840 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 9, 1893. 



shed, but the new ones were already jutting forth. The 

 dogs were set to nip the moose in the Tear, driving it to- 

 ward a tree. Hunter Sellick creeping around, suddenly 

 threw his lasso around the animal's head, twisted the 

 rope around a tree and had his prize a prisoner. It is 

 comparatively easy for the successful hunter to bring 

 home a dead moose as the spoils of his sport, but not so 

 easy a live one. The days of patience exercised before it 

 was safe to attempt to proceed may be imagined. Travel- 

 ing was at first slow. It took five weeks climbing over 

 the bald hills, wading the morasses, or fording the rivers 

 which marked the thirty miles distance between the 

 scene of the capture and the first settlement. The plucky 

 hunter at times had to employ a catamaran to cross the 

 streams, with the moose swimming behind. Finally he 

 reached the Intercolonial and took a box car, which was 

 just high enough to permit the moose to be taken in. — 

 Moncton (N. B.) Transcript. 



"That reminds me." 



rcopY.i 



Dear Sir: In accordance with your instruction I 

 secured yesterday a fine specimen of pond pickerel 

 (Pondus ptekeriUvus americanus). This fish must be of 

 the species above named, for his habitat was in a pond 

 located on the southwest side of Potter Creek. I took 

 him with a lead sinker pro jected from old "Plumadore," 

 .44cal. This fish was about 24in. in length and of a gray- 

 ish color, resembling a milk-snake (Lachis serpentimis 

 begosh), dark on the back. His antennae were spirated 

 and the dorsal fin truncated at the inner lobe of the cere- 

 bro spinal meningitis. The head and jaws are about the 

 size of a stone, and the mouth was furnished with many 

 teeth of a frightful nature. The northeast front fin was 

 damaged somewhat on the left side, and on dissection I 

 found that the lower cordum erysipelas was not attached, 

 as claimed by German scientists, to the lumbago taxider- 

 mist vertebrae. This specimen was about ready to set, 

 judging from the eggs contained therein. The meat is 

 of a white color, firm and pleasing to the palate. I hope 

 to secure specimens of the Pickerillus grassycuss soon 

 and report on the different structure of the lex talionis 

 and e pluribus unum aqua f ortis. 



Respectfully submitted. 



ROD AND GUN AND CAMERA. 



As a recognition of the important place of amateur photography 

 in its relation to sports of the held and prairie and mountain and 

 forest and stream, the Forest and Stream offers a series of 

 prizes for meritorious work with the camera. The conditions 

 under whicn these prizes will he given are in hrief as here set 

 forth: 



There will he ten prizes, as follows: First $35. Second 830 

 Third $15. Fourth $10. Six of $5 each. 



The competition will be open to amateurs only. 



The subjects must relate to Forest and Stream's field— game 

 and fish (alive or dead), shooting and fishing, the camp, campers 

 and camp life, sportsman travel by land or water. 



There is no restriction as to the time when the pictures may 

 have been or may be made— whether in 1893 or in previous years. 



Pictures will be received up to Dec. 31, of this year. 



All work must be original; that is to say, it must not have been 

 submitted in any other competition, nor have been published. 



There are no restrictions as to make or style of camera, nor as 

 to size of plate. 



A competitor need not be a subscriber of Forest and Stream. 



All photographs will be submitteed to a committee, shortly to 

 be announced. In making their awards the judges will be in- 

 structed to take into consideration the technical merits of the 

 work as a photograph, its artistic qualities; and other things 

 being equal, the unique and difficult nature of the subject. 



Photographs must be marked only with initials or a pseudonym 

 for identification. With each photograph should be given name 

 of sender, title of view, locality, date, and name of camera. 



The photographs shall be the property of the Forest and 

 Stream. This applies only to the particular prints tent us. 



From time to time we shall reproduce by the half-tone process 

 samples of the work submitted, and should the interest in 

 Forest and Stream's Amateur Photography Collection prove 

 to be what is anticipated, we may ask for an expression of opinion 

 by a yote of all our readers after the manner of the successful 

 and famous "Camp-Fire Flickering Vote." Such popular vote 

 will be quite distinct from the award by the committee. 



NEW YORK GAME LAW. 



Tlie full text of the new law has been put 

 into type toy the Forest and Stream JPutolishingr 

 Co., and is now ready. Price, 25 cents per copy. 



A. special edition has been prepared for the 

 use of clubs and associations, who may order 

 in lots of 100 or more. These will be supplied 

 at a nominal price. "Write for terms, stating 

 the number wanted. 



The Publisher's Corner. 



Pays Ten Times Over Any Other. 



Fulton Pleasure Boat Co.. Manufacturers of Row and Sail 

 Boats, Canoes, Steam and Electric Launches, Yachts, etc., Light 

 Weight Hunting Boats, Dealers Oars, Paddles and Boat Trim- 

 mings, Fulton, N. Y., June 1, 1893.— Forest and Stream Pub. Co.; 

 Gentlemen— We have to say in regard to the value of an ad. in 

 the Forest and Stream, our experience this year has been that 

 for the money invested we have received ten times the benefit we 

 have from any other source of advertising. Yours truly, Fulton 

 Pleasure Boat Comp any. 



Every Sportsman Should Have a Roll. 



A Chicago man recently saved his life by carrying a roll of one- 

 hundred-dollar bills inside his vest when a bullet came that way. 

 Yet there are people who neglect so simple a precaution.— St. Paul 

 Globe. 



Sportsmen Have to be Polite. 



It is a test of politeness for a man to listen with interest to 

 things he knows all about, when thev are being told by a person 

 who knows nothing about them.— Boston Bulletin. 



The "Christian Union" Outing Number. 



TflEJnne4 issue of the Cliristian Union is its annual summer 

 "outing number," devoted largely to travel, and outdoor life and 

 recreation; and a very attractive number it is. 



mfd §iv$r fishing. 



Trout and Bass Fishing. 

 We have secured, for the private information of the readers of 

 Forest and Stream, knowledge of a number of streams and 

 lakes easily accessible from this city, where we believe that good 

 fishing for trout and black bass may be had. The information 

 we shall be glad to furnish without charge to any reader of Forest 

 and Stream who will apply for it, either personally or by letter. 



EARLY HISTORY OF THE FISHERIES 

 ON THE GREAT LAKES. 



[A paper read before the American Fisheries Society.] 



Stretching away to the northward from the low 

 Laurentian hills of New York to the trap-rock cliffs of 

 Minnesota, for a distance of sixteen hundred miles, in a 

 hydrographic basin embracing an area of one hundred 

 and seventy-five thousand square miles, lie the Great 

 Lakes of the Northwest, the largest bodies of fresh water 

 upon the globe. Upon their bosoms float vast fleets which 

 carry the rich products of prairie, forest and mine, while 

 from their depths the fisherman gathers the rich bounties 

 that nature has provided for the sustenance of man. 



The vessels which constantly pass and repass are not 

 freighted with ores from the mines of Golconda nor with 

 spices from Far Cathay, but carry lumber from Saginaw, 

 iron from Escanaba, copper from Hancock, grain from 

 Duluth, provisions from Chicago, and cereals from the 

 vast prairie lands of the Dakotas. 



Since the early days of the French occupation of the 

 Northwest, when the lilies of France waved over all the 

 territory lying north of the St. Lawrence and Ohio and 

 west of the Alleghanies, these lakes have been the great 

 highway of intercommunication between the East and 

 West. The Jesuit missionary filled with holy zeal de- 

 parted from Montreal, the seat of French power in 

 America, in his bark canoe, manned by his Indian con- 

 verts, for the trackless wilds of the far West to raise the 

 cross and establish his feeble mission among savage 

 tribes. 



Following him came the fur trader with his canoe and 

 courrier du bois, who day after day traversed these lakes 

 and their connecting rivers to reach some specially 

 designated place where he might exchange his tawdry- 

 gewgaws, beads and cheap merchandise with the Indian 

 for the valuable skins of beaver and otter. 



The cavalier, explorer and adventurer traveled over 

 their trackless wastes of water, enduring hardship and 

 fatigue, living upon the bounties of nature, pushing his 

 way to what he hoped would be a discovery of a path to 

 the Indies, fortune and fame. Each of these in his own 

 way has left testimony of the bountiful way in which 

 nature had stocked these waters with desirable food, and 

 the belief of all concurred that there was an unfailing 

 supply for man for all time, to be had for the taking. 



The habits of the tribes bordering these lakes whose 

 main reliance for food was upon the fishes that inhabited 

 them, had caused them to resort to certain favorable 

 localities upon the lakes at the proper season of the year 

 to take fish for present wants and for future use. In time 

 these points became their chief dwelling places for the 

 greater portion of the year, and with the advent of the 

 fur trader they becamethe principal places of barter. 



Such localities as the Straits of Mackinaw, Sault Ste. 

 Marie, Green Bay, Chequamegon, Detroit and Chicago 

 became thus early known, and the history of these places 

 as told by the early traveler shows that nature seemed to 

 have lavished her bounties upon aboriginal man in the 

 stocking of her waters with the most edible of fishes to 

 provide~for his wants. 



Let us call a few of the earlier voyagers to give their 

 testimony upon the abundance of fish in these waters, 



Hennepin says in his Travels in 1675: "There is a very 

 abundant fishery of several kinds of fish at the mouth of 

 the Niagara River, among which is the whitefish, admir- 

 ably good, with which you might supply one of the best 

 cities of Europe. 



"At Mackinaw the Griffin lay in the harbor amid one 

 hundred and twenty canoes coming and going from 

 taking the whitefish, which the Indians catch in nets in 

 from fifteen to twenty fathoms of water, and without 

 which they could not subsist at all. 



"At the Sault the Indians subsist by hunting stags, 

 moose or elk and some beaver, and by the whitefish which 

 is very good and is found in great abundance, but this fish 

 is very difficult to take to all but these Indians, who are 

 trained to it from childhood." 



He says, on his return from his first voyage up the 

 lakes, and after the loss of the Griffin: ' On reaching 

 Lake Conti (Lake Erie), near the mouth of the Detroit 

 Eiver, the soldiers who were in canoes killed with 

 their swords and with their axes more than thirty stur- 

 geons which came to spawn on the banks of the lake." 



Charlevoix, in his voyage to North America, 1721, in 

 speaking of Lake St. Clair, the smallest lake of the chain 

 which lies between Lake Erie and Lake Huron: "The 

 islands in the river seemed placed on purpose for the 

 pleasure of the prospect, and the river and the lake 

 abound in fish. Were it not for the Hurons at Detroit 

 the other tribes of Indians would starve. This is in the 

 flat lands thereabout which would furnish them sufficient 

 subsistence though it were cultivated ever so little, but 

 they can subsist upon the fish of the river which are 

 plentiful. We entered the Lake Huron where we soon 

 had the pleasure of fishing for sturgeon." 



Speaking of Lake Superior, he said: "The Indians 

 from gratitude for the plentiful fish with which this lake 

 supplies them, and from the respect which its vast extent 

 inspires, have made a sort of divinity of it." Speaking 

 of Michillimackinas, he says: "The Indians live entirely 

 by fishing, and there is perhaps no place in the world 

 where they are in greater plenty. The most common 

 sort of fish in the three lakes which discharge themselves 

 into these straits are the herring, the carp, the goldfish, 

 the pike, the sturgeon, the attikumaig or whitefish, and 

 especially the trout. There are three sorts of these 

 taken, among which is one of monstrous size, and in 

 so great quantities that the Indian with his spear will 

 strike to the number of fifty sometimes in the space of 

 three hours, but the most famous of all is the whitefish, 

 and nothing of the fish kind can exceed it." 



In Bpeaking of his trip from Mackinaw to Green Bay 

 he savs: "We coasted the north shore of the Straits of 



Mackinaw and finally came to the Manistique River, 

 which is a beautiful stream abounding in fish, especially 

 the sturgeon." 



Capt. John Carver, of the Provincial troops of 

 America, in his three years' travels^throughoutthe inte- 

 rior parts of North America says: "Lake Superior 

 abounds with a variety of fish. The principal and best are 

 the trout and sturgeon, which maybe caught at all times 

 in the season in the greatest abundance. The trout in 

 general weigh about 121bs., but some are caught that 

 exceed 50. Besides this a species of whitefish is taken in 

 great quantities here that resemble a shad^in their shape, 

 but they are rather thicker and less bony. They are about 

 4lbs. each in weight and are of a delicious taste. The 

 best way of catching this fish is with a net, but the trout 

 might be taken at all times with the hook. There are 

 likewise many sorts of smaller fish in great plenty here, 

 and which may be taken with ease. Among these is a 

 sort resembling the herring that are generally made use 

 of as a bait for the trout." 



Speaking of the falls of Ste. Marie, he says: "Nature 

 has formed a most commodious station for catching the 

 fish which are to be found here in immense quantities. 

 Persons standing on the rocks that are adjacent to it 

 may take with dipping nets about the months of Septem- 

 ber and October, the whitefish before mentioned at that 

 season, together with several other species. They crowd 

 up to this spot in such amazing shoals that enough may 

 be taken to supply,when properly cured, those inhabitants 

 throughout the year. The fish of Lake Huron are much 

 the same as those in Lake Superior." 



Carver arrived at Mackinaw at the beginning of No- 

 vember, 1767, after having been to the Mississippi River 

 and up that stream as far as the Falls of St. Anthony. 

 He says: "We passed the winter very pleasantly at the 

 Straits of Mackinaw. One of their amusements at this 

 time was to fish through the ice for trout. Though the 

 Straits were covered with ice we found means to make 

 holes through it, and letting down a strong line fifteen 

 yards in length to which we fixed three or four hooks 

 baited with the small fish before described, we frequently 

 caught two at a time of forty pounds weight each, but 

 the common size is from ten to twenty pounds. The 

 method of preserving them during the three months the 

 winter generally lasts, is by hanging them up in the air, 

 and in one night they will be frozen so hard that they 

 will keep as well as though they were cured by salt." 



This may properly be considered as the first authentic 

 notice of preserving fish by the freezing process, and 

 while it is crude it still was as effective as the work now 

 done by the immense freezers found in almost every im- 

 portant town on the lakes. 



George Heriot, Deputy Postmaster General of British 

 North America, in his book of travels published in 1807, 

 says of Mackinaw that the Indians of that locality "catch 

 herring, whitefish and trout, the trout being from four to 

 live feet in length, some of which are seventy pounds in 

 weight. This fish is bred in Lake Michigan and is known 

 by the name of Mackinaw trout, and affords a most de- 

 licious food." Of Green Bay he says: "There is a village 

 composed of natives at the mouth of this river who em- 

 ploy themselves in fishing." 



At the Sault Ste. Marie, "At the bottom of the rapids 

 and among their billows which foam with ceaseless im- 

 petuosity innumerable quantities of excellent fish may 

 be taken from the spring until winter. The species 

 which is found in great abundance is denominated by 

 the savages attikumaig or whitefish. The Mackinaw 

 trout and pickerel are likewise caught here. These afford 

 a principal means of subsistence to a number of the 

 native tribes." 



He also speaks of the method of taking the whitefish at 

 this place in the rapids at the foot of the falls, which 

 singularly enough is followed by the Indians to this day, 

 and from its peculiarity deserves special mention. I give 

 his own words: 



"No small degree of address as well as strength is em- 

 ployed by these savages in catching these fish. They 

 stand in an erect attitude in a birch canoe, and even amid 

 the billows they push with force to the bottom of the 

 waters a long pole, at the end of which is fixed a hoop 

 with a net in the form of a bag, into which the fish is 

 constrained to enter. They watch it with the eye when 

 it glides among the rocks, quickly ensnaring it and drag- 

 ging it into the canoe. In conducting this fining much 

 practice is required, as an inexperienced person may, by 

 the efforts which he is obliged to make, overset the canoe 

 and inevitably perish. The convenience of having fish 

 in such abundance attracts to this situation during the 

 summer several neighboring tribes, who are all of an 

 erratic disposition and too indolent for the toils of hus- 

 bandry. They therefore support themselves by the chase 

 in winter and by fishing in the summer. 



"The Otter Nation inhabit the rocky caverns on Lake 

 Huron, where they are sheltered by a labyrinth of islands 

 and capes. They subsist on Indian corn and fish and the 

 proceeds of the chase. While the women and children 

 collect berries the men are occupied in darting stur- 

 geon." 



Mr. Henry R. Schoolcraft from the time of the estab- 

 lishment of the military post at Sault Ste. Marie was the 

 United States Indian Agent at this point. He was a man 

 of culture and literary ability, and one of the most pro- 

 lific contributors to the literature concerning the habits, 

 characteristics and language of the North American 

 Indians. He says of the whitefishing at the Sault in 

 1820: 



"No place in America has been so justly celebrated as 

 a locality for taking this really fine and delicate fish as 

 St. Marie's Falls. This fish resorts here in great numbers, 

 and is in season after the autumnal equinox, and con- 

 tinues so until the ice begins to run. It is worthy the atten- 

 tion of ichthyologists. It is a remarkable but not singular 

 fact in its natural history, that it is perpetually found in 

 the attitude of ascending at these falls. It is taken only 

 in the swift water at the foot of the last leap or descent. 

 Into this swift water the Indians push their canoes. It 

 requires great skill and dexterity for this. The fishing 

 canoe is of small size and is steered by the man in the 

 stern. The fisherman takes his stand in the bow, some- 

 times bestriding the vessel, having a scap net in his hand. 

 This net is made of strong twine, open at the top like an 

 entomologist's. When the canoe has been run into the 

 uppermost rapids and a school of fish is seen below or 

 alongside, he dextrously puts down his net and having 

 swooped upon a number of fish instantly reverses it in the 

 water, whips it up and discharges its contents into the 



