April 28, igoo.] 
331 
grouse. In a photograph which I made here there were 
in the immediate foreground, within lo feet of the 
camera, five snipe when I snapped the shutter, and not 
one is visible! I can pick out three with a glass, but it 
is because I know where they were at the time of taking 
the picture. They are all crouched in slight depressions, 
with their beaks straight downward along their breasts, 
and their markings blend so closely with the marsh grass 
and other surroundings as to make them practically in- 
visible — another of the wonderful protections given by 
nature to her children. On the following day I did 
succeed in getting a pretty good picture of one of these 
birds, which stood up honestly before the camera, and is 
herewith given. 
I backed into a growth of willows, arranged my 
camera, and B. and another guest stirred up the snipe 
and drove them to me. A dozen others are hidden in 
depressions all around him. The foreground is very 
dark, owing to the shade cast by the willows in which I 
was hidden, or some of them would be visible. The bird 
that shows was caught just as he alighted, and is prettj 
good for such a difficult subject. This is one of the great 
breeding gi'ounds for snipe on the Pacific coast, and it 
is to be hoped that it will always be kept a part of the 
Government reservation, as it is now, and that, as now, 
it may alwaj's be protected by a live game warden. 
The morning was bright, but cool, with no breeze, and 
it was useless to go out after trout in such conditions; 
but as we wanted to look the ground over we took our 
rods along in case of accident, and called our boatman 
tor a start. I will give a rough map of Pelican Bay, and 
its creeks, so that in alluding to certain localities the 
reader can follow understandingly. 
Spring Creek, at the head of which stands the lodge, 
has its origin in some monster springs, which boil up 
from its bed with great force and volume. The tem- 
perature of the water as it comes from the bottom is 
42 degrees Fahrenheit at all seasons of the 5''ear. The 
water is absolutely pure and clear, and most delicious to 
the palate. The creek averages about 125 yards in width 
and has an average depth of 5 feet. It is 'in the neigh- 
borhood of a mile in length. Not many trout were 
visible in it as we made our way down, though 1 had 
noticed hundreds of rises upon its surface earlier in the 
day. As we leave the creek and enter the bay, the whole 
extent of the latter' is seen at a glance. On the north 
shore the mountain comes down to the water in gentle 
slopes, but in all other directions, excepting a small 
opening into the lake, the ba^'^ is inclosed by fiat, marshy 
shores, fringed with willows, tules, waukus, marsh grass 
and other water-loving plants. As we advanced slowly 
along the north shore we began to see trout lying in the 
clear water on all sides. Never before have I seen 
such a sight, and I have angled upon many waters in the 
course of nearly sixty years of life. In no spot in the 
bay is the water over 15 feet in depth, and the bottom is 
a light-colored volcanic mud, free from moss and nearly 
all other vegetable growth, so that by standing up in the 
boat on a calm day like this the eye commands a wide 
circle, at least 150 j^ards in diameter, within which radius 
every trout is visible. 
And such trom! They fairly took one's breath away. 
Scarcely one of them was less than a pound in weight 
and some were so large that we dared not estimate how 
much they would weigh. The largest were not less than 
3^^ feet long, with a girth in proportion. They would 
swim ahead of the boat, leisurely, herding up into great 
droves, until some of them would get alarmed, when they 
would all shoot oflE in circles and fall in behind us again. 
We passed along the whole north shore in this way 
and up Short Creek for a mile or more, with the trout 
continually gathering and dispersing; then turned around 
and came back, pretty nearly over the same course, with 
the same experienc-e. 
To say that we were excited at such a sight is to say 
but little. We could not forbear casting, although we 
saw it was useless. It seemed incredible that among so 
many trout none were in the humor to bite. It was of 
no use — the fish darted a\Vay in alarm every time the fly 
struck the water. Brother Hough's method of "annoy- 
ing" a trout may work in a place where they can't get 
away from the fiy, but in water like this it is ineffective. 
After a couple of hours' rowing we returned home and 
sat down to whistle for a wind. 
"Blow winds, and crack your cheeks!" Thus quoted 
B. 
"Blow, good devil, and you'll get the cook!" was my 
petition. 
Neither adjuration had any effect, and the day passed 
in inaction til! the sun began to sink behind the crest of 
Mount Pitt, when our boatman said we might get a rise 
in the shade of the mountain on the north shore. 
As we rowed quietly down the creek a sound struck my 
ear to which it had been a stranger for twent3f-five 
years, 'or ever sifice I left the East. It fixed me as mo- 
tionless' ;as a dog at point and sent the blood hammering 
at my ears, as it used to do in youth. It was the booming 
drum of the ruffed grouse. - Again and again did the 
Bump! bump! bump! Bump-bump-bump-ump-mp-p-p-p- 
p-p! Toll out over the waters with the same old measured 
beat, and which seefned to come from all points of the 
compass at the same time. My friend had never heard 
the sound before, and I doubt that he hfeard it now, even 
after I called his attention to it. In his mind it waked 
no memories, but in mine, so keen was the delight that 
it brought to my heart my eyes brimmed over. The 
wing of the unseen bird brushed the chords of memory, 
and the' harmonies evoked submerged my soul. 
Once more I was a care-free, happy boy, roaming the 
.'springtime Eastern forest. The delicious aroma of the 
maple sap was in my nostrils; my hands were full of May 
flowers; my feet rustled among the last year's leaves, or 
crunched through the remaining patches of softened 
snow. The long roll of the red-headed woodpecker's 
well-beaten drum resounded from his post on the dead 
limb of a hemlock. The "chip" of the junco and cheer- 
ful notes of the first song sparrow echoed in my ear. 
Suddenly, from the well-known old "drumming log," 
came the Bump! bump! bump! of the wily old "drum- 
mer." 
As the notes died into silence I winked my watery 
eyes, and looked around, and, behold! I was gazing on 
an Oregon marsh, with a gloomy fir-covered mountain 
in the foreground and my native woods and youth, oh. 
so fai* aw'aV. ' * ' ' f ■' • ' ' : ; : ■ . 
"Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean; 
Tears from the depth of some divine despair, 
Rise in Uie heart and gather in the eyes, 
'In listening to this ruffed grouse's eerie drum, 
Thinking of days bygone, not those to come.' " 
Tennyson — with alterations to fit. 
We again skirted the north .shore, casting all along it 
without ever a rise. B. got tired and put on a spoon 
and trolled, while I sat and looked on. Pretty soon he 
had a strike, and a fine 4-pound fish broke water 40 yards 
away, which was safely netted after a game battle. Right 
there I fell from grace and put on a spoon also, but fish 
as hard as I knew how I could not get a strike, while he 
landed three more fine fish, weighing respectively 2j^, 3 
and 4 pounds. Discarding the spoon in disgust, I re- 
sumed casting, and presently a huge pair of jaws came itp 
out of the shadows and engulfed the fly, and the fight 
was on. It was not so long nor so game a fight as 
many a 2-pound trout has given me, but the reason was 
disyjvered after netting hnii. Ifo \\as hooked far down 
in the gills and was bleeding very freely, and according 
to my experience a fish hooked in this maner is always 
too much weakened to fight well. It weighed pounds 
after our return to camp, by which time it had dried out 
considerably, and had lost weight, so that I call it a 7- 
pounder, though I may have to stretch it an ounce or 
two. 
The accompanying photograph gives a very poor rep- 
resentation of the trout and his captor; the backg.'-ound 
not showing the fish properly. It was a genuine rain- 
bow, 26]/i inches long, and had it not been that it was 
hooked in the manenr spoken of, it would have given a 
game fight. This was .glory enough for one day, and we 
returned to eat oiu' first well-cooked meal. In our cabin 
that night, with the mosquito netting draped closely 
over our beds, we slept the sleep of the just in peace and 
quietness. Only as I was dropping to sleep the voice of 
0 
A 
THE FISHING GROUNDS. 
my friend broke the stillness of the night to the follow- 
ing effect: "I vant to gif yoti a bointer; dere vas droudt 
here, budt you gan't gatch 'cm!" 
The next day we found that we had "glutted the 
tnarket" with our catch, as we brought in over 20 pounds 
ot fish, so we agreed that we must go slow and put back 
all fish under 4 pounds in weight. This seems an absurd 
statement to make, yet it is true, and such action is 
necessary in like conditions. We could not catch .'ish 
and have them wasted, and that was what must happen if 
we had much luck and saved all we caught. There were 
but ten persons in camp and five of them were angleis. 
ail anxious for sport. Supposing that each one brought 
in but two fish daily, of an average weight of 2^/2 pounds 
(which is small for these trout), what was to be done with 
them? No right-minded man will kill a noble fish, know- 
ing it must rot or be fed to the hogs. To one who has 
never been in such a locality as this (and I confess that 
I never was before), it would seem that the narrator of 
such a tale must be a monumental liar. Think of liberat- 
ing a 33^-pound trout because he is too small to keep! 
Thousands of good anglers, better by far than I am, or 
ever was, never caught so large a fish. Yet, you must 
remember the conditions. This is a new country, hard 
to reach, and anglers are few; And, withal, this is an 
idea! habitat for growing large trout. There is the 
whole of the large Klamath Lake as a feeder, food is 
plentiful and no better water lies on the face of the 
globe than lies here. The whole bottom of the bay is 
studded with thousands of springs of nearly ice-cold; 
wa^er,. which come bubbling up from the centers of the 
innumerable little miniature craters which dot its sands 
in all directions. Klamath Lake "blooms" or "works" 
every summer, and the trout that, remain in it get im- 
healthy and unfit for food. Thou.sands run out of it at 
that season, to live in the pure waters of the bay and its 
tributary creel-cs; hence the size and number of its trout. 
We need not have worried about this day's catch, how- 
ever, as onlj' one came to hook, and that was captured by 
B_. The evening turned cold and disagreeable, and when 
biting time came it was too chilly for fish to rise. As 
we were rettirning to camp, we were passed hy a stern - 
wheel steamboat making its lumbering way to the sanie 
destination. Such a peculiar craft was probably never 
before built, and may well be described. It was a great, 
square, scow-shaped thing, built out of hewed timbers and 
housed in with rough unpainted boards, ' Its motive 
power was the engine of an old stearh thresher, geared 
to one end of the stern wheel by means of a chain. The 
other end of the wheel had twisted under the force of its 
work, and had thus become a screw, which pulled the 
stern of the boat around and tended to drive her in a 
circle. She had so little surplus steam^ that she was like 
the hT■■^^ in Abe Lincoln's story. "She would stop when 
the wl^.-^tV h'ew.^' Whenever and wherever she ran oqt 
of fuel the captain would jam her nose irtto the bank, and 
himself and the whole crew (one boy) would go on shore 
and cut wood. Her tiller was a horizontal windlass, with 
four old wagon spokes driven into one end, for arms, and 
the tiller ropes were of common hemp, running through 
cleats without pulleys. Her pump was an old five-gallon 
oil can and rope operated over the side from the roof — 
beg pardon, itpper deck — and one joker said the boiler 
was filled by pouring water down the whistle pipe. This 
may have been untrue. 
A party of six new guests came by her; so a larger 
rnarket for trout was promised, providing that they 
did not prove to be successful fishers. 
It rained that night, and in the morning the surround- 
ing mountains were covered with snow. We spent that 
day chiefly by the fireside, catching only two trout in 
the evening, which were taken byj my companion, and 
neither of which would weigh over 3J^ pounds, but 
which we kept, as the cook wanted fresh fish. The next 
morning opened fair and sunny, with a brisk, warm 
breeze blowing. We followed the east shore of the bay, 
casting as we went, and B. soon had a good trout hung, 
but as it was under the limit it was liberated. He soon 
had another, which fell in the same class, and was treated 
in the same manner. Then I had a strike, and there was 
a volcano out in the water, from the center of which there 
burst a scimitar of gold and silver, incrusted with rubies 
and diamonds. 'Twas a sight to gladden the heart of 
any man, no matter how blase he might be. Back with 
a splash it went, and struck the water "a-runnin'." Then 
ensued as fine a twenty-minute battle as I ever had a 
fish put up against me. It tried every wile that a fish 
ever knew, leaping and shaking itself time and again. It 
had the line pretty nearly all out three times, and when 
it was finally checked on each rush would come charging 
straight for the boat like a streak of light. It finally 
came to the net, fighting to the last, and was safely 
landed in the boat. It measured 21 inches in length and 
weighed 0Y2 pounds. It was one of the fattest and finest 
colored trout I ever caught, and was in prime condition. 
This one fight was well worth the time, cost and trouble 
of the whole trip. 
The wind went down, the bay became a mirror and the 
fishing ended. We rowed down to Crystal Creek, and 
my companion caught a nice fish of 2j4 pounds on the 
spoon just as we entered its mouth. We went ashore on 
an old Indian camping ground to wait for a breeze, but 
the water remained perfectly calm, and we gave it up 
and returned to camp. In the evening we went out 
again, and caught several fish, all but one of which were 
under the regulation size, and were returned to the water. 
The next day was calm and hot again, but in the 
afternoon we rowed down to Crystal Creek, hoping for 
a little breeze later in the evening. It did not come, and 
we lay under the willows, watching the great trout leap 
tantalizingly after the passing insects till dusk. 
The sixth morning opened in the same discouraging 
manner, and we did not go out until evening, when we 
went up Short Creek and cast for some time in vain. 
We finally put on spooiis and caught six, four of which 
were put back. 
The following day was to be our last upon these waters 
for the season, and we did want a favorable one. It came 
with a fine breeze, and we went out on the east shore, 
and for two hours had regal sport. We brought in five 
trout over the stipulated size, the largest of which was a 
trifle over 6 pounds. This one came to my hook, as it 
seemed that I had the luck to catch the largest fish, while 
my friend far outran me in numbers. 
On our return to Ashland my friend started out to call 
itpon his lately made acquaintances in the dry goods 
line, and I went along to see that he did not stay out too 
late. In our travels we entered a sporting goods store 
and found an original character in the proprietor, P. W. 
Paulson. He had all kinds of curiosities in his shop from 
a framed war document of the Revolution, down to a 
Mauser rifle lately taken from a dead Filipino. Among 
the rest was one of the rarest curios I ever saw. It was 
a short section of an oak tree 8 inches in diameter in one 
direction, and 14 in another, being a part of the tree 
where an old fork had existed. Firmly embedded in 
this, and with nothing but the projecting ends in sight, 
was one of a deer's antlers. Probably the deer, in shed- 
ding time, had rubbed it off or caught it in the fork of 
the tree, where it had lodged and had slowly been in- 
corporated into the tree by the latter's advancing growth 
and thus safely preserved from the attacks of rodents 
and the effects of moisture. 
The following day we returned home after one of the 
pleasantest outings we ever enjoyed, and with the fixed 
determination to go again the next season, and to re- 
main long enough to catch all the trout we wanted, and 
also to have the first week in September to spend among 
the ducks, snipe and grouse. ' 
And now, in conclusion, let an "old stager" give a word 
of advice to the young angler. Don't think that it is gll 
of fishing to catch fish. Should he once get imbued with 
that false_ notion, nearly all the joys of angling will be 
lost to him and he will become a mark for contempt 
among his brethren of the angle, even as was our He- 
braic friend of Pelican Bay. As good old John Dennys 
sang nearly three hundred years ago: 
"I count it better pleasure to behold 
The goodly compass of the lofty skie; 
And in the midst thereof, like burning goldv ■ 
The flaming chariot of the world's great eye; 
The watery clouds that in the ayre uprolled, 
With sundry kinds of painted colours flie; 
.\nd faue Aurora lifting up her head. 
All blushing rise from Tithonus' bed. 
The lofty woods, the forrests wdde and long. 
AdorAed with leaves and branches tresh and green, 
In whose cool bow'rs the birds with chaunting song 
Do welcome with their quire the Summer's Queen. 
All these, and many more, of His 6reation 
That made the heavens, the angler oft doth see; 
And takes therein no little delectation 
To think how .strange and wonderful they bee, 
Frameing thereof an inward contemplation, 
To set his thoughts on other fancies free: 
And whilst he looks on these with joyful eye, 
His mind is wrap't aboVe the starry skie." - 
.. .. , ARiEFAll. 
Auburn, Cal. 
