412 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



|May 12, 1804. 



Restricted Classes. 



Among the orders already placed for the new Larchmont 21-footers 

 is one by W. Butler Duncan, for a fin-keel, with the Herreshoff Mfg. 

 Co , one by Eear-Com. Wtn. Osborn, Indian Harbor Y. C, for a design 

 by Gardner, and one by Herman B. Duryea. for a boat to be designed 

 and built by Eiddle, of Oceanport, on the Shrewsbury. It is more 

 than likely that other chibs about New York and elsewhere will adopt 

 the Larchmont rules for the class and that quite a number will be 

 built. These boats will undoubtedly make some very good racing, 

 and in this respect are better for most localities and needs than the 

 Boston knockabouts, the latter beine really cruising craft, and for 

 rough water such as Massachusetts Bay. At the same time they will 

 be raced about Boston, and probably a couple of dozen new craft, 

 either keel or centerboard, are now on the stocks or overboard. 



There is now a good opportunity for the New York clubs, especially 

 the smaller ones, to build up a smaller class than the 21-footers that 

 will provide good sport at a still smaller expense. The number of 

 Scarecrows is increasing very rapidly, and there will be quite a fleet 

 on the "Upper and Lower Bay, many of them spending a part of the 

 summer on the Sound. The boats are nearly all of one model, though 

 differing in ballasting and rig; and there is just now a very strong 

 rivalry among the various owners; and all are ready to race on small 

 provocation. 



It is quite possible that one small class such as the 21-footers may 

 fill the bill about New York; but as the other is already in existence, 

 and the owners keen for racing, it may be worth the while of the clubs 

 to at least offer some definite racing, in hopes that the result may 

 justify the very small expenditure necessary. There is one thing 

 about this smaller size, that it will include a boat that may be carried 

 on a yacht's davits and quickly rigged for sailing. As yet no club has 

 set any definite limits for the class, but this might easily be done by 

 taking the limits selected in practice by the majority of owners. The 

 cost of an 18ft. Scarecrow fitted for racing need not exeeed $450, or 

 just about half of a 21 -footer of the same general type. An offer of 

 prizes for the class by any of the clubs would probabably meet with 

 a hearty response. 



(^mating. 



FIXTURES. 



MAT. 



30. Eastern Div. Meet, Calla Shasta, Connecticut River. 



JUNK. 



10. Hartford, Spring Regatta, Con- 



t. Red Dragon, Spring Regatta, 

 Delaware River. 



necticut River. 

 30.; Knickerboeker,Spring Regatta 



JULY. 



[ 7-21. W. C. A. Meet, Picnic Point, Lake Mendota, Wis. 



SEPTEMBER. 



3. Holyoke, Ann., Holyoke, Mass. 15. Red Dragon, Fall Regatta, Del- 

 aware River. 



Away "Up North." 



CConcluded from page 390 ) 



And how pleasant a home it is, with the cook's fire blazing and 

 crackling, the shed tent with its tins and pans and piles of fresh bread 

 and good things, a couple of great bass suspended from the poles, 

 suggesting a delicious breakfast, and the kettles over the fire bubbling 

 and foaming over with the soup and tea for the coming supper. 

 Thirty feet away is the staff tent, with its door standing invitingly 

 open, and the blankets rolled up at the head of a luxurious bed of 

 balsam; dry sacks and clean towels are hanging from the ridge pole, 

 and a goodly pile of wood is ready for the evening fire. Truly our 

 lines have fallen in pleasant places, but there is littl« time to admire or 

 reflect, for here, across the lake, are the canoes with the boys coming 

 in for their supper, racing and chasing one another across the placid 

 surface; and in another minute the camp is a babel of voices, laughing 

 and chaffing and talking over the events of the day, while socks are 

 changed, ablutions gone through, aDd then for a while there is quiet 

 as the cook brings in the evening meal, broken only for a few minutes 

 by the rattle of tinware and of knives and forks and the frequent de- 

 mand for soup, tea or bacon. One by one the boys desist, the cook 

 removes the ruins, pipes are drawn out, filled and lit. A chat by the 

 fire, an inspection of the day's work in level and transit book, and 

 then sleep, deep and profound, until daylight on the morrow. 



Wicksteed Lake is a very large and beautiful lake, some seven or 

 eight miles in length. Following up a swampy, winding stream enter- 

 ing on the east shore for about a mile, and then tramping through the 

 woods for another mile, we come out upon the reedy shores of a shal- 

 low bay of a large lake, which proved to be Marten Lake— our objec- 

 tive point. 



On Sept. 2 we turned westward again, working more precisely over 

 the same ground. The boys were homesick and anxious to get back 

 to civilization, and worked hard to get through. The fine weather 

 broke up and rain and windstorms were frequent and severe. One 

 thunderstorm at, night on Redwater Lake was something appalling in 

 its severity, the lightning flashing and the thunder roaring and crash- 

 ing incessantly for over an hour. But we pushed steadily along in the 

 intervals, and on Oct. 13 we emerged from the woods on the shores of 

 Tamagami Lake. Next day a furious storm of wind and rain con- 

 fined us to camp. The rain was incessant for 24 hours, but during the 

 night wheeled round to the north, blowing harder than ever, but with- 

 out rain, and fair for our homeward journey. 



The three bark canoes started early, while the Nora and her crew 

 remained to finish up some odds and ends of work, following about 

 noon. The wind was bitterly cold, and occasional snow squalls swept 

 shrieking through the pine tops and out over the lakes; but with the 

 sea behind her, Nora eared little for the storm, and tore down across 

 Crooked Lake, down White Bear, and through the river out on to Rab- 

 bit at a furious pace. Doubling Rabbit Point we had a weather shore 

 for three or four miles, then another wild rush through the open and 

 we shot into the narrow opening, through which the river makes its 

 exit, and about dusk we approached the first falls and concluded to 

 camp for the night. 



A dry red pine was felled and cut up into huge logs a foot in diameter 

 and 8ft. long, and there piled up into a tremendous fire. Three or four 

 poles served to make a lean-to, overwhich our tarpaulin was stretched 

 and a foot of moss covered by an equal thickness of balsam brush' 

 made a most luxurious bed. The first streaks of daylight in the east 

 found us afloat, and the first rays of the sun far down the river. We 

 shot, one after the other, rapids which it had taken us hours of 

 patient toil to ascend, and by 9 o'clock we came out on to the summit 

 of the great ridge overlooking Temiscaming Lake. The heavy rains 

 had not yet dried oft, and the clay hill was wet and slippery, and, after 

 two or three narrow escapes from a bad fall, the Chief deliberately 

 took the Nora off his shoulders, laid her right side up on the path 

 and, hanging on to the stern, they went shooting down the incline 

 together at the rate of 10 miles an hour, and arrived quite uninjured 

 at the water's edge 



A half-hour's paddle brought us to the mouth of the Montreal, 

 where, we found the other canoes arrived an hour or two ahead of us 

 and by the time we had compared notes the Meteor was in sight, bound 

 south. In answer to a signal she stood in to pick us up, and blankets 

 tents, instruments and canoes being hastily tumbled 'on board our 

 ragged and weather-beaten, but hale and healthy gang, swarmed over 

 her bulwarks, as she turned her head south again for "the Long Sault 

 and civilization. 



The same evening we crossed the long railway portage, and taking 

 to the canoes again, arrived at Mattawa about 3 P. M. next day To 

 our horror we found- the chief factor and a group of well-dressed 

 young ladies waiting to receive us at the landing, and many were the 

 smiles which some of the costumes provoked. The Chief "especially 

 with a red woolen tuque, a very dirty shirt, woolen belt and a pair of 

 duck trousers which had once been white, but were now of no par- 

 ticular color, attracted a considerable share of attention, and was 

 glad to slink off to a hotel and change for more civilized apparel. 



As this is intended for the canoe columns of the Forest and Stream 

 a word about the Nora, which has figured so largely in the narrative 

 may not be amiss. She is an open I6ft.x30in. Peterboro, built bv the 

 late "Win. English, of basswood. Being somewhat old and water-soaked 

 she was a little heavy for the work, and quite a load for one man on a 

 rough portage, but in every other way she was immeasurably more 

 serviceable than the much vaunted bark canoes of the country She 

 had all the hard work of the survey and traveled probably 1 500 to 

 2,000 miles during the summer, but was only once broken and that 

 through pure carelessness. The lid of a biscuit box, some clout nails 

 and canoe gum, with four or Ave hour's work with an ax hammer 

 awl and jack-knife, rendered her as serviceable as ever ' 



Lest any of your readers should imagine that a 16X8Q canoe is about 

 right for one man, or at most, two, let me inform them that Nora's 

 ordinary load, in addition to her crew of two, was 4001bs. of flour and 

 bacon and any quantity of sundries, and that on one occasion she fer- 

 ried seven ordinary men across a small lake without being overloaded 

 Built of cedar, with some modification of lines, there can be no craft 

 Letter adapted to the many varyingrequirements of continuous inland 

 traveling. I bought her for $20 and after three months' use was 



offered $15. She was finally given as a reward to one of the men who 

 had been especially faithful and useful, for g!0, and will probably end 

 her career on Lake Temiscaming. 



This rather crude sketch represents the manner in which loads are 

 carried in the North woods; and which, I believe, has never been sur- 



passed as far as the possibilities in the way of immense weights are 

 concerned. A slight, consumptive looking Indian or half-breed 

 brought up to the work, will trot gaily off with 3001bs. or more, and 

 there are well authenticated instances of 500 to 6001bs. being carried 

 without injury to the carrier. Several of the "boys" who went in to 

 the woods "green," were able to carry easily on the return trip 150 

 to 2001bs. over a short portage; and vied with one another as to 

 which could carry most. The rigging is merely a long leather thong 

 with a broad piece in the center to distribute the weight on the fore- 

 head. The long ends are tied to the "pack," and the latter is "made 

 up" in a variety of ways, the most popular of which is shown in the 

 sketch. 



The Indians of the country, If not a noble race, are at least interest- 

 ing. They are usually characterized as lazy and shiftless, and cer- 

 tainly, from a white man's point of view, they are liable to appear so. 

 The latter is likely to be true around the posts and settlements in the 

 summer time, when life is easy and fish plentiful. The Indian has 

 plenty to eat and drink, and a little money from his last hunt; and he 

 does not see why he should work and save when there is no necessity 

 for it. 



But take him on his winter hunt, or traveling, and he is a different 

 being. He is alert and quick, no sign of the wilderness escape his 

 observation, and he will travel for hours or even days, on his line of 

 traps without food and with very scant clothing. When overtaken by 

 night or storm, he will make himself tolerably comfortable with the 

 help only of his axe and blanket, and come scathless and uncomplain- 

 ing through hardships which would either kill the ordinary white man 

 or what is perhaps worse, would give him material for stories of hair- 

 breadth "scapes" and dangers to inflict on his suffering friends for the 

 remainder of his days. 



The Indian of the North is honest, too. Provisions, canoes, axes 

 and other wealth may be left for days and months in this wilderness 



OUTLET TO RABBIT LAKE. 



so long as the owner will take care to leave them stowed or piled in 

 such a manner as will make it apparent that they are not forgotten or 

 lost and that he intends to return for them. 



The Indian in domestic life is, according to his lights, a good hus- 

 band and father Angry passages and squabbles are rare, and in- 

 fidelity almost unknown among them. The squaw does all the hard 

 work merely because it is the tradition of the race that it is part of 

 her mission on earth to do it, not because her lord and master is 

 brutal or unkind. The Indian is seldom bold and never reckless, but 

 he is rarely a coward, and when brought face to face with danger can 

 usually b« relied on to do the right thing, and do it promptly and with 

 nerve and decision. He is improvident, and lives for the present only, 

 caring nothing for what the morrow may bring forth; hence his lazi- 

 ness and contempt for the ceaseless every-day labor of the white 

 man. He will work for a time and be foremost with the ax and pack- 

 strap and be always quite civil and contented. Then when he has 

 earned a few dollars to buy the new gun or blanket he needs he will 

 ask himself cui bono? why should I stay and work and obey orders 

 when I can be free and my own master, and a promise of three-fold 

 pay will not keep him more than a day or two longer. 



The Indian is little of a poet, but a great deal of a philosopher, and 

 he is almost invariably an artist. All his work — canoe, snowshoes, 

 moccasins— is not only neat and perfectly adapted to his needs, but it 

 is often richly decorated in the most exquisite taste with porcupine 

 quills, moosehair silk or colored beads. 



The Indian's worst vice, in my opinion, is his ingratitude. Make a 

 bargain with him to perform a certain service for a certain sum, and 

 in nine cases out of ten he will perform it; but feed him and his family 

 when starving, or give him a plug of tobacco in his need without ask- 

 ing for a return, and he exhibits no sense of obligation whatever ; he 

 merely assumes that the white man has more food and tobacco than 

 he needs, otherwise he would not give them away. 



Of course there are Indians and Indians, but the average Indian 

 differs from the average white in character as the child differs from 

 the man— he is less developed. Intellectually he is far ahead of the 

 toiling and moiling lower orders of the whites; he has time to think 

 and study, and numerous are the examples he has given of the acute- 

 ness of his intellect and the accuracy of his judgments. 



The Chief. 



The Future of Canoe Sailing. 



The present conditition and future prospects of canoe sailing and 

 racing in this country are by no means satisfactory; the decline of 

 the racing fleet of the A. C A. from its highest point, in 1890, still con- 

 tinues; not only are no new racing canoes built and no new recruits 

 made, but the small band of racing men is lessened each year. It is 

 probable that, with a meet that is specially convenient for the great 

 body of sailing men, the racing this year will show up quite as well, 

 or even better than that of ia93; but last year was a very poor one, 

 for several causes, and a little improvement this year will not indi- 

 cate any permanent revival of designing, building and racing. Added 

 to the gradual lesseuing of the racing both at home and at the meets, 

 the past year or so has witnessed the introduction of a class of larger 

 boats which decidedly are not canoes, but which answer much better 

 than the standard 16x30 canoe the wants of those of the older canoe 

 sailors who are located within reach of fairly open waters. 



The influence of La Gloria and Scarecrow within the New York 

 C. C. is perhaps the most striking instance, but the same ideas are 

 working in other places. It is not due to any lack of merit in the 

 canoe, or to the special good qualities of the larger boats, that the 

 latter are replacing the former, but rather to the condition of canoe 

 sailing of late years, the craft having reached such a degree of per- 

 fection as a racing machine that its successful use involved a constant 

 labor in keeping the canoe up to the latest form, and in keeping one- 

 self in condition for the keen hard work of match sailing. This state 

 of affairs had already operated to lessen the ardor of many old 

 sailors, Who found that even the newest and fastest canoes that could 



be built or bought demanded the expenditure of unlimited time and 

 labor in order to win at the meets. 



Even before the new craft were planned, the racing canoes were 

 lifted less frequently from the racks of a Saturday, and fewer were 

 taken to the meets; and the decline of canoe sailing cannot fairly be 

 laid to the positive influence of the newer and larger craft, though it 

 must undoubtedly be hastened by them. 



It is with deep regret that we contemplate the threatened disap- 

 pearance of the sailing canoe, even in part, from the place which it 

 had so deservedly held for a quarter of a century. Our first ventures 

 afloat were in craft of this sort, and our warmest friendships have 

 been made on short Saturday cruises, in the social life of a canoe club 

 house, at winter camp-fires and in summer camps; the canoe, and 

 largely the sailing canoe, being the great bond of sympathy that has 

 been the first cause of many warm and intimate friendships. 



There is nothing that has worked more harm to canoeing in all 

 forms than the specialization and over-development of the sailing 

 canoe which has so materially increased its speed but diminished its 

 numbers. The cause is plain enough to any one who recalls the racing 

 of Notus, Vesper, Snake, Lassie, Thetis, Pecowsic and Eclipse and 

 compares them with the successful canoe of the present day. It 

 would be a hard matter even now, however, to say how this improve- 

 ment could have been prevented; it is inevitable in ail racing craft, 

 large or small, though in the case of the sailing canoe it has been 

 specially rapid and destructive. 



It is impossible now to go back to any previous stage of development 

 in which canons were slower and racing more general ; and on the 

 other hand, there is little progress to be looked for in the line of the 

 present canoe and possible improvements in design. While canoe rac- 

 ing is not likely to disappear entirely in this country, it hns passed its 

 most successful period, and there is little hope of any marked growth 

 in the future. There are still many localities where the sailing canoe 

 is superior to all other pleasure craft, and in all localities there is a 

 charm about canoeing as distinguished from other forms of sailing 

 which is sure to attract a certain number; but the recruits from the 

 great body of young boating men are likely to be proportionately 

 smaller in the future than in the past. 



One reason for the great success of canoe sailing at the start is that 

 there were then no suitahle sailing craft to be had by the novice or 

 man of moderate means. In this country he was limited to just two 

 types, the sandbag catboat, of varying degrees of badness for his use, 

 and the small rowboat fitted with a sprit or other simple sail. The 

 canoe, trim, shipshape, handsome in lines and finish, rigged as per- 

 fectly as a j acht, and offering a number of qualities which specially 

 fitted it for his individual ownership and use, was a revelation, and 

 opened an easy and inviting way to the pleasures of sailing where none 

 at all had previously existed. 



This superiority the canoe maintained for many years, being rela- 

 tively better in design, construction and equipment than the small 

 rival craft which sprimg up by degrees; but of late the superiority in 

 these points has ceased to exist. Side by side with the canoe in excel- 

 lence of design and perfection of workmanship are canoe yawls, raters 

 and other craft by the score, of varying sizes and proportions, with 

 keel, fin-keel or centerboard, fitted for all localitie.-i and all varieties of 

 sailing. It is not surprising that, in competition with this large fleet, 

 differing in size but not in quality, the smallest one of them all, the 

 sailing canoe proper, finds fewer adherents than of old. 



In America at least, the canoe is still protected by rules, and the 

 type is likely to continue indefinitely, even though it be less generally 

 used than in the past. Abroad, however, the conditions are such that 

 it is quite probable that the true sailing canoe may disappear entirelv, 

 giving place to some sort of miniature yacht. The rules of the Royal 

 C. C now admit of fin- keels, overhangs and the features of the mod- 

 ern yacht, and are likely to result in the extinction of those character- 

 istic features which have for thirty years separated the sailing canoe 

 from other craft. The following extract from the Field pictures a 

 condition of the sport in England which canoeists will recognize as 

 maintaining here as well: 



"When the early type of sailing canoe was started, and rapidly 

 brought up to a state of comparative perfection as a sailing and 

 cruising er*ft, few, if any, boats equivalent to the small raters of the 

 present time existed; the open centerboard gig was then about the 

 only craft, between a small yacht and a paddling canoe, which was 

 practicably useable for cruises of inland waters, or on longer cruises 

 which embraced both river, estuary and sea work; and naturally the 

 all-round good qualities or the decked sailing canoe rapidly found 

 favor with the large body of men who were in want of a craft, which 

 could continue to work^ where the yacht, from her size and draught, 

 had to stop, or, vice versa, where the paddling canoe dare not venture. 

 But in these modern times small raters furnish such fine sailing that 

 for sailing sport alone men are drawn that way; and others who seek 

 all-round work of sailing and cruising, combined with a reasonable 

 amount of comfort, are persuaded into the canoe-yawl fleet; while the 

 paddlers and river cruisers remain where they were, their craft being 

 of perfect type for the work required of the canoe. 



"It is at the present time obvious that the sailing canoe is at a stand- 

 still, that the men who sailed, designed and constantly improved the 

 canoes during the past twenty years have gone off into canoe yawls, 

 and no new blood has come in to replace them. Partly was this 

 caused by the late petty rules of limitations in the class which 

 befriended, to the exclusion of useful and comfortable craft, a whittled 

 down model— perfect, no doubt, for its work of pot-hunting in con- 

 fined smooth water, but dangerous or useless for all other work; 

 indeed, when it was proposed at the Royal Canoe Club meeting to sail 

 the challenge cup race this season at Erith, on the tidal part of the 

 Thames, such a course was generally objected to on t he ground that it 

 would not be safe, and the canoes could not live in such waters if there 

 was any strength of wind, and such statement was not even chal- 

 lenged. A further fact is that, under the recent conditions, canoe 

 design has been for a long time at a standstill, and no real or prac- 

 tical improvement either in model or fitment has been produced. We 

 can only hope that the new rule, which practically under its rating is 

 without limits, will be at once taken in hand to produce, as it certainly 

 can do, an able and useful little craft. 



"Six months ago, when the Royal C. C. remodeled its classification 

 rules, and adopted practically simple Y. R. A. rating rules in place of 

 the late microscopic canoe rules, the Royal C. C. was very generally 

 accused of being led by yachting men rather than by canoe men, and 

 of being in a fair way to become a boat sailing club instead of a canoe 

 club. To some extent this was true, in that the men who really led 

 the club are inclined to go on« above the past favorite canoe. But 

 what will such critics now say of the Mersey C. C , the next oldest 

 canoe club to the R. C. C. This club has just remodeled its rules of 

 classification, and has, among other reforms, gone far away ahead of 

 the R. C. C. in regard to canoe-yawls. 



"The Mersey club has adopted 1-rating, Y. R. A., for canoe-yawls, as 

 against 0.5-rating, the limit in the R. C. C. This is indeed a step well 

 in toward yachting, for, although of course it is possible to design a 

 1-rater which shall be in all essential points fairly a canoe in nature or 

 type, it is highlv probable that, where racing is the intent of the de- 

 sign, the craft will be simply neither more nor less than a full- winged 

 racing Y. R. 4. rater. The rule does, it is true, retain the R. C. C. con- 

 ditions, that the craft shall be sharp at each end, and that the rudder 

 shall hang abaft the stern; but with suitable appliances the rudder can 

 be so hung on almost any sharp-countered 0.5 or 1-rater. 



"We publish the text of the new Mersey rules, and it will be seen 

 that the club has practically adopted theR. C. C. rules; this makes, 

 therefore, the fourth club In unison, except as to the matter of 1- 

 rating canoe-yawls, and that will not necessarily adversely affect 0.5- 

 raters entering the Mersey Club's matches. Other canoe clubs will, 

 no doubt, -now follow on in adopting rules and rating similar to the 

 R. C. C, and finally the Canoe Racing Association, which is to he 

 officially inaugurated this summer, will have a pretty clear course to 

 steer in formulating rules universally acceptable to the clubs. 



"But the question naturally arises as to where canoe definitions 

 ought to make a stand in regard to size or rating? The old -time idea 

 that nothing was a canoe if over 30in. in beam has vanished like a sea 

 fog before a rising breeze. The ancient canoe mariner, whose expert 

 knowledge, beyond that of wielding a double-bladed paddle with an 

 apron buttoned up to his ehin, is confined to a pencil sketch of a com- 

 fortable 'well coaming,' will find that the Canadian type, fitted up to 

 date, has cut him out, and that the sailing canoe and canoe-yawl are 

 floating masses of tree, to him unmteliigible, and that old-time canoe- 

 ing is as nearly dead as he is." 



A. C. A. Membership. 



Central Division: Frederick Yroom, New York; W. B. Sackett, 

 Rochester. 



"Williamsburgh Shooting Association. 



The Williamsburgh Corps, Capt. G-. A. Schmitt, opened its summer 

 practice shooting in Wissel's Cypress Hills Park, May 6. Owing to the 

 rain and fog only a few members put in an appearance. The scores 

 are appended : 



GWorn 194 199 208 205 174 



CWHorney, Jr 179 186 201 183 206 



PC Ross , 222 218 



RMeninger i«i 188 168 



