892 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
{Noy, 15*, 1900. 
of ice had been ordered in consequence Ice wouW 
have saved the fish in spite of the crowding, but lack oi it 
killed them I can look back over a score of instances 
where lack of ice caused loss of trout and other fry, and 
where the presence of it would have saved them. A 
particularly aggravating case was of a messenger de- 
posited at 2 o'clock in the morning at a junction with 
50,000 sea salmon fry, and no ice. The messenger had 
been almost forced to take a tram he did not wish to 
take' to bring about the situation in which he tound 
himself Sea salmon were as scarce then as now, and as 
soon as he could get a message to me over -the railway 
wires I procured ice and met him with it. in the mean- 
time he pumped his fish, and when I met him about 
'Z^ 000 were dead, and those still alive were very sick, ice 
would have saved them, and knowing how ice has saved 
fish fry for all the vears since Dr. Garlick the father ot 
fishculture in America, discovered the use of ice in trans- 
porting fry, about 1853, I cannot understand why any 
fish breeder should intimate that icing fry is wrong or 
hkely to operate against the success of the fish planted 
after being iced. If it were wrong or injurious we \yould 
not have anv fish in this country as the result of artificial 
breeding, for all our fry are iced in the cans when 
transported, aad it is for this reason that every hatchery 
in the State has an ice house, and why now that ice is 
exhausted in some of these ice houses, the State is paying 
a ton for it at nearlv every point where the btate ftsu 
car is sent. Let no one be alarmed if he receives trout 
fry with ice in the can: rather let him rejoice. 
Salmon River Salmon. 
Yesterday I received a salmon from Salmon River.. New 
York It was an Atlantic salmon, but not very fresh, as 
it had reached me in a very roundabout way, and the 
ice was melted, and I did not wish to spend much time in 
examining it closelv. How the fish was taken I do not 
yet know, but it had marks on its sides showing it had 
been injured in some way. Several round marks showed 
old wounds and a peculiar glazing of the skm where the 
scales were absent. Possibly it was similar marks on the 
fish previouslv referred to that was found dead that gave 
rise to the opinion that lampreys had caused its death. 
To me it>did not look like the work of the lamprey in 
the case of the fish received yesterday. The journey from 
the sea to Salmon River must be a long one to bring the 
first fish to the river in the month of October, and there 
are perils of divers sorts between the sea and the sweet 
water of Oswego county, of which we know little at this 
time, but can imagine much. Suffice it to know now 
that the fish are Atlantic salmon, and that as the result 
of a salmon plant the fish are returning to the river 
annually. 
Fish Weirs. 
Some of the New York fish and game protectors re- 
cently made a visit to the Delaware River at Port Jervis 
and followed the stream upward for forty or fifty miles, 
destroying the eel weirs in the stream. I saw Protector 
Leavitt the dav he returned to Albany after his raid, and 
asked what he found in the weirs, for it has been con- 
tended that nothing but eels are taken m them. He did 
find eels, barrels of them but he also found black bass 
in many of the weirs. It has been the custom for resi- 
dents of Pennsylvania in many instances to huild their 
weirs on the New York side, and the residents ot New 
York to build their weirs on the Pennsylvania side, so the 
protectors destroyed all the weirs they found, no matter on 
which side of the river they were found, and the Penn- 
sylvania protectors have done the same thing. Some of 
the weirs were so massive that they had to be blown up 
with dynamite, but all were destroyed, no matter what 
their character or where they were found, but the owners 
escaped, for word went up the river faster than the 
protectors could move, telling what they were there for. 
New Hatchery ai.d Rearing; Poe s. 
At the meeting of the Forest. Fish and Game Com- 
mission on Nov. 8, action was taken on the selection of 
a site for a new State hatchery in Delaware county. 
Evcrv situation suggested by the people in the county— 
for the law provides that the hatchery must be erected m 
Delaware countv — has been examined, and on Nov. 7 the 
hatchery committee made a final visit to a site near 
Hobart.' The time was limited, and Mr. Edward Coy- 
kendall. superintendent Ulster & Delaware R. R., fur- 
nished a special train to take the committee from Kingston 
to Hobart and return, that the members might be in 
Albany on the 8th. The State Engineer had prepared a 
survey of the site, measurement of water, etc., and at the 
regular meeting the site was formally adopted. It will 
comprise about ten acres, on the farm of Mr. Jos. Hiller, 
.about one-half mile from Hobart Station, on the Ulster 
& Delaware R. R., in the town of Stamford. There are 
six springs, each with a temperature of 46 degrees 
Falir.. and together they were flowing enough water in 
August and again in September to hatch 20.000.000 of 
trout eggs. From the upper spring to the Delaware 
River it is a distance of 2.300 feet, and there is no op- 
portunity for flooding, as the springs form in a meadow 
and the resulting brood flows through the meadow to the 
river, giving a fall of over 14 feet, all the head neces- 
.sarv for hatching purposes. The railroad is but a few 
rod's from the stream and parallel with it and .it connects 
with the West Shore R. R. at Kingston and with the 
Delaware & Hudson at Oneonta, The railroad company 
will build sidings at a point opposite the proposed 
hatchery. I doubt if a more favorable location could he 
selected anywhere for a hatchery with an abundance of 
desirable water as to temperature and quality, and con- 
venience of distributing the fish hatched in the hatchery 
when built. 
The Commission also selected a site for rearing races 
and ponds in Cattaraugus county near Lime Lake, and 
Lime Lake is near Machias Junction. The bill providing 
for these ponds reads "for a hatchery and rearing ponds." 
but it never was intended to erect a hatchery in Cat- 
taraugus county, for the reason that the capacity of the 
present hatcheries is over 53,000,000 trout eggs alone, and 
in one year the Commission hatches under 10,000,000 of 
eggs. The Commission with its present water supply can 
rear but. about one and one-half millions of fingerling 
fish, and it is for this reason th^t additional water is de- 
sired for rearing races and ponds. The site selected by 
the Commission is on the line of the Pennsylvania R. R. 
(Western New York & Pennsylvania), forty-four miles 
from Buffalo, and the springs are within sixty rods of 
the track. The water supply is abundant for rearing a 
great number of fingerling trout, alid the nearness of the 
location to Buffalo will insure cheap transportation of 
food for the fish to be reared. It is probable that the 
people will donate the site, and Senator Higgins informs 
me that a highway would be laid oirt from the water to the 
railroad station, less than a mile, if the Commission 
selected this site. During the dry season, so widespread 
and so severe in New York this year, the springs at 
Lime Lake gave an abundance of water, with a tempera- 
ture of 48 degrees Fahr. at the springs, and the surface 
water in the brook was 53 degrees Fahr. When the races 
are erected trout fry will be taken in the State car 'from 
other hatcheries, where the water is limited, and reared 
at Lime Lake until the time for distributing them as 
fingerlings. The site is admirable from the point of 
railway connections in taking the fry from other 
hatcheries, and in distributing the fingerlings and for 
other reasons it is most desirable for a rearing station. 
Nessmofc's Drinking Cop. 
This evening a friend said to mc : "What a curious 
match box you have on your desk. What is it?" The 
match box is such a familiar feature of my desk that it 
long ago ceased to be curious to me. It is Nessmuk's 
drinking cup, and is of his own manufacture. It is a sec- 
tion oi a cow's horn I scraped and polished, the bottom 
of the section having a piece of wood fitted into it so that 
it will hold liquids. Nessmuk cut into the horn at the 
base these words, "Temperance Cup," and filled the let- 
ters with ink, perhaps, so that they are conspicuous. He 
said it was a temperance citp, not from the kind of 
liquid it would hold, but from the quantity. It is 
inches high and lY?, inches in diameter, and had seen long 
service before Nessmuk gave it to me years ago. One day 
my daughter put matches in it, and thereafter it was 
designated as a match box. at^d kas ?o Served in spite of 
its legend. 
Spawning of Trout. 
The unusual warm weather in October and early No- 
vember of this year has caused all the fall spawning fi.shes 
to be quite late in depositing their ova. The foremen of 
all the State hatching stations in New York have the 
same story to tell, that trout in the stock ponds are 
slow to run into the spawning races, and that trout in 
the wild waters have not yet made their beds, so that the 
season for egg taking is unusually late. One State em- 
ployee who is prosecuting work in new waters as an 
experiment, writes under date of Nov. 7 : "Fished until 
midnight on two beds last night. Caught twelve lake 
trout, eight males and four females, the latter not ripe 
yet. No whitefish have yet come into the nets." On Nov. 
8 he wrote: "We fished the lake trout beds last night, but 
owing to winds and rough seas had to take up the nets 
soon after o o'clock. We caught twenty lake trout 
weighing from 6 to 9 pounds each. Six of them were 
females, not ripe. I think it will be fully three days 
more before they will be ready. None had spawned." 
Up to Nov. 4 the different State hatching stations had 
taken a total of eggs as follows : Brook trout, 1,095.000 ; 
brown trout, 645.500, and lake trout. 3,245,000. In addi- 
tion. 1,000.000 brook trout eggs have been secured outside 
of the State for crossing with stock fish and for planting 
when hatched in State waters. Over 3.000,000 of the lake 
trout eggs were secured by an agent of the State in Lake 
Michigan, and even there the trout were later than 
usual in spawning. It is curious to look over the reports 
of the foremen and find that at one station none scarcely 
of the brook trout have spawned, but the brown trout are 
spawning freely. At another .station it may be just the 
reverse, the brook trout are reported as spawning and 
scarcely any of the brown trout. At one station all the 
trout in one pond have spawned, while in an adjoin'ng 
pond there are no ripe fish as yet. The prospect seems" 
fair, however, to secure a larger nunrber of trout eggs 
than usual, as the State has joined with the Lhiited States 
in the expense of egg taking, and from this sour-ce. which 
is not touched unon in the above figures, there is the 
promise of a goodly number of trout and whitefish eggs. 
Fish are at times very uncertain creatures about furnishing 
eggs, as I have previousl.y noted, di^ast year the smelts 
did not appear on Long Island, and in place of getting 
25.000,000 or .TO.Ooo.ooo of eggs, there were but a million 
or so taken. What is true of smelt is true of other fish. 
A. N. Cheney. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Record on Western Bars. 
Chicago, 111., Nov. 3. — It seems altogether likely that 
the record on Western bass this year is to be held by an 
Eastern man. Mr. W. L. Porter, of Waterford, New- 
York, has been fishing up at Lake Gog bic, Mich., and 
has been having very good luck with tn; big ones. He 
has taken one of 6J/^ pounds, another of 6 pounds, one 
pounds, within the last two days, thus scorng a 
second bass to weigh 61/2 pounds. He caught another of 
6J4 pounds" not long ago. This week he capped all his 
performances by taking a beauty of 6V4 pounds. This fish 
was aUve two days ago. and is being kept for mounting 
later on. It is thought to be the record fish for 1900 in 
this part of the world. All the above bass were small- 
mouths. 
Nepigon and the North Shore. 
Mr. W. O. Watson, of Charlottesville, Va.. wants to 
know something about the north shore of Lake Superior, 
and* I wish some of our friends who know all about 
that country would answer the questions which he asks. 
iHe writes: 
"I see but little nowadays in Forest and Stream about 
the north shore of Lake Superior, around about Nepigon, 
as a trout region. Is it played out? Have always had a 
desire to go there, but have never been able to get much 
information about it. Can you help me out? Is the. fish- 
ing really fine? What are the charges for guides, etc.? 
What are its drawbacks? I shall be grateful indeed for 
any information y.ou can give me. When is best tirne to 
go? Possibly you can give me the names of parties who 
have been there recently." 
Although not personally familiar with the Nepigon 
country, I think I may say in a general way that the 
-Nepigon is by no means an exhausted stream.- The 
Canadians manage those things better tiian we do. I 
think the best time to go there would be in the late 
summer, and at that time the fly would be pretty bad. 
A party customarily hires Indians — two Indians to each 
boat — and the fishing is done chiefly from the canoe, as I 
understand it. I do not know the price of the guides, but 
the)^ are experienced and reliable. There are regular 
camping grounds, and, in fact, the whole thing is pretty 
much cut and dried. I think the main thing to do would 
be to take a shawl strap full of money, and to get to 
Port Arthur some time in August. There are many 
readers of the Forest and " Stream who have made this 
trip, and from these I do not doubt there will be many 
replies to Mr. Watson's queries. 
E. Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, 111. 
The Michigan Grayling. 
BY A. C. BABBITT. 
(Read before the American Fisheries Society.) 
Dr. Henshall's papers on Montana grayling were 
deeply interesting to me, carrying my thoughts backward 
to a time when Michigan's type of the species — Thymallus 
tricolor — were almost the sole occupants of at least 1,000 
miles of limpid, running spring water, of varying width 
and deepness, threading the pine clad sections of twenty- 
three counties of the Peninsula State, lying north of a 
line drawn from the south line of Oceana county on 
Lake Michigan, running northeasterly to the lower side 
of Arenac county on Saginaw Bay. In the early seventies 
most of the streams and tributaries in the followin.g list 
were literally overstocked with graylings. The northern 
portion of Arenac county is traversed by the Au Gres 
River, which mingles its waters with those of Saginaw 
Bay. Thence north, flowing into Lake Huron, are the Aw 
Sable, Black, Pigeon and Sturgeon rivers, besides two 
branches of the Thunder Bay River, the Rainy River ' 
and Canada Creek. From the apex of the peninsula 
south the waters of Lake Michigan receive those of the 
Maple, Boyne, Jordan, Boardman, Manistee, Little 
Manistee, Pere Marquette, White and Muskegon rivers, 
all of which were originally the home of the grayling. 
The one grayling stream of the Upper Peninsula is the 
east branch of the Ontonagon River, which empties into 
Lake Superior west of Keweenaw Point. By coast line.- 
the mouth of the Ontonagon is upward of 400 miles from 
the coast of the Lower Peninsula. On account of the 
strictly non-migratory habits of tri-color, it would seem 
that the Ontonagon specimen should receive a separate 
classification. 
My acquaintance with grayling dates from previously. 
Dr. J. C. Parker, of Grand Rapids, had identified the 
species, from specimcn.s taken from one of its most 
southerly habitats. Hensey Creek, a branch of the Muske- 
gon River. We early settlers of Crawford county, how- 
ever, were ignorant of the fact, and many long evenings 
were partly taken up with discussions as to u.j nenu-.y 
of the fish, with which the streams of the county 
abounded. Supposedly a species of trout, its specific name 
depended on the particular stream from which it was 
taken. In that locality it was generally desfgnated Au 
Sable or Manistee trout. By some, however, it was 
claimed that this stranger was no trout at all, but more 
hkely a "cisco or jack salmon," while others, wiser in 
their own coticeit, pronounced this rara avis a "cross be 
tween a sucker and lake herring." 
In 1875 the upper portion of the Au Sable and Manistee 
rivers retained yet their primal beauty ; their stock of 
grayling was practically intact. A catch of 58 pounds 
was not an uncommon thing as a result of one day's 
fishing with a fly-rod. By this means the demand from 
Chicago, Cincinnati and Detroit for grayling was over- 
supplied, so little was this delicious table fish known^ As 
its fame as a game fish and an epicurean dainty spread, 
fishermen came from afar, who almost invariably pro 
nounced it superior to brook trout in both of these 
qualities. It is to be hoped that an effort will be made to 
propagate Thymallus tricolor by methods similar to those 
employed in the propagation of its congener if: Montana. 
Two questions in regard to T. tricolor have for some time 
engaged the attention of fishculturists ; first, inquiry as to 
the cause for the rapid depopulation of grayling streams; 
second, why have attempts at artificial or protected propa 
gation of the species been economic failures? 
Owing to the gregarious and fearless nature of T. 
tricolor, I believe that the same amount of fishing on a 
grayling and trout stream of similar character would 
make a greater impression on the stock in the grayling 
stream than in the trout stream. The real cause for the 
practical extermination of Michigan grayling, however, 
has been logging operations. On account of their peculiar 
spawning habits, the log drive has year after year prac- 
tically shut out that function, besides undoubtedly de- 
stroying numbers of adult fish. 
T. tricolor's habits are for ten months m the year 
strictly local. During this period he will occupy a portion 
of a river's bed circumscribed by one square foot of space, 
No matter if hundreds are domiciled in a bend of the 
river, each and every one keeps separate house. If dis- 
turbed, driven out, each returns to the precise spot which 
he formerly occupied. About March 10 there is a genera! 
exodus from their haunts, a run down stream. When 
nature prompts their return they begin a lingering ascent 
or up run, perform_in,g spawning functions on the way 
up stream, at points for which the gravid fishes have a 
special predilection, on either sand or gravel, according 
to the character of their habitat. T. tricolor's habits, or 
preferences, are immutably fixed, as unchangeable as 
fate. She has a preference for a particular portion of 
the river's bed on which to spawn, and there she will 
deposit her eggs or not at all. If a log jam rests on the 
spot of her choice, as is often the case, being piled from 
the bottom to the surface of the water, she will hold on to 
her eggs until the germ dies rather than cast thep in any 
other place. These traits render it an impossibility to 
propagate the species anywhere else but in their pative 
haunts. 
