IDS 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Ava. 7, 1897. 
an area wliicli could be successfully tapped by transportation 
facilities. 
This new invasion is but the same old invasion whicli lias 
been in progress these many years, although we are all prone 
to consider a thing new wien it is new to us. For myself, I 
may say that the Minnesota "invasion" is no new thing to me, 
but a long-standing grievance Possibly Imay find consola- 
tion in the country of which Mr. Mussey wrote, if it shall be 
toy good fortune to find my way thither this year. 
GRTTMBTjEE. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Dangers of the Mountains. 
bHifeAGO, 111 , July 3l.— The dangers of mountain climb- 
ing had a sad illustration this week on Mount Rainier, 
WasMngton, where, on Tuesday night, Prof. Edgar McCluie, 
of the Oregon State University, lost his life bv a fall in the 
dark while on his way down the mountain. Prof. McClure 
Was in charge of scientific wnrk connected with the ascent 
of the.^ peak by the well known club of mountaineers, the 
Mazamas. Some fifty members of the club made the asrent, 
but Prof. McClure and his smaller party were detached from 
the main body, all of whom got through safely, so far as 
actiial injury to life and limb was concerned, ttiough not 
without alarming experiences. The day following the 
accident to Prof. McClure, H. A. Ainclie and George 
Rogers, of Portland, Ore., lost the trail on the Cowlitz 
glacier, and fell some 40ft. into a crevasse. Both were un- 
conscious for a time, Rogers remaining so for some hours 
after being tnken by the rescuers to the camp of the Maza- 
mas. On his way up the mountain on Tuesday William 
Pierce, of Pendleton, Ore., became confused and lost his 
head. He had to be abandoned by the party, but was left 
in safety and later brought down from the peak which had 
so terrified him. Yet another man. Prof. Brown, of 
Stanford University, started up alone, loecame lost and wan- 
dered until exhausted, being found later by a search party 
of six men, who took him to Camp Mazama. The club has 
never before had such unfortunate experiences, and much 
of the pleasure of its success in making the ascent of Rainier 
is lost through the deplorable incidents attendant upon the 
attempt this year. 
Pi-alrle Chickens. 
From reports of an early and of course not very satis- 
factory nature received from different parts of Illinois, I am 
disposed to think that we shall have chicken shooting of no 
mean sort in upper Illinois this fall, Around Amboy and 
Lee Center the birds still nest in some numbers, and if the 
sooners don't get them all there is sure to be sport of a 
limited sort this season. Around Anna, near Mt. Pulaski, 
and in the vicinity of Champaign, there are still some 
chickens left, so that one can get a sight and a shot now 
and then, though of course not the full flavor of an old-time 
shoot on the prairies or stubble. 
From Nebraska Mr. W. R. Hall, of Omaha, wTites on the 
whole encouragingly upon the game supply: 
"Nebraska is at last waking up to the necessity of game 
protection," he says, "and numerous game protective clubs 
are being formed throughout the State, It's a little like 
locking the stable door after the horse is stolen, but they 
may save the remnant. T have talked the subject single- 
handed for years, until I got black in the face and my tongue 
got cradied, but it did not do much good. Prairie chickens 
and quail are fairly numerous this year, more so than for 
some j'ears back, though they never will again be as plenti- 
ful as they once were, and if the new clubs can only hold 
down the market- shooters and sooners until the open season 
there will be fair sport. I already hear of chickens being 
killed, and several hotels are reported as serving them, but 
of this I have only hearsay evidence. 
"Ducks and geese will be here in good numbers, as the 
sloughs and lakes are full of water and there is plenty of 
feed, but the new game law passed by our fool Legislaiure 
makes hunting them well nigh impossible, it being unlawful 
to seek cover on sandbars, shores of islands or lakes, or to 
shoot from any form of boat or raft, etc. About the only 
way I see out of it is to use the airship some of our long- 
haired citizens saw last spring." 
In Minnesota State agent Fulk-rton has been looking into 
the prospects of the chicken crop, and he reports it as his be- 
lief that there will be more birds this year than for a long 
time past. He thinks -the early rains did not hurt the 
chickens in the least, and that the later rains did not catch 
them in time to hurt them. Mr. FuUerton has been travel- 
ing all over the State, and thinks he bases his prediction 
upon J airly accurate premises. He is besieged by letters 
frcm outside parties who want to know where they can get 
good shooting or chickens. 
In Iowa also there appears to be confirmation of the earlier 
belief that the year of 1897 will prove a good one for the 
praiiie chickens. In this once famous State, where the mar- 
ket hunters thought they could shoot forever without ex- 
hausting the supply, and where in the earlier days no man 
would think of eating prairie chicken, because he was sur- 
feited alike with it and the sport of shooting it, the bird 
within the last decade almost disappeared. Slowly the day 
of new methods in game law matters is dawning even in 
low a, one of the slowest States in the entire Union in 
this regard, and now there is hope for better things. Mr. 
.John G Smith, of Algona, long president of the Iowa Asso- 
ciation of sportsmen, and one of the greatest factors in the 
increasing smtiment in favor ©f game protection, writes me 
as follows in regard to chickens in his country: 
"I have been over county quite a good deal during the last 
few days, and find ttiat my predictions in regard to the 
chicken crop have proved true. The season has been very 
fine, and the old birds hatched and brought up the young 
birds in fine shape. I was up in the country north of Ban- 
croft yesterday. I saw a great many young birds, and they 
did not act as if they had ever been disturbed. They are 
talking of having a coursing match at Bancroft. Tt would 
be a very nice place, as there are plenty of 'jacks' and a 
good place to run the dogs. Ed, Burcher keeps a splendid 
notel, and knows how to take care of sportsmen that visit 
him. 
"Our game laws are well observed, and I think that there 
will be very little shooting before Sept. 1." 
Warden's Circular. 
State Warden Harry Loveday, of Illinois, has caused to be 
widely printed in the State press the following call upon the 
sportsmen of the State to assist him in his work of stopping 
illegal shooting: 
I Pursuant to the powers vested in me by His Excellency, Governor 
Tanner, I Proclaim, in the Name of the People, that the Game Laws 
of this State must be rigorously and impartially enforced. 
I call upon all .sportsmen and sportsmen's clubs, within the juris- 
diction of the State, to lend me their hearty and unqualified assist- 
ance in the furtherance of my efforts. 
We have in the Illinois Fish and Oame Protective Association (In- 
corporated) a parent institution fully equipped and able to cope with 
all questions of magnitude which may require serious attention. It 
has a giant task before it, but the men who compose its board of 
manaRcrs are determined and resolute. The Association has pledged 
its untiring support; its law committee is ready to act in my behalf, 
and has met with such success that I feel confident that the outcome 
of my labors wili be a complete vindication of the law; I repose the 
utmost confldence in this AssociatioQ. 
I propose that the killing and illicit shipment and sale of game in 
closed season shall stop, Wirh this object in view, I invoke and ear- 
nestly request the assistance of all true men and sportsmen of the 
State. I ask you to organize in every county that has not already 
done so, and to send me the names of good men who are willing to 
undertake the duties of deputy warden. The game law states that it 
shall be the duty of sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, constables and police 
officers to enforce the game laws. 
In the name of the people of the State I demand that the railroads 
preclude illegal shipments, whether to the markets of Chicago or 
el-^ewhere. 
It_^is your duty to notify me at once of any violation of the game 
laws. If a letter will not reach me in time, telegraph me. Do not 
hesitate. I am ready, and will respond dia.y or nighr,. I have sworn 
to enforce the laws, and 1 propose to redeem my obligations without 
fear or favor. Give me your help, and I promise game shall not be 
seen on our streets out of season. 
I believe that a large and increasing majority of our citizens are 
strictly observing the game laws. The practice of a minority of so- 
called sportsmen killing game out of season is a sbame and disgrace 
to them and an outrage on law-abiding sportiimen. A strict compli- 
ance with the law (as it now stands) by all, means more birds, more 
sport for all. Therefore, I call the attention of all pei'sons of this 
Slate particularly to the killing of prairie chickens before the closed 
season has expired, namely, Sept 16. , 
The prohibition of water-fowl shooting before sunrise and after 
sundown will be a feature of my administration. 
Every violator of the law must be dealt with summarily. 
The market hunters are warned against further offenses. 
Strenuous elToris will be made to enforce the full penalty. 
"Where finea are uncollectable our recourse ig the jail. 
H. W. I-.0VBDAY, Stale Game Warden. 
ScHiLi/ER Building, Chicago, 111. 
Confusion Over Moose Law. 
There is considerable confusion over the Minnesota moose 
law, and parties from that State report that in Minnesota the 
confusion is worse than anywhere else. The guides around 
Pine River and the Woman Lake country say that the season 
opens this fall on Nov, 1. The former law declared a close 
season till Jan. 1, 1898, bat set the legal season for shooting 
in November. A reliable informant told me the new law 
made the season ten days, Nov. 1-10, 1898; yet the Game 
Laws in Brief, the only actual authority on game law mat- 
ters, sets the date on moose as Nov. .5 to Nov. 10, and does 
not say anything abot^t the year of 1898 This would seem 
to make moose liunting legal this coming fall for five days in 
November. Most of the uncertain parties are very liable to 
give themselves the benefit of all doubts. We need a definite 
statement as to the date of this open season on moose in Min- 
nesota, and I know of nothing conclusive except that of the 
Brief. It has been the general belief, however, that moose 
could not be killed in Minnesota until November of 1898,* 
Illegal Moose. 
Agent Fullerton has lately been complaining over the 
illegal killing, of deer and moose in Itasca county, in which 
county he said it is next to impossible to make a case stick. 
He thought illegal moose had been served at hotels there. 
Now comes D. M Giinn, a hotel keeper in Grand Rapids, 
Minn., and cienies with much indignation that he ever served 
moose on his tables. He says it isn't good to eat, anyhow. 
Mr, Gunn is evidently loaded for Mr. Fullerton, for he treats 
him to a column roast in the Duluth paper from which I 
take the above facts. He says that Mr. Fullerton is a bold, 
bad man, with nothing but a newspaper reputation, and 
charges thai more illegal game is killed now than ever be- 
fore. In these wide accusations I fear Mr, Gunn will find 
few to agree with him. Mr. Gunn is angry, and he has 
apparently gone off half-cocked and not hit anything. 
How to Handle Indians. 
Out in Minnesota they are much troubled with Indians, 
who shoot and fish for the market at all sorts of seasons and 
in all sorts of ways. It is very difficult to get any hold on 
this form of law-breaking, as the Indians have in the courts 
been held to be exempt under the State laws. When arrested 
no fine can be collected from them, and as for a term in jail, 
they like it, as it is their notion of ease and dignity. Agent 
Fullerton has issued an edict that henceforth any Indian 
found breaking the laws in public country shall have his 
outfit taken away from him then and there. This sort of 
thing the Indian heartily detests. He doesn't mind the jail, 
and he doesn't understand the fine, but he savvies it a heap 
when you take away his gtm, spear and boat. In short, he 
succumbs to what has in many other portions of the land 
been found a most potent way of breaking up poaching 
methods among men of no great financial means. This, for 
instance, has always been the method pursued by the 'ToUes- 
ton Club, of Chicago, which has been up against the hardest 
poaching proposition in America. They simply took away 
the guns and broke up the boats of the poachers. This was 
not a legal thing to do, but the club left the other fellow to 
do the suing. The other fellow usually took it out in threats 
and regrets, but he didn't chance it there any more. A 
few Indians minus their guns and nets will do a world 
of missionary work among their people. If they were shoot- 
ing to support their people it might be different, but they 
are shooting to support St. Paul cold storage houses, which 
is needless. The State Commission has decided to take this 
same method in dealing with white law breakers who shoot 
chickens ahead of the season. It has been learned that the 
country juries will not often convict a man arrested for such 
illegal shooting, so that the law is left with small terror for 
the evi! doer. If said evil doer has his gun and ammunition 
taken away from him, he is apt to think it over a while be- 
fore he buys a new gun and goes out to try it all over again, 
He has a good chance for a lawsuit for his gun, but, so long 
as he was caught breaking the law, he doesn't care to go 
after his lost property. He sits down and gets real mad over 
it, but he doesn't go kill any more illegal caickens. A large 
number of special wardens have been appointed in Minne- 
sota this summer to carrj' on this work of chicken protection 
on the above lines. This year the Minnesota Commission 
has $25,000 to work with, this being available Aug. 1. In 
order to spread this amount as far as possible, the wardens 
* There appears to be some circumspect hedging in this paragraph, 
but Mr. Hough's evident ultimate confidence in the BHefis not mis- 
placed. 
Sec, 11, Chap, 9, Iiaws 1891 as amended 1895, provided that" moose 
and caribou should not be taken prior to I8a8. But Pec. 15 of Chap. 
Sisii, Laws of 1897, as giren in i he J?rie/, fixes an open season, from 
Nov. 5 to Nov, 10, in eacQ year, and does not extend the close term to 
1898, Also, Sec. 50 of Chap, 221, Laws 1897, provides, ' All aces and 
parts of acts inconsistent With this act are hereby repealed." This 
repeals the old law, and the moose season for 1897 is therefore as 
given in the Brief.— Ed. F. and S. 
will be laid oil during the times when law-hreaking is im- 
possible or infrequent. 
Grumbler not Accredited. 
It would seem that our good friend Grumbler, whose pes- 
simistic remarks over the Minnesota game supply attracted 
considerable attention, is not accredited wholly in his own 
country. The Minneapolis Journal quotes from the Forest 
AND Stream in answer to him, and further goes on to say: 
"As to the deer, which are said by Grumbler to be rapidly 
on the route to extinction, residents in the northern forests 
assert with much deliberation that there never were so many 
as during the last deer season, and reports from the same 
region now indicate that there will be no lack of good sport 
when the next November weather makes itself felt. It is 
very true that a great many more deer were killed than 
should have been killed, and that there was practically no 
check on the hunters except such as was exercised by a small 
posse of wardens seizing game at central points, but thanks 
to the immense territory open to the big game in this State, 
and to the inaccessibility of much of it, there is still a chance 
to preserve the red deer in good force, provided that some 
more sane methods than those now in vogue are adopted 
within a few years." 
Mountain Quail in Michigan. 
Mr. W. 15. Mershon, the high-priced guide of Saginaw, 
Michigan, writes me in regard to the discovery of another 
instance of the far-reaching activity of the market man. 
He says: 
"At one of the hotels here within the last few day?, a 
number of times there has appeared on the bill of "fare, 
'mountain quail.' Upon investigation I find they are Cali- 
fornia quail, and the landlord says he buys them in Chicago, 
It is too bad to think that the commercial feature cannot be 
taken out of the game question. These birds are unddubt- 
edly trapped in New Mexico or Arizona, and it does seem as 
if there ought to be a way devised for putting a stop to it. 
"At Phoenix, Arizona, while there last winter, I learned 
that up to within a short time the valley quail- had been 
abundant; but of late they have been very hard jto find in 
any quantity on account of the extensive trapping of .them. 
A year ago the hotels were serving ptarmigan; wiiether Ihey 
came through Chicago game dealers or not I do not know, 
but they claimed the birds came from some part of northern 
Canada." 
Threats for ToUeston. 
It is said that John B. Clough, contestant for land adjoin- 
ing the famous and much-mooted Tolleston marsh, was this 
week making preparations for blowing up the TOlleston 
dam across the Little Calumet. This would in j are the club 
marsh very ranch temporarily, but it is difficult to see where 
it would materially benefit Mr. Clough. At last reports this 
news is to be cla.ssi8ed as interesting if true. 
Visitors from Texas. 
■Mr. and Mrs. E, R, Emery, of Marlin, Tex., are in the 
North for a visit of some weeks, and have this week gone on 
up into Wisconsin for a stay at Baraboo, Mr. Emery's former 
home. Mr. Emery is well known as a good one in the field 
or at the traps in his country, and on his way North stopped 
at Kansas City for a look at the pigeon grounds there. . From 
his report I learn that in the neighborhood of Marlih quail 
are very abundant, and doves are reckoned only by the thou- 
sand. Deer and turkeys still are to be had in that favored 
land, and, all in all. it would seem that life there was much 
worth living. Mr. Emery says that the sportsmen of hia 
vicinity are alive to ih« necessity of preserving their game, 
and the Marlin men have always aicled in the work of the 
State Association at Waco, of which we have heard in the 
past from time to time. Mrs. Emery has never been: in the 
North before, and enjoys very much her initial experience 
in the land of business. She is nearly as much of an enthu- 
siast as her husband over sports of the field, and they are 
partners in many pleasant enterprises out of doors. 
E. Hough. 
1206 BoTCE Bdilding, Chicago. 
Vermont Game Conditions. 
Sheldon, Vt., July 29. — Editor Forest and Stream: The 
outlook for good shooting this season in this vicinity is a dis- 
mal one, for the long continued rains have destroyed the 
young ruffed grouse and quail, and have flooded the wood- 
cock breeding grounds. A heavy cloudburst that occurred 
here the night of the 14th deluged our aviaries and played 
sad havoc with the young pheasants and chickens.' 
Rev. Mr. Gelot, of Middleburg, Vt., writes me that the 
black game released near that piace have nested and will 
likely successfully rear their broods, as there has been less 
rain in that vicinity. 
So far we have not known of a single deer being seen in 
this vicinity this season. 
Foxes are likely to be scarce, as the farmer boys have dug 
out and destroyed several litters. So our only sport wili be 
rabbit shooting — our big Northern hare will often give the 
hounds a good run, and on him we shall pin our hopes to 
supply our demands for field sports this season. 
Last season, so far as we could learn, not a single pair of 
bluebirds nested in this section of the State, the past spring 
they arrived in goodiv numbers, but passed on to more 
Northern breeding places, with the exception of a single 
pair that have remained with ua. Other song birds are here 
as usual — the bobolink in increased numbers. The upland 
plover stopped here to nest, but we have not seen any of the 
young, birds, Stanstead. 
Texas Quail. 
The outlook for shooting this fall is very good at present, 
really better than I expected ; as the early part Of spring was 
excessively wet, I feared that the nesting seasdn would be 
materially interferred with; though the birds will be a little 
late in getting full-fledged, yet 1 think they will fte in good 
shape and reasonably plentiful, The quail is our only game 
bird here, except that during their flight we have quite a 
number of plover, and I have heard some reports of a few 
jack snipe. 
1 note with much pleasure the presence of the usual num- 
ber of song birds this summer, among which are the mock- 
ing bird, orioles, and several of the bunting family, also a 
family of red birds who have reared a brood of young in a 
tree in our yard. The English sparrow is fastly -increasing, 
and we now have several large flocks, they are nesting in 
every available niche. T, E. W. 
» 
