BBS 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 30, 1S&4. 



SHU-SHUGAR LAKE. 



Texas.— For more than a year the writer has been 

 feasted on the most wonderful of stories about the fish 

 and game to be found in and around a certain lake away 

 down in Matagorda county in our State, five miles from 

 any human habitation and twenty miles from any town 

 or village, buried in the canebrakes and forests of Caney 

 Creek and the Barnard River, and the home of the wild 

 turkey, the deer, the catamount and the bear, and on 

 more than one occasion he had planned a trip to this won- 

 derful region with his sportsmen friends, and in imagina- 

 tion delighted beforehand in the pleasures of a week's 

 sojourn upon the banks of the hidden pellucid jewel of a 



From every person who had ever visited this region had 

 come the same delightful and wonderful accounts of the 

 abundance of game, and the size and variety of the fish 

 to be had without a shadow of. exertion until the sports- 

 man wearied of the slaughter, and surfeited upon the un- 

 told number of finny ones caught. 



The hps that described this wonderful region were not 

 those of members of our Annanias Club, either, but most 

 reputable and well known citizens of Matagorda and 

 Wharton counties, and as such they compelled implicit 

 belief. 



These parties affirmed that the lake, called by them Jug 

 Lake, because in the shape of a jug with a little island in 

 the midst of the handle, had water in it 25ft. deep, cov- 

 ered eight or ten acres, and was as clear as crystal, and 

 there all day long the trout of immense size, and goggle- 

 eyed perch, and toothsome calico bass, disported, and 

 could be seen and watched easily in their movements in 

 the clear water. In these counties the inhabitants all call 

 a black bass a trout. 



This lake, it was said, was never fished. The country 

 round was very sparsely settled, the nearest ranch was 

 the Duncan ranch. Only negroes lived there and they 

 caught all the fish they wanted from the Caney Creek, 

 right at their door, and had no need to go far for fish. 



Then the fish inhabiting this lake were entirety ignor- 

 ant of the fisherman's wiles. They had no acquaintance 

 with spoons, spinners, phantom minnows, or flies. One 

 man, who had fished there and caught fish of every vari- 

 < ty until he was tired, said that they would strike at any 

 thing, that no kind of lure could be thrown into the 

 water and taken from it without having strikes from half 

 a dozen fish, each struggling to be the first to capture the 

 bait. He said that his little ten year-old boy, fishing in a 

 little slough or draw running down into the lake, had in 

 half an hour caught a basketful of splendid goggle-eye 

 perch that was more than his whole family could eat. 



Then these fish did not bite at only stated times and 

 seasons, nor did the wind or weather have any effect 

 upon their appetites. Be the time winter or summer, 

 rainy or dry, windy or still, at early morn, sultry noon or 

 dewy eve, all times were alike to them, and they were 

 hungry and ready to be impaled upon the barbed steel at 

 any time, even in the night. They were the native, wild, 

 hungry, unsophisticated fish of the untamed wilderness, 

 and as such afforded the perfection of sport to the fisher- 

 man, be he f ver so unskillful. 



Then the forest was wild and almost impenetrable, and 

 full of game. No one ever rode through them in the 

 vicinity of this lake without seeing both deer and turkeys. 

 Turkeys gobbled numerously from the trees every morn- 

 ing in the spring, and were so unaccustomed to the sight 

 of man that his appearance did not alarm them, and the 

 merest tyro of a hunter could kill them, at which in- 

 formation the writer hereof brightened wonderfully, for 

 he has not killed a turkey for many a day, and he resolved 

 that the rest of the party might kill the deer, but he 

 wanted a turkey sure. 



It was said also that several bears had been killed in the 

 neighborhood, and that we could not fail to secure several 

 of those beautiful spotted wildcat skins, that mount so 

 beautitul in a rag, as they would very likely visit our 

 camp during the night, and if we had a dog, and he bayed 

 them, they would mount the first tree and spit defiance at 

 him, if they did not boldly attack him. 



This lake was, however, thirty miles from Wharton 

 and about the same distance from Matagorda, and the 

 nearest human habitation was Duncan's Eanch, owned by 

 Col. A. H. Pierce, the cattle king of Wharton county, a 

 self-made man who owns about 160,000 acres on both 

 sides the Colorado River, below Wharton, and down to 

 Matagorda Bay. 



Jug Lake and its charms was early discussed by the 

 writer and his sportsmen friends many times during the 

 year, and at last a trip materialized and a number of us 

 resolved to brave the trials of the unknown region for 

 the sake of the splendid sport to be had there. For once 

 in our lives we resolved to go where we could have all 

 the fishing and hunting the most ardent sportsman could 

 desire. April was warm and dry, a spare week came to 

 us in which we could throw aside all business cares and 

 troubles, and we resolved to do so. The three who 

 started from Victoria, Texas, were the writer, one who 

 shall be denominated M. and a certain ardent fisherman 

 and railroad magnate, who had kindly furnished his 

 private car for the trip so far as we could go in it. 



At Pierce's Station Col. Pierce himself boarded the 

 train, to whom we told our destination and purpose. "All 

 right," he said, "you'll find trout down there as long as 

 my arm and plenty of deer, and you just go to McClosky 

 he is my manager at the ranch, and tell him I sent you' 

 and he'll treat you like a white man, he will sure. I was 

 never down at that lake myself, but they do say that 

 there's just lots and cords of fish there, and any amount 

 of game about." 



Arrived at Wharton we were joined by three more 

 sportsmen, who equally with ourselves were consumed 

 with desire to taste with us the delights of a perfect hunt- 

 ing and fishing trip, and they were, equally as enthusiastic 

 and confident as ourselves, as to the certainty of a glorious 

 time and fine sport, and contributed many thrilling and 

 authentic additions to our present store of information 

 and fanned the fire of anticipation in each member of the 

 party. We could hardly be restrained from endeavoring 

 to get off that night; but preparations had to be made 

 and it was deemed best to take an early start the next 

 morning for the thirty mile trip before us. 



On the morning of the 17th, having stowed our boat, 

 cots, beddmg Jand tent fly and other impedimenta, and 

 our provisions upon a light road wagon, and provided 

 ourselves with a top ambulance and driver for the passen- 

 gers, about nine o'clock, after the usual number of stop- 



pages and delays to get some indispensable thing that had 

 been forgotten, we were at last ready, and a group of 

 friends gathered at the grocery, from which we bought 

 our provisions, and from which we made our start, to see 

 us off. Our accomplished cook, Frank, drove the baggage 

 wagon, and Brown mounted the high seat of that vehicle 

 with him, so as to have good wing shooting on the way, 

 while B., of Wharton, and M. , of Victoria, two fast friends 

 and cronies, concluded that they would perhaps have 

 better shooting from a sulky, or two-wheel jolter, owned 

 by B., than from the covered ambulance, and that they 

 would lighten the load; so they appeared in the two-wheel 

 vehicle and proposed to make the trip in that. 



The morning was cloudy and threatening, and free and 

 cheering predictions were made that we would certainly 

 have plenty of rain before we got back, a prediction 

 which really seemed likely to be verified, and mea.it many 

 weary miles over heavy roads before us. The. enthusiasm 

 of some of the party was perceptibly cooled, and they 

 would have been willing to compromise upon a nearer 

 expedition to Peach Creek, a lovely bass-haunted stream 

 nearer by. But our captain, the railroad magnate, 

 answered that we had started to Jug Lake, and to Jug 

 Lake we would go, rain or shine, and as is usually the 

 case when unfavorable circumstances are bravely and 

 manfully faced, we did not have a drop of rain upon us 

 until we were nearly back to Wharton on our return trip, 

 and that was only a light passing shower. 



About 13 miles out, we reached B ty Prairie, a stretch of 

 open land that reaches nearly or quite to the Matagorda 

 Bay, and preparations for plover shooting began; guns 

 were put together, ammunition boxes opened and close 

 watch kept for the birds. The vehicles spread out over 

 the prairie, and soon the sound of rapid firing all along 

 the line announced that the action had beguu. When we 

 arrived at our nooning place, Diekerson's Point, about 18 

 miles from Wharton, we had 25 or 30 fat plover, and had 

 gotten a wing shot or two at ducks, long Bhots, however, 

 and wild. 



These plover, w r hen properly dressed and nicely cooked 

 by Frank, accompanied with broiled bacon, strong coffee 

 and the etceteras from the home supplies, made a dinner 

 to which we all addressed ourselves without preliminary 

 grace, except that one of the party as he fastened his 

 teeth in the breast of a juicy bird, found voice to mumble 

 "Now good digestion wait on appetite, and health on 

 both," and while we ate and smoked, the unharnessed 

 horses rested and dozed. 



About five miles more of prairie was to be traveled be- 

 fore we turned to the left to Duncan's ranch and the un- 

 known forests surrounding Jug Lake. This prairie proved 

 a better range for plover than above the point, and a good 

 many birds were bagged, several very pretty wing shots 

 being made while vehicles were in motion, and now and 

 then a double cried or a jack rabbit knocked over as he 

 scampered away. 



We then bore to the left and entered Caney timber and 

 the confines of Duncan's ranch, beyond which no mem- 

 ber of the party had ever been in this direction, and be- 

 gan to canvass the expediency of procuring a guide from 

 among the colored denizens to lead the way to the prom- 

 ised land. After passing a good many tenant houses and 

 negroes at work in the fields we at last reached the prin- 

 cipal dwelling, a large two-story house on the banks of 

 Caney, and all halted for water. 



A mile further on we came to another settlement of 

 negro cabins, near a queer little church, utilized as a 

 schoolhouse. Up to this time we had seen no white faces 

 on Duncan's Ranch except our own, and they began to 

 show that they "knew the sun and wind." Besides the 

 church and cabins, we found here a queer old forge, shel- 

 tered behind the half of an old shingle house roof, set up 

 slantingly, and near by, and evidently the owner and pro- 

 prietor and user of the forge, an old, old da--ky, who 

 looked anywhere between 80 and 100 years old. We called 

 him up to our wagons and began to question. Yes, he 

 knew where Jug Lake was; it was over that way, about 

 four miles, but the water in it was very low and much 

 fallen timber in it. That was not the fishing lake at all 

 we wanted to go to, but Shu-Shugar Lake was the place. 

 There was the largest lake, the most water, the largest 

 fish. There were all kinds of fish in Shu-Shugar Lake; he 

 had fished there often; had caught one trout there more 

 than three people could eat. How far was it? Oh, only 

 about four miles. "You go up there by the burned gin, 

 and then it is a straight road to the lake." Could we get 

 some one to guide us? He would see; there was a George 

 Jackson in the house, he might go. 



Gen. Jackson appeared, lame but game, with a yellow 

 buckskin jacket garnished with brass buttons, and sad- 

 dled a gaunt, bony claybank pony staked near by to an 

 old tumble down chimney. He took his old short-stern 

 pipe from his mouth, struck a lope, erected his military 

 person in his saddle, waved his hand, and neither Napo- 

 leon at Austerlitz or Washington crossing the Delaware, 

 ever cut so striking and grotesque a figure as did our 

 Gen. Jackson, now. 



We went in a hurry, passed the burned gin, drove in a 

 trot across an old field, where never a wheel had passed 

 before, and plunged into the wild canebrake, with cane 

 on the right of us and cane on the left of us, and a rank 

 growth of briers and weeds on either side of the doubtful 

 trail which we had now struck, with nothing to remind 

 us that we were within a hundred miles of civilization 

 except the ever present barbed wire fence, along which 

 we made our difficult way, and which stretched on and 

 on into the pathless tangle of forest and cane beyond us. 

 Here and there the stump of a tree which had been cut 

 out of what was once a road, reminded us that the ax had 

 been here, and M. hugged B. more closely and convul- 

 sively, as a wheel of their jumper would mount one of 

 these stumps, or both wheels strike a fallen log across the 

 road, and the foliage and growth became more and more 

 dense as we advanced, the trees taller, the thick under- 

 growth beneath, the ash and hackberry and elm and 

 pecan, ranker and more interlaced, and the by-path we 

 seemed to be following, more and more dim and undistin- 

 guishable. "This is certainly no thoroughfare," P. mut- 

 tered disgustedly as one wheel of the ambulance grazed a 

 fence post and the other barked a tree on the otner side, 

 and a third bumped and jolted them as it mounted a 

 fallen log; and his fellow travelers agreed with him in a 

 few moments when they reached a leaning tree which 

 had been bent and almost prostrated by some sudden 

 fury of wind, and stretched across the ruad so low, that 

 the horses of the first vehicles had to back their ears 

 to go under and the passengers to duck their heads as low 



as the travelers on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal in Vir- 

 ginia in olden times, at the cry of "Low bridge!" 



The last vehicle, being the top ambulance, with a top 

 high enough to chamber the longest back man in 

 Wharton county with the highest stovepipe hat, at this 

 obstacle incontinently called a halt, and sorrel reached 

 over and gave bay a vicious bite, as if to say, "It is all 

 your fault;'' and P. yelled aloud, "Say, you fellows ahead, 

 aren't you going to camp with us?" and thereupon the 

 whole cavalcade came to a halt, two hatchets were pro- 

 duced which luckily had not been forgotten, and a road 

 was cleared through the thickets, so that by describing a 

 letter C, we could get around that obstacle. 



Our ardor cooled more and more as the difficulties of 

 the way more and more confronted us as we penetrated 

 deeper and deeper into the forest. Road there was none. 

 The winding and twisting that we did in that forest is 

 impossible to describe. We marked a perfect hieroglyph 

 of curves, of Us and Ss and Cs and Ms and Ns, and mixed 

 them up with sharp angles, blindly following General 

 Jackson with his buckskin jacket and claybank pony, until 

 we began seriously to doubt, as we traveled mile after 

 mile of this somber jungle, whether we should ever 

 sweeten our coffee on tbe wisbed-f or banks of Shu-Shugar 

 Lake, or dip our lines in itsunfished waters. But M. com- 

 forted us, after he had given out several long-drawn sighs, 

 by remarking, "It is bound to be a splendid fishing place, 

 anyway, for it is perfectly evident that nobody ever goes 

 there over this road." 



We remembered too that our guide had not been there 

 for eighteen months, but had contented himself to catch- 

 ing the (as he termed them) goggle-mouth perch, of 

 Caney. 



Brown affirmed confidently, with shining eyes, that 

 there was bound to be plenty of deer and wild turkeys 

 down in here, for it was evidently the very place for them, 

 and in the gloom of the forest just then, one of the party, 

 who was walking, saw a huge black object high up in a 

 large tree, and with an excited. "Is it a bear?" leaped for 

 his Winchester, and in a twinkling of an eye had bored 

 two holes clear through a tremendous old abandoned 

 eagle's nest. 



The straight road that we had been told led to the lake, 

 developed so many devions and aimless turnings and 

 twistings, and the fallen timber and decaying logs we 

 jolted over were so numerous, and the overhanging 

 boughs were so frequent and familiar with our faces in 

 passing, and the undergrowth was so dense, and so 

 crowded and so choked the way, that we began to lose 

 confidence in our guide. Just then, sure enough, our 

 guide came to a full stop, and apparently there was no 

 outlet for us ahead, no way to turn around, and no sign 

 of a road any where. Two of us sprang out, however, 

 hatchet in hand, and by direction of General Jackson 

 began lo hew a road in the direction indicated by him, 

 through the undergrowth. And now we found that he 

 had been following all this time a way indicated by 

 blazed trees, marked several years ago on each side of the 

 intended road, and seemingly marked without regard to 

 any course, except that indicated by the comparative 

 thinness of the growth, and ease of clearing. 



From this point to the lake, about two miles, w T e 

 worked, clearing the road in advance of the teams, and 

 at last reached a point in the midst of tall trees and dense 

 undergrowth of bamboo and brush, through which there 

 was no sign of further way, and here we halted and 

 General Jackson dismounted and informed us that we 

 were at our journey's end. 



Peering through the thicket and bamboo we could see 

 a wide opening or clearing where no timber grew and 

 the banks of what was apparently a lake of about two 

 acres in extent. Accompanied by the General, and dodg- 

 ing along through the thickets, we gained the immediate 

 margin of Shu-Shugar Lake and gazed down in sicken- 

 ing disappointment into its basin. We saw about fifteen 

 feet below what was evidently the ordinary water mark 

 at the roots of the surrounding trees, a still sluggish pool 

 of water apparently not more than two feet deep and 

 covered all over with a thick coat of green pollen from 

 the surrounding trees, with not three feet of open water 

 visible. "My," said Jackson, "how this lake has dried 

 up. The water was up to the foot of them trees when I 

 was here last year." pointing to the trees on the banks, 

 "but," he added hopefully, "this is not the largest lake, 

 that is higher up." He led the way about three hundred 

 yards west, creeping through the bushes along the bank, 

 until we came at last to the largest of what was evidently 

 a chain of lakes. This lake was about four or five acres 

 in extent; when the lake was full the waters had 

 evidently been twelve or fifteen feet deep, but had been 

 evaporated by last year's long drought and there remained 

 now only two or three feet of water in it, but one or two 

 acres of it seemed clear of moss and pollen, and apparently 

 drinkable. 



As we had no buckets, and nightfall was upon us, and 

 the teams were too tired to make a return trip to Duncan's 

 ranch, and as horses and men must have water, and water 

 could not be brought to where our teams then were, per 

 force, we resolved to go to water; and with infinite labor 

 with hands and hatchets, we at last cleared a road up to 

 the larger lake, then cleared a way for the teams to get 

 down to the water, and resolved to camp there all night 

 and postpone further move until morning. 



Underbrush was cleared for a camping place, a rope was 

 drawn tight between two trees about 12ft. from the ground 

 for a ridgepole, the tent fly was spread across that and 

 made fast to the ground, cots were unpacked, fire built, 

 and all preparations made for the night. 



We paid General Jackson for his trouble, and engaged 

 him to return the next morning and pilot us out of the 

 woods, for we became certain at a glance at the still and 

 lifeless water remaining in the lake, that there would be 

 no fishing to keep us here, because in such a drought as 

 had dried up this lake the gars destroy all the fish, and if 

 the hunting should also prove nil, we would have nothing 

 to keep us longer than the morrow. 



All camp work done and supper well under way under 

 the supervision of Frank , diligent trial of the lake from 

 all sides and with every kind of bait and artificial device 

 begun in the twilight, but none of us was rewarded by a 

 strike or a bite or a nibble, except our persevering rail- 

 road captain, who after some straggle landed a sharp- 

 nosed gar about 2ft- long, which immediately disen- 

 gaged itself from the hook and rolled down the bank and 

 tumbled toward the water. As our only catch, however, 

 it was too precious to be lost, though the vilest of the pis- 

 catory tribe, so as it rolled and tumbled toward the water 



