Jaj}. 23, 1891.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



7 



Perhaps we are justified in auppositig that by the same 

 persons and at the same time two were placed in Sunapee 

 Lake, two in Dan Hole Pond, and two in the sea at 

 Disco. David Stabr Jordan. 



The TJjsriVBBSiTT OfflNnrANA, Bloommgton, lad,, Jau. 7. 



FOX RIVER FISH AND GAME ASSOC'N. 



(~MJICAGO, 111., Jan. 15.— As many readers of Forest 

 J AND Stream know, the large and small lakes of 

 what is known as the Fox Lake system, lie about fifty 

 miles to the north of Chicago. The Fox River drains 

 these lakes for the most part, and also supplies them with 

 fish. The Fox River runs into the Illinois River, and the 

 Illinois again into the Mississippi. These lakes, if Jeft 

 unsupplied with other than their natural increase of fish, 

 would in time probably become quite exhausted. The 

 keeping open of the great waterway from the Mississippi 

 up to the lakes is therefore a great desideratum for the 

 Chicago anglers, and for those anglers who live yet closer 

 to these waters. To stock tJtie lakes and streams, and to 



Firevent illegal and wasteful methods of taking the fish 

 rom them, is a question of equal or greater importance. 

 Briefly, to do these very things is the mission of the Fox 

 River Fish and Gajne Association. Time and again 

 attention has been called to this organization in these 

 columns. It is the one and only protective society in the 

 State of Illmois which amounts to a row of blue beans in 

 actual protection of fish or game. It deserves credit. It 

 works. It performs. It does something besides talk. 

 Singular, unique, peculiar, almost startling it is in this 

 regard. What it has done by way of opening up the 

 dams on the Fox, of breaking up netting on the Illinois, 

 and otherwise heljjing the Fox River chain of watersj 

 has already been recounted duly in this journal. 



The Fox River Association held its third annual meet- 

 ing Thursday, Jan. 14, at 3 P. M., at the Sherman House 

 of this city. There was a good attendance. The associ- 

 ation is not com])Osed of a union of clubs, but of a union 

 •)f individuals. Its success is the success largely of pri- 

 '^ate eifort, though it is growing constantly by accessions 

 from sportsman's clubs lower down the rivers'. Ah might 

 be expected, therefore, the proceedings were marked by 

 heir informal simplicity and directness. The Fox River 

 issociation has no style about it to speak of, no pomp, 

 )ride and circumstance of glorious war, but as a certain 

 jsteemed friend would say, it is "with 'em at every sta- 

 ion of the road." The brevity and businesslike character 

 !! this meeting was delicious." The auditing of accounts 

 vas short, the reading of the minutes of the last meeting 

 vVds short, and the address of President Cole was short, 

 ike wise to the point. Mr. Cole said: 

 Co the Menibere nf the Fox BiverFish and Game Association: 



GKMTLEIU13N— i can ihiuk of no better introduction of our annual 

 reiiorc than Dy iiGOMat; from the Hy leaf of our book of by-laws: 

 r'Tlie objrii-if 111 this Association are to help io the enforoeinent of 

 Ish aud gaifle laws, to press for the enactment of dpw statutes 

 (or the preservtitiuti of fish and gatae, and to see that proper fish- 

 ways are put ia t!.ll the dams in i*'ox River." 



DitrivjgiliK tirst two yews our efforts were directed mainly to 

 the flest and Recoud oi»jects mentioned above; of the success of 

 saui oi'ji^ct.- you were informed ayearaao. 



The feiiuatioLi that confronted your directors at their first meet- 

 ing of the past Vf ar was a depleted treasury, and an apparent 

 indifference or luglfc'". on the part of the members generally that 

 ■was vei y liiscouragintr to say the least. How that difficulty was 

 overeoiue you wlJ learn from the treasurer's report. 



Mot to hore you too much with details we have to report that 

 all the (iains in Fox River are provided with efUcient fishways, 

 buili. a(-[;ordiug to plans aud apeciflcations furnished by the Fisli 

 Commias' oners, except one small dam at South Elgin, where there 

 is an unused canal or sluiceway that has been fit'ed up experi- 

 mentally with the understanding that if it does not work satis- 

 factorily a regular fishway will be substituted. 

 On March x'llastwe employed F. L, Buck, of Elgin, and ob- 

 ained for him au appoiu'ment as warden. He covered all the 

 ground fromi^'ox Lake to the mouth of Fox River at Ottawa, and as 

 a result of Jiis work we can repDrt seventeen convictions for the 

 violation of the fish laws and seven convictions for the violation 

 of game laws. He also distributed copies of the laws, posted 

 notices, etc., etc., and warned persons all along the line. Aud 

 best of all he seized and destroyed thirtj-four nets which he 

 found set in ditferent parts of the river. Mr. Buck resigned Kov. 

 1 to accept another position, after a summer's Avork that accom- 

 plished more for the advancement of fish and game protection 

 than we could have anticipated at the beginning of the season. 



We have been told repeatedly by the Secretary of our State 

 Fish Commission. Dr. Barilett, that our work on the Fox River 

 has been of great help to him all over the State, in that It has 

 aroused a sentiment for the cause that is resulting in the forma- 

 tion o[ clubs that are giving their attention more and more to 

 this matter of protecti(vn. 



Before closing we wi?h once more to revert to the matter of 

 finance. We can do \'ery little without fitnds. If all persons in- 

 terested i)t our crganiZHtion would make even a slight effort this 

 fund eouid easily be obtained. Our annual dues are but SI ard a 

 lite membership costs but $10. All that is necessary is to send 

 the caeli wtth name and address to the treasurer, as all are elig- 

 gible aud (here is no initialion fee. If each member of the As- 

 fiociatiou will make it his special effort to procure one or more 

 memb'U's, tlie cotaparativ© small amount of cash needed will 

 soon be forthcoming. Respectfully submitted for the hoard of 

 directors, Geo. E. Cot.e, President. 



The report of the meeting of the Board of Directors was 

 then made, briefly detailing the committees and the work 

 they had done. Mr. John Wilkinson, minister of the ex- 

 chequer, then made his report, in many ways the most 

 important of any. Mr. Wilkinson showed the budget to 

 be as follows: 



CBEUITS. 



Cash on hand, beginning of year |158 35 



Aitnual dues 57 00 



Life memberships 250 00 



Contributions 239 70 



Total 695 05 



EXPENLlTtTBES- 



Prosecuting cases 25 00 



Paid warden F. L. Buck. , 476 57 



Printing aud p istage 54 95 



Examiuing dams 38 67 



Hauling fish for planting 8 00 



Total 603 19 



Balance on hand 91 86 



The report offers quite a good showing. The "contri- 

 butions" named among the som-ces of income contain 

 among them the following: James W, Nye, $5; White 

 & Wills, sporting goods dealers, $5; James H. Fisk, sport- 

 ing goods dealer, |5; H. N. May, $5; A. G. Spalding & 

 Bros., sporting goods dealers, $25;"Hibbard, Spencer, Bart- 

 lett & Co,, $25; the Jenney & Graham Gun Co., sporting 

 goods dealers, |3o; the John Wilkinson Co., sporting 

 goods dealers, $25; E. J. Lehman, $2o; the Fox Lake 

 Pishing Club, $101 (which shows the prominence of this 

 club in the work); C. F. Hills, $10; through C. F. Hills 

 and Gfeo. E. Cule, $30; Geo. E. Cole |34.70, and others. 

 In. return for above, memberships in the association were 

 issued to the extent of $95, but the total available cash 

 from this source amounted to $239.70. Thus it may be 

 »een that in some instances at least, both firms and indi- 



viduals have given cash as help in a worthy project to 

 help preserve fish and game. 



The Fox River Association, however, does not claim to 

 do much in the way of protecting game. The less it does 

 the better. It is doing some work on fish. It ought to 

 stick to this, especially in its own younger and weaker 

 days. All conservative business thought shows the folly 

 of branching out into many lines of business. One 

 business well jjushed is better. In a beautifully 

 worded resolution the Illinois State Sportsmen's As- 

 sociation resolved to "conjoin" with the Fox River Asso- 

 ciation, in courtesy to its committee present. The "con- 

 join" business ceased when the meeting of the Illinois 

 Sta.te Sportsmen's Association adjourned, just as every- 

 body knew it would cease. The State association is an 

 admirable body in its own way and for its own purposes, 

 but it does not genuinely and honestly class game pro- 

 tection among those purposes. Since it does not and can- 

 not ck im such piu-poses, what has the Fox River Associa- 

 tion to gain by acting with it, since its own purposes are 

 those of protection and nothing else? The union would 

 be only one of courtesy, and not one of practical and 

 mutual interest. Let the Fox River Association saddle 

 itself with no complicating responsibilities, but run free 

 in its own field of practical results. Beyond its own feel- 

 ing of com-tesy in the matter, none will see the force of 

 this quicker than the State Sportsmen's Association. 

 Indeed, it would be better if the Fox River Fish and Game 

 Association should strike the word "game" quite out of 

 its name as well as out of its purposes. Let others pay 

 for wardens to watch for illegal ducks, and let this asso- 

 ciation attend to the fish. The sense of this is apparent. 

 The only wish behind it is to see this association go on 

 and not go back, and present at least one decent chance 

 to a newspaper wanting to chronicle an occasional bit of 

 success in practical protection. 



Directly bearing on all this was the report of the com- 

 mittee on game, Messrs. Baird, Burket and Hamburger. 

 Mention was made some time ago of the cases brought 

 by Messrs. Baird and Bartree against the South Water 

 street men, Henry Sloan and J. B. Brousseau, for selling 

 illegal game. In his report Mr, Baird told how he and 

 his assistant didn't do anything in these cases. He scored 

 the fat-witted Brusewitz, the Chicago warden, roundly, 

 as did others also. 



Mr, Hills, reporting for the committee on fish, tersely 

 announced "There was pretty good fishing last season in 

 the Fox Lake country." 



The committee on legal and political action had little 

 to report, Mr, Hertz spoke at some length upon the ad- 

 visability of having a bill introduced prohibiting the 

 abominable practice of fishing through the ice. Mr. 

 Hertz told of one Elgin party who in three days caught 

 3,800lbs. of fish in Pistakee Lake last December. T.Se 

 extent of the outrages was not generally known, but if 

 known the Legislature might pass a prohibitory law. 

 Mention was however called to the fact that previous 

 efforts in this direction had been unavailing. 



Messrs. Prussing, Burkett and Glenn, appointed com- 

 mittee on election of the board of directors, retired to 

 confer, and in their absence the prpsident called xrpan 

 State Commissioner Bartlett. Dr. Bartlett was received 

 with enthusiasm. He stated that the Fox River Associ- 

 ation was the first organization that ever gave him any 

 help in his work, and its help had been notable. He 

 complimented the association highly. Dr. Bartlett had 

 found that usually the men who complained the most 

 about game violations were the most ready to object 

 when he came to enforcing the law in their neighbor- 

 hood. There had, however, been some work done, and 

 thanks to this conjoint work we could now look upon a 

 waterway open to fish from the Mississippi up to the 

 lakes, no dam in the whole distance being now an ob- 

 stacle to the fish. On the Illinois River nothing could 

 ever be done till the last year. In that time over 500 

 nets had been destroyed and seventy convictions secured. 

 It was deplorable that the Legislature had given an ap- 

 propriation of only $2,000. The fish wardens had to de- 

 pend solely on fines for revenue. One warden, failing to 

 make his case in justice court, had been arrested himself 

 and nearly thrown into jail. Proceedings in justice 

 courts had been found useless, and the Commissioner 

 had adopted the plan of seizing the nets and letting 

 the other fellow do the suing, which broitght the 

 cases into the Circuit Coxirts. Thanks to the aid 

 of the president of the association, the Commission 

 had been enabled to buy a little steamer of iU 

 own, and it now patrolled the Illinois River very 

 thoroughly. In the work of propagation, 40 carloads of 

 matiu-ed fish had been distributed, besides fry. Dr. Bart- 

 lett deplored the putting in power of such' idiots as the 

 Chicago warden, Brusewitz, but had no doubt that a 

 petition to Gov. Fif er would lead to his promiit dismissal. 

 The system of district fish wardens was working very well, 

 the Quincy warden doing especially well. Replying to a 

 question from Mr. Hills in regard "to the cutting off" and 

 netting of fish that had run out in high water into the 

 Illinois River sloughs. Dr. Bartlett replied that this was for- 

 merly practiced largely. The Commission had taken up 

 one net so employed whose wings were 1,200ft. long. 

 Another net was 1, 000ft. long. "You mttst get hold of 

 the net." said he, "and confiscate that, by 'holding it .for 

 storage' pending cuit. He had seen four acres covered as 

 a drying ground by the hoop-nets of one firm. Market- 

 tishing is carried on in the Illinois to a terrible extent." 

 Dr. Bartlett also favored a law against ice fishing. 



Dr. N. Rowe, president of the Illinois State Sports- 

 men's Association, was called on, and contrasted the his- 

 tory of game protection with that of fish protection. The 

 way of the game protector he had found a thorny one. 

 He would favor a bill to put the matter of game protec- 

 tion m the hands of the Fish Commissioner. He favored 

 a condensation and concentration in the work. Instead 

 of many bills and measures we should unite, both associ- 

 ations standing on some plain and simple measures. 



Mr. Cole pointed out the obviotxsly unwise and im-. 

 practical features of an effort suggesting any such double 

 work for the Fish Commission under that or any other 

 name. Cooperation might do, but amalgamation would 

 be highly unwise, and would defeat the purposes of both 

 fish and game protection. The suggestion met with no 

 favor. 



The FoRBST AND STEEAjyi representative detailed the 

 extent of the ice fishing in Lake Maria, Lake Catharine 

 and Channel Lake as witnessed on a recent trip and men- 

 tioned the outrageous fish pens of Lake Senachwine, on 

 the Illinois River, where masses of diseased and half 



dead fish are crowded together for weeks at a time and 

 ladled out for shipment as the market dictates. It was 

 suggested that the association make members of the sum- 

 mer resort men along the upper lakes and then induce 

 them to stop their ice fishing. 



The committee on election reported and recommended 

 the following to constitute the board of directors for the 

 ensuing year: From Pistaqua Lake region. Coroner 

 Henry L. Hertz and Clarence A. Knight; from the North- 

 western Pleasure Club, John Stephens; from Fox Lake 

 Fishing Club, Chas, F, Hills and Geo. E. Cole; from 

 Crabapple Island region, John Wilkinson ; from Mineola 

 Club, L. M. Hamburger; from the East Shore region, 

 Geo. R. Davis and O. J. Weidner; from the North Shore 

 region, Jas. Gardner. 



The board of directors will early meet and elect the 

 officers of the association for the ensuing year. 



E. Hough, 



FISH AND GAME IN WEST VIRGINIA. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Hunting this season was pretty good here. Some of 

 my friends who joined me were very successful. The 

 greatest drawback on those from a distance was the mild 

 weather; when they killed a deer or two they had to cut 

 short their hunt to save the game. Turkey were unusu- 

 ally plentiful. I attribute it to the favorable winter of 

 '89-90. We had some bear this fall , but none of my party 

 had the luck to bring down any. I hg,ve had the good 

 fortune to kill three nice bears since you were with us; 

 one weighed 3361bs. My eleven- year- old boy killed a 

 very large wildcat near my deer park during the month 

 of December, My brother John also came across a wild- 

 cat killing a small deer this last hunting season. We 

 have some good trout streams, or at least they are con- 

 sidered so by all the anglers who have tried them. Mr. 

 A. F. Rees and Mr. Ripley Hitchcock, of New York city, 

 have tested our streams to their satisfaction. One is 

 known as Wate's Run. The largest fish are never longer 

 that 15 or 16in. A stream called Trout Run, abotit three 

 miles west of me, is noted for its good trout fishing, I 

 don't know what the best specimens taken out weighed, 

 but a friend and myself on one occasion took out of a 

 pond, or hole as we call it, 23 nice trout in one day, the 

 largest IG Jin. long. There are two more trout streams only 

 a few miles from my place. One is styled Stony Creek and 

 the other is known as Pond Run; both are beautiful, cold 

 and clear streams. Capon River, four miles distant, is a 

 splendid black bass stream ; it contains a vast number of 

 fine bass, the largest weighing 5| to 61bs. I hope it will 

 lie our luck to have you visit us another hunting season. 

 Should you have any friend who wishes to catch trout send 

 him here and I will give him good attention, I have built 

 a new and comfortable dwelling since you were with tis, 

 and am better prepared to entertain my friends, 



T. B, Wilson. 



Capon Iron Works, West Va. 



[The home of the Wilson brothers, in Hardie county, has 

 long been noted as a hunting locality, and we can testify, 

 from personal experience, to the hospitality of the people 

 and the abundance of deer, turkeys and pheasants. Gaj>on 

 Iron Works is best reached by the B. & O. Railroad to 

 Woodstock and thence 13 miles by horse over easy moun- 

 tain trails. The cost of boarding is merely nominal. Deer 

 are driven to guns posted on their runways.] 



A CARP'S DINNER. 



MIRABILE DICTU! Strange things happen in far-off 

 places. It is not uncommon in opening fish to 

 find various and divers sundries within their maws. On 

 Lake Superior the great lake trout, the namayemli of the 

 Ojibbewas, seem to always be ready and wilUng to accept 

 any of such things as are thrown from the cook's galley 

 of the steamers and sailing vessels which plow its pellu- 

 cid waters. It is not uncommon to find a fork or spoon, 

 beef bones, potatoes, broken wine glasses, corn cobs, and 

 even a bunch of keys are among the treasure trove from 

 their omnivorous collection bags. But now a carp comes 

 to the front as a container of the neatest outfit of any- 

 thing yet seen on the great unsalted sea. On Christmas 

 morning Capt. McCormick, an old salt and fish man, 

 saw two fine large German carp on sale in Duluth. 

 Struck with their appearance, aud thinking to please his 

 friend, the Doctor, he purchased one and .sent it to him 

 with the compliments of the season. Of course the Doc- 

 tor was pleased with the gift and ordered it tabled. You 

 can imagine the astonishment of all when it was opened 

 to find within a silk-lined case containing a large meer- 

 schaum pipe and cigar holder, all in good order, too. It 

 was a genuine carp, imported from Germany, of the vari- 

 ety called pawner mdche. The Doctor has it yet carefully 

 preserved, and the smoker's apparatus, too, which he 

 shows to his friends with very great pleasure, 



R. O. Sweeney, Sr. 



DuLtTTH, Minn. 



SUSQUEHANNA RIVER FISHING. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In September, 1888, the Messrs, Hanlon, Prof. Siler, of 

 Harrisburg, and Mr, C. H. Sangrey, of Washington 

 Boroughj in eight hours' fishing caught 93 "salmon," or 

 pike perch, and 10 bass. One of the salmon weighed 

 S^lbs., another 61bs., and a nurhber ranged from. § to 51bs. 

 The largest of the bass tipped the beam at 4^^1bs. 



In September, 1889, near Creswell Station, Messrs. John 

 Yeley and W. B. Charles took from a small area of water 

 (not more than 300x40ft.), 68 "salmon" in a few hours, the 

 largest weighing 51bs., and the entire catch averaging 

 fibs. 



During the season of 1889, a royal specimen of the Sus- 

 quehanna "salmon" was taken with rod and line near Mud 

 Island, by Mr. John Keech. This fine fish was one of the 

 largest of its species ever taken from the river, in this 

 locality, and weighed lllbs. 3oz. 



In July, 1889, Messrs. Sangrey and Brush caught, in 

 two and a half hours, 32 "salmon," the laxgest ranging 

 from 3 to Slbs. in weight, 



June 15, 1890, Mr. Harvey Brush took in a.bout three 

 hours fishing, 16 bass, one individual weighing 31b8. 



In the month of July, 1890, after being out one day for 

 about eight houas, Messrs. W. B. Charles and Jolm 

 My skin caught 30 "salmon," the largest 21b8. in weight. 



Stehkan, 



Statb JJOBM4.L SCHOOL, MiLLEBBViuja, Pa., Jan. 13. 



