Nov. 5, 1891.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



318 



THE DAMS OF THE KANKAKEE. 



HOLYOKE, Mms.— Editor Forest and Stream: In 

 yuur issue of Oct. 2-i there is a letter from E. 

 Hough concernii3g fish ways on the Kankakee. He writes 

 of the Upper and Lowpr Dams in Wilmington and cries 

 "Speed the day wbtn they are taken up." As I had the 

 honor of building those dams and the connecting canal, 

 and spent some sixteen years along the banks of that 

 river, and certainly caught my share of bass and pike 

 perch Avhcn I was therp, I feel that I know as much 

 about that river as Mr. Hough concerning the obstruc- 

 tions to the movement of fish from the Illinoia to the 

 Kaiikf lTee marshes. 



The Upper D.im has a fall of loft, and not 17ft. and I 

 have seen bass ascend even that dam in high water. Mr. 

 Hough says that these dams have no mills upon them and 

 are kept up now for speculative purposes. He ussd his 

 eyes to little purpose when he was there, for the second 

 dam supplies power to the electric light works, to the 

 White Cloud Flour Mills, to machine and wagon shops, 

 and to a large paper mill. Negotiations are now pro- 

 gressing for sale of power at the upper dam, and when 

 so used employment will be furnished to thousands; and 

 surely the general public will derive more benefit from 

 such development of new industries than it can from the 

 oatcliing of a few fish by anglers at Kankakee or 

 Mom'-nce. 



Now I would ask of the Forest and Stream what is to 

 be gained by the erection of the fish ways at these dams so 

 loner R8 Chicago pours its sewage down the Des Plaines 

 and Illinoie? How far do bass and pike and pike-werch 

 migrate? Do they descend the river any lower than the 

 deep pools wherein they winter? Will not these fish 

 spawn just as freely at the head of each reach or pond as 

 though they ascended to the headwaters? If they do get 

 safely through ail these fishways and ascend to the Indi- 

 ana marshes: and if no Illinois angler can fish within half 

 a mile of these dams, when will the Illinois man get his 

 inuiugk? Must he wait until a few fish that have not 

 been caught in Indiana are whirled over these dams to 

 the rocks below? 



We have an expensive fishway here in Holyoke, built 

 by us some years ago at a cost of $30,0l0, and so far as is 

 known no shad nor Faltnon has evrr yet got to the top of 

 the stairs. We have the black bass,. but he does not 

 ascend the way either. Nothing but eels care to go up. 

 The fishways on the Kankakee dams will prove as useless 

 as the one here. Fish are scarce at Momence, not on 

 account of the dams below, but solely for the reason that 

 there pre ten fishers where there was one twenty years 

 ago. For ten years after the large dam was built the 

 fishing ten miles above was better than was ever before 

 known, and evm now, notwithstanding the number of 

 the fishermen, there are more fish than were there before 

 that dam was built, the reason being that the deep and 

 long pool caused by that dam increases the number of 

 the spawning beds, and secures safe retreats during the 

 winter and furnishes more room for the smaller fish, 

 which are the natural food of the game fishes. Let these 

 dams remain. Put up more rather than d<^stroy the 

 present ones. E. S. Waters. 



THE BAY OF QUINTE SEASON. 



BELLEVILLE, Out., Oct. 26.— The angling season, 

 which is virtually closed here, has been a fairly 

 sxiccessful one, Black bass were more than usually 

 numerous, as also were pickerel (doie), many of which 

 ranging up to S^lbs. were taken, but maskinonge were 

 scarce, although more numerous than last year. A 

 numerous party of Americans, chiefly from Newark, 

 N, J , including Mayor Huahes,'of that city, and Mr. G. 

 W Snyder, of Peck & Snyder, New York, were among 

 the Litest visitors to our Bay, and had, I understand, 

 good sport among the bass. 



The largest whiteflsh ever caught in these waters was 

 taken in a seine last week at Point Ann, near the city. 

 It weiglied Olbs. l-.z., which I can verify, having seen it 

 weighed. 



At Hay Bay, which is a favorite fishing ground for 

 maskinonge, the sport is still being prosecuted, and with 

 good i-uccess, as is narrated in the following extract from 

 the Ndpanee Beaver of Saturday last: "Mr. Wellington 

 L-iys-, who was in town on Tuesday, states that at 

 present the maskinonge is unusually plentiful, and that 

 General Davies, of New York, and his nephew, Mr. David 

 Clark, of Ogdensburg, had caught fourteen in the past 

 seven days. On Tuesday the General and Clark caught 

 one weighing Solbs. This large fish was hooked in the 

 side, but by some means the line had became wound 

 about his gills and he was captured after a hard fight. 

 The General in September last succeeded in catching 

 eleven in nine days. He is 82 years old, and for the past 

 aeven_ years has made one and two visits a year to this his 

 favorice resort. Although an octogenarian, he is as active 

 as a man of 65, and bids fair to enioy many seasons yet 

 at Hay Bay." 



The deer hunting season opened on the 15th, and the 

 parties vsho went out early are now returning. The 

 records so far reported are: 10, 4, 3, 1, 0. Several parties 

 are yet to be heard from. 



Small game, such as duckf, ruffed grouse, plover, 

 snipe, black and gray squirrels, have been more pl*^ntiful 

 than nsual. R. g. b. 



LONG LAKE FISHING. 



FROM a body cf water yielding but a minimum of food 

 fish. Long Lake, in the northern part of Cumberland 

 county, Maine, is developing into as good an all-round 

 fishing region as one can ask for. For nearly ten years 

 it has afforded excellent bass fishing, no very large fish, 

 but plenty weighing up to Sflbs., and this feature has 

 add^d materially to the number of summer boarders 

 seeking the iocility. In 1881 "fifty odd" white perch 

 were introduced from Winthrop Pond in Leeds; they 

 have thriven beyond all expectation and a catch of 75 to 

 150 from the steamboat wharf at North Bridgton is no 

 unusual (ircurrence. They will bite anything from a bare 

 hook to live bait or fl.ies, and afford rare sport for those 

 who do not care to battle with more gamy fish. From 

 ea.rliest history the lake has always contained landlocked 

 SHlmon, but they had become so depleted and demoralized 

 by spearing that it looked as if their total extinction was 

 but a matter of time. After a while a new sentiment 

 sprang up and an attempt to restock was made; many 

 thousands of young fry were turned into tbe tributaries 



and flourished exceedingly well until they gr>t to be 6 or 

 7in. long, and then they fell prey to the brook fishers, who 

 either mistook them for speckled ti out or caught them 

 for what they really were without even giving thanks to 

 tho'^e whose efforts they were upsetting. Finally it was 

 decided to get. Cr-rtain brooks set Hsidft for restocking pur- 

 poses, and all fishing in them prohibited. Such an act 

 was accordingly passed by the Legislature about three 

 years ago, and the results have been very gratifying; for 

 instance, during a certain week in September last anglers 

 fishing oflF the mouth of Rogers Brook (one of the closed 

 streams) caught five "lanrtlocks" weighing from lib. to 

 51bs., and two "red spots" weighing lib. and lib. 9oz. 

 respectively— probably as many as have been taken in 

 Long Lake with hook and line in twenty years before, so 

 really it looks as if the way to restock this lake is to place 

 a perpptital close time on its feeding streams. 



On Crooked River the Commissionf^rs are again operat- 

 ing their weir and have already 300 or more fine land- 

 locked salmon awaiting the time when they will be 

 delivered of their spawn. The great mass of the fish 

 have been kept back by exceedingly low water. It is said 

 the river is full of them and if there should come a few 

 heavy rains probably the catch will be unusually large. 



North Beidqton, Me. J. 0. Mead. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



lOoncMded from payc :37U.] 



AT Kelly's is located the Moire Antique Club, of Cin- 

 cinnati, eighty-four members strong, president, W, 

 H. Hughes, Chief of the Cincinnati Fire Departuaent, a 

 rugged but pure diamond of a man. As to how the 

 Moire Antique Club got its name, that is another story, 

 but as a club it is a corker. To get at this cosy fishing 

 house tbe members have to travel all the way from Cin- 

 cinnati to Chicago and then ^own again this far. Such 

 is the fame of the Kankakee. Just now the jolly crowd 

 on hand were not having much luck, but they were not 

 troubled by that fact, and slept of nights and fished of 

 days just the same. A good old club is the Moire Antique, 

 though only four years of age. It is built of the frag- 

 ments of the old Star Club, of Aroma. In its constitu- 

 tion there is embodied a clause which makes the club 

 also a benevolent institution, and it is found that these 

 slight monthly dues serve to hold the club together. A 

 meeting is held the first Friday of each month. The 

 House Rules of the Moire Antique Club are simple, and 

 insist only that no gentleman shall throw bones under 

 the table or step on the tail of the club cat, An ofBcer 

 of the day is appointed regularly, and it is his duty to 

 clean the fish. Any member doing illegal fishing is fined 

 .|o. (Why not expelled?) I am promised further acquain- 

 ance of this genial lot of men, and only wish 1 could 

 take space to write more fully of the club here. 



And so for Kelly's. Hey for Kelly's! Would we 

 could all live at Kelly's, where the river talks among the 

 recks. At Kelly's, with careful Mrs. K^Uy and Kelly 

 himself, the two grown-up daughters K'-lly and Essie 

 Kelly and Baby Kelly and Kelly's chickens, Mr, Cole 

 and I would fain have lingered. But not a minute even 

 for fishing. It was evening when we got in, and the 

 next morning we left, taking our boat by wagon to 

 Lorenzo, the local station on the A. T. & S. F. Railway, 

 whereat one disembarks for Kelly's. Time was now 

 growing short, and we coulti not finish the trip by river. 

 We shipped our boat back by rail to Momence, and arc 

 gratified later to learn that we didn't altogether knock 

 the bottom out of it. 



Good-bye, then, to Kelly's, and a short run by rail up to 

 Joliet, along the Des Plaines, whose junction with the 

 Kankakee is only five miles below Lorenzo. At Joliet 

 we met a very lovable, genuine sportsman and angler, 

 who fishes at Kelly's and helps with money when the 

 warden needs it. With him we spent some moments all too 

 brief, and asked him to watch that fishway, and promised 

 to come down fly-fi'^hing next spring, Tiaen we took the 

 Rock Island train, 38 miles to Marseilles, where our last 

 dam is located. This is really on the Illinois River, but 

 is above the main breeding grounds, and so is essential to 

 be well provided witli a fishway. 



It was here that Buck had spoken of the way as all in 

 but the cover. Barring the sides, bottom and steps, we 

 found this description correct. The cut had been made, 

 deep down through the comb of the dam. and the slope 

 for the ladder was displayed. The cut was a good, deep, 

 honest one, not in the dry end of the dam, but over a pool 

 10ft, deep. We saw that this dam, the most important 

 on the stream, and the highest and hardest, barring Wil- 

 mington, would finally be supplied with a good and 

 durable fishway, and at this Mr, Cole gave a long and 

 hearty sigh of relief, for the trip had thus far been rather 

 an unsatisfactory revelation to him. 



We talked with Mr, Mclvor, the contractor in charge 

 of the repairs now going on upon Marseilles Dam, and 

 found him a thorough workman, and luckily, moreover, 

 of wide expprience in building fishways in Canada, where 

 they don't have our loose Yankee way of looking at fish 

 and game. Mr. Mclvor promised to put in the way here 

 within the week, as his lumber had now arrived, and we 

 left feeling satisfied that this would, indeed, be the best 

 wa;S^ on the stream when completed. Mr. Cole is to be 

 notified when it is done, and another trip wiU then be 

 made to make certainty certain. These fishways must 

 go in, and be absolutely known to be in. 



It was now dark on Saturday evening, but we concluded 

 to run on down to La Salle, and see something about the 

 Illinois Valley Association, the vigorous protective society 

 of which earlier mention has been made. Readers will 

 remember reports of work by Warden M. D. Green. It 

 was at the office of Warden Green that, after some search 

 and running around, there finally assembled the little 

 crowd which earnestly talked protection into the wee 

 small hours. Warden Green is known now as a bustler. 

 In Mr. H. L. Wattington, the association attorney, I think 

 I see a lawyer who knows some law, and in Mr. N. W. 

 Duncan there is distinguished the quiet and earnest man, 

 thoroughly and unselfishly interested, who is much to be 

 sought after in all thi*? sort of work. 



I can not stop to more than mention this good body of 

 workers. Membership 35, and it will grow. They aver- 

 age about one conviction to every member. They have 

 been successful in most of their work, and have oome out 

 boldly with the black flag, declaring that all seining, all 

 netting, all illegal fishing shall be stopped on the Illinois 

 River above the Copperas Creek Dam. They don't go on 

 the supposition that tUey may lose under that miserable 



corporate dam clause in Sec. 6 of the fish law, but on the 

 theoiy that they may win, and are going to win. Any- 

 how, they will fight, and so more power to them, for 

 men and not idlers. They have posted notices that they 

 will prosecute all netters and seiners, lin,, 2in., or any 

 other sort, found above the Copperas Creek Dam, and have 

 declared for a joined i^sue to test Sec. 6. Attorney General 

 Hunt, replying to Dr. Birtlett's letter, says that clause 

 will have to be tested in the upper courts, though he is 

 not clear that the sportsmen's interpretation of the law 

 will hold. It will have a chance to hold, or break, for the 

 Illinois Valley Association will go right on after all the 

 netters clear down to the big dam. If this be bad law, 

 make the most of it. It will tie up the seining, anyhow, 

 and meantime the pondering can go on just as well. Some 

 folks always have to hustle while the other fellows 

 ponder. 



Mr. Watlington was anxious to get the support of the 

 Chicago Swan Lake Club, whose grounds are not far 

 below La Salle, and promised to come up to Chicago, so 

 that he and I could go and see Mr. John Stockton, of that 

 club. I explained as best I could the relation of that club 

 to their clnb keepers, the notorious market-fishers, Frank 

 and Tim Woods. To this Warden Green listened with 

 more interest than conviction. He evidently did not like 

 the idea of market men for club keepers to sportsmen. 



One point of law I learned of Mr. Watlington that 

 evening, which was brought out in a damage case 

 brought against Warden Green. Ordinarily, the State 

 cannot take an appeal if its prosecution does not hold. 

 The State cannot appeal in a game law case. In a fish 

 law case it can appeal. The fish law is good. The game 

 law is no good. The Illinois State Sportsmen's Associ- 

 ation has accomplished little or nothing in the improve- 

 ment of the game laws, so far as I can learn. But it has 

 killed a pile of pigeons, gentlemen. 



Oct. To day Mr. Watlington writes me from La 

 Salle: 



I am forced to postpone my ran to your city until Haturriay 

 mornirg. One reason is that I will in all probability- have io go 

 to Putnam to prosecute some illegal flshers from Senacbwine 

 Lake, as we have informatioTi that fishing is being clone tbere at 

 Dight witli an illegal net. Greene and posse gro to- night to raid 

 them. Our committee have determined to supprpss all seining, 

 e'c. after the 22d mst. Green has circulars printed notifying all 

 parties that prosecutions would follow violations of the law. No 

 news ot importance.— H. L. Wailinoton. 



Oct. ie.— And now comes a letter from Warden Green 

 at La Salle, date of yesterday. It is interesting: 



1 express yon this P. M. a couple of black bass, one of which 

 please SPUd io President Cole. The fish I bought this morning 

 from Woods bi-others, of Senachvvine, and are a part of a haul 1 

 saw them take with a seine. They caught about 3,000lbs., of which 

 about ^JOOlbs. were game ti?h, and none of the fe-am^- flsh of any 

 size were thrown hack. This is the way tbey keep the contract 

 you spike of while here. Mr. Watlinmon will call on you S it- 

 urdiy, and I will have srmething written np for Forest and 

 &TBEAM by that time.— M. D. Green. 



Well now, I have something to write up for Forest 

 AND Stream, and I want the Swan Like Club men to 

 read it. The fact is that club is being victimized by its 

 precious keepers, and it ought to know it. It is bad 

 enough for a good club like this to have market-hunters 

 and fishers for keepers under any circumstances. It is 

 worse to have to strain the law to an unsportsmanlike in- 

 terpretation at least so as to allow these men to fish with 

 quasi and questionable legality. It is worse yet to have 

 to pay money, a bribe, to these men to get them to put 

 back into the water all game fish they take in their ques- 

 tionably legal seining and netting. It is worse yet, 

 worst of all, and certainly humiliating to a club mem'ber 

 of any self-respect to learn that these same men, bribed 

 to be decent, doubtless bribed to be lawful, are showing 

 their employers a sample of their honorableness. Verily, 

 all is fish that comes into the Woods brothers net. Swan 

 Lake Club and all! How does the club like that and 

 what will it do? 



There is only one thing for it to do, and that is to join 

 the fight which goes on to test Sec. 6 of the fish law; join 

 the Valley Association and lend a hand to stop all sein- 

 ing and netting, bar none. Woods boys, club keepers and 

 all: join the work to test that Sec. 6. and if necessary 

 ruin it and replace. Swan Lake Club cares little for 

 fishing. It wanted that Senachwine marsh, and it 

 wanted the Woods boys on its side and not against it. I 

 cannot believe, however, that men like these are not 

 sportsmen all the way through. I cannot believe that 

 they will see themselves fooled and laughed at by men 

 whom they hire. I cannot believe that when they un- 

 dertand the situation they will hold back from the rem- 

 edy. I do believe that they are sportsmen and will 

 wink at nothing unsportsmanlike in any line. I do 

 believe that they will finally unite and say, "Here, this 

 thing must stop, even though the Woods boys go, even 

 though the lease goes with them. We'll shoot clean- 

 handed or we will not shoot at all!" 



At present I do not think Swan Lake Club understands 

 all these circumstances. Mr. Watlington and I will have 

 a good talk with Mr. Stockton, and ttiis will duly be set 

 forth. 



Oct. 17. — Meantime the fight has gone on hotly on the 

 lower Illinois. Dr. Bartlett has secured one |50 fine 

 against the notorious leader of the market fisher's league. 

 Smith, and will follow this with prosecutions in other 

 coimties, probably making Smith weary before he quite. 

 The big damage suit against Dr. Bartlett I do not hear 

 from. Smith did, however, get a |3o0 judgment against 

 the sportsmen's representative in Beardstown county. 

 This case was appealed. One suit will follow another in 

 the courts there, but the sportsmen of the Beardstown 

 Club have no cause yet to be discouraged. Thank 

 Heaven, we are having a fight, anyway. It's this ponder- 

 ing that eats up armies, men and measures. 



Chicago, 111., Oct. 28.— Earlier I have paid some at- 

 tention to the little differences between State Fish 

 Warden Green, of La Snlle, III., and the Swan Lake 

 Club, of Lake Senachwine, and have tried to adjust 

 these differences by showing that the club was not re- 

 sponsible for any lawlessness of their keepers, the Woods 

 brothers, but had really paid the latter to return to the 

 water all bass and other game'ffsh they captured in their 

 netting, the latter supposedly legal. Mr. Green sent up 

 some baes which be said he saw taken from the net by 

 the Woods boys. This looked bad for the latter, and I 

 wrote sharply about the relations of the club with these 

 marketmen. The strictures would be quite just on the 

 facts, but first let us get the facts. It is called to my at- 

 tention that the club paid the Woods boys only to return 



