June 30, 1900.! 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
BIB 
The Raceabouts at Latchmont. 
Through a clerical error the winner;- in the raceabout 
class at Larchmont on June 16 was given out as Sis, the 
third boat, in place of Colleen. Colleen's time was 
3:17:59. and Sis' time was 3:27:55; but it was originally 
given out as 3:i7oS. 
YACHTING NEWS NOTES. 
The Hull-Massachusetts Y. C. has prepared a series of 
entertainments for members and guests at the club house, 
Hull, as follows: July 3, band concert; July 11, promen- 
ade concert; July 14, men's smoker; July 18, promenade 
concert; July 21, hurdy gurdy party; July 25, promenade 
concert; July 28, men's smoker; Aug. i, band concert; 
Aug. 4, hurdy gurdy party; Aug. 8, promenade concert; 
Aug, II, men's smoker; Aug. 15, promenade concert; 
Aug. 18, water sports, music and dancing; Aug. 22, 
promenade concert; Aug. 25, hurdy gurdy party; Aug. 29, 
band concert. 
9t n 9t 
Valiant, steam yacht, W. K; Vanderbilt, arrived at New 
York on June 19 from Havre, after a passage of nine days, 
one hour. On board were Mr. Vanderbilt, Mr. and Mrs. 
John Jacob Astor and Mr; Winfield Scott Hoyt. Valiant 
has been absent from New York shince Jan. 8. 
tl^ 
'The South Boston Yachting Carnival Association has 
arranged the following programme for next week: 
July 2 — Open race of the Mosquito. Fleet Y. C. Band 
concerts, iireworks and entertainment in the club house in 
the evening. 
July 3 — Open races of the Columbia Y. C. and enter- 
tainment for the visiting yachtsmen in the evening. 
July 4 — Programme for the city of Boston. 
July 5 — Open race of the South Boston Y. C. and en- 
tertainm.ent. 
July 6-r-Open race under the atispices of the Mosquito 
Fleet Y. C. and South Boston Y, C. A grand illumina- 
tion of the entire fleet of yachts will take place in the 
evening. Prizes for the best decorated boats for the home 
and the visiting ileets will be given. A nautical parade 
will be one of the features, the boats being towed from 
the Marine pier to the Mosquito Fleet Y. C. and back. 
July 7 — Old-time anchor start handicap. 
1^ 
Aloha, steam yacht, A. C. James, arrived at Gibraltar on 
June 20 from Naples. Calanthe, steam yacht, under 
charter to J. Arthur Hinckley, sailed to the westward. 
Mineola I., the Burgess 46-footer, built by Vice-Com. 
Belmont in 1891, has been renamed Isolt by her new 
owner, Carleton W. Nason, of New York. 
n n 
The two 30-footers Esperanza, H. O. Havemeyer, Jr., 
and Wawa, Reginald Brooks, will sail a series of private 
matches at Newport next week. 
«t It «t 
Dorothy II., 30-.footer, has been sold by H. P. Whit- 
ney to Clarence "W. Dolan, of Philadelphia, who will 
race her with the class at Newport. 
^ ^ 
The new year book of the New York Y. C. shows a 
total membership of 1,560 up to May 17, exclusive of the 
thirty honorary and five flag members. The fleet now in- 
cludes 421 yachts, of which 87 are schooners, 118 cutters, 
sloops or yawls, 196 are steamers and 20 are launches. 
Of the sailing yachts, 6 schooners and 5 cutters are fitted 
with auxiliary engines. The book contains the usual lists 
of members, yachts, private signals, constitution, racing 
rules and mUch general information relating to yachting. 
«l « 
Endymion, steam yacht, George Lord Day, returned to 
New 'f'ork last week from Lawley's Yard, Boston, where 
she has been overhauled and strengthened after her cruise 
of last winter. On June 21 she sailed from New York 
for Southampton with Mr. and Mrs. Day and two friends 
on board. 
1^ 1^ 
On June 23 three members of the Evanston Boat Club, 
of Chicago, Walter Calkins, West Morris and Edward 
Church, had a narrow escape from drowning through the 
capsize of a so-called "knockabout" on Lake Michigan. 
Ihey were rescued by boats from the shore after being 
exposed for some time on the overturned boat. 
9t ^ m. 
Athene, centerboard cutter, W. O. Gay, built at Bristol 
last year, has returned to the yard to have some three 
tons of lead added to her keel. A new suit of canvas has 
been made for her at Bristol. 
•t «e *s 
The Larchmont Y. C. will sail its annual open regatta 
on July 4, under the usual conditions, the start being made 
at 11:30. The steamer Albertina will carry the members 
and guests of the club, leaving E. 31st street. New York, 
at 8 A. M., and Larchmont at 10:30 A. M. Entries may 
be made to the Race Committee at Larchmont not later 
than 9 P. M. on July 2. 
ae n K 
The Atlantic Y. C. has issued a programme of the 
season's races neatly printed in card form. The events 
are as follows: 
June 30, start 2 P. M. Sloops 30ft. and under, all cabm 
catboats, open catboats. 
July 4, start 10 A. M. Oyster boat race, prizes $25, $15 
and $10. Handicap race for schooners, 51ft. cutters and 
smaller classes, cabin catboats, open catboats, open race. 
Julv 7-14. Annual cruise. 
Sept. 3., 36ft. and smaller classes, cabin catboats, open 
catboats. 
Sept. 13. fall regatta, open to all classes. 
Sept. 15, club races, classes to be announced later. 
n 9t n 
The annual meet of the Interlake Y. A. will be held at 
Ptit-in-Bay, Lake Erie, during the week beginning July 23. 
Arthur Edgerton Bateman, once well known in New 
York, died in Washington on June 24 of heart disease, at 
the age of forty-nine. Mr. Bateman at one time owned 
the yacht Meteor before she was renamed Golden Rod. 
8^ 1? 
The Squantum Y. C. will hold an open race on Satur- 
day, Jime 30, starting at 12:30 P. M., for yachts of the 
Y. R. A. of Massachusetts, and a special open handicap 
race for yachts under 30ft. in length. The classes are as 
follows : 25ft. cabin class, 21ft. open class, 21ft. cabin 
class, i8ft. open class and 15ft. open class. The judges 
are Hon. H. O. Fairbanks, Hon. Eugene H. Sprague, 
Charles M. Bryant, Com, Allen M. Davis, Com. Fred J. 
Stewart, Alexander L. Hill, John J, Poland and William 
J. Croucher. 
K «> 
The annual regatta of the Eastern Y. C, open to yachts 
of any club, will be sailed from Half-Way Rock on 
.Saturday, June 30, 1500, at 11 A. M., unless unfavorable 
weather necessitates postponement, in which case the race 
will take place at a day subsequent to the cruise. En- 
tries must be received in writing by the Regatta Com- 
mitLce at the club hotise before 9 o'clock of the evening 
before the race. 
The prizes are: For schooners — First class, $150; 7Sft. 
class, $100 ; 53ft. class, $50. In each class of schooners 
second prizes of $75, $50 and $25 respectively will be 
awarded, if four or more yachts start in the class. 
Cutters — Over 70ft. waterline, $150; 70ft. class, $100; 
6ift. class, $75; 53ft. class, $75; 46ft. class, $75; 40ft. 
class, $50 ; 35ft. class, $50. If four or more yachts start 
in either class above the 35ft., a second prize of $25 will 
be given ; in the 35ft. class, if four or more yachts start, a 
second prize of $30 will be given, and if seven or more 
start, a third prize of $20. 
The Puritan cup will be awarded for the year to the 
yacht of the club making the best corrected time (on regu- 
lar allowances) over the course sailed by the larger j^achts. 
To enable members of the club to witness the annual 
regatta, the steamer Governor Andrew will leave Rowe's 
wharf, Boston, for Half-Way Rock, Saturday, June 30, at 
9:30 A. M. _ _ 
Weather permitting, she will follow the yachts until 
the race shall be finished or declared postponed, and after 
the race will touch at Salem, returning thence to Boston. 
A special regatta for the squadron of the Eastern Y. C. 
limited to yachts of the cltib, will be held off Gloucester 
on Wednesday, July 4, at 11 A. M., unless unfavorable 
weather necessitates postponement. All schooners will 
sail together in one class. All cutters above the 35ft. class 
will sail together as the first division. The 35ft. class 
will sail together as the second division of cutters. The 
Commodore offers as prizes a cup for schooners and a 
cup for each division of cutters. There will be no second 
prizes. Yachts will race in cruising trim, but no yacht 
imder 53ft. waterline need carry a boat. 
Amerkan Ganoe ^Association^ JS99-I900. 
Commodore, W. G. MacKendrick, 200 Eastern avenue, Toronto, 
Can. 
Secretary-Treasurer, Herbert Begg, 84 Kinfr street, Toronto, Can. 
Librarian, W. P. Stepbens, Thuty-second street and avenue A, 
Bayonne, N. J. 
Division Officers. 
ATLANTIC DIVISION. ,] _ 
Vice-Corn., H. C. Alleii, Trenton, N. J. .4 . 
Rear-Com., Lewis H. May, New York. -J • 
Purser, Arthur H. Wood. Trenton, N. J. I \], 
CENTRAL DIVISION, 
Vice-Com.. John S. Wright, Rochester, N. Y. ' 
Rear-Com., Jesse J. Armstrong, Rome, N. Y. 
Purser, C. Fred Wolters, 14 East Main street, Rochester, N. Y. 
EASTERN DIVISION. 
Vice-Com., Frank A Smith, Worcester,, Mass. 
Rear-Com., Louis A. Hall, Boston, Mass. 
Purser, Frederick Coulson, 405 M.ain street, Worcester. Mass. 
NORTHERN DIVISION. 
Vice-Com., T. McD. Mowatt, Kingston, Ont., Can, 
Rear-Com., E. C. Woolsey, Ottawa, Ont, Can. 
Purser, J. £L Cunningham, Kingston, Ont., Can, 
WESTERN DIVISION. 
Vice-Com., Wm. C. Jupp. Detroit, Mich. 
■Rear-Com.. F. B. Huntington. Milwaukee, Wis. 
Purser, Fred T. Barcroft. 408 Ferguson Building, Detroit. Mich. 
•6 
Regatta Committee: R. Easton Burns, Kingston, Ont., Can., 
chaiman; Harry Ford, Tornto; D. B. Goodsell, Yonkers. N. Y. 
*6 
Meet of 1900, Muskoka Lake, Aug. 3-17. 
OfBcial organ, Forest and Stream.. 
Fixtures. 
July. 
1. Toronto, Dominion Day regatta. 
7. Toronto, club annual. 
14. Toronto, paddling and sailing races. 
21. Toronto, races and hop. 
August, 
3-17. A. C. A. meet, Muskoka. 
September. 
1-3. Toronto, club cruise. 
S. Toronto, fall regatta. 
15. Toronto, sailing races. , 
Down the Raisin.— L 
A CRANK is a' man who entertains an opinion or pro- 
mulgates an idea ■Syhich is in antagonism to the general 
sentiments of , his- fellow men. His field is limited to no 
particular class of subjects, nor does his mental aberration 
in one direction interfere with his entertaining correct and 
rational opinions in others. A man may be quite sound 
on predestination, but an utter heretic in the matter of free 
trade; he may be perfectly orthodox as to the adoption of 
the gold standard, and' yet a dangerous character when 
it comes to'the question of municipal owner shio. 
And so it wa^ that when last summer 1 caution^ly ven- 
tured to confide to a friend or two the thought that I 
had cherished secretly for an indefinite period — that I 
would like to make a journey down the Avaters of the 
River Raisin by canoe — there was only one term that 
seemed appropriate, and that was the one which is-ititra- 
duced in the beginning of this story. Not that any one 
was impolite enough to apply it in my presence, but the 
varied looks of incredulity and amusement with which the 
proposition was greeted were the best evidence of how 
it was regarded. No one was on record as havmg accomr 
plished such a journey, which was the best possible. reason 
why no one should undertake it. 
For the River Raisin, although it empties into. Lake 
Erie almost within sight of Toledo, having previously 
passed longitudinally over the surface of the lower penin- 
sula of Michigan, is practically an unknown quantity ex- 
cept as it may have become familiar in limited sections 
to the natives who dwell along its banks. The fisherman 
in each neighborhood is acquainted wnth a few favorite 
pools where the bass are wont to lie, and there are some 
worn and hackneyed stretches where the public road 
marches brazenly along its margin; but it soon escapes 
from these and goes back to the wonted obscurity which 
has so long been its chief characteristic. Geographically, 
it is supposed to have its rise in those sections of north- 
eastern Ohio and eastern Indiana contiguous to the sources 
of the Maumee, while its main tributary, lying far to the 
north, is fed by a series of small lakes which diversify the 
surface of lower Michigan and which were evidently 
created by an all-wise Providence as necessary adjuncts to 
as many summer resorts. But when it comes to knowing 
and tracing all the wanderings of this erratic stream, from 
its outgoings at its headwaters to its incomings at the 
lake, one might as well attempt to discover the movements 
of the head of the family, from the time he starts for the 
club in the early evening till he plies his uncertain latch 
key along in the turning of the new day. It seems to 
be quite possible to obtain a reasonably definite map of 
Central Africa, and to procure reliable directions for 
traversing it; but with the modifications already men- 
tioned, nobody knew how or where the River Raisin ran, 
and nobody cared. True, the river would sometimes ap- 
pear in the most unexpected manner in some county, and 
before it could get out again be "meandered" by the county 
surveyor, but even then there was no telling where it 
would reappear, and as it dodged and' skurried through 
so many counties of the State it would have required a 
small fortune to purchase all the different maps with all 
their disconnected segments. It became evident, there^ 
fore, that the only way to explore the rievr was to dis- 
cover some point in its wanderings where it had come 
upon a railroad and crossed underneath, being either too 
proud or too indifferent to go arottnd, and to follow it 
leisurely and patiently whithersoever it might lead. : 
Having become committed to the trip by declaring that 
I intended to make it, I set about procuring a suitable 
equipment. Fate kindly put in my way a canvas canoe, 
length 12 feet, width a little more than the distance across 
from one elbow to the other when seated in the hold, 
weight 25 pounds. It was fully as round on the bottom as' 
the average birch bark, and quite as ready to change 
sides, the lower for the upper, so that one who was truly 
en rapport with it enjoyed all the sympathetic, interbal- 
ancing relation that exists between a horse and his rider,, 
or a cyclist and his wheel. For motive power a double- 
bladed paddle, and in the way of baggage a wide, fiat' 
basket, stocked with provision.s, tobacco, a tea bucket, and 
carrying besides a little roll of pitch snugly jacketed -in 
canvas, and a clean pair of socks. This is the full in-' 
ventory of the outfit. ^ 
No, there was one thing more. It was a piece of half- 
inch rope (a leather strap would have been preferable) 
with a hook of heavy galvanized wire fastened at each end. 
It was just long enough to admit of passing it around the 
outside of the hull when the canoe was set on edge, leav- 
ing room for the head and one shoulder to slip through 
the resulting loop. Doubtless this device is not a new 
one, but it affords a very convenient way of slinging a' 
canoe on a long portage, since it leaves both hands free' 
for all the other impedimenta of the voyage. It proved 
none the less convenient, because I fondly imagined that 
the appliance was an original one, and it seemed fully as 
good as the usual method of portaging a birch bark. 
It was in June that I set out on my voj'age down the 
River Raisin — June, the month of strawberries and mos- 
quitoes, of roses and summer showers. Interviewing men 
who ought to have known about the river and did not, ha<i| 
become disappointingly tiresome, and I had abandoned! 
this method of adding to my stock of information. Thus; 
much only seemed to be definitely assured — that at two. 
fixed points the river was neighbor to a railroad, and that 
by entering the stream at the upper point the navigator 
would ultimately find himself at the lower one — ^just how 
ultimately it was impossible to learn. Where the river- 
went in the meantime, no one could or would tell. Who 
could make a time schedule tinder such circumstances? 
Who wanted to make one if he could? Time was no ob- 
ject to the River Raisin, as I afterward discovered. 
It was on Tuesday that the journey on the river was 
begun, and somewhere about the middle of the month.. 
Tuesday is an admirable day for beginning a journey, 
since it is far enough from the sacred rest day to afford 
leisure for the necessary preparation ; and it is sufficiently 
remote from tlie end of the week to make it possible to 
com.pass your return before the advent of another Sun- 
day — if you have time enough. If j'ou do not, the days 
in the latter part of the week seem to flow and fuse to- 
gether till the calendar is all a blot, and the magnificent 
procession of the universe moves on as if there were no 
such thing as an almanac. And practically, under these 
circumstances, there isn't. 
From Toledo the early morning train on the C, J. & M. 
road (as well as the later ones') runs across the State line 
in a northwesterly direction some twenty miles to Dundee, 
and here the road bridges our river, which continues to 
flow eastwardl}^ toward Lake Erie at Monroe. Continu- 
ing another fifteen miles in the same general direction, the 
train touches at Tccumseh. a thriving little Michigan 
town in the center of one of the early settlements of the 
State, and appropriately named after one of the early 
settlers. Around the little town the river circles, keep- 
ing prudently out of sight til! it slips under the railroad 
bridge and is away on its trio to the south. At least that 
is the wav it <;eems to be going — but no mattpr. 
From Toledo for Tecumseh the Little Pilprim was 
checked on that lovely June morning, and from Tecumseh 
she was launched into the hurrying current. The streanj. 
