March jo, isioo.j 
FOREST AND STREAM 
^ 18B 
uiitside to call the ambulance and render iir^taid to the 
injured. 
But Mr, Hill, with rare diplomacy, dodged around the 
Coliinel's end, and quietly disposed of him. Like the 
Burlington, he told the Colonel if he would only get 
his Congressmen safely and soberly as far as St. Paul, 
(lie whole Great Northern system would be at their ser- 
vice and disposal of both Congres.smen and park cranks. 
Mr. Hill afterwards, it is said, remarked that the 
quickest way to shut oflf the Colonel's windpipe was to 
promise the road bodily to him and close the incident, 
expecting never to hear from him again. But, like the 
cat, the Colonel came back. Meeting after meeting 
followed, in Chicago. The Colonel was expansive in his 
ideas. If he was to have a park it was to be a park, 
and not a melon patch. So lie started in with a point 
hi the east, on the edge of Duluth, thence running due 
jiorlh to the Canadian border, thence due west to a 
poir.t many miles distant, thence south, taking in Bun- 
dry's, and thence from a point south to the line of the 
beginning, steen million acres more or less. 
This was closing up the whole northern part of the 
State of Minnesota, and, my, how Duluth howled! She 
came out of her hole with a vengeance, and with a dele' 
nation represented by Congressman Page Morris, visited 
the city of Chicago, attended the park meeting and rip- 
ped the scheme up in true backwoods style. As a mat- 
ter of fact, the park on these lines was grand but a little 
unweildy. The writer got upo'i; his feet, following Mr. 
Morris' protest, and blamed the newspaper men for the 
expansiveness of the park area, and claimed for park 
purposes the modest tract of land known as the Chip- 
pewa Reservation, only that and nothing more. From 
anger, the faces of the Duluth contingent changed to 
oy. Mr. Morris, under the suggestion of a circum- 
scribed area for the park, seemed to be placated. 
Well, it took some few trips to Chicago as a member 
3f the Park Committee, in connection Avith this paidc 
jusiness. 
One of the plans in connection with the entertainment 
programme offered was that fifteen or twenty indepen- 
lent camps be located in the park, and that fishing par- 
ies be made up and located at these various points. 
A report of recent heavy rains, followed by some zero 
weather, did not make such a plan feasible in the eyes of 
tlie committee, The staid old Congressman, it was 
;hought, would prefer a warm bed in a Pullman sleeper 
o a bed of boughs on the banks of an ice-covered lake. 
The programme was made up involving three or four 
iays sojourn in the park, the creature comforts of the 
ucsts to be taken care of on board the Pullmans, in 
conjunction witli the dining and buffet cars. 
And the days rolled around. The invitations were 
sent out. Regretful regrets and kind words for the park 
anie in from many. The park date and the Dewey 
New York and Washington receptions were synchron- 
>us. This was the excuse of many. One hundred and 
fifty accepted only to drop off until actually, when the 
round up was made in Chicago, but 21 Washingtonian 
egislators were on hand. Congressman John Allen, 
rom Tupelo, and "Jos" Cameron, from Illinois, Clark, 
from New Hampshire, and Corwan, from Missouri, 
were in evidence, which made up in a measure for the 
absentees. 
The Burlington pulled out a palatial train from Chi- 
cago, and landed the Congressmen, with the visiting 
Chicago contingent, in due course — ahead of time 
schedule — the next morning in St. Paul. 
A goodly representation of Chicago newspaper men, 
your own Hough being with them, were on hand. 
Prominent among the Chicago friends of the park were 
Col. Henry S. B'itch, a bosom friend of John Allen, 
Lewis Pitcher, F. F. Shouts, John Campbell and a score 
of others. From Biltmore, N. C, we had Prof. C. A. 
Schenck, a forester from Germany, in charge of the Van- 
derbilt forests. Prof. Schenck is a "dollar and cents 
forester," if I may so call him, in contradistinction to 
theoretical forester. He believes in getting the greatest 
revenue that a forest can, by proper handling, be made 
to produce; in fact, running a forest on the strictest 
business revenue producing principles. 
Arrived at St. Paul, the order of the day was a break- 
fast at the Merchants' Hotel, a drive to the Town and 
Country Club, a try at golf by Expert Cameron, who 
sent the ball across the Mississippi in the direction of 
the National Park, a meeting with the Women's Clubs 
at the Commercial Club in the afternoon, whereat El- 
bert Hubbard, who runs tuc art annex to East Aurora, 
addressed the ladies on behalf of the park and inciden- 
tally referred to the beautiful books and things made 
by the Rojxrofters at their quaint establishment, where 
all things arc "made by hand." 
A banquet at the Merchants', at which the represen- 
tative St. Paul men attended to greet the guests, fol- 
lowed by an adjournment to the waiting train of sleep- 
ers, all equipped and ready awaiting the guests. K train, 
by the way, which Mr. Hill never thought he would have 
to "put up" when he promised it to the Colonel to get 
ri'l of him, but Mr. Hill proved game. 
The Congressmen on hand, and, true to his prom- 
ise, ihe train was ready, complete in every appointment, 
even to cigars and liquid enthusiasm in the buf¥et — ^all 
without money and without price. 
b'rank I. Whitney, G. P. A., solved the problem of 
lowers for everybody in a way that just dazzled the 
spectators. Many a man slept in an upper that trip and 
really thought he was sleeping in a lower. The masterly 
ni.'uiner in which Whitney stowed the heavy weights in 
the lowers and "skyed" the light weights was a marvel. 
And the sweetness of Whitney's smile lulled many a 
man in an upper to sleep — that is, those who did sleep 
that night. The locating of those men was a masterpiece 
of .*;leeping car railroading — and there was no kicking 
or scrapping with tlie conductor either. 
At Minneapolis we picked up Tom Lonny's private 
car. Therein were two Toms — one a railroad king, the 
other a lumber king — to wit, Lawry and Shevlin; Mr. 
Phelps, of the Minneapolis Board of Trade; Larry Ken- 
nedy, whose name belies his nationality, if he isin't an 
Irishman, then he is a Swede, unless his tongue belies 
him. and also Paddy Doran.who runs a saloon in Duluth 
and sings like a nightin'^ale on the side, the rear brought 
up bv Gil. Hartley, who comes from Duluth, and who is 
spending most of his time o' nights looking up abstract 
lore to find whether the law will give him what he has 
bought at Cass Lake, or whether he, like the inhab- 
itants of that nondescript town, will have to put his 4s 
on wheels before he gets through with the title. 
What, with Larry telling about the "bool" which had 
a "fut of hyde" cut from his belly by the engine and 
Paddy Doran singing songs of the Dee, and reports 
coining in from the buffet at the other end of the train, 
where the "only" John Allen, Cochrane, Clark, Fitch, 
Pitcher, the Colonel and others held sway, the small 
hours found us nearing Walker. We "hit" the town 
early, before, in fact, mine host McGarry, of the Pam- 
eda was ready for us. We marched into his hostlery 105 
strong, and camped around the big log fire place and felt 
happy. A whitefish breakfast — from fish caught to or- 
der by the Indians out of Leech Lake the day before — 
fortified us for the day. Then followed a trip on a mam- 
moth house-boat on Lake Leech. The weather was just 
a little rough, a heavy head wind blowing. The boat 
pitched and tossed, and some of the boys returned the 
whitefish to the water once again. Hubbard, pale, wan 
and wretched — well, I wish his Roycrofters could have 
seen him giving a "preachment" to the lake and the finny 
inhabitants thereof! One of the boys in a consoling way 
approached TTubbard, who was jacknifed across the gun- 
wale in the throes of what pur French cousins call mal 
de mer, "Fra Elbertus," said he, "you do not seem to 
be doing very well this fine, balmy fall morning." "Do- 
ing well, shades of Ali Baba! I'm as good on the spit 
as the next fellow and chucking about as far in the bar- 
gain." And there let us leave Hubbard, and let us re- 
port not further of his ribald remarks, lest the minister at 
East Aurora, who is trying to sell Hubbard an everlasting 
insurance policy, will find it more and more difficult to 
accept Hubbard as a reasonable risk — even "on suspi- 
cion." 
Well, the house-boat gradually pulled into smooth 
waters close under the lee — Fitch and the Colonel are 
yet fighting on the question of lee and windward shores 
— and mine host Henkle, with his able corps of lady 
assistants, was preparing a noonday spread on the roof 
of the boat. 
Col. Tom Loring was walking like a sailor with his 
sea legs on, because of each pants' pocket being loaded 
to the gunwale with "matched dollars," won from the 
unsuspecting Congressman. He had cleaned up every 
dollar on the boat, and Avhen we struck the shore and ran 
into a squaw and papoose infested Indian encampment, 
he, with a lavish hand, scattered silver dollars among 
the aborigines like the shower of Danae. 
Some one said that was Tom's way of providing his 
family dependents with their weekly allowance, and the 
Indians bore out that theory by the stolid and matter-of- 
course manner with which they took the coin. Lowry 
was looked "on with suspicion." Gil. Hartly talked Chip- 
pewa to the squaws until the boys wondered what kind of 
a deal he was setting up, anyway. 
The newspaper boys got gay, and shutting themselves 
up in a room, I think, tried their hand at poker. I imag- 
ine it was poker, because now and then one of them 
would steal out of the room, hustle among the Congress- 
men, borrow a .$5, and then hie themselves back to the 
lair of the tiger. Tom Shurlin carried a mysterious hand 
satchel, which he kept continually with him. From the 
rattle given out as the boys bumped against it, one would 
suppose he had it filled with bone pay checks for one of 
his lumber camps. He visited not the tiger's lair because, 
I imagine, the limit was loo small. 
Mr. Henkle's mallards and canvasback ducks and other 
delicacies went not begging, and while the sun was yet 
high we turned the nose of the boat back toward Walker. 
By the time we struck McGarry's pier we had forgotten 
that we had bountifully dined a short time ago, and 
thought now only of the banquet mine host McGarry 
was preparing. It (the banquet) was a red-letter mark 
in the annals of Walker — but a two-year-old city. Into 
a large, electrically lighted room,profui3ely decorated, the 
guests, 150 in number, were shown and seated at tables 
flower bedecked and handsomely appointed with fine 
linen and glistening table ware. Wild rice soup. Leech 
Lake whitefish, mallards and wild rice, with incidentals 
accompanying, made a menu fit for a Congressman. 
Music and speeches followed. As usual, Tom Lowry 
corraled all the handsome and accomplished officers' 
wives, and he sat among them, a jovial, entertaining host. 
For the time being Captain Mercer, beloved by the In-, 
dians at the post for a just and humane man, and Lieuten- 
ant Jameson crooked their knees under another table. 
If Mercer and Jameson felt shelved, I'd like to know 
how Tom thought the rest of us felt. But the banqrret 
was simply beyond criticism. All enjoyed it. 
The banquet hall opened into the main office of the 
hotel, and the cosmopolitan, backwoods, primitive make- 
up of the crowd would almost have paralyzed the pencil 
finger of Remington him.self. Surely, Congressmen never 
had such an audience in the Senate galleries as was pres- 
ent in the lobby of that backwoods hotel. When good 
old Joe Cannon got upon his feet and the half-breeds in 
the listening crowd, in choice Chippewa, commanded 
their full-blooded brethren to be still, because the Great 
Father from Washington (McKinley) was going to make 
a "big talk," you could have heard a pin dropT I think 
this is the first case recorded where Joseph Cannon, of 
Illinois, has been mistaken for William McKinley. John 
Allen, of Tupelo, Ala.; Mr. Cochran, of Missouri; Mr. 
Clark, of New Hampshire, also spoke. Mr. Schilling, 
n^ho came from the labor ranks in Chicago, spoke for 
the cause of the workingmen in connection with parks, 
as did also Mr. White, from New York. Mr, Fitch, fresh 
from the Chicago Aldermanic Council, convulsed the 
audience with some of his yarns. Mr. Doran made the 
walls re-echo, and the very pines in the surrounding 
woods nod applause at his silvery, birdlike music, and 
so it went, the whole being relieved with bright music 
and witty speeches by local talent. 
Our train was waiting on the track at the station, and 
in the small hours of the morning we turned in, a pretty 
tired, though perfectly happy and contented, crowd. 
Seven A. M. the nevt morning found us at Cass Lake, 
a town then of uncertain tenure, being built on debatable 
land — in fact, some houses were on wheels, and others, 
even the principal hotel, being built so they could be 
put on wheels, if needed. More contention has been had 
over this little patch of eighty to one hundred acres than 
perhaps any other patch of ground in the country. It 
seems to have been a rough and tumble mix-up between 
the Government half-breed Indians, town-site scrip 
boomers, squatters and what-not, and although at a re- 
cent sale $10,000 was paid for one "forty," the end is not 
yet. 
The town takes its name from the lake. A mile or 
two from the shore is an island, a couple of miles long, 
in the center of which is a small lake higher than the 
main lake. No visible inlet or outlet — a spring-fed body 
of water influenced by springs in turn not influenced by 
the main body of water, A curious proposition. The 
lake in question is filled with gamy bass. This island is 
covered as thickly with pine and other woods as the fur 
on the back of a rabbit. 
A week ahead of the crowd came Mr. J. B. Clow, his 
son and Harry McCartney, Joe, Captain Clow's colored 
valet, bringing up the rear, When I think of Captain 
Clow, a veteran sportsman, seventy years of age, gray- 
bearded (and slightly lame at the time), going into the 
woods to pj-epare a dining-camp for a crowd of hungry 
Congressmen and others, rough it in a tent upon boughs 
and generally boss the job, I— well, think he is the nearest 
to a "dead game .sport" of which I know. 
Our party, by means of a steam launch, left Cass Lake 
and landed at the island, and as we ascended the hill to 
the camp we saw the pitched tents, the log fire, the rough 
tables built with freshly sawed pine boards laid on driven 
birch props, noticed the glisten of the tin plates and 
cups upon the long rows of tables spread under the arch- 
ing pines, smelled the wintergreen dedcings on the table 
and saw the piles of bread, sugar, butter, cheese, pickles 
and such things spread in beautiful profusion upon 
the tables. The linen and cut glass and silver 
were missing, but our imagination put them all 
m place. When we got to the windward of 
Joe and his assistants, the Zembrick boys, and the fire 
and the pots and pans, we then knew that old Joe was 
not brought up among barbecued pigs and old Ken- 
tucky hoe cake for nothing. Joe said nothing to the 
many queries, but just kept a dropping morsel after mor- 
sel of crisply browned whitefish into a sort of hot-box, 
while his helpers turned the bacon, shook up the pota- 
toes and onions, and saw the coffee boiled not over. 
Excursions of short duration were made here and there 
through the beautiful woods, the contents of a mysterious 
tent off side were looked into, and from thence the sound 
of a hammer, breaking of wood, and finally a clinking of 
glasses conld be heard, followed with a silence that could 
be felt. 
Finally, old Joe blew the dinner horn, and from the 
highways and byways of the woods the boys lined up. 
Well, we will not expose to the public gaze the fact that 
Congressmen are human— sometimes drink a little, and, 
sometimes, like other mortals, eat a little. During that 
noon hour, had Joe wanted the Consulship to Timbuctoo 
or Guam, it could have been his for the asking. 
In a circle around us were some of the first settlers, with 
hungry and expectant faces, and in due course we turned 
them over to Joe. There were some handsome Chip- 
pewa squaws, of tender age, in the crowd, of so much in- 
terest to old Joe that it looked for a while as if he might 
turn half Chippewa and locate on the reservation. It cer- 
tainly did look so when Joe became so interested in 
bowing and scraping and ogling to the prettiest squaw 
in the crowd as to unconsciously pour boiling 
coffee down her back, forgetting that he held a big coffee 
pot in his hand. It near cost Joe his woolly scalp on 
the spot, and for a time things looked serious. 
It was a go-as-you-please day. Some of the business 
men, with engagements to keep back in St. Paul, Minne- 
apolis and Duluth, had to leave us at this point, and back 
they went. The balance, each and every one, went ac- 
cording to his own bent, fishing and strolling through 
the pines being the chief attractions. 
Many of us reclined on the pine needles strewn around 
and bathed in the slanting glints of the sun, listened to 
the pines overhead, heard the ripple upon the beach, 
enthused on the placid lake and the distant scenery, and 
wondered why cities were made, and why people could 
not live for ever and a day on the slope of a pine-shaded, 
sun-kissed hill overlooking a lake. 
The setting sun saw us returning to the cars as we 
planned for another day on the island, fishing trips and 
excursions up the infantile Mississippi River. And when 
morning came we were up and at it again. The dining 
car breakfast was generous— profusely so— and of the 
very best; but all voted the dining car chef simply not 
in it with Joe. 
Some went a-fishing. Others spent the forenoon at 
the island, not being gastronomically strong enough to 
withstand Joe's tempting arts. After dinner we took the 
launch and \vent up the Mississippi River on a voyage of 
discovery. To those who have seen this great, irresistible 
torrent at Vicksburg, or Memphis, or New Orleans can- 
not appreciate that, at various points, we were nearly 
compelled to get out and push our launch, drawing but a 
foot or two of water, along. But what scenery! Pen 
will not do It justice. One constant volley of Ohs! and 
Ahs! were going off at the bow of the launch. Beautiful' 
Beautiful! Grand! Sublime! 
The Indians wanted to know what it meant— this in- 
discriminate crowd of people "rushing" their reservation 
Lluef Lyon, of the Winnabagosh tribe, at our request • 
agreed to round the Indians up at Cass Lake that night 
and if we would have fire built, no doubt, after the pow- 
wo\v, they would give us a ghostly dance in the shadows 
of the camp-fire, sing us some weird songs, and make 
thin.gs pleasant generally for the visitors. 
The fires.^of great logs, were started alongside the track, 
and at 8 o clock the heavens broke loose and drowned 
them out. Chief Lyon suggested our taking the chiefs 
into the car and explaining to them what the park meant 
This was referred to Mr. Whitney, who ordered the din- 
ing car cleared of tables and chairs placed therein. The 
eight chiefs, stolid and grim, walked in and seated them- 
selves along the side of the car, headed by John Lyon 
who agreed to interpret. 
As I was dying to make some kind of a speech all 
through the trip, but was continuously flooded out by the 
unceasing stream of enthu.^iasm emanating at all times 
from the Colonel, I now was. by the Colonel's special 
request, appointed to "talk to the Indians." There was 
fun rampant in our crowd, but the Indians meant busi- 
