812 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[DZC, 24, 1898. ^ 
and lakes of the United States has taken place; and if 
so, to what causes the same is due," etc. But while the 
commissioner was to , report "'What protection, pro- 
hibitory or precautionary measures should be adopted, 
* * * the bill did not name fishculture, and the first 
two reports of the commissioner oniy touch on the sub- 
ject lightly at their close, yet the good work which some 
of the Eastern States had begun a few years before was 
uppermost in the mind of the new commissioner, and 
after the exhaustive investigations in the salt and fresh- 
water fisheries which fill the first bulky reports, he entered 
upon the work of fishculture in a small way, and showed 
its benefits to Congress year by year, until he put national 
fishculture on a solid footing. 
In his early life he formed a friendship with Audubon 
and later worked with the elder Agassiz, and throughout 
his life was both a student and a teacher. His sense of 
humor was. not keen, but he seldom showed that he had 
the sense, but I have told- him stories intended to be 
funny, at which he would quietly laugh, forget, and 
months afterward ask: "What was that thing you told 
me when you were here last?" Of course, I had forgot- 
ten, but I would tell him another, and he never knew the 
difference. 
I was in charge of a hatchery when the news came that 
Prof. Baird had died at Wood's Holl, and the flag was 
at half-mast until after the interment, for if I ever looked 
up to a man as a true and loving friend, that man was 
Spencer Fullerton Baird. Fred Mather. . 
Fishing on the North Platte. 
I left Medicine Bow Aug. 15, 1898, with my wife and 
two children, to try the rainbow trout in the southern part 
of Wyoming. The first days drive brought us to Rattle- 
snake Creek, at the foot of Elk Mountain, where we made 
camp at 6 o'clock. My wife inquired if there were really 
any snakes there, and I told her there were not, that they 
had departed with the Indians. Just then I went to picket 
the horses, and had got only a few steps from camp when 
zi-zi-z-i-i-i-p, there was a rattlesnake 4ft. long and very 
lively. A club soon settled him. After supper my wife 
and "daughter were easily persuaded to sleep in the wagon, 
while my son and I made a good couch on some willow 
brush. 
At noon next day we arrived at the town of Saratoga, a 
pretty little village on the banks of the Platte. It was 
twenty-two years since I had been in this valley, and the 
change that has taken' place is wonderful. One little hunt- 
er's cabin then represented what is now a thriving town, 
surrounded by beautiful farms and stock ranches. The 
hot mineral springs are very efficacious in rheumatic and 
many other complaints; there are two good brick hotels 
and a sanitarium. The hotels did not trouble me, and my 
camp was soon made beneath a large cottonwood tree, and 
then I sat me down to ruminate. 
This used to he one of my favorite hunting grounds 
Often I have met the noble red man here on the hunt, and 
many a peaceful chat have we had together on the banks 
of this beautiful river. The last time I was here, in 
1876, some beaver were trying to build a dam across the 
river, and I am sorry to say I caught some of them, but 
now .they are gone, and so are the Indian, the antelope, 
the deer and the 'elk. Where I used to ride so free twen- 
ty-two years ago, there are now wire and pole fences, and 
wheat, oat, barley and alfalfa fields. A few of my old 
friends and companions of bygone days have settled here, 
but many of them have gone over the range to that un- 
discovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns. 
Another great change has taken place. In 1876 no trout 
had ever been known to exist in the North Platte and its 
tributaries, but now, thanks to our fish commission, these 
waters are said to be alive both with Eastern brook and 
rainbow trout, and stories have come to my ears of i2lb. 
rainbows and sib. brook trout, and now I shall set uu 
my rod and learn if these are fish stories; we will hope 
not. I walked down the bank about a quarter of a mile 
to a place where there is a nice riffle and a deep pool be- 
low, and here I make my first cast, and had a rise the first 
cast, but did not hook my fish. I make another cast, and 
the next moment had hooked him, but in a moment the 
water just boiled about my fish, and I had glimpses of 
two big ones, and was glad there were only two flies on 
that leader. I was powerless .to handle them; all I could 
do was keep the line taut and let them fight it out. This 
they soon did, and I was short a leader and two flies. 
There were plenty more in my tackle pocket, and in a few 
minutes I was ready again ; this time with only one fly. 
a royal coachman on a No. 4 hook. Wading down the 
stream to the next riffle, and I hooked a brook trout 
weighing about lib., and then in the still water I got a 
rainbow of "jj^lbs,, and then a rainbow of rVjlbs. This 
was plenty for this evening, so I went back to camp, and 
to the sanitarium for a bath. 
The next day we moved up the river to the mouth of 
Brush Creek, and remained there three days. Here com- 
menced the best fishing I have ever seen. The fish are 
nearly all rainbows, and of twenty-nine caught here the 
smallest weighed 2 l / <lbs. and the heaviest 6V2. They 
averaged 4%lbs. And here I want to say a word in favor 
of the rainbow trout. Of all the fish I have ever caught 
they are the chief for fighting and eating qualities, and 
I am not an amateur with the rod. I have fished from the 
Great Lakes to the Pacific in all the States and Territories. 
I have caught 3olb. maskalonge and 401b. lake trout. I 
saw in Forest and Stream last spring an article that was 
far From complimentary to the rainbow trout, and my 
blood boiled in a moment. But after studying the mat- 
ter, I conclude it must be the fault of the streams in which 
they were found. Here we have an elevation of 7,000ft.. 
and the streams are fed from the snow all summer, and 
the water is clear and cold all the year round. 
After our curiosity and appetites were satisfied here, we 
moved up to French Creek, ten miles. Here we had some 
grand scenery. This is the lower end of a deep canon, 
eighteen miles long, where the river tears along between 
walls from 50 to r.oooft. high, and here beautiful French 
Creek empties its pure waters into the Platte. Just im- 
agine a stream 20ft. wide, averaging i8in. deep, flowing 
over pure white quartzite boulders, and literally swarm- 
ing with brook trout. Here I gave my son, fifteen years 
old, his first lesson in fly-fishing. He had never taken 
much interest in it before, but now he is counting the 
days to see how soon we shall return to this happy land. 
I don't know but he dreams about it. I know his father 
does- I was disappointed at first in my effort to learn if 
there were any big trout in the river. In vain the coach- 
man touched the water, there were no signs of trout here, 
and I began to think that the big fish are all below ; but 
when I crossed to the west side, where there was a ledge 
I could climb, and looked down in a pool, and, great ghost 
of Izaak Walton, I saw plenty of fish. In the words of my 
old friend, P. G. Murphy, "there were two tons of throuts 
in this pool, and they are. whales." I climbed down again 
to consider. I put on a grizzly king on No. 4 hook and 
tried it, but they would not rise. Then I let it settle and 
drift down, when suddenly, "bump," and oh, how the reel 
began to sing. Nearly all of my 100yds. of No. 3 line 
ran out before I could turn my fish, but at last it was 
done, and he broke the water with a jump of at least 4ft. 
clear, and he a yard long. In twenty minutes he was 
in the net, and I went ashore to weigh him, and 8^41bs. 
was the mark he touched. My wife said: "You have 
got enough for one day," but I was not quite satisfied and 
tried again, but I could get no more of that size, and final 
ly stopped with five more that weighed from 4 to 61bs. 
each. I would have liked to camp here for the next six 
weeks, but had agreed to meet some friends at the upper 
end of the canon on the 23d of the month, and so had to 
pull camp next day. Of all the camps in my thirty years 
in the Rocky Mountains, this is the best. 
During this day's drive we saw some very fine scenery. 
Our road lay through a beautiful valley between the 
Medicine Bow and Independence mountains. The river 
cuts through the mountains six miles east of this valley. 
At the crossing of Big Creek we saw one of the great 
stock ranches of the Hunter Bros., and a meadow six 
miles long and four miles wide, and twenty-three mowing 
machines were cutting hay. Twenty years ago this was a 
sage plain, and the home of hundreds of antelope and 
jack rabbits, but the great ditches and the sage grubber 
have made the usual change — where will it stop? At 4 
in the afternoon we reach our camp, but the friends we 
expected were not there, so we went fishing, but with 
poor luck. There are signs of many camps here, and it 
looks as though it had been pretty well fished out, and 
from the dead suckers and little trout there is every 
evidence that dynamite has been used. 
In the morning my friends, Jackson and Kelley, arrive, 
and two larger hearted or more enthusiastic fly-casters 
never lived. We spent two days fishing up and down 
and just got enough to eat; then we hitched up and drove 
down the river six miles, and made camp 1,500ft. above 
the river at a little spring. The trout were here, and we 
filled our bags in the afternoon, and climbed up that steep 
hill to camp. We earned all we got this day. We spent 
the next day here too, and made good catches, but got no 
fish over 4lbs. 
I had told the boys of the big trout and fine fishing be- 
low, and have shown them some of the fish, and they 
were anxious to go down, but the time was too short, so 
wc pulled back to the camp ground, six miles above there, 
and the next day started on the home trail. 
On our way we passed through the lower end of the 
great North Park in Colorado, and we stopped for noon 
at the soda springs and drank soda water till we felt 
that we should want no more for a year. We camped at 
night on the Laramie River, and tried night fishing with 
white millers, and it is pretty good sport. At 10 o'clock 
wc went to camp satisfied and turned in. Next morning 
wc found ice a quarter of an inch thick on our water 
buckets, but the sun soon put the frost to flight, and 
about 9 we went fishing. Here I should like to stop, but 
must tell the truth, as all fishermen do. My son beat me ; 
he caught more and larger trout than I, and only a week 
before t had given him his first lesson in this art. I was 
ready to go home, in fact I wanted to go, but doubted 
if I could get the boy away from the stream till the last 
moment. I did not want to fish, and would not fish, so I 
remained in camp and wrote up the journal. This brings 
me to the end of one of the pleasant experiences of my 
life: 250 miles by wagon through grand scenery, with 
sport enough to last a year. Rainbow. 
he Mmml 
Fixtures. 
BENCH SHOWS. 
Jan 16.— Bakersfield, Ca^.— Field trials of the Pacific Coast Field 
Trials Club. J. BSlgarif, Sec'y. 
Jan. 18.— Logansport, Ind. — North Central Indiana Poultry As- 
sociation's bench show. Sol. D. Brandt, Sec'y. 
Jan. 19-21.— New Orleans, La.— New Orleans Fox Terrier Club's 
show. Wm. Le Monnier, Sec'y. 
Jan. 23.— West Point, Miss.— Champion Field Trials Association s 
fourth annual trials. 
Feb. 21-24.— New York.— Westminster Kennel Club's twenty- 
third annual show. Tas.. Mortimer, Sec'y and Supt. 
March 7-10.— Grand Rapids, Mich.— Butterfly Association's bench 
show. .Miss Grace H. Griswold, Sec'y. 
FIELD TRIALS. 
1899. 
Jan. 16.— West Point, Miss.— U. S. F. T. C. winter trials. W. B. 
Stafford, Sec'y. „ 
Feb. 6.— Mad'ison, Ala.— Alabama Field Trial Club's third annual 
trials. T. H. Spencer, Sec'y. 
A. K. C Meeting. 
The regular quarterly meeting of the American Ken- 
nel Club was held at the club's offices, 55 Liberty street, 
on Dec. 8, Vice-President Edw. Brooks presiding. The 
following clubs were represented : American Dachshund 
Club, American Pet Dog Club, American Scottish Terrier 
Club, American Spaniel Club, Brunswick Fur Club, Collie 
Club of America, Gordon Setter Club of America, Irish 
Jerrier Club of America. Mascoutah Kennel Club, Metro- 
politan Kennel Club. Milwaukee Kennel and Pet Stock 
Association, National Beagle Club, New England Kennel 
Club, Pointer Club of America, San Francisco Kennel 
Club, and associate members A. Clinton Wilmerding, H. 
K. Bloodgood and G. W. H. Ritchie. 
The applications of the New Orleans Fox Terrier Club 
and the Joliet Kennel Club for membership were ap- 
proved. The committee on membership also approved of 
the credentials of Mr. A. P. Bagley, filed by the St. Ber- 
nard Club of California, and Mr. E. M. Oldliam, filed by 
the St. Bernard Club of America. Mr. Oldham declined 
to act, saying that he had neither the time nor inclination 
to serve. Mr. Bagley was elected. The following gentle- 
men were appointed to constitute a special committee to 
represent the A. K. C. on the Pacific Coast: John E. de 
Ruyter, chairman; N. H. Carlton, W. R. Cluness, Jr., J. 
P. Norman, C. M. Grey, M. C. Allan and C. A. Haight. 
The treasurer's report showed a balance on hand of 
$4,527-93. 
The stud book committee reported ten applications re- 
ceived for kennel names, and recommended that they be 
allowed. 
Reports were also made of minor business, such as 
claims of fictitious pedigrees, etc. The Pacific committee's 
report was then read by the secretary. The meeting was 
held at the Occidental Hotel, San Francisco, on Nov. 10. 
It requested authority to grant' dates for holding shows 
and to receive and hold, temporarily (subject to the order 
of the A. K. C.),-all funds that may come into the pos- 
session of said committee, in the discharge of its official 
functions ; to decide protests from rulings of bench show 
committees, etc. ; to initiate proceedings or to entertain 
complaints against any person or club in the matter of 
fraud, and to inflict such penalty as would be within 
the province of the A. K. C. 
The resignations of the Poodle Club of America and 
of the New England Field Trial Club were accepted. The 
question of calling on the clubs joining the Pacific Kennel 
League to show cause why they should not be dropped 
from A. K. C. membership was referred to the Pacific 
special committee. 
The matter of the New England Kennel Club's show 
was then taken up. The show was held at Braintree, 
Mass., on Oct. 14. On Sept. 8 the New England Kennel 
Club issued its premium list. The classification was cor- 
rect in every respect. On Sept. 22, the A. K. C. amended 
its rules, after having given a month's notice in the Ga- 
zette, that winners' classes, after having been published 
in the premium list, could not be changed. Twenty-two 
days later the show of the N. E. K. C. was held, and in 
ten classes they changed the winners' classes from those 
advertised in the premium list, and divided them by sex, 
which was clearly a violation of the then existing rules of 
the A. K. C. After some discussion, the secretary was 
instructed to cancel all illegal classes and wins. It was 
decided to continue the publication of the Gazette under 
its present arrangement for another year. 
A New Hampshire Fox Hunt. 
Ow<iH-oo-oo ! owgh-oo-00 ! owgh-oo-oo ! rung out the 
voice of old Sport. Owgh-oo-oo! owgh-oo-oo 1 » owgh- 
oo-oo ! 
The fox had been hunting for his supper, or early 
breakfast, through the pastures during the night, and 
now Sport was trying to unsnarl the tangle of his tracks. 
I had left New York in its snowdrifts, after the great 
November storm, and gone up through the beautiful Con- 
necticut Valley into the heart of the western New Hamp- 
shire hills. John and I had had breakfast and a four- 
mile sleigh ride before sunrise. The horse had been cared 
for at a farm high up on the hill, and now we were mak- 
ing our way up through the pastures toward the top of 
the mountain, but scarcely iooyds. had been crossed when 
the hillside rung with the owgh-oo-oo ! owgh-oo-oo ! 
owgh-oo-oo ! of the hound, and a few minutes later a 
short, snappy owgh I owgh ! owgh ! owgh ! owgh ! 
owgh ! owgh ! told us the fox was up and away toward 
the top of the ridge. 
"I'd give five dollars to be on the mountain now," said 
John, but neither five nor fifty would have purchased that 
privilege. More than a mile of snowdrifts lay between 
us and that goal, and much of the time we were in them 
to the hips, as we went wallowing and plunging along. 
Off came overcoats, then shooting jackets, then gloves, 
although the temperature was below freezing, and the 
wind blowing half a gale, and at last with sweat running 
down our faces and the writer nearly "winded," we 
reached the gap between the old mountain and the ridges 
to the west. 
From away beyond the ridges came the voice of Sport : 
Owgh ! owgh ! owgh ! owgh ! owgh ! owgh ! owgh ! 
roaring down the wind, now louder, now almost lost be- 
hind the southwestern hills, then again increasing to a 
roar as he came over a hilltop, and dying' down as he 
went into the woods or down into a valley. 
"Sh ! sh ! drop down behind the wall," whispered 
John. "There is a 'stray,' " and he pointed up the ridge. 
Coming down toward us on the great fence poles above 
the cross-wall was a big, red, white-whiskered fox. 
What a great fellow he was. and how big his head 
looked as he came, directly facing us, down the hill, step- 
ping lightly and carefully along the pole, leaving the least 
possible scent for a pursuing hound. Old Sport was not 
on his track, and he knew it, but he was taking all pos- 
sible precautions. Now he jumps from the wall to a 
rock, touching lightly on his toes, thence to a ledge, never 
touching the telltale snow. Now he steps or springs light- 
ly and slowlv from ledge to ledge. Now he stops and 
turns. He knows the hound is more than a mile away, 
and he is no hurry. "He is going to lie down," whispered 
John. No, the place does not quite suit him, and he goes 
lightly and carefully up to the top of the ridge and down 
the side of a spur, making to the south to a small spruce, 
behind which an almost perpendicular ledge rises 30yds. 
or more, and there he curls himself up under the ever- 
green branches, lifting his head from time to time and 
listening to the hound. 
If you think fox shooting unsportsmanlike, go and try 
it among the mountains of New Hampshire in Decem- 
ber, when they are in their prime, and the young foxes 
have got their "eye teeth cut," and the old ones are "fat 
and sassy." Match your craft against their cunning and 
you will be very likely to change your opinion. 
"There comes another one, John." 
Down the ledge on the first one's track comes a very 
handsome and very red fox. He stops on a nearby 
rock. The old red raises his head. They look at each 
other and apparently the newcomer's impressions are not 
favorable for closer acquaintance, for he jumps off the 
rock and trots leisurely down across the pasture. 
John creeps up, under cover of the wall and spruces, to 
cut him off, but he slips by behind the rocks and trees, not 
showing himself within gunshot, and goes on to the 
