12 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[July 24, 1890. 



a very good fish, much like a shad, and very bony. 

 There were not many lake trout on the east shore of 

 Winnipeg, but in the deeper water on the west shore we 

 got a great many. There was a, plenty of wall-eyed pike 

 of a darkish variety, that rarely ran over 3 or 41bs. 

 We called these "blue pike.. Of the great hump- 

 backed whitefish, weighing 12 to 14lbs., we had any 

 quantity. We fed fish to the dogs in winter, and in the 

 summer they would eat dead and rotten fish that they 

 found along the shores. Of fishing for sport, as we now 

 look at it, we knew little or nothing. Our tackle was 

 of the roughest, and we used nets for the most part. 



The dog sledge generally used was the same as a tobog- 

 gan. It was made of two pieces of white birch, with 

 cross bars every foot or so. These bars were lashed on 

 with sinews or wet deer hide, which, on drying, was very 

 tight. A stout rawhide rope ran along each side of the 

 sledge. There was always a "blanket," made of two 

 deer skins, that was spread over the top of the load. 

 The whole load was then lashed from side to side, to the 

 rawhide side ropes. The tea kettle and frying-pan were 

 hung in front, under the arch or curve of the sledge, as 

 if it were a curved dashboard. The harness consisted of 

 one long trace, with a collar, saddle and belly-band to 

 each dog. There were always two men to each sledge. 

 One went ahead on snowshoes, to beat the track, and the 

 other followed behind, holding on to the "tail line" that 

 each sledge had. This enabled him to guide or keep the 

 sledge from upsetting in time of necessity. The load 

 allowed was lOOlbs. to each dog, besides the blankets, 

 provisions, etc., of the men. One gun, with ammunition, 

 was also carried to each' sledge. To protect their feet 

 when traveling on the crust in spring the dogs were 

 always shod with leather bags tied above the foot. 



No tent was carried, even in the coldest weather, and 

 it was often 40 below with snow 5ft. deep. A hole was 

 dug down in the snow with a snowshoe, which makes an 

 excellent snow shovel. Some poles were then slanted 

 over the hole, thrust into the snow on the sides; against 

 the poles boughs were piled, and the loose snow was 

 heaped over these. A warm hut was thus made, at the 

 bottom of which the fire was made. We usually put the 

 dogs back of us, in the hut, and that kept us warmer. 

 We always carried an extra dog along, to replace any 

 that might be crippled in one of the numerous fights 

 they were always having. 



The log houses of that country had floors made of pun- 

 cheons, and the hinges on the doors were made of raw- 

 hide. The logs were usually of spruce, and the chinking 

 was of moss and mud. The chimney was built inside of 

 a frame of four poles. A hay rope, covered thick with 

 mud, was wound round and round and the chimney built 

 up in this way. It dried very hard and made a good 

 chimney. We had no brick and very little iron. 



The Indians of that country lived through the winter 

 in bai*k tepees, with little clothing beyond a blanket, 

 breech-clout and leggins. I have seen Indian children 

 playing in the snow barefooted and barelegged, and they 

 seemed happy, and with the thermometer 40° below. 

 The squaws carried their babies in a sort of bark packing 

 basket, with a hoop across the face to save the baby's 

 nose in case of trouble. They packed the baby in with 

 three or four inches of moss around its blanket, and once 

 in, it was liable to stay in for three or four days. 



The Indian women were usually short and uncomely, 

 but among the half-breeds there were some fine-looking 

 women. Morality was undreamed of, and marriage 

 practically not known. Men would trade or sell wives 

 for some such consideration as a steel trap, and that was 

 all the divorce there was to it. The women seemed just 

 as well pleased, and, indeed, all that sort of thing was 

 viewed in a very happy-go-lucky fight, so that it was 

 easy to get a squaw for a paddler or wood-chopper on any 

 long journey, pretty much regardless of her age or pre- 

 vious condition of servitude. These squaws used to make 

 a peculiar sort of blanket, very warm. They cut rabbit 

 skins into long strips, and then wove them in together, 

 just as one would bottom a cane seat chair. This made 

 a fur fabric two or three inches thick, but it was not very 

 pleasant on account of the shedding of the hair. 



The woodsmen of those old days were of two types — 

 the eoureurs du bois and the voyageurs. The former 

 were landsmen and hunters and trapper; the latter were 

 the boatmen, whose romantic life on the tremendous 

 water journeys of that time is worthy of more celebra- 

 tion than it will ever get in prose or song. These voy- 

 ageurs made the long trips in the great " North canoes," 

 from La Chine on the St. Lawrence, clear through the 

 Great Lakes and so up the waterway to Winnipeg. But 

 that was hardly the beginning of the trail they might 

 still follow. Our voyageurs always told us that the chain 

 of lakes north of us, including Great and Lesser Bear 

 Lakes, Great and Lesser Slave, and their connecting links 

 of lakes and streams, required a journey longer by a 

 number of days than the journey through the chain of 

 the five Great Lakes. They said also that the McKenzie 

 is a much larger stream than the St. Lawrence, and near 

 its mouth is split up into a dozen large rivers. Of all 

 that tremendous country in there, remote and inaccessible, 

 it is probable that nine-tenths will always remain un- 

 known. There is valuable mineral in that region, but 

 the expense of getting it out is too great. 



We never used to get any deer where we were, as it 

 was too far north for anything but the reindeer. We 

 found no moose east of Lake Winnipeg, but there was a 

 plenty of them on the west side, especially about Mani- 

 toba Lake. 



One of the worst pests we had to contend with in our 

 trapping was the wolverine, or glutton. One of these 

 animals would tear a camp to pieces, and would tear up 

 and destroy what it could not eat. It would chew a bun- 

 dle of fine furs all to pieces. We usually swung the furs 

 from the tops of saplings, so that these animals could not 

 get at them. It was very rare to trap a glutton. 



Life at the Hudson's Bay Post had itB excitements, but 

 also its monotony. The latter grew too much for an 

 American and after two years of it I concluded to desert. 

 In company with an Indian I left Behren's River and ran 

 down to the "Dog's Head," where a half-breed by name 

 of Whitehead had started a free trade post for Norman 

 Kittson, where I trapped and traded for a month. Thence 

 I drove my dog sled to the Stone Fort, on the Eed River, 

 and walked 20 miles to Fort Garry, without finding it 

 necessary to inform the Hudson's Bay Co. of these facts, 

 until I arrived. At Fort Garry I watched my chance 

 and skipped over the line. I had lived in the woods 

 most of mj life, J. was on a railway survey in Canada 



before I enlisted with the Hudson's Bay Co., and in the 

 latter relation I passed two years before returning. I 

 then went for three months on a survey to Lake Itasca, 

 via Crow Wing agency. Then in 1866 I lived nearly a 

 year in the Adirondacks, as a trapper and a guide, at 

 Meacham's Lake and Paul Smith's. In 1866 we got $6 for 

 mink, $14 for otter and 45 cents for muskrats. We will 

 never see such prices again. In 1867 I came to Chicago 

 and, barring occasional duck trips to the Kankakee, have 

 tried to lead a civilized life. Of the non-civilized portion 

 of my existence, I now value most of all my experience 

 with the fur trade and traders, and the acquaintance it 

 gave me with some of the wild creatures of the woods. 

 Thoughts of those days are reminiscences of a time fast 

 going or gone forever, and of a life which in wild and 

 picturesque features has hardly had an equal upon this or 

 any other continent. George T. Farmer. 



AN ILLINOIS GAME DECISION. 



FOLLOWING is the full text of the decision referred 

 to in our last issue, as given in the Chicago Legal 

 News. The case was that of the American Express vs. 

 The People, carried up on appeal from the County Court 

 of Effingham county, for decision by the Supreme Court: 



Sufrem b Court of Illinois— Craig, J.— This was an 

 action to recover the penalties prescribed for the unlawful 

 transportation of quail, in Section 2 of an act to amend Sec- 

 tions 1, 2 and 6 of "an act to revise and consolidate" the sev- 

 eral acts relating to the protection of game, and for "the 

 protection of deer, wildfowl and birds." Laws of 1889, n 

 162. ' y 



The facts agreed upon by the parties on the trial of the 

 cause were in substance as follows: That the defendant, the 

 American Express Company, is a corporation and carrier of 

 goeds for hire. That between Oct. 1 and Oct. 23, 1889, it re- 

 ceived for transportation from Redding, Gibbs and others 

 at Mason, in Effingham county, divers quail which had 

 been killed by shooting after Oct. 1, 1889, in this State; and 

 on Oct. 23. 1889, the express company did transport such 

 quail to Chicago and deliver them to Hernse & Lynch Bros., 

 commission merchants. The express company, at the time 

 of such receipt for transportation, by its agent, Sisson, at 

 Mason, had knowledge that the quail had been sold, and 

 were to be sold and offered for sale by said commission mer- 

 chants. 



Section 1 of the act "provides that it shall be unlawful for 

 any person to hunt, kilJ, trap, net or ensnare or otherwise 

 destroy * * * any ruffed grouse, quail, pheasant or part- 

 ridge between the first day of December and the first day of 

 October of each succeeding year or any year." 



wneu uue irapimig, netting or ensnaring or such animals 

 wildfowl or birds shall be unlawful, which shall have been 

 entrapped, netted or ensnared contrary to the provision of 

 this act; and it shall further be unlawful for any person or 

 persons at any time to sell or expose for sale, or to have in 

 his or their possession for the purpose of selling, any quail, 

 pinnated grouse or prairie chicken, ruffed grouse or pheas- 

 ant, gray, red, fox or black squirrel or wild turkey that shall 

 have been caught, snared, trapped or killed within the limits 

 of this State; and it shall further be unlawful for any per- 

 son, corporation or carrier to receive for transportation, to 

 transport, carry or convey any of the aforesaid quail, pin- 

 nated grouse or prairie chicken, ruffed grouse or pheasant, 

 squirrel or wild turkey, that shall have been caught, snared 

 trapped or killed within the limits of this State, knowing 

 the same to have been sold, or to transport, carry or convey 

 the same to any place where it is to be sold or offered for 

 sale, or to any place outside of this State for any purpose." 



It is plain, under the facts as agreed upon, the express 

 company received the quail for transportation and trans- 

 ported the same, knowing the quail was sold or transported 

 for the purpose of sale in violation of the terms of the 

 statute, and if the statute is valid the company was liable 

 for the amount of the penalty prescribed by its terms and 

 provisions. But it is insisted by the express company that 

 the statute is invalid, and upon this ground the judgment 

 rendered in the County Court was erroneous. It will be ob- 

 served that the first section of the act makes it unlawful to 

 hunt or kill quail between the first day of December and the 

 first day of October of each year, but the section is silent as 

 to October and November. It would follow, therefore, that 

 a person might hunt or kill quail during the months of 

 October and November, not, however, for sale, but under the 

 restrictions found in Section 2 of the act. The first clause 

 of Section 2 makes it unlawful for any person to buy, sell or 

 have in possession any of the birds named in Section 1 of the 

 act, at any time when the trapping, etc., of such animals 

 shall be unlawful. The second clause makes it unlawful 

 for any person to sell or expose for sale, or have in possession 

 for the purpose of sale, any quail that shall have been killed 

 within the limits of the State. Under this clause, while a 

 person might lawfully kill quail during the months of Octo- 

 ber and November for his own use, he would have no right 

 whatever to do so for the purpose of placing such quail on 

 the market as an article of commeice. Then follows the 

 clause making it unlawful for any person, corporation or 

 carrier to transport quail, where the same have been killed 

 in this State for sale, regardless of the time such quail may 

 have been killed. 



A bare reference to the terms of sections one and two of 

 the act is sufficient to show that the purpose the Legislature 

 had in view in passing the act was to protect the game in 

 the State. The hunting and killing of game was regulated 

 for its preservation by the common law, and the control was 

 predicated under the police power of the Government: Black- 

 stone, book 4, page 174. Statutes in almost every State in 

 the Union may be found, enacted for the preservation of 

 game. The text writers, in treating of the power to legis- 

 late on this subject, place it under the police power inherent 

 in each State. Tiedman, in his Limitations of Police 

 Power, Sec. 122, Chap. 10, page 440, says: 



"It is a very common police regulation, to be found in 

 every State, to prohibit the hunting and killing of birds and 

 other wild animals in certain seasons of the year, the object 

 of the regulation being the preservation of these animals 

 from complete extermination, by providing them a period 

 of vest and safety, in which they may procreate and rear 

 their young. 



"The animals are those which are adapted to consumption 

 as food, and their preservation is a matter of public inter- 

 est. The constitutionality of such legislation cannot be 

 questioned." 



In Phelps v. Racy, 60 N. Y. 10, the power of the State to 

 legislate for the preservation of game was called in question, 

 and in deciding the case the Court said; 



"The protection and preservation of game has been 

 secured by law in all civilized countries, and may be justi- 

 fied on many grounds, one of which is for the purpose of 

 fnnri » The means best adapted to this end are for the Leg- 



food." 



Mature to determine, and courts cannot review its discre- 

 tion. If the regulations operate in any respect unjustly or 

 oppressively, the proper remedy must be applied by that 

 body. (See also Allen v. Wyckoff, 48 N. J. 93.) 



In Magner v. the People, 97 111. p. 333, the validity of the 

 game law Of 1879, to which tbf> act in dispute is amendatory, 



was before the Court, and it was then said, "The ownership 

 being m the people of the State— the repository of the' 

 sovereign authority— and no individual having any property 

 rights to be affected, it necessarily results that the Legisla-. 

 ture as the representatives of the people of the State, may ' 

 withhold or grant to individuals the right to hunt and kill ! 

 game, or qualify and restrict it, as in the oninion of its 

 members will best subserve the public welfare." 



It is, however, argued, that when quail has been killed 

 the dead animals become property and the taker becomes 

 the absolute owner of such property, and an act to prevent 

 a sale or transportation for sale within the State would be 

 an interference with private right, amounting to a de- 

 struction of the right of property without due process of 

 iu w i ^ The fal]ac y of the position consists in the supposition 

 that the person who may kill quail has an absolute property 

 L n ii »ead animals. In the Maynor case, supra, it was 

 held, as has been seen, that no one had a property in animals 

 and fowls denominated game. The ownership was in the 

 people of the State. This being so it naturally follows that 

 the Legislature had the right to permit persons to kill or take 

 game, upon such terms and condition as its wisdom might 

 dictate, and that the person killing the game might have 

 such property interest in it and such only as the Legislature 

 might confer. The Legislature has never conferred an ab- 

 solute property m quail upon the person who might kill the 

 same. The killing of quail during the months of October 

 and November was permitted, not for sale, not to go upon 

 the market as an article of commerce, but for the mere use 

 of the person who killed the birds. The person killing quail 

 under this statute has but a qualified property in the birds 

 after they are killed; he may consume them; if a trespasser 

 should take them from him he might maintain an appro- 

 priate action to regain the possession. But the law, which 

 authorized him to kill the quail, has withheld the right to 

 sell or the right to ship for the purpose of sale, and when 

 such person undertakes to ship for sale he is undertaking to 

 assert a right not conferred by law. The act, therefore, does 

 not destroy a right of property, because no such right exists. 



It will be observed that section two of the act does not 

 prohibit, absolutely the transportation of quail which have 

 been killed in the State, but only transportation by persons, 

 corporations and carriers, knowing the same to "have been 

 sold or knowing they were to be sold or offered for sale. 

 If the Legislature of the State thought that a statute, pre- 

 venting a citizen from killing quail for sale in the market 

 and imposing a penalty on a common carrier for shipping 

 or transporting for sale, would result in protecting the 

 game in the State, we perceive no valid reason why a statute 

 of that character might not be enacted. The nature and 

 character of the legislation was a matter resting solely 

 with the Legislature, and so long as no constitutional right 

 of the citizen has been infringed upon, the statute must be 

 sustained. 



The judgment of the County Court will be affirmed. 

 Affirmed. 



The Man in the Hollow Tree.— Another sequel to 

 your "bear and man in the hollow tree," or variation 

 rather, is that told by the Southern negroes, in which , 

 instead of a knife, the man uses "a chunk of fire" to 

 hasten the bear's ascent. It has a companion, to which 

 I listened with great glee when a child. Two negroes 

 find a litter of cubs in a hollow log. One crawls in while 

 the other guards the hole. He is so intent that he does 

 not observe mother bear's approach until she makes a 

 dive to go in. In desperation he grabs her tail and plants 

 his feet to hold. From within: "Sambo, what darken 

 dehole?" Without: "Dis tail-holt break yo' see w'at 

 darken de hole! 1 —Aztec. 



Dayton, Ohio, July 22.— The best bag of birds brought 

 in last week was by Deputy Sheriff Peter Snyder, 20 

 woodcock and 21 doves. While John Wood and Ernst 

 Seitner were woodcock hunting Thursday, Mr. Wood 

 was accidentally shot by Seitner. They were but twelve 

 feet apart in a thicket when Seitner, who is 70 years old, 

 and not an expert hunter, fired at a bird. Wood is a 

 young man, and was recently appointed deputy State 

 game warden for several counties of this vicinity. The 

 load tore the top of his hat off, a few shot struck him in 

 the forehead and one entered his left eye, destroying the 

 sight. An operation was performed and the eye taken 

 out on Saturday. — B. 



Western AVoodcock.— Chicago, 111., July 17,— Mr. 

 George E. Marshall, of this city, is just back from a clay 

 after woodcock at Shipsiwanee Creek, as he calls it, just 

 over the Indiana line from White Pigeon, Mich. 'He 

 bagged 8 fine cock in the day, and reports the birds nu- 

 merous, but the weather too warm to work in the very 

 dense cover of that locality. Southern Michigan and 

 northern Indiana thereabout abound in good woodcock 

 ground. No reports have come in of any good bags on 

 the Kankakee as yet, though doubtless many have been 

 made.— E. Hough. 



"NESSMUK." 



flAPT L S. BEARDSLEE. U. S. N.. "Piseco," writes from the 

 KJ V. b. Receiving Ship Vermont: When our mutual friend 

 'NessmuK" went to the happy hunting grounds, my first impulae 

 was to send a few lines to Forest and Stream to his memory, 

 but I wanted to send with them the accompanying letter on 

 which they were based, and I could not find it. a' few days ago 

 my copy of "Woodcraft," which I had loaned,, was returned to 

 me. and between its leaves was the missing letter. If not too late 

 please give it space as my tribute to his memory. It was written 

 in response to an urgent invitation to come and visit my "canoe," 

 the old Vermont, and this was Ms reply: 



Welxsboro, Tioga County, Pa., Sept. 30, I889.-Capt. L. A. 

 Beardslee. My Dear Captain: Your letter was a long time on the 

 road, but it came safe at last and I was glad to hear from yoa once 

 more. It found me on the invalid list and unable to camp or bunt, 

 canoe it or fish. I seldom get beyond tbe front yard, and the gun 

 is of no f urtber use to me, while I have not put the old rod together 

 in two years. Time and "physical disability" will and does beat 

 every mother's son of us, and I do not complain. Few men have 

 had as much of life in the woods as I have, and memory at least 

 cannot be taken away from me while my senses hold good. 



I would like of all things to report on board the old Vermont 

 for an old time visit, but it doesn't lav in the pins, more's the 

 pity. Ah, me! how vividly I remember the visit, all too short, 

 that we had at Moose River years ago. Tempus fuait. Let him 

 fly: let him flicker. I have been there, and done it, and if I were 

 young again I would do it some moie. 



No. I have not written much for the press in the last year or 

 so. I cannot get over the inane listlessness and laziness induced 

 by a long tedions siege of malaria, and it seems as though the old 

 time energy and vim would never return. I bave lost all ambition. 



I have seen very little from your pen lately, for which I am 

 very sorry. Your articles on the salmon of the Northwest coast 

 were most excellent and instructive, the best ever written on the 

 subject, and you always interest me, anyhow. Just now our 

 forests are in their best colors, and you know what that means. 

 It is my favorite time of year, the time of fruition and beauty, 

 also of deer hunting, with grouse shooting, etc. I cannot get 

 there any more. Ah, culpa meet. Shall be pleased to hear from 

 you again, and will always answer. And if I were in better con- 

 dition I would write a better epistle. But this will dr 



the sincere regards of "Nessmuk."— Geo. W. Sears, 



do to convey 



A Book About Indians.— The Forest and Stream will mail 

 free on application a descriptive circular of Mr. Grinnell's book, 

 Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales," giving a table of contents 

 an4 specimen Uhwtvations from, the volume, -Adv, 



