Dec. 9, 1899.] 
t 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
47S 
would be our duty, and we would not hesitate so to hold. 
But we think the fair and reasonable and just construc- 
tion of the act of Assembly is plainly to the contrary. 
The defendant has asked us to find a number of facts 
and to answer certain requests of law. Our answer is 
that the findings of fact and ansWera. of Jaw are fully cov- 
ered by this opinion. 
And now, Nov. 15, 1899, for the reasons above given, 
it is adjudged that the conviction o£ the defendant and the 
judgment against him be reversed and the proceeding in 
this case be set aside. 
By the Court. Allem Craig, Pres. Judge. 
''An Experience at Roberval." 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
My attention has been drawn to an article in your issue 
of 25th inst., under the heading of "An Experience at 
Roberval," from Messrs. C. P. M. Rumford and Robert 
R. Logan, complaining of the charges made in our ac- 
count against them while on a visit to Roberval last 
summer. 
I thought that by this time they had become reconciled 
to the objections they made to a settlement of an account 
presented them for camping charges in connection with 
a trip they took up the Mistassini River last summer, but 
since they have thought it necessary to air their views 
in your paper, it is only fair that the other side of the 
question should be known. , 
Those two gentlemen state that they visited the Lake 
St. John country two years since and went out camp- 
ing under the arrangements of the hotel at the rate of 
$7 per day each, which is correct. This rate of $7 per 
day is a fixed arrangement, and covers the wages of two 
guides and the use of canoe that we 'provide each sports- 
man, and includes the cost of prwisions and use of camp- 
ing equipment for a trip — nothing extra being charged 
for the privilege of fishing on- oiir waters. 
Some months previous to their visit to Roberval last 
summer, Mr. Rumford wrote us, asking if the hotel and 
fishing territory were open to guests as in other j'ears, 
and I replied that our hotels and fishing controlled by the 
proprietor were open to guests under the usual arrange- 
ments. Those two sportsmen came ii). among other 
arrivals at the hotel one afternoon in the month of 
August last, and were assigned to rooms, and the next 
morning they left the hotel hurriedly without saying that 
they were going out on our waters under their own ar- 
rangements. They left the house without seeking any 
information, mind you, and without giving us a chance to 
be interested in the trip, and owing to the multiplicity of 
letters we receive and answer, the correspondence we had 
with Mr. Rumford some time previous was overlooked. 
Upon their return to the hotel we presented them with a 
bill for camping charges for the number of days that they 
were out at the rate of $7 per day each, with an allow- 
ance deducted for the entire disbursements that we would 
have made in connection with the trip had we fitted them 
out. So much for police protection. Had they paid the 
guides the standard rate of wages, the outing, including 
the bill they paid us, would have panned out about $7 
per day, but unfortunately for themselves, they had 
treated direct with the guides, unknown to the hotel, and 
I believe paid them twice what the men were accustomed 
to receive from us for their services. This is where the 
outrage comes in, and since it was their own creation they 
should not blame anybody else for their mistakes. Not- 
withstanding their plea of ignorance of existing cir- 
cumstances and law, they were told that the fishing con- 
trolled by the proprietor was open to guests under the 
usual arrangements. They should, therefore, have made 
arrangements with us for their trip up-river, but in order 
to have a cheaper outing than the hotel could afford to 
give them, they undertook, as they admit in their letter 
to your paper, to reduce the cost of the trip by treating 
direct with the guides, with the result above stated. They 
did not get permission from us to go out on those waters 
Under such circumstances, and as far as I knoWi^ did not 
look for consent from anybody else. 
Your correspondents state that they were allowed to 
believe that $5 per day, out of the $7 per day rate, went 
to the guides, and the balance was applied for provisions. 
The idea is ridiculous. If such were the case, where 
would the profit come in for the hotel ? Do Messrs. Rum- 
ford and Logan expect that we should give everything for 
nothing? Whatever business or profession they follow, I 
am quite satisfied that they do not do everything for 
nothing. If they spent their vacation within the hotel, in- 
stead of camping out up river, would they expect us to 
figure out what the food, etc., they consumed cost, and 
allow no margin for profit in making our rates for board? 
It cost the proprietor 4 lot of money to establish the 
hotels at the lake and to secure the fishing rights he 
controls, and no true sportsman should expect us to do 
everything for cost price. 
If we allowed sportsmen who sunply stay over night 
at the hotel the day of their arrival for the purpose of 
making it ^ starting point, to take a trip on our waters 
under their own arrangements, it would be rather a 
generous way of doing business. 
When Messrs. Rumford and Logan make the statement 
that the cpuntry is void of large game, it should be remem- 
bered that they are not in a frame of mind to bestow 
compliments on out institutions, and for their information 
and benefit I would say that after their departure from 
Roberval we fitted out other guests who went into the 
woods after fish and big game, and they returned report- 
ing excellent luck in both directions. I might also add 
that one of our employees who was up to Lake St. 
John quite recently met many residents of the place who 
reported moose and caribou roaming around in large 
herds. 
T trust that you wilJ gi\^ this publication in your 
valuable paper, and that it will place us in a correct posi- 
tion before your readers, 
H. G. Beemer, Manager of Hotels. 
QvB,»fC, Nov; 2T, " 
The To«EST AXB Strbajc is p«t to presf each «re«k on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended f<>r publication should reach us at the 
(ftt^t b7 Hoaday iad u tniwk euUer u (^caetieihla. _ . 
Fishing Up and Down the Potomac. 
■w 
*'Good Hunting," 
Kipling's salutation of the jungle peoples is a fitting 
comment on the records of the week on and by Potomac 
waters. 
The largest small-mouth bass of the season was taken 
in tide water at Analostan, or Little, River, opposite 
Georgetown, just inside the causeway. ' The fish was 19 
inches long, and plump, weighing s pounds ounces. 
Its mouth, stretched, would just accommodate an average 
lemon; a big-mouth of the same weight would take a fist. 
This bass carried spawn and the vent inflamed as in the 
spring season. It is interesting to note that both large 
and small-mouth have been taken in tide water carrying 
spawn in the fall. Whether these are prematurely cast and 
iost, or development checked when the hard weather 
comes, is not clear, as the Commission has had too little 
opportunity for observation with this fish in its new hab- 
itat. 
This "top-liner" was taken by Samuel Kidwell and 
James Gallagher, with live bait. They caught fifteen 
"handles a roDj gun or paddle. 
fish, the smallest, x}^ pounds, and all large-niouth ex- 
cept this one. 
Another small-mouth of 5 pounds was reported taken 
at Sycamore Island, above Little Falls, but as on the 
following day_it was quoted at 6 pounds 6 ounces, the 
record is spoiled. Abnormal growth of this sort has 
given to the fisherman a reputation he does not deserve, 
for investigation proves the taradiddle is always the in- 
vention of the man who did not catch the fish. 
Occoquan continues to furnish famous strings of big- 
mouth bass, and also a mild sensation in a report that 
some of the citizens were using dynamite to capture fish. 
It is said that four sticks fired off below the town resulted 
in a total of half a dozen carp. This of course djd 
QUANTICO. 
not measure the destruction, as the fish with ruptured 
air-bladders would sink, and indeed it is rumored that 
quantities of fish of all kinds and sizes were washed 
ashore. This may not be true. 
No arrests were made, as it is claimed Virginia has 
no law against this outrage that has been legislated 
against in so many of the States. Two defenses were 
made by the guilty parties to their indignant neighbors. 
One that they wanted meat, and the other that they were 
tired seeing so many strangers coming down to rob them 
of their fish. This latter is unjust, since every party left 
more money in the little place than would have pur- 
chased the fish caught. 
The bass were not their private property, ' but were 
put into State waters from the outside with appropria- 
tions levied on 75.000,000 people. Without the bass the 
little town would be deader than it is. With the reputa- 
tion this season has given it it promises next year to be 
•the most frequented place on the river. But thete must 
be no more fishing' with explosives. 
The brutality of a method that destroys so much to 
realize' so little so outrages public sentiment that it can 
never "be practiced where more than two or three are 
gathered together. 
Mm^ of the little runs on both sides of the Pototnac 
afft betn^ netted and furnishing so many barrels of bass 
(Hit this market has been overstocked, and ship«stnts ^re 
being made to Philadelphia and other outsfde points. 
The average weight of the catch is roughly estimated at 
ij4 pounds, though 5 and 6-pounders are ,riot uncom- 
mon. . , , ■ ' - 
Prof. Wilkinson,' Who has been for thirty yearis an ex- 
aminer in the ; Patent Of^icCj, and is the Dean of the 
corps, with ) his colleague Mr. Mason, tempted by the 
fairy stories/of big strings of bass on the lower Potuiuac, 
went down to Quantico to have a try. 
The great hotel there, with more than a hundred 
rooms, mtended by the ambitious land company which 
erected it as a rival to Old Point, is standing, but slightly 
disfigured. Racked by the blizzard of last year, the 
artificial stOne of which it is built disintegrated under a 
leak on the southern wall, and the end collapsed, settling 
to a mass of rubble, and has never been repaired. If 
one can overcome a nervous dread that the rest will follow 
suit before his .holiday is done, there are stili comfortable 
quarters to be found in it, and another season like the last 
will insure its restoration. 
The present owner, Mr. Max Lansburgh, with other 
more profitable interests to claim his attention, is en- 
tirely indifferent to its condition, but there is much talk 
of organizing a club to be located here. It is so easy 
of access that if made attractive the great plenty of bass 
and other fish which has so advertised it this year will 
insure good seasons till poaching netters. spoil it again. 
The hotel contains several objects of interest, including 
a bed room set intended for Dom Pedro of Brazil, with 
his monogram on the canopy. The bed is a massive 
pile of carved curly walnut 14 feet high that cost $1,500. 
The front of the canopy is 3 or 4 feet deep, and there are 
niches lor statuettes and insets of onyx in the pillars at 
the foot. The manufacturer failed to complete it within 
the time limit, and it was left on his hands. Mr. Lans- 
burgh, with bright hopes of making of this a popular 
resort, secured it for the "best room," but it was never 
set up; indeed, it is doubtful if any ceiling in the house 
would accommodate the monster. The shadow of 1893 
was already on us, and with another fond dream of that 
day this faded, but left this rack behind. 
There was here, too, a pier glass of heavy beveled 
plate, with an elaborate crystal frame, which had been 
an attractive exhibit at an inaugural ball, and was 
valued at $2,500. Strangely enough, this sold under a 
little judgment, and was carried bff; it probably cost 
more than the purchase price, $7.50, to load it on the 
vehicle that was to transport it over the country roads. 
All this has little to do with fishing, and yet the sur- 
roundings are a part of every fish we catch, 
A half mile north of the town an outlet to a Tittle 
marsh has been enlarged by an artificial canal, . now 
nearly choked with water lilies, and ■ into thi.= on the 
swelling tide the bass pour twice a day and feed on the 
frightened smelt in the pocket. ' ' 
If all the fish taken from this narrow channel this 
season could be at once restored they would so fill.it as 
to resenible those Alaskan streams where one is sup- 
posed to be able to walk over fish as over pontoons. 
Here Prof. Wilkinson's party, who were the last vis- 
itors here, took their fish and caught a goodly, string. 
The high hook for the day was Howard, the landlord's 
son, who secured one of above 4 pounds, the heaviest 
of the season here, with hook and line. This was good 
eating, as was duly attested by Charles Hallock^ Mr. 
Mason and the Professor, who discussed it with trim- 
mings next day for lunch, and further testimony se- 
cured that the big-mouth bass is not to be distinguished 
from the little-mouth on the platter with your eyes shut. 
Prof. Wilkinson uses a rod with a history — a salmon rod 
of split bamboo about 18 feet long, one of the first made 
by Leonard, valued then at $100 and given to Mr. Hal- 
lock, by whom it was presented to the Professor more 
than a_ quarter century ago. He has never used any 
other since, and the rod has been neither re-wrapped nor 
varnished in that time. It is still in excellent condition 
and seems good for another century, which shows those 
authors are right who contend that with mild usage and 
care a rod ought to last a man a lifetime. 
One of the most successful and ardent anglers of the 
season was a fifteen-year-old girl, whose portrait given 
shows her with another implement with which she is 
fairly expert. She has the advantage of unlimited time, 
but has the love of outdoors and probably more bass 
to her credit this year than most of the regulars. She 
, handles a rod, gun or paddle with creditable skill, and 
is a first-rate helper to manage a skiff or land a fish. 
There have been a good many ducks about, and can- 
vasbacks and redheads have been killed within rifle shot 
of Washington. Just off from Arsenal Point the other 
evening Tom Taylor, Jr., shot at what he thought was ^ 
duck, a fisherman, but it proved to be a wanderer from 
Labrador — Bruennich's ■jnurre (^Urta lomvig,), one of the 
auks. It was a beautiful bird, three-quarters grown,, in 
splendid plumage, but emaciated. It is seldom found 
south of New York, though three years ago they were 
picked up in Ohio and even South Carolina. This 
bird, sometimes called the foolish guillemot, for its 
feet are so far back it moves w^xih. difficulty on land and 
can be killed with clubs, forms an important article of 
diet with the Esquimaux. The books speak of it as 
having dark, tough meat, but Dr. Palmer, who col- 
lected the specimens in the Smithsonian, and who has 
dined ofT them often in their Arctic home, declares it to 
be excellent eating when young and plurnp. It is no in- 
dication of a severe winter to follow to find so unusual 
a visitor, for, as often as is asserted to the contrary, the 
animals know no more about next month's weather than 
our bureau, and the best this can do is to tell us what 
the climate has been for a series of years, and we can 
on this if we like make our own predictions, based on 
periodicity or sun spots; but all the rest, including the 
almanac maker's, are like those of the hop. . 
.A present storm may drive the birds of the air, but 
they worry no m.ore »ver those to come thgin over . 
the whereabouts of Agujnaldo. IfEjiitvr Taxjbotx. , 
The New York Oyster Cofnmjissionei'. 
In some paragraphs concerning terms of State officials . 
expiring during the last year of Governor Roosevelt's 
term, the Albany Journal has this : 
"THiji^erms of all five of the Fisheries, pame and Forest 
Commffesiftnfirs wilj ^pjre on Apri! 25. They are: Bai-- 
nett H. D^vjs. of f^JmjTa: UllUam Wtfd, 'M Pots- 
