Feb. 18, 1892,] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



(^xnoqing. 



Canvas Canoes and how to Build Them. By Parker B. Field. 

 Price 50 cents. Canoe and Boat Building. By W. P. Stephens. 

 Price $2.00. Canoe Handling. By C. B. Vaux. Price $1. Canoe 

 and Camera. By T. S. Steele. Price 1.50. Four Months in a Sneak- 

 box. By N. E. Bishov. Price $1.50. Canoe and Gamv Cookery. 

 By "Seneca." Priee $1. 



Secretaries of canoe clubs are requested to send to Forest and 

 Stream their addresses, with riame, membership, signal, etc., of 

 their clubs, and also notices in advance of meetings and races, and 

 report of the same. Canoeists and all interested in canoeing are 

 requested to forward to Forest and Stream their addresses, with 

 logs nf cruises, maps, and information concerning their local 

 waters, drawings or descriptions of boats and fittings, and all 

 items relatin sa to the sport. 



A TRIP TO THE SOUTH BRANCH OF THE 

 POTOMAC. 



FP.OM observations of the South Branch of the Potomac, made on 

 numerous fishing trips along its lower course, 1 had often thought 

 What a splendid river it would be to run in a canoe, and had hoped 

 that some day my desire to navigate it in that way would be realized. 

 List spring, in talking the matter over with my friend John S., who 

 has always been my companion on my fishing trips, we concluded to 

 get an Acme canvas boat and at least make the attempt. Our boat 

 came all right, was set up in a warehouse just to see how it worked, 

 and about ihe middle of July we started on the B. & O. R. R. for 

 Rjmney, W. Va , intending to take the river there and work our way 

 down. ' While at supper at the hotel at Romney we met a gentleman 

 who was thoroughly acquainted with the river above Romney, and 

 who advised us by all means to continue our trip up as far as Peters- 

 burg, W. Va., and come down from there through what is called the 

 •'trough." We concluded to take his advice, although manv of the 

 habitues of the hotel tried, by frightful tales of the dangers of the 

 liver, the awful falls and rapids we would have to encounter, to 

 dissuade us from the undertaking. We relied, however, upon the 

 information we had obtained from Mr. U., our acquaintance of the 

 supper table, who had frequently made the trip without anv mishap 

 We hired a team, made purchases of a few articles, including a tin 

 teapot, two quart cups, a gallon pail, two tin plates aud a large 

 spoon, some sugar, which we put into a preserving jar, some tea and 

 a piece of fat bacon, and were all ready for an early start in the 

 morning. 



Seven o'clock found us well on our way, accompanied br our 

 friend Mr. G.. who was driving in his own buggy. After awhile he 

 told our driver that he would drive our team and he could take bis 

 buggy, as he wanted to talk to us. We soon found out that lie was a 

 revenue officer and was on his way up to several of the mountain 

 distilleries to collect the revenue due the Government. We soon 

 drew bim out, and although reluctant to talk about his own exploits 

 we had a most interesting time listening to the narration of his ad- 

 ventures with the moonshiners in the mountains of West Virginia and 

 East Tennessee, fie was acquainted with nearly every one we met, 

 most of the men addressing him as Mr. Betectivi. The'scenerv along 

 our drives was very beautiful in many places. At Old Fields and 

 about Moorefield we passed through some of the finest agricultural 

 regions we ever saw. Most farmers were hauling in their wheat aud 

 threshing it, and all said they had garnered a very large crop. 'I he 

 dwellings through this region are very far above the average farm 

 houses, most ot them being double houses built of brick. 1 noticed 

 one peculiarity in this region that I never saw anywhere else, and 

 that is the liu roofs of the barns and dwellings were left unpainted 

 When i first saw them I thought that all the farmers around Moore- 

 field had just put on ne w tin roofs, but was told that it was the fash- 

 ion not to paint them. 



We stopped tvvo Hours at the hotej in Moorefield. rested the horses, 

 had dinner, and took a nap. The distance from Romney to Peters- 

 burg is 33 miles, and Moorefield is about halfway. We discovered 

 here that my friend .John had left his w T atch under his pillow at Rom- 

 ney. and, »s I had brought none, we were without the time. We 

 arrived at Petersburg late in the afternoon, and created quite a sen a- 

 tion in that quiet town as we drove through the streets. Mr. 

 Detective was well known, and when he arrived accompanied by two 

 good-sized men the populace immediately supposed we were de- 

 tectives on a raid on some illicit still that we had heard of. W T e 

 carried out the deception, and the people did not find out that we 

 were only on a fishing trip unlil the next morning, when many of 

 them followed us down to the river bank and saw us launch our 

 canoe and say good bye to our detective friend. 



On our way up in the wagon we passed through Petersburg Gap. 

 On the opposite side of the road the bluffs arose hundreds of feet 

 high. Quite on the top of one there is a very remarkable representa- 

 tion of a running fox, caused by peculiar formation of the rocks. 

 There is a large bush growing right through the middle of the forma- 

 tion, which makes it appear as though the fox was running behind 

 the bush and gives it a very realistic effect. A little below the fox 

 there is a representation of an ox tying down, that is as perfect as if 

 it had been painted on the rock. The head is particularly good, 

 showing horns, ears an I eyes very plainly. We launched our canoe 

 just below the bridge at Petersburg, and after a short trial trip, to see 

 how she would act, we found she was like a duck on the water, very 

 stiff, easy to paddle and easy to steer. We had our fly-rods with us', 

 and. after running a mile down the river, we tried the fishing. We 

 had'told the proprietor of the hotel that if he would meet us at the 

 Gap we would give him a mess of black bass. We were fortunate 

 enough to have 16 for him at the time appointed. 



Just after leaving him we met with our first and only mishap of 

 the trip. The slate ledges were very bad at this point' and we ran 

 upon one, cutting a hole in the canoe. She made water rapidly but 

 we ran her ashore and very soon had a patch on the torn place* that 

 stopped the leak entirely. About a mile below this place we sud- 

 denly, on rounding a bend of the river, came upon a merry pic nic 

 party of twenty girls. Not a man with Ihem. They all ran 'down to 

 the bank to see us, and we stopped with them some time, exchanging 

 fish for- ice and ice cream. I noticed one of the young ladies kept 

 looking at me very hard, which embarrassed me no little, being a 

 married man. She finally said to me. "Are you not Mr. R." I was 

 nevermore surprised in my life to find that a young la'ly whom 1 

 had not the slightest recollection of ever having "seen before, should 

 know me in a place so remote from my home. I asked her how sbe 

 knew me, and she said she not only knew me but that the other gen- 

 tleman was Mr. S She gave her name and said that we had stopped 

 at her father's house down the river several years before. Just be- 

 fore meeting the girls 1 heard my friend John, who was wading and 

 hsbingsome way below me, call out something about my live dol- 

 lars, but did not understand what he said until I reached within 

 speaking distance. He then told me my five dollar watch was gone. 

 He had put it in his pocket and had been wading with it on for sev- 

 eral hours. I sent it to Moorefield by one of the young ladies, but 

 the jeweler said it was utterly ruined. We spent the night with a 

 Air. Harper, where we had good beds. 



The next day was a red-letter day in our fishing calendar. We 

 started down '.he river about (i o'clock, working our way down as 

 follows: I took the canoe first and lan down the river perhaps half 

 a mile, where I drew her up on the bank, leaving John to fish his 

 way down to her. I then took to the water where I left the canoe, 

 and fished down. When John reached where I had left the canoe he 

 took her and ran down past me, leaving her just as T had done, for 

 me to pick up. When 1 first stopped it was at the head of a long 

 rime that looked promising, and I soon found lhad not been deceived 

 by its appearance. The bass were there and they wanted my flies. 

 How they did rise. When John passed me 1 had to stop him and 

 empty my creel into the canoe, as it would not hold another fish. I 

 had o"n a sunbeam and a Seth-Green. The bass bit so furiously that 

 it was next to iihpo?sit>le to get out a long cast : they v. ould rise and 

 take the flies almost at your feet. I caught numerous doubles, but 

 found the sunbeam was the favorite fly. When I picked up the 

 canoe 1 found John had emptied his creel, and 1 bad to empty mine 

 for the second lime. We made a landing at 11 o'clock, hung up some 

 of our clothes that were not perfet tly dry, built a fire, made tea. and 

 cooked a couple of bass. After resting quite a while we counted our 

 bass, and found we had seventy-five, most of them of about a pound 

 and a quarter m weight, but quite a number going up to two pounds. 

 We have fished together the South Branch of the Potomac, the Big 

 Potomac, the north and south branches of the Shenandoah, and the 

 Gauley rivers, but never did we have such fishing as we had that 

 morning. 



The problem that presented itself to us now was how to get rid of 

 the fish, as we had never wasted one on any of our trips. We re- 

 solved not to fish any more that day. hut cculd not resist tne tempta- 

 tion of making a cast now and then over some of the extremely likely 

 looking places we passed, but as sure as we did there was a response 

 from below and we had to land another good bass. Seeing a small 

 house on ihe river bank I hailed and was answered by a native. 1 

 asked him if he wanted any bass, to which he replied '-How do yousell 

 them'" We gave him to understand that we were not peddling fish, 

 which brought him to the bank in double quick. He said his family 

 fonelsttvl pf.oply hJmseW, bjs old woman,, and his daughter. The let- 



ter he called and sbe came with a pau for the fish. She proved to be 

 a perfect picture of rustic beauty, bad a sweet lovely face, and retir- 

 ing modest manuers. Like Whittier's Maud Muller. 



A form more fair, a face more sweet 



Ne'er hath it been my lot to meet; 



"And her modest answer aud graceful air 



Show her wise and good as she is fair." 



She took the fish and presently appeared again with a basket of fine 

 June apples which we appreciated very much, 



Another native now appeared on the scene, and said he bad a very 

 large family, so we gave him thirty bass. A little way below we saw 

 an old colored man standing in the water up to his w aist trying to 

 reach with bis line a particularly good looking hole. He said he had 

 been fishing all day but had only caught four smalt ones. We made 

 a landing and gave him ten. Soon after this we came to a point near 

 Moorfield. our approach being heralded by four young misses who 

 were wading on a sand bar. We no sooner came in sight then they 

 commenced shouting "Here come Mr. R. and Mr. S." evidently our 

 arrival about, this time had been predicted by our fair pic nic friends 

 of the day before. John went up to the town to see about the watch, 

 while I hauled the boat out and spread every thing out to dry. A 

 branch of the river comes in here, and where the two come together 

 was such a likely looking place that I could not resist the temptation 

 of trying a few casts. In about five minutes I had seven fine bass, 

 over a pound and a half each. I found they were so thick that I 

 stopped casting, and gave the seven bass to the little girls, who left 

 for home as happy as queens. 



After leaving this place we kept steadily on, as we had several 

 miles to make to our next stopping place and most of the way was 

 through dead water. Our objective point was the toll bridge below 

 Moorefield. We had crossed it in going up, and as the toll gatherer 



of fish in the "Trough," aud could have causht any quantity; but we 

 were anxious to get through, as we did not know what, was before us 

 in the way of dangerous navigation. Besides, the sky had become 

 overcast and ihe thunder was muttering way back in the moun'ains. 

 We stoppen at the log cabin for dinner, which consisted of fried bass, 

 Albert biscuit and tea. 



After diuner we made all the speed we could, as it had commenced 

 raining and we wanted to get through bv daylight. W T e ran into some 

 very deep water, so deep that it was a beautiful blue color, and saw 

 three men fishing from the rocks, who told us that we were about 

 through the "Trough, " and that Mr. J. D. Miller's, where we expected 

 to stop, was about a mile below. They said the water where we were 

 was over 30ft. deep. Our trip through was most delightful, the navi- 

 gation being far better than most of the river, and all the Munchausen 

 tales about the dangers and terrors were either imaginings of the 

 fertile brains of those who have never been through, or were told us 

 for the purpose of seeing if we could not be frightened into giving up 

 the trip. We soon found Mr. Miller's landing, as there were two 

 gentlemen from Pittsburgh stopping there, and who we met on our 

 way up on the train. They were on the shore fishing, and were very 

 much surprised to see us, for when they left Romney we had not 

 1 nought of going above, but expected to commence our trip there. 

 Mrs. Miller gave us a good supper and a comfortable bed, and we 

 were soon snoring away, much to the disgust of John. 



The next morning I got up early, took my rod and thought I 

 would try a cast or two near the house before breakfast. When I 

 caught sight of the river I was astonished and disgusted to find it 

 was up about four feet, and the color of molasses taffy. We knew 

 from experience it would not clear up for a week, and it being Sat- 

 urday we were very anxious to get back to Baltimore. We carried 

 the canoe up to Mr, Miller's barn and put her bottom up on some 

 poles over on the wagon shed. We then hired the enly vehicle to be 



DESIGN FOR CANOE OF 3B-IN. BEAM. 



came out and we had a good look at him we made up our miuds we 

 could uot stop there, for he was as dirty a specimen of humanity as 

 I ever saw. But there was no help for it now, there was no other 

 place within miles and we did not care to sleep out as we had no 

 tent and the shores are not favorable for camping. 



We determined to make the best of it, and were never more agree- 

 ably sin prised in our lives. We sat down to a splendid supper con- 

 sisting of nice light white biscuits, honey, preserves, stewed fruit, 

 delicious pies and good coffee with cream. The woman of the house 

 prided herself on her cooking, and said "My folks won't have noth- 

 ing but good cookery," and they certainly got it. I told her I bad 

 heard that she was the best cook on the river, which pleased her 

 immensely; this was true, for one of the young ladies said she was a 

 fine cook. 



On the next day was to occur the event of the trip, running through 

 the "Trough." We had heard so many different accounts in regard 

 to it that we hardly knew what to expect. Some said the trip 

 through was perilous in the extreme: others said it was easy. One 

 man said there was a terrible fall aud rapid half wav through. An- 

 other said we would be swept out of tne boat by overhanging 

 branches. Our detective friend assured us that the passage was not 

 more difficult than the rest of the river. .At any rate we had made 

 up our minds to try it, knowing that others had" gone through with- 

 out mishap. The "Trough" is so called because the mountains on 

 each side of the river come right down to tne shore, making a gorge 

 that there is no way out of for seven miles except Ov the river. We 

 soon arrived at the head and found that there all the ^ater of the 

 river was confined in a narrow channel of not over 20ft., which 

 caused a fearful rush over a very a very rocky bottom, ending with 

 a leap of 4 or oft,, then another frightful rapid* of about 50ft, to quiet 

 water. 



I fastened along line to the canoe and let her gently down through 

 this seething, boiling rapid, crawling myself along Ihe edge, which 

 had to be done with much caution, for a misstep would have given 

 me a good ducking, if not something more serious. Once below this 

 dangerous place the river became quiet and deep, and the beauties of 

 the place began to dawn on us. Looking ahead, it seemed as it the 

 river eutered some vast cavern and was lost to view. On either side 

 towered the mountains. In manv places the walls of rock ran up 

 sheer for hundreds of feet. Again the sides would be broken into 

 terraces that reached step by step to the mountain top Immense 

 boulders that had detached themselves from the cliffs were strewn 

 along the bed of the stream. Tne mountains were thickly covered 

 with splendid trees— black walnut, cherry, beech , sycamore", hickory, 

 oak and other varieties. In many places the river ran through a 

 veritable trough hewn out by nature, having sides perfectly perpen- 

 dicular and a smooth bottom, the water being 6 to Oft-, deep Half 

 way through some one has built a )og cabin (which is not occupied) 

 on tbo only piece of ground in the whole seven miles that is large 



enough io build on; that Is, above h»gh mor UPflrfe We (wigbt Jots 



had, a bark wagon, to take us ihe thirteen miles to Romney. so we 

 could catch the train for Green Spring and connect with the B. & O. 

 R. R. W T e will never forget that ride, the roads were abominable, 

 and 1 he wagon had no springs. It rained in torrents, and although 

 we weie provided with rubber coats and had on our wading togs, we 

 were very uncomfortable. We arrived in Romney in time to change 

 our clothes, get dinner and catch the train. We arrived in Baltimore 

 at 10:30 P. M., and I arrived at my home at Mt. Washington, a subur- 

 ban town, at 12 M , tired out. 



As regards cur canoe she was a second grade Acme 12ft. boat and 

 cost us $20. We were very much pleased with her. found her stiff 

 and strong, withstanding ad the hard knocks she got without injury 

 except in the one instance mentioned. We fully expect to continue 

 our trip from Mr. Miller's nest summer and finish up the rest of the 

 South Branch. 



Before closing 1 want to .give your readers a description of my wad- 

 ing rig, which 1 think is about as comfortable as any thing I have yet 

 seen described in your valuable paper. I wear very long thick yarn 

 stockings that come half way up my thigh. These I had an old Ger- 

 man woman knit for me, three pairs, they cost one dollar and a half 

 a pair. I have knee breeches made from old thick winter trousers. 

 I get my tailor to cut and fit them at the knee, so that they will but- 

 ton snug just below the knee. The stockings are held up by suspender 

 garters that hook over a button sewed on the inside of the waist band 

 ol the trousers. I wear good strong large leather shoes laced, with 

 the tongue sewed on both sides so that no sand can get in, soles well 

 covered with hob naila and keep them saturated with castor oil. A 

 flannel shirt, gray felt hat, and suspenders complete the rig. I have 

 waded for years in this costume, never took cold, and always feel 

 warm leaving the water. I geneially carry a gossamer rubber cape 

 if t here is any appearance of rain to put on over my shoulders, for I 

 hare found if you can keep your shoulders and back dry it adds much 

 to your comfort. Edward A. Bobinson. 



A WIDE CRUISING CANOE. 



WE take from the Field the accompanying design for a wide 

 canoe, by Mr. E. T. Holding. She is thus described by bim: 

 The canoe is 16ft. long, 3ft. beam, 13in. from gunwale to keel, and 

 carrying sail area for cruising of not more than 80ft. Such a boat, 

 fitted with centerboard, drop rudder, and sails, apart from camping 

 gear, would not be of greater weight than a couple of men could 

 easily carry for a short portage, and would with a double crew be in- 

 finitely more comfortable and drier than the 30m. beam. In her 

 could be stowed with ease and dryness a tent and outside sheet for 

 the same, tent poles, pegs, ground sheet for the tent, complete 

 quango of clothes, blankets, sleeping bags, towels, provender, and 

 cooking men lis for a couple of men. These things, together with 

 sketching, fishing, and shooting gear, I have been in the habit of 



pfltryipg in fj. iffft, by p$, panne w}tf\ my HtWe ^ereroyrtliuf •, unci 



