68 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[J 1 an. 58, 1S0S. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Maybe Not* 
Chicago, Jan. 19.— The press reports for this~week 
state that the celerbated outlaw, Bill Cook, has heen 
captured near Roswell, New Mexico. The despatch is 
sent from Fort Stanton. This is all country where I 
used to live once, and at that time I used to think that 
if I had committed^any crime and wanted to escape I 
would hide in that country so that no one on earth 
could ever find me. But study of the past shows that a 
great many intelligent young men in the outlaw busi- 
ness have come to grief in that country, and since Col. 
Bill Cook's nabbing, before he had time to learn which 
way the Pecos River was running, leads me to feel 
less confident in my ability to pull the hole in after me 
in the mountains of my old hunting grounds. A fellow 
might, but maybe so not. This country is all going to 
the dogs. That corner of the world used to be a real 
nice place in the days of Billy the Kid and before Pat 
Garret's time. 
Compliments to Conan Doyle. 
Mr. , or Dr. , A. Conan Doyle is the last Eugliskman 
to strike the American pocket in a good place. Mr. 
Doyle writes some mighty good stories, and some not 
nearly so good as that. Of course he writes of America, 
and uses American dialects. For all this one can forgive 
him, but when he comes to writing of Arizona and 
Montana as being slap up against each other and speaks 
of Arizona as a country where the deadly upas tree and 
the tropical jungle and all that. sort of thing grow on 
the low, damp morasses and the hot, humid air, I think 
A. Conan is off his trolley a whole lot. But A. Conan 
wrote that before he came to America. Perhaps now 
that he has come he is sorry he had not come before he 
had wrote it. These Americans are such extraordinary 
persons ! 
Hardy Bill Hamilton- 
Mr. J. D. Losekamp writes from Billings, Mont., 
as below in request to a late illness of our old friend, 
Uncle Bill Hamilton, of whom I have lately written so 
much. It seems that he can't learn that he isn't as 
young as he used to be. Mr. Losekamp says : 
m " No doubt you will be interested to hear about our 
friend Bill Hamilton. Bill has been quite sick A 
letter from Col. Ike Allen received this morning states 
that our old pioneer friend has about pulled through. 
Owing to the very fine weather Old Bill was over con- 
fident, so one day he donned his straw hat and with a 
pair of carpet slippers on he went down on the ice near 
his house and began fishing for the festive trout, linger- 
ing unusually long to catch the last fish, when all at 
once he was caught with pneumonia. It gave the old 
man a close call, notwithstanding he took it in his 
uusual lighthearted way. 
"From letter under date of January 12 I am informed 
that fishing through the ice is good, but my time is too 
much occupied to enjoy the sport. " 
A Whack at the Nobility. 
I was speaking of Colonel Doane, or Conan Doyle, a 
moment ago, and before I forget it must have another 
whack at his country. There is a theatrical company 
in town this week, "Gaiety Girl," all the way from 
Lunnon, seeking en pissant, as we say in Chicago, a 
few more American piastres. There are not many jokes 
in the performance, (which, I believe, in England is 
called a comedy, but ranks here as a tragedy), but there 
is one thing which is strange if true. One sweet thing 
says to another sweet thing : 
"Of what use are the nobility at any rate?" 
"Oh, " says the seconds, t., "if it weren't for the 
nobility and their shootin', how would the game 
markets be supplied?" 
There were only a few bright beings like myself who 
fell on to their joke, But it cawn't be, now oawn it, 
that the nobility of England are all market shooters? If 
so, we will be obliged to reclassify some grades of our 
society and set right a great wrong which has long been 
done a member of our social system, to wit, the 
market hunter. 
Curling Irons at Milwaukee- 
All this week there has progressed at Milwaukee the 
biggest curling bonspiel ever known in this country, 
and apostles of the broom and stone have gathered there 
from all the cold country of the western and north- 
western States, and from all over Canada and Manitoba. 
Winnipeg has sent down her best men, including the 
famous team of which Mr. Thomas Johnson, well known 
to the kennel and sporting world, is a member. By the 
way, it was the Winnipeg rink that came into the last 
competition with the Statesmen yesterday for the inter- 
national championship emblem, and Winnepeg lost to 
the Yankees by just one solitary, lonesome point. That, 
I feel sure, was because Thomas was not elected to make 
that last shot, which should have scored four, and only 
scored a miserable little one. But Mr. Johnson is 
coming over to Chicago this week, and he will tell me 
how it happened. 
The Great Lone Land. 
Speaking of Manitoba, reminds me of a late clipping 
from a Winnepeg paper kindly sent me by Mr. Johnson, 
which describes the return of Mr. J. B. Tyrrel of the 
Dominion Geological Survey, and Mr. Ferguson, extra 
A. D. C. to the Governor, from a seven months' trip 
through the great lone land of the sub-artic country. 
These gentlemen had traveled probably 3, 000 miles by 
canoe, sledge and snowshoe, and had traversed country 
never before visited by white men. They walked 700 
miles in the last month. Mr. Tyrell spoke as follows of 
their hazardous journey : 
They started out on tlie journey from Selkirk on the loth day of 
last June, and went from there Lo Cumberland House. Going up 
the Saskatchewan one of the canoes upset, resulting in the loss 
of some trifling articles, among which -was a pair of carrier 
pigeons. 
From Cumberland House they went northward over the Hud- 
son's Bay Company old canoe route by way of Big Frog portage 
to Churchill Kiver. Following this adown stream they reached 
Deer Eiver, which took them into Deer Lake. Across thiB they 
paddled until they reached a trading post at its northern extrem- 
ity. From this io Churchill on the Hudson's Bay was a barren 
expanse, with not a white man to jbe seen. It was an entirely 
new country, one in which they were particular to make carelul 
geological surveys. Having reached White Partridge River, Mr. 
Tyrrel knew that of necessity its outlet should be in Hudson's 
Bay, lor the year before he had navigated a river still lurther 
north and had found that to emptyitself in the bay. Accordingly 
they followed the course of the stream until it brought them to 
Mevilie inlet, wliich is about 300 miles north of Fort Churchill. 
For three weeks prior to reaching IS evillo Inlet they didn'tsee the 
sun. The weather was quite wintry like, with northeast and 
southwest winds blowing the dritting snow. This was on Sept. 
18. The shores of the bay were then skimmed over with ice in 
some places, lor winter had set in. Navigation was not a thing 
to be desired, in a light canoe. Paddling down along the west- 
ern shore of Hudson's Bay for a distance of 3u0 miles they ar- 
rived at the mouth of Churchill Bay and onterad the fort on Oct. 
1. Here they remained for two months. They were too late to 
undertake the return trip by canoe, and too early to go afoot, as 
the rivers had not yet frozen soliu enough to allow of crossing 
upon the iee. The two months spent at Fort Churchill were not 
lost, on the contrary the gentlemen had an opportunity of study- 
ing the nature of the surrounding coumry, watching how ti.e 
traders carry on their work, procuring trn kets from the Esqui- 
maux and the Chippewa Indians, and in many other respects of 
gathering interesting data. At Fort Churchill the only business 
is trading. Twice each year the Chippewa Indians come in to 
the furt with skins, furs, etc., for widen they receive in exchange 
some provisions, tnough not very much, clothing, ammunition, 
etc. During their stay here the semi-annual visit of the Indians 
and Esquimaux was made and the explorers were thus enabled 
to puroinise a team of five Esquimaux dogs for the return trip. 
Dog? are very scarce here, in tact, it would have baen impossible 
to procure them had they not been brought in by the natives. 
At Churchill there are aoout forty white people,' all English- 
speaking. There is alao here a representative of the Uhurch 
Missionary Society. 
On Nov. 3J they set out on foot for home and struck across 
country to the Nelson Kiver, thus avoiding the circuitous route 
via York Factory. They struck tue Nelson at. Split Like, not far 
from Norway House. On Christinas Eve they reached Norway 
House, where they mot the first white people they had seen since 
leaving Fort Churchill The tramp down Lane Winnipeg was 
fraught with much hardship. The wind waB constantly hJowing 
and tue cola was intense. The iirst ice that formed ou the lake 
more or less melted, and thus when the second coating came, 
th«- surlaue was very much roughened, making travel exceedingly 
laborious. The entire distance jroin Fort Churchill to Dog Head, 
some 700 miles, was covered on foot. 
North Dakota Sportsmen's Association. 
The sportsmen of North Dakota will hereafter have an 
organization, the first of its kind in the history of the 
State. Few States need such a body more than North 
Dakota, for in few States has the game been more ruth- 
lessly and disastrously destroyed, in no wise so much 
as by the illegal non-resident shooters. The young 
association will have plenty of work to do, and I hope 
it will not lose sight of its original aims and become a 
mere trap shoting body, as so many other State associa- 
tions have done. 
The meeting of permanent organizations was held 
January 15. The first annual meeting will "be held at 
Fargo. The following officers were elected to serve 
until the next annual meeting : President, C. E. 
Robbins; first vice-president, J. A. Rankin of James- 
town; second vice-president, W. L. Wilder of Grand 
Forks; secretary, W. W. Smith; treasurer, H. E. 
Magill ; attorney, Judge W. H. Winchester of Bismarck. 
The president appointed as a board of directors, 
August Roberts, chairman ; J. A. Rankin, S. S. Lyon, 
G. A. Carpenter and G. E. Bowers As a law com- 
mittee, S. S. Lyon, chairman ; P. Blewitt and A. B. 
Guptill. As a tournament committee, G. E. Bowers, 
chairman ; C. Smith and G. A. Carpenter. It was de- 
cided to hold the membership list open till the first 
annual meeting, and that all persons elected and sub- 
scribers to the constitution and by-laws by that time 
shall be considered charter members of the association. 
: Among the gentlemen present were : A. J. Schirrman, 
G. W. Garrett, H. E. Payne, W. H. White, J. J. 
Rentschler, H. E. Magill, B. D. Schofield, G. A. Car- 
penter, G. E. Bowers, J. D. Henning, F. B. Manning 
W. F. Cramer, G. B. Schofield, C. W. Bowers, A. B. 
Guptill, Nick Paul and C. E. Robbins. 
Duck Island Club. 
The Duck Island Fishing and Shooting Club, whose 
famous duck preserve is in the old Spring Lake tract of 
the Illinois River and whose membership is made up of 
men from that country and from Chicago, held a meet- 
ing at Peoria, January 15. Reports and routine business 
took up most of the time and the treasurer showed a 
good record. The following officers were elected : Ferd 
Luther, president; W. L. Shepard, vice-president; N, 
E. Huggins, secretary; H. A. Fahnestock, treasurer. 
The above, with addition of W. H. Shaw, also make the 
directory. 
A singular thing has happened in the record of this 
club. They were troubled with low water, which of 
course hurt their shooting, so the directors resolved to 
take the weather into their own hands. They put in 
a great pump, which transfers a stream about a foot 
square steadily from the Illinois River over the bank 
and into the club marsh. This fall there were fifteen 
inches of water all over the marsh, and the members are 
hugging themselves over the way they solved the low 
water problem so effectually and permanently. Now 
they have plenty of feed, plenty of water and plenty of 
ducks. 
What show has a duck got against a man, anyhow? 
Proposed Illinois Law. 
The executive committee of the Illinois State Sports- 
men's Association met at the Sherman House Thursday 
evening, January 17, present Mr. Shepard, president of 
the association, chairman : R. B. Organ, Messrs. Abner 
Price, F. M. Hamline, C. S. Wilcox, A. C. Patterson, 
also Mr. Herman Meyer, secretary of the association. 
Most of the evening was taken up in careful discussion 
of a game Jaw drafted by State Warden Charles Blow, 
which was approved with some few small additions and 
changes, which were annotated on the printed copy. This 
bill would open the shooting date on all game birds, 
except quail, on September 1, closing it January 1, 
thus cutting off spring shooting. The open date on 
quail would be October I — January 1. Tbe sale of game 
would be forbidden except between dates extending five 
days after the opening day and five days before the 
closing day of the season. This would stop early shoot- 
ing and late selling, and would cut off January, one of 
the greatest game selling months. No game would be 
exported, and all confiscated game would be turned over 
to charitable institutions. No rifle would be allowed used 
ou lakes or open waters. No hunting on enclosed 
grounds without first obtaining owner's consent would 
be allowed. The most noticeable feature of the bill is 
the clause requiring any shooter to pay $1 for yearly 
license. A scientific or collector's license is set at |20 
yearly. The license fees are to be turned into a game 
fund, to be used in paying a salaried chief warden and 
assistant wardens, also in propagating game birds. 
Mr. Price thought much good could be done even if 
the present law were enforced: The committee resolved 
to do all they could to that end. Mr. Hamline thought 
the daily press should have news of the committee meet- 
ing in protective matters ; the secretary was instructed 
to furnish proper reports to the city papers. 
Mr. Patterson called attention to the fact that at the 
last convention a $10 assessment was laid on each club 
of the association to raise funds for protective work, and 
that only a few of the clubs had paid this assessment. 
It was made the sense of the committee that all such 
delinquent clubs should be at once notified once more, 
and if they did not pay up immediately that they 
should .then be dropped from membership in the 
association. 
On motion of Mr. Price, it was put on record that the 
committee would rigidly enforce the rule against 
dropping for place in the touranment shooting. The 
members of the executive committee all expressed them- 
selves as vigorously opposed to crooked shooting. 
And Still They Go to Texas- 
The tide of Forest and Stream travel to the happy 
hunting grounds to Texas still continues and increases. 
The last party to start from Chicago for Rockport is 
made up of Messrs. W. D. Boyce, a well known pub- 
lisher here and owner of the new Boyce Building ; Mr. 
Wm. McKnight of the Briggs House, and Sheriff James 
Pease. These gentlemen will go direct to Rockport, and 
I have sent them to our old friends, the Blud worth boys 
and the yacht Novice at that point. If they do not have 
a good time there they will be the first ones who have 
not. 
The Butte Fatality. 
' So far as known at this writing no sportsmen were 
injured at the great Butte casualty of the present week, 
in which so many lives were lost by the explosion at 
the depot fire. One old-time hunter by name of Johnson 
is reported killed. Be was just preparing to take a party 
into the mountains — for what reason I cannot say. 
909 Security Building, Chicago. E. Hough. 
THE SPORTSMAN'S ASSOCIATION. 
New York City, Jan. 19.— Editor Forest and Stream : 
The Sportsmen's Exposition Association recently held 
a very interesting and important meeting. On January 
8 the offioers decided to have the association incorporated. 
The necessary papers were prepared, and I have the 
pleasure of reporting that the inccorporation of the 
association is now consummated. 
The association will be known 
hereafter as the Sportsmen's Asso- 
ciation. The particular business 
of the corporation, or the opera- 
tions for the conduct of which it 
is incorporated, is the study of 
field spores ; the holding of expo- 
sitions promotive of field sports ; 
the_ establishment of assembly 
rooms or headquarters in New 
York City, where those interested 
in field sports may assemble ; and 
incidentally the founding of a 
sportsmen's library in such head- 
quarters for the use of members 
and visitors The principal office 
of the corporation is to be in New 
York. The names of the incor- 
porators are : Charles Daly, John 
S. Wise, J. A. H. Dressel, Jacob 
H. Studer, Frederic S. Webster. 
The names of the trustees for the 
first year are : Charles Tatharu, 
Charles Daly, Frederic S. Webster, 
A H. Dressel, J. Von Len- 
gerke, John S. Wise, Jacob H. 
Studer, Archibald Rogers. 
The intention of the corporation 
is to acquire as large a member- 
- r '*^>*>i l ^:~ 3 *' .ship us possible, and a vigorous 
effort will be made to enroll every sportsman as a mem- 
ber. This may seem a herculean task, and not possible 
of accomplishment, but the support of hundreds of 
sportsmen can be reasonably expected. When the con- 
stitution is made public the advantages to be derived 
from membership will be evident to all sportsmen who 
have the general welfare of the fraternity at heart. It 
is believed that much permanent good will result from 
the founding of an association of this character. The 
policy of the trustees will be all that could be desired. 
The interest in the forthcoming exposition of the 
association is daily increasing. The spaces are more 
than half taken by the leading firms and associations. 
Many of the exhibits are very unique and attractive and 
prepared especially for this occasion. The historical and 
educational features enter largely into the character of 
the displays. 
The first annual trade convention of the corporation 
will be held May 16, 1895, at 3 p. in., during the week 
of the exposition. 
Special arrangements will be made with all the rail- 
roads in the United States for one and one-third rates to 
all persons attending the convention. 
Full particulars will be furnished by all local ticket 
agents at the proper time. This is an arrangement 
which will enable all sportsmen and people who desire 
to visit the exposition to do so at a reasonable expense, 
and this opportunity, and the splendid and elaborate 
character of the displays, and the benefits to be enjoyed 
should ensure a rousing gathering of sportsmen from all 
parts of the country. Frederic S. Websteb, Sec, 
