108 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Aug. 28, 1890 



the hatchet, which until now had been carried in the left 

 band, and the little animal secured; but if not, the spear 

 was withdrawn, and if no sign of escaping rats appeared 

 under the ice near the bouse, another thrust was made; 

 but commonly the first blow upon the house was immedi- 

 ately followed by the sound of one or more rats, plung- 

 ing into the water through the bottom of the bouse; and 

 often from one to a dozen of the panic-stricken vermin 

 would be seen beneath the ice, swimming rapidly away 

 from their invaded home. 



And now followed the rapid and exciting work of ppear- 

 ing through the ice. If the water was shallow and com- 

 paratively free of vegetation near the rat house, a skill- 

 ful trapper would often secure the last one of the fleeing 

 rodents before they reached cover. Driving his spear 

 down through both ice and rat with a quick stroke, a few 

 rapid left-handed, blows of the hatchet around the spear 

 broke a> hole through the thin ice, through which the 

 withdrawn spear lifted the struggling rat, and if seen to 

 be severely wounded he was shaken off the spear at a 

 distance from the hole in order that he might not escape 

 during the capture of the others; or if but slightly hurt, 

 the finishing blow with the hatchet was given, and the 

 eager trapper sprang in chase of another, and the quick, 

 exciting work developed a degree of skill quite surprising 

 to a new-comer. 



And a double fascination was added to the sport by the 

 knowledge that at this particular season of the year the 

 otters left their homes in the banks of the lakes, and for 

 reasons which will be given later invaded and for a short 

 time held possession of their choice of the larger rat 

 houses, driving out the rightful occupants, while they 

 enlarged the interior opening (or dwelling place of the 

 rats) to suit their convenience; and where they lived 

 during a period of time each fall, the length of which 

 varied with the season. The trapper, whose careful ayj- 

 proach to a rat house was in silence, and whose aim and 

 spear thrust were careful and strongly given, was some- 

 times rewarded by a tumult and struggle inside the 

 house as welcome as it was unexpected. During my 

 trapping career, while muskrat skins never sold for more 

 than 20 cents each, a good otter skin was worth $12. 



Our catch of furs consisted of the skins of beaver, otter, 

 fox, coon, badger, skunk and muskrat; and, while all 

 other animals on the list were reasonably plentiful, so 

 amazing were the numbers of the muskrats on the best 

 sloughs and lakes, that the catch of rat skins commonly 

 equaled in value that of all other fur combined. 



Each trapper was provided with a boat and a kit of 

 traps numbering from 50 to 100, and of different sizes, 

 from the No. 1 for rats to the No. 4 for beaver. Beaver 

 were commonly caught in traps set in the water along 

 the banks of streams, where they were at work felling 

 trees, the bark of which they used for food. Foxes were 

 caught in buried traps, baited with small bits of meat 

 scattered around. Muskrats were caught in traps fast- 

 ened to long slender stakes driven into the bottom of the 

 lake or pond at the edge of then- houses, where when 

 caught they would commonly drown before cutting off 

 a foot to release themselves, which they were quite apt 

 to do when caught on shore. 



The work was carried on with vigor during the fall 

 months, for during the winter nothing moved above the 

 snow but the foxes, and no one could endure the cold of 

 the blizzard swept plains. The severity of the winter 

 weather is hard to describe, and still more difficult to 

 realize without actual experience of its rigor. 



In all I have ever read concerning the blizzards of those 

 treeless plains I have never heard them properly ac- 

 counted for. There is a period of time, during each and 

 every winter iu that country, when no blizzard need be ap- 

 prehended, for the simple reason that none is possible; and 

 again there is another period during which he who ven- 

 tures forth from shelter does so at the peril of his life. A 

 blizzard is solely and simply a combination, formed by 

 furious wind and flying snow, which moves almost inva- 

 riably from northwest to southeast. A snowstorm in 

 that country, as in others, is invariably accompanied by 

 moderate temperature, while the furious northwest gales 

 are apt to come during the seasons of very lowest tem- 

 perature: and the time of peril to human life is not alone 

 during the prevalence of a blizzard, but also during the 

 period of time between a fall of snow and the next great 

 windstorm, which, coming unheralded and with a speed 

 which no flight can escape, catches the unwary or be- 

 lated travo ler, and envelops him in a cloud of flying 

 snow raised from the ground by the action of the wind, 

 as dense as the fall of ashes at Pompeii, where, in the 

 stumbling flight for life, the blind Nydia was better quali- 

 fied to act as guide than any of the whole seeing multi- 

 tude. The storm is accompanied by a degree of cold 

 which makes each hour of exposure a torturous struggle 

 for existence, and leaves one at length only when, unable 

 longer to battle against the deadly stupor of the benumb- 

 ing frost, he has sunk to his final rest — 



"With a bed and a shroud of the beautiful snow." 



The result of this furious tossing and driving of the 

 snow was seen in the formation of drifts in each ravine 

 and behind every obstruction, of snow which had lost all 

 semblance of its former beautiful form and velvety soft- 

 ness, and had been hammered by the wind into a com- 

 pact mass nearly as hard as ice, and over which a loaded 

 wagon could be driven as over a pavement. From the 

 time when these drifts were formed until the next snow- 

 storm a blizzard was impossible, for the reason that the 

 wind could not again tear the snow loose from the drifts, 

 and no matter how furiously it blew during this interval, 

 and even though the belated trapper might be frozen to 

 death, he was not bewildered by flying snow; but could, 

 while he lived, see his way. I remember when in the 

 days of my boyhood, and familiar only with the soft 

 fluffy kind of snow common in timbered regions further 

 south and east, what a puzzle it was to me when I read 

 accounts of the snow houses of the Esquimaux; but 

 after having wandered over the blizzard-formed drifts 

 of Minnesota the riddle was solved when I saw snow 

 which might have been used for fortifications with which 

 to withstand an invading army. 



Daring the short days of the fall and early winter each 

 hour of day light was utilized in the outdoor work of the 

 trapper, while the long evenings were spent in the warm 

 cabins, lighted by the blaze of the open fire, where the 

 busy work of cleaning and stretching the skins gathered 

 during the day went merrily on until long hours into the 

 night. 



The life was necessarily one of hardship and peril, yet 

 possessed, nevertheless, of a wonderful fascination. The ! 



1 element of luck entered so largely into all our ealcula- 

 ! tions, that the working of the most carefully laid plans 

 i seemed very like gambling The otter trap, cleaned, 

 smoked and carefully set for a $12 otter, was found- when 

 next visited to be securely holding a vagrant 50 cent 

 skunk which, before being killed, by bis villainous fra- 

 grance, not only destroyed the set or position for again 

 setting a trap lor the otter, but rendered the trap useless 

 for a long time, as the stench seemed impossible to 

 eradicate. On such an occasion the ejaculations of the 

 disgusted trapper were "'not loud but deep." 



On the other hand, the rat trap carelessly set on the 

 slope of a rat house and fastened to a stake standing in 

 3ft. of water, next morning was nowhere to be seen, and 

 even the rat house itself had disappeared, but the stand- 

 ing stake surrounded by floating vegetation remained, 

 and being withdrawn from the water brought up with it 

 not only the missing trap, but also the sleek body of a 

 drowned otter, which had carelessly placed his paw in 

 the jaws of the waiting trap, and in his struggle for life 

 and freedom had afterward torn the rat house to frag- 

 ments. 



Singular things, too, were observed, and among the 

 most noteworthy of these was the fact that while the 

 scent of the skunk is one of the most terribly repulsive 

 ever known to man, the trapper who proceeded bravely to 

 skin and stretch the hide of each and every one he caught, 

 found after he had skinned a dozen of the repulsive 

 creatures that his repugnance to the scent had tor the 

 most part mysteriously disappeared. I well remember, 

 when at the beginning of my career, having, like others 

 of the fraternity, formed the valorous resolution to skin 

 and save the hide of every animal that wore hair and 

 which fell to my traps; and finding shortly afterward a 

 highly perfumed skunk fast in a trap, I essayed, with 

 the help of another beginner, to remove the skin. The 

 five-minute job consumed an almost interminable hour 

 of suffering for us both, and nothing but the most fixed 

 resolution, coupled with the mutual exhortation to "stay 

 with him," held us to our lightly undertaken pledge. 

 Before my trapping days were ended I had grown so in- 

 different to the olfactory terror that I have killed a 

 trapped skunk with the ramrod of my shotgun, and, 

 providing that the perfume was not brought into actual 

 contact with my clothing or person, I would much rather 

 skin a skunk than an old male badger. All trappers of 

 my acquaintance agreed such results invariably followed 

 the continued handling of the fur of this animal. I may 

 add, however, that since my removal from such acquaint- 

 ance with this odorous creature all of my oldtime repug- 

 nance to his perfume has returned. 



Among the noteworty things which came under the 

 trapper's observation, one of those most worthy of care- 

 ful study, was the otter's change of residence with the 

 change of season, which has already been alluded to. 

 During the summer the otter sought the deep waters of 

 the loneliest lakes, in the steep banks of which he made 

 his den, which was entered by an under-water passage 

 from the waters of the lake; and here was his home until 

 the frost began to coat the bosom of the lake with the 

 icy mail of winter. 



The impulse which prompted him to change his resi- 

 dence, at this particular season seemed an inherited one, 

 peculiar to the otters of this region alone, which had 

 evidently proved by bitter experience that to remain in 

 the open lakes during the severity of winter was to court 

 destruction. 



The knowledge of this peculiarity of the otter was ob- 

 tained by the writer during a fall, winter and spring 

 campaign, when the site occupied by our party of three 

 was a group of three lakes with their outlying sloughs, 

 some three miles northeast of the great bend of the Des 

 Moines River. 



When the ground was occupied we agreed to divide it 

 as equitably as possible, and each trapper was bound to 

 occupy only his own ground and to own only the fur he 

 caught; and, in consequence, Ms reward was proportion- 

 ate to his skill and industry. 



The oldest man in the party, who was also possessed of 

 much more skill and experience than either of the others, 

 was Jim Moorehead, the inimitable: one of the jolliest 

 and most humorous of artists in the trapping guild who 

 ever distanced his competitors in the friendly evening 

 contest of fur-dressing, and then, to salve their lacerated 

 feelings and restore good humor to the cabin, drew forth 

 the old violin and lightened their final toil with the 

 cheery notes of the "Seventeenth of Ireland," the 11 Ar- 

 kansaw Traveler" or "Old Zip Coon." May he live a 

 thousand years! 



In the apportionment of the ground, Jim readily 

 agreed to take the large open lake to the westward, as 

 his experienced eye detected abundant sign of otters along 

 its banks, which was almost entirely lacking along the 

 other lakes. We were late arriving on the ground, and 

 during what remained of the fall weather the work of 

 rat- trapping went busily on, and considerably more than 

 a thousand rats were taken withing a period of three 

 weeks. Meanwhile Jim wisely forbore setting a trap for 

 the otter, preferring to wait until the fur was perfectly 

 ma ured by the approaching cold, or, in the vernacular 

 of the trapper, was "prime." 



Finally, just as he had concluded to set his traps, the 

 first cold spell of winter, coming suddenly and quite 

 severely, coated the open lake and nearly all of the sur- 

 face of the rush lakes with ice strong enough to sustain a 

 man's weight: and as we promptly set forth to flesh our 

 maiden rat spears, which until now had stood unnoticed 

 in the corner of the cabin, Jim was amazed to find that 

 the whole family of otters had left his lake and taken up 

 their abode in my own. 



Proceeding carefully to my work I now had the rare 

 good luck to spear and secure a magnificent otter, and 

 as the snow had already fallen in considerable amount 

 and the wind had begun its task of piling it in drifts on 

 the ice, wherever a bed of canes or rushes projected 

 above the surface, a short time afterward we were all 

 completely nonplussed to find that during the darkness 

 of a still night the otters had disappeared and all sign of 

 them had vanished utterly, so that the mo-t careful search, 

 completely encircling the lake, aided too by the watchful 

 eye and keen scent of Jim's dog Coaly, failed to show a 

 trace of their line of flight in the new snow; while all 

 could see at a glance that at no place around the lake did 

 an abrupt shore meet deep water in a manner which 

 would make a den in the bank possible. 



In vain were all the large rat houses in the lake probed 

 again and again with the spear; not a sign nor trace of 



the truants could be found ; and even old Jim confessed 

 bis inability to solve the problem. It looked uncanny; 

 and although afterward the theme of many a discussion 

 around the camp-fire, where a score of theories were 

 offered in solution of the strange enigma, the cunning 

 otters, sphinx-like, kept their secret well; and not until 

 the following spring were we enabled fully to understand 

 their strange procedure, and to read from the book of 

 nature this strangely opened page of the natural history 

 of one of the most singular and cunning of all of A merica's 

 furred animals. 



We were indebted to old Coaly after all for the solu- 

 tion of the problem, and it was the instinct of one animal 

 which revealed to us the shrewd plans of the others. 



When the long cold winter had passed and the warmth 

 of the sun's rays was daily lowering the snowdrifts, Jim 

 and I were crossing the lake with Coaly at our heels, and 

 as we were passing a drift of the largest size, formed 

 amid and above a large bed of the tall slender cane, com- 

 mon to the northern sloughs, and which grew in a shal- 

 low place near the middle of the lake, the dog appeared 

 interested in the drift: and running along on its top and 

 pausing occasionally to smell its surface, suddenly disap- 

 peared from sight. 



A moment later he reappeared, and with some difficulty 

 regained the surface, when Jim and I, who had stopped 

 as the dog vanished, now hastened to learn the cause of 

 the sudden weakening of the drift, and walking up on 

 its top approached and looked down into the h le which 

 had engulfed the dog. The drift covered a space of one 

 or two acres, and rose to the height of about 5ft. above 

 the surrounding snow. A glance down into the hole told 

 the story of the vanished otter, and a half hour's ex- 

 amination of their winter's residence formed the most 

 interesting study in natural history which ever fell to 

 my lot. 



As soon as the drift had been formed of sufficient 

 depth, the wary creatures had approached it from be- 

 neath, and breaking through the thin ice (which in the 

 thick growth of the tall cane had merely coated the sur- 

 face of the water), ^ind burrowing upward into the drift, 

 bad formed their home free from the fear of the deadly 

 spear, for where in all that wide expanse of drifted Bnow 

 should the trapper essay a thrust? 



As the drift deepened until nothing but the tips of the 

 tallest canes appeared above, they were out of spear 

 reach and dwelt securely. Here during the winter they 

 had opened long galleries extending for a distance of 

 50ft. in length, where they could romp and play, and the 

 fragments of the canes torn out in their excavations had 

 been carefully gathered into beds, where each animal 

 slept dry and warm, while a room sirnbar in purpose to 

 those marked "w. c." in the yacht specifications testified 

 to the fact that the otter is a neat and cleanly creature. 



As the drift had sunk until the arch above their resi- 

 dence had grown thin, the dog was enabled to scent them, 

 and, in the laudable pursuit of knowledge, he for the 

 moment lost his footing, to find it again several feet below. 

 My profound admiration for the cunning of the little crea- 

 tures was mingled with disgust at my own stupidity, which 

 had hindered me so long from solving so simple a riddle. 



While the open lakes were coated with solid ice from 

 lft. to 3ft. thick, and while the ground along their shores 

 was sometimes frozen to a great depth before the snow of 

 winter had fallen to protect it, here was a house both 

 secure and comfortable; and they had learned to make 

 the change in the proper season of the year; and remained 

 masters of the situation at last. Along the running 

 streams were occasional springs of warm water near the 

 shore and beneath the surface of the water, which pre- 

 vented the formation of ice above them, and these spring- 

 holes, together with the occasional breaking of the ice by 

 the rise or fall of the water of the streams, gave the 

 otters which dwelt in their banks a chance for life during 

 the winter: but the big snow drifts on the surface of the 

 lakes were the last resort of the lake otters, and the cun- 

 ning creatures had long since learned their use. 



Orin Belknap. 



Mr. Stratton's Minks.— MaTvern, Ark.— I have just 

 read C. L. Stratton's account of a minkery his father 

 kept in western New York some twenty years ago. 

 Twenty-three years ago this summer I spent several 

 months among relatives in Cattaraugus county. N. Y, 

 and among other things of interest in the neighborhood 

 I visited Mr, Stratton's minkery, also his park where he 

 kept two elk and a pair of fallow deer. — Lew Willow. 



Travelers who have penetrated into the eastmost parts of 

 southern Russia find some strange beliefs as to the power of 

 fish charms. Many fish found in those countries have two 

 small, hard, round bones on the side of the head. They are 

 believed to have the power when worn by the owner to pre- 

 vent colic, and they are termed colic stones. The more 

 wealthy of the peasants have colic stones mounted in gold, 

 and they are worn upon the neck as a valuable addition to a 

 necklace. The bones of the common bullhead are much used 

 among the Russian pheasants as a chnrm against fever. 

 Among European nations in the middle ages doctors of 

 medicine had faith that two bones found in the head of the 

 tench have medical virtues. The bones were applied to the 

 skin in cases of fever. The tench is a European fish, and 

 the United States Pish Commission are endeavoring to in- 

 troduce it to American waters. — Jeweler's Review. 



A young man named Ferguson, living near Troy, Drew 

 county, met with a peculiar but fatal accident Tuesday. He 

 was in the woods hunting, and having remained out longer 

 than was expected his family instituted search for him, and 

 found him iu an unconscious condition in an out-of-the way 

 place. It appears that he had fired the gun at a squirrel, 

 and the weapon being heavily loaded recoiled and hit him 

 in the stomach : the blow being a serious one. He was taken 

 home and medical aid summoned, but the physican was un- 

 able to restore him to consciousness, and last night he died. 

 —New Orleans Times-Democrat. 



Glorious Hunting and Fishing.— The sportsman will find the 

 luxuries of trav<-l m thn solid veetioule trains that run dailv ovw 

 the Great Rock I land Route between Chicago and Council Bluffs 

 and St. Joseph. Kansas City, Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueb- 

 lo, and also hundreds of resorts on its lmes where game fish bite 

 recklessly, and quail, grouse, partridge, ducks and geese hold 

 carnp n.eeti' gs >o invite the onslaughts of Nimrods. To the 

 "Lake Park ' region of Minnesota and the famous bunting and 

 fisuing grounds of the Norcnwest, the fast exprt ss trains < f the 

 Albert Lea Route run daily between Chicago and Wa ettown, 

 Sioux Foils, Minneapolis aud St. Paul. The lakes, streams, fields 

 and forests directly reached by these lines are innumerable, and 

 att ract yearly the best shots and anglei s in t he country.— A civ. 



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

 free ou application a descriptive cirt ular of Mr. Grinnell's book, 

 "Pawner Hero Stories and feolk Taies," gfiviue a table of contents 

 and specimen illustrations from the volume.— Adv. 



