442 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LNgv. 24, 189S. 



RUSTLINGS FROM THE SELKIRKS. 



Larubait Camp, Trout Lake, West Kootenay, Aug. 

 31.— The FOBEST AND Stream reaches me at this point of 

 the Selkirk range by the way of Revelstoke at the second 

 crossing of the C. P. E,, thence south twenty-eight miles 

 by the C. & K. line of steamers to Hall's Landing on the 

 Columbia, where the responsibility of the Government 

 mail service ceases and the welcome visitor is forwarded 

 by individual courtesy twelve miles by rowboat to the 

 end of north arm of Upper Arrow Lake, and by trail of 

 fifteen miles over the divide, where it is perused from 

 time to time by twenty or more prospectors, who make 

 this point headquarters for supplies both for placer and 

 quartz mining. They pack their requu-ements for a trip 

 of from six to ten days, as circumstances warrant, and 

 rustle over the mountains of this undeniably rich mineral 

 belt; and when the grub is out they return for a rest and 

 feed, and to compare notes and exchange interesting sou- 

 venirs of their varied experiences. It is good manners 

 and wise policy to refrain in any manner from question- 

 ing the veracity of camp-fire narratives. 



These first-comers in a new mineral field get the cream 

 of the finds. Later on rich locations may be made by 

 expensive prospecting of covered veins. 



It may be interesting (at least to yoiir English readers) 

 to know that developments of mining prospects in this 

 flection disclose large bodies of galena on several ledges 

 that assay from 40 to SOOoz. of silver, and at least three 

 locations show ore in considerable quantities assaying 

 from $600 to $1,100 in silver and gold, besides from 40 to 

 60 per cent, of lead to the ton. 



In your issue of Aug. 11— lately received by pack train 

 — you suggest that your angling columns are always open 

 to communications. As this is a section abounding in 

 game, consisting of bear in four varieties, caribou, deer, 

 mountain goat, three kinds of grouse, and fish in variety, 

 quantity and quality, there is something to write about. 



But what aDout bears, caribou and fish? Well, this 

 camp, consisting regularly of five shacks of six large 

 tents, with occasional temporary additions of from two 

 to six single fly tents, is abundantly supplied with 

 salmon, trout and caribou, but no goats have yet been 

 shot, although many have been seen, and one of our 

 party, armed with a revolver, thought he had a lot of six 

 corraled on the side of a cliE, where they could not 

 escape, but four went up the nearly perpendicular cliff, 

 where it did not seem possible to obtain a footing, and 

 two went into a cave or grotto, where, after passing a 

 very dangerous point of the rocks, he followed them, and 

 seeing their eyes glistening in the dark several yards in 

 the rear, he blazed away. Moving forward and hearing 

 a scrambling to the left he looked round in time to see 

 them emerge from the entrance which they had reached 

 hj a side passage. It takes a high climber to get moun- 

 tain goat, and when found you don't most always get 

 them. 



In this section caribou are found during June and July 

 lying down in the snow in some basin or side bench" high 

 up, where they can see any approach from below. All 

 above the edges and in the hollows of the snow they find 

 the fine moss blown from the trees and they are also less 

 annoyed by flies and mosquitoes than on the lower 

 benches, where they can be found evenings and at eai-ly 

 dawn on the caribou marshes feeding or drinking. In 

 August and September they remain lower down, and 

 about the first of October the bucks begm to roam and 

 round up the does and heifers into bands that work up 

 the mountain when heavy snows come. They remain all 

 winter high up among the balsams and gray moss. Last 

 July, being camped about nine miles down the lake, I 

 loaned my .55-38 Marlin to Andrew A., who was doing 

 assessment work on a claim high up the mountains, The 

 next day five caribou came up below him and lay down 

 in the snow. His companion skirted the edge of the 

 cliff, and at 150 or 200yd8, shot two fat heifers. Each 

 cartridge got a caribou, which was a very acceptable 

 addition to grub supplies. It is lawful for miners to 

 shoot all game required for food. A sack of the dried 

 meat was brought to this camp, and about the time it 

 was gone Blackburn's party shot a fat bull and cow that 

 were discovered on the snow in a basin just below the 

 summit. The velveted horns and most of the meat was 

 brought down to camp, where it was smoked ;and dried. 



Personally, I have toted a pole-pick more than a rifle 

 this year in search of or examining other parties' finds of 

 metalliferous deposits. Three days ago Juric N. came in 

 and reported to me, confidentially, that "about four miles 

 out on the North Fork trail, half a mile beyond Poole's 

 shack, he found, on the first and second benches, plentv 

 of caribou tracks, with the skunk's cabbage and devil club 

 all beaten down." As I had leisure for a few days while 

 waiting for the superintendent of the Eevelstoke Smelter 

 and an Enghsh mining expert, I put up four days' grub 

 and packed out to the locality, camping at the skack I 

 found plenty of ti-acks, large and small, and the beaten 

 down skunk s cabbage and devil club, that delusive and 

 luxuriant species of the cactus that grasped at when 

 chmbing, "biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an 

 adder, but although a dozen or more runways centered 

 at one of the marshes on the creek, a mile up from the 

 trail the track-makers did not show themselves dm-ing a 

 two days stay. By my camping above the marsh they 

 would have come to me, sooner or later, but the weather 

 was bad, sleety and wet, and I did not at this time wish 

 to nsk the exposure in the open. 



Now, a few words about fishing. Trout Lake is about 

 twenty miles long and from one to three wide Mv first 

 experience fishing its clear water was in July and August 

 last year. The sample, two hours* trial, was a success. 

 Paddling a dugout canoe along the East Shore for a mile 

 or so, trolling 100ft of strong line and a largl tW 

 hook spoon tackle fastened with wire at the end, two 

 5lb3. salmon were secured after the usual circus of deep 



Sr'tfi-. f 1^''??'^^ ^^'^ incoming tactics. Crossing 

 the lake T caught two larger salmon weighing 10 to 



brook trout was hooked and secured, and at the mouth of 

 ^^^^^"^^ "S^t of tte lake 

 tnnkS! ^/?"'' "^^^ ^^^S ^^^^^ »^<i bodies, were 



hooked and "run m" after a plucky fight. The asf^n-e- 

 gate weight of the seven fish was about^Slbs, ThVwaa 

 Snoi^ir^^Jr^ ""{.^^^ fishermen, although seyjal 

 spoons y^m lost by iiot baying ^ wire fastening, ^ ' " 



Later on, in August, when about six miles down the 

 lake I put out the troll line, and on reaching my destina- 

 tion, 16 miles down, I showed up four salmon that would 

 dress 8 to lOlbs. each, their tails being from 9 to llin. 

 broad and their length twice their center girt, A few 

 have been landed that weigb 18 to 301bs. 



This year I fished with a rod and live minnow bait in 

 the beforementioned deep creek, a,nd hooked and landed 

 two lake trout weighing about 6 lbs. each. Mr. Hough 

 should have been here to see the battle; he could teU the 

 boys about it in a manner to make theii' desk chairs very 

 uncomfortable sittings. 



Silver and rainbow trout from i to Hlbs. weight can be 

 caught in August and September in the Lardeaux Eiver 

 that runs by our camp and empties into the northeast 

 end of the Take. From 5 to 6 P. M. they rise readily to 

 fly tackle and make good sport for an expert with light 

 rod and reel. When a salmon takes off the spoon tackle 

 he jumps out of the water the same as when on the line. 



Regarding bear, the bulldog head grizzly will not al- 

 ways attack on sight as the long nose, white-face grizzly 

 of the upper Columbia does; but they loom up large, and 

 when wounded invariably go for the gun smoke, and 

 they strike their foe without rising, as is customary with 

 the black and brown bear. As it generally takes several 

 shots to stop a large grizzly, old prospectors do not tackle 

 them unless they have a clear field and possible oppor- 

 tunity for inflicting a mortal wound. Their weight in 

 this section ranges from 600 to l,200lbs. Last May Mr. 

 P. and partner went up the mountain to the right of this 

 camp for bear and found two grizzly in a gully about two 

 miles from the head of the lake. P., who was ahead, 

 shot one with his .45-90 Winchester. It was a fatal shot, 

 at 75yd8. , but on locating the smoke the bear scrambled 

 rapidly up toward it. P. waited coolly for a favorable 

 opening, and at about 40yd8. tumbled him over with a 

 broken shoulder. On hearing the shot the larger bear hur- 

 ried down the gully toward P.'s companion, who carried 

 a .44 Winchester. F. concluded to remain quiet. 



Not hearing any shot P. came down and said, "Why 

 didn't you shoot? I thought you came out to hunt bear." 



"WAYLAND's" SELKIRK SHACK. 



Made with cedar bark, without a nail, srrooved and tied with cedar bark 

 withes. Slanting roof 9x14. Plat root 9x12. 



F. is said to have stammered out, "I-I don't know as 

 I've lost any bear around here." 



The skin of this bear has just been sent out by pack 

 train. It was in prime condition and the four claws were 

 over 4in. long clear of the flesh. 



Jack S. shot a charging grizzly dead, with his only 

 cartridge, at SOyds. The ball went in above the eyes 

 and ranged lengthways through the body. 



Last month Tom A. and partner were chased by a 

 grizzly that was rooting up gopher holes. They had no 

 weapon but a knife. As a bear cannot travel as fast 

 down as up hill, they struck down for the trail toward 

 their cabin, not far distant. The bear was gaining on 

 them and the situation was a serious one, both being 

 nearly winded, when as a desperate resort Tom stopped 

 suddenly, turned and swung his hat, at the same time 

 shouting with all the strength of will he could master. 

 For a wonder their pursuer stopped-, which gave K. time 

 to run down a bluff and reach the cabin where Tom soon 

 joined him, followed by the bear, which stopped on seeing 

 the cabin door shut in his face. 



Only last week two men from this camp were pros- 

 pecting on the west range, when, four miles from camp, 

 they came upon four large grizzlies nosing among the 

 roots of a green slide like a lot of swine. It is seldom 

 that more than two are seen in company. Very few 

 silver-tips haye been met here this year. Only one has 

 been shot, within my knowledge. Their skins are not so 

 heavily furred as the grizzly. The hair is about Sin, long 

 on the back, of which Sin. is black tipped with white 

 They weigh from 400 to 6001ba. The brown bears are also 

 scarce and range in size with the black bear, which are 

 very plentiful and weigh from 200 to 4001b8., and wiU 

 run on sight of man. A good trapper can make large 

 wages during the winter by trapping beaver, martin, 

 fisher, otter, wolverine and skunk, and in poisoning black 

 and gray wolves. 



This melange will be wound up by the narration of a 

 ten minutes' personal adventure last September in the 

 Lower Arrow Lake section. As I was coming down the 

 mountain a perpendicular bluff necessitated a detour. 

 Turning to the right I struck a deer runway, and while 

 following it down in a diagonal direction I was brought 

 to a standstill by the sight of a stump or a deer's head 

 and neck just showing up on the edge of the bench below 

 at a distance of 800 or l.OOOyds. The object was perfectly 

 motionless and so was I, who was bound to wait a while 

 for demonstrations in case the doubtful object should be 

 animated. It seemed a long time to wait, but finally a 

 slight movement of the head was made and then slowly 

 the whole form of a full-grown black-tail deer came into 

 view. Cocking my rifle I sunk down and crawled be- 

 hind a rock and then worked my way down to a gully so 

 as not to be seen by the approaching deer, which I soon 

 perceived was accompanied by a young fawn trotting a 

 few yards behind. The old doe came forward with a sort 

 of ambling trot that took her over the ground rapidly 

 Occasionally she would stop and look round for the fawn 

 and also to try and hear or get scent of something suspi- 

 cious ahead. These tactics were repeated several times 

 tttttil within 100yds, or so, when it seemed she got scent 

 nie, m me ^pproaphed yerv caijt4oiisly and loo^e^ over 



to the tree behind which I was stationed, admiring the 

 animated and rare display of untamed and undomes- 

 ticated maternal solicitude. Although my rifle constant- 

 ly covered the deer I had decided to refrain from pulling 

 trigger until the quarry was at the head of the gully, 

 about eOyds. away and squarely sideways to me. On 

 nearly reaching this location the deer stopped and looked 

 directly my way, at the same time turning her head round 

 toward the fawn, which came trotting up. The deer then 

 looked over to me and I fancied if she could talk would 

 have said: "Sir, I cannot see you, but I feel that you are 

 near me. I have taken extra risk of exposure by daylight 

 in accompanying this little one to the lake for drink. 

 Pray do not take advantage of my maternal complacency' 

 but let us go in peace." ' 

 Although handy to camp I lowered my rifle and let her 

 go on up the mountain, ^atland. 



ANOTHER EXPLORATION. 



Quebec— Since our excursion to Lake Pas de Nom we 

 have made another exploration somewhat more interest- 

 ing. It was on a river well known now to manv Ameri- 

 can anglers, but mostly on a part of it where in ail human 

 probability no fisherman before ua had ever cast a fly 



Our rendezvous was at the Tenth Poratge, familiarly 

 known as "Le Dixieme," or "The Tenth." My Professor 

 was a day late in arriving, which did not surprise or dis- 

 concert me at all, for I knew that the railway by which 

 he must come from his summer retreat could be relied on 

 to miss all the connections possible. 



But when he did arrive we were all ready to embark 

 two canoes, three passengers and three boatmen One 

 canoe was my old Chameau or Camel, which it requires 

 two men to handle properly or portage. She gets her 

 name partly from her carrying capacity and partly be- 

 cause she has been so loaded and knocked about so 

 wrecked, repaired and re-covered that she has lost' all 

 semblance of her original form and looks about as much 

 like a camel as she does like a canoe. She was originally 

 covered with bark, but when that eventually got beyond 

 repair I substituted canvas. 



The river we were to go up has a bad name. The 

 Canadians generally 8tigmati^;e it as une meeJiante riindre 

 (a wicked river). I had taken cai'e to have good men 

 The faithful Nazaire did not feel equal to the 

 trip, and I took Damase in his place. Damaae 

 is a gool all-round canoeman, though he had no 

 special acquaintance with these waters. But he is a man 

 a good deal of Nazaire's stamp. If there is a thing to be 

 done or a place to be reached, you can rely on him 

 to reach that place and do that thing, and I knew that he 

 had courage and endurance d toute epreuve. There is no 

 better man for work in the woods than Damase. He is 

 a good deal of a hunter too, and I expect has killed more 

 caribou than any other man in all this region The 

 manners and customs of all the beasts and birds 'whose 

 tracks we came across were quite familiar to him. Those 

 sharp eyes of his would see a muskrat's hole where 1 

 could find only a lot of brush. O'est le diaUe pour .s-e 

 cacher (he is the devil for hiding), he said of one duck 

 that was seen a little way ahead of us on a river- but he 

 spied him out in his tangle of branches, and we 'ate him 

 for breakfast. I am rather afraid Damase has not all the 

 regard for the game laws that a really good citizen ought 

 to have, and I was half glad that no caribou came within 

 shooting distance of us. On the duck and partridge ques- 

 tion we were all right, but about the caribou it was not 

 certain, and Damase did not seem to care; But I fear me 

 much that if one had come within our reach I should 

 have risked becoming particeps criminis with him bv 

 eating a piece of the steak. (We found afterward that 

 my scruples were needless, as the close season ended on 

 the first of the month instead of the loth, of which I 

 was not quite sure.) Just now I am reminded of what 

 he said about the superiority of modern firearms For- 

 merly, in the days of the old-fashioned muzzleloaders a 

 good many caribou escaped, but now, with the Win- 

 chester rifle, Quand on les voit on les tue (when we can 

 see them we can kill them). I remember once, a good 

 while ago, I asked him if the caribou had any particular 

 abiding places or if they herded together in yards like 

 moose. He said, "Non, il est toujours chez lui" (No, he is 

 always everywhere at home). Damase is a good deal 

 like that himself, always and everywhere at home in the 

 woods. 



The other two canoemen were men who go annually 

 into the region we wanted to visit for the purpose of 

 trapping, and so were somewhat familiar with the river 

 I find that many of these trappers remain on their 

 grounds only some five or six weeks in the year, goine 

 into the woods about Oct. 1 and returning by the niiddle 

 of November. They go two together, set some 300 or 400 

 traps and snares of different kinds, visit them twice or 

 three times, and then take them up and go home, work- 

 ing in lumber shanties through the winter. They go 

 about m their canoes, and get away before the ice is very 

 troublesome. A smaller class stay longer, going the 

 rounds of their traps of course on foot after" the cold 

 weather sets in. My men said that their first and last 

 rounds, when setting and baiting the traps and when tak- 

 ing them up, usually took two weeks time, and the inter- 

 mediate roimds about one week. They establish a good 

 camp for their headquarters and for storing their furs 

 and carry a light tent for shelter on their journeys. The 

 peltries are mainly beaver, otter, mink, muskrat, marten 

 and foxes. 



Having made the short portage of Le Dixieme, we were 

 poled up the river, the current being too swift for much 

 paddling. The first rapid we reached was "Lea Trois 

 Roches," where the passengers scramble through the 

 woods as best they could, but the canoes were got up with- 

 out unloading. Here we got the first trout of our trip and 

 so were sure of our supper, but a couple of hours later at 

 the mouth of the Pierre, we could have taken enough 'for 

 half a dozen suppers in a very short time. There we 

 camped and caught what we wanted, putting back into 

 the water all but enough of the largest ones for a couple 

 of meals. 



Next morning we started un river again. So far as 

 this I had been fishing before, but beyond all was new 

 —at least in summer. We were not going far and had 

 plenty of time, so we dropped our flies in a good many 

 hkely looking places and rarely failed to get as many 

 trout as we oared to gtpp for. We poled nearly all the 

 way, but got on wgll, Aa Damage's hejp was not needed 

 took giin ^n<i f tftrtf^ jjitft tl^g ^vporls to try to '^^j. 



