162 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Aug. 36, 1898. 



Forest and Stream in the World's Fair. 



As Seen by Our Staff Correspondents, 



The Last "Forest and Stream" Big Fish. 



CmcAao, Aug. 11.— Tlie Forest and Stream tarpon, 

 is by tliis time pretty generally known, is the largest ever 

 taken on rod and 'reel. The Forest and Stream big- 

 mouth bass is the largest specimen known to have been 

 taken in the North. The Forest and Stream brown 

 trout, the "King of Castalia," mentioned last week as the 

 loan of the Upper Castalia Club, is the largest trout of 

 that species known to have been taken in sport in this 

 country. (In a recent issue I was made to credit a gen- 

 tleman with the statement that a "401bs. brook trout" 

 was once taken in Wales. The types should have read 

 "brown trout.") This week comes yet another big iish 

 for the adornment and betterment of the ever-improving 

 Forest and Stream corner in the Anglers' Pavilion. 

 This time it is a magnificent specimen of the (Dolly Var- 

 den) trout of the Northwest country, thought to be the 

 largest one ever sent East. 



This last big fish ha.s a curious history. It came here 

 in the ■vNdnter time to the great game and fish market of 

 F. M. Smith, at the corner of Dearborn and South "Water 

 streets, and the daily press and certain anglers here pro- 

 nounced it "the largest brook trout ever taken." (Its 

 weight was IS^lbs., and in length it was 33ia.) The local 

 sporting press here, not being very well up in such 

 things, also called it a brook trout. Mr. Smith therefore 

 thought it was a brook trout, and it went at that, and was 

 so labeled until this week, when it started for the Forest 

 AND Stream exhibit. 



This summer the owner of the big fish, Mr. F. M. 

 Smith, out of the goodness of his heart presented it to 

 his friend, Mr. Geo. "W. LaRue, formerly of New York, 

 later of Chicaoo, and now of New York again. Mr. La 

 Rue is very well known in the sporting world, especially 

 as owner of fine pointers, and is sincerely devoted to the 

 sports of the field. On receiving the fish Mr. LaRue at 

 once wished his friends and others to see it, and he wrote 

 asking whether Forest and Stream would not like to 

 place it in its exhibit. There being nothing in the world 

 which Forest and Stream would rather do than just 

 that, he was not long in getting reply, and soon the big 

 fish was with the others of the interesting group near the 

 door of the pavilion. 



Mr. LaRue, in common with Mi-. Smith, thought he 

 had a brook trout. The case was labeled "Brook trout, 

 caught in Montana by an Indian girl," together with 

 weight, dimensions, etc. Dr. Henshall, who never saw 

 the fish, was credited by a morning paper here as saying 

 that it was a "brook trout over 200 years old," which was 

 not at all a bad story for the local boy to work up. But a 

 brook trout, more's the pity, our celebrated fish can no 

 longer continue to be, as Dr. Henshall's appended state- 

 ment will show. There are no brook trout in Montana. 



The Dolly "Varden trout (Salvelimis malma) is, accord- 

 ing to the authorities of the Forest and Stream office, ex- 

 pressed in record of personal experience, sometimes of 

 even heavier weight than this, though this one, 13 Jibs. , is a 

 fine specimen. Confined chiefly to the Cascades, it is taken 

 in streams east of the Rockies flowing into Hudson's Bay 

 (I quote stni from the Forest and Stream letter). Its 

 mountain name is "bull ti'out." 



There is a fine specimen of Salvelinus malma, moimted, 

 shown in the dining hall of the Castalia Upper Club. It 

 was taken in the Coeur D'Alene River, Idaho, by Mr. 

 Beebe, of Columbus, 0. Though large, weighing, if mem- 

 ory serves me, 131bs., itisnot so handsome as Mr. LaRue's 

 fish, which now forms one of the most attractive features 

 of Forest and Stream's gallery of notable things at the 

 Fair. 



This DoUy Yarden trout was mounted by Mr. R. A. 

 Turtle of Chicago, who also reworked the record tarpon 

 kindly furnished to Forest and Stream through the joint 

 courtesy of the owner, Mrs. Stagg, and Dr. Henshall, who 

 had it in charge for exhibition at the Fair. 



p: have just seen this trout for the first time, and examined it as 

 well as I could through its glass case. It is apparently a "buU trout," 

 or Dolly Varden (S. malma), as stated above by Mr. Hough. 



J. A. Henshall.] 



Aug. 12, — The newly appointed Illinois Fish Commis- 

 sioners, Col. Geo. E. Langford of Havana, Richard Roe of 

 Bast St. Louis, and O. B. Sickles of Geneva, met to-day at 

 the Fish Commission office in the Illinois Building, World's 

 Fair. Col. S. P. Bartlett of Quincy, late secretary of the 

 Commission, outlined their work to the new Commis- 

 sioners. Ml'. Roe was chosen president and Col. Langford 

 secretary. The Colonel's headquarters wiU be at Havana, 

 where he will have charge of the steamer Lotus, and wiU 

 direct the gathering of the native fishes from the bayous 

 of the Mississippi. 



A Sight to Be Seen. 



Everybody knows about the Lyman patent rifle and 

 shotgun sights, that is, eveiybody thinks he does, and 

 doesn't ; but perhaps not everybody knows where he can 

 see a complete line of them on exhibition. This he can 

 do at the Marlin Firearms Co. exhibition, Section Q, 

 Manufactm-es Building, Mr. Lyman not having any 

 separate exhibit of his own. Arrived there he will find 

 more sights to be seen than he had thought. There are 

 Lyman's patent combination rear sight, and his patent 

 wind-gauge sight, and his patent leaf sight, and his ivory 

 bead front sight, and his ivory hunting front sight, and 

 his patent ivory revolver sight (the latter, by the way, I 

 believe was made on the suggestion of Mr, Harry Marlin. 

 It is pinned in the rib, is cut to easy cmwes, with the eye- 

 back corrugated to break the light, and with the old Ly- 

 man principle of an ivoiy bead). The "new system" shot- 

 gun sights axe of course on hand. Last perhaps, or 

 most interesting, because it is the latest Lyman produc- 

 tion, is the new Lyman patent ivoiy combination front 

 sight. This sight, excellent for all aroimd himting and 

 target shooting, is really a combination beach and ivory 

 sight, the ivory bead coming into use when the shading 

 "globe" or ring is turned down. There are a whole lot 

 of things that plenty of people don't know a whole lot 

 about, some of whom Mr. Lyman's sights are which. 

 Any gentleman who has seen a deer disappear behind a 

 Jlind sight|can get Ms deer rectified by calling at Sectioq. 



Q, at any time when the American gun contingent is not 

 out drinking cocoa at the free cocoa stand not far away. 



Something New Under the Sun. 



In the "America,n gun corner," as Section Q of the 

 Manufactures Building is coming to be called, and just 

 across the aisle from the dais on which stand the mag- 

 nificent Parker and Marltn exhibits, the investigat- 

 ing visitor may find a new sort of shotgun, under the 

 guidon of the Burgess Gun Co., of Buffalo, N. Y. The 

 exhibit is not large, holding only about two dozen guns, 

 rifles and all, but it is full of interest, and for its main 

 feature we almost claim the distinction of something 

 new under the sun. As the descriptive handbook tersely 

 says: 



"As a result of thirty years of experiment and inven- 

 tion, there has been known to the public but two systems 

 of rapid-firing arms, viz. : the left hand sliding motion, 

 and the right hand lever motion. It has been reserved 

 for the Burgess Gtm Co. to produce an entirely new and 

 improved system." 



In this new invention the action does not consist in an 

 underhand lever nor in a trombone slide, and probably 

 no one could guess how to work the gun if he saw it, and 

 had no one to show him how. In short, you work this 

 gun by the pistol grip! The handbook again says: "The 

 handle consists of a sleeve arotmd the neck of the stock, 

 a pistol grip, a trigger and a ti'igger guard. When the 

 right hand grasps the liandle, the forefinger is always in 

 position in tlie guard on the trigger, and an easy back- 

 ward and forward motion is all that is required to oper- 

 ate the gun. The trigger may be pulled to fire continu- 

 ously or deliberately, at wiU. "SYhen the gun is supported 

 against the shoulder, the left hand holds the barrel by the 

 checkered forestock, and as is usual in all guns, the right 

 hand pulls backward on the neck of stock and pistol grip, 

 to hold the butt firmly against the shoulder. The recoil 

 from the discharge gives the right hand an impulse for- 

 ward, but the counter recoil immediately throws the 

 bodj^ of the gun forward, and the right hand, imcon- 

 sciously recovering its normal backward tendency, re- 

 ceives a greater impulse, and thereby slides back the 

 handle to open the breech, without effort. Tlie hand 

 will then instinctively rettirn to the firing position, carry- 

 ing handle forward and closing the breech; and if the 

 forefinger continues its pressure on the trigger, it will 

 again fire the gun, and repeat in the same manner." 



A very pleasant feature of this gun is its detachable 

 barrel. The barrel does not screw into the frame, but 

 slips into it along vertical threads, being taken off or re- 

 turned with ease. 



I wonder if everybody in the world knows who invents 

 all the guns? You can't tell by looking at the name on a 

 gun who first designed its interior mechanism, any more 

 than you can look at the door plate on a man's house and 

 tell what he ate for dinner Sunday. Mr. Andrew Burgess, 

 the inventor of this new gun, has taken out some 600 

 patents in all. The handbook calmly, but rather start- 

 lingly, I imagine, remarks: "Among the claims in his 

 patents, the Kennedy, Marlin, Colt, Hotchkiss, Schuloff, 

 Blannlicher, etc. , may be noted as some of the steps by 

 which his later results have been reached," Did eveiy- 

 body know all that? 



The Burgess exhibit is in charge of Mr. W. H. Skinner, 

 late of Montgomery Ward & Co., well known among 

 shooters, and now with the Burgess Gun Co. 



W. & C. Scott & Son Gun Exhibit. 



One of the best features of the British section of the 

 Manufactures and Liberal Arts building is the fine collec- 

 tion of firearms displayed by English makers. Prominent 

 among these one naturally would expect to find, as he 

 does find, the exhibit of Messrs. W. & C. Scott & Son, of 

 Birmingham and London, than which none is more per- 

 fect in its way or more tastefully arranged. Among 

 many other testimonials you may see the following recent 

 one: 



Feb. 5, 1893.— Messrs. "W. & C. Scott & Son: On my return from 

 Monte Carlo, I hasten to advise vou of the brilUant result obtained by 

 me in the International shooting with the last gun you made for me, 

 and which I used in the shooting for the Grand Prix du Casino, where 

 1 won the chief prize of the year. Your gun was praised by everybody. 

 1 roust express my satisfaction with this truly exceptional gun. I 

 have had a gold plate fitted to it, with inscription of the victory. In a 

 short time I will send you a photograph of the objet d'art. 



Giuseppe Guidicini. 



The Monte Carlo objet d'art as displayed is of singular 

 beauty, and its value, .$4,000, shows well enough the degree 

 of interest to which shooting matters may attain, and the 

 care necessary to be employed in the making of weapons 

 for use in such competitions. Such trophies are well 

 housed in the handsome case of this display, for the one 

 is the excuse for the existence of the other. 



Briefly speaking, the Scott exhibit is simxjle, elegant and 

 complete for its purpose. The black and crysta,l case is in 

 effect upright, .and contains in aU 35 guns, among which 

 are to be found magnificent specimens of workmanship. 

 In value the hammerless run from $130 up to |5G5, the 

 latter being the price of the Premier Imperial, hardly 

 better than the $400 Premier, which, elegantly bedded, 

 lies fast asleep at the bottom of the case, a central point 

 of much interest to critical observers. 



The arrangement of the case suggests a tlu-ee-f old hand- 

 ling. At the lower oblong rests the Premier in case, sur- 

 rounded with suitable adornment of material pertinent. 

 In the second story there are racks with hooks holding 

 guns, among these a few useful looking hammer guns at 

 $90 up. The third story hes above the great swinging 

 glass sheK, on which stand in state 25 more guns, in all a 

 noble group indeed, and one showing as artistic treatment 

 by the maker, as is in evidence among the vases, the fine 

 pottery, the ornate textile fabrics of other lines of manu- 

 facturing display. 



The crossed guns which adorned the front of the case at 

 the time of my visit, a Premier and an Imperial, do well 

 enough as text for the brief commentary possible. In 

 these days the excellence of shooting of any high grade 

 gua goes without saying, and I suppose that many readers 



know of the value of the Scott cross bolt and block safety 

 system as well as if one should spend columns in describ- 

 ing them. It is only a question beyond that of perfection 

 of outline, of svmmetry and balance, of artistic ornamen- 

 tation. The point I make then is, and the reason Forest 

 AND Stream gives up so much space to what might seem 

 mere trade mention, is that it is not possible in the local 

 shops of most communities to see specimens of the high- 

 est development of the gun. It is wise and useful, then, 

 for Forest and Stream to call the attention of its readei-s 

 to such worthy exhibits as these, so that sportsmen visit- 

 ing the Fair will know at once where to go to see that 

 which they naturally wont to see. A half hour spent 

 actually examining the guns themselves is worth much 

 writing and reading. So much is true for this or any 

 other exhibit. » 



The visitor, then, who stands in front of our two crossed 

 guns may admire them fully and understandingly (though 

 not all Americans may yet fancy the straight-cut English 

 pigeon g-un stocks, quite devoid of pistol grip. The out- 

 lines, the proportions, the ornamentation, all ai"e complete. 

 It seems that nowadays mere engraving is not good 

 enough. Your artist comes to embossing, to chasing— on 

 the Premier and Imperial really to hand carving. Or ho 

 may deliver you an etching on this Damascus fabric whose 

 cimningness is such that age does not wither it, and time 

 but makes more beautiful its intricate tracery of dreamy 

 lines. Happy indeed the sportsman of to-day, for his 

 every requirement and his every longing can alike be 

 filled. 



In the chinks and corners of the Scott gun display axe 

 to be seen the customary models and working parts, 

 sectionals, etc. A fully engraved gun left "in the bright" 

 is shown, also barrels in the rough, showing the making 

 of the three-stripe Damascus. A few Webley_ English 

 revolvers are also shown, though after leaving it occurs 

 to me that I did not see the Scott double rifle which is 

 mentioned in the circular I took away with me. 



The entire collection of these handsome guns wiU be 

 sold, at the close of the exposition, by Messrs. Hartley & 

 Graham, of New York, The display is in charge of Mr. 

 William J. Scott, a young but able representative of the 

 firm. 



The Lancaster Gun Exhibit. 



Across an aisle or so from the Scott exhibit is that of 

 Chas. Lancaster, very similar in general scheme of ar- 

 rangement. The case is upright and contains in all 

 thirty-eight guns, representing a value of $8,000. Here 

 we have a considerable range of interest, for besides the 

 grand specimens of ejectors which Miss Annie Oakley 

 and other well known shooters have made familiar at 

 the pigeon traps of this and other countries, there are 

 other sorts of arms displayed, which to an American 

 seem odd and new. There are twelve rifles shown, rang- 

 ing from the English rook or rabbit rifle (a tidy arm 

 which would make an excellent squirrel gun for this 

 countiy), to the heavy double express. There are four 

 four-barreled pistols also, for use at short range on big 

 game, effective, perhaps, but enormously ugly enough to 

 quite frighten any but a stout-hearted bear or tiger 

 merely to look at them. Again one may see a unique 

 looking four-barreled 20-gauge, oval-bored, for use with 

 either shot or ball— something which we have been 

 wrongly educated to be an impossibility, but which is not 

 an impossibility, but an assured fact, and that in a very 

 handsome and well-balanced form. This odd gun will, 

 I fancy, attract much curious attention from visitors who 

 are not accustomed to seeing guns look just that way. 

 The uses of a world's exposition are to broaden our ideas 

 on such things. 



Still another strange arm is the "Colindian gun," which 

 the maker de-scribes as follows: "A combination ball and 

 shot gun, a non-fouhng, smooth, oval-bore, rifled gun, 

 from which can be fired conical-shaped, solid or express 

 bullets, with the accuracy of an express rifle, to 100yds., 

 and shot of aU sizes, with the exceUent pa.ttern of a shot 

 gun." 



A handsome double express, $300, impressed us as being 

 a pretty decent gun for our Rocky Mountain shooting, 

 and I rather fancied it. The double rifle has never at- 

 tained popularity in America, though those who have 

 used them say they are just the right compromise be- 

 tween the slow single shot and the rapid repeater. Other 

 rifles besides the small bores (which the maker singu- 

 larly enotigh describes as suitable for rook, rabbit and 

 antelope shooting — he can not mean our prong-horn, cer- 

 tainly) are the heavy oval bores and the Colonial .450 

 double rifle, at $180, with hammers and safety, a gun yet 

 foreign to American eyes. 



Tlie ostensible piece rZe re'sistece of the display is the 

 gun case at the bottom of the cabinet, containing two 

 elegant hammer guns, straight grip, pigeon model, hand- 

 somely inlaid with gold and marked $750. In these 

 hammerless days the American shooter would not under- 

 stand the wherefore of these guns, were he not advised 

 that they show the style of gun supplied to "Her Im- 

 perial Majesty's Government of India and the Native 

 Princes, etc." It is a long way to India, and one can 

 take privileges as to hammers on $750 guns which go over 

 the "road to Mandalay." 



A prettv feature of the Lancaster case is a specimen of 

 the genuine English tin bluerock pigeon, mounted with 

 wings outstretched and suspended in the upper part of 

 the cabinet. Much toil, much money and much art are 

 these days expended in encompassing the taking off of 

 this little bird. It seems about two-thirds the size of our 

 typical traj) pigeon. 



The Chas. Lancaster exhibit has no regular attendant, 

 but is m charge of Messi-s. Pitt & Scott, shipping agents, 

 of London, Liverpool, Paris and New York, who have 

 forty-five different exhibits under their care at the ex- 

 position, this being their only gun display. Mr. Herman 

 Scott was good enough to show the FOREST and Stream 

 representative thi-ough. E. HouGH, 



FoBEST ASD Stream, the best sportsman's paper published, has an 

 exhibit at the World's Fair, and in every issue publishes the foUow- 

 ing invitation: "Forest and Stream's exhibit at the World's Fair 

 will be found in the Angling Pavilion of the Fisheries Building. You 

 and your friends are invited to visit us." Let every cue who visits 

 the Fair remember it.— Sbftejieciadj/ Union. 



The Forest and Stream is put to23ress each tveek oji Tues- 

 day. Correspondence intended for publication slioxdd reach 

 m at tlm latest by Monday, and as mmh earlier aspracMoable 



