488 



Forest anus stream. 



verandah directly opposite, at the edge of a pine grove, 

 and quite above the reach of the annual spring rise, 

 which raises the level of the Jake some seven feet or so, 

 and sends its gelid overflow whirling on its way to its 

 junction with the Big Fork of the Flathead, four miles 

 below. Beside the main cabin, which is 30xl6ft. in size, 

 there are a store house, ice house, root house, vegetable 

 garden and other belongings. The interior appointments 

 are very comfortable and the table is excellent. There 

 are four double berths and room for half a dozen shake- 

 downs. The regular tariff is fifty cents a meal, with no 

 charge for lodgings. When guides go out with a party 

 on a long hunt the charges are $5 per day per man, with 

 animals furnished and everything found. 



Quite a large fleet of skiffs, canoes and batteaux are 

 drawn up on the beach along the bank, and by taking the 

 creek one may run down to the station in an hour, the 

 end of the route being up stream for the distance of a 

 mile. Visitors have, therefore, the choice of a land or 

 water route, going or returning. By the trail they can 

 often pick up a timber grouse, a rabbit or a fool hen, and 

 by the creek a deer and occasionally a mallard or a 

 sprigtail. One morning we shot a veritable canvasback. 

 What was that bird a-doing there? Deer tracks are plenty 

 along the creek, and it is no trick at all to take a fire pan 

 of an evening, run down a mile or so with the canoe and 

 bring back a saddle of venison. 



There is another hunter's cabin half way down the 

 creek, and Charley Howe has a comfortable log sporting 

 house on the lake shore a half mile east of Frank Ged- 

 uhn's. His charges, I believe, are the same as Frank's 

 where I put up. There is a private trail from the Flat- 

 head River crossing to his camp. At the head of the lake 

 there is also a log house, with roothouse, storehouse and 

 fenced garden belonging to Mr. Geduhn, and a shack 

 belonging to one Mr. Crimmon, who contemplates erect- 

 ing a saw mill a short distance above Goat Creek, which 

 is the chief of three copious mountain streams flowing 

 into the north end of Lake Macdonald and swarming 

 with small brook trout (S. mykiss) in the spring. Goat 

 Creek is but a quarter of mile east of the upper cabin. It 

 is a favorite camping ground for Flathead Indians, who 

 make periodical visits to this location in quest of venison 

 and buoksin, capturing hundreds of deer at each battue. 

 It washes the very feet of a mountain so high that the 

 morning sun in early October does not appear over its 

 crest until half-past nine o'clock. Excepting these five 

 habitations named there are no houses on the lake. All 

 else is a wilderness, whose denizens are seldom disturbed 

 by man. 



Mr. Geduhn has an efficient working partner named 

 Milo Apgar, who is very much of a gentleman and keeps 

 shaved up most of the time, a sure shot with gun or rifle. 

 He has also a helper named Amos Damon, who is handy 

 with push-pole, spear and paddle. These getlemen have 

 built their snug premises witli their own little hatchets 

 and are holding down two quarter sections of govern- 

 ment lands, They have done a great deal of work in 

 cutting trails over the tablelands and divides, and up the 

 sides of the mountains to sundry test pits, where they 

 have prospected for ores, which are known to abound in 

 all this region. They have cut and blazed through the 

 forest from the railroad station and from the foot of the 

 lake to its head , which a pack mule can traverse in six 

 hours, and at low water in autumn animals can follow 

 the beach the entire distance from one camp to the other 

 excepting where rocky headlands project into the lake, 

 E.ich of these promontories is a lovely site for a Swiss 

 chalet or Queen Anne cottage, and indeed the whole for- 

 ested beacn along the western shore affords eligible build- 

 ing sites right on the water front. On the eastern side 

 the land slojies more abruptly and the mountains plunge 

 into the unmeasured depths at a steep incline. Yet there 

 are several desirable building locations. I am prepared 

 to see within the remnant of my lifetime this romantic 

 lake well occupied with the summer homes of visitors. 

 Perhaps a new Geneva will spring up. 



From the upper cabin there are also trails to the Goat 

 Creek Glacier, and to Knife Lake, which is a feeder of 

 Lake Macdonald lying four miles north, and to Camas 

 Lake, seven miles back. Knife Lake is ten miles long 

 and a half mile wide, a huge deep trough in the moun- 

 tains. Camas Lake is four miles in diameter and round. 

 An Iowa sportsman named Ackerman, who was one of 

 a party of fourteen who visited this lake was drowned 

 there last September, and it is likely to be known here- 

 after as Ackerman's Lake. The water is very cold and 

 deep, and the body has never been recovered. Both 

 lakes are located in deep mountain clefts, with high peaks 

 all around them, and it is possible that their depth is as 

 great as the surrounding eminences. The same is true of 

 Lake Macdonald. whose depth has been partially tested 

 but never ascertained. It is a long and narrow body of 

 water. Its width is four miles. 



All this Eocky Mountain region is one grand preserve 

 for big game. Moose, elk, deer, bear, caribou, sheep, 

 goats, and mountain lions occupy in great numbers, and 

 their beaten tj-ails run all over the table lands and across 

 the divides, and down the flanks of the mountains to 

 lake side and river margin, where sharp-toed Oreopali 

 clamber in single file in quest of precarious sustenance, 

 and the herds of caribou cross in their periodical migra- 

 tions, and the black bears and deer come out of cover to 

 drink or forage in grassy meadows fringed with willows 

 and red service berries. Very convenient for hunters are 

 these natural byways, for they are always practicable for 

 pack animals, and hunters calculate to go in with horses 

 wherever they hunt, so as to carry the provisions and 

 bring out the meat. 



I have never before known caribou to occupy such 

 altitudes excepting in Alaska. They seem to forage on 

 the high table lands just below the snow line, except 

 m the month of April, when they come down into the 

 valleys to drop their young. There is no doubt of 

 their abundance, as many mounted heads and full 

 specimens which I have seen bear abundant testimony 



Vnink Geduhn and a party of three visiting sportsmen 

 came down to camp while I was there with the meat and 

 entire skins of two fine goats readv for mounting. They 

 were a very large female and a full grown kid. A break- 

 last was served of the meat of the kid, but I did not enjoy 

 It, and wouldn't blame Jacob for selling his mess to Esau. 

 It had a ta^ie something like the odor which emanates 

 from the domestic Billy when dead to windward The 

 hunters scooped their game by stalking the high cliffs on 

 foot, after securing tbeir pack animals, by picking them 

 off the rocks at long rifle range, To secure their qiwrry 



they were obliged to let a man down a precipice 150ft. 

 liigh with a rope. The meat was first sent up and the 

 man hauled up afterward. 



Besides big game, the mountain climber will find quan- 

 tities of blue grouse half the size of turkeys which come 

 into season about Aug. 1, and make a pleasant change 

 from the regulation diet of sour venison and salt pork. 

 The best period for hunting game of all kinds is from 

 Sept. 1 to Christmas. 



The autumn months in these high altitudes are delect- 

 able. The highest average October temperature in 

 twelve years has been 54,4' and the lowest 42.9°; the 

 highest day temperature »2% the lowest night tempera- 

 ture 12'. The first killing frost occurs about the middle 

 of the month, the same as in St. Paul, and yet the alti- 

 tude of the lake level is 2,700ft. above the sea. During 

 my visit the surface of the lake was scarcely rufflad for 

 six days. It was continuously like a mirror. It was so 

 calm that an awkward dragon fly plumping into drink 

 made a whirl as big as a cart wheel, which could be seen 

 twenty rods away. Ducks a half mile off loomed up as 

 large as turkeys, and a rowboat could be seen for half the 

 length of the lake with its bulk apparently clear of the 

 water. By day the marvelous mountain view was pic- 

 tured in sublime reflections. The garniture of firs which 

 clothed the slopes, the scores of the avalanches, the snow 

 patches on the summits, and all the selvedge of the shores 

 were presentpd in such literal duplicate that a photograph 

 makes no distinction between substance and shadow. 

 At night the glory of the stars was repeated from infinite 

 heights to infinite depths, and the round, full, harvest 

 moon seemed regent of an illimitable macrocosm. In 

 the sunshine continued rowing induced peispiration; but 

 the instant the boat passed into shadow, the temperature 

 dropped 20° at least. On shore bumble bees and butter- 

 flies hovc-red in the delicious atmosphere over the linger- 

 ing flowers of fall. Berries of many kinds and seed pods 

 held on tenaciously. Magpies, ravens, bluejays, crows, 

 tallow birds and other representatives of ^ the; family 



I'HEE GNAWED BY BEAVER, FOUNTAUi CjREEK, UOL. 

 Prom a photo by Geo. O. Oaiitwell. 

 Forest and Stream Amatenr Photogi aphy Coinpftition, 



Corvidte chattered loquaciously at the edges of the cabin 

 clearings. Black squirrels ran up the limbs of trees and 

 scolded. For myself, I sat with my pipe and watched 

 their pranks, enjoying the doke far niente. 



At this period o£ low water in the lake and streams the 

 overflow is transparent as crystal, and it pours over a bed 

 of parti-colored pebbles which pave the bottom; simulat- 

 ing cornelian, beryl, topax, turquoise, amethyst and ruby. 

 The roadbed of the mountain division of the Great N .rth- 

 ern Railroad is ballasted with the same mosaic of beauti- 

 ful stones. This water is so transparent that more than 

 one incautious wader has stepped from lOin. of shallow 

 into a pool over his head. It seems to magnify objects 

 on the bottom and bring them right up to the surrace; 

 and it is so icy cold that a person falling in beyond his 

 depth receives a shock which renders him almost helpless. 

 In such gelid water mountain trout disport. 



The cream of trout fishing is from June 13 to the end 

 of August, though I killed several dozen trout on flies in 

 the Moyea River in Idaho as late as the first week in 

 October, During the spring freshets deep holes are 

 formed in the channel, out of which barrels of the 

 beauties may be taken by any device that otters. In the 

 fall they run into deep water and few are taken, though 

 I captured one with a trolling spoon at the edge of an oft"- 

 shore ledge in the lake which weighed a pound. At the 

 same time bull trout marked with red and yellow spots 

 seek the head of the lake where the inlet forms a gravelly 

 shoal, just as they do at Magog and Sebago, in pursuit of 

 the round Avhitefish {Coregovus quadrilatftralis), which 

 gather there in great numbers to spawn. Here also are 

 found the squawfish, a species of small whitefish, the 

 black sucker, and the red ribbon sucker, both of which 

 grow to large size. The latter has a red stripe an inch 

 wide extending along the lateral line from head to tail. 

 His back is dark brown and his belly white. To my taste 

 the whitefish are the best flavored of all. 



One day Milo and I set out in a skiff from the foot of 

 the lake for an IS-mile pull to the upper cabin. Damon 

 took a canoe and paddle. There was never a more per- 

 fect day. Damon stopped en route to gather knots and 

 birch bark for spearing, and so we reached the cabin 

 first. It had been untenanted for several days, and 

 when we entered we found evervthing in confusion- 

 loose articles scattered about, utensils upset and playing 

 cards strewn all over the floor. It looked as if a monkey 

 and parrot had been having a picnic. 



Milo said, "That confounded mountain cat had been 

 here again." 



In the course of our setting things to rights I discov- 

 ered his nest inside an empty soap box which had stood 

 on end, serving as a washstand. It was made of a stolen 

 towel folded in shape of a turban, and lined with hair 

 from a deer skin mat and cotton picked from a bed 

 coverlet. 



When we had swept and garnished the room we went 

 out for a couple of hours and then returned. To my dis- 

 may I found that the mischievous scamp had carried off 

 my hair brush, tooth brush, bag of tobacco and a pack of 

 cards, which I had thoughtlessly left on a table in the 

 center of the room. To get them he must have taken a 

 flying leap from one of the sleeping bunks. Of course, 

 I went directly to the soap box and found the missing 

 articles, and just in time to rescue them from going 

 through a big crack in the plank floor. I incontinently 

 despoiled the nest, reclaimed the towel and set a figure 

 four trap for the marauder, but did not catch him, 

 though he was active throughout the night. Milo said 

 he was of a maltese color, 7in. long, v?ith black eyes and 

 a Cin. tail like a squirrel. Several of them, I afterward 

 learned, made their nests in the storehouse, though it is 

 said that they usually nest in hollow trees. 



I could tell you, Mr, Editor, of an 18 mile pull down 

 that placid sheet of water, of spearing fish by torchlight 

 on the shoals, of catching fool hens with a slip noose on 

 a pole, of partridge shooting in the coverts, of horseback 

 rides over the trails, of shining deer along the creek at 

 night, etc., but this would be only a trite recital of ad- 

 venture oft repeated for your readers. So, with the 

 somewhat superficial sketch of the most magnificent 

 mountain lake in the world, I close my second paper. 



Sitting on the point of land at the outlet and gazing up 

 toward the high escarpments of the grizzled peaks which 

 flank the upper end of the lake, I seem to see, in my 

 mind's eye, of course, a statuesque group of mountain 

 goats standing, with a white-bearded patriarch in the 

 middle. The old fellow has a far-away look, and the eyes 

 of all are turned toward the place of the rising sun in 

 contemplative pose. For generations past these hirsute 

 servitors in the hill sanctuary have fed and lounged in 

 safety upon their high perch, but now they scent calam- 

 ity in the air. In the far distance they hear the rumble 

 of the coming locomotive, and the shriek of the whistle 

 evokes the echoes of the caiion. They see the coaches of the 

 Great Northern Railroad filled with armed men pressing 

 toward the battlefield. On they come! They mount the 

 dizzy heights. They scaie the Marias Pass. Sharpcracks 

 of rifles are repeated along the serried lines. Volley after 

 volley crashes through the defiles, diminishing at last 

 until they cease and die away. That is the death rattle 

 of Ajilocerus Columbian us. His generation has lived its 

 day. They are wiped out altogether, and no trace of 

 them is left save a whiff' of a mu?ky odor which is wafted 

 eastward on the Chinook breeze. 



GILBERT WHITE. 



Through Selborne's dewy fields I seem 



To see thee pass as in a dream. 



Around thee still the quiet haze 



That mellows all those elder days: 



To listen as thotx walkst along 



The linnet's or the red-breast's song, 



To mark the miasel-tbrush or teal. 



Or in tbe.pond the wary eel, 



While from the "Hanger," loud and clear, 



The cuckoo's voice assails thine ear; 



The squirrel runs along the bough 



With sprightly grace, whilst keenly thou 



Dost mark the swallow's glancing flight, 



The distant. circling of the kite, 



The cricket's chirp, or slender track 



Of snail with house upon his back; 



For bird andibeast, however small. 



Were by thy love encompassed all, 



I think at thee as nature's priest, 



Who never at her altar ceaeed 



With sacredirites to ininistei; 



And when from distant Fiuisterre 



The swallows came, with sudden wing-. 



They brought for tliee the .loyons spring 



While in the^leaty month of June, 



When all creation seemed in tune, 



As oft at eve across the vale 



Was borne the song of nightingale, 



Thy heart leaped up to greet the bird 



Whose strains of melody were heard: 



And e'fn when BoreasSwildly blew 



His trumpet harsh, and snow-wreaths flew 



Before the blast, thou still couldst find 



A pleasure in the rulfling wind; 



The rabbit leaped across the snow; 



The leafless boughs swung to and fro; 



The small birds souKht within the brake 



A shelter from the whirling flake; 



Or when closed in the wintry night, 



And burned the sea-coal fires so bright. 



As while alone thou ponderedst o'er 



Some volume of forgotten lore— 



Perhaps 'twas Ray or Scopoli, 



Or Derbam's sage "Theology"— 



The staring owl cried through the dark 



Responsive to the watch-dog's bark. 



T. J. Chapman 



Eggs Rilled by Beat. 



I CAN corroborate ' West Vil'ginian" in regard to the 

 killing of quail's eggs by heat. I have repeatedly found 

 nests of dead eggs in my meadows, and have taken note 

 that these nests were exposed to the direct rays of the 

 sun. Once I brought a thermometer to the nest and 

 tested the heat, which about noon was 195° on the ground, 

 with a south exposure on a rather steep hillside facing the 

 sun. 



Necessarily, as I have found in experience with incu- 

 bators, eggs would be quickly killed by exposure to this 

 temperattire. One year I noticed that after a heavy crop 

 of clover was mown on a field, many eggs in the nests 

 were killed, although I know the hen birds did not leave 

 them, as they stayed long after the mowing. H, S, 



