BIO 
FOREST AND STHetAM. 
[June 30, 1900. 
about a foot or two above the water. There was a sudden 
splash, a vision of a curved painted body in the air, and 
then, as the ripples began to subside, I noticed that there 
was no longer a butterfly in sight. The trout, a little 
fellow not over 10 inches in length, had timed his spring 
so perfectly that he struck the butterfly with his tail and 
carried it down with him. I never saw a more perfect 
exhibition of agility on the pari of any fish. 
The other day on the Prairie River I had still another 
odd experience with trout. I was casting in a part of 
the river where for some time I had not had a rise, and 
had begun to think the fun was over for the day, when 1 
came to an old disused bridge, whose piers rested on 
logs bedded in the river. This I suspected to be a fair 
place for a fish, and hence approached it carefully. Think- 
ing that perhaps my flies were too large, I went ashore 
and changed them to No. 12 hooks. Then I cast down 
under the bridge, and at the very first cast I hooked a 
double and saved both fish. This was a surprise, for 
the fish had been acting very heavy and dull. Further 
casting brought out no more results, and at last I con- 
cluded to go on down stream. Just as I got midway un- 
der the bridge, I saw a sight which I have never heard of 
being equaled on the Prairie River. A whole school of 
trout, oyer fifty in all I should say, came streaming past 
me, plainly visible in the bright, shallow water. At , first 
I thought they were big chubs, till I saw some of ' them 
turn sidewise, and also saw three fish, any one of which 
would have weighed over a pound. These irout had 
been lying out in the shallow water, and no doubt feed- 
ing on larvae on the rock bottom. I suppose my flies 
happened to strike the fancy of a couple of them at my 
first cast, and then perhaps the commotion of the hooked 
fish spoiled the further sport. My flock of trout dis- 
appeared, vanislied, dematcrialized — a trout is nothing 
but a figment of the air, the floAvers and the forest any- 
way — and in an instant I stood alone in the middle of 
the stream. Then I walked over and stuck my foot un- 
der the end of one of the big logs. The trout camo 
buzzing out like hornets, among them one big fellow 
which would have weighed well on to 2 pounds. I never 
saw so many trout together at any place on the Prairie 
River, and I thought^ I would transact some business 
with these fellows. Yet I put in nearly an hour and a 
lialf to no purpose, not getting another rise. Here was 
something queer in trout fishing. No one was getting 
many fish or seeing many, yet here I walked into a whole 
school of them, and they swam within 5 feet of my legs. 
This was in a part of the stream much fished by the bait 
fishers, and where no one usually excects to get any 
trout. It seemed that perhaps these fish were migrating 
in a body up .stream, but a little boy who lived near by said 
he saw them every night and morning out in the riiiddle 
of the stream. 
prohibiting the use of dogs in mnning deer went into 
effect, Mr. Oilman sent word up to Buck to bring his 
dog-s back home.) 
•"There was eighteen of them dog," said Buck, "hand it 
was hard time for me to tell how to get those dog all to 
come along. So I get a long hrope hand tie those dog on 
all along in a row, like you put fish hook on line,' and I 
tie the end of the hrope on the hwagon, and I crack the 
whip, and say 'Get up. Bill!' and so we start off for 
Alpeeny, me and them eighteen dog! They was get 
tangled up all the time in the stump and tree halong the 
road, but I git most all of them to Alpeeny. 
"I couldn't take eighteen dog on a string to the hrail- 
road, so I think maybe it was better if I go hon boat. 
There was the last boat that season, and she lay at the 
dock, so I take my dog there and give the rope to a 
boy, and tell him to hoi' them dog while I go back up 
town. When I come back to the boat, what you think? 
Them whole eighteen dog was in the lake, and the boy 
was hold on to the string and hollow for me to come, right 
away. Them dog was not use to be in town, and he was 
afraid of the hwater, so he jump in, maybe. 
"Well, I get hold of the hrope, and I pull hand pull, and 
by and by two, t'ree dog come up to the top of the dock. 
Them dog put their foot in the board, and pull hard, and 
each dog I get up he help pull too, so by and by I pull 
out them whole eighteen dog, all on the string, hand mos' 
all of him hall right. So them dog each one shake his- 
self a leetle, and hollow a leetle, and wag his tail, and 
then I take the dog string on the boat. 
"The nex' morning I come to Detroit, with my rope 
fXiU of eighteen dog, and I'll start up the street and ask 
the policeman wdiere Ed Gilraan live. He'll tole mc 
hwhere, and I'll start off to walk, because I can't take the 
street car with so many dog all in one row. Now them 
dog ain't use to the city, any more than T am, and they 
make more trouble than over you sec in the world. They'll 
run all across the street and round the lamp pos', and they 
fight every dog they see in town, I'll tell you, when me 
and my eighteen dog come down the street everything else 
hit got to stop! By and by I come to Ed H. Gilman's 
house, and after awhile I get my eighteen dog through the 
gate, and I go up to the house and I say, 'Mr. Gdman. 
here your dog,' and he said to me. 'Ba gosh. Buck, I'll 
bet one hundred dollar there ain't but just the one man 
in the world could bring them eighteen dog all the way 
down to me that way 1" - 
E. Hough. 
Hahtford P.UTr.DiNG, Chic.ngo, 111. 
Old Time Connecticut River 
Sturgeon. 
this and started to move, so the man threw his arms about 
what would be the sturgeon's neck, if he had one. But, 
unforttmately, the man's fingers caught in the gills of the 
fish. This proceeding somewhat shocked the sturgeon, 
and he closed his gills, thus catching the man's fingers so 
firmly that he could not pull them otit. Then the fish 
began to swim, and swam for a record. The man 
was stretched out on his back and going through the 
water like a railroad train. The sturgeon started for 
deep water and got there. The man went into it with 
him, and found it a bit difficult to breathe under lo feet 
of Connecticut River water. The sturgeon also remem- 
bered that he wanted a little air and opened his gills. 
This let the man's fingers out, and rising to the top of the 
water he swam back to his boat. Now this is not a fish 
story, for the man who told it saw a man who knew the 
uncle of the man who tried to catch the sturgeon and got 
caught. 
Inere is a man wdio lives in Suffield who has been noted 
for his_ truthfulness for many years. He has also been 
noted for his knowledge of the river. One evening not 
so_ long ago he told this little Sunday school tale : "There 
was an old captain who ran a brick barge on a river. He 
was a kind man, who was nice to his wife and loved to 
have her with him. There was also a daughter. She, too, 
went upon the trips. The brick barge was a queer affair, 
whose rail was nearly on a level with the water when the 
Ijoat carried a load. There was a cabin, in Avhich the lov- 
ing wife slept when they did not spend the night in fight- 
ing mosquitoes. In this cabin, besides the two females, 
were two windows — nice large window.s — which were 
close to the water. On one tranquil night the loving wife 
and daughter had retired, and the captain sat upon the 
deck, busily meditating upon what a noble man he was. 
It was a still, peaceful night, and the sound of rippUng 
wavelets against the bow made the captain feel still 
niore contented with himself and with his loving family. 
The stillness was broken by an imearthly shriek. The 
sound came from within the cabin of the' loving family. 
The captain smashed in the door with one mighty kick. 
The loving family Avere in negligee and hysterics. In 
the bed where the loving daughter should have been 
flopped a mighty sturgeon, and the loving family occupied 
different corners. The fish had jumped from the water 
and struck on the deck of the boat, then slid into the 
window and hit the maiden as she lay peacefully dream- 
ing. Naturally she had become somewhat disturbed by 
this sudden appearance of 400 pounds of fish." What 
became of the sturgeon the truthful man did not state. 
He added as an afterthought that the story might not be 
true, but that he iiad seen boats like the one described. — 
Springfield (Mass.) Republican, 
Carp in German Ponds. 
lis a recent number of the Copenhagen daily paper, 
Politikin, there was a short article, written by' tlie Danish 
inspector of fisheries, entitled "Karper og Kascoiter" 
(carp and potatoes), which refers to tfie great fish ponds 
in East Prussia. The following is a translation of a 
portion thereof: 
"The capture of the fish in one of these great carp 
ponds is interesting apart from the operation itself; it 
affords opportunity for an outing, and illustrates the 
difference that exists between laboring people and their 
superiors. 
"No inconsiderable amount of labor is required to 
empty these great ponds. Their area is extensive — the 
equivalent of not less than a couple of hundred touds of 
land (ab^.ut 280 acres). The great one at Plermonitz ex- 
ceeds SOj morgen (about the same number of acres). 
■'Indeed, the neighborhood is full of fish ponds, as it 
lies on the watershed between the Oder and the Weichsel, 
whose sources are very near one another. As soon as the 
proper sea.son comes round the outlet is opened, and the 
depth of the water in the pond (which is usually not 
great) is reduced gradualh^ But it takes about six weeks 
to_ empty such a pond as those above referred to. When 
this has been done, it has the appearance in bright sun- 
light of a gray flat, broken only by channels which divide 
the bottom of the pond into fields (as it were), and finally 
converge into deeper trenches, which in their turn cul- 
minate in the main outflow. Before this last there is a 
large hole in which gradually assemble thousands of fish — 
carp, pike, and roach — ^but the carp are in a majority, and 
from the wide expanse of slush their high back fins may 
be seen raised when the fish gasp for air or are suddenly 
frightened, when they rush off after the manner of a flock 
of timid sheep. Before the fish collect, and as soon as the 
water begins to get low, a watch must be kept against 
poachers, whether otters or bipeds, feathered or un- 
feathered. At length comes the day appointed for the 
taking of the fish. At the outlet of the pond a deal floor 
is arranged, anjj upon that the sorting table is placed, and 
large tubs full of water, in which the fish are cleaned, and 
from which they are counted and carried away in barrel.s 
that are loaded on carts drawn by oxen. But out in the 
pond are the work people, watched by the managers, 
forest officials, and other reliable employees, busily occu- 
pied Avith capturing the fish, Avhich are gradually sepa- 
rated into smaller lots Avitli nets. 
"The mighty inspector sees that the work is properh' 
performed from early morning until late in the afternoon. 
It is a curious spectacle to Avatch all those people, men 
and women, wading in the mire, collecting the fish i^n 
landing nets, dragging them ashore at the sorting place 
in heavy wooden tubs ; the women barelegged, and with 
Avell tucked up skirts. It is a cold job, and the latter fre 
quently repair to warm their limbs at fires kept burning 
on the bank for the purpose. The Avork is heavy and 
must be carried out quickly. The object is to gather in 
the_ 40,000 pounds of carp Avhich the pond contains, and 
which are worth some 30,000 kimer (about £1,670). It h 
also A'ery exhattsting, and refreshments are necessar}^ 
For that purpose a hut, furnished with a table and 
benches, is put up for the inspector, managers and other 
officials, with plenty of excellent food. Avine and beef. 
The w^ork people assemble round the fire, or Avherever 
they can find a nlace; children and specta*-ors go to and 
fro, and the gendarmes look after the long-fingered gentry. 
One poor chap has succeeded in placing a fish beneath hi.s 
Avretched blouse, but the fish's struggles have betrayed 
him, and he is pidled up before the inspector, Avho. how- 
ever, lets him go. . 
Parables of Buck. 
It was as Mr. J. D. Hawks once wrote me. Buck, the 
lodge keeper, was a character. French-Canadian is Buck, 
and- has shot ducks on the St. Clair River from his 
youth, but twenty years ago he wandered into the pine 
Avoods. About 5 feet 10 inches up and doAvn, 3 feet -across 
the shoulders, Avith an arm like a tree, and a hand like 
a ham, there are few men more poAverful than this same 
Buck. No horse had ever the constitution that was 
given Buck. There never was a better river driver in 
the North than he. No rubber boots for Buck, and he 
declares no one ever got rheumatism while driving on 
the riA'er, although no logger was CA^er knoAvn to have an 
extra suit of clothes along, and simply dried himself out 
by a fire Avhen he got the time. 
It is one of the pastimes of the club members to gather 
round the fireplace at night, to call Buck in and turn 
him loose as general entertainer. I was present at one of 
these symposiums, and I certainly heard one or two 
remarkable things, more especially in the way of natural 
history. 
"You knOAV this big bird, hwoodpecker. hAvat they call 
cock of the hwood?" said Buck. 'T'll tell you how tu 
make the charm from this bird. If you make this charm 
you can put the spell on anybody Avhat you please. 
"You'll get this cock of the hwood. this big liAvood- 
pecker, and 3^ou'll find a big anthill, and 3'ou'll put this 
bird in the hill. By and by the ants eat up hevery bit of 
him hexcept his bone. You take this skelelton and go to 
some creek, where the Avater runs fast. You throw 
these bone of the liAvoodpecker in the Avater, and uoav you 
see all those bone go down stream hexcept one bone, and 
that go up stream, ahvays this one bone sAvim up stream. 
You get that bone, and put him in your pocket, and you 
can put spell oh hanybody j'ou want." 
The above Avould seem to be somewhat in the nature of 
neAVS, but one should hear Buck supplement it Avith the 
story of the wonderful "side hill gopher," whose legs are 
short on one side, and long on the other, so it can navi- 
gate successfully on a hillside. Buck gravely assures his 
hearers that he has killed a number of the'se creatures. ; 
He Avill tell you also that the opossum is a very strange 
animal. He says that the young of the opossum is ncA^er 
born at all, that the mother animal fishes them out from 
the pouch at Avill. and that eventually the young opos-. 
slinis eat the mother up entirely, so there is not a vestige 
of her left. This I imagine too is a n.em fact in natura' 
history. ^ ' 
One of Buck's special pets was. his "pickerel hound,' "* 
an intelligent canine Avhich he once owned, and which 
he solemnly declares he ahvays took out with him Avhen he 
was spearing for fish. This dog would scent a pickerel 
at a depth of 20 or 30 feet under the Avater, and there 
was no such thing as coming back empty handed if one 
took the "pickerel hound" along. It is not commonly , 
known of men that a dog cA-er points fish, especially fisli 
20 or 30 feet deep in the water, but Buck explains it bj 
saying that the water is so clear and pure that the dog car 
easily smell the fish. "Why," said he, "a gent'emar 
here, the bother day, he lose ten cent over the side o 
the boat, hand it fell on the bottom in 40 feet of water, and 
the water, it so clear, that ten cent look like three dollar!" 
Although French-Canadian by discovery, Buck speaks 
Enp^lish nretty well, and might perhaps not be betrayed btit 
for his fatal plurals. Everything to him is in the singular 
number, except "trout" and "deer." He is always par- 
ticular to say "trouts" and "deers." This neculiarity adds 
interest to his story of the time he took Ed Gilman's dogs 
down to Detroit for him. (Mr. Gilman is, the. presideiit 
of the Gllrbj a^nd tjie dogs. belong to him. When the law- 
Deep sea fishing in the Connecticut has died out of 
late, but perhaps the reason for this is that there are no 
big fish to catch. One could fish for them until the coavs 
came home, but the novelty Avould wear out if one never 
caught anything larger than a pumpkinseed or an infant 
perch. Not so in the olden times. There Avere big fish 
in the river then. Some almost as big as Avhales, accord- 
ing to tradition. 
The shad fishers and river boatmen used to ha\'e some 
exciting times with the sturgeon, and both hated each 
other with an equal hate. If a lusty young sturgeon got 
the chance to tear a shf^d net, he took it, or if a boatman 
had the opportunity to smash a sturgeon gently over the 
nose Avith a boat hook, he accepted the opportunity with 
equal alacrity. It was not an uncommon thing for a 
sturgeon to become entangled in a shad net which Avas full 
of shad. The big fish would not pay any attention to the 
tiny meshe.'i at first, Init would simply keep aAvay from 
them, gradually allowing himself to be pulled nearer and 
nearer to the shore. All of a sudden it would dawn upon 
him that he was in a trap, and with a sAvish of his tail he 
Avould start for <feeper water. The net met his rush and 
perhaps stopped him at first. Then he would sAvim back a 
little Avay and charge the meshes like a torpedo boat at 
full speed. The net always gave Avay before his 300 or 
400 pounds of Aveight going forty or fifty miles an 
hour, and the shad folloAved the sturgeon. The fisher- 
men only landed a good haul of profanity and put in the 
rest of their day in mending the broken seine. Sturgeon 
ran large in the river twenty years ago, and one of 250 or 
300 pounds Avas frequently takgn. The meat was a bit 
gamy, but not unpleasant to taste, and that of the smaller 
fish Avas nice. They are a lazA^ fish and lie around upon 
the sandbars much like the pickerel, and are about as 
gami\ On their back is a row of scales that are about 
as tough as the aA'erage armor plate on a battleship, and 
their noses are similar to^ a battering ram. The mouth 
is on the under side of the head in much the same position 
as that of a shark, and the sturgeon, cA'^en in evening 
dress, is not handsome. The end of the snout is a ball 
of gristle, and this Avas much prized among the children 
I who dwelt along the banks of the river. The gristle was 
dried and then used as a ball, and would bounce many 
.feet into the air, being much more elastic than rubber. 
It' Avas the boat-men Avho suft'ered the most harrowing 
.adventures Avith the sturgeon. It seems that a boatman 
■nlways on the lookout for the fish Avhen going OA'er 
shoals. One A-eraciotis man relates an experience that 
hqd Avhile on a trio un riA'er from Hartford. He was 
looking over the rail when going over bar and saAV a 
sturgeon sunning himself in the Avater. There was an 
l,axe on the boat near the man, and grabbing this instru- 
ment of war the man made a leap for the fish. The 
sturgeon saw him coming and started to run, but in his 
' hurry he headed for shallow and not deep water. The 
man followed.- The sturgeon Avatched him for an instant 
and then saw that it was time for him to do something. 
He charged for the man. The fisherman grasped his axe 
and cursed himself for jumping overboard, but resolved to 
die game. When the fish got to within 6 feet of him 
he Avas swimming about i.ooo miles an hour, according 
to the man ; the fish SAA'erved to one side and the man hit 
him one with the axe. The sturgeon did not wait to see 
how badlv he had been hurt, but sought solitude and deep 
Avater. The man got ba,ck on the boat, and has toyed 
Avith no sturgeon since. Another boatman had a bit more 
trying exnerience in jumping overboard for a sturgeon. 
He was standing in the boAv of a boat, and saAv a fish just 
under him. He jumped at him, and came down astride 
of. his back. The sturgeon Avas somewhat surprised at 
