Dec. io, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Fish. 
Many streams and lakes were stocked in 1889,' 1890, 
1893 and 1895, have multiplied abundantly, and in spite 
of the enormous quantity caught yearly, and those de- 
stroyed by animals and birds, there is apparently an 
ample quantity yet in' all the streams. I endeavored to 
have a hatchery established in the Park, believing this 
to be the most appropriate and suitable place in the 
United States, as this is the reservoir drained by the 
principal rivers of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and 
fish planted in these streams 'would, with natural condi- 
tions fulfilled, soon fill the streams outside the Park, but 
the United States Fish Commission did not deem it ad- 
visable. Later on this year it is my intention, to deter- 
mine if the lake bass planted in certain lakes in the Park 
have survived; none as yet have been caught, and it is 
possible, that they may have perished for want of proper 
food. There are certain waters in the Park that will 
afford ample food for them, and if possible these waters 
will be stocked. There is no finer trout fishing in the 
world than that of the waters of the Park, and it is free 
to all. 
From the above it will be seen that the Park, as a game 
and fish preserve, has not its equal in the world; the 
variety is great, and it is eminently fitted to sustain this 
variety under the protection of the Government. An in- 
crease in appropriation means an increase in the means 
and facilities of protection, and as a national game pre- 
serve, which not only holds secure the remaining wild 
animals and game birds of this country, but enables 
them to breed and multiply, thus supplying the needs of 
neighboring States, it is deserving of an increased fund 
for this purpose. This leaves out entirely its charm as 
a pleasure ground for the tourist, with its wonderful 
natural phenomena. To maintain both of these con- 
ditions there is but one inadequate appropriation for the 
Park, viz., that for its protection and improvement. 
Natural Phenomena of the Park. 
There does not seem to be any material change in 
these during the past year. Certain geysers and hot 
springs are noted as having become extinct, and others 
which were quiescent have again become active. The 
geysers which can be depended upon for regular displays 
are few in numbers, but constant observation of nearly 
all of them has enabled their time of eruption to be de- 
termined with sufficient accuracy to inform tourists, and 
give them an opportunity to witness their marvelous 
displays. There is unquestionably a close connection 
between temperature of water in the geyser and its time 
of eruption, certain geysers erupting when the water in 
their craters reaches a certain temperature, which varies 
tor each geyser, and with the proper instruments for 
taking the temperatures it will not be difficult to foretell 
the time of display of those geysers which are of greatest 
celebrity, and thus afford tourists the opportunity of see- 
ing them. I will, if possible, determine the eruptive 
temperature of the most important geysers before the 
next tourist season, and will be enabled to give due 
notice of their eruption. 
Mud Geyser has been exceedingly active for a period 
of two weeks this summer. It has for some years been 
a somewhat quiescent, boiling mud pool, but in the latter 
part of July it became more violent, and soon gave a 
remarkable display of its powers, throwing immense 
clots of mud 50 and 100ft. away from its crater. It cov- 
ered the ground and trees in its vicinity and was in this 
state of eruption for two weeks. It gradually became 
quiet, but the contents of its crater have changed from 
boiling mud to boiling dirty water. The Black Growler, 
in Norris Basin, has also displayed remarkable activity 
this summer, and the noise of the escaping steam through 
its crater could be heard for miles; and at the base a mud 
spring has broken forth, which apparently seems to be 
growing , larger. The Constant Geyser has within the 
past three weeks ceased to play, after many years of un- 
interrupted activity. 
A new T road, now completed, between Elk Park and 
Gibbon Meadow, on the road from Norris to Fountain, 
leads past two beautiful chocolate-colored geysers situ- 
ated on opposite sides of the Gibbon River. They are 
immense cones. From the top of each a goodly stream 
of water continually boils and is ejected some feet in the 
air. The cascades and rapids along the road, which fol- 
lows the river, are exceedingly picturesque and beautiful. 
The Game of Kansas, 
Ramon A, Kan., Nov. 26. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
You must excuse the lead pencil, as I am writing un- 
der difficulties, camped out on the prairie, or rather in a 
wheatfield, right on the old Santa Fe trail. East, south 
and west the prairie stretches away as far as the eye 
can reach. But I write to speak of the welfare of the 
game. It has been a hard week — especially for the quail. 
A heavy snow came on ' the 21st, and since then the 
slaughter has gone on. To this camp (a threshing machine 
outfit) there has colne. by hunting a small part of the 
time, eighty-four head of' game — all shot within two 
miles of where I am writing — and I know of much more 
that has been taken in the same time, and from the 
same section of country, and so it has gone on as far as 
the snowfall reached. And yet I do not think the supply 
will give out. 
The game laws do not amount to much, only that they 
do stop the shipping of birds to some extent, and then 
there is more or less posted ground. 
Kansas under even decent game protection would sup - 
ply shooting almost unlimited. The prairie chickens 
are fairly plenty, and some say are increasing. They 
have furnished good shooting, and one can still see from 
one to perhaps even fifty in a day's tramp, but they are 
bunched together, and but few more will be shot from 
this on, as they are very wary. The quail are very plenty, 
finding good cover in the hedges and food in the corn- 
fields. Rabbits are everywhere, both jacks and cotton- 
tails, but their favorite hiding places are in the tall grass 
of the sloughs. Ducks, geese and jacksnipe come in their 
season. Along the creeks and rivers, wherever there is 
timber, there are coons, possums and squirrels, and for 
the trapper, there are minks, muskrats and skunks, while 
an occasional otter, wildcat, or even a beaver, is picked up. 
The coyotes are still here, but as hard to get a.ud as 
cunning as an Eastern fox. Sometimes a gray or timber 
wolf wanders through here, but they are seldom seen. 
Altogether, for one who is content with a fair bag of 
game for a pleasant day's tramp, Kansas is still one of the 
best hunting grounds in the country. 
I would like to say to Fred Mather that the Neosho 
and Cottonwood rivers still find their way seaward, and 
that Coal Creek still furnishes mud cats and turtles for 
whoever cares to cast a line in its muddy depths, but the 
timber along their banks is rapidly giving way Lo corn 
and wheatfield s. Pins Tree. 
Some of the bags of game that have cuine under my 
notice within a year: 101 quail one day to one gun, 
potted; go quail one day to one gun, potted; said to be 
60 chickens to one gun, potted : over 300 ducks to two 
guns, two days, wing shooting; 30 quail, wing shooting, 
two guns, part of one day. and others in proportion. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
About Western Deer. 
Chicago, 111., Dec. 3. — All the deer seasons are now 
closed, Michigan ending* her open time last Wednesday. 
On that day one trainload of hunting traffic carried east 
of St. Ignace, Mich., 300 hunters and 200 carcasses of 
deer. At Standish, Mich., one freight car carried 75 car- 
casses, mostly killed around Alpena. It seems to have 
been a good year for deer, but the impression grows that 
the hunting country is becoming more restricted, so that 
many believe the good deer hunting will not last so very 
many years longer. Warden Zinn, of Milwaukee, Wis., 
sets five years as the limit of the supply under the present 
system and extent of slaughter. 
State Warden Ellarson, of Wisconsin, does not share 
the pessimism ,of his deputy, but thinks the deer are on 
the increase, in which belief he is largely alone. Fie 
says : 
"More deer have been killed this fall than during the 
season last year, but that was because the conditions for 
hunting were more favorable, but the number is not so 
large as in former years, when there were hundreds of 
non-residents hunting through the State. Under the 
present protective laws the deer are increasing in num- 
bers and the sport will be better from year to year. 
There were very few non-resident hunters this year, not 
more than thirty taking out licenses in the State. There 
have been some violations of the law, but none of any 
great consequence that I know of. People appear to be 
in accord with the law and willing to aid in its enforce- 
ment." 
This is a very optimistic view, but I think it more 
cheerful than accurate. As to the non-resident clause 
of the Wisconsin law, we were all in hopes that this } r ear 
the identification requirements were such that the law 
could not be evaded^so shamefully as it was last year, 
but the results do not appear to be any better this year 
than they were last. Surely Warden Ellarson cannot be- 
lieve, or, if he does, cannot ask anyone else to believe, 
that only thirty non-resident hunters shot in Wis- 
consin this season. That is absurd. I can give him and 
Warden Osborne, of Michigan, the addresses of a party 
of three, or at least that of one of the party, who told me 
the facts, all Chicago men, who shot at Iron Mountain, 
Mich., and "near there." These were all non-residents, 
and they say openly that they shot on resident licenses. 
I presume that more than one train took to Wisconsin 
out of Chicago more than thirty shooters each who shot 
on resident licenses in Wisconsin. The number of men 
who go through this point into Wisconsin each fall for 
the deer hunting is something which runs into the hun- 
dreds, if not thousands, and I am disappointed at hearing 
it stated that only thirty of these shot legally in Wiscon- 
sin, for it shows how inadequate is the enforcement of 
the law. We are a great people for good laws, we Amer- 
icans, but as to the executive side of them we are pretty 
careless. The Wisconsin law is an excellent one, up to 
the place where the enforcement begins. 
Now as to the violations of the law — not to mention 
the undiscovered violations of the hundreds of non- 
residents who broke the law — I am disposed to think 
that there may be some slight further inaccuracy in Mr. 
Ellarson's estimate. His deputy, August Zinn, seized 
nine illegal carcasses and sold them at auction one day 
last week, the stuff belonging to men in five different 
places. Mr. Zinn thinks about 4,000 deer were killed in 
Wisconsin that came into Milwaukee alone, and that per- 
haps 2,000 more were shipped out of the State. We have 
had a flood of cheap venison in Chicago, and it is not 
unfair to suppose that a great deal of this came from 
Wisconsin, as indeed has in several cases been discovered 
by Milwaukee wardens. It seems very likely to me that 
the laws of Wisconsin were not only to a partial extent 
but to a very large extent violated this season. This 
I say in deference to the facts, and with no wish to cast 
any slight or blame upon Warden Ellarson's admin- 
istration. It only seems just to suppose that, if Warden 
Ellarson thinks the law has not been violated, he will 
not try to get after violators. I should like to convince 
him that were a few of the latter sort of game in his 
woods this year, there will be plenty of them next year. 
So long as the State of Wisconsin can show only about 
thirty non-resident licenses for a season of shooting, it 
will be extremely likely that the law has been violated in 
a great many hundred instances. The passenger depart- 
ments of the Northwestern, the Chicago. Milwaukee & 
St. Paul and the Wisconsin Central railroads all contain 
records which would utterly disprove that sort of esti- 
mate. 
The Good Express Companies. 
It is touching what confidence the wardens all seem 
to have in the great common carrier companies. Now, 
yesterday I was talking with Harry Loveday, our Illi- 
nois warden, and he said that he was aided all the time 
by the courtesy and voluntary assistance of the express 
companies, which always allowed him to search any 
suspected packages and gave all , other aid in their 
power, cheerfully surrendering any contraband game 
and promising to give him all the aid in their 
power. It is true that some game is captured in that 
way, a great deal of it in the total, and it is true also tha<- 
the heads of these great concerns cannot be supposed to 
know the contents of each box in the office, any more 
than the local agent can always tell what it is that he is 
shipping. But does anyone suppose that one-hundredth 
part of the illegal game shipments are ever detected? 
Upon the contrary, were it possible fur any one day of 
the year to catch all the illegal game that catne into Chi- 
cago, the big dealers here would be apt to experience 
such a 'shock as they have never known. Of course, the 
express companies can well afford to promise every aid 
in the enforcement of the law, but it all fids at the 
promise. If the warden detects a lot ol illegal game, 
the company says: "Take it, sir. We are- surprised a nd 
shocked at this awful thing!" What else cou'd be said? 
The company does not dare set itself up in typ>n viola- 
tion of the law. It is usually customary tor a warden 
to sell this game and pay carriage charges out of the 
preiceeds, so the company gets as much as though it had 
delivered the game to the customer. It can afford to be 
shocked. But it is always shocked at the consignee end 
of the route, and not at the consignor. It takes no 
means of refusing to accept the contraband game when 
offered. It does not want any local agent to get too 
brilliant, and if he does, he doesn't last. Meantime the 
steady stream of game, legal and illegal, flows on into 
the great markets — a stream of iniquity in many cases, 
which could be stopped in 24 hours by the honest and 
concerted effort of the express companies. 
On this line of thought is the letter just received from 
Mr. W. E. Warren, of Fox Lake, Wis., who writes me: 
"Your article two weeks ago about the express com- 
panies hits the bulls-eye. They are worse than the 
market shooters. My brother, who has been in the 
northern part of the State lately, tells me the slaughter 
of game up there was a caution. One man killed 6 deer 
in one day. One little station. Appolonia, shipped 500 
dozen grouse this season, and Nellsville was averaging 
500 a day. If the express companies .would not accept 
this stuff for outside shipments, it would certainly make 
a great difference." 
Oddities. 
Of the oddities of truth and fiction which the season 
of deer hunting brings forth are the stories of a moose 
which was killed at St. James lumber camp, near St. 
Ignace, Mich., on Nov. 25, the first moose seen in that 
section for many years; of another white deer, killed by 
Mr. Andrews of Mackinaw City, near Pine River, Mich., 
last week; of a buck, killed near Channing, Mich., by 
William Warner, which buck weighed "nearly 5oolbs."; 
of the delay in shipping- game because many carcasses 
are in the woods, "which it is impossible to bring to the 
city on account of their weight." These last deer, me- 
thinks, must make the slayer of the 5oolb. buck feel very 
small. 
Big Bags. 
One of the recent side-hunts is that of the lodge of 
Knights of Pythias, of Talmage, Neb., who on Thanks- 
giving Day went out in force for their annual carnival. 
The two sides killed 264 rabbits, 7 jack rabbits, 88 quail, 
31 semirrels, 1 chicken and 1 opossum, to say nothing 
of 7 owls. 
At Tecumseh, Neb., on Nov. 23, two parties, one of 
eight men, another of ten, participated in a grand side- 
hunt. The total of game killed was 287 rabbits, 15 jack 
rabbits, 1 prairie chicken and 125 quail. 
At Lexington, Neb., shooters have devised a killing forin^ 
of taking jack rabbits. They go out with a couple of wag- 
ons, which are driven along even with each other and 
about 400ft. apart, with a strong wire reaching from one 
to the other, which drags along over the grass and pulls 
out the jacks from their hiding places. Abreast of the 
wagon the hunters march and shoot the jacks as they 
start to right or left. Such a party killed a buggy load 
of jack rabbits the other day. 
On Nov. 18 and 19, at Duckville, near Corinne, Utah, on 
a shooting preserve, five shooters bagged 1,493 ducks. 
One man shot 183 on each of the two days. 
New York papers estimate that 100,000 dozen of quail 
were brought into New York city the morning of Nov. 
1. These birds mostly come from the West. 
Ice Hunting. 
A novel sort of duck hunting has been practiced up on 
Fox Lake, Wis., since the freeze-up, that of chasing 
cripples on the ice. Each season a great man)' birds are 
crippled and not recovered, and of course, as the water 
freezes they are driven up out of their marshy hiding 
places and forced to disclose themselves more than is the 
case when they can sneak along the wet margins. Mr. D. 
J. Hotchkiss, of that city, writes me that Henry Grady 
caught twenty-three ducks that way one day, skating after 
them and knocking them over with a stick. -A market 
hunter went out after the birds with a sled, which he 
"prodded" along over the ice with a pair of prods. At 
last, in his excitement, he broke through and got too wet 
to go on with the business. Mr. Hotchkiss also men- 
tions the fact that an editor man from a neighboring 
town, Mr. Williams by name, came down to Fox Lake to 
see how they shot turkeys at a Thanksgiving Day shoot. 
He managed to get about all he shot at, at forty rods, and 
the}' barred him out, as likewise Mr. Hotchkiss, who is 
also an editor. You can't always tell by looking at a 
newspaper man whether he can shoot or not. 
The Minister and the Deer. 
Agent Sam Fullerton, of Minnesota, came near ruin- 
ing the Thanksgiving dinner of Rev. Wm. Wilkinson, of 
St. Paul, last week. Some good friend of the preacher 
had sent him over by express the carcass of a deer, the 
shipping point being the celebrated community of Grand 
Rapids, where the}' have no use for game wardens. The 
deer got as far as St. Paul all right, but was there nabbed 
by the deputies of the warden, who removed it from the 
intended scene of activity. The reverend doctor had in- 
vited a number of friends to his house for dinner, for 
the_ purpose of eating venison, he having been advised of 
the' shipping of the deer. The absence of the meat made a 
large hole in the festivities, and the minister made a loud 
and vigorous protest to the warden, declaring that he had 
not shot the deer, had never seen a deer, and was curious 
to know how a deer would look or taste." After a long 
