Jtjly 21, 1900, j 
POOREST ANt) STREAM. 
house on the corner of the Willow Brook and Watchogue 
roads at 4:15 A. M. Pretty stiff agreement, but the con- 
sideration was probable good sport in the coolth of the 
early morning. I won't tell you bow, in a fruitless en- 
deavor to go off as quietly as a kitty-cat, I got up and 
roused t?he whole household, including the missus and 
the baby. Every man Avho handles a rod or gun knows 
how it is, and you know I am particularly un-light- 
footed. 
However, we were on time at the rendezvous, and 
hustled along to the rose briers hack of Roth's, where 1 
know two or three broods were raised, for 1 have 'seen the 
youngsters and the parents. Well, sir, when we got in 
.there it would have broken your heart to see the poor 
»earth agape with the black thirst and looking at the blue 
Iheavens above for the savin' moisture (sounds Kiplingish, 
Jimmy, doesn't it?). Yes, sir; dry as a bone, aiid we 
ragged the acres back and forth with my old Laddie and 
oiever a whisfle nor sign of feather. We knew they'd be 
ifeeding, and so we hunted the irrigation drain froin end to 
tend, with the same result. It was warm by then, a close, 
sticky warmth, and we were getting ready to take the 
usual pledge to refrain from summer hunting now and 
forevermore. We struck the other brier patches from 
our calling list, and after executive session put out for the 
Black Muck Woods across the turnpike. Jimmy, I would 
like to draw the veil here, for your sake, for 1 know 
you've a ball and chain on your ballet-like ankle, and I 
don't want to be the means of inciting envy, hatred and 
other uncharitableness in your brave buzzum; but honest 
truth, Jim, when we set first foot into the woods it 
seemed as though all the woodcock in the whole county 
had assembled there in convention — perhaps to establish 
close and open season on worms. You know. James, I 
was raised on Sanford and Merton, and I would not tell 
a lie, and so, James, I hope you will believe me when 
I say that, as we salaamed through a low barbed-wire 
fence, the air was full of crescendo and diminuendo 
-whistlings, and what seemed in the half-light, long, dun- 
icolored streaks that twisted in and out among the tree 
iboles like little flying boa constrictors. James, my boy, 
ithose streaks were the poor little, hxzzy little, helpless 
nittle things that Constant Reader vapors about, with 
lliere and there perhaps an old big woodcock to lead the 
way. Not a shot was fired ; not a funeral note. We 
were getfi-ng .through the fence, as I said before, and only 
had a sort «t a worm-eye's view of it all. If we'd 
practiced wirig- shooting with head between legs and the 
gun held upside ,down, perhaps we'd have had a shot any- 
way, but as it was, we marked them down best we 
could and then sent old Black and White ahead — slowly. 
He hadn't poked around among the skunk cabbage longer 
than a minute before he drew up, wavered, moved up a 
degree and "friz." I was nearer, and walked up for the 
shot. A couple of steps forward and up buzzed the bird. 
He wasn't any cinch, Jim. I'll tell you, twisting around 
the tree trunks, but the second barrel got him. He was a 
full-grown young bird, and, barring his color, looked just 
..as would his daddy at this time of year. Made the sign of 
..the Black Rabbit over his body as he lay (you know 
\we always do that on the first bird, of the season), and then 
i-pieiked him up. 
L?.ddie plodded along for a minute or two, when a 
third flushed wild in front of Smith. He got him with 
ithe first barrel. Two minutes — two birds, and we're in 
tthe Greater City — the city of New York, the second of the 
-.world's great massing places of men. Get your snipe-like 
Ibuain to' work on that propo.sition, Jimmy ! And still you 
•a^iii Jive ,in Hoboken. 
"Ilhevwiiod is about eighty rods long and half as wide, so 
Smith ;3nd I formed a hollow square and proceeded to 
walk back and forth across it with Laddie boy waving his 
old saber tail about 50 feet ahead of us, and doing the 
real work. Half-way across on the first "leg" and Smith 
Land I fired two shots apiece at the same bird. Smith, who 
,has a head for figures, says that little burst of pleasure cost 
.ten and two-fifths cents, not counting the strain on the 
;gufl. No, dear reader, we did not kill the bird. He went 
;5i — way. We went along on the same course toward the 
ii)arb6.(J-wire fence, and at a point we each scored — two 
ihirds flushing. Laddie was as mindful and clever as a 
rttained ^ealo and it was a pleasure to work with him. 
jl .WQn'.t wear you out, Jim, with the details of each 
Mil, ,but I .do want you to hear about the last one, for I 
kinder -covercsd .myself with all kinds of glory making it. 
I wanted ito tell you about it at the beginning of this 
letter, j.iv^tras ,we always ate our dessert first- — 'member. 
Jim? Well, \we'd about shot the place out, we thought, 
and were goiiJSig to Iqave it, when I happened to turn 
around, and thexe was old Laddie making one of his dash- 
ing-looking, high-headed points. Solid as a rock, too, and 
I knew he'd a bird nailed. Smith had been getting the 
rough end of the shooting, so I told him to take the shot. 
.-He was about 100 feet from the dog when he started. He 
■■walked up at "ready" until he got within 15 feet of 
.Laddie, and then he stopped. Dog solid as the Pali- 
isades, and no perceptible motion anywhere, except a big. 
.^sI^unk cabbage leaf waving about 2 feet from Laddie's 
.mose. 
■ ','Dqg has fits in statuesque positions," said Smith. 
;I, deigned no reply, except to sniff contemptuously, but I 
shoved up the safety on the grip and got ready, in case 
Smith took three steps and stopped again. Palisades im- 
movable .as ever; cabbage leaf still gently fanning the 
earth. 
"Dogs. crazy or has been suddenly smitten with angina 
pectoris," said Smith, "and has died standing up." 
Nevertheless he kept his gun at ready and prepared to ad- 
vance. Two cautious steps ahead— perhaps the breeze 
blew less geatly., and the cabbage leaf fluttered more 
strongly. But the Palisades never wavered. 
A black robber of a crow cawed way up in the sky, and 
it seemed to deepen the nervous hush. 
Smith took one step ahead. "That black and white 
strain of pointers," he began, "are fools from the be- 
ginning ." Whir-r-r-r, and up from underneath the 
skunk cabbage rose something that hurtled through the 
air like a bullet. Bang ! Bang ! from Smith, and through 
the smokeless-powder haze I saw old Philohela still scud- 
ding for safety. I threw the gun to my shoulder and 
pulled the first barrel, but on he went. 1 led him 3 feet; 
6 inches over, and 2 feet to the right, and pulled the left. 
We picked him up just sixty-two and one-half paces 
away from the firing place, and that is the longest shot 
I ever made on a woodcock in such a place as the Black 
Muck Woods. I was on to his curves, Jimmy, and shot 
right into a little opening in the trees that it had flashed 
over me he'd hunt for. It waS- one of those inspirations a 
man has once in a while. 
My love to the chickabiddies, and my very kindest re- 
gards to Mrs. Jim, Sincerely, 
Jack. 
Pisgah Forest. 
RALEUiH, N. C— There is now a great movement for 
a national park in the mountains of western North 
Carolina. This had its origin in George Vanderbilt's 
two great development ideas, as shown first in his Bilt- 
more estate and next in his Pisgah forest. The latter is 
a true forest. Pie was so fortunate as to discover a place 
where natiire had been well nigh unmolested and then to 
secure this and allow her to work her own sweet will. 
And it is to be of a pilgrimage to Pisgah that this is to 
be a story. 
There are some 10,000 acres in Biltmore, of which all 
the world knows. There are 100.000 acres in Pisgah 
forest, of which few know anything. The latter is about 
forty miles in length, and takes its name from its domi- 
nating peak, Mt. Pisgah, which is a true cone, and which 
is a landmark even amid all the peaks in that vast, ir- 
regular and lofty plateau between the Blue Ridg(j and the 
tireat Smoky Mountains. East and west this plateau 
is walled in by the loftiest mountains east of the Rockies. 
Going from Raleigh to Asheville, which is the gateway 
to the glories of the mountain region which the Chero- 
kee Indians in their not vmnnisical tongue called the 
Overhills of Ottolay, the train climbs to the Swannanoa 
Pass, through the Blue Ridge and pierces the crest of the 
great divide through Swannanoa tunnel, 3,450 feet above 
sea level. The .stream flowing out of the eastern portal 
of the tunnel runs into the Atlantic Ocean; that out of 
the western portal into the Gulf of Mexico via the Swan- 
nanoa, the French Broad, the Tennessee and the Mis- 
sissippi. In the tunnel is the source of the Swannanoa, 
famed in stor}'- and song, which at Asheville mingles with 
the French Broad, loved of the Cherokees, and by them 
called Tab-kec-os-tee, the "Racing River." 
Going by rail from A.sheville to Hendersonville, and 
thence to Davidson's River station on the Henderson- 
ville & Brevard Railway, the pilgrimage to Pisgah begins 
in earnest. A light wagon, drawn by a pair of small 
mules, driven by a momitaineer, carries a tent and such 
provisions as will supplement the moi:ntain fare. The 
pilgrims, like those of old. walk, and find the twelve 
miles to Pisgah forest a succession of pictures. Along 
the clear French Broad River runs the road, then turns 
along Davidson's River — clearer still — and then leads 
beside Avery's Creek — as pellucid as a dew drop — to the 
very source of that stream. 
To all the native folk near and far Pisgah forest is 
"Ml". Vanderbilt's place." A wire fence, merely three 
strands of barb, outlines it and forms its boundary. Only 
a quarter of a mile outside this fence is the last house, a 
tiny cottage nestled in a little cove, its dwellers an aged 
couple. The old man in his rude but kindly fashion said 
he liked Mr. Vanderbilt well, and added, "He is a 
mighty common man; real common." By this homely 
phrase he meant that the multi-millionaire did not put 
on airs, but was friendly and sociable. 
All tlie way from the boundary fence to the gap, which 
opens the way to the valley of the forest, there is the 
sound of falling water. This is the one sound which is 
ceaselessb' heard all over Pisgah; the rush or the fall of 
the mountain streams, which most of the time are them- 
selves invisible, perhaps high overhead or in a gorge a 
thousand feet below. The last two miles of road is very 
steep, and the sure-footed mules have plenty of work t.p 
do, but ihey fairly bend to it. The driver, ^yho, like the 
mountaineers in general, is a man of few vvords, says, 
"It's mighty good road for mount'n," The plodders on 
foot have the best of it, 
Froin ihe top of the gap there is a glorious view over 
the Vanderbilt domain to the northward, and to the 
southward a view even into South Carolina. Tlius looked 
at, there is an apparently boundless expanse of virgin 
forest. But the movement doAvnward is begun, and in a 
.quai'ter of ari hour the pilgrims arc in the Pink Beds, 
the heart of the forest. To Mr. Vanderbilt this is merely 
part of his great woodland, but to the mountaineer it is 
•'.the Pink Beds, and under the latter name it appears in 
' the geological maps. It is a sort of table land, between 
htigh and nearly parallel ridges, threaded with streams as 
bright as a looking-glass, all running in beds of solid 
stone, literally like flights of steps, and which seem like 
quicksilver as they flash or fall from their lofty sources. 
The origin of the name Pink Beds is in dispute, it 
seems. It most probably is derived from the colors of 
the rhododendron, which is so profuse as to make the 
country for miles look in May and June like a con- 
servator3\ The bushes on which these rich-htied flowers 
grow form a continuous tangle, save where the great 
forest trees crowd them out. One of the mountaineers, 
when asked for his idea of the origin of the name, said in 
a most prosaic manner, 'T don't rightly know where the 
name comes from, but I have heard 'em say a man one 
time had a cow here named Pink and she got bogged up 
in a ma'shy place and died there." 
The Pisgah forest has cost Vanderbilt something like 
a quarter of a niillion of dollars, or about $2.50 an acre. 
He has bought it in great or small tracts as rapidly as 
possible, and now his. rangers are the only denizens. 
There are five of them, all picked men of the mountains, 
■ of fine physiqtte. good riders and dead shots. One of 
them comes to meet the pilgrims and looks at their per- 
mit, which is a very important piece of paper. This for- 
ester, whose name is Kearns, is a type of the rangers, 
good-humored, tall and strong, well mounted, with re- 
peating rifle slung at his back, saddle bags and poncho. 
To him these mountain wilds are like an open book, and 
upon him and his associates a great and incessant re- 
sponsibility devolves. They must keep open the roads 
and the trails, see that the boundary fence, 300 miles in 
length, is all right; keep out poachers, look after the 
game and the trout, and always be on the alert for timber 
stealers. The poachers would come from near and far 
to catch the trout, or rather to kill them by exploding 
dynamite cartridges in the deep pools where the big fel- 
lows lurk; or to kill the deer, the grouse (or pheasants. 
as they are known popularly), or the wild turkeys. At an 
incredible distance the trained ear of the ranger will hear 
the explosion of dynamite, and he tracks the offender 
unerringly, even into other counties, and once into 
Tennessee. 
There are 265 miles of trail in this forest, the trails 
leading alongside each trout stream. There are 70 mileS 
of road, passable for wagon. Trail and road are always 
kept in readiness against Mr. Vanderbilt's coming. He 
is, as the rangers say, "liable to come any time." There 
are miles of shooting paths, the latter 15 feet in width 
and cut out right and left from the roads. When deer 
are driven they must cross these paths, and by means 
of the latter alone can the hunter see them in time to get 
a shot. 
For a century these Pink Beds were a free pasture, and 
iJiousands of cattle were driven mere 101 me gia'zing. 
The cattle were driven even from South Carolina, and 
m the sprmg and in the fall were driven home "seal fat," 
as the phrase is. In those days forest fires were set alight 
each spring, to freshen the grass. Eight years ago Mr. 
Vanderbilt began to buy the land, and now cattle found 
withm his boundary are driven out by the rangers. 
The absence of noises other than those made by the, 
streams is one of the most noticed things. Rarely is a 
note of a bird heard, and seldomer still is any feathered 
thing seen. So perfect and so dense is the cover that a 
deer can lie unseen only a few feet away. Numerous as 
the turkeys are, only one wa.s flushed, and only a very 
few pheasants were seen. The sharp footmarks of the 
deer are constantly visible in the trails, and alongside 
the streams are the footprints of the wildcat. High 
overhead the golden eagle is seen soaring, and Ranger 
Kearns shows a mounted specimen which'he killed with 
a revolver as it sat in a tree top 80 j^ards away. 
Though Mr, Vanderbilt is not a sportsman, but a 
student, yet, as stated, all things are kept ready for him. 
His pleasure is the pleasure of others. On his last visit 
he only caught one trout, nor did he fire a gun. His 
wife was with him. She is a good horsewoman, and rode 
a pony up and down the steepest trails. Under protection 
native_ trout are rapidly restocking the .streams without 
artificial propagation. In some of the streams rainbow 
trout from California have been placed, but these are not 
so satisfactory a fish. They rapidly lose their rich colors, 
and have to be quickly eaten to be palatable, while the 
trout of the locality, properly dressed, keep well. In 
the old days, before there was protection, there were 
caught in two days in this very forest 1,650 trout, and 
most of this needless slaughter was pure waste. 
At Biltmore Mr. Vanderbilt has an arboretum, one 
of the largest in the M^orld, and the pioneer in the United 
States. This was formerly under the direction of Gifford 
Pinchot, who is at present head forester of the United 
-States; it is now under the direction of Dr. Schenck, as 
forester. In this arboretum more than 300,000 trees and 
shrubs have been planted. Pisgah forest is the com- 
plement of the arboretum, and in these wild woods Dr. 
Schenck has a lodge where he spends much of each 
summer with his class. In the latter are often youths 
of wealth and high social position, who wish to .study 
forestry— a study which the United States sorely needs, 
since so many millions are daily devoting themselves 
to the task of forest destruction, and so few to conserva- 
tion. 
The grandeur of the trees is a ne'ver-ceasing wonder. 
Enormous tulip trees or poplars, Spanish and red oaks, 
liemlocks, chestnuts, black walnuts, cucumber trees and 
pines, rise in size and symmetry, and make the views 
grand in the extreme. Here the destructive lumberman 
has never despoiled "the forest primeval." The trees 
cover all nature. 
"For miles on miles their hazy files 
Srow nebulously dim.'-' 
and there is always, thanks to this great foirest, the tender 
blue which gives the Blue Ridge Its name. No matter 
whether the Aveather be fair or foul, the color of thesp 
mountains is always blue, deeper or lighter a.s the case 
may be. 
Every rose has its thorn, and in the fairest of earth's 
places some poison lurks. This Pink Bed region js 
particularly infested with rattlesnakes. They are of the 
black variety, and while short in length are very large— 
3 inches in diameter sometimes. Ranger Kearns looked 
at his "tally stick" and found that during the season of 
1899 he killed twenty-six. His two or three employes 
.said they had killed as many more. A watchful eye is 
necessary when a pilgrim gets out of a road or trail. 
The moimtaineers say that as a rule a rattlesnake is 
very peaceable; so much so that when he thinks a person 
does not see him he lies quiet and does not coil and 
rattle. The rangers wear extremely thick leather leg- 
gings over heavy stockings. Deadly as is the poison of 
these snakes, few people die from it. Surprisingly few 
are bitten, and whiskey i,s instantly taken. The rattle- 
snake in the eastern part of North Carolina is far larger 
and in consequence more deadly, owing to the greater 
size of the fangs and poison bags. The most dangerous 
because the most vicious snake in the eastern part of the 
State is the black water moccasin, or cottonmouth, called 
by the n.atives the "swamp lion," because of hig savage- 
ness. These snakes attack men. 
The real objective point of the pilgriniage is Pisgah 
Peak. The Thompson trail is taken for its top, and it 
is a long" nine-mile tramp. This is the steepest because 
the most direct of all the trails. The immense trees of 
the Pink Beds are replaced on the long mountain crest 
by dwarfed trees, very quaint in effect, with blue grass 
beneath them. It is a natural paiic in miniature. The 
trail leads along the crest to Pisgah Lodge. This is a 
.nasterpiece of quaintness, all of logs and stone. Its 
front balcony projects over a chasm almost sheer for 
1.000 feet. From this most picturesque standpoint Mr. 
Vanderbilt's guests shoot at clay pigeons or glass balls, 
and experts get three or four shots. The furnitui-e is 
all of mountain woods. The dining hall is a separate 
building, of the same log construction, and its walls are 
nearly covered with the dressed skins of the wildcat, fox, 
deer, skunk, etc. There are more than 200 skins, those 
of the wildcat predominating. These animals- were all 
shot or trapped in Pisgah forest. There are_ also im- 
mense eagles perched on the beams. The pilgrims dine 
at the lodge amid these odd surroundings pn frie4 
