July 30, 1898.] 
FOREST AND St R£AM. 
■ 
93 
The Canochogala Trail, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
- As was told the other day, the Adirondack League has 
put a man at North Lake for the purpose of stopping 
any one, not members or guests of that organization, 
from passing over the Canochogala Lake trail. My in- 
formant expressed the action as, "The League is getting 
pretty gay." The woodsmen, who at first protested that 
the League had no right to prevent people from hunting 
on their vast tract of forest laud, who still believe that 
the woods were made for all men to hunt in, are more 
wrathful than ever. 
When the cloth and tin trespass notices first showed 
white down the trails in those woods, forbidding hunt- 
ing and fishing there, the men were startled as they had 
never been before. They did not know what to make of 
it. They saw the only virtuous pleasure open to them 
vanishing behind a screen so powerful that they dreaded 
to investigate it. They felt, too, that man's right to prop- 
erty must be respected. 
Since these notices appeared, no outside party has 
gone to that region, so far as I know, to hunt on what 
was undeniably League land. They have hunted north 
of it, but not on it. The right-thinking have never for 
an instant looked for trouble with the League. What 
they wished to know was what are the League rights and 
what are theirs? The matter has not been satisfactorily 
answered. The riparian and forestry rights seem to be 
yet a matter of dispute. 
Now comes this question about the trail — a question 
which only affects the woodsmen and a few "city folks" 
directly. Yet to these woodsmen it means a very great 
deal. The only deer region worthy of the name, acces- 
sible to woodsmen of Herkimer county at all, is closed 
to them if the Canochogala Lake is closed. 
The trail had been in use for dozens of years. It had 
been followed by the fathers of the old-time hunters now 
living. Moose hides have come over it still wet with 
the animal's moisture. Every year since moose days the 
trail has been followed by scores of men, often a dozen 
at a time. It was blazed, that it might be followed in 
the winter time in the days when it was lawful to crust 
deer, and the old-time blaze marks have been renewed 
from time to time as the bark crusted over and ob- 
scured them. 
It had been in use so long, indeed, and followed by 
so many each year, that no one ever dreamed that it 
would ever be closed to the public seeking the State 
lands in the neighborhood of the State dam in Moose 
River. 
"The term highway," according to Bouvier's Law 
Dictionary, "is the generic name for all kinds of pub- 
lic wavs, whether they be carriage ways, bridle ways, 
foot ways, bridges, turnpike roads, railroads, canals, 
ferries or navigable rivers." A trail, the woodsmen con- 
tend, is a "foot Avay," a highway in the light of the law. 
They turn, with eyes that are pitiful in their eager look, 
to the New York Laws of 1890, Chapter 568, Section 
100. The section says: 
"Highway by Use. — All lands which shall have been 
used by the public as a highway for the period of twenty 
years, or more, shall be a highway, with the same force 
and effect as if it had been duly laid out and recorded 
as a highway, and the commissioners of highways shall 
order the overseers of highways to open all such high- 
ways to the width of at least two rods." 
The woodsmen hope that this will keep the only way 
they have of getting to the Moose River country open, 
if the League does not generously grant them the oppor- 
tunity of freely passing along the trail. 
The State authorities cut and cleared a wagon road to 
Canochogala Lake along the old trail a year ago, renew- 
ing a road cut through years ago. The road was a 
necessity, because that was the only route by which 
lumber and other supplies for the raising of the dams, 
which make Canochogala Lake a reservoir for the stor- 
age of water needed in the Black River Canal during 
dry seasons. The attendants of the dams must pass 
over the trail if they would get to that lake. 
Raymond S. Spears. 
New York City, July 18, 
A Small Fish Remembered Sixty Years, 
Gorham, Maine. — For twenty-five years I have read 
your clean and noble paper. The "Men I have Fished 
With" has called up memories of my boyhood days in 
Maine; and I am back again to spend the few years that 
are left for me this side of the river that has no trout. 
Some sixty years ago my mother kept me from school, 
one day to carry the dinner of my father and brothers to 
the upper field, a mile from home. As there were three 
brooks near the field, strange to say, somehow or other 
I had a line and hook in my pocket; and getting a worm 
I moved to a well-known hole called the stump hole, 
where my older brothers were sure to get a bite. My 
line 'was quickly jerked under the foam, and I struck 
with all the strength a six-year-old boy could put on. 
I threw a beauty of a trout into the air. He broke 
the line and fell on the bank a foot or two from the edge 
of the pool. I threw myself on the fish and slipped my 
straw hat over it; but the hat did not cover him, so lying 
down on the hat I .yelled for help. Two big brothers and 
father soon assisted me to secure the prize. 
Many years have passed and many salmon and trout 
have I taken since -that first trout, but its beauty and- 
sweetness still linger. To-day you. can get but minnows 
and •memories where once the trout -were plenty. 
■ . - L. McL. . 
Here is Heterodoxy, 
If I dared to do so I would say (not for publication, 
but as .a guarantee of good faith) that there" is a lot of 
humbug about a great deal of fly-fishing talk that we 
see sometimes in print, especially as pertaining to black 
bass. In fishing for ti^ss I would not give one lively 
3in. .chub for several flies", though I have caught bass 
with.;fly and. minnow both; at. the same- time — that is:to 
say, a double catch. Still I am a i 
• . - Fly- Fisherman. 
An Apathetic Angler. 
The typical old native sat dreamily upon the banks, 
and two rude poles were set just in front of him. 
There was no style about his angling outfit. His rods 
were the old familiar pawpaw, and his lines were coarse 
and strong. There was no red-pointed float in sight; 
the lines were just cast out with old iron for 
sinkers, and big trout-line hooks, baited with little sun- 
fish, attached. The old man was gray and bent, and 
worm and weary looking. There were deep lines On his 
weather-beaten face, and his hands showed marks of 
toil. Half reclining, half sitting, under the shade of an 
elm, I first thought he was sleeping. 
"Any good luck, uncle?" I called out from my boat. 
"Naw." 
"Isn't this a good place for fish?" 
"Recken. Water ginerally is." 
"Well, is this good fishing 'water?" 
"It looks likely — never tried it afore." 
"Haven't you caught anything yet?" 
"Reckon I have." 
"What kind?" 
"Chills." 
"No fish?" 
"Naw." 
"Expect to catch some?" 
"Mebbe." 
"Don't vou care?" " 
"Naw." 
"What do you fish for then?" 
"Fur fish." 
"If you don't care for fish, what do vou fish for them 
for?" 
"Fur a rest." 
Just then the end of one of the pawpaws began hob- 
bling up and down. 
"You've got a bite there, uncle," I said. 
"Let 'em bite. I'm restin'," and the pole began sway- 
ing, and the line fairly whizzed through the- water. 
"It's a big one," I said. 
"Reckon it be. When I'm tired I alius' get big ones," 
and then the old native rose up slowly and painfully, and, 
after tuggirtg away for a second or two, lifted a big jack 
salmon out on the bank. 
"The durn fool fish oughter know I'm tired an' bin a 
chillin'. I alius said them jacks never had no sense, now 
I know it. Just lay right there till the ole woman comes 
down an' gits ye. I'm tired an' I want ter rest," and 
then the old fellow sat down again beside the tree. 
"Are you not going to set that line again and take 
care of your fish?" I ventured to ask. 
"Naw," he drawled. "I'm tired and want ter rest. 
I've been a-chillin', and just come down here to hear 
the red birds sing, and the quails whistle, and to see the 
water run, an' the sun go down beyond that bluff. No 
fish; just rest is what I want." 
And then I left him sitting by that old elm. while the 
big jack salmon floundered about in the dry leaves. — St. 
Louis Globe-Democrat. 
Indian Fish Hooks. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In the Chamber of Commerce here are exhibited nu- 
merous relics found generally in the burial places of the 
extinct race of Indians who inhabited the shores and 
islands of southern California. Among these are eleven 
perfect specimens labeled fish hooks, of which I have 
made full size pencil sketches; the first five shown are 
made of bone and the others of abalone shell. They are 
all beautiful specimens, the edges rounded and smooth, 
the points polished and sharp, and all parts perfect, and 
the curves easy and graceful. 
You will notice that the points generally reach to 
about .one-quarter of an inch of the shaft, and by al- 
most no possibility could "a fish be hooked bv one of 
thpms^ *Ogfp;) ' « ■ '^.f^a- ~t ;?'<■:*" 
It is j udged by those who consider them fish hooks that ' 
they were used a? gorge hooks, the fish taking the hook 
and bait into its stomach. 
Those that say they are not fish hooks, but personal 
ornaments, call attention? fo the small space' between the 
point and shaft, and. ask in what way. could a fish be 
hooked. 
You will readily see- that if a -fishing line war-attached 
to the shank, the draft would be at right angles to the 
point of the hook and not in line of it. 
Will you be kind enough to have an expert pass upon 
the sketches and inform us as to what purpose and how 
they were. used. - ; ,- t 
There are also two one-quarter inch hooks used in the 
British Columbia Islands for catching large halibut and 
dog fish, which measure about sin. one the diagonal, and 
approximate the form of- the first menticmed-.hooks. - - 
J. Milton 7Titlow; J 
Los Angeles, Cal. 
The Fly and the Day. 
Charlestown. N. H„ July 20. — Black bass seem to 
be decreasing in the Connecticut River; I hear of very 
few being caught, but the pike-perch, introduced from 
Canada in '75 or '76 by my old colleague on the Fish 
Commission, the late A. H. Powers, are said to be on 
the increase. I was called to the door one day last 
week to identify one by a young friend of mine, who 
did not know what he had caught, as it was new to 
him. It was a very good specimen, weighing 3^1bs, 
Pike and pickerel are said to be quite plenty in the river, 
but the brooks are all drying up, and I fear there will 
be no trout next year, though this has been an un- 
commonly good season for them, and many fine baskets 
have been taken. 
I read Mr. Van Cleef's letter with great interest, and 
so far as the results of actual fishing go am quite in- 
clined to agree with him that the old rule is a fallacy. 
I do not know about bright flies hatching out more 
freely on bright days, and dark flies on dark ones, but I 
do believe the trout are guided to some extent by the 
natural flies on the water at the time. I have been 
successful on large bodies of water on bright days with 
such flies as the professor and the scarlet-ibis, when 
the trout would not touch a Montreal, while on small 
ponds of "clear spring water nothing would answer but 
a black-gnat or some such small fly, particularly if 
the water was shallow. I have found the white-miller 
and coachman both excellent after sunset, and am es- 
pecially partial to a white-hackle on a scarlet body 
for evening fishing. 
I think the depth of water has something to do with 
the question, and that deep waters call for both a larger 
and a brighter fly than shallow ones. I should like 
to hear the views of our friend A. N. Cheney, who is a 
more thorough expert than I claim to be on this ques 
tion. Von W. 
The Ouananiche Spell. 
Ouananiche fishing is like the opium habit, once 
acquired it drags its victim further and further from all 
the other pleasures of life, and impairs his mental equi- 
poise until he becomes a monomaniac on the subject and 
loses all sense of responsibility. To indulge this pro- 
pensity he will face cold, wet, hunger and flies. His 
impedimenta of rods and tackle show an utter want 
of regard for expenditure, and his last cent will go for a 
ticket to Lake St. John and return. If he fishes from 
the shore, watch his behavior as the first thrill of a 
ouananiche hooked passes through his tautened line and 
rod into the arm, and directly to the brain. An unre- 
strainable delirium seizes him. the face flushes, the eyes 
flash, the nostrils dilate and the whole body seems pos- 
sessed of springs. He rushes wildly up and down the 
rocks and talks excitedly to himself. His madness 
communicates itself to the fish, incessant flashes of sil- 
ver fill the air. Out and across the boiling waters of 
the rapid the crazed fish wildly dashes in its frantic ef- 
forts to escape its implacable enemy, and only when com- 
pletely exhausted will, it allow itself to be reeled in and 
fallen upon bodily by the insane angler, who rends the 
air with exultant shrieks of laughter. If he fishes from 
his canoe the guides will watch him with assiduous care 
to prevent him from throwing himself overboard in one 
of those wild paroxysms of excitement. He is incur- 
able, and the milder delights of trout fishing pall uoon 
his shattered nerves and diseased brain. — G. H. Fairchild 
in Quebec's Adirondacks. 
New Hampshire Fishing. 
Hudson Center, July 21. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Your letter written to Samuel Webber, asking about bass 
fishing south of Concord, was sent to me to reply. It 
is true there are bass in many ponds south of Con- 
cord, but not what we call good fishing. At Sunapee, 
Winnepesaukee and Wentworth lakes, all north of Con- 
cord, fine bass fishing can be had. We have never had 
good bass fishing south of Concord. 
We have had one of the best trout seasons for years, 
for both lake and brook trout. Fishermen are having 
great sport at Sunapee Lake; landlocked salmon are 
showing up in good numbers there. Ike Rawson, one of 
Sunapee's best guides, told me ten days ago that there 
had been twenty-five salmon caught in his boat this 
season. Four Loch Leven trout have been caught in 
Sunapee this season, the largest by Dr. F. H. Thurston, 
of Manchester; it weighed io^lbs. The smallest was 
7lbs. There is no question that these are the result of a 
plant made by Dr. John D. Quackenboss, of New York 
city. Some fine catches of aureolus or white trout are 
being made there. Winnepesaukee is one of the best 
lake trout waters in the State, and is sure to be in the 
near future one of the best landlocked salmon waters in 
New England. 
Excellent brook trout fishing may be had at Diamond 
Ponds and other waters in the north country. 
Deer are increasing wonderfully in the lower part of 
the State.- We hear of but few. woodcock and ruffed 
grouse. ; ~ N. Wentworth. 
A Poet's Brook. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Many yearV ago- there appeared in the .Forest and Stream 
a piece of poetry with "one verse something like this: . 
7: .- . I've angled in many waters, - " . ' . 
On marly a summer day, . : . 
On many a murmuring river, 
."_ - On many a tangled way; , ; - 
: l j5ut the yoiiee of that brooklet has never 
•: . Lost its pathos and charm for me,.. * 
' ' ■ \ - As it Cripples and: runs" forever \ 1 ;.' ^% 
- ■ t To its home' in "the mighty sea. 
Can you not give us this" in the Forest and Stream again? : - ' 
tsp'v^i. V: '.i I.:- 's % J : . ' W. O. Watson.- 
[We cannot place this p6em; 'b»t we agree with Mr. Watson that 
£t is worthy of reprinting.] ' " . .. :'; 
