148 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
and it is plainly apparent that the space occupied in the 
more prominent journals has been generously paid for. 
A syndicate to carry on the preliminary work is evidently 
already in existence, and is verj- likely composed of mem- 
bers from the Avealthy sporting clubs of Chicago, New 
York and other cities." 
That is surely a fine example of detective journalism! 
If the writer of it can point out a dollar that has been 
given by any ;man or club at this date, he can do better 
than anyone known here. As to pay for the space ttsed, 
you could not take $50,000, or twice that, and buy one- 
half the space that the Chicago pa]>ers alone liave ex- 
pended on this enterprise. It is plain to any but the jaun- 
diced eye that all these man.v great organs have done what 
they have done just as the Forest and Stkeam in its 
less extended but no less ardent fashion has done, its task, 
namely, from enterprise, from thoughtfulness and broa(i 
mindedness. When the entire press of Minnesota can be- 
come a unit in the belief that there is not the first selfish 
or personal motive in all this proposition, not the first 
personal scheme and not tlie first unfair intention, it will 
hare gone far toward ai-riving at that justice which should 
be dear to everyone, resident or non-resident, and as re 
gards,this or any other "scheme." 
Real Objects of the Proposed Park. 
In view of tlie distorted views wliich seem jjerforce to 
be taken by' some persons in regard to this Minnesota re- 
serve, it might be well to offer the following little list of 
intents and purposes, which have seemed appropriate in 
the opinion of a Chicago gentleman, who hands them 
to me: 
First. — The preservation of the head waters ol the Mis- 
sissippi River. 
Second. — ^The preservation of as much of the now 
standing timber as is possible without interfering with 
existing ownership. 
Third. — ^Prevention of destruction by fire of all trees 
within this district. 
Fourth. — The setting apart of this district for all people 
for all time,, for their free use either for health or pleasure. 
Fifth. — The preserv^ation of fish and game. 
The idea of a "steal" for a "few sporting men" seems 
not to be quite just in view of the above balancing mo- 
tives and reasons for this park. The Forest and Stream 
is a sporting paper, and much concerned with fish and 
game and their preservation; but perhaps the Forest and 
Stream may claim to be run by thinking men and men 
who tr}^ to be fair minded. No doubt the result of this 
movement, in so far as it shall be rfjached by thinking and 
fair minded methods, will satisfy this journal and all those 
who have given up time and money to the pursuit of 
what seems fairly and on a thinking basis to be a desira- 
ble and important movement. There has been no piece 
of outdoor news of similar interest and magnitude in the 
last ten years of Western progress. 
Killing Summer Deer. 
I can see no especial use in making up the contributions 
for the Hottentots and Eskimo so long as we have so 
many heathen near at home. The residents of the region 
near Glen Flora, in Barron county. Wis., have been stead- 
ily killing deer for the last six weeks. Deputy Stone, of 
that county, this week took out warrants for several citi- 
zens and is now after them. It stated that over 100 
deer have been killed this summer in that vicinity. One 
gentleman by the name of BilHngs went out hunting on 
Sunday and killed a doe which had a fawn three days old, 
which was following her, and which died soon after the 
doe was killed. Mr. Billings has been arrested, and his 
trial should by this' time have been completed. I hope 
he got the limit of the law. 
E. Hough. 
480 Caxton Building, Chicago, 111. 
Robinson, but I hope their articles will continue to grace 
the columns of Forest and Stream, though all the 
moose and bear butchers of Maine be crowded out. 
DlDYMUS. 
St. Augustine, August. 
Sportsman Again* 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
If you and Ransacker want to get up a wordy war over 
the definition of that indefinable word "sportsman" I 
have no right to stick my finger in the pie, but I see a 
bit of fun lurking in it, and I want to keep it going. Now 
Ransacker knows bees from head to tail, and when he 
sets about monkeying with those little California sharp- 
tails I can almost hear them buzz. His experience would 
qualif}'^ him to define a bee hunter to a dot, but when he 
gets through with his definition of a "sportsman" may 
I be alive to see it! I don't want to rub his hair the 
wrong way, for he might stick me with his pointed wit 
worse than the bees stuck him. The common definition 
of "sportsman" is "men who shoot," and I would let it 
go at that; but it doesn't seem to satisfy Ransacker, and 
he'll be likely to spread over a dozen sheets of paper be- 
fore he settles on anything to satisfy himself. 
Definitions, like charity, begin at home, and I call 
myself a sportsman because from my youth up I've been 
considered an expert in all kinds of small game shooting; 
and no man this side of the North Pole has enjoj^ed the 
pleasures connected with it more than I; but elephant and 
Hon hunters would scorn to apply the name of sports- 
man to me. 
Many of the finest shots IS e ever known could only 
now and then find time to go afield; but must I refuse 
to call them, sportsmen because they're not unceasingly 
at it? Shall we call that most contemptible exterminating 
loafer, the market-hiniter, who makes it the business of his 
life and gets no real pleasure from it, a sportsman.'^ 
-What must we call the professional pigeon slaughterers, 
whose chief delight is in winning money from each other 
and who in difficult cover would probably be no shots 
at all? They are certainly not sportsmen. 
Now I don't want to see the pages of Forest and 
Stream stuffed exclusively with either truths or lies 
pertaining to fir. fins and feathers, for many such con- 
tributions, unless well written, bore me, A certain article 
about Shasta Mountain bees rnay not have been written 
by a sportsman, but I don't remember anything in the 
Goluitins of Forest ajtd Stream that has tickled my 
fancy more, unless it was the "Boyhood Days" of 
Podgers. 
I don't know whether Ransacker would be willing to 
apply the title of sportsman to the always interesting 
Fred Mather, or to the equally entertaining Rowland 
Quebec Game for Paris. 
BostoNj Aug. 14. — Dr. Heber Bishop now has in his 
hands an unique commission, He is to collect for the 
Canadian Commission specimens of the big game of that 
region for the Paris Exposition next year. The text 
of the permit is as follows : "Quebec, July 18, 1899. — Dr. 
Heber Bishop is hereby authorized to kill, in all seasons 
and in any part of the Province, one moose, one caribou 
and one deer, for the Quebec exhibit at the Paris Exposi- 
tion. L. 2. Joncas, Superintendent of Forests, Fisheries 
and Game for the Province of Quebec." 
The cipmmision could scarcely have fallen into better 
hands, ,since Dr. Bishop is thoroughly familiar with the 
big game of the Canadian Province, as well as Maine. 
His record of game shot already includes fifteen bull 
moose and twenty-four caribou, besides innumerable deer. 
Liis last bull moose will be remembered to have been on 
exhibition at the New York Sportsmen's Show last 
spring. The monster was reported to have weighed 
ViSoolbs, The specimens for the exposition are to be as 
large and fine as possible; one each of moose, deer and 
caribou, it is deemed necessary to .show the horns in the 
velvet; hence taking the animals in close time is permitted. 
The Doctor starts on the isth inst. to make the collection. 
He will take the deer from the Megantic preserve, where 
the animals are very plenty. The moose and caribou will 
be secured later. Dr. Bishop has probably slain more 
moose than any other sportsman now living, and doubt- 
less more than any other hunter in the world who has 
hunted for sport only. His moose and caribou hunting 
will be done at Temiscouata Lake, and at Gaspe on the 
southwest shore of the St. Lawrence Gulf. 
Chatham gunners are reported to be having very fair 
sport. The late stonn sent in some good flights of yellow- 
legs, but not many large birds have yet appeared. A 
couple of Boston gunners returned Saturday from a 
successful shoot in the vicinity of Ipswich Bay. They 
had about thirty yellowlegs, mostly summer ; several grass 
birds and five chicken plover. They found the shooting- 
good Wednesday and Thursday, especially the latter day. 
The birds responded freely to calling, in the fog and 
rain. Plum Island gunners are also getting a fair shoAV- 
ing of birds, though they say that large birds are not yet 
present in abundance. Reports of partridges in Maine 
continue to be the best for many seasons. Special. 
Proprietors of fishing and hunting resorts will find it profitable 
to advertise them in Forest and Stream. 
Fishing for Muskalonge. 
The irrepressible man who is never tired of fishing, 
the genius who has the patience and enthusiasm to wait 
for trout among the mountain streams, should for once 
try fishing for muskalonge. And then, as the little girl 
said in her prayer, after she had asked the Lord to make 
her a good girl, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try 
again." 
"And what is the attraction at Grand River?" I asked 
of two Pittsburg men whom I had casually met before. 
I wish I had asked this question in an unsuspecting man- 
ner. Such was my intention. 
"Lived there, ten miles from the river, all your life, and 
never caught a muskalonge!" exclaimed one. "Why, I've 
been there every summer for ten years." 
I felt it was a time for discretion as I quietly assented, 
while I recalled how in my early married life I had 
regularly for three summers left my wife to visit in Geneva 
while I went, as it were, in search of a, golden fleece. I 
I'emembered her facetious allusions and those of her 
relatives the last time I announced in the simplest man- 
ner compatible with my feelings that I believed I would 
take a few dajf^s over to the river and try for a muska- 
longe. 1 recalled too at the same time the fact that I 
didn't get a muskalonge, and that there were some more 
funny things said, and several jokes at my expense about 
muskalonge — all of which was very entertaining for the 
family, and made a jovial atmosphere that lingers about 
ine still. But the old word, like a battle cry, aroused 
feelings that had been suppressed for j^ears. 
'And do you think, gentlemen, there arc any muska- 
longe in Grand River?" I inquired incredulously. 
"Think it, man! Do you suppose I would be such a 
darn fool as to go there every summer if there wasn't?" 
That was enough. The river was full of them, hungry 
and eager for bait; so at their urgent invitation to join 
them I wired to my wife that "LTnexpected and important 
business would detain me a few days," and gave myself 
cntireiv to the matter at hand. 
Arriving at Geneva, Ohio, on the evening train, we were 
met by a man from Mechanicsville, who hari agreed for 
a moderate compensation to furnish tlie three essentials — 
beds, board and boats. 
The nights were nights ol suttering, owing to mos- 
quitoes, from which we had no protection; but the days 
passed in the hot sunshine and the vigorous exercise did 
as much for bodily health as a trip to Canada. 
To fish for muskalonge one must put aside all thought 
of languid ease and restful loiterings. It is not to sit 
on a shady bank and bait one's hook in quiet, disturbed 
only by busy flies and warbling mosquitoes. There is 
the constant rowing for one man, while for the otlier to 
see he keeps clear of snags. This is not possible in Grand 
River, as in spite of great care and familiarity the trolling 
hook will catch snag.s, atid it is always more or less trouble 
and time is lost. 
We had two boats, with two men for each boat, and 
took our turn at rowing. It is one thing to get one of 
these strong members of the pike family on the trolling 
hook and quite another to get him up to the boat, gaff 
him and draw hitri in without falling overboard yourself 
or loslfigihe' fish. They are ugly creatures, and they 
fight for their lives. 
The first day there was no luck for anybody. The 
second day one of the Pittsburg fellows caught a 10- 
pounder, but nobody envied him, for we all expected 
a bigger one. The third day the ssjne man got in two 
smaller ones. The fourth day the other Pittsburg man- 
got a 15-pounder, which he had to shoot before he could 
get him into the boat. On the fifth day we had no strikes 
at all, and were ready to quit. 
I felt my evil genius had followed me, as was her cus- 
tom on similar occasions. Evening found me sitting pen- 
sively on a wash bench in front of the shanty, with beard 
of a week's growth, a sun-burned face, blistered hands 
and altogether miserable. I thought I would buy my 
wife a diamond ring before I went home, and perhaps she 
might for once forget her little jokes about the expense 
of fishing tackle. I was very humble. 
The sixth and last morning of our stay I took my place 
in the boat. "You're no Jonah," said the Pittsburg fel- 
low; "other people can get fish in the same boat with you, 
that's something to be thankful for," adding as he pulled 
the boat into the stream, "let out your line there." 
Perhaps 1 had let out 30ft., when a sudden pull on the 
line made me exclaim, "That's no snag! Great Scott! 
I never had a muskalonge on my line, but if this isn't 
a muskalonge it's a whale." The boys, good fellows 
they were too, helped me get the line in, but for myself I 
gaffed the creature in genuine savage delight. 
There it lay, at last, a helpless victim of my ambition. 
It weighed 3olbs. — the largest fish taken out of Grand 
River in ten years. All the disappointments of former 
years were as nothing. T threw up my hat and yelled. 
That night I laid my "golden fleece," as it were, at the 
feet of my wife. I hardly know what greeting I looked 
for; but what do you think she said? 
She said it was "unexpected," but it did not strike her 
as being very "important." Won will notice I had for- 
gotten about the diamond ring. 
The little boys, God bless 'em, they were as proud of me 
as though I had bought out Barnum's show. They 
really loved me for it, but what was a great deal better it made 
me love myself. F. L. Wright. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Profits from the "Watet. 
From time to time some one asks the value of the fisheries 
product per acre of water, or how it is computed or some 
other question akin to it, and always I reply with the 
utmost frankness, "I do not know." All these questions 
arise, doubtless, from a statement printed years ago that 
the value of the product from an acre of water was 
greater than the value of the product from an acre of 
land. The statement was alleged to have been made by 
Prof. Baird at the time he was Commissioner of Fisheries 
of the United States, and he might with truth have said 
that one acre of water would produce in value more than 
five acres of land, and selected the water of an oyster 
bed for one and a sand barren for the other, but Prof^ 
Baird was not that kind of a man. He may have said 
something like what he is credited with, but I have 
searched industriously to find it, and so far have found 
nothing. We know that all land is not good land, and 
some land is cultivated and some not, and this is true of 
water, and I doubt if Prof Baird or anyone else that knew 
anything about it ever said tliat all water would produce 
a product of greater value per acre than land, for without 
doubt there was some qualification to the statement, who- 
ever made it, for there are so many ways in which it 
could be qualified. Interesting as the subject is, it would 
be most difficult to arrive at figures of value by which 
land products could be compared with water products and 
make^one general statement of comparison such as usually 
sough't, but I recently found in a newspaper an article 
about the value of the fisheries of the North Sea, which 
seems to be reliable and gives a good idea of the value of 
sea fisheries where there is probably no aid from artificial 
cultivation. The item is quoted from an article by Prof. 
Hetisens, in the German geographical periodical Globus, 
and gives the yearly catch of fish in the North Sea as 
never below the value of $37,500,000, and never abovp 
$45,000,000, and the area of the sea is 225,884' square 
miles ; "therefore, the average value of the North Sea 
fisheries each year is $18.15 pc square mile." The article 
continues ; "Thus all the natives around the North Sea 
share in the wealth it yields, and it gives some idea of the 
direct monetary value of this great watery waste to know 
that every square mile of it adds over $18 a j'ear to the 
production of the nations living along its edge." In^ 
deed, a goodlj' portion of the sea must be a water3'- wast& 
so far as furnishing fish is concerned, but the figures 
quoted give a better idea of the value of sea products 
when reduced to fixed area than anything I now recall. 
This year I stood on the shore of a pond on Long Is- 
land which covered, I should say, about three acres, and 
the owner said that last year he sold from it trout for 
which he received over $1,000, and every j^ear he received 
about that sum, sometimes a little more and sometimes 
a little less, for the trout he sold from the pond. In my 
judgment the pond lacked spawning grounds for the 
trout to keep the supply up to the standard the owner 
had evidently set for his annual supply for market, but he 
said he had put in but very few fry from outside sources, 
The chief labor in connection with his trout rearing was' 
to supplv the pond with fish food in the form of salt- 
water minnows, and as the tide came up nearly to his 
pond this was a small item of expense. 
Lac Goddard. 
The Triton Club, of Canada, has a large tract which 
has been explored only in part, and when a new lake is 
discovered on the territory controlled by the club it re- 
ceives the name of the discoverer, if he be a club mem- 
ber, or if the lake should be discovered by a club 
guardian or guide it is named after some member. Last 
year it happened that, Mr. Wancn N. Goddard, of New 
'fork, of fly-casting fame, and Mr. Walter C Witherbec 
of Port Henry, two officers of the club, and the writer 
were fishing on the dub waters at a time when there wa- 
a Lake Witherbee and a Lake Cheney, but no Lake God- 
dard. In the fall of the same year Mr. Goddard and the 
writer rtturtied to the club with the intention of goinr- 
