32 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 13, 1900. 
1^ Catching^a^^.Trout i on Broadway. 
In asserting, as I do, that among the incidents of the 
piscatorial portion of my career, there has been one which 
is almost correctly described by the title of this paper, I 
say almost because I, of course, did not catch said trout 
on the dry land of Broadway, but in the waters adjacent 
thereto, and it was not a toy trout, nor did I catch it with 
"a silver hook," but in the old-fashioned boy's style, with 
a minnow hook, worms for bait, pole, line, sinker and 
probably iioat. And it was a genuine Sahno fontinalis, 
the SalvelinVrS not having put in an' appearance at the 
date. 
There is another possible error in the title — the location 
may be shown by some one better posted than I, to be 
other than on Broadway. 
If some one does undertake to show that I am wrong, I 
would request, Mr. Editor, that you will suppress his com- 
munication until this letter shall have become forgotten 
as a back number — say a fortnight — ^and thus enable me to 
continue as long as possible in the pleasant delusion that 
has been with me for at least half a century. Kriss 
Kringle, Robinson Crusoe and William Tell have gone to 
join Parley's Magazine and Robert Merry's Museum. 
Leave me one delusion of my childhood. 
I was born and passed my eai-ly boyhood days in the vil- 
lage of Littls Falls, N. Y. This village, then — now a city 
— ^1*5 located on both banks of the Mohawk River, whose 
far-famed beautiful valley is at this point the most 
■•valley-like portion of all ; for here the river which has 
from its source meandered placidly through meadows, has 
bent its way through granite obstructions, the foothills of 
the Adirondacks, at one time no doubt so formidable that 
there existed here a great lake, extending perhaps on the 
south to the region of Richfield Springs and Cooperstown, 
and on the north to the Adirondack Mountains. Two or 
three miles of rapids, with here and there a waterfall, rush, 
through a gradually contracting channel, then through 
an expanding one, cut in places to a mere canon with 
precipitous sides; and the evidence of the rocks sculp- 
tured by the erosive action of the torrent, helped by the 
grinding of loose boulders, attests to an extraordinary 
cataclyism which took place away back probablj"- during 
the glacial period. 
Along the present banks are immense, curiously sculp- 
tured botilders. One, Profile Rock, is so named from its 
close resemblance to the human profile. Another, Spook 
Rock, on the very edge of the turnpike, has in it a 
cavern, dug out as a pot-hole in which for ages the local 
"spooks" have dwelt, making it nervous work for the boj^s 
returning late from an evening symposium down at Aunt 
Joe's. But it is safer now, for .successive spring freshets 
have filled the pot-hole with soil, from which grow trees 
and bushes, and the spooks are gone. I have driven past it 
often of late years, and have rowed past it in my skiff, and 
cannot say that I have seen or heard a spook. Another 
such pot-hole, from which now grows a tree, is on the 
south side, near the river bridge; and another fully 60 
feet higher up the bank, and near to the depot of the West 
.Shore Railroad, from Avhich also grows quite a large tree. 
These, together with shells, found along the faces of the 
banks, show that the water was once well above their 
levels. ^ But of the water left, after the escape of the mass, 
there lias been another great reduction ; for the denudation 
of the forests has dwindled the feeders into mere rivulets, 
and the Mohawk would not now, if it did when he wrote 
them, deserve Moore's admiring lines, 
From rise of morn till set of sun 
I've seen the mighty Mohawk run. 
The main street of Little Falls runs along the north 
bank of the river with a general trend to the southward 
and eastward. This street is a part of the old turnpike 
State road from Albany to Buffalo, and I have been told, 
and always believed, that it Avas a continuation of the State 
road from Albany to New York, where, as Broadway, it 
terminates at the Battery. 
Flowing from the Adirondack foothills, and in some 
cases from the mountains themselves, there are many 
streams of more or less importance, which, between Utica 
and St. Johnsville, cross over or under this road and 
empty into the Mohawk. Of these Black River, East and 
West Canada Creeks are the most important. The time 
was, and within the memory of the oldest inhabitants in 
the days of which I write, when these streams, and many 
more of the less important ones, were trout streams to 
their mouths. I have heard tales of the capture of large 
trout in the Mohawk itself, near the mouths of the 
creeks. Even now in many of the larger, there is fair 
trouting in their headwaters. Lower down the evil effects 
of advancing civilization — saw mills and tanneries, cheese 
factories, felt factories, railroads, steamers and other 
nuisances — have prevailed, and the trout have joined the 
dodo and the great auk. 
Fifty years ago the Mohawk, which even then was used 
as a sewer, had not become one to any very great extent. 
The villages on its banks were as j'et small, and as it had 
an excellent supply of water it was able to perform its 
work, and keep itself clean. Now there has come a 
change. A few years ago I took my last — and to stay last 
— ^boating trip down the river. It was in summer, and 
'the water was not high. Nearly every rock and little islet 
was adorned with stranded paunches, and the State dam 
at Lansing was festooned and beaded with paunches and 
barrels of intestines, the w?l^r not being high enough to 
carry them over. Little Fali^iaving greatly developed in 
the way of slaughter houses and pork-packing establish- 
ments. Everywhere a most offensive, sickening odor filled 
the air, and the few black bass that I caught were returned 
to the water as probably uneatable. 
That trip did for me that which many fishing and shoot- 
ing trips in the marshes, jungles, baj^ous and swamps of 
Africa, India and South and Central America had failed to 
do— it laid me up with a sharp attack of malarial fever. 
Fifty 3'-ears ago the Mohawk was a grand stream for 
.wall-ej^ed pike, of which the number and dimensions taken 
yearly by the fishermen of that date were marvelous. I 
shrink from risking my reputation for veracity by at- 
tempting from memory to give a transcriot of the stories 
told by Bill Skinner, George Feeter. Jim Smith, Bill 
Ingham, Charley Girvan, Ike Small and others, to which 
as a boy I eagerly listened, longing 'f6r the time to come 
when I too could go piking. 
I did not call the gentlemen mentioned by the familiar 
names I have written, and by which I remember they 
called each other. They were our leading business men in 
those days, and among them were the fathers of some of 
my playmates. 
Among the rapids there were certain favorite holes, only 
one of which I remember clearly, and that because it, with 
its vicinity, "Down to Milly's," was the faA^orite sport for 
the boys to "go in swimming," the little ones, or learners, 
in the "baby hole," and advancing as our strength and 
skill developed, to diving off the "high' rock," and allowing 
ourselves to be sucked through the sluice by the strong 
current which ran from Sunday Hole and Mary Hole. 
When the pike fishermen wanted these holes, we had to 
keep out of them. 
Pike fishing creates a demand for minnows, and to keep 
up the bait supply, we boys became important factors, and 
as such provided ourselves with Fourth of July and 
circus money. 
Acting in their paternal capacity, the fishermen kept the 
boys so steadily at school that it was only on Saturday 
afternoons that we had much of a chance, but the fact 
that the next day was Sunday rather increased than 
diminished our chances of sales. 
One of the largest of the creeks which come from the 
north is Furnace Creek, so called because of a stone stove 
factory and furnace which stood at the angle of street 
and stream, deriving its power from the stream. The 
yalle)'- of this creek, Furnace Hollow, is wide, precipitous, 
in places, and winding. Undoubtedly the creek was once 
a river of considerable size. At the junction of road and 
stream there was, and is, a quite deep pool scooped out of 
the solid rock, some 20 feet long and a dozen wide. This 
pool ivas generally well filled with red fins, shiners, 
horndace and '"'creek minnys" (a slim, shapely, almost 
scaleless dark-colored minnow), which found good shel- 
ter from sun under the bridge, the edges of which, and 
all other available spots, were on Saturday afternoons well 
lined by boys. I there sitting one summer afternoon 
rapidly stocking my minnow pail and having a beautiful 
time, caught a minnow of a variety I had never before en- 
countered, nor had either of the boys who saw it. It 
counted one, and went into the pail with the others. 
Presently there strolled up one of the gentle anglers to 
whom I referred — Mr. Ingham — who, with the query 
"What luck?" inspected my catch with view of purchase. 
I saw him start suddenly and incline the pail to the west- 
ward, thus catching in it the setting .sun. Then, with an 
excitement I could not comprehend, he shouted, "Good- 
ness gracious, if the boy hasn't got a trout !" The shout 
attracted others, and very soon my pail and I were sur- 
rounded, and I was a hero. Never since have I realized so 
fully the proud sense of self-satisfaction which then 
swelled me to my utmost limits. Minnys had no more 
charm for me that day. I had outgrown them. Mr. 
Ingham at once offered me two shillings for my prize, 
bought all the others at usual rates, and himself lugging 
the pail, in which he took good care to freshen the water, 
started for home, I trotting after and enjoying every stop 
he made to show to some neighbor the prize. In his 
spring the little trout flourished and became a big one, 
one of 2 or 3 pounds, and I believe he was still there and 
growing when some six years after I went away to sea. 
On the evening of that memorable day quite a number of 
the neighbors dropped in to see, if not the trout, the boy 
who had caught him; and at church the next day I felt 
very conscious that I was more of an object of interest 
than the sermon ; and at Sunday school my teachet talked 
with me about it. 
All of the succeeding week the fishermen I have men- 
tioned were particularly gracious to me, and one, Mr. 
Skinner, offered to take me with him pike fishing, and the 
village paper made an item out of it, and for the first 
time I saw my name in print. 
"As the twig is bent, the tree's inclined."' That bending 
made a trout lover and angler of Piseco. 
Labrador Salmon Rivers. 
New York, Jan. 4.— Hon. S. N. Parent, Commis- 
sioner, etc., etc., Quebec, Canada. — Dear Sir: In relation 
to the River Ste. Marguerite-en-bas, on the north shore, 
in the Labrador district, which with others was fished 
experimentally this spring by Mr. Gawtry and myself, I 
have intended writing you for some time. 
You will remetiiber that it was considered very uncer- 
tain whether there were salmon in the river in any quan- 
tity, and as to the exact condition of affairs which pre- 
vailed there. 
We found on arrival aiid from careful inspection of 
the river (for some weeks we had our main camp at its 
mouth) that present conditions wholly exclude the pos- 
sibility of its being considered a salmon river, although 
if certain steps were taken it would become in the course 
of five or six years a valuable asset of the Province and a 
source of revenue and supply of food. 
The river is in the corner formed with the main shore 
by the great cape or projection of the land southerly 
which terminates in the Pointe des Monts, its mouth 
being approximately at the center of a cresent-shaped 
bay some twenty-odd miles in extent immediately west 
of Les Sept lies and east of les Jambons. The general 
course of the river is from north to south, and it has an 
estimated length of over .^00 miles. The entrance is 
somewhat tortuous, and at low tide not practicable ex- 
cept for quite small boats. At high tide boats drawing 
perhaps 6 to 8 feet of water can enter, and after entering 
there are one or two comparatively deep spots within 
where they can lie at anchor. Behind the sand spit 
(which forms the easterly side of the mouth) the river 
widens into a large bay, which is left bare to a great ex- 
tent at low water. There are but two — ^both very incon- 
siderable — tributaries below the first falls. One (Paint 
Creek) has a remarkable deposit of ocher. They are 
both on the east side, a half-mile or so apart, about a 
mile from the mouth, and are merely little brooks. The 
first falls are about four miles from the mouth, and are 
passable for salmon on both sides. From there to the 
great falls, a distance of about two miles, there are at first 
a succession of falls and basins passable for salmon on 
the west side (the river being split into several chan- 
nels), then follows a Stillwater and finally a narrow rocky 
gorge, which ends in the so-called great falls (at present 
impassable for- salmon).' ... 
I append hereto a photograph of the impassable falls. 
and call your attention particularly to the character thereof. 
Bear in mind that being taken with a small camera an<i 
at some little distance, they look much lower than is 
the fact. 
You will note that on the right (the easterly side) a 
projecting cliff or nose of roek pushes the whole body 
of the river over to the west, contracting it to about one ■ 
half its width and deepening its volume. The height of 
the first or upper step of the falls is about 12 to 14 feet, 
and the river falls on to a shelf of rock which is backed 
up (to the south) by high rocks or cliffs, which neces- 
sitates a deflection of the river sharply to the east, and it 
falls into the gorge by a second step of some I3 feet 
(dependent on the volume of water), according to the 
season of the year, at right angles to the true course. 
■Phere is ample depth of water at the point where the 
river falls into the gorge, and ample space to allow a. 
salmon to exert his leaping power to the full extent, and 
no substantial difficulty would be experienced by a fish 
in mountmg the first step of the falls at any time oJ 
moderately low water in the river. 
It may be added that those familiar with the river in 
the past say that salmon have been seen (when there still 
were fish in the river) leaping up the first step. But 
it is apparent that immediately upon gaining the first 
step the fish are met by the entire force and body of 
the river, falling sidewise to their course, and they find 
neither suffcient depth of water nor other opportunity for 
the second leap, which must be made at right angles to 
the first one. The result is that such fish as may sur- 
mount the first step are swept back into the gorge. This 
limits the possible productive capacity of the river to the 
two miles or so between the head of tide water and the 
great falls. As to this capacit}"- it is to be noted that the 
only suitable spawning ground is situate in the Stillwater, 
to which I have referred (which begins perhaps a quarter 
of a mile below the falls, and is perhaps a mile and a half 
in length). The location, extent and character of this 
spawning bed I have investigated with some care, and 
if you should desire the details respecting it I will supply 
them to you. 
The present state of affairs, however, can be easily 
remedied by blasting down the jutting nose of rock re- 
ferred to above. 
This would be a matter of little or no difficulty. It 
has been, I understand, under consideration for some 
eight or ten years. Its feasibility has been reported on 
from time to time by various officials, and the Ottawa 
Government some years ago sent 50 pounds of dynamite 
cartridges there for' this purpose. As no one was sent, 
however, to do the work the dynamite after remaining an 
object of some uneasiness to the family at the river mouth 
was removed to the woods, where it still remains. From 
inquiries which I mad e both at the river and at the 
Seven Islands, it appears that the entire operation can 
be performed at an expense of from $250 to $400. Two 
persons living in the neighborhood have offered to under- 
take the entire matter for the agreed price of $350. 
The result of blowing down this obtruding angle of 
rock would be to allow the river to extend its flow fur- 
ther to the east, and fall in a succession of broken steps 
down into the deep gorge, thus presenting little or no 
difhculty to ascending fish. The location is such that 
the cliff can be readily attacked from either side, especially 
in winter, and at times of low water in the rivers; and if 
the matter was undertaken by some one experienced m 
the use of blasting material, it could be done with sub- 
stantially no risk. 
The result would be to open some fifty miles of river 
(up to what is called the Grande Portage) to the breeding 
fish, as also the tributaries which enter the river between 
the high falls and the Grande Portage. These latter, how- 
ever, are not very considerable. 
I venture to respectfully recommend to your depart- 
ment that this work should be done this winter. No 
private person could undertake it without assuming grave 
responsibilities in relation to the transportation and use 
of dynamite or other blasting material. 
In the meanwhile, as for the presence of salmon in the 
river at present, there are practically none. The holder 
of the local netting license from the Dominion Govern- 
ment has been accustomed for a long series of years to 
set nets, as well inside the mouth of the river as on the 
coast, and not unnaturally the catch has steadily dimin- 
ished, and finally the river has been exhausted. Having 
so slender a source of supply (a single spawning bed), it 
it not to be wondered at that persistent netting on the 
coast and within the mouth should have eliminated the 
river from the category of salmon streams, , 
Persistent and diligent fishing at every spot, where 
either the past experience of the dweller at the mouth or 
local conditions indicated the slightest possibility of 
salmon, resulted in hooking two fish at the head of the 
second chute on the westerly side (between the main 
bank and the nearest rocky island). On a subsequent 
occasion a third fish was seen to jump at the same locality, 
With this exception the presence of any fish whatever in 
the river wholly failed of being established, and the near- 
est coastwise nets on either side took very few fish. 
It should be added that from the inviting size of the 
river, the distance from the mouth to the head of tide 
water, the presence (in the basin below and at the first 
falls) of many large low rocks smoothed down by glacial 
action and from the secluded and deserted character of 
the spot a colony of seals have established themselves in 
the river, with further disastrous effects on the presence 
of salmon. 
The locating of some one for a few weeks in the early 
spring at this point (the first falls) for two successive 
years to drive them away would doubtless break up the 
colony. 
It would take perhaps five years from the time of blow- 
ing down the falls (provided also that netting anywhere 
within the estuary or near the mouth of the river was 
rigidly prohibited) to thoroughly re-establish the river 
as a salmon river, and from its size and character if 
this should be done it might be safely predicted that the 
number of fish would be very considerable. _ . , 
In the meanwhile, as you are aware, owing to the 
controversy which has arisen between the Dominion Gov- 
ernment and the Province on the subject of coast netting 
east of the Pointe des Monts, the license which was issued 
to 'm'e by your department to enable roe to protect the 
mouth of the' river became • valueless for that or- aiiy 
other purpose. . ^ ■._ ^ 
