May 20, 1899.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
S87 
tribute territory otherwise wortliless. The real pur- 
pose ill all these movements is to preserve the wilder- 
ness, and in this the men of Minnesota will act as they 
tliink to the best interest of their State. These _ would 
seem to be not antagonistic to the broader proposition. 
A M.cWgan Public Park. 
The. progressive Slate of Michigan is in no wise be- 
hind the front in any matter of intelligent progress. 
The Michigan Legislature has now in its hands a bill pro- 
posing the establishment of a great public park, com- 
prising nearly a million acres of land in the counties of 
Wexford, Manistee, Lake, Newaygo, Oceana and Mason. 
These lands are to be withdrawn from settlement, and set 
apart as the perpetual pleasure ground for the enjoy- 
ment of the people, for the preservation of the growing 
timber, and for the propagation and preservation of 
game and fish. This park, if established, will be under 
the control of a commission of five members, the latter 
to be appointed by the Governor. Restricted building 
permits may be issued. Indeed, the laws governing this 
proposed park would appear to be similar to those con- 
trolling the Yellowstone National Park, with the further 
addition of the Michigan license idea. It will be un- 
lawful to hunt or trap on the reserve, but fishing licenses 
may be secured, the price being $5 for non-residents and 
$1 for residents of the State of Michigan. There are 
some splendid trout streams included in the proposed 
tract, and these will be eagerly sought by many anglers, 
so that it is thought the license fee will raise a great 
fund for the necessary expense of conducting the park. 
I do not know what likelihood this measure has of be- 
coming a law, but if it is passed and the park established, 
there would be unquestioned benefit to the State. Thus 
it seems that we are having the preserve idea and the 
license idea also of¥ered to us in the West, and it is only 
fair to say that both of these ideas are advancing with 
rapid strides. 
Wisconsin Features. 
I do not know how non-residents are going to like 
the new Wisconsin law, but it seems to be red hot and 
air tight. An excellent clause is that giving the warden 
the right to search without warrant. Still another good 
feature is the improvement of the tagging clause con- 
trolling the shipping of deer. There is a strong leaning 
toward drawing the line tighter and tighter in shooting 
matters in this State. For a long time I urged upon 
shooting clubs in Wisconsin to place a limit upon the. 
bag of ducks, as is done in many of the first-class clubs 
all over the country to-day. Many club members re- 
plied that they did not believe- in limiting the bag, as 
duck shooting was an uncertain thing, and they wanted 
to kill all they could when they got a chance. The 
State of W^isconsin has now done a little thinking for 
itself, and for everybody else on tliis head. The non- 
resident deer hunter will pay $25 license in the State of 
Winconsin. The non-resident hunter for any other 
sort of game will pay a $10 license. He will have to 
content himself with two deer or fifty birds, and if they 
go out of the State the hunter will have to go with them. 
Cold storage of game in close season is forbidden. When 
you look at this Wisconsin law it seems to be a mighty 
good one, and I hope that it will work. 
Yellowstone Park Buffalo, 
Mr. Ben D. Sheffield, of Livingston, Mont., a guide 
well known in that section, paid me a visit this week. 
Mr. Sheffield is in and about the Park much of the time, 
and is familiar with the game of that region. He tells 
me that the buffalo of the Park appear doomed to ex- 
tinction. Every once in a while one is seen outside the 
Park to the south or west, and after that it does not last 
long. The soldiers tell him that to the best of their 
knowledge there are about only twenty-five buffalo left 
in the Park. 
Killed A Gfizzly. 
Bill Clark, an old-time pioneer and hunter, killed a 
grizzly bear last week on the divide at the head of 
Gladstone Creek. This bear measured 9ft. across the 
arms, 9ft. along the middle of the back, and is said to 
have weighed between 700 and Soolbs. Mr. Clark says 
that this is the only real grizzly bear he ever saw east 
of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Its fur was a dark 
gray color. Nearly all the mountain hunters express 
the same belief about the grizzly bear, and make a dis- 
tinction between it and the silvertip. Thus 'Mr. Sheffield, 
to whom I have above referred, states that the silvertip is 
smaller than the grizzly, and that the "grizzly is never 
seen east of the range." The hunters and naturalists 
never did agree. If Mr. Clark's bear be reported cor- 
rectly, it would seem to be big enough for a grizzly, for 
it measured more than a foot across the head between 
the ears. Silvertip or grizzly, it was likewise a peach. 
E. PIOUGH. 
480 Caxton Building, Chicago, 111. 
The Wyommgf Non-Resident Law, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Not long ago, in an editorial on the new Wyoming 
game law, you said that there was no penalty for hunting 
without a license. Section 14 says : 
"Each act of pursuing, hunting, or killing any of the 
animals mentioned in this section, without a license, as 
herein provided for, shall be considered a distinct and 
separate offense." 
"Any person or persons violating any of the provisions 
of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and upon cotiviction thereof, shall be fined in any sum 
not less than $25 nor more than $100, or by imprisonment 
in the county jail not less than ten nor more than ninety 
days, or by both such fine and imprisonment" 
Does not this cover hunting without a license? 
Wm. Wells. 
That's What it Looks Like. 
Boston May I.— Editor Forest and Stream: I have just see 
a cop}' of the Brief and Woodcraft^ and I think it will be a sui 
winner. There is room for just such a magazine. 
— C. Hajiry Morse, 
Seth Armitage and his Mud Shoes. 
"SPEAiaNG of original geniuses," said Mr. Eason 
Beacham, manager of Park & Tilford's Seventy-second 
street store, "Seth Armitage,. of Mariposa, Ont., holds a 
place all by himself. 
"I spend my vacation at Mariposa, and I see a good 
deal of Seth, for both Seth and I are fond of shooting 
and fishing. Seth is notninally a fanner; but he might 
as well be called a horse doctor, deacon, mechanic, pro- 
fessional hunter or half a dozen other things. In fact, it 
would be hard to suggest a calling of which Seth does 
not know something, 
"He is a great hand at praying for rain in a dry sum- 
mer, and he is equally good at hauling wood for the 
cross-roads church in winter, and for years past no har- 
vest bee, binding bee, logging bee or barn raising has 
been complete without Seth Armitage. 
"When a neighbor's mowing machine breaks down or 
the kitchen clock gets a fit of the sulks, the things are 
shipped right over to Seth, and he never has any trouble 
in putting them in working order again. He rides a 
bicycle that is partly of his own construction, makes 
missing parts for a watch or a gun, and is as good a 
mechanic as he is a naturalist or herb doctor. 
"Above all things, Seth loves shooting and fishing, 
Two years ago he was very much behind-hand with his 
harvest. He started one morning to cut a field of grain 
that was over-ripe and shucking. A friend came along 
THE MUD SHOES IN ACTION. 
bound on a fishing trip and asked Seth to join him. It 
was the kind of an invitation Seth never refused. 'Hold 
on a minute, till I take out my horses,' he said, 'and I'll 
be with you. This grain ought to have been cut a week 
ago, but it's stood so long now I guess another day 
won't make much dift'erence.' 
"The day his daughter married Seth left the wedding- 
party on the way to the church to go on a bear hunt, 
and he has always considered it a piece of good judg- 
ment on his part, a sort of killing two birds with one 
stone, for while the girl got married he got his bear. 
"Seth's hunting and fishing territory is mostly about 
Goose Lake, which lies only a rifle shot from his home. 
This used to be a great rendezvous for Indians, but now 
only a few come there each year. It is quite a large body 
of water, but its shores are swampy, and the open water 
ia everywhere surrounded by quaking bogs that cannot 
be crossed by man or beast. A dog cannot even get 
across to retrieve ducks shot over the water. 
"The lake is on the line of the wildfowl migration, and 
is full of ducks and geese each spring and fall. To enable 
him to hunt them successfully, and also fish, Seth has de- 
vised what he calls mud shoes. These shoes are canoe- 
shaped affairs, made of ^in. basswood, 7 or 8ft. in length. 
Each one is provided with a band for fastening it to the 
foot, something on the principle of a snowshoe thong. 
The shoes are very light and easily carried. 
"When Seth reaches the shores of Goose Lake he 
slips his feet into the gearing and glides over the bogs 
and rushes and lilypads that lie further out much as a 
skee runner travels over snow.' On gaining the open 
water, he sits down on a board laid crosswise over the 
shoes, and propels himself with a paddle. The shoes are 
then as stable and seaworthy as a catamaran. 
"His gun is carried in the hollow of one of the shoes, 
and he generally stands erect when shooting. The shoes 
are exactly adapted to the peculiar conditions of Goose 
Lake, with its bogs and unfathomable mud, and Seth en- 
joys good sport at times when his neighbors can only 
look on and envy him," J. B. Burnham. 
Indians and Game. 
Wells, P. O., Uinta, Co., Wyo., — Editor Forest and 
Stream: As under existing conditions there is sure to 
be a fight with the Shoshones and Bannocks in the 
spring, I will put you in possession of the facts, in hopes 
that something may be dome to keep the Indians on the 
i-eservation. 
The Indians come in as soon as the snow will let them. 
Some of them have passes to hunt horses, some passes 
between Ft. Hall and Ft. Washakie, some no passes at all. 
No Indian horses range here, as they would winter kill. 
The Indians pay no attention to the game laws^ but kill 
cow and calf elk, 
In August last year, while I was away, a band of In- 
dians, ten or twelve men and some women, camped about 
eight miles north of my place. As they were killing elk 
for the hides, a game warden from Wind River, named 
Pyle, came over, got eight men at my camp, and tried 
to make an arrest. The men from my camp were all 
tenderfeet but one, Ed. Hill. The Indians showed fight, 
the warden ran away at the first yell, and Ed. Hill, see- 
ing that the Indians had them outflanked, told the boys 
that they had better pull out. Ed. left his gun and went 
over and had a talk. The Indians were very abusive and 
said that they were ready to fight. 
All through the fall the country was full of Indians. 
The first week in October Ed. Hill and Nelson Yarnell 
came in from Wind River and reported a camp of In- 
dians near where the row had been in August. Yarnell 
said that the Indians were over for trouble, so we sent 
word to Jackson's Hole, and fourteen men, including D. 
C. Nowlin, our member of the Legislature, and Wm. La 
Plant, the Justice of the Peace, came over. The next 
morning eighteen of us went up to the Indians' camp, but 
they had pulled out. They had three tepees out in an 
open park, and nine more back in the timber out of sight. 
This meant about twenty-five or thirty men, and it was a 
very pretty trap for a party like ours if we had ridden 
up to the three tepees and attempted to make an arrest. 
We scouted the country north and west to Warm Spring 
Creek, but could not locate the Indian camp. Albert 
Nelson, now State game warden, was with me in ad- 
vance. There was some snow here and there, and the 
creeks were skimmed with ice. There was a mounted 
Indian scouting our advance, and the flank scouts re- 
ported the same thing. There is no doubt but that they 
had a trap ready for us somewhere. 
Now you can see very plainly that if we want to protect 
our game this thing has got to stop. So when the trou- 
ble starts in the spring, please understand that we have 
done all we can to keep the Indians out without a fight. 
Wm. Wells. 
Rhode Island Game Commission. 
Provibence, Rhode Island, May 11. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have introduced into the Senate a bill ap- 
pointing birdcommissioners, which I think will have a good 
eflfect, as we intend to have men appointed who are 
thorough sportsmen, and who are willing to do this with- 
out compensation, for the present at least. The measure 
reads : 
"Section i. In the month of June, 1899, and every 
three years thereafter, the Governor shall appoint five 
commissioners to serve without compensation, one from 
each county of the State, to be known as Commissioners 
of Birds, who shall hold office for three years or until 
their successors are appointed. 
"Sec. 2. The Commissioners of Birds shall protect birds 
tliroughout the State, and shall cause to be prosecuted for 
the violation of the provisions of this chapter and of the 
laws of this State concerning birds. Said commissioners 
whencA'er complaint is made by them or either of them, or 
by their deputies of a violation of any of the provisions 
of this chapter, shall not be required either by themselves 
or by their deputies to furnish surety for costs or be 
liable for costs on such complaint. 
"Sec. 3. Said commissioners shall appoint such num- 
ber of deputies in each county as they shall see fit, and 
shall issue commissions under their hands to said deputies, 
empowering them to execute the duties of such office and 
shall record the names of said deputies with the Secretary 
of State. It shall be the dutj'- of every such deputy to 
arrest without warrant any person whom they shall find 
taking or killing, or shall have in their possession birds 
contrary to the provisions of this act. 
"Sec. 4. Any deputy appointed by the Commissioners 
of Birds as hereinbefore provided may, without warrant, 
seize any birds found in the possession of any person at any 
time when the killing of such birds is prohibited by law." 
N. F. Reiner. 
Mastigouche Club. 
President H. W. Atwater, of Montreal, sends us a copy 
of his annual report to the members of the Mastigouche 
Fish and Game Club, whose preserves are at St. Gabriel 
de Brandon, Province of Quebec. In the course of the 
report he says: "We are on a sound financial basis 
(something exceptional with clubs of our description). 
A large amount of work of a permanent character has been 
done through the season to put our property in good 
working order, and all tending to the actual comfort of 
our members. The lease from the Government has been 
renewed for a further term of ten years. They have also 
granted us permission to take fish from the lower reaches 
of the river to stock the lakes above the Great Chute. 
By this means, in a few years' time, our fishing territory 
will be doubled. 
"The house committee have closed up 'Lac Eau Claire' 
and 'Lac la Chance' for the space of two years, and in- 
asmuch as our territory comprises a large number of 
lakes, they propose to gradually continue this rule to all 
the smaller lakes. In this simple manner, along with the 
restrictions put upon members relative to the size and 
number of fish to be taken, a very short time will elapse 
before our lakes will abound with fish, and we may look 
forward to having a preserve that will be hard to equal, 
even in the land of Canada. 
"The house committee propose to open the club house 
ready for the reception of members on May 20 next, and 
they hope to have a good representation of members 
present." 
