64 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 22, 1898. 
been hunting on the Tobique, failed to secure his moose, 
owing to deep snow and shortness of the trip. He had 
as guide George E. Armstrong, of Perth Centre, who 
writes me that he has been cruising ont new ground for 
next year's operations, and that "the country we was in 
was nothing but moose tracks!" Mr. Armstrong is a 
most efficient and reliable guide, whom I can recommend 
without reserve to visiting hunters. He has been for 
some years a guide in Maine, but will henceforth hunt in 
New Brunswick. 
Mr. C. C. Hills, of Cleveland, having shed upon us 
the light of his countenance for a season, has flickered 
away to his Southern home. Mr. Hills manufactured 
three caribou into venison, and hit a bull moose in the 
neck, but the moose is still at large. Mr. Hills will look 
him up next fall. 
The New Brunswick Legislature meets in annual ses- 
sion next month. I look for the following changes to 
be made in the game law: Each hunter to be allowed 
a maximum of one moose, two caribou and three deer; 
non-resident guides to pay a licence of $20. A map of 
convenient size for sporismen is shortly to be issued 
and the Government have in contemplation publishing 
a hand book, which will give fidl and accurate informa- 
tion as to all the various game resorts. An effort is also 
being made by local sportsmen to induce the Dominion 
Government to remove the prohibition upon the export 
of game so far as to permit venison to be shipped when 
accompanied by the sxiortsman who owns it. 
Frank H. Ristkkn. 
Fredericton, Jan. B. 
Maine Commissioners' Report* 
An Abstract as ftirnished to ^*Forest and Stream" by the 
Commission, 
The Commissioners say in their anniial report just pre- 
sented to the Governor that never before in the history of 
the State have inland fish and game interests been so 
much discussed by the people and the press as during the 
j^ear just closed. The laws for the protection of fish and 
game have always been difficult of entorcement, and 
those charged with their enforcement have never escaped 
severe criticism. 
It is a fact, however, that there has been less violation 
of the game laws this year than ever before since fish and 
game became abundant. 
The State has four well-eciuipped hatcheries and feed- 
ing stations, viz., at Edes Falls, Caribou, Auburn and 
Monmouth. ' 
At Aubtirn a cottage has been built during the year for 
a residence for the superintendent and a hatching house 
erected at Caribou, and new dams have been built at these 
places. 
Two hundred and thirty-five thousand trout were 
raised; 450,000 land-locked salmon, and 146.000 Penob- 
scot River salmon, which were planted in 121 different 
bodies of water in the State; besides, several hundred 
thousand trout and salmon were raised and planted by 
private enterprise, the State having furnished the eggs 
for hatching. 
The catch of fish, land-locked salmon, white perch, 
pickerel and black bass has been exceptionally large. The 
guides report that those fishermen whom they liave 
guided have caught more than fifty tons of trout and 
salmon. The outlook for future fishing was never so 
good in recent years as to-day. 
The law for the registration of guides has worked well, 
and is held in great favor by the Commissioners and a 
large majority of the guides and true sportsmen: 1,316 
guides have been registered since the law Went into 
effect, July 1. 
From the annual report of the guides the following 
facts appear: 
Total ntimber of days guides have been employed, 
51,918. 
At $3 per day the usual price would amount to $155,- 
754 paid in wages to the guides; $50,000 has been paid 
to the taxidermists of the State. 
Number of residents guided 3.384 
Number of non-residents guided .7,125 
Total number of moose killed 250 
Total number of caribou killed 239 
Total number of deer killed 8,947 
Total number of bears killed 160 
Non-residents who have employed guides have spent 
in the State at least $2,000,000. 
Residents of the State who employed guides expended 
at least $175,000. 
This is a matter for congratulation, that more than 
3,000 of otir own citizens have preferred to spend their 
vacation and money in the State instead of other States 
or countries. 
The guides report their other occupations besides guid- 
ing as follows: 
Three hundred farmers, 35 woodsmen, i express agent. 
I engineer, 3 game wardens, 18 hunters, i harness maker, 
I hostler, 3 hotel proprietors, 7 jack-at-all-trades, 2 jew- 
elers, 74 lumberers, 9 merchants, 16 millmen, 2 mechani- 
cal engineers, i pension attorney, 4 painters, i profes- 
sional loafer, i postal clerk, 42 river drivers, 2 reporters. 
10 surveyors, 8 spool makers, 2 students, 5 gum pickers. 
8 steamboat proprietors, 10 taxidermists, 9 teamsters, 27 
trappers, i trial justice, 1 farmer and postmaster, i bush- 
whacker, I bottoming chairs, 7 blacksmiths, 8 mechanics. 
One thousand and nineteen were born in this State. 
Three have died — two by drowning. 
The yoimgest is fourteen years of age and the oldest 
seventy-eight, who has been a guide for more than half 
a century. 
They are registered from fourteen of the sixteen coun- 
ties, as follows: 
Two Androscoggin, 173 Aroostook, 10 Cumberland, 
175 Franklin, 11 Hancock, 18 Kennebec, i Knox, 52 
Oxford, 340 Penobscot, 270 Piscataquis, 136 Somerset, 
5 Waldo, ro8 Washington, 2 York, 13 Lake Megantic 
Association guides. 
In the several fatal shootings of persons while hunting, 
no registered guide has been connected. Five have been 
caught poaching, and one surrendered his certificate. 
The Commissioners have held monthly meetings at 
the State House, and have attended forty-one hearings 
on petitions of taxpayers to close certain lakes, ponds 
and streams. 
From the foregoing abstract it will be seen that Maine 
has a marvelous industry in her inland fish and game, 
which should be well cared for. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Off for the Far Gold Country. 
Chicago, 111., Jan. 6. — My old trout fishing compan- 
ion and sno\vshoe chura Charlie Norris starts next week 
for the gold country of the far Northwest, and goes by 
wliat many would consider the most risky route at the 
dead of winter, the back door trail overland from Ed- 
moiiton. Llis party will not go to Dawson City, but 
will adopt the far more sensible plan jt keeping as far 
away from that crovvded point as possible, and doing 
some prospecting in the country at the head of the Pelly 
River and its tributaries. This region has been aimed 
for by many men out of Dawson, who have been driven 
back down" the Yukon by the failure of their supplies. 
The objective point of this party will be Lake Frances, 
about 400 miles from Dawson City. This will keep them 
in a field as yet practically new, and in the heart of a 
range for which it is as safe to predict gold now as it 
was" for the Klondike three years ago. 
The party, of which Mr. Norris and Mr. Alex. Dierks 
are the organizers, will number about a dozen, nearly 
all of whom are carpenters or mechanics. They take a 
prospecting drill and material for a light saw mill (a 
shaft and circular saws and belting). Emil Karatkowski, 
C. J. Johnson, Chas. Youngberg, Gus Anderson, Otto 
Baggcly, Frederick Howson and Chas. Parker, mem- 
bers of this party, left last night for Edmonton. Mr. 
Norris and Mr. Dierks will leave next Tuesday. The 
party will buy their provisions at Edmonton, Alberta, 
the end of'railway travel, and will there purchase tobog- 
gans for horse use. Each man will buy four horses, 
and with this equipment they think they can take in a 
vear's supplies. 
AH this sounds grotesquely impractical in view sf all 
that we read about the deep snows and the awful cold of 
the Yukon region, but there are many reasons for think- 
ing it not so unwise after all. The fact is there is a lot 
of country between Edmonton and the Klondike which 
is very little known to most' of us, but which is very 
well known to a lot of other men, and has been so known 
for fifty years or such matter. They have been washing 
gold along the Saskatchewan and Peace rivers for about 
thirty years, and the maps are dotted with the significant 
letters "H. B. P." (Hudson's Bay Port), showing that 
the trader and trapper has already taken the brunt of 
the first trail. Mr. Norris and his party will be gov- 
erned somewhat by Mr. Ogilvy's government report, 
he having made this same trip and declared it perfectly 
feasible. It is very much shorter than the Mackenzie 
River trail, and over a more practicable country. There 
is a post at every hundred miles or so, the snow rarely 
lies more than a foot to 2ft. in the lower reaches, and the 
thermometer rarely goes below 45 degrees below. Most 
of the road is by river, and of course winter is far the best 
time for such a trip, as any one will know who has ex- 
perienced the delight of crossing lake, stream and swamp 
by snowshoe, where by foot he would have been hope- 
lessly lost. 
The route of the Norris party from Edmonton is to 
Little Slave Lake, thence to the Peace River. Part of 
this is farming country, though most of us didn't know 
that. They go up the Peace River to Halfway River, 
and up that stream for some distance to the crossing to 
the Nelson River. The Nelson River runs into the 
I.iard, and the Liard into the Mackenzie, but the Liard 
runs far back into the mountains, near to the headwaters 
of the Pelly. Hence the party after getting on the Nel- 
son will descend the Nelson to the Liard, and go up the 
Liard into the mountains. Here they will have the hard- 
est part of the whole journey, fifty miles of mountain 
1 ravel to the Frances Lake and the head of the Pelly. 
They are told that over much of this country there is 
winter range for horses, and expect that their stock 
can paw snow for grass over a good part of the trail. 
The total distance from Edmonton to the head of the 
Pellv is onlv about 900 miles, and the party hope to 
make it by April. It sounds a long way, 900 miles, but 
it is only ten miles a day for three months, or fifteen 
miles a day for two months. It all depends on the con- 
dition of the ice and the depth of the snow. Rivers 
should freeze smooth, but they don't, and snow should 
follow the average of precipitation, but it doesn't. Of 
course this means snowshoeing all the way, and the 
men must camp out, do their own cooking and their 
own packing— no light proposition for bad winter 
weather. I do not believe they will get to the head of 
the Liard with all their horses, but they may get part 
way with all, or quite through with a few. Unless the 
horses can find food along the trail the project will not 
do, for a horse cannot pull enough feed besides a man's 
outfit to go very far into a snow-bound region. Dogs 
cost $25 each at Edmonton., I understand, or $125 for a 
team of four with sledge, and the Norris party decided 
upon horses on the understanding that over this country 
thev were more practical. 
The route above mentioned is one that may be patron- 
ized more alter this year. Should Mr. Norris and his 
friends find themselves in possession of a good saw mill 
at the head of the Pelly, and should there be a demand 
for boat liunber there as there has been at the east side 
of the Dyea trails, they would not need to dig gold, 
because they could saw it out. The head of the Pelly is 
about 200 miles or so east of tlie mouth of the Hoota- 
linka, where Mr. Burnham wrote he might possibly 
winter. There is a lot of geography lying around loose 
up in that country. 
Last September a Mr. Warmolts and a party of eight 
started for the Klondike via Edmonton and the Macken- 
zie River route. They got frozen in at Ft. Resolution, 
some hundreds of miles north of Edmonton. Mr. War- 
molts and one friend came back and are now in town, 
intending to go back in the spring and finish the trip. 
Mr. Warmolts says they got a lot of fur-lined clothes 
and things which they had to throw away. He said the 
cold was not so dreadful. He and others say that some 
of the Klondike outfits sold by certain firms are weirdly 
useless. The Norris party, outfitting at Edmonton, will 
have the advantage of being in the country of men who 
know the land and the life and its necessities. Charlie 
Norris I know to be a good woodsman and snowshoer, 
and excellent in a canoe or boat. The party has much 
to argue for its success in the undertaking before it, and 
many will envy them the trip, whether they strike gold 
or not. E. Hough. 
1206 EoYCE Building, Chicago. 
The Massachusetts Association. 
Boston, Jan. 13. — Editor Forest and Stream: Another 
year has been added to the record of the Massachusetts 
Fish and Game Protective Association, and while it has 
not been a particularly exciting one, considerable routine 
work has been done, and much good has been accom- 
plished in educating public sentiment to a better under- 
standing of the laws and their proper enforcement in 
the interest of fish and game protection. The annual 
meeting was held at the Coplej^ Square Hotel, Wednes- 
day, T2th inst., and was largely attended. Col. Horace 
T. Rockw^ell, the president, was in the chair, and Sec- 
retary Kimball was as usual at his accustomed place. 
The meeting was notable for the presence of many of the 
older and still active members, including ex-presidents 
Benjamin C. Clark, E. A. Samuels and George W. Wig- 
gin, gentlemen who . are always foremost in extending 
and aiding the work of the Association. William D. 
Wright and George B. James, Jr., were elected to mem- 
bership, and several proposals were referred to the mem- 
bership committbe. The re'port of Treasurer Kimball 
showed the finances to be in good condition. The re- 
ceipts were $1,937.54, and the expenditures $1,348.48, 
leaving a balance more than sufiicient to cover bills 
unpaid when the accounts were made up. The perman- 
ent invested funds amount to $2,635.70, an increase of 
$150 over last year. This report of the treasurer was 
considered to be a very gratifying one, and met the 
hearty approval of the members. A committee was ap- 
pointed to conduct the ballot for the officers for the en- 
suing year, and they subsequently reported the follow- 
ing elected: President, Horace T. Rockwell; Vice-Pres- 
dents: Edward A. Samuels, Benjamin C. Clark, Heber 
Bishop, George W. Wiggin, C. J. H. Woodbury, Robert 
S. Gray, J. R. Reed; Treasurer and Secretary, Henry LI. 
Kimball; Librarian, Edward LI. Branigan; Executive 
Committee: John T. Stetson, A- R. Brown, Charles 
Stewart, William B. Smart, Rollin Jones, J. S. Dunck- 
lee, John N. Roberts, Sidnej' Chase, Charles G. Gibson, 
Edward E. Small, Loi'ing Crocker, A. C. Risteen; Mem- 
bership Committee: Arthur W. Robinson, W. B. Hast- 
ings, Thomas H. Hall; Fund Committee: Warren Hap- 
good, George O. Sears, Charles C. Williams. President 
Rockwell thanked his associates for the compliment 
paid him, and briefly outlined what he believed to be 
the policy of the Association. This was to continue the 
work of educating public sentiment to the observance of 
the laws already on the statute books, and while not at- 
tempting any new work the Associa:tion should always 
be ready to resist any encroachments upon the laws as 
they now exist. While we all admit there may be room 
for improvement in the direction of furtner protection 
of fish and game, the laws are fairly good as they are, 
and it is for the public interest to retain what we already 
have. 
Brief addresses were made by Mr. Charles F. Chamber- 
layne, ex-President Clark, Arthur J. Selfridge and judge 
Bolster upon matters connected with fish and game pro- 
tection. President Rockwell announced that the annual 
dinner — the event of the year — would take place at the 
Copley Square LTotel on Tuesday evening, Feb. 8, and 
that as usual an attractive programme would be offered 
for the entertainment of the members and their guests. 
William B. Smart. 
The Boys and the Cow Moose. 
Boston, Jan. 17. — It seems that after all the Maine 
Fish and Game Commissioners are being blarued a good 
deal for not having brought the boys who shot the cow 
moose in the Moosehead region last summer to justice. 
It will be remembered by those who read the report of 
the meeting of the Maine Sportsmen's Association in the 
Forest and Stream last week, that the chairman of the 
Commission, the Hon. L. T. Carleton, defended the 
course of the Commissioners in letting the boys escape 
on the ground of their youth. He had not the heart to 
send mere boys to jail. The Hon. J. F. Sprague, of Mon- 
son, attacked the Commission, and claimed that the case 
would not be dropped. A special dispatch to the Boston 
Herald from Augusta says that County Attorney Hayes, 
of Piscataquis county, who belongs to the Sprague fac- 
tion, has given notice that at the meeting of the Gov- 
ernor and council, Jan. 25, he will apply for extradition 
papers for Stanton W. A. Forsraan and Walter G. Mer- 
ritt, the two students who, shot the cow moose at Cau- 
quogomac Lake last July. 
I have a letter from an Augusta, Me., gentleman of prom- 
inence in fish and game and legal circles which says that 
there is a feeling that Mr. Carleton has taken the en- 
forcement of the law too much into his own hands; that 
the/ statute is plain enough; does not provide for the 
excusing of boys who shoot cow moose in close time 
and then conceal their deed by sinking the carcass in a 
lake. The letter suggests that if the sons of rich men — 
students — are to escape imprisonment for illegal moose 
shooting, then the law is of no use anywa}'. It -will be 
interesting to see if Gov. Powers will ask for requisition 
papers from the State where the boys belong. 
I have another letter from a Maine lumber camp, well 
into the woods, the home of many deer, which says that 
these* animals are wintering well thus far. There is not 
yet snow enough to prevent their roaming where they 
please. The observer thinks that the number left is large, 
ten times as many as w^ere killed that ,section during 
the open season. Special, 
