near the Tolleston Club grounds," said 

 Mr. Loyd. And sure enough, just below the latter bridge 

 we saw the posted notices of that club, warning us, under 

 penalty of the curse of Rome, to step no foot on that 

 sacrrd ground. We backed out from under the bridge, 

 hid our boat, and after a devious night-time journey of a 

 mile or so found ourselves at another strange but hospit- 

 able home, in the shape of the hunting hostlerv kept by 

 Mr. Hoffman. This place, before the organization of the 

 present Tolleston Club and the closing of the marsh, was 

 the rendezvous of such choice spirits as Harry Orvis, 

 "old man*' Orvis, Roll Organ, the Phillipses, Fosses and 

 others, some of whom afterward went into the Water 

 Valley Club or others of the Kankakee organizations. 

 We passed a cheerful time talking over these people and 

 things with our ne w" host. 



On the next morning Mr. Loyd and I did about the only 

 hunting we indulged in on the trip. Shooting on the 

 ground between the two bridges above named, which is, 

 so far as we could learn, quite open territory, we bagged 

 sixteen snipe and a ma'lard. Previous to this we had 

 killed on'y two mallards and a few snipe along the river. 

 The dog Grouse caught one mallard in the grass, and for 

 the life of us we could find no wound of any kind upon 

 it. There was a flock of tame ducks near by, and we 

 thought the mallard had been using along with them and 

 had so grown tame enough not to fly unless they did. 



After dinner we pulled our boat around to the diteh 

 whioh runs down to the river from Mr, Ho&aan'a laud, 



In order to do this we had to cross a mile or two of Tol- 

 le.-ton marsh. We did not shoot any upon this marsh, 

 but we wanted to almighty bad, for we saw numbers oi 

 snipe and some ducks in range. We met Mr. Gillespie, 

 one of the club members I met on my Tollebton visit last 

 fall. He was out with Ernest, the pusher who went with 

 me. We three recognized each other presently, though 

 not until Mr. Gillespie had told us we would probably 

 drop into the yawning maw of a policeman if we went 

 much further. We assured him we were not abusing 

 the rights of the club, but only trying to get our boat out 

 of the marsh, and so we parted pleasantly. 



Mr. Hoffman now got his wagon down to the end of 

 the ditch, and we loaded our boat upon it. A drive of 

 about three miles brought us to the railway station of 

 Tolleston, and from there we got a guide and made a 

 short cut through Ihe sandhills of a couple of miles, and 

 then, just as dusk was falling on our third day out, we 

 launched our boat on the Grand Calumet River, and 

 started on a three-mile pull to the landing near the club 

 railway station, about half a mile from the dub house 

 whence we had started. This we duly reached in good 

 order, and were banqueted as all great explorers should 

 be. 



We doubtless traveled in our water journey between 

 GO and 70 miles. We accomplished the main object of 

 our trip, of course, which was to discover the real ante- 

 cedents of the Little Calumet. Another discovery we 

 made by accident, and this is of more importance than 

 the other. We discovered that ducks know a good thing 

 when they see it. We saw abundance of game on the 

 Tolleston marsh. The Tolleston Club last year spent 

 $1,100 putting down feed. Grand Calumet Heights Club 

 spent nothing; yet during the three miles pull over the 

 best part of this stream, once preferred by the market 

 hunters to the Little Calumet, and in the night, late 

 enough for the birds to be in on the marsh, we saw just 

 one lonesome, solitary duck, and it was asking the way 

 to Tolleston marsh. The moral of this is plain: Grand 

 Calumet must feed if it would shoot. The boys know 

 this, and will this month put in a lot of feed, mostly mill 

 refuse and buckwheat. 



I should say in passing that Grand Calumet Heights 

 Club now numbers ninety-two, mostly live voung fellows. 

 Several improvements have been made; an addition has 

 been built to the club house proper, giving much more 

 room, and one also is made to the dining-room and kitchen 

 at the keeper's house. A cosy cottage has been erected by 

 three of the members, and a good boat house is put up on 

 the beach in front of the club house, near the trap-shoot- 

 ing stand, at which Mr. Loyd conducts his private experi- 

 ments in gunnery. I have been in the main truthful in 

 describing the incidents of our trip, and I would not wish 

 discredence cast thereon through the statement made by 

 Mr, Loyd himself in regard to these same expeiiments. 

 He says.that in the labor of targeting his gun he is much 

 assisted by his faithful dog Grouse, who displays an in- 

 telligence almost human. Grouse retrieves each pattern 

 sheet as soon as it is shot, and then carries out another 

 sheet and sticks the tacks in with his teeth. He even 

 counts up the number of shots in the thirty-inch circle, 

 and otherwise makes himself useful. This story of Mr. 

 Loyd's gives me trouble. I suggested to him that he 

 write it up for the column in Forest and Stream known 

 as "That Reminds Me," but he said it didn't remind him 

 of anything in particular. This story shows on its face 

 the elements of improbability, and if he is going to per- 

 sist in work of that kind, I would like to know how he 

 can expect to maintain an unsullied reputation as an ex- 

 plorer. E. Hough. 



ON THE MEGANTIC CLUB TERRITORY. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Inclosed find si pfrorn one of our local papers in regard 

 to a trip I made: "J. J. C. Browne and son Louie re- 

 turned from a two weeks' fishing and hunting trip to 

 Spider Lake, P. Q. Mr. Browne is a member of the 

 Megantic Fish and Game Club, an organization composed 

 of some 200 members, who own a large presene in that 

 section, which is carefully guarded bv competent fron- 

 tiersmen in the interest of the club." Mr. Browne and 

 son took quite an extensive ramble over the country in 

 that section during his stay there, being accompanied by 

 the famous guide Jack Boyle. Fish and game were 

 plenty, and the excursioni-'ts had all the fishing and 

 hunting they desired through the country bounding a 

 chain of beautiful lakes. One of the trophies secr^d 

 on the march was a 2101b. deer, which Mr. Browne 

 brought home with him, together with the hide. The 

 trip was a most enjoyable one, especially so on the part 

 of Master Louie, who brought home also a box of par- 

 tridges brought down with bis own hand." 



I wish to say one word about sportsman's club pre- 

 serves. Before the Megantic Club was formed, the game 

 was just slaughtered all over the grounds now owned and 

 protected by the club. Deer were killed by the hundreds 

 in the crust in winter, the hindquarters and skins taken 

 out and the rest left to rot. In the spring does heavy 

 with fawn were killed, and in the fall dogs ran them into 

 the lakes and ponds; and this kind of work was kept up . 

 until there was hardly a deer to be found; and the likes 

 and ponds were netted until there was nothing more to 

 net. 



Since obtaining control, the club has been to a good 

 deal of expeme in fitting up a club house and camps at 

 the best points, restocking with fish and keeping compe- 

 tent men to protect our interests: and the consequence is 

 that the game has increased very rapidly and the fishing 

 is good: and any good sportsman can make a good bag 

 of birds with a chance to add a deer or caribou and per- 

 haps a moose to his list of game, and every year it is 

 growing better. 



And now, having made somewhat extensive inquiries 

 in regard to the hue and cry against sportsman clubs, I 

 find it comes almost exclusively from those who would 

 kill game both in and out of season and leave it to rot in 

 the woods. I have seen so much of this in our sporting 

 paper's, and some of it shows so little common sense, that 

 I thought I would like to ventilate a little through my old 

 standby, the Forest and Stream. I have been some- 

 thing of a sportsman all my life, not a big one on paper, 

 but one who has had a great deal of pleasure from it and 

 has put considerable money into it; and now I like to go 

 where I can get something to show for the time spent. 



J. J. G, R 



LACOSSA^ N, B,, 1S9Y, t, 



