Sept. fi t 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM 



149 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, 111., Sept. 4.— The people who want to find 

 the John Wilkinson Co. after the loth will have to 

 seek no longer in the lower regions of State street, but up 

 about 369 State, I believe it is, where the firm will move 

 at that date. They will have more room there, and will 

 be nearer the center of the business. 

 As is well known, the Jenney & Graham Gun Co. used 

 ™o be next door neighbor to the Wilkinson Co., but last 

 spring they came up to 102 Madison street, where they 

 have a whole house of their own, with floors for different 

 lines of work. They are very well settled now and have 

 the room they needed, for their gun trade and specialties 

 in other lines of sports have made big growth lately. 

 They are very well known in the West and get a heavy 

 mail trade, being seemingly as popular in the Rocky 

 Mountains as here, although it is not of record that Mr. 

 Jenney gives the boys out there as many guns to shoot 

 for as he does here. 



I was in at the. new store the other day, talking to John 

 Gillespie, and John was mad. He showed me a piece of 

 a broken gun stcck, about half of the lower end of the 

 stock. 



"Now, some darn fool out in Wyoming," said he, "has 

 sent in this piece of a gun and wants us to make him a 

 new gun stock. Nothing to go by but this chip, and if 

 we don't make him a stock just long enough, and with 

 just drop enough, he'll kick and threaten to ruin our 

 trade. Some men don't know enough to pound sand/' 



All sorts of cranks in the world of field sports. A great 

 many of these cranks send in from all over the country 

 to get John Gillespie to load their shells. They think he 

 spits on the wads and gives tbem a magic charm, but 

 John tells me he doesn't, but just uses his little loading- 

 machine. Black powder shells he will not load for any- 

 body, but confines himself to wood and Schultze. He 

 got a few cans of the E. C. powder, but has never had 

 occasion to open them, for that powder don't seem to go 

 out West. "They can buy loaded shells in black powder 

 now good enough for anybody," says John. "I ain't got 

 no time for that, and I wish I didn't know how to load a 

 blame shell. Duck season's coming on now. Killed 

 eight myself on English Lake Club grounds on opening 

 day. Some of the boys got as high as fifteen or twenty, 

 all woodducks. Rather shoot ducks than load shells. 

 Blame cranks, they always want the most shells when 

 the shooting is the best." That such is life, I reckon a 

 good many of the rest of us have discovered. 



This centralization of the sporting goods trade is better 

 understood by a Chicagoan than anybody else. It is be- 

 yond doubt true that Spalding moved into 108 Madison 

 street and the Jenney & Graham Gun Co. into 103 Madi- 

 son street, and the Wilkinson Co. as close to it as they 

 could get, all because Billy Mussey's place is at 106 Madi- 

 son. Billy runs a palatial hall where the boys play mar- 

 bles on tables, and here every shooter or fisher of Chicago 

 is certain to be found at one hour or another of the day. 

 For this reason the walls and ceilings of the room have 

 assumed a dark blue color. I presume there are more 

 lies told there than in all the rest of Chicago, and that is 

 saying a great deal. Billy himself religiously celebrates 

 every opening day of the year in Indiana and Illinois, 

 and he is to-day just back from Mak-saw-ba marsh with 

 the astonishing bag of two ducks and four snipe. But 

 then that's a good many if you look at it one way. 



Our chicken season draws on apace, and the fall fever 

 is beginning to stir in the blood. Mr. Mussey and myself 

 are going to try again for access to the preserved ground 

 where we had our great sport with the October chickens 

 last fall, and if we succeed, something will be heard to 

 drop out this way. Billy has got his new yellow boots 

 fixed so they won't skin his heel, and he has been heard 

 to announce that if he gets on that fly way again in the 

 evening, and sees a flock of those old roosters coming, he 

 is going to begin shooting as soon as he first sees them com- 

 ing, so he won't shoot behind them. But our fate is in 

 the hands of Mr. Hicks, who owns the land. 



Mr. M. C. Morris, of Baltimore, Md., is in the city for 

 a while. He has never seen a prairie chicken and wants 

 to get one. It would be a pleasure to see him nearly step 

 on a full-grown one, in the grass, as sometimes happens, 

 and odds that he wouldn't know whether he had shot at 

 a chicken or a dynamo. 



Dick Turtle has made two woodcock trips to the Kan- 

 kakee, bagging 48 on one trip and 70 odd on the other. 

 On the latter trip he floated about 60 miles down the river, 

 starting away above Water Valley and coming down. 



Sept. 5. — Messrs. J, T. Nevin, of the Pittsburgh Leader, 

 Mr. J. Cunningham of the same paper, Mr. John White, 

 a well-known attorney of that city, and their friends, 

 Messrs. C. A. Atwell and C. T. Harbaugh, also of Pitts- 

 burgh, are in town to-day on their way home from a 

 chicken hunt in Nebraska. They were out near Geneva 

 of that State, and in ten days only got about 50 birds. 

 They say the birds were very wild and scarce. Illegal 

 shooting had cleaned them out. The law was laughed at, 

 and shooting has been going on ever since July. Ne- 

 braska has the game warden system. 



Sept. 6.— More than a year ago reference was made to 

 the proposed drainage of the Kankakee marshes of Indi- 

 ana, by means of a cut through the great natural rock 

 dam which it thought to be the cause of the vast system 

 of back water. To-day a morning paper of this city has 

 the following on its editorial page: 



"The contract has been let for the removal of the rock 

 ledge in the Kankakee River at Momence, and it is prob- 

 able that within a year a million acres of fertile land, 

 now spoiled with swamp water, will be open to the sun 

 and ready for the plowshare. While the stretch of natur- 

 ally fertile land which is to be redeemed lies mostly 

 within the limits of Indiana it is tributary to Chicago. 

 Some persons have claimed that the removal of this 

 limestone uplift in the Kankakee would increase the 

 spring floods in the Illinois and do damage which the 

 Chicago Drainage Trustees would be called on by the 

 farmers to make good. It has been alleged also that im- 

 mense quantities of silt would be carried down stream, 

 would be^ deposited in the Illinois, and add to the diffi- 

 culties of its navigation. But on consideration there 

 seems no good reason to expect a.ny of these misfortunes. 

 All that the small rock cut will do practically will be to 

 drain off the swamp water. As the 'cut' will be a rock 

 one and cannot be enlarged by the flowing waters, there 

 need be no more fears of silt than there will be from the 

 waters of the Desplaines flowing through the deep rock 

 cut which this city intends making southward from the 

 Sag," 



This question has two alternatives of interest to the 

 sportsman. It is doubtful whether the cut through the 

 rock will really drain all or very much of the great Kan- 

 kakee marsh. The Kankakee to-day is a very swift 

 stream, but the fact that it runs like a mill-tail when 

 between its banks does not seem to drain the marsh very 

 thoroughly when the stream is at its lowest. Local rains 

 seem to have much to do with the wetness of the marsh. 

 Upon the other hand, if the attempt be as successful one 

 as is contemplated, the marsh will be ruined forever, and 

 thus one of the greatest natural features of this region be 

 changed and soon forgotten. The Kankakee marsh is 

 unique. It is historical. Without it, our chief sporting 

 ground is gone, and this city is robbed of what can never 

 be replaced, so far as the sportsmen are concerned. Mak- 

 saw-ba, Cumberland, English Lake. Water Valley— how 

 would it sound to have all those names shorn of their 

 sporting interest? We will wait. If the worst comes to 

 the worst the marsh owners, like the Mak-saw-bas, who 

 have title to a goodly acreage, will find their stock in- 

 creased in value over a hundred fold, and their land a 

 rare good investment. E. Hough. 



THE NORTH LOUP VALLEY. 



NORTH LOUP, Nebraska.— To my eyes, no other val- 

 ley in the wide West compares with this. It is sit- 

 uated in the central part of Nebraska, and of the three 

 Loup valleys it is the most fertile and beautiful. 



Picture to yourself a level valley, covered with green 

 pastures and waving fields of corn, dotted with comfort- 

 able farm houses; in the middle of the valley a swiftly- 

 running river, 300ft. in width, joined by numerous creeks 

 coming from the low hills on each side; along this river 

 many patches of heavy timber and willow thickets. It 

 has been only eighteen years since the first settler came 

 into this part of the valley, yet now it is pretty well set- 

 tled up, and the primitive "sod house" has given way to 

 the more substantial frame structure. Most of the farm- 

 ers have groves of timber, and are also beginning to raise 

 fruit. 



Game of several kinds is found here. Fish abound in 

 the river and creeks. In the fall and spring ducks and 

 geese by the thousands come into the valley to feed 

 in the cornfields and along the river and creeks. It 

 is no trouble to find them, and many times during a half 

 day's hunt as many as 1,000 geese, and ducks without 

 number, have been seen. Prairie chickens, quail and 

 several varieties of snipe are here in numbers. The sea- 

 son by law opens Sept. 1, but the law is not obeyed, and 

 the young are killed before they can hardly fly. Despite 

 this reckless killing there seems to be as many as ever 

 here. Rabbits are not scarce. There are some jack rab- 

 bits, but they are hard to get. Cotton-tails are quite 

 plentiful and easy to kill. Coyotes also are numerous and 

 increasing in numbers. Further up the valley deer and 

 other large game is found. Trapping is carried on to 

 some extent, and muskrat and mink are caught in good 

 quantities and beavers are not unknown. 



Fishing has been good this summer and a great many 

 fish have been caught, some of w hich were of good size. 

 The principal kinds are catfish, whitefish and bass. Pike 

 are coming in lately some, and a few have been taken. 

 One was recently caught weighing 41bs. These are 

 mostly found in the river, while in the creeks are small 

 fish of several other varieties. Of those caught in the 

 river, catfish are the largest and most abundant. Some 

 have been caught this summer weighing as high as 4flbs., 

 and from that down to lib. Whitefish and bass have been 

 taken weighing 2 or 31bs. All kinds seem to be more plen- 

 tiful than for several years back. Recently the writer 

 and another fisherman fished by moonlight and caught 

 nearly fifty fish. C. J. D. 



A Great Fox Country. — Jersey City, Sept. 5.— 

 Editor Forest and Stream: Indeed it was an odd train of 

 circumstances that brought forth the letter of Mr. A. L. 

 Perkins, of Walden, Vermont; and I think I must be the 

 one he refers to as a "famous fox trapper," for I well re- 

 member Mm and the good old hills of that Green Moun- 

 tain town; and that my success was all I could ask in 

 that line. The season he speaks of was a remarkable one 

 for fox trapping; they seemed to be looking for me as 

 much as I was for them. It was one of those years that 

 all trappers experience when game is plenty and take3 to 

 bait readily; but in this I think the fox is the most change- 

 able. I have seen trapping seasons when I knew foxes 

 were plenty, and yet it was difficult to trap them, requir- 

 ing the utmost care and perserverance, not that it does 

 not require this at all times, but some years to a greater- 

 degree than others, He calls me a fiend, but this may 

 be far fetched , yet I think if I had all the foxes together 

 that I ever caught and should set their tails on fire, there 

 would be a great commotion and perhaps a conflagration. 

 I have three foxes in a large cage at my back, and they 

 are quite tame, as the word goes, but a fox is a great deal 

 like an Indian, return him to his native haunts after 

 months of training and he is as wild as ever. Thanks Mr. 

 Editor, for your notice of last week, that I wanted to 

 learn of a "fox country," for from the number of letters 

 I have received it must be a "fox country" from Maine to 

 the Gulf of Mexico, and proves to me the great circulation 

 of your splendid paper. — Daphne. 



California Quail.— Macomb, 111., Sept. 4.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream: I see by your valuable journal that 

 the Massachuseits Association is about to introduce the 

 California quail into that State, and perhaps my experi- 

 ence may be worth something to this club. About twelve 

 years ago I sent to California and got four dozen of these 

 quail and turned them loose in the month of April about 

 three miles from this town. They seemed to be perfectly 

 contented and not very wild. The males could be heard 

 every morning singing, and the females would come 

 near to the house and would nest in the garden under a 

 hill of potatoes or in a bunch of weeds. They were often 

 seen during the summer with fifteen to twenty of the 

 young brood following one female, and the males would 

 keep up their song. About the first of October the sing- 

 ing stopped, and the first of November we took our dogs 

 and hunted the country all over and over, thinking we 

 might find them, but our work was in vain. We have 

 never seen nor heard of these birds since. Instinct 

 taught them they could not stand the climate and there- 

 fore they emigrated to a more genial clime. I do not 

 wish to discourage the sportsmen of Massachusetts, but 

 in my opinion they will make a failure with these birds. 



— W. 0. BLAISDELfji 



Hackensack Rail All Gone.— Hackensack, Sept. 3. 

 —Editor Forest and Stream: The first day of the rail 

 season was not a success on the Hackensack River. In 

 fact the rail shooting is about played out there, and for 

 several years it has been very poor. I went out at day- 

 light on the first with my spaniel to see what show there 

 was; but the paths tracked down through the grass told 

 the story. The ground had been thoroughly gone over 

 by poachers. I only saw one bird. This is the usual ex- 

 perience of conscientious sportsmen. The poacher sneaks 

 out a few days before the law is up and gets the cream of. 

 the shooting. No wonder people club together and buy 

 up shooting and fishing privileges. It is the only way 

 that a business man can be sure of a little sport. When 

 the poaching loafer is warned off or arrested for trespass 

 he raises a terrible howl about the selfishness of people 

 who want to shut out the "poor sportsmen."— Wake- 

 man Holberton. P. S.— I have a magnificent speci- 

 men of woodland caribou from Newfoundland on ex- 

 hibition if any one wishes to see it. — W. H. 



New Jersey.— Hornerstown, Sept. 8.— The prospect 

 for game in this section during the coming season seems 

 to be remarkably good. Quail are more abundant than 

 at any time during a number of years past; the coveys 

 are numerous and uncommonly large, but as yet many of 

 the birds are less than half grown, denoting that the 

 earlier broods were either small or that numbers of them 

 were destroyed by the heavy spring rains; but if nothing 

 happens the birds will be of a good size when the gun- 

 ning season commences in November. Partridges, so far 

 as we have seen and have learned, are rather more numer- 

 ous than in former years. Of rabbits, owing to last win- 

 ter being warm and open, the number appears to be 

 unlimited. In many fields one can scarcely move in any 

 direction without starting them up. So taking it alto- 

 gether, the chances here this fall for an excellent gunning 

 season are as good as the most sanguine sportsman could 

 wish for.— A. L. L. 



Tennessee Quail.— Chattanooga, Sept. 3.— Quail are 

 plentiful this season, judging from the information of 

 farmers; and a few of us who keep on the good side of 

 them expect nice sport when the season opens. Moccasin 

 Bend, Lookout Valley and Chattanooga Valley, between 

 Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, all afford fair 

 quail shooting. We are glad to note, an increasing ten- 

 dency to observe our game laws, which seem to be reason- 

 able. No shooting yet, although lots of birds are large 

 enough. The law is more respected than its enforcement 

 feared.— G. E. S. 



Book op the Game Laws.— The first number of the 

 Booh of the Game Laws will be issued about Oct. 1 from 

 this office. We have undertaken the publication of this 

 periodical in response to constant calls for a trustworthy 

 compendium of the game and fish laws. The Forest 

 and Stream enjoys peculiar advantages for conducting 

 this work in a satisfactory way. We shall make the 

 Booh of the Game Laws the authority in its field. Send 

 for prospectus. 



Snipe on Long Island.— "The Cedars," Oakdale, Sept. 

 1. — While crossing the meadow at 4 o'clock this morning 

 to fix out for bay snipe shooting, I flushed four English 

 snipe. The wind at sunrise being in the wrong quarter, 

 N.W., and no birds, I picked up and beat the meadow 

 for the English snipe, but succeeded in flushing but one 

 more. Bay snipe shooting has been a failure here the 

 past summer.— Alfred A. Fraser. 



Mechanicsburg 5> Pa., Sept 5.— The prospects for an 

 abundance of quail and rabbit shooting were never 

 brighter than at present. Reports from the outlying dis- 

 tricts say that small game has not been so plenty for sev- 

 eral years. — Minnie Mingo. 



FISHING NEAR NEW YORK. 



Tj 1 OR practical and specific direct ions to reach several hundred 

 fishing resorts within easy distance of New York city, see 

 issues of 18S9 as follows: April 18, April 25, May 2, May 9, May 30. 

 J une 6, Jnne 13, June 20, June 27. 



FISHING IN MINNESOTA. 



WHAT angler read the "Bass Number" recently pub- 

 lished by Forest and Stream without gratifica- 

 tion, who without being instructed, and what one did not 

 enjoy again in recollection his many personal exploits 

 with" rod and line? 



Next to actual experience I delight in reading of the 

 pleasures of brothers of the craft, rejoice with them when 

 they take a "whopper," weep when the "whopper" just 

 at the critical moment tears out the hook, and in fact can 

 almost in imagination impersonate the scribe and finish 

 the perusal with only less satisfaction from the reading 

 than he enjoyed from actual experiment. 



Although my experience with Micropterus salmoides 

 has been less extensive than that of many I can j et bear 

 witness to his game disposition and fighting proclivities, 

 and though there are perhaps others wliich excel him in 

 these points the angler who has enjoyed a good morn- 

 ing's sport with this species will not feel disposed to 

 grumble at any lack of combativeness. 



My first knowledge of black bass fishing was acquired 

 when a small boy in a large mill pond near one of the 

 less pretentious towns of Iowa. 



The bass in that locality were very fastidious as to their 

 diet and seldom could be coaxed to take anything but 

 live minnows; frogs, spoon hooks and flies were often 

 tried, but failed to allure them; as to the fly, perhaps 

 from inexperience in manipulating, but I incline more to 

 the belief that it was simply from lack of inclination for 

 that variety of bait. 



How well memory retains each favorite spot for fish- 

 ing, the overhanging bank, the old stumps and logs lying 

 in the water, one log in particular, which lay within a 

 few feet of the place where the water entered the mill- 

 race, from under which was almost daily scored the first 

 catch in the morning, and, singular to relate, seldom 

 more than one, 



