Sept. 33, 1892.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



249 



however, is doomed to extermination unless the State and 

 county authorities will take some vigorous measures to 

 uphold the laws and prevent the wholesale seining and 

 spearing that has been going on for a year or two past. 

 With legitimate fishing with rod and line, the market 

 fisherman can take his fifty to one hundred pounds per 

 day, and still there will be enough left to satisfy all, but 

 with the murderous 6r>ear and seine with its victims of 

 five hundred to one thousand pounds a night, no stream, 

 be it ever so populous in numbers of fish, caoi withstand 

 such a drain long. Would that the mantle of the Park 

 authorities might be extended for the legitimate protection 

 of this noble stream. 



About noon the good Doctor puts our catch upon his 

 back, and making a short cut through the woods we are 

 soon seated around Mrs. Hopf's hospitable board, where 

 we discuss the good things provided and plan for a visit 

 on the morrow to Flat Rock, a famous place for large 

 trout. Here we had fine sport, rarely taking a fish less 

 than Ulbs. and up to 3-^lbs. 



The next day the Doctor, having some business that 

 calls him home for a couple of days, Jack and the Old 

 Man are left to amuse themselves as best they can, and 

 word having been received by Mrs. H. of the expected 

 arrival of some forty tourists on their way to the Park, 

 we cheerfully respond to her request for some trout and 

 chickens for the table. A. short trip of half a mile up 

 the river furnishes all the trout she needs, and after din- 

 ner we take the mules, and after a short drive are soon 

 at Sheridan Creek, where we expect to kill some chick- 

 ens. In the Doctor's absence we have no dog and must 

 trust to our luck in walking up the birds. Jack kindly 

 consented to act asretriever, and in walking less than half 

 a mile we kill thirty-two chickens in thirty-three shots, 

 the miss was inexcusable, aa it was the fairest shot of the 

 lot. As this was all that Mrs. H. needed, we stopped 

 short, but it was a great temptation to shoot more, as 

 the birds were .jumping up all around us, but we lirmly 

 adhered to our inflexible rule of no waste. 



Each day our time was occupied, the Doctor taking us 

 to portions of the river where we had not fished, and for 

 a change we camped for a day or two. A drive of part 

 of a day will take one where tine fishing in Henry's 

 Lake bottom can be had and over to the South Fork of 

 the Madison, where he will be royally entertained by Mr. 

 H. T. Dwelly and can enjoy some fine grayling fishing, 

 a,nd he wants to kill elk or large game I know of no bet- 

 ter place to stay or a better prospect for a shot. 



Soon OUT allotted time is up — how the time flies when 

 you are' fishing and. hunting every day and sleeping 

 soundly every night!— and we say good-bye to the kind 

 friends at Arangee Ranch and start on our way home- 

 ward. We have fine sport with sage bens on our way to 

 Mrs. Bell's. Here is where Jack, our New York bond 

 broker, attempted a new feat for him — of milking a 

 vicious cow, and from the fmall quantity of the lacteal 

 fluid remaining in a very much demoralized-looking 

 milk pail and tire torn and soiled condition of his clothes, 

 it looked somewhat as if he was not a success in that 

 line. He, however, claimed that it was all right: but 

 possibly he might have squeezed that part of the cow's 

 anatomy from which the milk flows a little too hard and 

 thus caused restlessness. 



We take the train at Beaver Canon, but can hardly 

 realize that our outing is over, and we mxist soon knuckle 

 down to work again. We take with us, however, the 

 recollection of a glorious time, thanks to Dr. Turton's 

 untiring zeal, and that not a trout was caught or a 

 chicken killed that was not utilized. 



Should any one desire to take this trip, the Dactor will 

 cheerfully give all the information needed to make it a 

 success, and if you can get him to go with you, you can 

 gamble on getting all the trout and chickens you may in 

 reason desire. Old Man. 



THE IRON CITY FISHING CLUB'S CAMP. 



On the romantic and historic Shields"s Point: situated 

 at the foot of Lake Talon, Ontario, Canada, at the juoc- 

 tion of the latter with the Kabaska River, the two unit- 

 ing in the Talon Chute in their descent to the Mattawa 

 River, the Iron City Fishing Club, of Pittsburg, Pa., 

 pitched their tents for a three weeks" outing, numbering 

 in all 5S members, with their families and guests, besides 

 a colored cook ("Smoke" by name, whom they had 

 brought with them from Pittsburg) and a retinue of 

 French-Canadians and Indians, who were engaged at 

 Talon. The club arrived at the camping ground on Tues- 

 day, Aug, 9, having come direct from Pittsburg in tbeir 

 special train of Wagner sleepers, the entire trip of 610 

 miles being made in 27 hours. 



The romantic beauty of the scenery at Lake Talon is 

 unsurpassed, and with the ever cool and bracing winds of 

 Lake Nippising, 36 miles west, a party of campers could 

 wish for no more desirable place to spend a few holidays. 



Then again, Talon and Trout lakes abound in the ever- 

 sought-for favorite — the black bass, with muskalonge, 

 pickerel, pike and trotit. Mooic, deer and bear, besides an 

 abundance of pheasant and partridge, were to be found 

 in the immediate vicinity. One morning the campers 

 were surprised to hear from one of the Indians that a 

 black bear had been seen during the night within 50yds. 

 of the commissary tent, having been attracted there by 

 the smell of cooking and provisions. 



• Several young men and ladies of the party went some 

 miles up Talon, and while quietly fishing from their boats 

 not very far from shore, saw a large, beautiful buck come 

 to the water's edge, take a drink of the water and then 

 quietly and majestically walk off and disappear behind 

 the thicket. 



Very few of the gay throng of campers were aware 

 that they were camping on historic grounds. The great 

 explorer Champlain and his party passed that way nearly 

 300 years ago, as recorded by the historian Parkman, and 

 had perchance encamped on that very spot where the 

 Iron City Club was located, as that is the point where 

 the two routes converge, the one through Talon and 

 Trout lakes, the other through the Cabaska and Nosbon- 

 siog to the waters of the Nippising. Nosbonsing is said 

 to signify the "way by water" and Mattawa the "meeting 

 of the rivers." Still further Y>roof of this having been 

 Obampiain's camping grounds is the finding of a pewter 

 cup some years ago by Mr. Shields, owner of this tract of 

 laiid, with Charaplain'a name engraved upon it, within a 

 ery short distaace of the Point, it having been very 

 robabiy carried thei-eby the Indians. The remains of an 

 Id encampro.ent, evidently French in i is oritiiD, were also 

 puod in this yioinity. According to tradition it was near 



this point where the Hurons, a few years after, to inflict 

 a terrible revenge, totally annihilated a band of Iroquois 

 who had penetra,ted this"region. Several years ago there 

 were quite a number of Indians encamped on the shores 

 of these lakes, as also on a number of other lakes in the 

 vicinity, but when the Reserve was established near Nip- 

 pising they were all removed there. 



Bunton Thirston, one of the Indiana employed by the 

 Iron City Club, is a celebrated sprinter of Canada, it being 

 said that he has outrun every sprinter whom he has met 

 and has won a number of prizes at the dift'erent country 

 i'airs in Ontario within the past few years. 



Four of our party went trout fishing one morning in a 

 stream abotit three miles from camp, and their catch by 

 afternoon amotinted to 105 fine fish. Bass were caught, 

 the largest weighing 5ilbs., caught by Dr. Miles, who also 

 caught a 151b. muskalonge. 



Three of the young men had Kodaks with them, and 

 secured some very fine reminiscences of the "Camp of '92,'' 



The ofticers of the club are: Mr. S, A. Shepard, com- 

 missary; Mr. S. L. Wood, treasurer: and Mr, Will Price, 

 secretary. Almost the entire party were Pittaburgera 

 and AUeghenians. There being five ministers in the 

 party, religious services were held Sunday afternoons at 

 3 o'clock and praise-service in the evenings, being con- 

 ducted alternately by the ministers. To these services the 

 Canadians of the surrounding neighborhood were invited ; 

 who seemed to very much enjoy the Americans" preach- 

 ing. Two entertainments were given by some of the 

 talented campers, embracing vocal and instrumental 

 music, recitations, character sketches, etc., whicli were 

 largely attended by the neighboring Canadians. The 

 singing of "Cod Save the Queen," by both Canadians and 

 Americans, being a prominent feature of the entertain- 

 ments. 



The scenery on the Mattawa River, some two miles dis- 

 tant from camp, is most beautiful, there being ledges of 

 granite in some places nearly a hundred feet high and 

 descending perpendicularly into the river. Huckleber- 

 ries, blackberries and red raspberries are found growing 

 in large quantities along the shores of all these waters, 

 and the campers took advantage of this opportunity to 

 have plenty of berries at meal times. 



Several weeks before the Iron City Club's arrival Mr. 

 Shields saw what appeared to him to be his two horses 

 grazing on the elevation where the camp was located, but 

 upon closer investigation found it to be two large moose. 



On Thurday, the 25th of August, we broke camp, very 

 regretfully, it must be said. 



At every station where a stop was made in Canada the 

 boys of the pwty would give the club yell: "Iron City 

 Fishing Club, of Pittsburgh, Pa. We are the people of 

 the U, S. A. Hurrah!" which apparently greatly aston- 

 ished the Canadians, who evidently thought we were a 

 clever lot of campers. One of the Campkes. 



UTAH FISH AND GAME NOTES. 



Is CAiiP, Head Waters Weber River, Utah Terri- 

 tory, August 24, 1892.— I peruse Forest and Stream 

 with much interest; it contains a great amount of valu- 

 able information. 



I was born on Marcli 1, 180T, at Avon, H^^tford county, 

 Conn., on the banks of a trout brook which had turned 

 the wheels of a flotu* mill and a saw mill, owned by my 

 grandfather and father, for many years. As soon as I 

 was old enough to oirry a fish-rod i commenced catching 

 trout, which I have continued to do, from time to time, 

 for nearly SO years. 



Several years of my life were spent in Ashland, Oswego 

 Co , New York, on the east border of Lake Ontario, 

 While there I assisted one morning in catching 500 sal- 

 mon, very few of which were under SOIbs., while a few 

 weighed 401bs, My first experience in fishing with fly 

 for trout and salmon was in England and Scotland in 

 1845: but I met with little success there. 



At the time of the early settlement of Utah Territory, 

 the mountains and canyons were thickly inhabited with 

 the elk, deer, antelope, panther, mountain lion, wild cat, 

 and grizzly, cinnamon and brown bear; some of whicti 

 were of immense size. These animals are still fotmd in 

 our mountains, and are frequently killed. I never shot 

 a bear, although I have seen quite a number of grizzly 

 and cinnamon bears after they were killed. In one in- 

 stance a very large grizzly, with two large cubs, passed 

 within 30 yardei of me while I was concealed in the brush. 

 I was, at the time; holdingin my hands a muzzle-loading 

 gun, and the manner she treated her cubs, while appar- 

 ently trying to wean them, plainly indicated the wisdom 

 of my letting her pass unmolested, and assured me if I 

 should fail to kill her the first shot, see would attack and 

 kill me. Hardly half a mile after passing me, she came 

 upon a camps some of the men fired at her several times, 

 but she got away, with her cubs. I have killed deer and 

 antelope but never elk, although upon one occasion a 

 band of more than 200 came within 300 yards of me, and 

 were headed towards me, but were frightened ott' in 

 another direction by a man without a gun who came 

 running to see me shoot an elk; a companion himter, 

 however, shot and killed one of them. We think deer 

 are increasing in our region. A good many elk and sheep 

 are still in our mountains, but difficult to get at. Deer, 

 antelope and elk are quite plentiful north of us, in the 

 Snake River country, now Idaho: and moose are taken 

 occasionally. Some six years ago I met a young man up 

 there who shot it) elk and 2 moose out of one band, and 

 he said he might have killed more, but to do so would 

 only have been to waste them. 



Utah, Bear, Panguitch and Fish lakes, as well as other 

 lakes, rivers and streams, abounded with the largest and 

 finest trout when we first reached the Territory, but as 

 the country has become settled they have steadily de- 

 creased: still our waters supply quite an amount of trout 

 at the present time. Some years ago, one warm day in 

 June, I helped to make a haul at the mouth of Provo 

 River, the trout having gathered about the river mouth 

 for cooler water, (the fishermen bad made several hauls 

 during the day, out in the lake, and took some SOOlbs. of 

 fish) and when the net was drawn, the draft was judged 

 to be about 4,000ibs, A great number of trout weighed 

 lOlbs, each, on the Ecalos. As it was night, and having 

 a great amount of dead fish on hand to be saved, after 

 taking out severaJ hundred pounds of the largest fish, the 

 rest were turned into the lake alive, I saw one trout 

 caught in Ucah Like, by net, which weighed ISlbs. 



Trout and salmon have been successfully hatched here, 

 under the supervision of Hon. A, P. Rockwood, who is 



now dead; the eggs having been supplied by the late Fish 

 Commissioner Seth Green. The fry were put into Utah 

 Lake and the tributaries of Bear Lake. Mr. A. M, Musser, 

 our local Fish Commissioner, about three years ago put 

 into LTtah Lake 1,000,000 shad fry, and I am happy to 

 say that this eft'ort to stock Utah Lake with shad bids 

 fair to be a success. Although these fish are as yet pro- 

 tected by law, some of them., on one occasion, found 

 their way to the market and weighed Silbs, I assisted 

 Mr. Rockwood, several years before, to put in our river 

 Jordan 5,000 shad fry, but the venture was not a .success. 



About 12 years ago i visited Bear River Valley and 

 fished 4 hours in a creek leading into Bear River, with a 

 rod and reel, .and caught 20 trout, four of them weighed 

 a little over 4lbs, each. Upon this occasion I hooked 

 and brought to sight one trout, 1 think, of lOlbs. weight; 

 but on account of the perpendicular height of the bank I 

 could not land him. 



Concerning wild fowl; for years our lakes, ponds and 

 streams were alive with pelican, geese and ducks; and 

 chickens and sago hens were numerous in the hills; but 

 as the country is being settled, our feathered game, too, 

 correspondingly diminishes. Chickens are now mostly 

 confined to the distant hills and canyons. During the 

 last few days we have killed 30 chickens near our camp. 

 One of our company started a.flock and shot nine times on 

 the wing, dropping 9 birds, the tenth shot brought down 

 2, the balance of the charge striking the side of a rock, 

 glanced and hit a young man as he was mounting into 

 the saddle. Seven shots lodged in the man and eleven 

 in the horse ; the man was hit in the throat, shoulder, 

 back of head, and right knee. Nothing serious, however, 

 resulted from the accident. WiLi^ORD Woodruffe. 



SUSQUEHANNA BASS FISHING. 



We have referred to Eugene Snyder, Esq., of Harris- 

 burg, Pa., as one of the successful bait fishermen who 

 does not take stock in artificial flies, Mr, Snyder's ex- 

 perience as related below is interesting, since it goes back 

 almost to the earliest days of bass fishing in the Susque- 

 hanna. 



"There are conditions of water and the weather when 

 bass will and will not bite, and the secret of that has 

 never been learned by any one. Fhave fished for half a 

 day, tising diff'erent kinds of bait, minnows, tampers, 

 helgramites, crabs and worms, when, all of a sudden 

 they woyild bagin to bite without my knowing why, or 

 pretending to do so. I have often observed that bass 

 become voracious for food just before and ajsproaching a 

 storm, but whether the inducement is through electric 

 currents or not I was never able to find out, I believe 

 that when the conditions are good bass feed from the 

 surface, that they can be caught by partially sinking the 

 fly, say twelve inches and drawing it through the water, 

 to make it have the appearance of a living fly dropped 

 into the water and struggling to get out. 



"I have done a great deal of fishing. I remember in 

 1875, during the close season for bass, when the late Dr. 

 Dock, Dr. Ct. H. Markley and myself were fishing near 

 the Dauphin county shore, below Green's Dam, that we 

 had our first experience in catching bass. Since the sea- 

 son opened in 1876 I ijelieve I have caught thousands. 

 The first year's fishing was better than now. A ntimber 

 of my friends and myself as ea;rly as 1876 caught large 

 strings at CoUins's, at the foot of the Conewago Falls, 

 quite a celebrated place. After that Col. Charles E. Roum- 

 forfc and myself caught literally htindreds and hundreds 

 of bass at the Cove Forge, below Duncannon and at Losch's 

 Run, above Duncannon. We have a number of times 

 caught fifty or sixty before breakfast; now you can 

 scarcely catch that many in a week. There are less bass 

 in the river now thaxi in former years. I believe the 

 cause of it is the spring floods that rile the water and de- 

 stroy their spawning beds, carrying many below the 

 Columbia dam.'" 



THE TEXAS JEWFISH. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Noticing yotir qtiery in connection with my letter pub- 

 lished in FoEEFT AND STREAM of July 7, as to the identity 

 of the jewfish found in the waters of the G-ulf Coast of 

 Texas, after considerable inquiry and research I would 

 reply that the particular jewfish in question is un- 

 doubtedly the jewfish or Warsaw referred to on page 412 

 of "Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States," 

 published by the U , S, Fish Commission in 1884, and 

 illustrated in plate 1G5; being the short-spined variety, or 

 Promicrops guasa. These fish are frequently caught in 

 this neighborhood, weighing from 300 to OOOlbs, ; while, 

 as I understand it, the black grouper seldom attains a 

 weight of more than 100 to 1251bs. 



Captain Mitchell, Deputy Collector of Customs at this 

 port, who has been connected with the revenue service 

 on this coast for the past twenty-five years, and who is 

 a close and intelligent observer of matters of this kind, 

 states it to be his opinion, based upon his long experience, 

 that the black grouper is not found on this part of the 

 coast, but that all the jewfish he has ever seen caught in 

 these waters are of the species mentioned above. 



I inclose a photograph of a Texas tarpon to add to your 

 collection. This fish was caught two or three weeks ago 

 from one of our wharves and measured 6ft. lOin. in 

 length, and a few days later a lady caught one nearly aa 

 large at the same place. J. S. Peter. 



COHPirs (!hristi, Texas, 



A Whale Convention. 



In September, 1890, while on a cruise in the Gulf of 

 Georgia, B. C, our party saw a great number of whales. 

 We were becalmed for several days on the gulf and dur- 

 ing that time the whales seemed to be having a grand 

 re-union, or "potlatcb"', and were then in large numbers 

 all around and sometimes within a few rods of the sloop, 

 puffing and- blowing like steamboats. The large thrasher 

 was also on hand, making his presence felt, and we saw 

 many battles between these marine monsters, during 

 which the spra^y would be thrown high in the air, while 

 the surface of the water Avould be lashed into foam. On 

 one occasion oiu* party saw a largo whale jump entirely 

 out of the water. At times we would see the long, 

 scythe like tail of the thrasher rise out of the water at 

 least 15, and I think 20, feet in the air and then come 

 down with a splash. The general color of the tail seemed 

 to be dark, with white splotches on the sides, and, I 

 think, from what we saw, that the animal must at times 

 reach the length of forty feet. H. 



