344 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Mat 1, 1897. 
in advance of Sabin. We had gone but a short distance 
■when a grouse rose not 6ft. behind me and pitched into the 
xun. and I could only cry "Mark," as I dare not shoot, not 
knowing ju^t where Sabin -was. The veteran, however, 
could see both Sabin and the bird, and as the latter was high 
enoua,h in the air he cut loose and dropped the bird almost 
squarely onto Sabin, who knew nolhins; of the matter untd 
he heard the report of the gun and felt t^ie lu'd as it 
brushed his shoulder and struck the ground at his feet. 
While standing there awaiting the signal to move on another 
grouse rose just below me and started up the run, and as it 
was going into the air rapidly I threw the gun well above it 
and pulled trieger, but instead of keeping its course the bird 
alighted on a limb just as I pulled, but it immediately 
started again pitching down this time, and I gave it the 
other barrel and was well pleased to see it tumble. The 
veteran saw the performance rather indistinctly and thought 
that I had shot at the bird while it was sitting on the limb, 
and he esnlaimed. "That is right, always give them a 
chance, shoot oil the first barrel to start them and kill with 
the second." Soon after a woodcock flushed from the edge 
of the cover neai- him, and as he let go at him the bird fell a 
foot or two and lodged in the fork of a limb some 3()ft. from 
the ground. As the tree was too large to shake too 
smooth to climlj the veteran was about to give the bird 
another shot to bring it down, but Sabin assured him that it 
was very unsportsmanlike to shoot at a woodcock in a tree 
aud proposed that Trump should chmb for it, but the bird 
settled the matter by twisting free in its death struggle and 
coming dowu. 
Continuing on up the run the veteran scored one rpore 
grouse and Sabin two woodcock without noteworthy inci- 
dent, all being brought to bag at the ftrst rise. We were 
now but a few rods from our team, and as it was_ nearly 
night and a long road home, wc were soon smoothing out 
the plumage of oui birds and carefully packing them in the 
box which we always canied for this purpose. Everything 
went all ritrht until Sabin had finished with his bird, when 
he exclaimed, "I have lost a woodcock out of my pocket. 
Both the veteran and 1 tried to make him believe that he had 
counted wrong, Imt be took out of his pocket some gun 
wads, and counting them over averred that one bird was 
lacking. We then'tried to make him believe that he had 
missed, but he would not have it, and I then told him of the 
bird that he had dropped in the orchard, which set. matters 
straight, but we did not have the fun that I had expected, as 
I thought that he might miss when I would make him be- 
lieve thai he had not done so by finding this bird. We were 
soon in the wagon and on the rOad home, where we arrived 
In good season, thoroughly well pleased with our glorious 
day, the m'^st enjoyable, we all agreed, of the many glorious 
davs we had spent in our dearly loved schoolhouse cover. _ 
This was long, long ago. My companions have fired their 
last shot, and for several years I have not visited the dear old 
place For more than a quarter of a century I went theie 
several times each season. When I first knew it the covers 
were all that could be desired; the surrounding farms with 
their buildings were well kept, the little schoolhouse with its 
two score of bright-eyed lads and lassies was always pleas- 
ant and cheerful; but as the years rolled by it 
was with deeply saddened feelings that I noted the 
gradual change and decay that was stealing over the 
place and its surroundings. As the merry band of lads and 
lassies outgrew the little schoolhouse many of them sought 
homes far away, aud but few were left to take their places, 
and it was with sorrow that I noted the gradual thinning ot 
the ranks of my little friends. Many of those who left the 
place drew after them parents and relatives, and soon desert- 
ed farmhouses dotted the landscape; and soon— alas! the 
crowning glory of the covers!— the beautiful woodcock 
nearly ail sought other resorts. Grouse were fairly plentiful 
for many years, but on my last visit I found few of these 
and only one solitary woodcock. . •, t 
We were working up the run where the veteran and I 
made the brilliant shot at the grouse that was coming toward 
us. and I was relating the incident to my companion when 
• heexclaimtd: "History repeats itself; thai is your bird ;" at 
the same time pointing to a woodcock that had flushed from 
nearly where the grouse had started, and like that bird was 
coming directly toward us. As I dropped the bird he ex- 
claimed: "The last of his race; he met his fate bravely." 
This was my last visit to the dear old place. Heartsick at 
the utter desolation, 1 deeply regretted that I had come to 
dispel the pleasing remembrances that clustered around my 
heart and I have not since had the desire to repeat the visit, 
although I am very glad to say that I can now look back 
upon the well-remembered scenes with old-time pleasure. 
Oft, mingled with the happy thoughts of the good old days, 
are sad feelings, and I still erieve over the desolation of the 
deserted farms grown up to weeds and brambles, the dense 
briar thickets in the once clean covers, and, worst of all, not 
a single happy child to give me Isindly greeting, not a single 
stick or stone" of the little brown schoolhouse to mark the 
spot where it once stood. Shadow. 
TALES TOLD BY THE CAMP-FIRE.— VI. 
BY AMATEUE. 
(.Concluded from. paQe SSS.'y 
The next evening one of our number began : It seems 
scarcely credible that only 100 years ago this great country 
was the home of wandering Indians in a state of savagery, 
and that our ancestors, tenants in common, as we may say 
of these Indians, were scarcely less savage than the red men 
whom they hunted, feared and fought, but such is the fact. 
Blias Blank, Isaiah Jones, both first and second, as they 
liave been designated by our friend ; the Engles, and many 
more of the early settlers were remarkable men, strong men 
mentally, morally and physically, in a day and generation of 
strong men and their peculiar traits of character have come 
down to their descendants, where they left any descendants. 
Elias Blank was one of the first of the early settlers to 
' burn coal-the soft, bituminous coal— of what, I suppose, is 
at least part of what is now the great Connellsville Eegion. 
It came about in this way: One night the old man was 
aroused by a rapping at his door, and after due precaution 
opened it aud admitted Lewis Whetzell, the great Indian 
fio-hter and a companion of his named Jonathan Gates, who 
was called, both by white and red men, "Long-arms." 
Gates was a most peculiarly constructed man, he had no 
beard, but immense, busby eyebrows which passed entirely 
across his forehead; his hair was something near the color of 
fallen leaves and formed the only covering for his head, for 
he never wore either hat or cap; his legs were very short 
and although he had the body of a man 6ft. high, his 
stature was scant 4ft., yet his arms were so long that he 
could place his hands flat on the grouad or on a floor, 
straighten his elbows, keeping his knees straight at the same 
time, and swing back and forth without touching the 
ground with his feet. In bis progress through the woods it 
was said that he could use either or both hands to spring 
from, or catching the limb of a tree to swing from, would 
clear a prodigious distance at a single spring. 
This man was a terror to the Indians, and white men care- 
fully guarded against enraging him. He was a most dan- 
gerous foe to the red men, and when he joined forces with 
such a man as Lewis Whetzell Indian blood was sure to flow. 
But I am not about to give a history of Long-arms nor to de- 
tail any campaign of Lewis Whet Z3ll. When Elias Blank 
opened his door these two men stepped into his cabin. 
Blank gave them food, and, after they had eaten, they 
sought their beds and slept until late next day. 
When they bad again partaken of food Elias B'ank said to 
Whetzell: „ . . ^, 
"Friend Lewis, where have thee and our friend been, and 
where bound?" . . , . „ . 
"I want to get out of here at once," said Whetzell, and 
Long-arms is of the same opinion ; this country's bewit ched, 
and Long-arms and I are both nearly scared to death." 
A half frown passed over the face of old Elias as he said : 
"Friend Lewis, thee must not tell such stories to me. Thee 
knows I'm thy friend, and I have saved thee when a price 
was on thy head. I know thou art a man of courage, and 
friend Jonathan Gates, whom some call Long-arms, fears 
nothing on earth, and I'm fearful nothing anywhere else, 
and yet thou tellest me that he and thee are scared even 
almost unto death. Shame on thee to so declare before thy 
friend who loves thee both as he were thy father." 
"No, no, Elias," said Whetzell, dropping into the Quaker 
speech, "I tell thee no he. We are scared and are even now 
on our way to the 'dark and bloody ground,' I tell thee, 
Elias. Yesterday afternoon we were in hiding about a mile 
from Dunkard Creek, an' in the evening we built a fire 
under a bank, very carefully, and we got some black rocks 
to prop up a little kettle, and put them beside the fire rather 
than in it, and the black rocks took fire and burned furiously, 
with a filthy smoke and a bright light, and Long-arms said 
the devil would come if we stayed, and we grabbed our 
kettle and poured out the water, and made our way here, 
leaving the black rocks to burn." 
Elias Blank was much interested, but he didnt tell 
Whetzell what the black rocks were, though he did find out 
exactly where they had made their fire, and when they left 
he gave each of them a new Ezra Engle rifle, a knife and a 
tomahawk, 41bs. of powder and a supply of lead. He then 
hunted up their camping ground, found the black rocks and 
opened a coal bank into one of the river hills, and this coal 
bank is yet in existence in a 13ft. vein of coal that is abso- 
lutely free from slate and burns like pitch. 
I don't remember where Lswis Whetzell died, if indeed I 
ever heard. He was merely an Indian fighter, but he was 
perhaps the most celebrated of a group composed of Daniel 
Boone, Simon Kenton, Adam Poe and a number of others. 
Long-arms, or Jonathan Gates, lived many years after the 
discovery of the black rocks, and finally died at the house 
of Een Blank, who had him buried on the burial ground 
of old Elias Blank at his (Een's) own expense. 
Long-arms, at his own n quest, was buried in a birch bark 
canoe for a coffin, clad in a buckskin suit and moccasins, 
with all his weapons of war or the chase around him. On 
his tomb clone are the words, "Jonathan Gates, Long-arms. 
Died ; 18-." ^ ^. ^ ^ 
He seems to have been the last of the old Indian fighters 
in western Pennsylvania. 
EASTERN NOTES ON WESTERN 
MATTERS. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
May I, without discussing the Forest Reserves in Wash- 
ington, recommend for carfful reading the communications 
of Gov. Black and Cayuga in the issue of April 10 V 
As to Cayuga "not reflecting the real sentiment of the 
West," I suspect he does reflect just that. There is a httle 
skeleton in western closets of which I often caught a 
o-limpse when with intimates: it is the opinion that the 
Pacific States are entirely able to get along without the rest 
of the country. The sentiment is vainglorious, but not 
intentionally bellicose or disloyal I have heard it often and 
know it well, yet but for the editorial pointer I should not 
have suspected Cajuga, of harboring the old familiar skele- 
ton. So far from de'serving censure for his "argument of 
sectionalism, provincial conspiracy and geographical en- 
mity," he avoided these very oftenses to a degree hardly to 
be expected under the present provocation. There is on the 
West Coast much restiveness under Eastern interference and 
criticism. Like the Helvetian chief, they want to know 
what business this Cfesar has in their Gaul, which they have 
conquered; and doubtless Cassar would have made the same 
inquiry had Orgetorix come to Rome! \ 
As one who has hved West without becoming a West- 
erner I wish to express my high opinion of the people 
among whom I have resided ; and I judge they were not 
exceptions to the average population of Washington and 
Oregon If this Forest Commission is as wisely reg-ulated 
as we are promised it will be; if it is intelligent in its choice 
of reserves and just in its dealings, the people of the West 
will give it a patient hearing The eastern press need not 
worry over the unwillingness of Washington to support 
what will be fox the benefit of the State. Here we have 
nothing which corresponds to the western belief in the pos- 
sibilities of a glorious country: it is farsighted because it is 
full of faith; it is willing to wait or to work, because it does 
not admit the possibihty of disappointment, and it extends 
through all grades of society from rich to poor. It is my 
husband's delight to hear every man talk of the subject of 
most interest to him, and we entertained in our home all 
grades and opinions— the Salvationist, the theosophi&t, the 
populist and the nihilist— all trades and traditions. We 
found seventeen new sorts of religion and only one opinion 
of the future of the Pacific Slope, a sohdarity that may be 
to me from watching the snow -line climb Mt. Hood, and 
from observing the Willamette, a river fed entirely by rains 
and the melting snow of the Cascades. That year the Wil- 
lamette was quiet and clear in April, and was not afterward 
affpcted (if my recollection serves) by any rise except that 
caused by the back-water of the Columbia— a sure sign that 
the Cascade snows were gone. 
If Portland is to be preserved from another such fliol as 
we saw there, it will not be by the agency of reservations in 
the Cascades, but by proper dealing with its headwaters and 
those of its treacherous affluent, the Snake Eiver. But that 
forest reserves in the Cascades might affect a river like the 
Willamette, which lies entirely in the wet coast region, is 
not impossible. 1 have seen that river rise seventeen times 
in one winter and attain a maximum flood of 34ft. Not 
only was this dangerous, but it caused great loss to the 
country in the wasting of the soil. One couldn't drink the 
water, even after it had settled, without feeling that he was 
robbing his neighbor's garden. I have seen a half-inch of 
o-ood soil settle in the bottom of a pitcher of water. 
° A number of Cayuga's observations, as those on the sparse 
limbering of the foothills and the over-luxariant growth on 
the low lands, wiU strike a resident of the "web-foot coun- 
try" as pertinent and just. No one who has not winlertd 
there can fully appre'ciate the excess of moisture which 
these forests absorb in winter and do not retain in summer. 
They are super-saturated part of the year, and tinder-boxes 
the rest of the time. In that country nature is not contentt d 
to give you enough of anything, she always gives too much 
—an unsalable, unemployable overplus of flowers, fruit, 
wood, water and weeds Often the best use that can be 
made of this lavishness is to waste it, and this que.'tion 
brings me to a subject which must often distress the tourist 
—the waste of wood in land clearing. I do not speak of the 
waste in lumbering or by forest fires, but by the methods of 
clearing farms. It is a deep distress to the visitor who se«s 
trees— to obtain which alive Boston would sell Bunker Hill 
monument-trees of incomparable majesty, blown up with 
giant powder and burned on the spot. 1 have sef n within a 
few miles of Portlau'i, and within easy railroad transporta- 
tion thither, enough fine timber burned to have warmtd a 
city. The waste heie seemed unpardonable, perhaps in this 
case not justifiable; but the man who has "proved up," and 
is clearing his land, has no other use for the wood but to 
destroy it most economically. So enormous is the labor of 
clearing this land, so imposs'ible is it to save the wood in the. 
log, so'costly to prepare it for store-wood, that the expense, 
of saving lumber is no small item. Finally, the roads are so 
bad and the market price so low, that to anyone at all re- 
moved from his market, the costs exceed the profits. I used 
to buy the best split fir for $3 a cord; bark was a trifle more. 
Yet I have seen four horses and three men work half a day 
to deliver a load of bark, that in New England would be 
regarded ridiculously small for one horse. I would not be 
believed if I said how inconsiderable the quantity was; but 
then no one East would believe that roads could be so bad as 
are the Ort gon roads in winter. 
The farmers snd settlers in Oregon do not appear to have 
New England thrift, but eastern cities should give them the. 
credit of desiring their own best interests and working to 
get them. If they waste wood, it may be set down to the 
exigencies of pioneer life. A hundred years ago, or even 
less, the same necessities demanded similar action here in 
the East. There was a time in Maine when a pine tree was 
an enemy— but /never had the pleasure of looking at a first- 
class pine The people of the W. st wiU undoubtedly b« 
wife enough to keep aud care for tracts of their best foresi 
laud as the most filling memorial of what herculean labors 
their pioneers underwent, as a more beautiful testimony oi 
their 'pride and appreciation of the men who "won thi 
West " than any that human skiU could devise. We maj 
depend upon them to do this; let us not; presume to dictati 
how they shah do it. The aisihetic side of their noble foresti 
appeals to them- not as vividly as to us, but with thai 
deeper, ingrained affection of the native, to whom no air 
no soil, no sun is like that of his own home. And as foi 
forestry as a protection against floods, were they not theit 
farms, their homes, their cities, that were destroyed or men> 
aced a few years since? I, who saw it all. speak for my; 
self and my western neighbors, in saying that we do no1 
desire a repetition of these horrors, and that, with returning 
prosperity, we shall not forget to try to effecti a cure. ThtT 
difficulties are enormeus, the methods by no means deci 'et 
upon; but the (Jolumbia will be shackled before the Missis 
sippi— or even some lesser rivers— shall be subdued. 
Fatsnie Hardy Eckstobm. 
depended on to favor the permanent good of the country 
It is true that our western friends are not there entirely "for 
their health"; but that they have uncommon public spirit is 
patent to anyone who knows how they have borne up under 
the extraordinary discouragements and reverses of the last 
four years, without complaint and always with confident 
"^■rhe opinion, that reservations in the Cascades will subdue 
the Columbia is an eastern error which deserves a word of 
comment. The great floods of 1894, so destructive to pro- 
perty over, he lower Columbia valley, did not reach their 
height tin late May or early June. At that time the snow 
on the Oascado Range was gone. This was doubly apparent 
Brewer, Me. 
Proposed Labrador Excursion. 
Quebec, Qvlu.— Editor forest and Stream; A friend o 
mine hunter, woodtman, canoeman and explorer, for man; 
years in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Co., would hke ti 
take a party of three genllemen for a three months' trip ii 
the inlerior'of Labrador, to the region east of Hudson's Ba. 
and south of the Strait. It is a country entirely uuknow 
to white men and only very sparsely inhabited by Indian 
(whose language this gentleman speaks), but who are a 
away at the coast in the'summer. 
He tells me that the trip would not be a difficult or cost! 
one and that the couctry can be very much more eaail 
reached by the route he proposes to take than by any thii 
would have the Lake St. John region as its starting pomi 
The mosquitoe.«. which are supposed to be a terror to es 
plorers in that country, he says are left not far from it 
coast, and that when the open country, toward the Barrt 
Grounds, is reached ihere are none at all. 
The fishing on the waters he proposes to follow la e> 
traordinary (which we can well belitvt) and game is moi 
abundant, Caribou "are in sight all the time." The li 
dians know the wapiti, and there is also another anim 
(presumably of the detr tribe) that be was not able to ident 
fy from the Indians' desciiption. Bears are plenty. 
If three gentlemen of £ome scimlific taste and knowled. 
would like to visit an entirely unknown country, combiaic 
research and exploration with unlimited sport, this wou^ 
seem to offer a rare opportunity. If 1 were twenty-fi>| 
years younger I should like nothing bettfr. Canada. 
With great pleasure I Sf od yo 
for tne ensuing year, wliich l.s a 
and waters, and a companion I 
quite one of the happy f atmlr - 
North Carolina. 
The Next Best Thing. 
u 8* for my weebly tresEt of readi 
clellgtittul substitute for the wool 
could uot no«^ do without, feeliir 
* George Holmes' 
The FOHEST AND Streah is 
Correspondence intended for 
latest by Monday, and as vmch 
put to press each vieeleon luesdi 
publication should reach us (ft 
»arliar as fifaciicable. 
