Jan. 12, 1B93.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



KISSIMMEE, CALOOSA, OKEECHOBEE. 



Perhaps a rfioft sVetch of a trip that three of iis made 

 on the above-named rivers and lalce may lie of some 

 interest to your readers av1ui consider tlie lower ]\alf of 

 Florida pestiferous, infested li>- insfOts aiid so inconve- 

 nieid to rearh that half the fun of slu)otinf^- and fishint,' is 

 lost in discomfort, 



AVe sta rted from Kissinimee, Saturday morning. March 

 as, on the steamer Arbuclvle. after layins? in the usual 

 supply of ]irn\ isions. Tlie ste;.uiier was of very light 

 di-aught, ■i^tfi. over all and about l'3ft, beam. \s'ith side 

 ivheels. Tiie ealiin. 8 by 10ft.. has four bunks, w lueli we 

 used, wliilc tlie rvew of four men sle])t uiiei'e they could. 

 We towed two skiffs for fishins and liad a. lighter lashed 

 on in fivmt in wluch to carry wo(.id, ice, etc. 



Tbe first nig! d. out \re passed in the Soiithpori" Canal, 

 which is the first ol' tla- Okeecbof)ee Land t'o.'s system. 

 We had some difficulty getting througii it. as the wa ter 

 lis 5 or Oft. lower tluin usual, can ing to tlie dryness of tJie 

 VFintpr: here- and one or two othei- ]jla(^es '*ve had trouble. 

 I^uithifi W£i8 the worst, for the men had to get overboard 

 sHiUd push. 



The first big-nitrnthed ba.ss fi.shiug we liad was in Lake 

 dypress, iit the outlet of the canal, in ahallow, awift-rini- 

 ning water. They l)it as fast as we i-oidd take tliem otf 

 the hooks, and hi two (a- three cases wc caugld two at s. 

 time. They seemed to bite be.st at artificial luinnmvs. 

 witli gang hooks; tliat is, \ve caught moi-e on tiiem tlian 

 on "spinner,s," as the fish did not shake them out as 

 etlsily. We took S-l oi' HO and neaidy all were from 2 to 

 31bs." AH the way to the Caloosa. River we tried the fish- 

 ing' in different yjlaces. lagoons, dead rivers, -'cut-olfs," 

 canals and riA-ers, but iiowliere is so good as tlie outlet of 

 a canal vvlierp t he water was shallow and the current 

 SA\dft. Fly-hslung wc only tried one day. at the end of 

 the canal from Lake Okei'< hobcc to Lake Heckpochee. 

 There it was especially ftiu- and fretpiently two wcnild be 

 taken at a cast — silver-doctors and yellow flies seemed to 

 tabP their eye tlie best— which was very good fun on an 

 Soz. rod. 



Mr. Geo. Mixter. a well-kiunvn sporting memlter ot the 

 Somerset C'hdj. of Bo.ston. carried off' tlie honors that day 

 by taking a 6|-|)ounder. We were very fortunate in hav- 

 ing tlie water so low. as nil tlie fish Avere concentrated a,nd 

 So'we didn't liave to Inmt them much. 



In ordinary seasons the Kissimmee fliver is nothing laxt 

 a big ■ 'saw grass" and • 'lily pad" mai'.sh. from fifteen to 

 twenty-five miles wide, with a channel or slough runnmg 

 through it. To sa>' that the channel is la-ooked would 

 hardly do it justice. In the ccmrse of half an hour the 

 boat wovdd have headed to all points of the compass, and, 

 with the exception of t1ic camds, I don"t think we ran 

 three minutes at a time in the same dh'ection. 



Alligators were i^retty scarce and we onlv got seven 

 altogethei-. Tfie largc-t. lift. long, was killed by Mr. 

 Mixter. who is an unerring rifle sliot. On. the Caloosa 

 Riv<^r. just abo\ e Fort Mcyei-s on tlic flats, we saw eight 

 OI" ten "gators" and one crocodile; but we had lieeu ])re- 

 viously informed liy Mr. j\Iixter. w\m is an enthusiastic 

 "gator" himter and who has studied their iiabits :md using 

 ^I'orrnds carefully, that we should not see any more and 

 might as well ]iut u)j our shoi)ting irons. So wlien tliey 

 had been cleaned and put away and we liajiiiened on this 

 bmK'li. not one more than 2">ft. from tlie boat, a more dis- 

 gusted indiviilual never was seen. He did not forget that 

 unlucky niece of advice foi' a long time, a.nd we ecmstantly 

 kept it fresh in Ids memory. 



The scenery was line only in one or two places before 

 we reached tlie C^aloosa River at Fort Thompson. The 

 finest was iai Istokpoga Creek, about five miles from the 

 Kissimmee Ri\nn'. in a water oak and [»alniefto hammock, 

 wliere the to])s of the trees and vines covered in the river 

 .almost completely. 



Tile crossing ot Lake Okeechobee was not as difticidt as 

 we ex'pecteil. for somethnes it is necessary to wait four or 

 fi\'c days for the wind to moderate and sea to go down as 

 Llicse boats are not liiult for rough weathei'. The lake, 

 roughly speaking, is 3.5x40 miles and from 10 to laft. 

 deep, so when there is any soi t of a wind the sea makes 

 very quickly. We got to tlie lake about 8 A.M.. and 

 fcitopiied to fish and shine a •■gator." so did not start across 

 till after twelve. There was a southeast wind blowing 

 which freshened t'onsiderafdy. so that when at)Out half 

 way over we liad to run into the saw grass to keep frcnii 

 being swamped. There we tied up fo)- the idglitand were 

 under way by dayliglit m^xt morrung with a run of about 

 twenty nules to tlie entrance of the canal, which our 

 guide missed and carried us to Ob.servation Island, ten 

 miles out of the\\ ;iy: the entrance was very ea.sy to be 

 niLssed. foi- the L-iiiduiark Avas an old tin can on a pole 

 nailed on toitof a c\' press tree a mile or so liack in the saw 

 grass. 



Fort Thompson, at the head pro|)er of Caloosa River, 

 \vas a beautiful spot. A large prairie liordered with pine 

 and oak trees, and a .gradual slope on all sides to the lake 

 and lis er. witli liere and there a lone oak or cypress, and 

 covered A^dth cattle, will descrilie it in detail, but the 

 colors and light be left to the imagination. The ri^-er 

 here is xery narrow, running through lime stone rock, 

 but has been cleaned and dee]jened l)y the Okeechobee 

 Land C!o. 



We were now hi an entirely different country from that 

 which we had come through. Pine, oak and cabbage 

 palmetto lined the banks on botli sides. A\ hich were nearly 

 perpendicular and from ten to fifteen feet high, and were 

 one mass of shells. The Caloosa is as crooked as the 

 Kissimmee River and much more difficult to navigate, 

 owing to .snags and stumps that fall in the bank's wash- 

 out. However, an'c got along all right till we found a 

 "snag boat" working up .stream, and then it was plain 

 sailing, We went on board to see her work and found it 

 very interesting, althougli it seemed a useless expense, as 

 hardly .-i dozen boats go up during a year, and as the 

 snags win-e only put on the top of "the bank might be 

 easily washed back by the next freshet. 



Of mosquitoes and sand flies there were a few. only one 

 night tliey were bad or bothered us at all. and that was 

 hi L.ake Hickpochoe. Our worthy conu'ade complained 

 a good deal of them, but he retired e\-ery night after 

 supper and what few mosquitoes liappeneil to be in the 

 cabin were sure to find him, although he was rather 

 small, eating 111 tic and drinking less. 



Such is rile outline of our ti'ip through a practically un- 

 mliabiied country. We were perfectly comfrtrtalilefrom 

 the lime w e left Kissiumiee till wc reached Fort Mevers— 

 rhirteeii days. The only thing we suft'ered for was vege- 



tubhiS and tomatoes in particular,, of which our comrade 

 Avas A'eiy fond a,nd for which he searched the river banks 

 to no piirpose. they iiaving been killed by the jM-evious 

 fi-ost. 



The on I}- one tiling of importance that we forgot or 

 was rathei- forgotten for us Avas a camera, a thing that is 

 almost ni-cessary on a, trip of tliat kind, and I most eni- 

 pliatically advise any one intending to take this trip to 

 provide himself with one, E. Hammond. 



Niivv London, t'oim. 



ON RUSSIAN RIVER. 



Gkvserville. Cal.. Dec. 26.^Cut oft' from all commu- 

 nication Avitli the outside world, hemmed in by swollen 

 streams, with the sound of rushing Avati'rs ringing in our 

 ea,rs. while a, stefidy down|)our comes from above, we are 

 spending our Christmas liolidays and patiently waiting 

 I'oi' the an.gry waters to subside. 



EA-ery little mountain streamlet has lieconie a i',aging 

 torreid^ rushing headlong over rugged rocks. doAvn the 

 sloping hdlsides — .snatching here and tliert^ a jiatch of 

 earth oi' an overhaiigiii.g shrub and cariying it rapidly 

 doAvnward, with which to sax cII the sum total of the angry 

 fiood. wliich is gathering its forces for tlie w^ork of de- 

 stria-tioii goirig on down tlic I'iver. 



No mail has reached us since last Thursday, and the 

 present outlook is anything but encouraging. On the 

 Avrong side i)f Russian RiA'er, Avitli one of the great bridges 

 within our reacli minus a .span, and the other impassable 

 in consequence of the grent A'olumc of water pourin,gover 

 its ap])roaclies. wv can only look across the raging ex])anse 

 and long to reach the post office on the other side. But 

 fioods, like winds, are ill that liring nobody good, and the 

 present deluge brcuight us the finest Christmas dinner that 

 has fallen to our lot for many a year. Had the (leyser- 

 ville bridge held out another day that delicious Chri.stmas 

 ti.u-key would liave been partaken of liy certain young 

 gentlemen frcmi the city, Avhile we remained at iiome in 

 lilissful ignoi-ance of its existence. Since the disaster 

 liad to come, the bridge had to go, and the <X)unty liad to 

 sustain a loss of many hundreds of dollars, we are very 

 thankful tlin t the calamity came just at the right moment. 



We spent a delightful day oursehres, with no thought of 

 the moisture outside, and our charming young hostesses 

 betrayed no signs of disapiiointment as, A\dth sparkling 

 eyes and rosy cheeks, they gracefully did the honors of the 

 occasion: and whetlua- administering to the Avants of 

 their .guests in the dinin.g room or discoursing SAveet music 

 at the piano svere equally interesthig. We left Avitli fell- 

 ings of thankfulness for "their generosity and kindness, and 

 A\nth the sincere hope that the pleasures deferred may be 

 more than realized in the near future. 



The fishery question has been causing us considerable 

 uneasiness of late, and just noAV it is i-eceiving increased 

 attention in consequence of the liigh Avater, which ahvays 

 brings the salmon np the streams. During the fh-st heavy 

 rains of the season a feA\' fish ran up. Tint as usual the 

 seiners were on hand, and straightway scooiied them uj) 

 and Avere oft'. For fear that there might be one or two 

 fishes left for the peopile liA'ing neai" the ri\'er. another 

 outfit comes along, and searchin.g out the larger pools 

 where a salmon Avould be likely to fiide his devoted head, 

 administer a dose of giant powder, Evidences of this kind 

 of Avork are found alon.g the riA-er CA^ery season. Whom 

 the offenders are oi' Avhei'e they come from no one knows. 

 It is next thing to an impossibility for tlie peoj)le in this 

 locality to .get even a. taste of salmon. 



This is tile second winter that Ave have spent almost 

 npon the liank of Russian River, and AAdth one of its trib- 

 utaries, a beautiful little trout stream, within a stone's 

 throw of our own door, and yet our eager eyes ha ve failed 

 to behold one sohtary salmon taken from these streams. 

 It is no Avonder that the fishing in nearly every stream in 

 the State is being spoiled. 



I notice that ••Podgei-s" refers to Eel River as "too rapid 

 a stream for seining." Fortunate Eel River! Would that 

 Ave might give our streams a little extra momentum. 



But Ave know several .young men wlio are getting des- 

 perate, and if there is any device knoAvn to limnan iu- 

 genuity bv which a salmon can be captured, otlier than 

 wdtli .gia,nt powder or seine, we shall hope to see it accom- 

 plished within the next few weeks: and. judging from 

 the preparations that are being made, Ave will not be 

 likely to be disappointed. 



As soon as tlie v,'ater has run down and the ri\^er be- 

 comes clear a paaty of our friends are going to try salmon 

 fishmg by torchlight by Avay of experiment, and I am one 

 of the favored ones iuAdted to go along and see how it is 

 done. I asked if any part of the entertainment Avould 

 consist of sitting on the bank and Avatching the ijroces- 

 sion go by, but on the assurance that I am to occupv^ the 

 seat of honor in the boAv of the boat, wdiere I can witness 

 the Avhole proceeding, the inA'itation Avas cordially ac- 

 cepted and I am even growing impatient for the time to 

 come. 



We ,saAv some Avicked-looking gigs the other day, and I 

 am not quite satisfied that I shall en joy seeing them used, 

 but we liaA^e not seen a salmon for a long time and I 

 mean to venture. 



Should these expeditions prove unsuccessful, my hus- 

 band suggests tliat A\ e try to preA^ail upon "Podgers" to 

 come up and show us how it's done. If he can persuade 

 a salmon to take a hook in the vva.ters of the Navam), he 

 might be able to do the same liere. 



Quail .shootin.g has been very good this sea.son. but judg- 

 ing from the almost continual roa r of firearms, theu- "num- 

 bers must be rapidly decreasing. We heard one calling 

 early yestei da.A' morning, and we wondered if he had 

 come out to say "Merry t!hristmas.'' 



The prettiest flock I liav^e seen this year Avere feeding 

 in a stulilile Held near the roadside Avlien I was passing li.y 

 a few days since, I counted t wen ty-.seA^en little beauties 

 vvhile drivin,g past tliejii. and I was just wicked enough to 

 drive rapidly liomcAs-ard and get my sportsman and Ids 

 .shotgun, and A\'e had liA-e little birds for our dinner the 

 next day. 



Doves are not plentiful, though aa-c .sa.w a flock of per- 

 haps fifteen or twenty a few da.ys .smce. 



As we were drivin.g along the road la.st Saturday, we 

 noticed a porth -lookiiig owl sitting on a fence-post and 

 as.suming an air of iiiiiiortance entirely out of the pi-oi:)or- 

 tion to his size, and A\ e liegan to look al3()ut for sojne 

 tangible cause foi' so great a degree of pomijosity. And 

 Ave soon found it. But a little distance away lay the torn 

 and mangled remains of a doA-e, 

 I T\\ o coyotes have been trapped in our Aicinity recently. 



These little pests of the sheep ranches hold hi^h carnival 

 in the foot-hills, almo.st nightl.y, and their shrill bai-kings 

 are plainly audible. 



Ducks and geese are s(iarcel.y ever tliouglit of in this 

 locality, and we miss tlie fine shooting always to be had 

 near Sacramento. If we chance to see a flock of geese 

 jiassingoA'er, they are sure to be a couple of miles skyward, 

 while their well-known cay is heard only in oin- hiiagina- 

 tion. 



The close of the present year being near at hand, we 

 must beg Forest and Stream to accept our heartfelt 

 thanks for the entertaining and instructive reading matter 

 furnished us during the past twehe months, as well as 

 our most sincere Avislies that it may live to enjoy inauj^ 

 succeeding happy New Years. Marion. 



THE PARK SCHEME. 



The Forest and Stream is doing a good Avork by an- 

 tagonizing the eft'cnt of land and mining speculators to 

 olitain permission to build a railroad througii a portion of 

 the Yellowstone National Park. * * * The old fight is 

 on again and the same result wdll be obtained. Congress 

 wdl not pass the bill. If a misguided majority should 

 ever lie found to sanction the .scheme, the President, who- 

 CA'er he might be, would promptly veto it. The specula- 

 tors might as Avell let the Yellowstone Park alone. It is 

 a ]n-ide of the people and it Avill not be saivrificed even in 

 tlie smallest way for the lienefit of anj" corporation. — Col- 

 umbus (0.) Dispatcli. 



We are in receipt of a yiamphlet from the Forest and 

 Streanr Publishing Co., jirotesting against measures now 

 pending before Congress for the construction of a railway 

 through the National Park. * * * The greed of th'e 

 W^est land .grabbers is insatiable. Let Cooke City find 

 another route to ciA'ilization, we say. — Avdcraon (hid.) 

 Herald. 



The Forest and Stream is trying hard to prevent legis- 

 lation that will seriously injure the beaut.y and fitture im- 

 portance of tho YelloAvstone Park, threatened noAv to be 

 cut np by railroads and surrounded by mining A-illages. 

 Tliis widely known journal calls for aid in defeating the 

 pi'oposed bill in Congress, and presents arguments tliat 

 are Avorthy the attenticm of the le.gislatiA^e bodies of the 

 country. This is the National Park, destined in years to 

 come to be tbe greatest in the Avorld. It should lie tlie 

 aiuT of all Americans citizens to make it so and the future 

 generations will be the gainev^.—Pittshurgh {Pa.) Pir.s.s'. 



It is not necessary to dwell on the resvdts of a change 

 that Avould giA'e poachers easy admission to the game pre- 

 serA'e and alloAA- locomotiv es, Avith their sparks, to run 

 through the timber. Whoever has ti'aveled one of the 

 Adirondack railroads knows the havoc which railways 

 work in the midst of the syh^an scenery. It is ])ointed out 

 by Forest and Stream that the animus of the attac k on 

 the Park is the desire of LiAdn,gston for a road running 

 through Cooke City. LiAdng-ston is the point of interest 

 of hundreds of persons avIio haA^e bought lots for specula- 

 tion, and want something to turn up. They are begging 

 the government to spoil the Yellowstone Park togiA^e them 

 a "boom." Argument is not necessary; but vigilance is. 

 — Hyi a ruse Standard. 



A Canadi.L Wolf is Lean and Hungry, 



.Brooklyn, N. Y. — Your avoK of Jan. 5 is all right vsdth 

 the exception of its being in too good condition, f haA^e 

 in my time managed to kill, or rather capture, and in 

 some cases poison a number of avoIa^cs, and without ex- 

 ception they all seemed in an almost starved condition. 

 Your wolf looks as if he had been fattened on purjiose to 

 liaA'e his picture taken. Wolves ai-e A-ery plenty in some 

 l)arts of Canada.. Last fall, while taking my usual outing, 

 my churn and I had niade our camp in the Nipissing 

 region in Ontario, say about seA'enty-ftA'e miles north from 

 MataAva and about tweh'e miles westward from the 

 Ottawa RiA^er. We had killed a moose, and it did seem as 

 if all the bears and wolves from twenty miles around had 

 collected to feast on the remains. For hours at night and 

 a,AA^ay into the morning we wei-e kept aAvake by the hoAAds 

 of the woh^es. Having a bear trap with us we set it, ex- 

 pecting that a bear would walk in, but either our bait Avas 

 at fault, or the wolves Avere too numerous. But iiisteaLl 

 we Avere lucky enough to capture two wolves, and with 

 the exception'that either from hmiger or their natural con- 

 dition their sides almost met, your A\'olf of Jan. 5 was 

 almost a counterpart. 



It Avould seem as if a trapper would do aa cU in the 

 region Ave were in this fall. Bears Avere very plenty. 

 Nightly we cordd hear them as they clapped the sides of 

 the logs in their quest for insects, and as |10 bounty is 

 paid for all wolves killed in the Nipissin,g region it would 

 pa.y one to trap or poison aa^^oIa^cs for their bounty alone, 

 besides the pelt in season Avould be Avorth something. 

 Shooting them is almost an impossibility. To get rid of 

 them is the main thing. One full-grown Avolf a\ ill kill 

 more deer in a season than a sportsman wiW in a lifetime. 

 I saAv a year ago the reniams of over forty deer that had 

 yarded, and tlie Avolves had made a clean SAveep of the 

 "whole of them. Medic 'US. 



Double-Armored Herrings. 



Aniivials once supposed to be extinct are still being dis- 

 coA'ered in AustraMa. the refuge for so many ancient 

 forms of life. The latest announcement is tlie fact that 

 all the fresh water herrings observed b\" Mr. Ogilby in 

 certain riA^ers of Ncav South AVales are doubly aiinored. 

 1 e. . they haA^e a row of scutes on the back resembhng 

 the ordinary armature on the A ental border. In tlie last 

 number of the Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (Ser. fi, Yol. X.. p, 

 413), Mr. Smith Woodward points out tliat this is a peculi- 

 arity exhibited by most of the extinct herrings of tlie lat- 

 ter part of tlie CJretaceous and the earlv^ ]>art of the Terti- 

 ary period. They are assigned to the .genus Diplorniistus. 

 and have been found fossil in Brazil. Wyoming, the Isle 

 of W^iglit and Syria. Such herrings do not appear to haA'e 

 hitherto been detected in any part of the world in rocks of 

 1 later date than the Oligocene, and Mr. 0.gilby"H discovery 

 j in the fresh waters of New South Wales is" thus of great 

 I interest. — Natural Science. Dec. '9!::. 



