246 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept. 22, 1894. 
mt[e §ag m\A §un. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
[From our Staff Correspondent.] 
Up in the Arctics. 
Chicago, 111., Sept. 15. — A "Winnipeg, Man., journal 
has the following to say in regard to a journey well up 
into the Arctics recently made by a lady of adventure- 
some turn of mind. The McKenzie country remains as 
yet comparatively little known by even the most daring 
of American travelers. Mrs. Shaw-Coleleugh's successful 
feat will entitle her to the respect of tbe sterner sex even 
though it win the horrified surprise of the i airer. But 
there is no telling what woman is going to do these days. 
One can only regret that a lady showing so much pluck 
and determination could not resist the temptation to fall 
into poetry. The account says: 
Mrs Emma Shaw Colcleugh has returned to the city from another 
of those trips which have given her much celebrity as a traveler. 
Always seeking out unbeaten tracks for her journeys, she this year 
decided upon going to the remote and little known McKenzie Elver 
region, where only one other white woman tourist had ever preceded 
her, and that was Miss Taylor, daughter of the late TJ. S. Consul. Mrs. 
Colcleugh's trip occupied over three months and during that time 
she covered fully 6,000 miles. Speaking of her trip to-day, Mrs. Col- 
cleugh said it was not one that she would recommend to the average 
tourists, as there were many little drawbacks to be met with that 
would frighten those who could not find pleasure unless it was as- 
sociated with the luxuries of palace cars and sumptuous hotels. She 
had, however, accepted everything as she found it and managed to 
get along very comfortably. The character of the country, its re- 
moteness from civilization, the old trading forts and their historical 
connections, the various Indian types met with, and the novel life on 
the open boats on the unnavigable stretches had a charm and fascina- 
tion all their own which were truly interestin » and keeps one's imagina- 
tion continually active. The northward journey terminated at Fort 
McPherson, on the Peel River, near the 17° of latitude. Here Mrs. 
Colcleugh had the good fortune of finding a camp of Eskimos from 
the Arctic regions. She found these strange people very interesting 
and brought away with her poetical, photographic and other souvenirs 
of them. Mrs. Colcleugh secured much data for magazine articles 
and lectures which she intends to give to the public shortly. Besides 
her prose description of the rivers, lakes, scenic wonders of the North, 
Hudson's Bay forts, etc., she also composed several poems on scenes 
and incidents met with on the journey. On the way home an un- 
looked for delay occurred and provisions running short the rations 
were limited to pork and bannock for several days; but the keen air 
and excitement inspired by the surroundings gave one such an 
appetite that this substantial food was eaten with a relish. The 
steanjboat journey on the McKenzie River alone from Slave Lake and 
back was 4,000 miles. Mrs. Colcleugh speaks very highly of all the 
Hudson's Bay officials, who treated her with every possible courtesy 
and kindness. 
Again the Butchers. 
A Forest and Steeam friend who lives in Nebraska 
sends me the following under date of Sept. 7: 
"I inclose a clipping from the Daily State Journal of 
Lincoln, Neb., for Aug. 29, telling how a party from there 
are killing game in the West. It will not be many years 
before these same fellows will be wondering where the 
game is all gone. I do not claim to be perfect in that 
line, but will say that out of several trips in the West, 
aggregating nearly five months, in the big game regions, 
and with parties of from five to ten, we never in that 
time killed as much game as this party of 'gentlemen' 
seem to have slaughtered in a few days, mostly to rot, as 
anyone must know who has hunted in the west. H." 
The clipping reads: 
The Fremont (Wyo.) Clipper tells of the exploits of a company of 
hunters composed of H. M. Rice of this city, A. Wannfried of Omaha 
and several Chicago gentlemen in northern Wyoming. Mr. Rice is 
quoted as saying that they shot sixty-four antelope, nineteen elk and 
nine bear, and for that reason their wagon was so heavily loaded they 
could not proceed on their way to Yellowstone Park without return- 
ing to Lander to rid themselves of the results of their prowess. 
It is an old story, this of senseless, absurd, cruel and in- 
human butchery. It creates no surprise to hear that the 
butchers are at it again. But it will never cease to create 
disgust in the heart of any man who has really the shadow 
of a claim to the misused title of gentleman. 
There Are Doves in Mexico Also. 
A gentleman who is well known in Forest and Stream 
by his too rarely seen pen name of "Aztec," writes all the 
way from San Luis Potosi, the same being a ciudad loca- 
ted away down in Mexico Viejo (get on to my Spanish), as 
follows: 
"I was amused and pleased at your account of the dove 
'holocaust' in Tennessee. I began to shoot doves during 
the four years I lived in California. Since coming here 
I have kept it up, as this country is full of them summer 
and winter. After about ten years' practice I was begin- 
ning to get ashamed of myself that I still missed about 
two out of three, and had made up my mind that I was 
no sort of a shot anyhow. I can kill ducks pretty fre- 
quently, and though I have had very little practice for a 
long time, can give a fair account of myself with quail. 
I had long had a suspicion that it was easier to kill a duck 
even on a pass and in the wind than to stop a traveling 
dove, but I was just a little timid about saying so. Just 
let a dove have business at a pond about two miles away 
and be going with the wind besides, and the fastest mem- 
ber of the duck tribe is not in it with him. 
"By the way, it is a common thing to meet with the 
prejudice against dove shooting even in the South, where 
they are so abundant. The negroes of the old regime 
think it both a shame and a waste of ammunition to kill 
a dove, and many Southern ladies will not eat them. The 
darkies hold that it is wrong to kill the descendants of 
the bird that brought good news to Noah in the Ark. As 
for the ammunition question, it was a common notion in 
the country districts of southwest Missouri, where I was 
brought up, that even Bob White was not worth a load of 
phot, except when there was a probability of potting a 
flock." 
Some time, if I ever go to Mexico again, I shall inaugu- 
rate another war of extermination in company with 
"Aztec," feeling sure of his sympathy if we only get every 
other bird, any maybe not that. 
Wants to Know About Skis. 
Mr. Hugh P. Blackinton, of Blackinton, Mass., will par- 
don me if I print his letter asking for information about 
skis: 
"I am very fond," he says, "of all winter sports, and 
for several years past have gotten much pleasure in long 
tramps over our Berkshire hills on Indian snowshoes. 
Last year for the first time I attempted to navigate with 
the Norwegian ski — on a home-made pair, made with only 
the vaguest idea of the essential points; but crude though 
they were, they served to make me realize the possibilities 
of grand sport in them, With a little practice I learned 
to coast easily on them, but was not able to wear them on 
a tramp with any comfort. The motion seemed very 
awkward and hard, and I could not make a go of it up 
hill. Your description of corduroying up a grade, I 
think, makes this point clear with me; but I do not under- 
stand how you keep your toe in the toe-cap. Is there a 
strap (which can be detached) going up over the heel to 
keep the foot from sliding backward, and if so, how is this 
usually attached? 
"Can you wear the slcis with moccasins, or is it neces 
sary to wear a heavy boot as a support to the toe in push- 
ing the shoe? 
"In walking along a side grade when the ice has f ormed 
under my foot I find it almost impossible to keep my foot 
from sliding off the ski and thus disengaging my toe from 
the cap. I presume a heel strap — if such a thing is used 
— might in a way remedy this difficulty — though I hardly 
see how it could be overcome entirely. 
"I am very much interested in this sport and am bound 
to have some of it this winter, and if you could give me 
some suggestions as to making my skis or refer me to any 
book giving me this information and posting me a little 
more thoroughly as to their use, I shall be grateful." 
There is no book on ski going so far as I know, and it 
would be worthless if there were one. The only way to 
learn a sport is to practice it, at first if possible under one 
proficient in it. Mr. Blackinton's i roubles are those usual 
with the beginner on skis. He needs first of all a good 
pair of skis, which he can get by addressing any sporting 
goods house in St. Paul (I don't know why Eastern deal- 
ers do not keep them, and do not see why the sport is not 
more generally practiced in the East) He will find that 
the ski has a heel strap which will hold the toe from slip- 
ping back out of the toe strap. This heel strap is not 
fastened to the ski at the heel, as that of course would 
destroy all play of the foot up or down, which is as neces- 
sary with the ski as with the web shoe. Some of the 
finest ski men, however, will not strap the ski to the foot 
at all, and on the most dangerous runs it is best not to do 
so, as a fall would then possibly wrench the ankle. In a 
swift coast the ski runner drives his toes well forward 
into the toe straps, and as the skis always go ahead, and 
he always goes as fast as they do, he needs no firmer con- 
nection with them than is thus afforded. Most men in 
ordinary travel want the ski strapped on, but this does 
not give firmness so much as security against losing the 
shoe. In taking a side hill one walks on the inner edge 
of his skis, with only the edge holding on the snow, and 
sometimes with his heel clear inside of that and off the 
ski, giving him firmer grip on a smooth crust. His 
strength and stiffness of ankle must give him control of 
the shoes here, for all the heel-strap does is to keep the 
foot in the toe-strap. To gain this control over the skis 
takes muscle and practice, but one needs the proper foot- 
wear. This I described in the Yellowstone Park papers 
lately published in Forest and Stream. A moccasin 
will do if worn inside a stout overshoe. A "heavy boot" 
would not do at all, but would ruin the foot. One needs 
pliable yet firm foot covering of a sort to turn the grind- 
ing snow. 
The ski gait is not so tiresome as that of the web shoe, 
because one does not have to lift the ski at each step, and 
he has the great privilege of resting while going down 
hill. There is no more pleasant feeling in the world than 
that of the ski step on a gentle grade — unless it be the 
exhilaration of the run where one takes no step at all, but 
only glides. The art of getting up hill is uncommuni- 
cable by words. The only way is to see another fellow do 
it, and then try to do it one's self. 
In a hilly country of long grades, and of snow that 
packs to any extent, there is no reason for the existence 
of the web shoe except the reasons of conservatism and 
custom. In a country like that of the Park the web shoe 
would rightly be scoffed at as being unfitted to the en- 
vironment. The web shoe is at home in level country, 
soft snow, and timber, where one has to climb around 
and pick his way over logs, etc. I should like to see the 
sport of ski gain a footing in the East. It is a manly 
sport, far and away passing tennis, golf, bicycling and 
tiddledewinks. 
Improved the Senator's Health. 
Despatches say that Gen. Nelson A. Miles, Senator 
John Sherman and party were at Hot Springs, S. D,, last 
week, shooting prairie chickens and bathing, and that 
Senator Shermanls health was improved. By which? 
Mr. J. M. Jones of Chicago, his friend John Howley, 
once of Chicago but now of New York city, and other 
friends have set out for Dakota on their regular annual 
hunt after chickens. 
Colorado Deer. 
Mr. W. J. Letts, of Sedalia, Mo. , writes me : 
"Four tenderfeet would like to take a trip to the moun- 
tains of Colorado for pleasure, and deer, and as our time 
would be limited to fifteen or twenty days would not 
want to go a great way from railroad. Can you recom- 
mend place, guide, and give estimate of cost of guide and 
wagon transportation?" 
The gentlemen are taking altogether too little time for 
a pleasant and successful trip of the sort they propose, 
and they are moreover asking some questions I can't 
answer and which I wish some one out in Colorado would. 
My friend Dick Merrill, of Milwaukee, tells me that he 
and his friends had good success deer hunting north of 
Delta, Colo., (on the D. & R G. Ry.) They were the 
guests of Henry Koehler, of the Bar I ranch, north of 
Delta, and they took 26 pack horses of the Bar I into the 
mountains with them. The Bar I outfit is hardly guiding 
for anybody, but perhaps Mr. Koehler would advise an 
inquirer whom to address in that section for a guide and 
outfit. Mr. Merrill and his friends got plenty of deer. 
Will some Colorado friend do better than this for us by 
way of specific advice? 
Base Libel and a Snake Story. 
A few weeks ago I was at New York. I always 
like to go there, it is so restful. It is a pleasure 
to hear the meadow-larks singing on the fence in the 
morning, and to look out of the window and see the hired 
men going out to milk the cows and get the early chores 
done; and in the evening it is nice to sit on the steps of 
the main store and look at the teams hitched to the fence 
around the court house, in the Union Square, and see the 
boys taking the girls into the ice cream saloon at the cor- 
ner of the Square — it's a real good place, too. Anyhow, 
if I hadn't gone to New York I probably wouldn't have, 
gone to Altoona, up in the Pennsylvania mountains; md. 
if I hadn't gone there, I wouldn't have had this snake 
story, the truth of which I will leave to Mr. Edward 
Banks, who has joined the Forest and Stream family in 
New York, and who cannot, therefore, err on the side of 
accuracy. 
Mr. Banks and I rode up the picturesque narrow-gauge 
road, which climbs 1,500ft. in its seven miles of crooked- 
ness, to the Hotel Wopsononock, where the big trap tour- 
ment was held the week before. Having nothing else to 
do, we walked out into the woods, over some good ruffed 
grouse country, hoping to start a bird or so for the pleas- 
ure of seeing them go, just as one sets off any sort of fire- 
works. We didn't find any birds, and I lay down and 
went to sleep, while Mr. Banks read Forest and Stream, 
an arrangement we found mutually satisfactory for a 
time, though Mr. Banks alleges I snored, in which he 
must certainly be mistaken. "Well, we were walking 
home along the road a little later, when all at once we 
heard at our feet the universally understood and always 
terrifying note of a rattlesnake. Instinctively we both 
sprang back, and on the instant saw the rattler, a great, 
lazy, fat, black fellow, about 31ft. long. He was lying 
at full length on a flat rock, with hardly a bend in his 
lazy body, but the stubby tail was erect for about 3in. of 
its length and was running faster than a milk-shake ma- 
chine. He was a buzzer, sure. It is all a mistake to think 
a rattlesnake has to coil before it can rattle. He can 
rattle with both hands tied and in any sort of shape. 
The old fellow crawled about three or four inches 
toward the cover when we jumped back, and seemed to 
say that it could be peace or war, just as we liked. We 
declared war, and threw a stone which struck him on the 
tail. In an instant he was on guard, in a loose coil, or 
rather loop, his body lying in horseshoe shape on the 
ground, his head up about six inches. We flung other 
stones in rapid succession and hurt him badly, but he 
never showed the white feather or tried to get away. He 
only struck once, that after he had been stove in amid- 
ships, and when he struck he showed no judgment what- 
ever. He sprang out of his loose coil as quick as light- 
ning, and drove his fangs sheer against the flat rock on 
which he had been lying. This was in quite the opposite 
direction from us. In striking, he sprang from a very 
loose coil, and went to a. distance of all but about six or 
eight inches of his length. Perhaps he would have 
struck oftener had not the rock hurt his teeth, or had we 
not disturbed the alignment of his spinal column soon 
thereafter. This snake was very black; especially near 
the tail. Mr. Banks said it was the male snake, and that 
the female, of a yellower color, was no doubt near by. 
(A great many r?ttlesnakes are killed in that locality.) 
We carried our prize back to the hotel, and decided to 
feed it to Dick, the pet raccoon which makes one of the 
main attractions of the hotel. Dick is usually good 
natured, and we had tousled him around all the 
morning. Now he was asleep in his box, but when 
we poked the snake in to him, he woke up and came 
out, following it eagerly. Mr. Banks pulled it away 
from him and Dick ran to the end of his chain and 
stood up on his hindlegs, in evident ill temper, because he 
bit me when I tried to touch him then, as he will any one 
when he is feeding. As soon as Dick got hold of the 
snake he set deliberately to work to eat it, and began di- 
rectly at the head as being the tenderest part. He bit the 
rattler's head all over and tried to eat the softer parts, in- 
cluding the tongue. If he kne w that that was the danger- 
ous part of a rattler he didn't let on about it, and acted as 
though he had eaten many a one before. He did not 
actually eat the head, but only the crushed portion of it, 
He is so old that his teeth are bad and he could not tear 
the snake up very well, though he did all he could with 
his claws. He rejected the skin altogether, but as soon 
as he had gotten a hob or two torn through it he took the 
snake to his water-pail and carefully washed it, after coon 
fashion, and then worked at it diligently for an hour, finally 
leaving it hardly more than a flat piece of skin. Whether 
he ate the poison bag or not I don't know, but he started 
in at that end as though he was exploring for delicatessen. 
No doubt the poison would have been harmless had he 
eaten it. I think the fangs of the snake were broken 
when it struck on the rock, though we could feel them 
snag slightly on the string with which we explored the 
upper jaw. 
If there is a Wopsononock rattler of female persuasion 
which is shy a dark-complexioned consort, she can have 
the same, or satisfaction for the same, by applying to 
Dick, the hotel coon; but I am disposed to think that she 
would best keep some distance away from Dick, or he will 
add her to the obsequies. I wonder if wild raccoons at- 
tack wuld rattlesnakes, but we are not yet far enough 
along to say more than that one tame raccoon ate one 
dead rattlesnake. 
There are two young red foxes also kept captive at this 
hotel, the slimmest, thinnest things one ever saw, and 
the most unspeakably suspicious and shy. Yet toward 
evening they grow lively, and romp and play like a pair 
of kittens, so far as their chains will allow them. Not so 
the big wildcat in the grated cage. He is perennially out 
of humor, and growls if you come within 20ft. of him. 
All the above animals are native in number around Al- 
toona, as well as deer and turkeys and squirrels in abun- 
dance also; all of which it surprised me to learn. To the 
Western mind there is no game so far East as that. 
Chicago Includes Russia Also. 
As long as Chicago and the West has gotten so far East 
as this, it might as well take in Russia, too, and I don't 
mind telling what I know about hunting bear in Russia. 
My information comes from Mr. H. J. Sprengle, who was 
the representative of the W. W. Greener gun at the 
World's Fair. Mr. Sprengle once lived in St. Petersburg, 
and while he was up in this office the other day he told 
me how they hunt bear in Russia. He says it is a very 
expensive sport, but not difficult nor extremely dangerous 
as it is sometimes practiced, though the bears are very 
large. 
The bear hunt comes off in winter, after the bears have 
gone into their hibernation quarters. When the peasants 
of a village learn there is a bear required, they go out and 
locate one in his winter quarters, thus saving the hunter 
a deal of trouble. Then the head villager demands a cer- 
tain sum, which may be over $50, often less, for the privi- 
lege of a shot. He does not guarantee the hunter to kill 
the bear, he only guarantees that he will get a shot, or get 
a chance for a shot. If the hunter is one of experience, 
he will not pay over his money till he has had his shot, 
for there are tricks in this trade. A live bear is worth 
