Jan. 15, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
61 
Willing- as I am to accept his statement that he killed a 
Rocky Mountain goat in the mountains of Essex 
ccur.tjr, New York, not long after an old ram strayed 
from some farmer's flock, I happened to be present dur- 
ing the sponge episode, and I regret that Hank's joke 
should have been taken seriously in France throtigh an 
imperfect translation of what I wrote. 
The writer in the French Bulletin, Mr. C. de Lamarche, 
comments further upon the article in Forest and 
Stream, and adheres in the remainder of the article to 
what I really said in his translation from English into 
Fi'ench, except that he assumes that the threatened de- 
struction of salmonidae b}' bullheads is more widespread 
than the facts narrated would warrant. He concludes: 
"In France bullheads will never be so abundant as to 
present the signal inconvenience arising from their 
numbers on the other side of the Atlantic, and they will 
not, therefore, cause the trotit to disappear from our 
streams. They will, rather, furnish them an appreciable 
means of support in their food supply. Let us, then, 
sufTer the Americans to call down the severity of laws 
upon the bullhead, and let us. when the occasion offers, 
be content to catch with a line that very ugly, but very 
interesting httle fish, in order that our savory dishes of 
fried gudgeon may be thereby embellished." 
It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary for me to point out 
where I have been misquoted, as my article will speak 
for itself; but the fish that Mr. de Lamarche writes 
about forms no part of the fish food of this State or the 
countrj'. In writing of the bullhead, he means the fresh- 
water sculpies (Coitus gobio). Miller's thumb or blob. The 
bullhead I wrote of belongs to another species, another 
fan:ily and another order, called also horned pout, one of 
the catfishes, and specifically Ameiurus nebulosus (Le 
Sueur) or A. catus (Jordan & Gilbert, 1S83). This is an 
entirely different fish from the Miller's thumb, and grows 
to 2lbs. or more in weight, and is an excellent food fish 
wlicn it is in condition. I ncA'er even heard of any one 
eating the Miller's thumb or niuffiejaw. except, perhaps, 
the Ichthyophagous Club members, when they were try- 
ing most every thing that swims or crawls or lives in tlie 
water. In the first place, the Miller's thumb is not large 
enough to bother with, as it grows only from 3 to 6in. in 
length, and while it is common enough, one never finds 
them unless they are searched for, and we have so many 
edible fishes that no one would take the trouble to search 
for blobs, and I have never known one to take my hook. 
Mr. de Lamarche credits me with saying that New 
York furnishes 200,ooolbs. of bullheads in one year and 
four times that amount was furnished outside of the 
State. What I did say was that the bullhead product in 
New York was four times greater than that of any other 
fish from State waters, except the shad; but it is safe 
to say that Mr. de Lamarche does not half state the case 
when he makes the bullhead product in this country 
i,ooo,ooolbs., for it is a favorite and cheap food and the 
fish are very prolific and are easily caught with hook and 
Ime, and they are so generally distributed that if a water 
contains any kind of fish it is pretty sure to contain bull- 
heads, 
Mr, Harmsworth's Gift. 
The cable informs us that Mr. A. C. Harmsworth, of 
London, has presented the steamship Windward to 
Lieut. Peary, to be used for Arctic exploration. Mr. 
Harmsworth will have the ship thoroughly overhauled 
and put in order and sent to this country. I have told 
in this journal how Mr. Harmsworth happened to be 
in this country tarpon fishing (he afterward wrote of his 
experience in Florida waters and it was published in 
Forest and Stream, and while at Naples read in a 
newspaper that Mr. Jackson wished to undertake a jour- 
ney toward the pole. He hurried back to London, and 
told Mr. Jackson to fit out an expedition and send him 
the bills. Then Mr. Jackson did so, and the bills 
amoimted to $125,000. It was Jackson who found Dr. 
Nan sen, or Dr. Nansen found Jackson, for I do not 
quite know how to state the fact that they met, and Dr. 
Nansen came home in the Windward. When the ship 
went north for the last time, to bring Jackson home, Mr. 
Harmsworth wrote me that he was going in her with 
a party of friends, to be left to explore some trout wa- 
ters in Siberia. Within a year past Lieut. Peary told 
me that if we had had a Harmsworth in this country 
all that could have been known about the North Pole 
would have been known long ago. One of the New 
York daily nev.'spapers, in an editorial article, says to- 
day: "The thanks of the whole American nation, or 
that portion of it that appreciates generosity and heroic 
achievement — and does not that mean the whole? — are 
due to Mr. Harmsworth." 
He could not help doing a generous act like that, for 
he was born to do such things,, and as two of his three 
hobbies are Arctic exploration and fishing, it is quite 
natural that his generosity should at this time be directed 
toward the North Pole hobby. Mr. Harmsworth has 
promised me some notes for Forest and Stream on 
his fishing in India when he can take the time to write 
them. 
Fish Protection in 1734. 
My friend Mr. Harry S. Brown, of the New York 
Plerald, discovered and sent to me a copy of an intei^- 
esting ordinance in regard to fish protection in New 
York city, passed in 1734, which reads as follows: "Or- 
dinance of the Common Council of New York city, 1734. 
Be it ordained that if any person or persons whatsoever 
do, from henceforth presume to put, place or cast into 
the pond, commonlj^ called Fresh Water Pond, belong- 
ing to this corporation, any hoop net, draw net, purse 
net, casting net, cod net, bag net or any other net, or 
nets whatsoever, and shall take or catch any of the fish 
within the said pond therewith, or by any other engine, 
machine arts, ways or means whatsoever than by angling 
with angle rod, hook and line only, every person so of- 
fending against the tenor of this law shall for every of- 
fense forfeit and pay tl^e sum of 20 shillings, current 
nioney," 
Mr. Brown writes me that Fresh Water Pond was 
fi.lled up about 1800, but it w-as about midwa}'- of the 
island, or a little to the west of midway, and not far 
north of Canal street. I was not aware that the fight 
to exterminate the fish of this country began so early, 
but the net fishermen must have commenced their work 
previous to 1734 to have made it necessary to pass sucli 
an ordinance, the language of which shows conckisivcly 
that its framers knew just what to pass to reach the root 
of the trouble. Jl was not until tlie comparatively re- 
cent codification of our State game laws that angling 
was again defined to be with rod or hook and line held 
in the hand; but with such a pattern set for the law- 
makers it is rather surprising that it was not followed 
at an earlier date. • A. N. Cheney. 
Sport near Home* 
I WAS Startled from a sound sleep at 3:30 one morning 
in October last by a cautious knock at my chamber door. 
"Who is there?" I growled, thinking to frighten the 
wits out of the villain who would dare disturb my slum- 
bers at such an unearthly hour. To my surprise the 
small voice of my twelve-year-old youngster replied; 
"Get up, pop. I've got a lot of grasshoppers, and know 
where there are S9me fine black bass, but We vnxist get 
after them early." 
This was more than I could stand, so I hurried on 
some old clothes and found downstairs the little fellow 
had all the fishing tackle in readiness, besides our two 
bicycles, as we had to ride about a mile and a half. It 
seemed .strange as" we left with our wheels, for the night 
was so dark it was impossible to see the front tire, and 
it threatened rain. After going about a mile, my boy 
leading the way, with no serious mishaps except occa- 
sionally striking a rock in the darkness and falling off, 
the rain came on. It seemed to grow even darker, but 
the rain only dampened our clothes, and not our ardor. 
We reached the woods, dark and thick, through which 
we had to travel by path to the little lake. Shouldering 
our wheels, we stumbled along, losing the path at every 
turn, but the little fellow had been there before, and ^ 
believe, with his sense of location, could have led the 
way blindfolded. We reached the lake, which we could 
scarcely see for darkness and heavy mist, and after stand- 
ing our wheels in some brush,- we felt our -way along 
the sloping bank, endeavoring to find an opening through 
which we might cast our grasshoppers. We soon found 
a short path. We did not see it, but were conscious of 
the ^opening as the foliage brushed from our faces and 
we felt the hard path under our feet. W^e groped our 
way down this path a few feet, and leaning a little over 
the water, the bushes cleared away for a small distance 
on each side — just such a place as you always find on the 
shores of lakes and ponds where the boys and enthusias- 
tic anglers make their frequent stand. 
Up to this moment matters had gone on smoothly, 
considering the difficulties we had to contend with, the 
rain and the pitch darkness. There was no such thing 
as "seeing." Our eyes were useless. We were obliged 
to use our sense of feeling to its utmost capacity. I 
never thought, when I took my fine bass rod, Avith its 
numerous eyes so close together, of the experience there 
was before me, as it took me exactly three-quarters of an 
hour to thread the line through the eyes on my rod. 
It was then about 5 o'clock. Wallace, my son, had gone 
away into the darkness to cast from some position of his 
own choice. The rain continued steadily, and I could 
not see the water less than 5ft. below me. I cast my line 
with great difficult}^ being guided entirely b}' the drop- 
ping of the grasshopper on the water, then drawing 
cautiously in and raising my pole straight up in front 
of me till I could feel the line swing against my out- 
stretched hand, when I would learn if my grasshopper 
was still well hooked, and carefully cast again. 
In this way T must have fished for an hour without a 
single nibble. The day was dawning very slowly, and the 
heavy mist was trying hard to raise from the pond. The 
rain had nearly ceased. I had become somewhat dis- 
couraged and reckless, as a fisherman generally does 
when has has fished for an hour and a half without a 
bite. I had put two grasshoppers on my hook instead 
of one, thinking to attract the fish better in the dark- 
ness. I could see, through the mist. Wallace sitting on 
a stone round a turn in the pond. I imagined from his 
position that he had lost interest, and I called out to him 
asking if he had caught anything. The only answer I 
received was a cautious "cis-s-se" between his teeth, 
which I misunderstood, thinking maybe he had had a 
bite and did not wish to be disturbed. Casting my eye 
across on the other side of the lake, I saw that a nice 
open, grassy bank ran down to the water, giving free 
space to cast in, and not noticing the excited gesticula- 
tion of the youngster, I hastened to the spot and out of 
sheer desperation put four fresh grasshoppers on my 
hook. I could now cast freely from 40 to 50ft., and as I 
did not get a rise I gave up the idea of catching a fish 
and continued casting, with the feeling that I was at least 
getting good practice. A beautiful cast threw the bunch 
of grasshoppers fully 50ft., gracefullj^ dropping on the 
water. They had scarcely disappeared below the sur- 
face, when, to my surprise, my pole was almost jerked 
from my hands. Coming to my senses, and giving a 
short, quick jerk, I hooked the fish, which soon proved 
his identity by jumping fully 2ft. out of the water. 
He made a beautiful fight, but was well hooked; so I 
played him cautiously up and down the shore for exactly 
fifteen minutes before I conquered and raised him onto 
the bank. He was a beauty, and curled up on both sides 
of my creel, being much too large to lie flat on the bot- 
tom. It was a large-mouth bass and weighed plump 
2l4\hs. after reaching home. I caught two more small 
ones quickly, and before Wallace had reached me, for he 
was hurrying around the edge of the pond with sup- 
pressed excitement in his face, which I mistook to be 
caused by his seeing my sport in catching the fish. 
The day was now breaking the best it could on so 
dark and dull a morning. Sounds of the farmers awak- 
ening to their earlj"^ toil filled the air. A lot of chickens 
were making a great noise, leaving the roost in a barn 
about 20oft. up the bank, and several dogs began to bark 
savageljr, and the youngster said: "Pop, Ave better go 
now; they don't bite here so late." 
Looking at my watch, I saw Ave Avould just reach home 
in nice time for breakfast, so I hurriedly did up my 
tackle, pulled our wet Avheels out of the bushes and hur- 
ried home. 
The underbrush was wringing wet, likewise ourselves, 
by the time we emerged from the woods out on to the 
main road. Up to that time I was totally innocent of 
having done any wrong or run any risk, when something 
prompted me to ask Wallace why it was necessary to 
get to the place at so early an hour. He laughed as if to 
split his sides, and replied: "Why, because you have 
to leave the place early," and added: "Pop, I thought 
Ave were done for sure when I heard the dogs bark." 
Then he pointed up to two large chestnut trees on each 
side of Avhich were posted signs: "Fishing prohibited 
under penalty of the law." "You young rascal," I said, 
but he had mounted his wheel and was going fast to- 
ward home, still enjoying the joke. Wm. W. Hart. 
New York. 
Sportsmen's Association of Cheat Motjntains. 
Pittsburg. Fa.— Editor Forest and Stream: The asso- 
ciation was chartered under the laws of We.st Virginia in 
J 886, and took a fifty-year lease for hunting and fishing 
on 57,000 acres of land and water, afterward adding 
7,000 acres. The property is 3,200ft. above sea IcA^el, in 
Randolph and Pocahontas counties. West Virginia. It is 
reached by a beautiful drive of twenty-six miles from 
Beverly. Sixteen miles is up the charming Tvgart Val- 
ley to the foot of the mountain, and then for ten miles 
up and over the Staunton ^nfl Parkersburg pike to the 
club house. 
The valley is under more or less cultivation, but the 
surroundings are immense tracts of timber extending for 
miles and miles. The club house is of logs, two and a 
half stories high, 40x60ft., with outbuilding for the 
superintendent, his family and the wardens. The house 
is furnished with all the comfort any sportsman could 
expect — clean beds and good victuals. 
Wild turkeys, pheasants, squirrels and deer are quite 
numerous, Avith an occasional bear or wolf thrown in. 
It is estimated that we have 200 miles of trout stream, 
all more or less supplied with fine fish. We are not 
awaiting the depletion of our streams, but have taken 
time by the forelock and established a hatchery. In a 
short time I believe we can turn loose 500,000 trout an- 
nuall}'. 
Last year Ave tried raising Mongolian and English 
pheasants, and considering that our superintendent was 
not an expert, I feel that we did very well. But it was 
only an experiment, and whether or not we will follow 
it up I cannot say. Our membership is limited to 200. 
and, I am pleased to say, is fully taken, and by a lot of 
men as clever and gentlemanly as can be found. Occa- 
sionally some one dies or desires to drop out, in Avhich 
event the stock must be offered to the club. In case 
the club declines to purchase, the owner can then dispose 
of his shares, but the purchaser must be elected a member 
before the transfer be made. J. H. Stewart. 
Wakeman Holberton. 
Mr. Fred Mather writes: "For over ten j'^ears Hol- 
berton and I planned fishing trips, but they ended with 
the plans. Yet we enjoyed the planning, which, after all. 
is no small part of the enjoyment. We ate many a 
dinner at our favorite restaurant, in order to arrange 
details, which somehow were never carried out, but he 
was a man who enjoyed a game dinner, and perhaps 
we lost nothing by not fishing together. The day 
might have been plagued with an ea^t wind, filled with 
fog and rheumatism, or the boatman rnrglit haA'-e failed 
us; but, if the fish were or were not on the feed, Holber- 
ton and I would have had a good day, 
"Comrade Holberton was one of the best known 
anglers in New York city. For many years he was a 
salesman in the fishing tackle house of Coriroy & Co., 
and then went Avith the firm of Abbey & Imbrie. His 
plate of "Standard flies," which has been lithographed, 
is a recognized standard, and brought order out of chaos. 
He Avas the organizer of the Oratani Snow-shoe Club of 
New Jersey, secretary of the New York City Association 
for the Protection of Game, and has contributed articles 
to Forest and Stream on moose hunting, fishing and 
other field sports. 
"He was an artist, and not only painted trout flies, 
but trout, bass and other fishes, and some of his pictures 
sold for good prices. 
"Holberton Avent to the front in 1861 as a volunteer 
and Avorked his way up to a first lieutenancy in the 72d 
New York Volunteers, and Avas honorably discharged 
for disability in '62, and was afterward breveted captain 
and major for gallant and meritorious conduct. Some 
three years ago he had a paralytic stroke, and was forced 
to retire from actiA^e Avork. I Avas to visit him on Jan. 
27 next and arrange for some loach fishing in the Hack- 
ensack River next March." 
The National Fish Commission* 
From the New York Times, Jan. 1. 
There seems to be something more than rumor in the 
assertion, not denied at Washington, and likely to be af- 
firmed by an early batch of nominations sent from the 
White House to the Senate, that the President will name 
for Fish Commissioner a man who can by no stretch 
of the imagination or conscience be regarded by the 
President or by anj' other man who- can read the law 
as legally qualilied to hold that important position. 
The laAV which the President has sworn to execute pre- 
scribes that the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries shall 
be "a person of scientific and practical acquaintance with 
the fish and fisheries of the seacoast and inland waters." 
Senator Elkins has a constituen't, not a "person, of scien- 
tific and practical acquaintance" with anything in particu- 
lar, but simpl}^ acquainted Avith Mr, Elkins, and having a 
Avell-deA'eloped desire to have a place with a large salary. 
This man's acquaintance, such as it is, with fish and 
fisheries, has been obtained in six months by reading 
more or less diligent. Senator Elkins has jocularly re- 
ferred to the fact that he has had his candidate "coached" 
in order to enable him to comply with the law and get a 
place. 
There are several candidates for this office. None of 
them is quite so ignorant, in the view of the law, as the 
candidate of Mr. Elkins. Several of them hav^e been Avell 
educated and carefully trained in the service of the 
United States and with the Fish Commission. They ar« 
