414 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 11, 1891. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, 111., May 39.— I suppose about the dullest 

 reading on earth to the average reader of a shooting 

 journal is that about game and fish protection, this the 

 more especially since so much cry is raised in such mat- 

 ters compared to the amoimt of wool actually gathered. 

 The ma:jority is more interested in new ways of catching 

 and killing than in new ways of saving and sparing. 

 Nevertheless I can conceive of a large body of readers of 

 FOEEST AND Stream who would be glad to hear of some 

 really good and practical work in the way of protection, 

 and for these it is a pleasure to say something more about 

 the progress of that live young organization, the Kanka- 

 kee Fish and Grame Protective Association, whose birth 

 was chronicled last week. It is a great satisfaction to do 

 this, because everything points to the conclusion that we 

 shall have here a good running mate for the already suc- 

 cessful Fox Eiver Association, and because such an or- 

 ganization is almost a necessity for so prominent a sport- 

 ing stream as the Kankakee, much abused as it is. 

 Forest axd Stream seems to have been the first paper to 

 call attention to this latter fact, although the fact has 

 been patent long enough. Forest and Stream was also 

 the first paper to discover the actual good being done by 

 the Fox River Association, and to publicly show the dif- 

 ference between practical protection and a mere talking 

 bluff at protection. Forest and Stream was t]\e first 

 paper to suggest that Mr. Geo. E. Cule, president of the 

 Fox Eiver Association, having shown himself a success 

 there, would be a erood man and the best man for the 

 presidency of the Kankakee Association. But then, the 

 fact that Forest and Stream was the first paper in a good 

 many ways is something which is known and goes with- 

 out saying, so we must not talk about that, the chief fact 

 of interest being the very decent outlook for the Kanka- 

 kee Association. In short, one would not be taking any 

 risk in calling tfie Kankakee Association already a silver- 

 trimmed success. It has been started on a good, plain, 

 practical basis, with the understanding that friendship, 

 policy, diplomacy, oratory, resolutions and the like didn't 

 go, and that only results would be counted. A good 

 many similar associations might well cast their eyes on 

 that platform, and it might not be out of the way for 

 them to study the way, brief, direct and eminently prac- 

 tical, in which the necessary steps for organization have 

 in this instance been taken. 



A week ago to-day there existed as material for the 

 Kankakee Association simply a mass consisting of some 

 himdreds of sportsmen interested in the Kankakee region. 

 As related last week, these were gotten together at the 

 Possum Club meeting. Such a plebiscite is necesssry only 

 in form, as there will always be present many not really 

 interested in the actual work. Out of the total, however, 

 there may be gathered together, as there were here, those 

 who really mean business. The by-laws of the board of 

 directors are the next essentials. The Possum Club 

 touched the button, the directors do the rest. All the 

 management of the association for the year lies with them, 

 and thus further reference to the plebiscite is rendered 

 unnecessary, and a vast confusion of ideas skillfully 

 evaded. 



The first duty of the directors was to complete the or- 

 ganization, and for this purpose the directors of the Kan- 

 kakee Association met last evening at the Sherman House 

 of this city. The virtue of a compact directorate can be 

 seen at once. Out of the eleven directois but seven w^ere 

 on hand. Mr. Fred C. Donald sent a letter of regret, ex- 

 plaining that absence from the city would detain him 

 away. Mr. George Maillet, of Crown Point, Ind. , also sent 

 word, by his colleague Dr. Swartz, that he could not be 

 present. Those i^resent were Messrs. Cole, Price, Organ, 

 Nicholls, Card, Swartz and Hough; Mr. Mussey, secretary 

 of the first meeting, also acting as secretary at the 

 directors' meeting. Mr. R. B. Organ was called to the 

 temporai'y chair. The by-laws were read, and Mr. Cole 

 spoke a few words in explanation, saying that the move- 

 ment did not protect fish alone, but also game, and that 

 fish protection simply went ahead and paved the way for 

 game protection. The creation of a sentiment in favor of 

 the principles of protection was the first thing. 



The important office of the presidency now came up, 

 and this was urged upon Mr. Cole. The entire meeting- 

 seemed to feel that he had experience where the others 

 had only good intentions, and that no one else could head 

 this movement, which ought to take no false 8t*^ps at the 

 beginning. Mr. Cole begged to be let off, and explained 

 how busy he was and liow much devoted to the Fox 

 Eiver Association, where all his spare time and money 

 went. Mr. Hills, of the Fox Eiver Association, he said , 

 had just begged him tmder no circumstances to accept 

 the ijresidency of the new association. He would help, 

 but lie could not lead. He could not go out and raise 

 money, or devote his time as he had done with his pet 

 organization. He did not want the Fox Eiver men to 

 think he had forsaken them or their work. 



IVIi-. Cole's talk made all look grave, for it was not 

 wanted to place him in any wrong position. The need of 

 a definite head, and a nucleus of experience, however, 

 was so keenly felt that no other channel of escape ap- 

 peared. It was reasoned that the Illinois State Fish 

 Commission, by Dr. Bartlett, had its ofiice right at the 

 side of Mr. Cole's desk, and that if Mr. Cole should unite 

 in himself the heads of the two leading protective soci- 

 eties, the office at 86 Dearborn street would be the focus 

 for the work of the whole State, thus exemplifying still 

 better the doctrine of practical concentration of effort. 

 Finally the motion was put tendering Mr. Cole the presi- 

 dency as an advisory office, free from all financial care, 

 with an honorary life membership, the promise of active 

 lieutenants, and the record upon the minutes that the 

 Fox Eiver Association must not think Mr. Cole in the 

 least subtracted from theii- work. In support of this it 

 was argued that many members of the Kankakee Asso- 

 ciation would doubtless be members of both associations, 

 that no rivalry existed, and that the growth of one meant 

 the growth of the other. Mr, Cole tried to answer to 

 this, but failed, and amid applause yielded and took the 

 chair, the first president of the Kankakee Association. 

 This was a very large step in the right way, and there 

 was no ojjposition anywhere to this. 



Mr. Organ now nominated Dr. H. P. Swartz of Crown 

 Point, Ind., for the vice-presidency, and this judicious 

 movement carried at once. The Crown Point men live I 

 near the Kankakee, and they are workers, among whom 

 none better than Dr. Swartz. 



For the office of secretary-treasurer there was no 

 phoioe. Mr. W. P. Mussey, situated as he is in da-Uy 



touch with all the sportsmen of Chicago, and being 

 known as he is, was the only man to be considered for a 

 moment, and was at once elected. 



The important committee on ways and means now 

 carue np. This is the hustling committee, and the one 

 which must raise funds. It was decided to make the 

 number seven. Mr. Abner Price, the father of Chicago 

 sportsmen and as fine a model for all young sportsmen as 

 ever lived, was chosen chairman of this committee. Mr, 

 E. B. Organ and Mr. J. P. Card were elected at once 

 after that. Both of these gentlemen were chosen because 

 it was known they would hustle. It was left to the above 

 three to chose four associates, and they reported in favor 

 of W. P. Mussey, Henry Ehlers, C. D.'Gammon and one 

 other. Thus they wont outside of the directory for three 

 of their men. Club lines and everything of the like were 

 wisely laid quiet aside. 



The president now suggested the committee on fish- 

 ways. For this Messrs. Cole, Mussey and Hough were 

 chosen. Mr. Cole said that he -was practically superin- 

 tending the fishway work on the Fox River for Dr. 

 Bartlett, and would take it up on the Kankakee also. 

 He could get State Warden Buck, a man of the best ex- 

 perience, to assist in the work on the Kankakee, and 

 could save the Association at least $100 of needless ex- 

 pense. There is a strong suspicion that the dam owners 

 on the Kankakee will have their fishways in within the 

 next year or so. The so-called Canal dam is the worst, 

 the canal commissioners being loath to spend ,$1,500 of 

 their appropriation on a fishway. 



The most important committee, that on protection, was 

 now advised for election. This is the committee on dis- 

 bursement and executive work in protection. It was 

 chosen after careful thought and discussion as follows: 

 Mr. H. D. Nicholls, chairman; Messrs. Wolfred N, Low 

 and Fred C. Donald, of Chicago; Mr. George I. Maillet 

 and Dr. H. P. Swartz, of Crown Point, Ind., five in all. 

 The president was declared ex-offldo member of all the 

 committees. 



The secretary now opened a subscrij)tion list. Mr. Cole 

 was formally elected an honorary member at this point, 

 and was requested not to subscribe. The six other 

 directors present, however, each took out a life member- 

 ship at Thus the neat little sum of $120 was the 

 record of the first evening's work. It was voted to put 

 §75 at once at the disposition of the ways and means 

 committee, to cover the printing of the minutes of the 

 Possum Club meeting for organization, and of the 

 directors" meeting, also of membership tickets. So actual 

 work w^as begun on the first evening. 



Dr. S. P. Bartlett, Illinois State Fish Commissioner, and 

 also the State Fish Commissioner of Indiana, were elected 

 honorary life members. 



The Secretary was instructed to notify all appointees, 

 and the meeting adjourned on call of the president, sub- 

 ject to notification by the ways and means committee. 



As soon as the secretary has the membership tickets 

 ready they will be issued, the amount taken out by any 

 one man being charged to him, and he being duly cred- 

 ited by all the names and cash and by the unused tickets 

 turned in by him. For instance, some one will take say 

 five life tickets and a dozen annual tickets, and give 

 them to Fred Duree, or Mr. Durham, both good sports- 

 men at Momence, and both much interested in this work. 

 These men get up their list of membership in Momence, 

 and send theii- names and cash and unused tickets back 

 to the secretary. Another lot of tickets will be sent 

 down to Kankakee town and to- Crown Point and all the 

 interested towns, while in every one of the big Kankakee 

 sporting clubs the right men will be working up the 

 membership lists and the treasury at the same time and by 

 this same process. Thei-e ought to be $600 raised very 

 rapidly in this way, and that will serve to set a j)atrolling 

 warden at work, post the game law cards along the 

 stream and start the work on getting the fishways put in. 

 No suits may be needed on the latter. A notification 

 and the assurance that plain business is meant is visually 

 sufficient to cut off a great deal of lawlessness. A test 

 case and conviction or two of the Indiana seiners, spearers, 

 fyke-netters and killers of illegal summer ducks and 

 woodcock will be needed, but after that the work will be 

 lighter. Protection carried out on these lines will pro- 

 tect, for that has been proved. Is it such a very haixl 

 thing to do? To the contrary, it is a very simple thing 

 to do, when gone about in a businesslike way. From 

 the east we hear that Chicago is there considered the 

 leader of the protective movement in the West. Of 

 com'se she is. Chicago leads in everthing. She must 

 lead in this new work and must advance her money with 

 all the accustomed liberality which has made her what 

 she is. But this will be no Chicago movement alone, and 

 the result will be no mere selfish betterment of Chicago 

 sport. This is a movement for Illinois and Indiana and 

 every sportsman of these States within a hundred miles 

 of the Kankakee is interested in this, and ought to stand 

 by it. The Kankakee River has been ravaged, robbed, 

 violated long enough. There are men enough who live 

 or visit along it to prevent this now, and the time and 

 way has come for them to do so. 



All this may to many be very uninteresting matter to 

 read, thotigh I am sure I never wrote a line in my life in 

 which I was more interested than these. At all events, 

 this is how the Kankakee Association arose in one week 

 out of the unorganized material, and its plain and easy 

 steps may be of use to any other body seeking to organize 

 for a like purpose. As stated earlier, we have already the 

 Fox Eiver Association, the Eoek River Association, the 

 Beardstown Rod and Gun Club on the Illinois Eiver, and 

 now comes the Kantakee Association. Others may fol- 

 low in this and other States. We are working for a State 

 league out here in Illinois. To any future organization, 

 the advice natural would seem to be. Don't try to cover 

 too mucli ground, but take one stream or region; don't 

 try to get a large body of enthusiasts for workers, for the 

 enthusiasm of many is expended in talk. Keep it all 

 compact, condensed; keep things hot, and keep on 

 a-movin'. The Kankakee Association wiU succeed or 

 fail on these lines. In my heart I. believe it will be suc- 

 cess and not failure, which it will reach. 



May 30. — The fishing season is upon us in vigor. Several 

 muscallonge parties are either out or about to start. A 

 pleasant one will be that which starts to-night for Lake 

 Vieux Desert, Wis., via Lake Shore & Western R. R, 

 There wiE be Charlie Gammon, Harry Nicholls, Tom 

 Oribben and Hi Thomson, others possibly joining them 

 later at their camp, which will be on the spot of their 

 (jojKlUests of laet year and the year Wore, 



I was talking with a gentleman at Spaldings' the other 

 day, though I did not learn his name. He was about to 

 start on a salmon trip in Canada and informed me that 

 he was just back from the Outanagon Eiver, where he 

 caught over 100 trout one day, averaging nearly up to a 

 half pound. 



The regular annual Fred Taylor party has gone up to 

 the Little Oconto for trout. This year there will be Fred 

 himself. Jack Whiting, W. A, Barton, Geo. Nye and one 

 or two others whose names are not caught. They always 

 get trout on that trip. I presume the party will kill 

 2,000 or be disappointed. 



Mr. Wm. Payson and a few friends start also to-day for 

 the Oconto country of Wisconsin and will be in after 

 trout for about ten lays. 



Several parties will go to Momence on tlie Kankakee 

 to-day after bass. I do not think they will get a great 

 many, as the bass have not yet dropped back from above. 

 The latter half of June is the best for that part of the 

 Kankakee, and the best fishing is four to six miles below 

 Momence. My Friend H. and myself made our third trip 

 to Momence last week. We got about fifty rock bass, 

 nearly all on the fly, and three black bass, two of these 

 on the fly. The bass did not seem to be in that part of 

 the stream, though as usual we only fished right in town 

 along the edge of the island. About ten days before our 

 visit there came up the Kankakee a most remarkable run 

 of rock bass. They were taken by thousands at Momence. 

 Mr. Strunk, the justice of the peace there, told me he 

 thought a carload had been sent out of the town. One 

 man caught 160 rock bass in one morning. The natives 

 slammed them out in great shape, and I reckon they got 

 the whole run, for not a fish could get above the dam, 

 which was closed again when we were there. I cannot 

 see the pleasure in snailing these little rock bass otit on a 

 bait rod, but on light fly tackle they make a good deal of 

 fun. After a good deal of experiment we found silver- 

 doctor and professor the best day flies this time. With 

 these and a big Donaldson for a stretcher we caught rock 

 bass very rapidly from sundown till after dark. They 

 were rising to the slightest ripple of afly clear after dark. 

 I hooked and landed three big rock bass at one cast in the 

 morning. On the whole, it was very good fun of a hum- 

 ble sort. The black bass that we struck were of the very 

 gamiest sort. The water is very clear and swift, over a 

 rocky bed, on this part of the river. 



Yesterday I met a gentleman who was just about to 

 make a second trip to Twin Lakes, Wis. (via C. & N. W. 

 to Genoa Junction). He caught 9 small-mouth bass on 

 the fly there one day last week. He reports jungle-cock, 

 tied with red and yellow blended under the dark wings, 

 as the fly which met success there. There are only a few 

 who fish the fly on Twin Lakes, but often these have good 

 success. 



We stfll have no word from our friend Ed Varus, on 

 Big Cedar Lake (Chicago & Erie Railway to Ora.). He 

 promised to write when the bass began to rise. They have 

 been rising well all over the Fox Lake country. Mr. Roth, 

 one of the .John Wilkinson Co.'s adjutants, caught 20 bass, 

 big-mouths, on the frog at Loon Lake last week (Antiooh, 

 via Wisconsin Central). He started up again last night 

 after more. There are not many boats on Loon Lake, and 

 this party has them all engaged. 



Mr. J. M. Clark has made two bass trips, one to Silver 

 Lake, Wis. , and one to Willow Springs, on the Des Plainea 

 River, each time meeting with very flattering success. 

 That there is bass fishing in the Des Plaines is true with- 

 out a doubt, as I have heard of several good catches there, 

 among others one mentioned to Charlie Porter by a friend 

 just in. Willow Springs is a picnic ground on the Santa 

 Fe Road. To get fishing one needs to go about a mile or 

 so above the Springs. I believe it was yesterday that Mr. 

 Clark, his canvas boat and camp outfit included, started 

 with a friend for Burlington, on the Fox, intending to 

 float that stream to Grass Lake. Of their success I ex- 

 pect to have something to say later. 



Reports continue to come up of good catches of pickerel 

 and some bass in the Deep River, Indiana, near Liverpool. 



E. HOUOH. 



THE VERMONT LEAGUE. 



RUTLAND, Vt., Jnne 3.— That the officers of the Ver- 

 mont Fish and Game League mean to carry out the 

 aims of the organization is very evident. Cloth posters 

 containing a synopsis of the fish and game laws have 

 been posted in every railroad station, post office and hotel 

 in the State. A very neat cut of a trout exactly Gin. long 

 with notice that the League prosecutes violations of the 

 6in. law appears in the leading weeklies of the State. 

 Upon complaint of the League, Edward Higgins, of Ar- 

 lington, was convicted of catching trout in close season 

 (month of April) and fined for one offense $10 and costs; 

 the fine was made for only one offense, as Higgins is a 

 poor man; he offered to plead guilty to one offense, and 

 remarked with grim humor that it weighed just a pound 

 and three-quarters. Last week the League prosecuted a 

 boy at Braitleboro for violation of the 6in. law. Amos 

 Weatherbee, of Vergenncs, was fined June 2, one offense, 

 for catching bass dm-ing the close season, amounting 

 with costs to $9. .50. It appears to be the policy of the 

 League to scatter the prosecutions as far as possible 

 throughout the various fishing resorts of the State. 

 Under the stimulus awakened by the League local clubs 

 are being organized throughout the State, and several 

 prosecutions have been made through their efforts. It ia 

 believed that when the people have become more familiar 

 with the fish and game laws and see the results arising 

 from the observance of them, that prosecutions will be 

 of rare occm-rence. Vermont. 



Another correspondent writes: "Vermont at last has 

 an association that is in earnest in the work of protec- 

 tion. Not many days ago the Vermont Fish and Game 

 League, whose headquarters are at Rutland, reached out 

 to Brattleboro and chastised certain parties for keeping 

 trout under 6in. long. This week it stretched forth its 

 hand to Ferrisburgh, and made an example of Amos 

 Wetherbee, of Vergennes, for taking a black bass some 

 days before June 1. According to reports, Amos has 

 often indulged in this illegal pastime, but till now has 

 escaped punishment. The League is entitled to great 

 credit for the promptness and energy with which it 

 attends to all violations of the law reported to its secre- 

 tary, John W. Titcomb, of Rutland." 



The advertisement of Chas. Plath & Son, 130 Canal street, manu- 

 facturers of flstiing taclclp, was inadvei-tently omitted from our 

 columns on its regular issue of May 28. Tbey are stili at the old 

 stand and we bope their i'rleude and tha public will extend to them 

 tbe qordifti support yraioh t4«U' jfoode nierit,— 4(ic, 



