March s, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
18 6 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
A Relic of the Past. 
Chicago, III, Feb. 19. — From the Blackfoot reserva- 
tion in Montana Mr. J. W. Schultz writes me in regard 
to a recent find made by his son of a relic which carries 
one back to the days of the Indian and of the buffalo. 
"Riding up the stec^ rocky side of a butte near my 
ranch the other day," he says, "my son found a flint- 
Iocl< gun lying upon the gravelly slope. It was cocked, 
there was a priming of caked powder m the pan, and 
later investigation shows that it contains a load nearly 
,3in. in length. The ramrod had been chewed into small 
bits by the prairie mice or other rodents, probably for 
the grease it contained and the stock is quite rotten 
where it touched the ground, but the side exposed to the 
weather is still sound, and, although quite rusty, the gun 
is still in fair condition. It is stamped on the lock 
"Parker & Field, 1861," and the barrel is stamped with 
the British crown and other proof marks. 
"This is one of the guns the Hudson's Bay Co. used 
to trade to the Crees and other northern Indians, and 
was probably lost by its owner during a raid down here 
against the Blackfeet. It is possible the owner may 
have dropped it in flight, but more likely he was wound- 
ed and died where the gun was found. Quite near the 
place the gun laid is a deep crevice, into which the 
wolves would have drap"«ed the body, and the freshets 
lonof since have covered the bones. 
"News of this fi^nd soon spread, and Indians from all 
* directions have flocked to my house to A'iew this relic 
of the olden times. Each one's eyes have glistened as 
he beheld the ancient piece and reverently handled it. 
We have, figuratively, been wading waist deep in gore 
and blood, for all the battles with their ancient enemies, 
the Crees, have been recounted by my visitors, and I've 
had visions too of fleeing herds of buffalo, pursued by the 
naked warriors mounted on their fleet-footed ponies, 
and along the trail the yellow prairie has been dotted 
by the huge dark forms of the slaughtered creatures. 
And with these simple red men, I too wish we could 
have those times over again. Who wouldn't trade the 
cattle and the railroads and all this tame civilization 
for the wild, free life of those other days?" 
What historic ground is this upon which this old Hud- 
son's Bay piece was foimd, and what a train it does 
indeed bring np of regretful recollections of the once 
glorious, but nOAV fading and forgotten West of the 
good old dajrs! 
Strn River Slaughter. 
The North Fork of the Sun River, in Montana, is a 
good game countrj^ especially in the winter, when the 
elk, sheep and deer are driven down out of the moun- 
tains. For some weeks skin hunters have been operat- 
ing in that region, and have killed some hundreds of 
elk, deer and sheep. This action has been taken up by 
the press of Montana, and the sportsmen of Helena and 
other cities have undertaken a crusade to stop the 
slaughter. Deer hides net the killer from 50 to 75 cents 
each. Elk hides bring $2 and upward. One man killed 
sixty-five elk. Last winter a party of these same men 
had a bunch of elk corralled for shipment East, but the 
animals were too weak, so they were shot and skinned. 
A Western Interstate Meeting. 
The conventioii of State wardens and legislators "at 
Chicago last week has atti'acted a great deal of atten- 
tion all over the West, and the idea seems in a fair way 
to receive expansion. The Salt Lake, Utah, Herald 
takes up the idea editorially in the following form: 
"Why cannot such a conference be held by the game 
wardens of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana 
and Nevada? The natural game seasons in all these 
States are about the same. If the open and closed sea- 
sons were made the same in all of them it would make 
impossible, to a very large extent, the illegal traffic in 
fish and s-ame that now goes on in all the States above 
named. When a game warden caught a hunter or dealer 
with game that was out of season it would be impossible 
to say that it was killed in or shipped from Idaho or Col- 
orado or Wyoming or Utah, as the case might be. 
"It is only within a few^ years that the importance of 
protecting the fish and game has been fully realized in 
the West, but now it is, and public sentiment is in favor 
of all measures that will tend to preserve and increase 
the game. Uniform fish and game laws in the States 
above named would have a very strong tendency that 
way." 
Michigan Deer Licenses. 
Deputy Warden Brewster, of Michigan, has prepared 
his statement of the deer licenses, resident and non-resi- 
dent, issued by the State of Michigan during the. season 
for 1897. In detail it is as below, for the counties re- 
spectively : 
Alcona .30, Alger 423, Allegan 114, Alpena 161, Antrim 
185, Arenac 50, Baraga, 219, Barry 87, Bay 123, Benzie 
87, Berrien 83, Branch 32, Calhoun 79, Cass 38, Char- 
levoix 213, Cheboygan 271, Chippewa 415, Clare 28, 
Clinton 141, Crawford 102, Delta 372, Dickinson 459, 
Eaton 107, Emmet 479, Genesee 120, Gladwin 47, Go- 
febic 95, Grand Traverse 233, Gratiot 126, Hillsdale 52, 
loughton 286, Huron 11, Ingham 108, Ionia 75, Iosco 
129, Iron 203, Isabella 46, Isle Royal none, Jackson 86, 
Kalamazoo 60, Kalkaska 143, Kent 206, Keweenaw i. 
Lake 79, Lapeer 119, Leelanaw 26, Lenawee 52, Living- 
ston 166, Luce 75, Mackinac 199, Macomb 54, Manistee 
149, Manitou none, Marquette 844, Mason 152, Mecosta 
63, Menominee 366, Midland 104, Missaukee 95, Mf)nroe 
47, Montcalm 107, Montmorency 93, Muskegon 54, New- 
avgo 87, Oakland 156, Oceana 84, Ogemaw 217, Ontona- 
gon 127, Osceola 202, Oscoda 66, Otsego 125, Ottawa 
32, Presaue Isle 102, Roscommon 88, Saginaw 170, Sani- 
lac 20, Schoolcraft 397. Shiawassee 133, St. Clair 46, 
St. Joseph S3, Tuscola 112, Van Buren 80, Washtenaw 
35, Wayne 137, Wexford 186. 
Licenses issued to non-residents: Alger 2, Alpena 7, 
Dickinson 26, Gogebic i, Iron i, Marquette 3, Me- 
nominee 2, Schoolcraft 2. 
The State realized $4,051.25 on the licenses, and the 
counties $2,962, ^ 
Conunon Carriers. 
Suit was brought by Deputy Warden Slocomb, of 
lower Illinois, against the Adams Express Company 
last week for $2,000 under the charge of bein'^ in the 
possession of illegal game, and a similar suit to this 
has been commenced by Attorney Mead, of Shell Lake, 
Wis., against the Adams Express Company for accept- 
ing illegal game for transportation. This case was 
brought up by that of John B. Olson, who shipped a lot 
of birds and venison to St. Paul labeled as poultry. 
Olson was fined $125 and lost his bird.s, which were 
seized at St. Paul by the State warden. 
Spring Docks. 
Ducks have appeared m large numbers along the Kan- 
kakee River, and ha.ve come in on the Tolleston Marsh, 
nearer to Chicago, in good flight. At the Calumet 
Heights Club, along Lake Michigan shore, the deep- 
water ducks were numerous this week, and a fisherman 
who also shoots a bit made a big bag from the edge of 
the ice fields. Still nearer to town, off South Chicago 
and along the Seventy-first street' piers, the birds have 
been seen and shot in numbers. A sad result of this 
was the drowning this week of two South Chicago hunt- 
ers, Michael Lutkoski and John Ofchrosky, whose boat 
was capsized while they were out attempting to put 
out their decoys just outside the ice pack. The men 
were entangled in their decoy lines and lived but a short 
time in the icy water of the lake. They had been tempted 
b^ the heavy flight of bluebills along the edge of the ice. 
Bob Whites for Washington. 
Sportsmen of Pullman, Wash,, have ordered ten dozen 
Bob White quail from Kansas, and will try to establish 
that bird in the region around Pullman, where they 
will be protected until 1900. While I have no definite 
word to that cfi'ect, I should not be surprised if behind 
this movement w^ould be found Prof. John A. Balmer, 
once of Vincennes, Ind., who moved to Washington 
later. From what I learned of Prof. Balmer in course 
of several days' shooting with him in the fall of 1893, 
I am disposed to think that he would never be entirely 
happy in any country which did not have Bob Whites 
in it. I suppose it was a case of either moving back to 
Indiana or movino- quail out to Washington. 
<*One Dollar, No More, No Less.'* 
The finance committee appointed at the late conven- 
tion of the Illinois Sportsmen's Association at Peoria 
have begun the work of soliciting funds from the mem- 
bers of the Association all over the State. The commit- 
tee will not ask any contribution larger than $r from 
any man, and will not attempt to hold up the sporting- 
goods trade for donations, but it will ask each and every 
man who belongs to the Association or cares to have 
better laws and better means of enforcing them to come 
forward at once with his $1. Subcommittees of finance, 
composed of three or five members in each club, will 
be appointed, and these will be asked to apportion out 
the club lists. To each member of each club a statement 
M'ill be sent of the sense of the late convention on game 
matters, as shown in the answers to the list of questions 
sent out, and as voted upon hy the convention. Each 
member will also have sent to him a brief statement 
to the effect that a bill will be drawn in accordance 
with the above sense of the Association, and that the 
passage of the bill will require more than idle methods 
and will implv the raising of funds to send a delegation 
to Snringfield. The request will be for "$i, no more, 
no less." After receiving this request the sportsman will 
know very soon what he wants to do about it. The 
subcommittees will take no their canvas after this ad- 
vance information has been sent out, and each man of 
such committee will have a subscription list, which will 
serve as a record, each man who contributes $1 piitting 
down his narne. After the club canvas is made the total 
of the contribution is to be forwarded to the finance 
committee. The work is now in progress, and it should 
not take very long to complete the canvas if the local 
committee go to work at once and do not allow delay 
in the collections. It is not much to ask, $1 for good 
laws. The man who will not loosen to that extent 
does not really care wdiat the law is. All will be treated 
alike in this plan, so that no one ought to complain 
and all ought to pay. Sportsmen have sometimes been 
accused of a disposition to nass resolutions and not oass 
any cash. Let us see if this old accusation shall not 
be proved to be in this case unfair. 
Mass Meeting.' 
In another column I have submitted the complaint 
of a younp- sportsman who states facts regarding viola- 
tions along the Rock River of this State. It seems that 
he has not been alone in his discoveries or in his reflec- 
tions upon the same. A mass meeting of the citizens 
of Rockford, III., was called on the evening of Feb. 15 
and a gratifying action is shown. Organization was 
made, with R. G. McEvoy as president, and Chas. 
Baldwin secretary, 'and the intention is to keep up 
the body permanently, with a membership of over 100. 
The plan is to charge a membership fee, and also dues 
of perhaps 50 cents monthly. This is not much, but 
$50 a month spent in protection will rid the beautiful 
Rock River of nets and stop illegal gunning around 
Rockford. It is not really so very difficult to do, but the 
way to do anything is to do it. The local press has 
taken up the fight for decency in game laws, something 
which the average local paper is afraid to do for fear 
of ofifending some country subscriber who owns a seine 
or shoots out of season. Let me suggest to my friends 
Messrs. Cohen and Bartlett, of the State Fish Commis- 
sion, and to State Warden Loveday also, that since the 
men of Rockford have taken hold of this work in earn- 
est, it would be a graceful thing to send them deputies 
who shall help them as much as possible. 
Spring Docks in Illinois. 
The rising waters have cleared the ice from many of 
the streams in Illinois and Indiana, and the north-bound 
water fowl have appeared in good numbers all over the 
usual ducking grounds of this region. A number of 
heavy bags have been made along the Kankakee. 
Another Record Moose Head. 
Since the opening up of the Alaskan regions by the 
gold-seeking rush, much has been printed in regard to 
the big moose of that far-away hunting ground. A 
spread of 69j^in. was thought the top notch for a time, 
but two weeks ago a local fur dealer here, C. F. Perio- 
lat, showed a head from the Copper River country which 
measured 73/4in-.. this grand specimen having come from 
the agent he had sent up to the Copper River country 
for the purpose of buying furs and specimens. This 
moose head was considered in turn as the last best of- 
fering of the Alaskan woods, but this week a yet larger 
one came down from the same source, and this head 
scales 74 3-8in. from tip to tip of the antlers— truly a 
phenomenon which could come from only such a terra 
incognita as that of Alaska, so soon to become one of 
the famous hunting regions of the earth. 
ThL=se big moose which Periolat has shown Were killed 
by his man, R. C. Raddatz, and the latter writes that 
he killed this last one with the .30-30 rifle, the soft- 
nosed bullet passing entirely through the body back of 
the shoulders. He says that the ball tore a hole as big 
as a dollar on the far side of the animal — this at a dis- 
tance of over 300yds. Now that the Winchester people 
gurantee the nitro powder (.0 do its work in any temper- 
ature, the small-bore rifle with the above work to its 
credit would seem to be all that could be asked as a 
weapon suited to the extreme North. 
Mr, Raddatz also got a fine specimen of the white 
Alaskan sheep {Stoneiif), the horns being stated to 
measure 64^in. over die curve. This animal was pure 
white and very beautiful. Truly the latest hunting stories 
from this land of wonders are of a sort to make men 
uneasy and anxious to pack their outfits for the upper 
trails. 
How it Works, 
The working of reciprocity in matters of game laws 
was illustrated this week by the seizure by Warden Love- 
day in Chicago of two barrels of partridges which were 
shipped from St. Paul, and which are being held for the 
action of the Minnesota authorities. When the violators 
of the law find that these contraband goods are not safe 
either going or coming, they may perhaps not be so 
willing to engage in the business of handling the con- 
traband stufif. 
Speaking of contraband game, there is at hand 
the record of a A'ery important seizure made by 
Deputy Phillip, of Minnesota, of 800 partridges from 
the celebrated, or infamous, district around Tower, Minn. 
This game was seized in a peculiar way. An agent of an 
outside commission house posed as a stranger, but ex- 
cited suspicion, and vyas shadowed by Phillip. At a 
little wayside station far up in the northern countiy a 
number of boxes of game were found resting by the 
railroad track. The engineer made a mistake about the 
stopping point and pulled past the place where the 
goods were lying. The deputy, satisfied that he had 
found the contraband game, got off the train and seized 
the boxes. The arrangement of the agent for x,ooolbs. 
of freight was thereby somewhat disarranged. Local 
merchants at Tower and other points will be ftfotnptly 
prosecuted, 
IllegarDeer. 
A market hunter who has been killing illegal deer 
for a Chicago commission firm was last week arrested 
near Hermansville, Mich, This man had been in camp 
several weeks killing deer, but had only twenty-twy sad- 
dles of venison on hand when -he was arrested. 
Selling Illinois Game. 
Warden Loveday, of Illinois, this week prosecuted 
John Purdy, of Canton, III., for selling Illinois game. For 
this Purdy was fined $25 and costs. He was then waked 
up with the other hand on a charge of having illegal 
game in his possession, which cost him $55 and costs. 
Mr. Purdy now sleeps in jail. 
As was stated last fall. Circuit Judge Ramsey, of Illi- 
nois, handed down a decision establishing the Illinois 
chicken law dates as Aug. 15 to Dec. r. This question 
has not been taken to the Supreme Court, and Warden 
Loveday is going right ahead and finding men who be- 
gan their chicken shooting in August. He has several 
cases at Sterling and Monmouth. 
By the way, if Warden Loveday had been on the Chi- 
cago & Alton Railroad train between Chicago and St. 
Louis this week, he might have found a very nice menu 
on the dining car, which contained among other items 
the following: "Prairie chicken, half, with jelly, 50 cents; 
quail on toast, with jelly, 50 cents." Evidently this rail- 
road should revise either its menu or its methods, and I 
trust Mr. Loveday will assist it in this regard. 
Costly Rabbit. 
_ A couple of weeks ago a Michigan man crossed the 
line and went into Ohio, where he shot a rabbit. It 
was not a rare or especially beautiful rabbit, but it cost 
him $62.50, without counting his traveling expense or 
ammunition. 
Topknots in Idaho. 
A wealthy ranchman by name of John Sparks has 
imported 700 California quail, which he has turned 
down in Cassia county, Idaho. E. Hough. 
1206 BoYCE Building, Chicago. 
Sport in Shanghai^ China, 
One of Forest and Stream's subscribers writes ironi 
Shanghai, Jan. 19: 
"Just back from our annual shooting trip. Had fifteen 
clear days and bagged 297 pheasants, 44 geese, 54 teal, ' 
5 mallards, 15 black ducks (yellow nibs), 28 woodcock, 
19 partridges, 13 deer, 8 hares, 7 bittern, 7 snipe, 8 
quail, I civet cat and i fox — 507 in all, though we do 
not as a rule count snipe or quail in summing up the 
total of a bag. We had three guns in the party. The 
sport was not up to the usual standard. We found the 
birds uncommonly wild and scarce, and there were too 
many natives hunting for the market. They had reached 
remote localities where we had never before met them. 
