A California View. 
FrofM the San Ff^ncisco Chronicle. 
A SYSTEM of game laws has been gradually developed 
in this State which might be correctly designated "A Code 
for the Encouragement of Poaching." Every step m its 
development has been taken under cover of the pretense 
that it was necessary to save game from extermination. 
The American theory regarding wild anmials at large-— 
whether birds of the air, beasts of the field or fishes in the 
waters of the earth— is that the ownership is invested in 
the public, and as common property may be captured or 
killed at will. It also presumes that game is a source of 
subsistance upon which all classes can draw without 
favor. To prevent the wanton destruction and. exter- 
mination of game closed seasons have been established 
when its capture is prohibited. To that extent game laws 
are beneficent and necessary. 
But under the pretext of protecting game from an- 
nihilation legislation has overreached itself and laws have 
been enacted which operate strictly in the interest of the 
wealthier classes in the community and solely for their 
pleasure. Through the agency of these laws clubs have 
been organized for sporting purposes only, and the game 
of the State' is fast being reserved for them. Their pre- 
serves extend over wild and uncultivable land formerly 
accessible to everybody, gamekeepers have been installed 
to exclude every one except club members, and poaching 
has, as a natural con'^equence, followed and been stamped 
by the courts as a crime. 
The latest legal device for the encouragement ot poach- 
ing has been introduced under the plea that it is a neces- 
sary police regulation for the common good. Never was a 
greater fiction grafted upon any code of laws. The 
ordinance which has been adopted by a great many coun- 
ties in the State, Santa Cruz joining the list last Saturday, 
prohibiting the shipment of game elsewhere for sale, pre- 
sumes that the killing of game as a pastime and a luxury 
for a class is no offense, while its slaughter for food for 
the common people is a crime. Another incentive to 
poaching has thus been introduced into our game laws. 
We are now drawing the lines between the rich and 
the poor in our game laws, nearly if not quite as sharply 
as they are defined in the Old World, where the former 
have a monopoly of nearly everything that runs or flies or 
swims, while the latter, to gratify the appetite, must re- 
sort to stealth and poaching, which was once a capital 
offense. Only one step more needs to be taken to put our 
game laws on the same plane as tho?e of Europe, namely, 
making it unlawful for any one to carry a shotgun with- 
out payment of a license. . 
Nothing can be more obnoxious to the American mind 
than class legislation. The State Constitution directly 
forbids it. Yet the sportsmen's clubs seem to have in- 
vented a police regulation which overrides the Constitu- 
tion and gives privileges to one class of citizens denied to 
all others. , . 
Assuming that the public interests require the preserva- 
tion of game the State and national reservations and the 
public lands will always serve as preserves. Laws pro- 
hibiting the killing of game on the reservations and dur- 
ing the seasons of propagation would clearly meet all re- 
quirements for saving wild animals and set up' no class 
distinction. Beyond that it does not seem possible for the 
State to ffo without drawing class lines and encroaching 
upon individual rights, unless the law of trespass can be 
so amended as not to include wild land in private owner- 
ship incapable of cultivation, entered upon for the shoot- 
ing of the game temporarily occupying it. With such a 
system of game laws the_ encouragement of poaching 
would be reduced to a minimum. 
Consul-General Turner's Moose. 
Ottawa. Dec. 13.— Editor Forest and Stream: I have 
noticed in your issue of Dec. 9 an effusion from Mr. W. 
W. Hastings, of Jersey City, in which he refers facetiously 
to my big moose. 
Now, my good friends Hastings starts off by sai-iiig: 
"I know Consul-General Turner. I stopped for three 
years in Waterbury on my way south to New York. ' It 
took my friend Hastings a long time to get from Water- 
burv to New York, as he stayed "three years m Water- 
bury," and the distance is only eighty-eight miles, bor 
heaven's sake what was he doing, if he was on his ivay 
to New York, to stay three years in Waterbury? 1 don t 
blame him for staying there if his objective point was 
Jersey City; and the only fault I have to find is that he 
did not stay there for good instead of finally landing ui 
the home of the mosquito. 
I presume friend Hastings has been shooting mosquitoes 
in Jersey '(not to mention craps), and has come to the 
conclusion that that is the largest game there is. I don't 
blame him for thinking so, for I have not heard that 
he has been out of New Jersey for some time. 
He refers to the fact, or rather implies, that Lo the 
poor Indian" was "under the influence" when he esii- 
mated the weight of my moose as 1.800 pounds. 1 am 
very sorry to say I did not have any of Hastings' "Jersey 
lightning" with me; if I had any of it I presume I could 
have got the Indian to say that it weighed 2,800 instead 
of I 800 pounds. I cannot take very long paces myself, 
consequently I got the Indian to pace it for me, and as he 
said 420 yards, I took his word for it as to the distance at 
which the moose was killed. 
This moose, as Mr. Hastings would like to imply, was 
not a contorionist. He was not standing on his head at 
the time he was shot, but he stood on his head imme- 
diately after. The heart was not in the moose's mouth, 
for no doubt the moose had enough presence of mind to 
swallow it; neither were his shoulders up near his 
mouth, as Mr. Hastings would imply. Our friend, the 
moose, had his heart in the normal place, and it only 
goes to show that Mr. Hastings is entirely ignorant of 
the anatomy of the moo^e when he asks how it went 
through his shoulders and heart at the "^ame time. I can 
only say to friend Ha'^tings that the proof of the nudding 
is in the eating, and if he wiW only come to Ottawa and 
be my guest while he is here. I.will.shnw him the head 
and antlers of the- "i.Soo-pound moo.se," and if he does 
not say it is the biggest moose head -that he ever saw, I 
will make him a present of the cheapest Waterbury 
watch 1 can buy. 
Come up, Hastings, and I will show you some hunt- 
ing, or rather tell you the locality to go where you can 
kill something larger than the Jersey mosquito, and give 
you the best time, that you ever had in yowr life while you 
stay m the Ottawa district, 
I will say to the editor of Forest and Stream that it 
will give me much pleasure to send as soon as it is 
mounted a photograph of the head of the "1,800-pound 
moose" with the full measurements of it. 
In conclusion to Mr. Hastings, I am sorry to say that 
the Government does not supply me with a range finder. 
I presume that Mr. Hastings would need no range finder 
at forty rods. They don't keep any "Jersey forty-rod" 
up here, but if he would send up a little of the kind he 
can recommend I should try it on the Indian if it wasn't 
against the law. 
Doesn't it seem like another case of the pot calling the 
kettle black for a life insurance man to question the 
veracity of even an Indian? C. E. Turner. 
Two Men of the Early West. 
Ruxton and Williams. 
Denver, Colo., Dec. 20. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your issue of Dec. 9 Brother Hough, in his art-.cle 
entitled "Chicago and the West," gives considerable in- 
formation about two quite celebrated characters in tiiis 
Western country in the early part of its history ; namely, 
George Frederick Ruxton and Bill Williams. I judge by 
Mr. Hough's review of Ruxton that he had read only 
one of the latter's books, namely, "Life in the Far W^eat," 
Ruxton published two books. His first was an account of 
his earlier experiences in this region of country, and the 
one above mentioned was largely written by some one 
after his death. The reference to Ruxton's early life is 
correct. He had been educated for the English army; 
came to America at the beginning of our war with 
Mexico, and landed, probably, at Vera Cruz, Mexico. He 
went up into the interior of Mexico, and apparently was 
engaged in observations upon the campaign then going 
forward. He entertained at that time an exceeding con- 
tempt for the United States, in the belief that it was 
oppressing and unjustly making war upon Mexico, a 
weaker power. Of course, he was not conversant with 
the provocation or the circumstances which brought about 
the war. His comments upon the course of the United 
States were very partial, and unfavorable to this country. 
He did not remain very long in the neighborhood of 
where the fighting was going on, but headed northward, 
passing through Chihuahua, at about the time General 
Price, with his command of the American army, was 
moving southward in and through that State, and he 
seemed to apprehend unpleasant experiences if he should 
happen to fall into the hands of General Price's forces. 
However, he made the journy safely and worked his way 
up as far north as where the city of Pueblo is now, in 
this State. After some delay at that point, which v.^as a 
frontier trading post of very little importance, he traveled 
up the Fountaine-qui-bouille. to the foot of Pike's Peak, 
where the city of Manitoti now stands. He tarried there 
for quite a time in the winter season, and very narrowly 
escaped capture by the Indians, who were searching for 
him, but he managed to keep out of their sight. Soon 
afterward he made his way eastward across the plains 
to St. Louis, Missouri, and from there went home. His 
sentiments toward the people of the United States had 
greatly changed in the meantime, and apparently he lift 
the country with only the best of feeling for Americans. 
He was not satisfied with this^ one visit, but planned to 
return to the United States for a more thorough ex- 
ploration of the country, and began making his prepara- 
tions accordingly. A j'ear or two later he came back, and 
made his way through the Northern States from New 
York to St. Louis, where he set about gathering material 
for his book, quoted by Mr. Hough, entitled "Life in the 
Far West." While engaged in this work, and after mak- 
ing very satisfactory progress for a time, he was taken 
ill with typhoid fever, and eventually died in St. Louis, 
leaving his enterprise unfinished. Some one came into 
possession of his notes, and carried out his undertak- 
ing, in, perhaps, what might be considered a very suc- 
cessful manner. Mr. Hough has probably used the senti- 
ments and labor of this last author, and credited them 
to Ruxton. If he will read Ruxton's first book, he will 
find that the early part of it. at least, differs very greatly 
from the latter part, and from the second book. 
This, brings us down to old Bill Williams, the second 
character who appears in Mr. Hough's article. Ruxton's 
second book gives a good review of Williams' personal 
history, the major portion of which was probably gathered 
by Ruxton himself. He gives a report of Bill Williaros' 
death, stating that he was killed, according to his informa- 
tion, in the northern part of what is now called North 
Park, which he ah'o refers to as called by some of the 
m.oimtfiin men. "New' Park." and T nresume the story is 
faithfully told by Ruxton. North Park, or "New Park," 
or, as it was also called, the "Bull Pen," is in the extreme 
northern edge of Colorado, its northern boundary just 
touching the State of Wyoming. It is drained by the 
North Platte, or the North Fork of the Platte River, 
which heads in North Park, flows northward into Wy- 
oming, to nearly the heart of that State, then turns east- 
ward, uniting with the South Platte in western Nebra'^ka, 
thence flowing almost due eastward to its iunction with 
the Mi ■'^ouri River. Will'ams was one of the earliest 
moiuitain men in this region of country of whom any 
de^nite history remains. He seems to have been a very 
active energetic, venturesome man. This is proven by 
tlie fa-'t that more streams, mnimtam passes and other 
locplities were named for him than for any other of the 
early mountain m.°n. In the early modern settlement of 
fhU region, i'-^-b'ding t'le ^"''t^I'' mountain frf^-nt'pr from 
Ypl1^„.-fop" Pqrk -^outh to Mexico, the name "Williams." 
or "Rill Will'-'ms," fotmd in all sectinn<; of the 
counf-i-v. g'-i'^rallv a^nlied to cnme strenm. monntam. nass 
or trail. The^p npm.es are .ri<^w hpinq- Inst. S11r■-Apf^(>^^ by 
other names, but o"ite a ""mh'er of them arc «;till rem.^m- 
bercd and used. But Williams 'was not killed in North 
Park, as stated by Ruxton. When Fremont made his last 
expedition across the mountains in the late forties, he 
organized his party at St. Louis, afterward adding to it 
a« he traveled westward through the country. At St 
Louis he applied to Philander Simmons, an account of 
whose death was published in the Forest and Stream 
only a few weeks ago, to accompany him as a guide 
through the mountains. Simmons declined, telling !• re- 
mont that it would be very hazardous to travel through 
the mountains during the winter, which was Fremont's 
intention. After failing to secure Simmons, he next 
went to Williams, and secured him as his guide. 
■yVilliams led the party along the old Santa Fe trail and up 
the Arkansas River to the edge of the mountains. 
Williams advised Fremont to remain at the foot of the 
mountains until the snow melted, but Fremont was de- 
termined to push forward. With great labor, they crossed 
to the Sangre de Cristo Range, to the San Luis Park, 
traversed that through deep snow to where the Rio Grande 
emerges *from the main range, and thence followed up 
that stream to the mouth of Embargo Creek, which 
enters the Rio D^;! Norte from the north. They turned 
up the creek and traveled as far as they could go for 
snow. There they remained, until all of the animals either 
died from hunger and neglect, or were killed and eaten by 
the men of the command. When conditions became al- 
most hopeless, Fremont sent Breckenridge, one Ot his 
most trusted men, and three or four other men of the 
command, to make their way to the Mexican settlement 
in Taos Valley, to secure assistance, if possible, to succor 
the expedition. Breckenridge and his men suffered great 
hardships, but finally reached the Mexican settlement, 
losing one man, and immediately following them came che 
remainder of the command who were still alive, with 
Fremont at the head. The following spring, as soon as 
they could well make the journey. Bill Williams and 
several men were sent back to recover whatever they 
could of the personal effects which had been left when 
the camp was abandoned. Williams made the journey, 
and had begun his task at the "Starvation Camp" when 
the little party was attacked from ambtish by Indians, and 
all were either killed or wounded except 'Williams, who 
escaped with a pony, and after traveling some miles, and 
up to the edge of the forest near the line of timber 
growth, encamped. After dark, while sitting by his camp- 
fire, he also was fired upon by the Indians, and was killed. 
Later in the season, when the Fremont party returned to 
their abandoned camp, they found the remains of 
Williams seated against a tree near his camp-fire, where 
they had been placed by the Indians. They also found, 
leaning against the tree, beside the body. ? rifl«;, which 
was recognized as having been given by Williams some 
years before to a chief of the Southern Ute Indians. The 
theory of the Fremont party was that the Indians had 
killed Wiliams without knowing who he was, and that 
when they came to examine the body they discovered his 
identity, and left this rifle, which had been given by him 
some years before to one of the party of warriors, by his 
remains as an evidence of their respect for him. This is 
the account of Bill Williams' death, given by Brecken- 
ridge and also by Simmons. 
Two years ago last fall Breckenridge was invited to 
attend the "Festival of Mountain and Plain" in this city, 
and came as the guest of the Festival management. Ar- 
rangements were made for a party, including the Governor 
of the State, to go, later in the season, to the head of 
Embargo Creek, to examine the condition of the "Starva- 
tion Camp" of Fremont fifty years before, Breckenridge 
was to meet the party at Del Norte, and accompany it as 
a guide, the party to include photographers and news- 
paper men to the number of six or eight, in addition 
to the Governor. It was expected that a good deal in 
the way of history of the Fremont expedition could be 
gathered, and it was the hope of the party to find the 
grave of Bill Williams, under the guidance of Brecken- 
ridge. Before the time arrived for setting out on this ex- 
pedition, however, the great miners' strike at Leadviile 
compelled the attention of the Governor at that point, and 
others of the proposed party were also engaged in duties 
pertaining to the strike, so that the expedition was neces- 
sarily postponed. Before there could be another oppor- 
tunity for making it, Breckenridge returned to north- 
eastern Missouri to visit the friends of his earlv years, and 
was there taken sick and died. Simmons died recently, 
and I do not know that there is any one now living who is 
familiar with the ground, or knows anything about the 
scene of Fremont's great defeat, or the death of Bill 
Williams, There is a son of Breckenridge yet living in 
this State, but he probably knows nothing about the Fre- 
mont expedition. A son of the Southern Ute Indian, to 
whom Bill Williams save the rifle which was found be- 
side his body, is yet living, and is prominent in that tribe 
of Indians. It is not likely that he knows anything about 
the circumstances pertaining to the subiect of this sketch. 
As an indication of the poDUlarity,,of Bill WilHam.s among 
his old mountain associates, I will mention a circ'>m- 
stance that occurred in 1859, soon after the settlement of 
■what is now Colorado by the white people. A convention 
was called in the summer of *5Q to take preliminary .steps 
toward the organization of a State. It was made up of 
delegates from all of the settlements of this region, atid 
amnng them were some of the old-time mountaineers. 
When it came to a discussion of names to be sugsre«ted for 
the State, there were prooosed amon<y th^m Montana, 
Idaho and others and the name "Bill Williams" was 
strongly advocated bv a delegate from the Arkansas Val- 
ley, near Bent's old fort. Of course no such idea could 
bp adopted bv the convention Cthe name Jefferson was 
afterward adonted by the convention because of President 
Jefferson's identitv with the acquisition '^f this Western 
part of the United States— the Louisiana Purchase), and I 
sneak of it r'->->v si'mnly because it illustrates the ad- 
miration fnr Pm'II Winisnis among the early traders and 
trappers of this mountain region. 
Wm, N. Byers. 
I DON' T SHOOT | 
§ onrtl ygy SEE your 6eer — and see g 
w that a deer and not a man* ^ 
