JtTLY 11, 1896.] 
FpREST AN-O , STREAM.:- 
27 
would cause dire disaster to the surrounding regions. Oh ' 
but it was an immense conflagration, and everything be- 
fore those gigantic walls of fire was being consumed as 
if it were saturated with benzine. On, on they went 
swifter than the speed of f race horse, sending irp tl?ejr 
dense clouds of smoke and flames that had reached most 
appalling dimensions. Trees were wrapped in seething 
flare as if their branches were of tissue paper, while wide 
spaces were spanned by waves of fire that Jumped hun- 
dreds of feet. What a roar and crackling there was, and 
what a terrible devastation ensued. I watched the tower- 
ing flames for near an hour from my elevated position, 
and never did regret anything so much as this sad calam- 
ity. "What horrors would reach my ears, what loss of life 
ensue, what distress prevail over that burnt and barren 
district. I dreaded to hear the report and slowly traced 
my way back home, with my head bowed in sorrow and a 
tempest of sadness in my heart, so keen and so painful 
that it almost snapped its vital chords." 
"Why you no burn up?" inquired the amazed Kenosh. 
"I was on the windward side of the fire." 
"Oh, that it." 
"When I reached home, which took me a long time, 
I was so prostrated with the great disaster I had wrought 
that I really dreaded to hear the report. Time and again 
would I sit down and rest myself quite a while until it 
was almost dark, when I at last reached the farmhouse. 
When the dreadful story was told me of the great loss it 
nearly paralyzed me. I heard that several hamlets and 
villages and a dozen sawmills went up in the flames, 
while fai-m after farm was completely blotted out. The 
loss in the aggregate was over $2,000,000, and if I had 
been an Astor I would have been only too glad to have paid 
every dollar of it, for I felt that I was the principal cause 
of it all, though in an accidental manner." 
"What became of the bears?" again inquired the inter- 
ested Kenosh. 
''The bears were found by a small creek roasted to a 
turn and were fed to the 5,000 destitute sufferers by the 
fire." 
Here Ned arose, as if the recital of that famous fire 
had renewed the agony he once suffered and started for 
the tent with bowed bead, as if sleep would prove his only 
solace. 
I soon followed him, and after we were in bf>d could 
hear the father and son talking over the "taJe of the three 
burnt bears." 
'•You believe that?" says Kenosh to his son Jo. 
"It's hard to swallow," 
"How he feed 5,000 people with three bears?" 
"I don't think they go around." 
"Bear eat oil like honey?" 
"Maybe." 
"Two-million-doUar loss?" 
"If woods burn up, yes." 
"Pour your oil on 'em and then fire 'em?" 
"Yes, if he had it to pour." 
"You think he told true story?" 
"Some part maybe, and then he stretch some." 
"He stretch all the time. What Bible man that lie so?" 
"It was Analias or Analyses." 
"Well, be beat him." 
And then both joined in hearty laughter, and there 
they sat by the dying embers talking and turning over 
Ned's bear story till the moon came up and silvered forest 
and lake, mountain and cliff. 
Alex. Starbuck. 
[to bk continued.] 
THE CANADIAN FISHING SEAJSON. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Gen. Hay, of England, lias returned here from a 
lengthy fishing trip in the Canadian home of the ouan- 
ariche. He has enjoyed good sport in La Grande 
Decharge, where he has spent about a month. Part of 
hia catch, after having been preserved, has been expressed 
by him to their royal highnesses the Princess of Wales 
and the Princess Louise. There has been a rather unusual 
amount of fishing in the Discharge this spring, both in 
the hotel preserves and also in the Grifiibh pools, but the 
general run of fish has not as yet been as large as in 
former years. The water is still, however, somewhat 
high, and the best of the fishing is yet to be had in the 
vicinity of Isle Maligne and thereabouts. I would 
strongly urge upon intending visitors to the Discharge 
after this date the advisability of running further down 
the stream than usual if they would desire large fish. 
Some very good specimens have been taken out by Mr. 
Creighton, of Ottawa, and Mr. Mathews, of Rochester, in 
their preserved waters near the foot of Alma Island. The 
ouananiche are now also to be had in the rivers flowing 
from the north into Lake iSt. John. A few parties have 
already had good sport at the Fifth Falls of the Mistas- 
sini, and the Messrs. McOormick, of Florida, have 
gone on an exploring trip far up the river. 
The month of July should be a most desirable 
time to make the trip up the Peribonca River to Lac 
Tschotagama. Among the most successful anglere for 
ouananiche this season have been Lieut. -Col. and Mrs. 
Wilson, of Quebec, many of whose friends have received 
trophies of tneir angling skill from Lake St. John. Dr, 
Louis Webb, of New York, has also proved a good killer. 
Several Springfield anglers report good sport with the 
ouananiche and heavy catches of trout upon their pre- 
serve on the Amabalish limits. I have seen some more 
6 and 6^lb8. trout from Lake Edward lately, but none 
that will at all compare for weight with fish yielded by 
Lake Batiscan on the Triton tract. Messrs, Dean, of New 
York, and Clemson, of Taunton, Mass., had some phe- 
nomenal fishing there the week before last, two fontinalis 
of their catch weighing respectively 8f and 7ilbs,, ac- 
cording to the solemn assurance of their guides. Winter 
fishing in this lake has frequently yielded 81hs, fish. 
Lieut. -Col. Andrew C. P. Haggard, D. S. O., who made 
the Peribonca trip as far as Tschotagama in 1892, and 
fished the Nipigon and Cowichan the -same year, and 
who is well known to the readers of modern angling lit- 
erature by his frequent contributions to the columns of 
the London FHeld, his article on ouananiche in Black- 
wood's Magazine and his exceedingly picturesque intro- 
duction to '-The Ouananiche and its Canadian Ea- 
vironment," is on his way out from England 
for some more angling in Canadian waters. 
I hope to accompany him on further expeditions 
against trout and ouananiche. In terminatiag his intro- 
duction to the work already referred to, Col. Haggard 
says: "I have fished with many companions in Scotland, 
in Norway, in Ireland, in Spain, in England, in India, in 
Asia Minor, in Turkey, in Egypt, in Canada, in British 
Columbia, and various other, now forgotten, parts of the 
world; but for all fishing countries, all companions and 
all kinds of fishing, give me some real good days in the 
district of Lake St. John, above Quebec; give me for 
my companion and let the fish be ihe ouananiche." 
From the salmon rivers come reports that the fishing 
this season is the best experienced for many years past. 
On the Restigouche fish have been large and free risers. 
Friends now on the Marguerite write that they are also 
having good sport, and that the salmon are more plenti- 
ful than usual. 
Mr. Frank Ross and party on their first day's fishing on 
the Magdalen River on Monday killed fourteen salmon, 
one of which weighed 891b8., and found fish very plenti- 
ful. Mr. George Gould and Mr. Julian D. Davis, of New- 
York city, passed through here on Sunday in Mr. Gould's 
private car for the Metapedia, where the party will fish 
for some days. E. T. D, Chambers. 
QaBBBo, July 3. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Habits of Salmon. 
"Do I sleepf Do I dream? 
Do I wonder and doubt? 
Are things what they seem? 
Or is visions about?" 
After reading a syndicate letter upon the subject of 
salmon fishing I am somewhat in the condition of Truth- 
ful James, or the distinguished statesman who did not 
know "where he was at." Why? Because in the letter I 
have read it is stated that "the salmon has many peculiari- 
ties. It is, properly speaking, a salt-water fish, the sea 
being its home for about ten months of the year." My 
mental machinery said "that is not so," and when I found 
that the letter was written by some one I know I con- 
cluded it was a mistake that the types were responsible 
for and not the author. A little further on I read this: 
"The time for salmon to leave the sea is about June 1, 
but in spawning rivers far from the sea the time may be 
two or three weeks later. They ordinarily leave the 
rivers during August, thus limiting the fishing season to 
six or eight weeks." That begins to look as though the 
author were not a safe guide to the natural history of the 
Atlantic salmon, but it corroborates the ten months in 
salt water, and perhaps he is writing about a new breed of 
salmon that have no occasion, or time, to spawn. The 
deeper I get into the story the more I am confused. It is 
generally believed, and this belief has been universal for 
a few hundred years, that salmon remain in a river until 
they spawn, surely until October, and certainly some 
salmon have been known to enter a river from the sea as 
early as February; so that really some few salmon remain 
in fresh water eight or nine months. Why salmon in 
"rivers far from the sea" should be later in starting be- 
cause of the location of these rivers is not entirely clear. 
I have heard of an early run of fish and a late run of fish 
in the same river, without regard to the rivers being far 
from the sea or adjacent to it. Although they are a salt- 
water fish, "salmon are never caught in the sea, and noth- 
ing is known of them from the time they leave fresh 
water after spawning [it seems that they do spawn after 
all, so they must spawn between June and August] until 
they return the following year." 
It is a mistake to say salmon are never caught in the 
sea, for they have been caught in mackerel nets off 
ProvincetQwn and also off the coast of Maine, to say 
nothing of their recorded capture in the sea off the Euro- 
pean coast. In fact, there is quite a bit of evidence to 
show that they do not go far fro in the mouth of the river 
in which they are born. Dr. Edward Hamilton, who is 
considered a very good authority upon the subject of the 
natural history of the salmon, says: "It has been a mat- 
ter of controversy as to how far the salmon go into the 
sea. The general opinion is that they remain always 
near the coast, and do not inhabit the deep sea, A doubt 
has arisen lately as to whether the great salmon found in 
the early spring in Loch Tay ever go to the sea proper at 
all: whether they do not merely go to the estuary of the 
river and there find sufficient food to renovate their 
strength and return in the early spring to the loch in the 
finest condition. That they can invigorate themselves 
quickly in brackish water is proved by the salmon in the 
Gulf of Bothnia, where, owing to the enormous quantity 
of fresh water which is poured into it and the narrow 
outlet into the sea, the water is very brackish, yet the 
salmon thrive wonderfully in it; still these fish can go if 
they wish into the North Sea." 
I quote Dr. Hamilton because he is a modern writer 
upon the habits of the salmon. 
Our friend of the syndicate letter continues thus: "It is 
a conceded fact that they (salmon) do not eat while in 
fresh water." 
Is it? Brother Hallock is far from conceding it and has 
produced evidence to show that they eat quite a variety 
of food, one of which I will mention later. But let us 
see what Dr. Hamilton has to say on this subject: "The 
question has often been asked, 'Why is it that as no food 
is ever found in the stomach of a salmon in fresh water 
he rises at the fly?' The salmon takes the fly because he 
thinks it something to eat. Because nothing is found in 
his stomach is no argument that he does not feed as other 
fish; he may have a very quick digestion or he may eject 
the food when alarmed; this I have myself seen done by 
sea trout." I simply quote this to show that it is not a 
conceded fact that salmon "do not eat while in fresh, 
water." 
The letter goes on to say: "It is a strange fact that 
there are a few (salmon) that do not return to the sea, but 
remain in the rivers during the entire year. No explana- 
tion of this has ever been given. Suchafish are called 
kelts," It is astonishing to read that no explanation has 
ever been given for a kelt's remaining in fresh water. 
They remain because they are so weak and spent they 
can do nothing else. But how is this for an explanation, 
f rom Pennell? "The adult fish are called 'spent' or un- 
clean fish or 'kelts,' and at this time are quite unfit for 
food, and their capture is prohibited by law. * * * 
For some time after spawning, however, they are in a 
very weak and exhausted state, and have not energy for 
immediately descending the river. Accordingly they 
u ually drop down from the spawning grounds to the first 
quiet deep, there remaining until their strength, is re- 
cruited." Hallock says: "After the gravid fish have 
spawned they stay in the river all winter, and if there are 
lakes at their headquarters which are well' stocked witi;i 
food they soon recuperate and put on flesh ; but if notj 
they play havoc with the salmon peel (young salmoib) 
which they find in the main river, and are often picked 
up by the June angler while working their way dowi*to 
salt water, still pitifully lean and emaciated, but raveho'us 
to extremity. They are called 'kelts' then, and more|,dfe- 
guating objects can hardly be imagined," -■ - ' - " 
It seems that the presence of kelts in a river has bfeefl 
exfilained, and that they do eat in fresh water, and ; bat 
their own young. One more extract from this rather Re- 
markable letter, and I am through: "The fly is the only 
sportsmanlike way of catching," If the lamented Biily 
Florence were alive he would object most strenuously to 
that word, for while he caught trout, he insisted that 
all successful salmon fishermen ibiYM their fish. ■ 
They are so taken in American and Canadian watpr*; 
except in the Eraser and Columbia rivers, where the spbore 
is the only successful lure. In the riVers of Great Britaifi 
and Norway it is different. In many <!)f bhese the fly will 
not be taken, and success is attained only by the use of a 
small spinner, which is cast and drawn in the sattie man- 
ner as a fly. 
Now that I have written the quotatibn, it strikes me 
that it would be better to leaiye comments to the Etirglish,' 
Scotch and Irish fishermen, as in my mild <vay I may nof 
do the subject justice according to their ideas. ' / ' 
I know that a friend in New York city, who fiahed a 
Norwegian river for several seasons, will be surprised a,8 
well as the anglers over the water. In what I have writr 
ten I do not mean to be hypercritical, but I do feeHhat 
such misinformation should not be sent out broadcast iri 
a syndicate letter unless it Lg printed in the humorous col- 
umn. ' 
What I have said has been said briefly, although Col- 
umns might be written on tbe subject, as I believe that 
protest of some sort should be filed whenever misleading 
information is given out, through carelessness or other- 
wise, concerning the habits of our fishes. There is ye^ 
much to be learned about them, and authorities diffei- in 
regard to some features of their habits, but there seenis 
to be no necessity for attempting to controvert what is ad- 
mittedly true, and upon which aU have heretofore agreed. 
The habits of a species of fish in one body of water can- 
not be set down as true always of that species in all waters, 
and governing conditions must be taken into account 
should a difference exist, but when such a fundamental 
truth as the spawning season of salmon is questioned, 
even by implication, it should not be passed over unno* 
ticed. - ' 
How a Pond was Stocked. ' ^ 
There is a pond in the southeastern part of the AdiroB.r 
dacks that was never known to contain trout of any 
kind within the memory of men living near, it. There 
were bullheads and minnows in it, but nothing mor€>. 
Ponds and lakes in the vicinity were natural trout waters, 
but this particular pond was known to be barren of trout 
until about two ye.'irs ago, when a man living near the 
pond who was with a party of men hunting deer on its 
shores baited a hook which he carHed in his pocket and 
oast it into the pond to catch some bullheads. The hook 
was taken, greatly to his surprise, by a large fish mijteh 
m.ore active than any bullhead he had ever caught, ancl 
it proved to be a trout. . He returned to the pond a. liitfe 
later and an examination disclosed the fact that there 
were some big trout spawning in the inlet, Last year the 
discoverer of the trout invited two friends, acquaintances 
of mine, to visit the pond for trout fishing, and their suc- 
cess was remarkable, as they caught trout up to 4ilb8. in 
weight, and their entire catch averaged so large as 
to cause those who saw it to think it jmade up of 
selected trout froni a private preserve. They visitejd 
the pond again this year and had success equaX,'to 
that of last year, and in the meantime it had been 
found how the pond happened to contain the fish. 
It seems that some years ago a lot of fish fry fi'om 
one of the State hatcheries were being conveyed on 
sleds to a lake beyond the pond in question. One of th^ 
cans' of fish was not in the best condition and it wiis 
thought that they would not live to reach their destina- 
tion, and when the pond was reached the fish were tuj^ned 
into it and the matter was forgotten, as it was supppsied 
that the water was scarcely suitable for' trout, and eyeh 
if it was the trout fry would not thrive. ■ ' J 
It has now been fished two seasons, and trout up tb 5f Ib^, 
have been taken from it. This year the origin-il discov- 
erer of the trout had another surprise when he hooked in 
the pond a lake trout (wa??ia?/CMs7i), Tue pond is' jpigt 
large and the water in it is not ovpr 25 "t. deep, and Ss 
this iff the only lake trout known to i- 've beein in tlie 
pond, 1 imagine it may have gotten in with the bi-oqlc 
trout fry at the-hatching by accident. Early in the spring; 
I heard two men talking about this pond and its fisfnn^ 
as they sat neit me in a railrord car on the D. &: H, R. 
I was interested in what they said about the fishing, IJiit 
I fcould not locate the jaond, or they were careful not to 
mention it by name. Later, when I learned the particu- 
lars of the pond being stocked, I knew the pond the men 
were talking about. ; 
Finish Fight with Foul-Hooked Tarpon. 
In FoEEST AND STREAM of Juue 20 1 recorded a prqmis'e 
from an old friend in Texas to tell me about the resulis 
of a tarpon fishing trip which he was anticipating, ; 
My friend, Mr. Wm. D. Cleveland, of Houston, Texas, 
writes me this morning, and I am glad to note that he h^s 
not lost bis sand, as I began to fesir, and that he has final- 
ly hooked and killed a tarpon under rather peculiar cit- 
cumstances. But I will let him tell his own story. He 
writes under date of June 24 from Houston: "When'^I 
wrote you not long ago, I said hurriedly that I had beein 
tarpon fishing and was going again that afternoon arid 
would advise you of the results later on. | 
"Morgan's Point is a piece of land extending into tlje 
water between San Jacinto and Galveston bays, distant 
twenty-five miles from here. The Government s6n|e 
years ago cut a channel about a mile and a half long 
across this point, 200ft. wide and 30 ft. deep. About May 
15 several parties reported that tarpon had made their 
appearance in thip channel on t>ie side next to Galveston 
Bay, as they had done for the last five years, and I Coii- 
cluded that I would like to know how it felt to have 'a 
big tarpon on my line, with a stout rod and a good' reel. 
I made one leader of braps wire, one of lace leather, aWd 
bought such hooks as I thought were the right si^^e 
