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FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 8, 1891. 



DEATH OF DR. E. STERLING. 

 "OEADERS of Forest and Stream will learn with 

 -*-* s sincere regret of the death of Dr. Elisha .Sterling, 

 of Cleveland, 0., on Dec. 29. For many years, indeed 

 from the establishment of the paper to within a week or 

 two before his death, Dr. Sterling was a frequent con- 

 tributor to our columns. An intelligent student of 

 natural history, an ardent sportsman of the old school, 

 and having a memory richly stored with reminiscences 

 of early days in Ohio, he drew from an apparently inex- 

 haustible fund of observation and experience. 



One of the last manuscripts sent to us by Dr. Sterling 

 is one which is still unpublished and to which refer- 

 ence was recently made. It is descriptive of hunting 

 scenes in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, being extracts 

 from the camp diary of a well-known Ohio sportsman. 

 Dr. Sterling's interest in outdoor sports and woods life 

 seemed never to flag. The following appreciative notice 

 of his life and character is from the Cleveland Leader: 



The death of Dr. Sterling places another bright name 

 in the galaxy of eminent Cleveland men who won dis- 

 tinction and have passed away. Dr. Sterling was born 

 in the State of New York, Aug. 15, 1825. His parents 

 came to this city in 1827, when there were not more than 

 a few hundred persons in the village. The site of the old 

 Sterling homestead is now the Andrews mansion at the 

 corner of Euclid and Sterling avenues. Young Elisha 

 early evinced mental vigor of an unusual degree, and 

 having a desire to study medicine, he was taken into the 

 office of the celebrated Dr. Ackley. At an early age he 

 graduated from what was then the Cleveland Medical 

 College, showing great promise as a surgeon. That was 

 during the rioting and bloodshed in Paris in the reign of 

 the French Emperor, Louis Napoleon. Dr. Sterling at 

 once proceeded to Faris and went to work in the hospitals, 

 where he found abundant opportunity to develop his 

 ability and observe the methods of the best French 

 surgeons. He studied directly under Jean Victor Coste, a 

 surgeon of wide fame. The skill of the young American 

 was so apparent that the court physician invited him to 

 perform a surgical operation upon Louis Napoleon. 



He became acquainted with many celebrated men 

 while abroad, and among them Baron von Humboldt, 

 the great naturalist. In that manner Dr. Sterling's in- 

 nate love for natural history, afterward so prominent, 

 was undoubtedly stimulated. The young doctor, while 

 in Europe, traveled more than twenty-five hundred miles 

 on foot, studying the habits and customs of the people 

 and pursuing his investigations in botany and natural 

 history. In 1852 he returned to Cleveland and took up 

 the practice of his profession. 



In 1854 he married Miss Mary Hilliard and the same 

 year joined a Government expedition sent to California 

 and Oregon. Through the influence of his friend, Dr. 

 John S. Newberry, the eminent geologist, he was ap- 

 pointed the naturalist and surgeon of the expedition. In 

 the party were Generals Sheridan, McCook and George 

 Crook, the Indian fighter, then young army officers. 

 When the war broke out Dr. Sterling went to the front 

 with General Barnett's light artillery as surgeon. 



Dr. Sterling spent much time in his favorite pursuit— 

 that of naturalist. He was an expert taxidermist. His 

 interest in fishculture is well known, and his name is re- 

 corded as one of the benefactors of the country whose 

 efforts brought the Government Fish Commission into 

 existence. He was one of the founders of the Kirtland 

 Society of Natural History, and a frequent contributor 

 to magazines and periodicals of a scientific character. 

 His love of birds and animals and his close observation 

 of their habits made him an authority on the subject. 

 At the same time his early promise as a surgeon was ful- 

 filled. He practiced his profession, natural history not 

 being his main pursuit in life. Some of his surgical ope- 

 rations gained for him a national reputation as being the 

 first and most successful of their kind — notably the am- 

 putation of the tongue followed by the recovery of the 

 patient. 



Dr. Sterling was one of the original members of the Ark, 

 which will always remain one of the most prominent and 

 striking figures in the history of Cleveland's vigorous 

 young days. The father of William and Leonard Case 

 had a little wooden office building on the Public Square 

 back of where the postoffice now stands. He gave it up 

 to William, who became the agent of the Connecticut 

 Land Company. William Case was a naturalist and 

 began the task of collecting specimens of every American 

 bird. His friends who were interested in the project 

 enthusiastically aided him, among them Dr. Sterling, 

 himself a naturalist and taxidermist, E. K. Winslow, who 

 is a taxidermist, Colonel Stoughton Bliss, who was a good 

 hunter, Captain Ben Stannard, who was a fine taxider- 

 mist, Leonard Case, George Stanley, J. J. Tracy, Edward 

 Scoville, John Williamson and a number of others whose 

 names shine in the history of the city. They were a 

 company of congenial spirits and they called the little 

 wooden office building the Ark, and became known tbem 

 selves as the Arkites, William Case's collection of birds 

 was completed to his satisfaction, but became damaged 

 in later years and was deftly restored by Captain Stan- 

 nard. Part of it is in the possession of the Kirtland 

 Society of Natural History and part remains in the 

 present Ark. A collection of minerals was begun and the 

 Arkites took up the study of horticulture. The old Ark 

 where Dr. Sterling was a frequent visitor has long gone 

 the way of all temporal things, but when Case block was 

 transferred to the trustees of Case library, the Arkites 

 had rooms in it, and a life lease was given to fifteen of 

 them. Of these fifteen, eight are now living and the Ark 

 still flourishes. 



Twelve or thirteen years ago Dr. Sterling suffered from 

 blood poisoning contracted while performing a surgical 

 operation, and for a time his life was despaired of. He 

 never recovered his former health. During the last years 

 of his life he suffered greatly from an injury to his ankle, 

 received while getting off a street car, and entirely gave 

 up the practice of his profession. Though he was not 

 known to the younger generation, he will be missed by 

 the older men, with whom he had active interests in the 

 days that are gone. 



Dr. Sterling leaves a widow, a son, Eichard Sterling, 

 of Colorado, and four daughters, Mrs. Y. P. Morgan and 

 Misses Agnes, Dora and Katberine. 



A GUN, A TRAP AND A FRYING-PAN. 



1. — HOW THEY WERE LOST. 



THE famous Lake St. John and the surrounding 

 country was historic ground as early as the begin- 

 ning of the present century. The incidents in the first 

 part of our story happened there and then. At that time 

 there were no pleasant farms stretching back from the 

 lake border. No roads. No shrieking locomotive. No 

 steamboat. No village church spire. But there was the 

 same treacherous lake. The same Grand Discharge with 

 its wonderful rush of water. The same mighty tribu- 

 taries. The Ouiatchouan, with its <J80f t. fall as it enters 

 the lake. The Grand Peribonca with its succession of 

 chutes, beautiful to the eye but dangerous to approach 

 in any kind of boat. One isolated trading post of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company was there, and that was the only 

 indication of civilization. The power of the mighty 

 tribes, the Nasquapees and the warlike Montagnais, was 

 on the wane. Continued war and internal dissention 

 had thinned their ranks, but they held possession of the 

 soil and brought many a pack of fine fur to the trading 

 post. 



Among the Montagnais was one Massepa, an Indian 

 of mighty stature, not a chief, though he might have 

 been had he but exerted his natural powers as hunter, 

 trapper and, above all, warrior. Massepa was the story 

 teller of the tribe. Their only literature was tradition. 

 Massepa knew every old legend, and could weave fact 

 and fiction into such an entertaining web as to hold his 

 listeners entranced for hours. This story telling became 

 a passion with him. He would neglect everything for 

 the sake of an audience, were it composed only of 

 women and children. So it happened that he became a 

 drone. Seldom meat or fish in his wigwam, although 

 the moose and caribou were plenty, and the waters con- 

 tained then, as now, a full supply of pike, dore, ouitouche 

 and, above all, ouananiche. 



One spring when the country was young, in May, things 

 came to a bad pass with Massepa. There was nothing in 

 his wigwam to eat. No supplies of any kind. Even the 

 women and children were tired of his stories, and the 

 warriors of the tribe declined longer to support him and 

 his family. Worst of all, he had only two charges of 

 powder for his gun, and powder could not be begged or 

 borrowed. He had. a small pack of furs which he had 

 accumulated during the winter. In his necessity he said 

 to himself: "I must take the furs to the post and get, at 

 least, powder and lead." The winter quarters were up 

 the Peribonca, many miles from the lake where the trad- 

 ing post was. The snow was going out and the river was 

 a mighty torrent. But his canoe was in good order. His 

 arm was strong and he did not fear the rushing water. 

 '•I will go to the post," said he, "and when the winter 

 nights are again long they shall beg in vain for their 

 stories." So, in bad humor, he started, taking with him 

 only his gun with his two charges of powder, one trap, 

 his frying-pan— a great luxury in those days— and his 

 pack of furs. The current bore him with great rapidity 

 toward the lake. First, twenty miles of rapid smooth 

 water. Then, five miles of rough water. Then, past the 

 beautiful lake Tshitagama— an off set from the main river, 

 down fifteen miles of rapid smooth water. Here begins 

 the succession of cascades or chutes which brings the 

 mighty river on a level with Lake St. John. At the 

 head of the first cascade Massepa halted for the night on 

 an island. He was hungry and very cross. He had ex- 

 pended his last two charges of powder on his way down. 

 One on a caribou, the other on an otter. He had missed 

 them both, and this added to his ill humor. 



The situation was now becoming desperate. His gun 

 was now useless. He could not stay to set his trap and 

 wait, and even then, had he caught anything, it might 

 not have been fit to eat. So after some trouble he caught 

 a large pike, which would at least serve for supper and 

 breakfast. Then he laid himself down under his canoe, 

 with his pack of furs for a pillow. He could not sleep. 

 He was vexed because he was obliged to think of work 

 again. His vanity had received a severe blow when he 

 was made to understand that stories were very well for 

 long winter nights, but the tribe could not afford to have 

 [ one of its best hunters and warriors, with his finest gun 

 , and the best traps, sit idle in his wigwam either sleeping 

 i or story telling. So he laid awake making plans. 

 « He said to himself, "My gun is now useless, for I have 

 I no ammunition. I can't wait while some animal is get- 

 [ ting into my trap, and my frying-pan is of no good now, 

 as I must live on fish till I get to the trading post, and 

 there I can cook on a forked stick. The river will carry 

 ' me to its mouth by sunset to-morrow in spite of the 

 many portages around the chutes. I can sleep at the 

 mouth till early dawn and then paddle quickly across to 

 the trading post before the wind rises and makes the 

 lake unsafe for a canoe. As I come back I shall be loaded 

 with provisions as well as powder and lead. It is hard 

 work to paddle against this mighty water. I will leave 

 my gun, trap and frying-pan here on this island safely 

 hidden and recover them on my return." 



Thus reasoned Massepa with himself. At daybreak 

 he rose and , after cooking some of his fish for breakfast, 

 procured several sheets of birch bark. In these he care- 

 fully wrapped his gun, trap and frying-pan and covered 

 them with moss at the foot of a large tree, then he carried 

 hie canoe and furs across the island to the foot of the 

 chute, and started on his journey down the river. The 

 first of the falls that he approached he passed without 

 difficulty, as the portage begins some way above the quick 

 water and. ends at a safe distance below it. 



The second chute is now called "Devil's Chute," because 

 it is so dangerous to pass. The water rushes through a 

 long canon. The portage begins in the quick water just 

 above the fall and ends at a point where the water is still 

 dangerously rough. What cared Massepa. His arm was 

 quick and strong. He had passed this chute many times 

 and was perfectly familiar with it. He steered his canoe 

 boldly toward the cataract. When it seemed as if he 

 must be carried over, he directed the boat by a quick 

 movement close to a certain rock well known to him. 

 On this he leaped lightly, took his pack on his back, his 

 canoe on shoulders, and proceeded rapidly over the barren 

 rocks and around the falls. On the other side he launched 

 the frail boat in the turbulent water at a well-known 

 spot and proceeded down the river, 



The next chute was easily passed, and the next. Then 

 came a, short portage where it was necessary, as at the 

 Devil's Chute, to approach close to the fall and, by a 

 quick motion, turn the canoe into a little offset or lagoon 

 which opened into the river almost at the edge of the 

 cascade. Massepa had done this many times and 

 approached the quick water with perfect confidence. He 

 was really a little careless, for his ill-temper had not sub- 

 sided. The quick water began to hurry the canoe with 

 great rapidity. As he approached the little opening he 

 saw, to his horror, that he was too far out in the stream. 

 He should have been close to the bank, but he was out 

 quite a distance in the river. His brooding over his 

 fancied wrongs and impoverished condition had made 

 him careless of his course. He saw this too late. With 

 frantic strokes of his paddle he strove to head the canoe 

 into the narrow opening by the side of the fall where he 

 would ride safely in smooth water. The awful power o.. 

 the mighty river was too much for him and he saw that 

 he was lost. With true Indian stoicism he headed his 

 boat straight for the terrible cataract and calmly awaited 

 his fate. In an instant boat and man were lost to view 

 in the rushing, seething, toiling waters, lashed into foam 

 by the sharp cruel rocks. 



The other falls, lower down, completed the ruin worked 

 by this one. Down the last sixteen miles of rapid water 

 to the Great Lake St. John there were borne, a little later, 

 some remnants of a pack of furs, fragments of a birch 

 bark canoe and the mangled disjointed remains of 

 Massepa, "the story teller of the Montagnais." These 

 were carried far out into the lake where the water swal- 

 lowed them up, except some fragments of the boat, 

 which were at last still further splintered on the rocks of 

 the Grand Discharge. 



Massepa was greatly missed. No one ever knew how 

 he died. No one ever took his place. But his gun, and 

 trap and frying-pan remained snugly wrapped up in their 

 birch bark covers. The moss grew thickly over them, 

 hiding them more securely. As the years passed by the 

 lumberman came and cut the tree, but he did not disturb 

 them. In this way it happened that the gun, trap and 

 frying-pan were lost. 



II.— HOW THEY WERE FOUND. 



As the century grew old the traces of man's progress 

 began to show along the Peribonca Eiver. The lumber- 

 man came yearly. The portages around the chutes be- 

 came worn paths. Stray logs and remains of temporary 

 camps were here and there to be seen. The usual course 

 of events took place to show the near approach of civili- 

 zation. The sportsman appeared at length. 



One of these, from the City of Churches, made his way 

 along this river in the year '%9. He was in haste to reach 

 Lake Tshigama, not, as yet, visited by one of his kind. 

 Night overtook the party — sportsman and guides — as 

 they reached the island where Massepa laid his treasures 

 over fifty years before. As the party reached the end of 

 the carry every man bustled about to get comfortable for 

 the night. Tents were pitched, fire built, supper cooked, 

 bed in*epared, etc. Moss or browse was necessary to 

 make the bed softer and more level. 



One of the guides found a beautiful bed of moss at the 

 foot of an old stump. On removing this, the long-hidden 

 treasures of the old Indian story teller were exposed. 

 The frying-pan and trap, after the rust was removed, 

 proved to be in fair condition. But the once beautiful 

 gun was beyond hope of repair. It was an old flintlock. 

 The wood of the stock extended to the end of the barrel. 

 The flint was in place ready for use. The hard wood of 

 the stock crumbled at the slightest touch. The ramrod 

 fell in pieces from its loops. It was a rare old treasure to 

 take carefully home and preserve as a souvenir. The 

 sportsman appreciated this, and told the guides to take 

 great care of it. The guide who found it, however, was 

 a headstrong fellow, who believed that to find was to 

 own. He had never owned a gun, and conceived the 

 insane idea of having this old king's arm restocked and 

 otherwise repaired to make a gun for himself; so he ruth- 

 lessly tore off the old rotten wood and disjointed the gun 

 completely. When the sportsman saw this, some hours 

 after it was done, he said, "Weil, I declare!" or words to 

 that effect. But the choice relic was ruined ; and thus it 

 happened that the gun was found and at once lost again 

 and forever. L. 



Brooklyn, Oct. 1. 



FORTHE NATIONAL ZOOLOGIGAL PARK. 



SECEETARY NOBLE has sent to Capt. F. A. Boutelle, 

 the acting superintendent of the Yellowstone National 

 Park, the following letter: "There is herewith transmitted 

 to jou a copy of a letter just received from the secretary 

 of the Smithsonian Institution in which be says that 

 he will be glad to receive for the National Zoological 

 Park buffalo, deer and elk at any time, and any other 

 park animals, with the exception of bears and pumas, for 

 which it will not be practicable to provide proper accom- 

 modation before the 1st of May next. He further states 

 that as rapidly as the larger animals are captured they 

 may be forwarded by freight and the smaller ones by 

 express and that he will on notification make arrange- 

 ments at Cinnabar, Mont., to receive and forward them 

 at once. The attendant expenses, such as boxing, trans- 

 portation and food for the animals, will be defrayed from 

 the Zoological Park appropriation. He adds that a male 

 puma will be exceedingly acceptable at once. Several 

 pairs of the wolverine and badger would be very desirable 

 also. I have consulted the assistant attorney general as 

 to my authority to have animals of the kind named cap- 

 tured and transmitted to the National Zoological Park and 

 find that the statutes give me all the power necessary to 

 perform this action, and I may add that it is in my opinion 

 a most desirable thing to do for the good of the people and 

 one in which I shall take great pleasure in having hearty 

 co-operation. I wish you would write me your views as 

 to what animals can best be taken and when. I suppose 

 that you are not prepared to send any buffalo, although 

 about this I may be mistaken. I judge that the elk and 

 deer must be sufficiently abundant to spare a pair of each, 

 together with a number of smaller animals, with which 

 you are more familiar than I am. If your men are to be 

 exposed to any particular hardship in accomplishing this 

 purpose I will expect to majce them comfortable to a rea- 



