Jan. 26, 1893.j 



F'OJ^EST ANt) STl^EAM. 



71 



•Pike passed in about a month, although the distance on 

 the map does not seem to exceed 300 miles. 



Here Twelvefoot Davis, a man famous in the mining- 

 annals of British Columbia, was encountered, and fi'om 

 Davis's i^arty Mj-. Pike seiiured a.n India.n and a half-breed 

 to uonjplete his crew. 



It was now No^', 5 and only two hundred iniies lay 

 betw^een Hudson s Hope and Fort McLeod. Unfortunately 

 tke j)arty hesitated about taking advantage of the open 

 water which stiU continued, and after waitmg three 

 weeks for mnter to set iu. tiualiy started iu a. canrje. 



After .six days of canoe WDrk, ivudered perilous liy tlie I 

 floating ice. the stream truze solid at the junction of the 

 Findlay and Parisnip rivers, w liicli uirite to'forin tlie Peace 

 River. The rest of the joui'rie\ must tte ou foot, but not 

 UTitil three days had gone l\v was a start made to put an 

 end to a situation tliat was fast becoming critical. 



Tlie marcli was slow and flifhcult. Four miles were 

 made tlie fli-st day and rather more on the tliree days fol- 

 lowiu.g. foi\ tliovigh the men carried little, the country 

 was densely foi'csted .-md tlie ice on tlie river very rougii. 

 On tiie morning of tlie liftli day all prox'isions had been 

 consumed, and kettles anri blankets wem left belli ml to be | 

 picked u]) later by dog sb iglis from McLcoil. \\'liile tlic 

 men pressed on light to l each their de.stination as soon as 

 jjossible. 



The party tried a crc»s.s cut over the hills, and after camp- 

 ing witliout food orl:)lankets in the woods, were able to 

 get a view nf tlie v alley ot tlie Pa]-soi|) the next day and 

 of a tributary stream which, the guides said, was McLeod'H 

 Rivej-. Two of the men had heeu sent on. ahead to seek 

 the fort the day l:iefore, but it was the day after when a 

 thin column ot smoke lefl the remainder of the jjartyto an 

 old cabin wliere the scouts were found crouched over a 

 smouldering fire and confessing that they x^^ere lost. 

 • Tills fact was speedily proved and seejns to have thor- 

 oughl}' demoralized the faculties of the .truides. 



The retreat began down the stream, and at the junction 

 of this river with the Parsnip was found a high yelbiw 

 cut bank, wluch none of the party recognized, althottgh 

 two of them had passed it in their down trip but a few 

 weeks before. This certainly was not excusable. It is 

 true that a well-known country takes on a strange and 

 foreign appearance after a heavy snowfall, so that 

 familiar sites are passed unnoticed even hj oldAvoodsmen. 

 It is also true that this cut bank may have been passed by 

 the Indians in their canoes at nightfall or in the mists of 

 the morning, Irat that all the party, after weeks of pi-e- 

 paring and investigation, should liave been ignorant of 

 the existence of an important tributary of the Parsnip, 

 which turned out to lie the Nati(.)n RIa er, a well-known 

 .stream, is highly remarkable. \ 



The dreadful experiences of the rest of tJie retreat until 

 Barrow's cabin was reached are told with a directness and 

 .simi^licity that stamp the tale on the memory. For 

 twenty days the party subsisted on thirty pomids of floiu'. 

 of which five poirads were stolen by the Indians, one 

 grouse, a piece of moose skin and a field mouse, and this 

 in the dead of v\inter, itnsheltered and poorly clad in the 

 forests of Northern Canada. 



At last on the 27th cvf December, 1890, the}^ staggered 

 into their friends' cabin ga.unt skeletons, speechhiss from 

 starvation, jjaxtiaUy blind and deaf, with the skin of their 

 hands and feet cracked and tlieir eyes wild. 



That they sur\'ive<l these awful trials at all is due to 

 one man, their leader. On tliis occasion Mr. Pike showed 

 the rarest (|ualities. Endurance that would shame an 

 Indian, do.g.ged courage and wonderful self-restraint. 



His worthless lialf-bree<l guide stole the flour he was 

 intrusted with from liis starving companions, and Mr. 

 Pike correctly reasoned that he must kill the cidprit or 

 overlook tiie theft. He ga^ e the tliief his share of the 

 failing rations. The lazy and selfish John lagged behind 

 always for others to break the way and do the camp 

 work. When John fell exhausted Mr. Pike halted the 

 party. The half-breed refused to obey. Then at last Mr. 

 Pike took up his gun and enforced obedience and John 

 \v'as rescued. 



The salvation, of this partj^ of unbalanced and bicker- 

 ing rnen from the horrors of that A^'ilderness of tamme is 

 a feat which, perhaps, the stoical heroism of the gi-un 

 Saxon could alone accomplish. H. G. DULOG. 



PENNSYLVANIA GAME LEGISLATION. 



Maksh, Chester County, Pa., Jan. 15. — Editor Forest 

 and Stream : In your last issue I notice a good deal of in- 

 terest is displayed by your correspondents in regard to 

 legislation in the different States. 



Your editorials upon the subject, although short, ai'e 

 riglit to the point, and they seem to bring out the most 

 prominent defects iu .game laws generally. In one place 

 you mentioned that Tennessee has demanded a "State 

 law without county exceptions." Tennessee is a sensible 

 State, and why should not otu- State and others do hkewise? 



Although not a member of the Pennsylvania State 

 Sportsmen's Association, still I was glad to see Mr. Brels- 

 ford's views and ideas so ably expressed, and I hope, as all 

 oin- sportsmen do, that the Legislature now m session will 

 give the Association at least as much power to protect and 

 propagate g;mie. as has been given heretofore to the Fish 

 Commission, 



Pennsylvania has had pretty much the same laws for 

 game in all her counties, but if as suggested by the many 

 bills before the House, we were to have a law for every 

 countj^, we would be as grandly mixed up as are the 

 sportsmen of some of our neighboring States. 



In this county (Chester) we have a bill out, which pro- 

 poses closing the quail season for three years, and makmg 

 it lawful to shoot rabbits in Det'emljer only of each yea.r, 

 but that is all. The pheasant is to banged at as usual for 

 tkree months and the woodcock for six, while our squirrel 

 may jump from limb to limb and take his chances for one 

 tliird of a yeax. 



Your Pittsburgh correspondent "M." proposes the best 

 laAv that I have seen, and only by making univei'sal laws, 

 opening and closing them on the same days, can anything 

 nearing to protection be accomplished. 



A good State law for small game, to my mmd would be, 

 close season on woodcock Dec. 15 to Sept. 1 , squirrels Oct. 

 1 to Sept. 1, pheasants, quail, rabbits, Dec. 15 to Nov. 1. 



OcTAVius Bull. 



Maine Winter Wildfowl. 



Portland, Me. — The severe winter has filled our bay 

 with solid ice, and the little clear water is alive witla 

 eidei'9, coot, old squaw, black duck and whistlers. Snowy 

 owls have been scai'ce so far. C. D. S. ' 



BIG GAME \N NEW BRUNSWICK. 



An instance of Avhat a deer can do when wounded is 

 furnished by the experience of Edgar Tower, of Rockport, 

 on tlie 9th. When the buck was routed Edgar raked Mm 

 fore and aft (or aft and fore) with his .44Winch ester. The 

 bxillet entered the left side of the rump, ranged forward 

 througli tlie upper abdomen, shattered two rili.^ and came 

 out behmd the right shoulder. Edgar used to see the flap 

 of his tad going eiver the ridges now and then, but he 

 traveled six miles before he got a bead on him again. Even 

 then the buck had vnn enough to mop the gi-ound witli 

 Ed .gar liefore he gave in. Mr. Tower's ward ic be resembled 

 thai of a Highland chief at the close of the show. 



How fai' does a deer .jvmrp wlieu going at foil speed'r' 

 Billy Cott, of Kingsclear, fired at a doe near Tower's Lake 

 witii a smooth-bore. Three days later tlic Prowler i.rossed 

 the trail and measured some of the jumps. The ground 

 was covered with boulder.s and dead-i'aJls, and it "was a 

 miracle that the anima 1 ba ( In 't 1 iroken its neck. Throwing 

 awav inclies. here are six successive leaps: 13 ft.. 15 ft., 

 M ft,, fi ft.. 18 ft., 15 ft. A short distance further on 

 the trail struck thebauk of the Cornish. The doe was 

 evidently afraid of the glare ice and cleared the stream at 

 a bound that measm-ed 21 ft. Hilly'.s jumps were not re- 

 corded. At last ac(.'ounts lie had sto])ped to ''bile the 

 kittle'' somewhere south of Labradoi-. 



W. H. Dykeman, a Jemse.g blacksmith, claims to have 

 liad a close call from wolves last week. While in the 

 woods near the Ororaocto stream (so Dykeman says) he 

 came on a couple of the brutes, and they sprang at him 

 at once. The liiggest <.>ne narroAvly missed his thj-oat iso 

 Dykeman says), Dykeman had a. revolver and sheath kiufe, 

 and oidy after strenuous exfirti<:>ns (so Dykeman says) did 

 he succeed in beating them off. 



Just over the t 'umberlaiid line, in Nova Scotia, five 

 moose were shot iu the Slvnlee woods last week. Three 

 were killed )jy Phillips, tlie hnnter, and the other two by 

 B. B. Barnhill and liis son, a youth of thirteen years. 

 Two of the carcasses canie to friends in Saint Jolm. " 



John Morril, of Darling's Island, is very proud of some 

 big shooting he did last Thursday. He aiid his boy started 

 four deer and the lad shot one. Two hours later they 

 sighted two more on the opposite side of a barren, fully 

 200yd8. away. It was impossible to work any closer oMing 

 to the open gTound, so Mr .Morril, who is an expert marks- 

 man, adjusted his sights carefully and was Irrcky enough 

 to kill botli of the animals in two successive shots. 



The close season for moose, deer and caribon in this 

 Province began with Jan, 15. In Nova Scotia moose can 

 be killed until Feb. 1. Prowler. 



Fredericton, N. B,, .Tan. 30. 



NATIONAL PARK NEWS. 



We are permitted to make some extracts from a private 

 letter recently received by a gentleman of this city from 

 Capt. George S. Anderson, 6th Cavaby, tlie Superintend- 

 ent of tlie Yellowstone National Park. The account 

 which lie gives of the game seen during his shoi-t ride is 

 most interesting and shows how valuable from one point 

 of view our National Park is. 



Captain Anderson is quoted m the Montana papers ae 

 estimating the number of elk now in the Pai-k as not far 

 from 40,000. Of course this is an estimate only, but it is 

 an estimate by one who is carefully watching the Park 

 and constantly informing himself as to its condition. 

 Captain Anderson writes under date of Jan. 6: 



■•I made a little trip yesterday, an account of which 

 may' be of interest to you. I left here at 9 :30 and rode 

 around Mt. Everts via East Fork of Gardiner, the ''Turkey 

 Pen,'' and over the bluffs east of the main Gardiner, and 

 got back at 3:30. Found about two feet of snow on top 

 of the mountain pretty heavily crusted. Saw 1'7 elk, most 

 of them at less than 3U0yds., and but one of them showed 

 the least alarm. Two lying down at less than SOOj^ds. did 

 not arise. I saw a mide deer and fawn Ijdng down at 

 Toyds. and they did not rise; four othere watched me at 

 250yds. without running off. Saw 13 mountam sheep, 

 about a mile and a half from here; they were alert and 

 watched nie from a bluff 400 or 500yds. away. Saw gxeat 

 numbers of antelope, sm-ely 300 (probably 400 or 500) and 

 got within 50 to 75yds. of many of them. Pretty good for 

 a short ride, isn't it?" 



A Protest. 



Far tlie people of east ern Montana and America and for the welfai-e 

 of our eouuti'.y in the preservation of the National Park froni segi-ega- 

 tion for railroads or other purposes, I protest for the people. V\'hen 

 the boundaries of our National Park were located and survej'ed, and 

 the Paik set apart as a public pleasure ground by a geiierou.s Govern- 

 meuc f<.'r the use, benefit and aruusement of those who wislied to avail 

 themselves of the sights andd natures,, majestic wonders, whj- was not 

 the Pai'k si:i inai.lc and constrncted b.y Congress that no act'l)ereafter 

 could disinte.grate it: made, to .stand while our repubhe lasted; made 

 as sound and solid as the constitution of the United States? If the 

 papers tell aright there are soon to he men with mone.v sent to Wasli- 

 ing-ton to influence Congress to set aside a pai't of vh&t now forms the 

 National Pa.i-k. For -n^at purpose? They say a railroad to Cooke 

 City, tint if a railroad can be buUt from StiUwater to Cooke Citj' for 

 one-third of what it will cost from Gardiner to the same point, there 

 must be another scheme afloat, for no railroad compariy woidd invest 

 the enormous amount of moue.y necessary to build a railroad from 

 GarcUner to Cooke unless there'were stroiig-er inducements than the 

 Cooke City mines. 



The part of our National Park that is v\-auted by these few capital- 

 ists woidd make a colossal sheep, cattle and horse range, ami shares 

 would come liigh. Perhaps there is good coking coal "or some rich 

 mineral that is the aim of this most interested company to cut into our 

 Park, we wot not of. A route from Stillwater, the Gate City, would 

 not go into the Park in going to Cooke Citi,', but through a level coun- 

 try most ,all the way: and l:)esides. openuig up two other mining camps 

 by- this route. K.ye City and theBcjulder mines, and splendid coal mines 

 en route. It is not best for our country that a few men of means, to 

 further their aims and schemes for personal profit, that -will be a detri- 

 ment to tlie people at large, should be allowed to succeed. The game, 

 buffalo, elk. deer and antelope, that l oam over the hills and valleys in 

 security and that have been protected by the Government at a great 

 cost, will be exterminated in a few weeks ancl their hides staked out 

 di-yiiig in the sun, if this segregation scheme is successful. It will 

 cause other railroads and other schemes to be planned and carried 

 through, until a network of railroads will have blotted from existence 

 what was once a. sight seen never to be obliterated from the memory. 

 It wants a President at the head of our Government like Andrew Jack- 

 son to veto all such proceedings and talk loud enough for the people to 

 hear him, that the National Park must and shall be kept inviolate.— 

 A Son of Mon tana in StiUwatur Qlont.) Bulletin. 



Dr. W. A. Allen, of Allendale, Montana, writes us with 

 regard to Cooke City and the surroimding countiy^ and 

 strongly advocatiag the preservation of the forests in and 

 near the Park. He is familiar witb the region, and for 

 the past ten years has been making professional visits to 

 Cooke City. He strongly advocates tke building of a rail- 

 road up Clark's Fork, saying that from the Northern 

 Pacific a raUroad could be built up to Cooke City, via 

 I Clark'.s Fork, the only practicable route to-day for a road. 



This would save fifty miles travel for all eastern passen- 

 gers, would give a road on the east and south side of the 

 mountains, free from snow slides and heavy snowfalls. 



■'I want to ask some one who has traveled uj) Gardiner 

 River or who lias been to the Mammoth Hot Springs, or 

 up the East Fork of Yellowstone, how they can get a line 

 (.)f road up that river, where fall after f aU and rapid after 

 r,ai:)id t:omes tumbling down like a cloud-burst, and where 

 the mountains extend into the river. A trestle would 

 have to be built o\^er the river, and a cable to draw the 

 trains up and down. The over-zealous capitalists are try- 

 ing to force seven miles off the side of the National ParJi, 

 not for Cooke City, but to get at the timber, gtuxie and per- 

 haps coal there. They want the almigh ty dollar. But it 

 does not stop tliere, tliey want to take in the head of 

 Clark's Forlc so as to comjiletely sltut out any other road 

 from the only practical route into the Park; a double 

 liea.der if you please. I hav-e seen SA\'orn statemfjnts in re- 

 garrl to tiie pjra.cticability of the route up the Gai'diner and 

 to the efl'ect that no game inhabited tlie Soda Butte val- 

 ley. Persons who can take such oaths must think them- 

 selves the only ones who have ever been over this country. 

 In conclusion let me say that iill true sxio].'tsmen. in this 

 country liave a warm feeling for the Forest a^d Stream, 

 the champion of the National Park. Should this national 

 resort be thrown open to speculators the game would soon 

 be a thing of the past." 



COLD WEATHER NOTES. 



Oakdale, N". Y., Jan. 11. —Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Tiiis morning while on my^ way to a spring hole in an- 

 ticipation of bagging a duck, t found the qaail which I 

 send you. He was frozen to death, the thermometer two 

 hours before having stood at two tlegrees below zero. Y'^ou 

 will see at a glance that this is not one of our big, strong- 

 Long Island beauties, probably a Nortii Carolina bird that 

 has been laid down here with otliers by tlie members of 

 the South Side Sportsmen's Club. 



I do not think that tiuail will freeze to death if they can 

 get enou.gh to eat. I siiould judge by feeling of this bird 

 that there is not anything in his crop' 



It is singular that a quaD. will die of cold and starvation 

 while large flocks of the happy little snowbirds will derive 

 their subsistence from the seeds of weeds that stand out 

 above tlie covering of snow. When the snow is soft and 

 fresh one can plainlj^ see where the little fellows have 

 held high carnival, and danced "all hands around" while 

 picking the seeds from these straggling bunches of weeds 

 on the fields and meadows, where the ciuaii have the same 

 Qhance. If this snow and severe cold last a Kttle longer I 

 am afraid there will be some duU days next November 

 and December. 



On reaching the pond hole I bagged a very fine speci- 

 men of duck called tweezer, or ocean sheldrake. They 

 are very scarce here and I have seen only three in my 

 shooting experience of twenty-seven yeai-s". 



Alfred A. Eraser. 



[As our correspondent remarks, the quail sent is a 

 Soutliern— perhaps South Carolina — ^bird, and it evidently 

 perished of star\"ation and cold, for it is very thin, We 

 have alwa.ys believed that qnail and most "other birds 

 could endure almost any degree of cold without injury, 

 provided tliey had enough to eat; in other words, that if 

 they could keep up the internal fires tiiey cared little for 

 the cold. Great loss often occurs among transplanted 

 Soutliern qwdil, if their first v\' inter at the North is a 

 severe one; but if this first winter is mild, they can face 

 the second without great danger, having become accli- 

 mated, and, what is perhaps more important, accustomed 

 to the food of the North, where to look for it and how to 

 obtain it. The duck referred to by Mr. Fraser is perhaps 

 the red-breasted merganser {Meryus tierrator), which is 

 called tweezer on the south shore of Long Island. Its 

 other common names are given in Mr. Trumbull's admirable 

 ■'Names and Portraits of Birds Interesting to Gmmei-s." 

 The name ocean sheldi-ake, however, is ne\v to us. It is 

 somewhat surprising to learn that this species occurs but 

 seldom on the south shore. On the mainland north of 

 Long Island Sound it is the commonest of the three mer- 

 gansers, and we have often seen fifteen or twenty of the 

 birds fishing on a single air hole.] 



A Game Protector for Oregon. 



The Multnomah, Willamette and Citizens' Eod and Gun 

 Clubs have approved a bill drawn up by S. H. Greene and 

 will take steps to secure its passage by the legislature. 

 The bill provides for the election bienniafiy by tlie legis- 

 lature of a game and fish protector, whose term of office 

 shall continue until his successor is chosen and qualified. 

 He shall devote his entire time to the duties of his office 

 and shall receive a salary of $1 500 a year and be aUowed 

 .$500 for taveling expenses. His duty shah, be to enforce 

 the laws of the State, and the provisions sujiplementaiy 

 thereto made by any board of county commissioners or 

 other proper authority for the protection of game, fish and 

 song birds. For this pmiiose he .shall visit suspected places 

 and gather information relative to infractions of the law; 

 and shall ha,ve authority to direct tlie conimencemont of 

 actions for the vdolations of the law where sutfieieur evi- 

 dence exists to justify such prosecution. These actions 

 shall be begun by the district attorney in whose county 

 the ofEense occurs, but if he be too busy the fisli and game 

 protector may engage other comisel wiio shall be paid out 

 of the penalties and appficable ccsts recovered in such case; 

 where there is a failure to recover or a dificiency of such 

 funds for iiayment, then by the county in Avhicn the suit 

 was begim. It shad be the duty of every sherifi. deputy 

 sherifi and constable in the State to enforce the la\\ s and 

 they shall be under the direction of the fish and game pro - 

 tector. All moneys recovered shall be paid to the treas- 

 urer of the county in which the suit was commenced: one- 

 half over and above the amount necessary to reimburse 

 the comity for outlays shall be paid into the State treas- 

 ury, and the remaining one-half to the informer. Any 

 officer may an-est without warrant anyone caught viola- 

 ting the law. The game protector shall make an annnal 

 report of his operations to the governor.-— Portlcmd Ore- 

 gonian, Jan. 14., 



Georgia Woodcock. 



Savannah, Ga., Jan. 16.— Sportsmen here Say they have 

 never seen the time when there were so many woodcock 

 as there are now in and aroimd Savannah. Hear of bags 

 of fifteen, twenty-five and forty in an afternoon's shoot, 

 one gentleman having eighty-one to feis credit in the last 

 couple of days. Jekset, 



