Aug. 6, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
107 
hunted by the owners of the tens of thousands of new 
breech-loading guns that are being scattered broadcast 
through the country every year. With these facts be- 
fore us, it is the duty of every fish and game association 
to use their influence in assisting the wardens to secure 
in every town sections of land for game preserves where 
no shooting unless that of fox hunting shall be al- 
lowed at any season of the year, and there should be no 
delay in this matter, for a thing that is worth doing and 
is of such vital importance should be done at once. 
N. P. Leach. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Plans and Problems at the Yellowstone Park, 
Chicago, 111., July 30. — I am in receipt of another in- 
teresting budget of information from a gentleman who 
is thoroughly posted on matters at the Yellowstone 
Park, and who comes to the Forest and Stream in 
order to make known to the public the condition of 
things in that interesting locality, remembering that no 
other paper has taken the same intelligent interest in park 
matters that has been given by the Forest and Stream. 
On the whole the report is favorable. The elk and 
deer are in good condition, the antelope have not suf- 
fered so much during the past winter as in the winters 
before, and even the buffalo, few as they now are, seem 
to be more, numerous than was supposed. The writer 
of these notes sets forth some of the features of the 
great problem of summer and winter protection in the 
park, and it is gratifying to learn that progress is mak- 
ing, albeit a gradual progress, in overcoming some of 
the difficulties which have always existed. The inad- 
equacy of the available number of scouts is best known 
by those army officers who have in turn fulfilled the 
somewhat thankless duties of superintending the park, 
or by those, of the public who have gained some idea of 
the immensity of the country to be policed. The cor- 
respondent who is so good as to submit these notes goes 
on to say: 
"Capt. James B. Erwin, Fourth Cavalry', has been de- 
tailed as superintendent of the park, relieving Lt. Cress. 
"Capt. Erwin is very energetic, and is taking hold of 
park affairs hard. He is especially interested in the 
protection of the game, and is giving this subject the 
large amount of his attention which it deserves. The 
appropriation of $40,000 for the improvement and protec- 
tion of the park is now available, and Capt. Erwin's 
plans include the permanent employment of one more 
scout, and the setting aside of a sufficient sum for the 
employment of special scouts and detectives when 
needed. He also proposes to cut out and reblaze all the 
old trails in the park and some new ones, making an 
aggregate of some 400 miles. This will greatly facilitate 
communication between the. different parts of the park 
and the protection of the game. 
"It is also planned to build four new summer stations 
for the shelter of detachments of troops engaged in 
guarding the park in summer, and twenty small cabins 
for the shelter of scouting parties traveling on skis in 
winter. 
"This snowshoe work has always been so difficult and 
dangerous that it has not been thoroughly performed. 
In the spring of 1894 a soldier perished and his re- 
mains were not found for fifteen months. Last Decem- 
ber a soldier was frozen to death, and another one had a 
closer call than many men live to tell of, while cases 
of frozen feet, etc., are of frequent occurrence. 
"To travel on skis all day, packing one's food, axe, 
pistol, etc., on his back, and to sit around a fire in a 
snowhole all night, catching a few moments of sleep 
now and then, is a hardship which_ cannot be expected 
nor obtained from men many times in a month. 
"Last fall General Young had thirteen cabins fixed up 
and supplied with an axe, shovel, frying pan and coffee 
pot, and two comfortables each. Each one was also 
stocked with a small amount of bacon, hard bread and 
coffee. These cabins were of the greatest assistance 
last winter, but some of them were old and poorly 
constructed, nearly all were too small to comfortably 
shelter more than two men, and most of them had fire- 
places built of green logs, which soon burned out. They 
served, however, to show the necessity of a series of 
comfortable shelters, and if Capt. Erwin is allowed to 
carry out his plans, every square mile of the park which 
is inhabited by game or fur animals can be watched and 
guarded next winter by snowshoe parties, who will 
not have to sit around a fire and chop wood all night 
to keep from freezing to death. 
The Park Game. 
"Few people realize how rapidly the question of game 
protection in the park is increasing in importance and 
in difficulty. The surrounding country is being rapidly 
settled up, -and the number of Eastern sportsmen who 
come to the vicinity of the park to nunt is increasing 
each year. The inevitable result is that the game outside 
of the park is decreasing in numbers. The better the 
game in the park is protected, the more numerous does 
it become, and the more does it lose its fear of man, thus 
becoming an easier prey to poachers. So the service of 
protection is like a growing colt, the more you feed him 
the more he needs, and he would probably be stunted in 
his growth were it not for the fact that he is con- 
stantly increasing in value, and therefore it pays to feed 
him well. I know a hundred men, and many of them 
not old men either, who have seen countless herds of 
buffalo on these Western plains. If one had told these 
men twenty years ago that in 1898 the American bison 
would be practically extinct, he would have been re- 
garded much as Professor Totten is now. Therefore, I 
will not ask Forest and Stream to publish my predic- 
tion that in 1918 a pair of elk horns such as we build 
fences of now will be worth $100. 
"All the game in. the park seems to be doing well. 
The elk and deer wintered better than usual, owing to 
the very mild winter,' and the crop of young is very 
large. A scout reported last week that in one band of 
300 elk cows there were 250 calves. Several cows have 
been seen followed by two calves. 
'- "The loss of antelope last winter js- estimated as not 
•' "ever five per cent. More moose have been' lo-eaAed. than 
)[tyzv before. There is- "no • re.^SOTt :: to -thin'k; that any : 
buffalo have been taken by poachers in the last yen , or 
that the herds have been disturbed in any way. The main 
bunch was carefully observed this month by Morrison, 
the regular scout, who reports about thiity in the bunch, 
but could find no calves nor any sign of calves with the 
herd. I am unable to account for this, as there were 
several yearlings, showing that they bred last year. 
Besides this bunch there are probably fifteen or twenty 
more buffalo in the park, ranging in several small bands. 
"The fishing, notwithstanding the large numbers taken 
last year, is better than ever before. A 3lb. brook 
trout has been taken from Grizzly Lake, and Dr. 
Wheaton, of St. Paul, took a rainbow trout from the 
Madison River which weighed 4%lbs., and measured 
23111: The usual big catches of mountain and brown 
trout are reported from the Firehole River, and lake 
trout as big as pack mules are seen in Shoshone Lake. 
"Bears are very numerous around all the hotels, and 
they furnish much amusement to the tourists. All the 
beaver colonies are thriving and are spreading out, and 
building new dams and houses. 
"A new entrance to the park has been opened up by 
the Monida and Yellowstone stage line, which is now 
operating a daily line of first-class Concord stages from 
Monida, Mont., on the Oregon Short Line, into and 
through the park. Their equipment is unexcelled in the 
world, and they reach the Fountain Hotel at noon on 
the second day. The first night is spent at Grayling Inn, 
in the Madison Basin, where the grayling fishing 
is probably the best in the United States. This new route 
is being well patronized, and will doubtless gain in 
popularity as its attractions become known. 
"Delaware." 
Colorado Game. 
Game Warden Swan, of Colorado, is anticipating more 
trouble from the Utes this fall. It is stated that these 
Indians are making plans for another trip into I he 
neighborhood of Lily Park this coming .fall, and that 
they are very much disposed to make trouble in re- 
venge, for the killing of their people last year. Warden 
Swan has asked for United States troops to be despatched 
to the vicinity of the earlier troubles, hoping the pres- 
ence of the Long Knives will overawe the belligerents. 
I was talking with a gentleman the other day who had 
some information about the state of affairs in the part 
of the Colorado country which is most visited by the 
Utes, and I am disposed to think that as between the 
Indians and the white game poachers there would be 
few stones cast if the guiltless had to begin the throw- 
ing. It seems much a case of six of one and half a dozen 
of the other. The Indian says, "I saw it first," and the 
white man says, "I am going to have it myself." As 
there are rather more white men than Indians, the re- 
sult is foregone, and about all we can ask it that the 
white ranch folks who go as deputies and protectors will 
try to give their red brethren a fair deal when the scrap 
takes place. 
Colorado Licensed Guides. 
It is somewhat curious to note that in his annual re- 
port to the Governor of Colorado, Game Warden Swan 
will take the position of recommending for Colorado the 
Maine idea of licensed guides, these to be commissioned 
as special wardens. Warden Swan points out the large 
number of licensed guides in Maine, and hopes for a 
similar state of affairs in the State of Colorado. He 
estimates that last year the sum of $15,000,000 was spent 
in the State of Colorado by hunters and fishermen. 
These facts and figures are somewhat startling. The 
State of Maine is an old, old part of the Union, and it is 
advertised as the great sporting ground of the East. 
The system of licensed guides may be only a legitimate 
part of the development of the business system which 
has governed the sporting resources of that State for 
some years. This is no doubt very well. It is necessity. 
Without such careful system the sporting resources 
themselves would have been destroyed. In the West, 
however, it has long been our boast that things were 
different. We have been proud of the fact that we had 
a region where a man could get lost if he wanted to, and 
where perhaps he could not get a guide if he cared to do 
so. We have felt that wild sport meant wild country, 
country uncharted and untabulated, country which had its 
own secrets and its own ways. It is this sort of coun- 
try which really appeals to the man who has a hunter s 
instinct of getting away from business places and busi- 
ness methods. It is the desire. I take it, of the real 
sportsman to prefer, other things being equal, a wild coun- 
try to a well-known one. The bag of grouse killed on a 
preserve has not the same value as the bag killed in a 
region where fences are unknown. The deer killed Under 
the tutelage of a licensed guide will never have the same 
value as that killed by the sportsman himself m a 
country which he discovers for himself, and which he 
loves because he fancies it for the time his own. 
Yet the days have passed by in the West as in the 
East. They have changed and we have changed with 
them. The West must some day come to the ways of 
the East. Some day we must hunt our elk in Colorado 
or Wyoming as they do the stag in Scotland. The wild 
lands and the wild animals of the West have all too soon 
come to the day when they need protection. There is 
no wish to criticize the position of Commissioner Swan 
in his recommendation of licensed guides. On the con- 
trary, it is true that perhaps the time has come for 
such appurtenances. But such a time is a sad one in the 
history of that West which once was wild. 
Typhoid Moose. 
They have a. singular complaint this summer out at 
Hibbing, Minn., a sort of fever which the doctors de- 
scribe as similar to typhoid fever, and which they ascribe 
to the general eating by the population of venison and 
• moose meat in the hot weather. The medical profession 
of Minnesota is taking great interest in this matter, and 
I may also add that the Game and Fish Commission of 
the State is also evincing concern. I do not know 
whether the State health officer will do anything toward 
remedying the health of the good folk at Hibbing, but 
I believe that the State game warden will do rather 
. more toward improving the general state both of health 
- -and of morals in that community. They seem, to be 
• long on poetic justice at Hibbing, 
Sportsmen in Politics. 
Mr. Mart. Whitcomb, of Minneapolis, Minn., an 
ex-president of the. Minneapolis Gun Club, has received 
the nomination of one of the political parties for sheriff 
of his county. Mr. R. B. Organ, of this city, some 
weeks ago received the nomination of one of the politi- 
cal parties for representative to Congress from his dis- 
trict. Mr. Organ is very well known in the sportsman- 
ship of Chicago, as all readers of the sporting press 
may testify. He and Mr. Whitcomb were boys together 
long ago, and they still take annual shooting t^ps to- 
gether. They may both be elected, for you cfth't tell 
what is going to happen these days. 
The Sooner. 
The Gun Club of Aberdeen, South Dakota, has this 
summer been doing its best to stop the violations of 
the prairie chicken law. On July 23 action of the club 
resulted in the arrest of L. A. Gregory, who paid $20 for 
the privilege of shooting illegal prairie chickens. 
I imagine that the American citizen is the most inde- 
pendent being on the face of the earth, as he has every 
right to be; and I imagine also that one of the dearest 
rights of the American citizen, especially of the West, 
has always been to shoot prairie chickens whenever he 
blame pleased. It will take legislation by Congress and 
a million United States marshals to shake the American 
citizen out of his belief in this divine right. That is to 
say, the American citizen of a certain class, which is by 
110 means the highest class of our humanity. 
Duck Island Club. 
Duck Island Club, of Illinois, held its semi-annual 
meeting at Peoria, July 26, and transacted business con- 
nected with the. preparation of the shooting grounds 
along the Illinois River for the coming shooting season, 
which will soon be at hand. This is one of the strong 
shooting clubs of the State. 
L. Hough. 
1200 Boyce Building, Chicago, 111. 
Massachusetts Shore Birds. 
Boston, July 30. — Shore bird shooting has not yet 
been much of a success along the Massachusetts coast. 
Since the open season begun, July 15, some of the local 
gunners have spent some time along the beaches, but 
with indifferent success. So far only a few peep have 
been obtained. Summer yellowlegs have not yet put in ■ 
a general appearance, though expected shortly. L. W. 
de Pass has been out once or twice off Scituate, but he 
reports the birds scarce. Essex county gunners have 
done but little yet. The weather has been decidedly wet 
and hot, and gunning, if done at all, has been done under 
difficulties. Two young men came up from the north 
shore this morning. They had been down for several 
days. The fog, rain and general volume of humidity 
had driven them home. They got very few birds indeed; 
try the same location later. 
Reports are conflicting concerning partridges in 
Maine. Generally close observers claim that such birds 
are positively scarce. They did not stand the severe 
winter well. Fishermen and others, who hav& had 
occasion to be in the woods a good deal this spring and 
summer, say that they have seen very few partridges 
and still fewer broods. On the other hand some of the 
papers — those that always boom fishing and shooting 
in that State, if they say anything at all— claim that the 
"woods are full of young partridges." A gentleman in 
the habit of traveling in Aiadroscoggin and Oxford coun- 
ties a good deal each year, and an observer Of fish and 
game from pure interest in it, says that he has never 
seen fewer partridges than this season thus far. The 
Maine Fish and Game Commissioners are actually fear- 
ful of the utter extermination of that noble game bird. 
More restrictive legislation will doubtless be proposed 
at the session of the Legislature this winter. 
Special. 
Forest Preserve Officials. 
Washington, July 22. — The following were to-day ap- 
pointed by the Secretary of the Interior as forest super- 
intendents at $2,000 a year: J. Blatchford Collims, of 
Miles City, Mont.; Cameron W. Garbutt. of #herfdan, 
Wyo.; James Glending, of Salt: Lake City, Utah; George 
L.'Robb, of Iowa; Eugene B. Hyde, of Spokane, Wash., 
and John D. Benedict, of Danville, 111. 
The following were appointed forest superintendents at 
$5 a day: J. B. Wilhoyt, of Grayson, Ky.; John B. Web- 
ber, of Osage City, Kan.; W. H. Odom, of McFarlan, 
N. C; W. C. Bartlett. of California; Charles Delonev, of 
Evanston, Wvo.; N. Langell, of Jacksonville, Ore.; 
Warren D. Robbins, of Grangeville, Idaho, and W. H. 
Durfur, of Oregon. . 
The following were appointed forest rangers at $50 a 
month: Levi R. Davis, of Rotchford, S. D.; Sidney 
Scott of Eugene, Ore.; M. D. Markham, of Forest 
Grove, Ore.; Max Schulpius, of Oregon City, Ore.; Z. 
A. Davis, of Eugene, Ore.; Alfred A. Dula, of North 
Carolina- George Petriquin, of Roseburg, Ore.; Frank 
Allen, of California; Ben Huntington, of Oregon; Wil- 
liam Isaac Lacey, of Independence, Ore.; Charles M. 
Paine, of California; Howard French, of Dome Lake. 
Wyo.; Peter Enders, of Shell, Wyo.; Roy J. Peck, of 
Buffalo, Wyo.~ Glen C. Shepard, of Los Angeles, Cal. 
Assistant special forest agents for the California na- 
tional parks were, appointed as follows: Archie C. Leon- 
ard George Byde and Henry A. Skelton, of Wowona, 
Cal'; Joel % Westfall, Charles T. Leidig and Arthur L. 
Thurman, of Yosemite, Cal; Geo. G. Mackenzie, 
Thomas S. Carter, Darwin S. Lewis and David Lockton, 
of Raymond, Cal., and Joseph R. Borden, of Borden, 
Cal. 
When deer were plentiful everywhere in the forests of 
New England, they were killed ruthlessly and sweeping- 
ly; but, as they grew scarce and their flesh and hides be- 
came higher-priced, laws were made for their protection. 
Massachusetts ordered, in 1698, that no deer be killed 
between Jan. 1 and Aug. 1. Other colonies had similar 
laws. Men called "deer-reeves," or "informers of deer," 
were appointed to see that these laws were enforced, to 
watch for signs of deer, and prosecute all Unruly hunt- 
ers,— New York Evening Post, 
