JJlc. 24, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Minnesota Indian Troubles. 
They have been having a good deal of trouble with the red 
■ men out in Minnesota this fall, but a just look at the 
■ situation seems to warrant the belief that the Indian is 
I not alone to blame for the state of affairs. This is well 
■ set forth in the communication which Warden Fullerton 
■ has addressed to Indian Commissioner Jones at Wash- 
Jington : 
W. A. Jones, Commissioner Indian Affairs, Washing- 
■ton, D. C— --Complications have arisen again this year in 
■ regard to the Indians, of which fact I think you should 
■ be apprised Every year, after the deer season closes, and 
■it is unlawful to kill game in Minnesota, the traders, who 
■ I understand are licensed by the Government, hire Indians 
■to go out and kill our deer, paying them so much per 
pound. The Indians realize little or nothing out of the 
transaction, as the traders always get the lion's share. 
The venison thus illegally procured is stored on the reser- 
vations and shipped out of the State when it can con- 
veniently be done. Most of those traders are men of 
inferior social standing, but still they have Government 
licenses to trade with the Indians. They are a curse to 
the Indian, and I believe with the aid of the "squaw-men" 
they are responsible for a great deal of the trouble exist- 
ing between the Indians and white men. 
We therefore appeal to you as commissioner to issue in- 
structions to your agents on the different reservations to 
restrain the Indians from leaving the reservations and not 
permit them to roam at large and slaughter our game. 
If some restraining power is not placed upon them there 
is likely to be trouble, for we are not going to allow 'the 
Indians to violate our game laws, even if some of them 
have to be killed to accomplish this result. If the game 
killed by them was for their own use the game and fish 
[Commission of Minnesota could overlook a great deal, but 
when in reality it is for the benefit of the class of men I 
have above referred to, we think it is time for you and 
your department to interfere. We have just had an en- 
counter with fourteen Indians from Pine Point, and while 
there was no blood shed it might have been otherwise, 
and another Indian outbreak inaugurated. Now, Mr. 
Jones, we have laid this matter, with its possible serious 
results, plainly before you, and we hope we are not mak- 
ing this appeal to you in vain. We believe your depait- 
ment should take the matter of restraining the Indians 
from violating our game laws under serious advisement. 
If the Indians are amenable to our laws — game laws in- 
cluded- — they should be compelled to respect them. If, on 
the other hand, they are not obliged to obey our laws, 
then we fail to appreciate the policy of the Government in 
thus affording them places of shelter to which they may 
retire in order to avoid possible punishment for their mis- 
deeds. 
Those are the facts in the case, which we consider of 
sufficient importance to call for immediate attention from 
your department. We are fully determined to protect 
our game at whatever cost from wanton destruction by 
poaching Indians who are aided and abetted in this ille- 
gal traffic by unscrupulous traders. 
S. F. Fullerton, 
Executive Agent Minnesota State Game and Fish Com- 
mission. 
St. Paul, Dec. 7. 
Club Elections. 
The annual business meeting of Mak-Saw-Ba Shoot- 
ing Club was held Monday night. The following officers 
were elected: President, Joseph Leiter; Vice-President, 
C. F, Petrie; Secretary and Treasurer, W. R. Smith; 
Board of Dirctors, as above, with addition of W. F. Has- 
kell and A. E. Dyer. 
Hennepin Shooting Club last Saturday elected the fol- 
lowing officers for the ensuing year: President, W. W. 
McFarland; Secretary and Treasurer, G. M. Sibley; 
Board of Directors, F. E. Willard, N. A. Partridge and 
J. B. Clark, Hennepin Club has secured 200 acres more 
of good shooting grounds, making about 4,000 acres which 
it owns. 
Personal. 
Mr. S. F. Fullerton, State Warden of Minnesota, and 
Mr. George E. Bowers, State Warden of North Dakota, 
made the Forest and Stream office pleasant visits this 
week. Official life seems to agree with Mr. Bowers, who 
weighs 2i7lbs., though he is active enough when it comes 
to chasing a non-resident who is shy a license. Mr. Ful- 
lerton says that he expects to be retired from office the 
tirst of the year, but he will continue to take interest in 
protection of the game of his State. Mr. Fullerton will 
continue to reside at St. Paul, and he has the choice of 
two or three lines of employment, which will be as 
lucrative, and perhaps more peaceful, than his late office. 
Mr. Harry E. Lee, whose name has been earlier men- 
tioned in the Forest and Stream as a successful Alaskan 
lunter, is in this city, attending the live-bird tournament 
-his week. Mr. Lee does a great deal of traveling in his 
favorite occupation of big game hunting. Next year he 
will go to the far North after, musk ox. He then goes to 
South Africa after the big game of that region, wanting 
more especially a lion. Then he is going to India after 
his tiger. He says that he will riot kill a tiger from an 
elephant, but intends to meet both his lion and his tiger in 
the open, and while he is on foot, if possible. The in- 
teresting story of Mr. Lee's Alaska hunt will shortly 
appear in the Forest and Stream. In person Mr, Lee 
is tall and wiry, slow of speech and quiet of manner. 
His personal story of his trip to the Alaskan interior is 
most interesting. Almost month by month we hear more 
md more of this new and wonderful great game coun- 
try. It is curious to observe that almost the first year 
that we do begin to hear of this region, we hear also the 
warning cry that its game is being exterminated. Mr. 
Lee advocates the establishment of a national park in 
the back country near the Sheep River, and he says that if 
this is not done the hide and head hunters will soon clean 
out the game. This is rather singular and impressive 
news. Mr. Lee was very fortunate in his hunting trip, as 
his story will show. E. Hough. 
1200 Boyce Building, Chicago, 111. 
The Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at the 
latest by Afowday and #§ jauch earlier as practicable. 
The Lacey Game Bill. 
Sjieciatly reported /or Forest and Stream, 
Washington, D. C, Dec. 19.— Nearly a year ago Mr. 
Lacey, a Congressman from Iowa, introduced in the 
House of Representatives a bill (H. R. 3589) to extend 
the powers and duties of the Fish Commission to in- 
clude game birds and other useful wild birds. The mat- 
ter was referred to the committee on the Merchant Marine 
and Fisheries, and on»Feb. -23 last Mr. Perkins, also from 
Iowa, a member of that committee, reported the bill 
favorably. In his report he said : 
"The Commission of Fish and Fisheries has been in ex- 
istence for many years, and its operations have been in a 
high degree successful, and to the great advantage of the 
people. Many streams that formerly teemed with fish had 
become almost or quite barren. New stock has been in- 
troduced, and the various States, recognizing the mis- 
takes of the past, have enacted suitable laws for the pro- 
tection of fish, and a healthy public sentiment has been 
created for their preservation and propagation. 
"The destruction among the game and other useful 
birds has been even more ruinous than that which has 
overtaken our fishes, and State laws for their further pro- 
tection have been very generally enacted. The desire for 
restocking fields and forests is quite general, and with the 
machinery now in the control of the Fish Commission 
great good could be done, with but a moderate expendi- 
ture of money. The bill has been submitted to the late 
Fish Commissioner, and he has expressed his warm ap- 
proval of its provisions. 
"It is believed that birds may be successfully trans^ 
ferred from one part of the country to another, and there 
propagated and extinction of valuable species retarded or 
prevented. The beautiful and valuable grouse, now so 
plentiful in Oregon, could no doubt be successfully intro- 
duced into North Carolina and Virginia. The prairie 
chicken, which is becoming very scarce in the North- 
west, would be welcomed with friendly enthusiasm in 
Eastern States, where it is now wholly unknown, 
"Birds introduced by the national Government, it is 
believed, would be protected by quite a different state of 
public opinion from that which has prevailed as to birds 
introduced by private individuals or shooting clubs. The 
wild pigeon, once so abundant, has been practically, if 
not totally, exterminated, and many of our most valued 
feathered friends are becoming so scarce as to lead to 
fears of their early extinction. Interest manifested by the 
Federal Government in the further preservation and 
propagation of birds will go very far toward a creation of 
that healthy public sentiment without which all protective 
laws are inoperative. 
"The farmers generally have become earnestly inter- 
ested in bird protection, and the interest in the subject is 
no longer confined to sporting clubs, but the general use- 
fulness of bird life has become more fully understood by 
all people. 
"The proposition of the bill does not involve the crea- 
tion of new officials nor large expenditures, but only 
authorizes an existing commission to perform additional 
duties, and the question as to the amount of" expendi- 
tures for such purpose will always be under the direct 
control of Congress. 
"The future continuance of the efforts contemplated by 
the bill will depend upon the annual appropriations which 
may be larger or smaller as experience shall demonstrate 
to be wise. 
"Your committee heartily concur in recommending the 
passage of the bill." 
To-day Mr. Lacey called the bill up and moved to sus- 
pend the rules and pass it. After a brief debate, in which 
not a single objection was raised, the House unanimously 
passed the bill. The proceedings in detail, as they will 
appear in the Congressional Record, were as follows : 
Mr. Lacey : Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and pass the bill (H. R. 3589), "to extend the powers and 
duties of the Commission of Fish and Fisheries to in- 
clude game birds and other wild birds useful to man." 
The Speaker : The gentleman from Iowa moves to 
suspend the rules and pass a bill which the Clerk will 
report. 
The bill was read as follows : 
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled, That^he United States Commission of Fish and 
Fisheries shall hereafter be known and designated as the 
United States Commission of Fish, Fisheries and Birds. 
The duties and powers of said commission are hereby en- 
larged so as to include the propagation, distribution, 
transportation, introduction and restoration of game birds 
and other wild birds useful to man. For such purposes 
they may purchase, or cause to be captured, such game 
birds and other wild birds as they may require therefor, 
subject, however, to the laws of the various States and 
Territories in which they may conduct such operations. 
"The object and purpose of this act is to aid in the 
restoration of such birds in those parts of the United 
States adapted thereto, where the same have become 
scarce or extinct, and also to aid in the introduction of 
new and valuable varieties or species of American or 
foreign birds in localities where they have not heretofore 
existed. 
. "Said commission shall from time to time collect and 
publish useful information as to the propagation, uses 
and preservation of such birds. 
"And the said commission shall make and publish all 
needful rules and regulations for carrying out the pur- 
poses of this act, and shall expend for said purposes such 
sums as Congress may appropriate therefor." 
The Speaker: Is a second demanded? 
Mr. Dingley: I ask for a second. 
Mr. Lacey: I ask unanimous consent that a second 
may be considered as ordered. 
There was ho objection. 
The Speaker: The gentleman from Iowa has twenty 
minutes, and the gentleman from Maine twenty minutes. 
Mr. Lacey : Mr. Speaker, this bill was reported un- 
animously by the Committee on Merchant Marine and 
Fisheries" last February. We have already in existence 
what is known as the Fish Commission, which for a great 
many years has been doing excellent work in the pro- 
pagation and preservation of the food fishes of the United 
States. The machinery of the Commission is already ia 
operation, and they have a complete system. They have 
employees, and after full consultation with the officers in 
charge of this Commission, I am assured that without 
additional appropriation, or with a very slight appropria- 
tion at least, they will be enabled to do a great deal of 
good in the line proposed by the bill. We have, for in- 
stance, in certain parts of the United States game birds, 
such as the prairie chickens that are found in Kansas and 
Nebraska. If a few of these birds were turned loose in 
the Shenandoah Valley or in the valleys of South Carolina 
or North Carolina, they would propagate there, and if 
turned loose by the Government, introduced by authority 
of the nation itself, they would receive ample protection. 
Interchanges of this kind can be made at a very moderate 
expense, and will aid in keeping alive the different 
varieties of birds that are now rapidly becoming extinct. 
The matter was careftilly considered by the committee. 
It has met the approval of the Audubon -.societies and 
various other societies throughout the United States which 
have taken the subject in hand. I believe it ought to pass 
unanimously. I reserve the balance of my time. 
Mr. Dingley: I asked for a second in order that I 
might understand what was proposed. I understand 
from the explanation of the gentleman from Iowa CMr. 
Lacey) that it is proposed to enlarge the functions and 
field of the Fish Commission, so as to cover game birds. 
Mr. Lacey: I would suggest to my friend that the 
same officials in other countries, in Germany, for in- 
stance, have these enlarged powers, and the two powers 
run harmoniously together. They can be operated with 
very slight additional expense. 
Mr. Dingley : I would like to ask the gentleman if 
there has been any estimate made as to the possible in- 
crease of expense by thus enlarging the duties and powers 
of the Commission ? 
Mr. Lacey ; That will be entirely within the power of 
the committee on appropriations, to say whether any 
appropriation at all shall be granted. The theory was that 
the committee on appropriations would make a moderate > 
appropriation for the purpose of trying the experiment. 
If it was found to be successful it might be enlarged, or if 
the results were unsatisfactory, it might be cut off entire- 
ly. That would be entirely within the control of Con- 
gress. This bill grants no appropriation, but merely gives 
the necessary power, so that the appropriations can be 
made without conflicting with existing laws. I think a 
very few thousand dollars will cover all the expense that 
may be necessary. 
The Speaker: The question is on suspending the rules 
and passing the bill. 
The question was taken, and there being no vote in the 
negative, the bill was passed. 
Notes from New Brunswick. 
Joe Mitchell, the veteran Indian guide; is now repos- 
ing in the county jail. Joe is one of the squarest of the 
Indians on the St. Mary's reservation, but like all the 
rest of the tribe, has lived his life in an atmosphere of 
sublime obliviousness as to game laws. About every fall 
Joe goes out to Magaguadavic Lake trapping otter. This 
is perhaps the best deer country in the Province, and of 
late moose have frequently been seen there. When Joe 
returned from the lake the other day he blandly informed 
his friends that he had shot a moose and eight deer, and 
wished to sell the hide of the former. Game Warden 
Hawthorne at once had him arraigned before Judge 
Marsh. The Indian pleaded guilty, evidently under the 
belief that his sentence would be allowed to stand, but 
the warden was inexorable, and the prisoner was 
sentenced to pay $50 for shooting a moose on the west 
side of the St. John River, or else go to jail for thirty 
days. Joe smiled pleasantly and remarked in open court : 
"Purty dam good wages, too — $50 for t'irty days!" and 
departed On a bee line for the jail. There was a big 
medicine talk over at the camps that night, and Jim Paul 
strongly advocated levying sufficient damages upon white 
offenders of the game laws to liberate Joe from imprison- 
ment. But a more practical scheme than this suggested 
itself to the fertile brain of Gabe Bear. He would take 
around a big medicine paper and collect subscriptions 
from the pale faces generally in order to secure the re- 
lease of Joe. This was carried into effect next 
day, and $64.30, or $14.30 more than was necessary for 
the purpose, was secured by the wily Gabe. Immense 
enthusiasm and a weird odor of the late John de Kuyper 
prevailed on the reservation that evening. Joe is still in 
jail. 
Carcasses of moose from Nova Scotia came into St. 
John on the train the other day. They were eagerly 
snapped up by the hotels. Moose are still quite plentiful 
in Nova Scotia, but they will soon be a thing of the past 
if the market hunter is allowed to work his will. 
William Griffin and A. C. Thomas, of Stanley, brought 
into town two unusually fine moose heads this week, One 
of them had a spread of 58m.. with twenty points; the 
other, a measurement of 53m. Though this has been Mr. 
Griffin's first season as a professional guide, his success 
has made him envied by many of the older ones, 
Sandford Bartlett, of Stanley, brought in a moose yes- 
terday. The horns only measured 42m., but the moose 
was a very large and evidently very old specimen. The 
four quarters weighed 70olbs.,. and netted Mr. Bartlett 
$35, and he also got a good price for the head. 
Dr. Heber Bishop, friend of the human race, is here, en- 
deavoring to persuade the Government to take part in the 
New York show. It is said that the Government, having 
been compelled to pay duty upon every article shown at 
the Boston exhibition last year, is not enthusiastic. In 
order to give the honorable gentlemen time to think the 
whole thing over, the Doctor, with his friend, Mr. Ross, 
of New York, has gone into the Sisters Lakes region on 
a moose hunt. Their guides are Jim Paul and Herb 
Heal. 
All these things have a tendency to remind me that good 
luck never deserts the chosen people. On Wednesday 
afternoon last Harry Atherton and your correspondent 
left Fredericton for a caribou hunt on the Sutherland 
Brook barrens. We reached camn on Thursday and were 
home Saturday noon with two bull caribou. _ Thc=e ani- 
mals, by the way, seem to be more numerous in the Cains 
River, Little River and Gaspereaux River country than 
for many years. They are also very plentiful in the 
