Oot. 23, 1890.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



278 



"What is a philosophy, Jim?" 



"Wy, a consurn to run on the railroad." 



It dawned on us gradually that a "philosophy" was a 

 railroad velocipede. Having occasion to send him some 

 money, he advised us to send it by express, because if we 

 sent a bank draft "he would have to get some fellar up to 

 Hurley to indemnify him." Jim knows the good fishing 

 places better than he does his grammar. We were re- 

 luctant to turn away from his hospitable "hotel." 



Richard Gear Hobbs. 



THE CLUBS OF THE ST. CLAIR FLATS. 



NO. VIII. — THE NORTH CHANNEL CLUB. 



THE whole of the St. Clair Flats is by no means com- 

 prised in the narrow section lying along the present 

 ship channel, and although the bulk of the club interests 

 center at that point, there are clubs elsewhere on the 

 Flats. Of these exceptions, we need pause to note only 

 one, the North Channel Club. Of the St. Anne Club, on 

 the Sui Carte, not enough was learned to warrant descrip- 

 tion in detail, and besides there is a space limit in all 

 papers, as well as a last notch in the patience of all readers. 

 But the North Channel Club we must mention, because it 

 is so old and so able an organization. 



This club house is some miles distant from those of 

 which we have been speaking, and in the old ship course 

 through the Flats known as the North Channel. As in 

 all the other clubs, the building is on "made land." In 

 front of this is a good dock and a walk to it. The club 

 house is a good Avooden building, with 28 sleeping rooms 

 and a big club room, a fine ladies' parlor, dining room, 

 gun room , etc. The floors axe of hard wood and the main 

 stairway is of cherry. All the furniture is very good, and 

 the walls are well embellished with pictures of game 

 birds and fishes. A noteworthy feature is the great fire- 

 place, big enough to take in a small log. This is some- 

 thing that every club house should have for cold days. 

 About the house is a wide veranda, about 150 ft. long, 

 which is something that every club house should have for 

 warm weather. 



The full name of the club is "The North Channel Shoot- 

 ing Club of Detroit." Unless we mistake, this is the old- 

 est of the clubs we have struck, for it runs back 15 years. 

 The articles of association run back to March 5, 1875. 

 The first officers were Marcus Stevens, president: L. P. 

 Knight, vice-president; James P. Donaldson, secretary; 

 E. H. Butter, treasurer; and the signing members w T ere 

 the above gentlemen with R. W. King, Wm. C. Williams 

 and Deming Jarvis. The capital stock was originally 

 $10,000, consisting of 400 shares That made each share 

 $25, To-day a share is held at $100, but no stock has been 

 sold for five or six years. The annual dues are $15. There 

 are now 100 members of North Channel Club. 



This club is a business-like and regular sporting club, 

 devoted to shooting and fishing. Its shooting ground is 

 right at hand, only two or three miles from the house. 

 It has 12,000 acres, or about six miles stretch of good 

 shooting ground, including plenty of rice. Near by here 

 are the white sand spawning grounds of Goose Bay. So 

 many bass were speared here by the natives that the club 

 tried to buy the water from the Government, but this it 

 could not do. The earliest of the perch and pickerel fish- 

 ing is over in this direction. The bass fishing there, no 

 longer amonnts to anything, but the duck shooting 

 remains good. Last spring was an exceptionally goo'l 

 season all over the Flats. Mr. McGaw, of the Queen's 

 Hotel, Toronto, bagged 84 in one day, and bags of 30, 40, 

 50, etc., have not been uncommon. The birds are mostly 

 redheads and bluebills. 



In open water shooting the North Channel men use a 

 very low double-ender, decked and coamed. For their 

 marsh work some of them use the Rice Lake canoe, which 

 is a veneer boat with much the lines of a birch, and gen er- 

 ally reputed to be teetery and no good on earth for duck 

 shooting. The boat house of North Channel cost $1,900, 

 and is over 100ft. long. Over 200 boats are owned in the 

 club, and there are two steam yachts, the Whistler, coal, 

 owned by the club, and the Rustler, oil, owned by Mr. 

 Brabaw, the steward. The steward is paid a salary and 

 charges a rate per diem for board. The pusher's fee is $2 

 a day for fishing and $3 a day for shooting. 



Some time ago mention was made in these columns of 

 a supposed practice of stealing wild duck eggs by the 

 Indians or half-breeds of Manitoba. This practice, if 

 doubtful there, is certain nearer home. In a talk with 

 the president of this club, Mr. R. D. Robinson, a very 

 well posted and affable gentleman, he informed the 

 writer that the French natives steal the wild duck eggs 

 whenever they get a chance. These French seem to have 

 no respect whatever for the game laws, if indeed they 

 know there are any. 



Mr. Robinson has been prominent in the efforts to se- 

 cure proper legislation in the matter of game and fish 

 laws, especially the latter, and has done all he could to 

 secure their enforcement, the latter including the pay- 

 ment of $55 to a game warden out of his own pocket in 

 one year. He may be supposed to be fairly well posted 

 on what he talks about in the matter of fish'supply about 

 North Channel. Mr. Robinson says that the bass fishing 

 is now absolutely worthless there. He does not. think there 

 were 10 bass caught all last year. Once they could catch 

 all they wanted. Five years ago he once caught 30 bass 

 in one day, 6 of which weighed 4+lbs. each. This failure 

 of the bass supply he attributes to the seining, netting 

 and spearing which has been so long pursued without let 

 let or hindrance. It should be remembered that it was 

 over in this direction that so much of the seining was 

 done that called out the voyage of "No. 11" and the De- 

 troit wardens. Let us repeat here what was said last 

 spring in these columns upon this subject, that no 

 better way to stop these depredations could be found 

 than to abolish the undefined county lines which cross 

 these waters, and put the Flats and the Detroit River 

 in the hands of one warden and an assistant or two. 

 Provided with a good craft, such an officer could swoop 

 down upon the law breakers when he was not expected. 

 He would not be known and watched as a local warden 

 is, and he would not be hampered with the fear that he 

 was overstepping his own jurisdiction. .Is it is, in that 

 watery country, it is next to impossible to locate, assert 

 or prove county jurisdiction. Under the old system the 

 game fish resources of this naturally magnificent region 

 have, as we may at least see in this once abundant local- 

 ity, been quite exhausted. By what shall we judge a 

 system if not by its fruits? How long will the old folly of 

 this system in the West continue? 



The members of the North Channel Club must go some 

 distance for bass fishing now, but sometimes they go far 

 enough for a little fun. The club holds many bait- 

 casters, and they prefer to a great extent the 8ft. split- 

 bamboo, 8 to 9oz. in weight, and the Kentucky reel. The 

 minnow is largely used in the deep-water fishing, and the 

 crawfish is much liked for the smalt-mouths. 



Following is the list of the North Channel Club as near 

 as obtainable at this date: President. R. D. Robinson; 

 Vice-President, Gilbert Hart; Secretary, J. Lathi-op; Treas- 

 urer, Adam Wiley. Members of Detroit— W. B. Robin- 

 son, L. P. Knight, J. Lathrop, Wm. A. Butler, Jr., Jas. 

 P. Donaldson, Julius Hess, W. H. Wheeler, Henry C. 

 Penny, R. W. King. L. B. King, John Newell, William 

 Kelley, Frank D. Black, Jefferson Wiley, John N. Ford, 

 W. C. Colburn, Geo. B. Remick, James H. Oaniff, Fred 

 E. Butler, George Jerome, Benj. B. Campbell, Wm. A. 

 McGraw, F. A. Baker, Geo. W. Bates, Hugh W. Dyar, 

 Chas. O. Barnes, R. D. Robinson, A. C. McGraw, M. K. 

 Cristy, C. G. Cristy, R. P. Toms. A. F. Holmes, Albert S. 

 Austin, Jas. K. P. Norvell, James Beatty, C. E. New- 

 comb, W. C. Yawkev, Alfred E. Brush, Edwin F. Conely, 

 Fred VV. Clark, Chas. B. Lothrop. Geo. H. Lothrop, Geo. 

 M. Savage, Henry Chandler, Edwin D. Sunderland, John 

 B. Nichols, Henry W. Lord; of Cleveland, O.— L. Austin, 

 A. E. Sterling, R. K. Winslow, E. M. Munson; of St. 

 Louis, Mo.— James Richardson, France Chandler; of 

 Niagara Falls, N. Y.— S. T, Murry, D, Isaac; of Rochester, 

 N. Y. — W. F. Huntington, H. H. Morse, C. H. Bahcock, 

 S. C. Steele, Charles A. Hayden, A. B. Lambertson, H. H. 

 Warner. W. S. Kimball, James C. Hart, Wm. I. Babcock; 

 J. Hart Welch, Hartford, Conn.; H. C. Hobbs, Bridge- 

 port, Conn.; Albert Stone, Boston, Mass.; T. McGaw, 

 Toronto, Ont; Henry J. Taylor, St. Catharines, Out. 



The summer life of the Flats is joyous and happy, and 

 no one, whatever be his position in life or his occupation 

 on the spot, is free from the infection of the sweet do- 

 nothingness or from the democracy of the local genius. 

 Quite this much may be said of the feminine element 

 resident or transient thereabout. As I paddled quietly 

 up to the cabin yacht, at the close of my day's labor along 

 the channel, I heard a sound of laughter and mingling 

 voices, and soon learned that the boat had been boarded 

 by a flock of maidens from the hotels near by. These 

 were entertained by Messrs. Parker and Wherry, who in all 

 gravity showed them the resources of the craft, and ex- 

 plained the why and wherefore of everything aboard, 

 even going so far as to remove all scofiiDg at the culinary 

 ability of the three navigators of No. 11 by making them 

 a cup of coffee and washing the dishes afterward in their 

 presence. The moon was out in splendor that evening. 

 The level wrinkling sea lay far and wide beyond our 

 sturdy little ship, and across it, dim and ghostly in the 

 rising mist, glided the sails of many boats coming and 

 going like dreams in the night. The scene quieted even 

 the merry party on board our boat. On the rail of the 

 deck sat one young girl, whose head might have served 

 as the model for the painting of the "Neapolitan Fisher- 

 boy," so dark was the hair, so dreamy the eyes and so in- 

 nocent all the features. After the fashion of young girls, 

 this maiden gazed thoughtfully up at the moon, dream- 

 ing no one knows what. Kindly the moon spread her 

 spell upon the land and water, mellowing the outlines of 

 the shore, making noble palaces out of the structures 

 near by and softening the distant ones into merely vague 

 suggestiveness. The breeze just barely whispered on the 

 silvered sails. If there were shadows they lay beyond 

 and one could not see them. Quiet, peaceful, beautiful, 

 almost melancholy in the exquisite tenderness of its abso- 

 lute repose, this scene was one to charm the heart, yet 

 tantalize the mind that would attempt to fix or measure 

 it. We can not measure dreams. And here, certainly, 

 was simply a dream of the elements, delicate, intangible, 

 a figment of the relaxed and resting mind of the Uni- 

 verse. Only the words of a dream, then, would fit it and 

 the drowsy mind may have whispered to the sleeping 

 sails the lines which "the half-wizard poet is said to have 

 composed while in a dream — of that land of the mystic 

 East, where once did Kubla Khan: 



"A stately pleasure dome decree, 

 Where Alph, the sacred river, ran 

 Through caverns measureless to man, 

 Down to a sunless sea." 

 ,175 Moxeois Street, Chicago. E. HOUGH. 



HALF-HOURS IN THE SIERRA NEVADA. 



III. — A PAIL OF FRY. 



IN the summer of '87 we made a trip to Lake Nanon for 

 the purpose of stocking it with trout. None of this 

 system contained trout, or other fish, naturally. They were 

 stocked in '65 or '66, and so suitable did the waters prove 

 to the well-doing of the original fry that in eighteen 

 years the waters were teeming with large trout. Lake 

 Nanon had never been stocked and, like the others, it 

 was impossible for it to become so, naturally. So one 

 windy day B. and I took a covered pail, with eight small 

 trout in it. and started on a weary climb. For a mile our 

 way was comparatively level and little streams were 

 close enough together to renew the water on the fish. 

 The pail was a small one and the water needed frequent 

 renewal, especially so on account of the size of the fish, 

 which were all 9 or lOin. long, the smallest we could pro- 

 cure. Tne last half-mile gave us a climb of 500f t. This 

 must be accomplished up, or near, the little channel of 

 the stream, which flowed out of the lake, as nowhere 

 else could we procure water. If we could have chosen 

 any route it would have been easy enough. But the road 

 we had to scale was a corker. The rocks were bare of 

 vegetation and slippery with the action of the stream, 

 which, in high water, spread itself all over the face of 

 the cliff. The rocks we were climbing lav exactly under 

 the direct rays of the sun and the heated granite would 

 almost burn one's feet. B. soon played out, so that he 

 could not relieve me in carrying the fish, and I sent him 

 ahead by an easier route. It is said that virtue is its own 

 reward, but I doubted it that day. A hundred times did 

 I wish those fish in Sheol, but pride prevented giving up 

 the job. Once I had a narrow escape from serious acci- 

 dent, and probable death. I had slowly wormed my way 

 up an almost perpendicular ascent of 75ft. and finally 

 reached a point beyond which it was impossible to pro- 

 ceed. By leaping from the point I was on, across a deep 

 cleft in the rock, it was possible to alight on a projection 

 that would hold and give an easier pathway. It was a 



dangerous attempt, but I was stranded and must take the 

 chance. Balancing carefully for the attempt I leaped 

 and landed short. My feet slipped on the treacherous 

 granite and to save myself I dropped the pail, and away 

 it went, clattering down the cliff, and as I clung desper- 

 ately to a cleft with my fingers I could see the trout go 

 kicking down in different directions. I am not as active 

 as I was 30 years ago and this was no joke. My whole 

 weight depended on my fingers, as the rock fell away 

 underneath, so that I had no foothold. Something had 

 to be done and that right quick. A larger and deeper 

 cleft existed in the rock, two feet below the one I had my 

 fingers in, and letting go with one hand I clutched at it 

 and let go with the other. Being no acrobat my hold was 

 not sure and away I went, down the cliff after the pail 

 and fish. Nothing but a merciful cha.nce saved my life. 

 Twenty -five feet below a small shrub had gained a foot- 

 held in the rock and I fell fairly into it. It sustained my 

 weight, and after a moment I regained my breath, which 

 the fall bad knocked out of me, and clambered down to 

 the bottom. I regained the pail, got fresh water in it 

 and "went a fishing." The trout had all landed in a pot- 

 hole but one and it was gasping its life away on the hot 

 rocks. I had no difficulty in getting them all, and choos- 

 ing a new route got to the top. Soon afterward I gained 

 the lake shore and bad the satisfaction of liberating my 

 captives in its pure waters. All but one swam away into 

 the depths, and that one turned his belly up and feebly 

 worked his gills. Whether he ever recovered or not I do 

 not know, but alive or dead he cost me a hard half hour 

 to get him there. B. wanted to know what kept me so 

 long behind him, but he got no satisfactory reply, and 

 when he sees this he will know for the first time. My 

 arms were sore for a week afterward and one hip was so 

 bruised as to give me much pain for several days. This 

 year, in August probably, I intend to see if our labors 

 were repaid, as I intend giving a half a day to whipping 

 Nanon's placid bosom. The story does not sound much 

 in the telling, but it was mighty interesting to me at the 

 time. Arefar. 

 Auburn, Cal. 



[TO BE CONTINUED.] 



TROUT AT THE UPPER DAM. 



MR. EDWARD A.. SAMUELS sends us the following 

 list of large trout taken at the Upper Dam, 

 Rangeley Lakes, Me,, this year. The list was furnished 

 by Mr, J. A. French, of French's Hotel: 



Tjhs. 



Lbs. 



Aug. 29. T. B. Stewart 



29. T. D. Parker fiU 



" 30. W. J. Reynolds 1 m 



"• 31. J. A. French KM 



Sept. 1. T. B. Stewart... 8 s , „, &> u 



'• 1. C H. Barber 4 



3. T. Parker 6?v B 



O. S. Osgood 



" 7. vv. A. Drake tiJ4 



7. F. Brags'Dotte 4 



" 7. J. P. Kit on 7% 



" 8. J. P. E'ton V vi 



u 8. Miss M. K. Horton.,0V 



Sept. 9. Henry Stveit 



10. T.B.Siewart... <,iWi% 



41 11. C. E. ilarstou ....(>% 



" 18. T. B. Stewart 5 



" 15 W. H. Fullertnn...53„. 



" 15. R. N. Parish T° 1A 



" 19. R. N. Parish CM 



" 22. R. N Parish 7 8 llS 



!■ 23. F. W. Loud 6)4 



" 24. R. N. Parish ti" l( 



' 26. W. J. Reynolds ...6%, 



" 29. J. A. French 4 1 "',, 



" 30. R. N. Parish 8 14 ,, 



All of these trout were taken on the fly at the Upper 

 Dam. I think there were two or three others that I did 

 not weigh, so did not get them down. J. A. French. 



Lake Melissa.— Mr. H. P. Ufford sends us, apropos of 

 Lake Melissa and Buck's Mill Pond, the following ex- 

 tracts from a letter from Dr. Langdon, which may be of 

 interest to many of our leaders who are familiar with 

 those Minnesota localities: "Greenwood, Minn,, Oct. 4. 

 — The place is now overrun with cottages. There are six 

 on the west of Greenwood and four or five east. The 

 beauty of the place is nearly gone, to my mind. We 

 (Mrs. F. and I) went out the other day and caught 19 

 small-mouth bass in about an hour. She caught 14 and I 

 5. They were nearly all of them full of spawn. They 

 were caught on the bar at Rocky Point. A few days 

 later Burns, Starling and Mary caught 26, I believe. Our 

 19 weighed 53-ilbs., which was a big catch of small-mouth 

 bass. They are putting in a new dam at the Mill Ponds, ' 

 and will raise, the water in the lake about a foot when it 

 is finished. I understand they are to put in a fishway, 

 but I'll believe it when I see it, for they have been talk- 

 ing about it for the past three years. They made some 

 money this year running a small steamer down to Melissa 

 twice a day, and as they only charged 50 cents a round 

 trip, they were well sustained. They are to build a dock 

 somewhere on our shore and have a regular landing, and 

 continue running the boats next year. If they succeed 

 in fixing the ponds so they can run through, they will 

 make trips down there when necessary. They have 

 leased the hotel at Detroit to parties who intend keeping- 

 it open all the year around, which will bs a big improve- 

 ment over the old way." 



Black Bass Notes.— In Pleasant Pond, New London, 

 N. H. , black bass have not generally been caught after 

 September 15. On the 4th of October, however, nine of 

 these fish, averaging over lib. each, were taken in this 

 pond, and during the same week twenty bass were 

 caught in a day in Webster Lake, N. H. A few years 

 ago October was one of the best months of the year for 

 taking black bass in Sunapee Lake by trolling with the 

 fly. Now they go into deep water in September, and are 

 not taken at all in October. It might be possible to catch 

 them in their winter quarters, if we may judge from the 

 successful fishing at Big Stream (Glenora), Seneca Lake, 

 N. Y., in the early part of October. Here in 40 or 50ft! 

 of water large numbers of bass were taken with live 

 minnows. We have often remarked upon the game 

 qualities of this fish, and in this connection were inter- 

 ested to hear the following account from Mr. Langdon, of 

 Plymouth, N. H. : Last August, in Lake Waukewan, he 

 caught a 3}lb. black bass on the smallest Montreal fly. 

 The bass left the water a dozen times before he was 

 landed, and twice made two consecutive jumps, leaving 

 the water and instantly leaping again as soon as his tail 

 touched the surface. 



Susquehanna River Pollution.- Bainbridge, Pa.— 

 This year the fishing in the Susquehanna has been a 

 failure. In the first place the river has been too full of 

 water, keeping the stream muddy nearly all summer; in 

 the second place, the great flood of last summer having 

 washed the grass out of the river, the bass could find no 

 harbor in their old haunts and have gone to deep, rocky 



