470 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. is, 1900, 
miles distant From this point it was intended to follow 
up Peace River on the ice 300 miles to Fort St. John, 
from which place there was supposed to be a pack trail 
leading to the north by a way no one seemed clearly to 
uuderstand. . , t. • 1 
'■ . ''Here began a period of mental anxiety and physical 
strain. The Chinook wind began to blow, and frorti ex- 
cessive cold the temperature rose rapidly above the freez- 
ing point, arid the ice began to soften. Soon pools of 
water iprmed over the ice. and in swift places the channel 
of the river was exposed. The outfits hugged closer to 
the shore, or if compelled to travel in the center of the 
river, a horseman herded the loose cattle away from the 
most dangerous spots. Occasionally hoofs broke through 
the sun softened ice, and it was deemed advisable to 
travel by night when the ice was firmer. When a horse 
or an. ox breaking through the ice was j'oked in a team 
the others were either pulled in after, or they succeeded 
^ "ill pulling the unfortunate out. If loose, unless roped in 
tiriie, he Would be carried away by the current, or if 
pulled out, in many cases so injured that he would have 
to be killed. In this way, working always and sleeping 
never,' they made slow but steady progress, and each day 
they risked life and property on the treacherous, honey- 
combed ice. Those who had already reached Fort St. 
Jolin were informed by each late arrival "The bulls are 
coraihg!' It,' was nearing the middle of April when the 
ice on Peace River was daily expected to break up, when 
Mr.'Lang with the first section of his outfit pulled up the 
river bank to the flat on which is built the Hudson Bay 
Co. trading post of St. John. The others were expected 
in the following day, but a rain fell during the night, the 
water rose, and they were forced to the bank. Later they 
cut a trail ^overland and packed their goods to the fort. 
"Whatever the cause, George Lang had been at the 
post but one day when he fell ill. He was sick before, but 
his directing hand could not be spared, and so no one 
knew. He was taken to the officer's house and given the 
best care the post afforded, but he sank lower. ' A doctor 
in overalls came in over the trail and volunteered his 
professional services, but he failed to improve. The weeks 
passed, the ice broke and passed out of the river, the 
oxen fattened on the green grass, starting from the sunny 
slope of the hill, but in the trader's house a form wasted, 
and a face looked ghastly in its long tobacco stained 
beard, while a delirious brain herded cattle on the plains. 
It was decided that the only hope was to attempt to get 
him lo civilization, so they carried him carefully to the 
river bank and laid him gently in a canoe. The swift 
current, carried them easily over the distance that he had 
recently traversed with so much difficulty. But it was 
in vain. They had gone but a short distance down the 
river when the spirit of George W. Lang passed away. 
He h'id made his last drive. He was taken to the trading 
post of Dunvegan, and in the wildness of nature where 
he loved best to live, he was laid to rest. 
"While here ends the story of the organizer and leader 
of the party, the expedition itself kept on. It was a last 
wish of Lang that it should do so. While the stock was 
fattening in idleness, these hardy men were reducing the 
outfit to packages suitable for packing. In May the pack 
saddles were completed, the cinches and ropes wer pre- 
pared and the draft animals were converted into' beasts 
of burden. To use Western parlance, they 'hit the trail.' 
They would make Fort Graham, 250 miles distant; from 
that point they would go to Sylvester's Landing, 500 miles 
further. They were told that there was no paxk trail, 
and that the journey was impossible, but these men knew 
that there are no obstacles of nature that patience and 
persistence will not overcome. They cut trees from their 
path to allow the packed animals to pass. They forded 
small rivers, and, coming. to larger ones, they rafted their 
provisions and swam their stock. 
"Early in August the outfit reached Fort Graham, after 
crossing three summits of the Rocky Mountains. The 
stock was in good condition, but the men were dust- 
grimed and thin. The next day they left for Sylvestet-'s 
Landing on the Dease River. A short time before a 
band of Indians had been in to the fort, and had strongly 
protested against white men traveling through their 
country. The horse bells, they claimed, scared the game, 
arid fiirtherm ore there was a deep roofed belief aniong 
them that when white men enter a country the fur leaves 
it V Finding tha+ their protests were of no avail, they 
supplemented threats. If white men attempted to cross 
the divide to Dease River they would set fife to the 
country, and burn up the feed so their stock could get 
no grazing. With this threat they left for the mountains. 
'"The men in charge of the oxen outfit, however, had 
heard Indian threats before, and to this report they gave 
the same attention they had previously to the natural 
obstacles of the trail. With oLhcr parties who had reachel 
this thousand-hiile mark on their journey, they continued 
into the unknown. The Indians had made no idle threat. 
Before the trailers had gone a hundred miles on the way, 
a dense smoke cloud was seen ahead, and very soon they 
were in the middle of a burning wilderness. Here, in- 
deed, coolness and patience were required, for if a stam- 
pede should result among the packed animals not only 
the stock' but their entire supply of provisions would be 
lost in the flames. So, regardless of their own safety, they 
herded them carefully, drove them through the flames 
and into the still smoking country beyond. Nor was the 
danger over here, for trees, with their supporting roots 
burned, were now falling on all sides, and even this 
danger past, the country was effectively blocked by fallen 
trees, and the trail, never clearly marked, had entirely 
disappeared. Yet they struggled on, and how well, those 
following after, who never saw the outfit, can testify, for 
in the labyrinth of misleading trails, where muskegs and 
^vindfalls com.pelled a choice of paths, they had long 
learned to look for the cloven hoofprints which marked 
the passage of the Lang outfit,, and 'Follow the bulls!" 
became the standing direction of the trail. 
"Just before winter closed in they stopped on a little 
stream by Deadwood Lake, seventy-five miles from Dease 
River, and prepared to winter. There we last saw them. 
Their herd was reduced to twenty-six, and the men were 
standing to their knees tn ice cold water as they endeav- 
ored with scythes to cut enough frozen marsh grass to 
carry .the stock over till spring, wh^n they could resume 
their journey. 
*Hbw mlany tfie long. coW winter spared and how 
starvation is not known, but certain it is that up to this 
many of these were not needed to keep the men froin 
time no portion of the G. W. Lang outfit has reached 
Dawson City." 
Chicago Man in Africa. 
A somewhat noted citizen just now is W. Stamps 
Cherry, of Chicago, who in 1896 went to Africa on a tour 
of investigation, and just for to wander and to roam. 
Mr. Cherry is now back, safe and sound after four years 
of life among the Congo natives, where he had adventures 
enough to curl anybody's hair but that of a Chicago man. 
After life in this sterenuous burg, he found existence in 
Africa one continual round of pleasure. For a year he 
did not see a white man, and for years he slept with a 
six shooter strapped to his pajamas. He killed a great 
many elephants, enough to pay all his expenses, 
and he seems also to have discovered a new sort 
of elephant, a fantail elephant, so to speak, which is but 
a pigmy compared to the circus or garden elephant, and 
which has no tu.sks. Mr. Cherry has not yet gotten back 
to Chicago, but he is good for a story when he gets here. 
He really had some very curious hunting experiences, 
and among other things he describes how the natives 
kill elephants by literally burning them up in a jungle, 
where they are surrounded by a number of natives and 
penned in by a ring of fire. Mr. Cherry saw a great deal 
of cannibalism, and also some bloody little wars in the 
country where human life is cheaper than anywhere else 
in the world. His studies are likely to prove of great 
value, and he has some geography of untracked lands. 
I don't like to speak boastfully, but if I were in the dark 
horse line I should have to pick some Chicago man to 
discover the North Pole or the center of Africa. 
Personal Doings. 
N. B. Cook, of this city, is as good an example as you 
shall find of a sportsman grown old but still active in the 
ways of sports. This is the same gentleman whose name 
so often appeared in the doings of the Western Canoe 
Association, and as a canoeist he has won numberless 
cups and trophies, and can sail a boat yet with anybody. It 
seems that Mr. Cook is also a shooter, though he is now 
about seventy-six years of age, if memory serves me. 
He came in this morning and wanted to know where he 
could get some good quail country not so very far away, 
saying, with a certain amount of naivete that he had 
just gotten him a young bird dog puppy which he wanted 
to begin breaking. Now, that is the sort of sportsman 
they used to raise. It is good news to hear of these men 
who at seventy-six are breaking in puppies and getting 
ready for next year's shooting. I am sure every reader 
of FoHEST AND Stream will wish Mr. Cook good hunt- 
ing, and anyone who knows him will know that that dog 
is going to be as well broke as his last boat was well 
built, for above all things Mr. Cook is quiet and thorough. 
Mr. W. P. Anderson, of Amarillo, Tex., live stock 
agent'. of the Santa Fe Railroad, is in town at the stock 
show this week. Mr. Anderson is an old time Southwest 
man, and he is cliock full of stories of the fightingest, 
frolickingest country the world ever saw. He has a game 
pocket, which a few of us are trying to pick. 
Mr. Nat H. Cohen, president of the Illionis State Fish 
Commission, called this week to pass the time of day. 
Pie is still doing business at the old stand. 
^ Mr. S. E. Bliss, of this city, is this week .going to Chico. 
Tex., for an all round hunt after deer, quail and every- 
thing else that he can find. 
Mr. John M. Bulkley. of Detroit,' Mich., leaves his 
card, and subscribes himself a life long friend and "con- 
tributor of the Forest and Stream. I regret I was not 
personally on hand to show Mr. Bulkley where the ex- 
plosion took place on our lake froiit recently, but we may 
have better luck next time. E. Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, III. 
Were These Quail for the Pittsburg' Maiket? 
^Cottonwood Falls, Kan., Dec. 7.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Regarding your mention of "The Pittsburg 
Quail Market" in this week's paper, I can report that 
about Nov. 19 one of Topeka's policemen called my atten- 
tion to ten crates of live quail, judged to have 150^ to 200 
quail per crate, in a Wells Fargo & Co. express car 
shipped from Purcell, Indian Territory, to Pittsburg, Pa ' 
marked on tag.s, "Purely for breeding and stocking pur- 
poses," with the remark, "I'll bet $10 that those quad will 
never breed, but will have their heads taken off when 
they get to Pittsburg." Judging from your article, the 
breeding qualities of those quail are en^e'd forever. 
W. F. RiGHTMIRE, 
The Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach ys at Hie 
latest by Monday and as much earlier as practicable. 
fff 
1 Christmas^Gift I 
to a sportsman, old or young, an appro-'' - 
priate, acceptable, appreciated and valued 
present would be a year's subscription to 
FOREST AND STREAM. It vyill renewSf* 
itself fifty-two times in the year. ^ .|t''* 
This is what a Vermont reader wrote 
the other day : 
" I wish every boy in America could have a copy each 
week, as pupils of Forest avd Stream school never 
develop into market-shooters, but grow up as sportsmen, 
worthy of the name." H. B. Chase. 
1 
If 
I 
Sportsman and Sporting^ Man* 
How frequently are the terms sportsman and sporting 
man confounded, and by so many people believed to be 
sjmonyraous. Ihereby is the status oi the sportsman 
lowered to the level of the gambler, and all that goes to 
make up the blackleg who gets his living for most part 
by procedures that are quite in accordance with his char- 
acter. 
The word "sport" has been more abused, ill treated and 
misapplied than any other, I dare say, in our language. Of 
a high, noble, pure and refined signification, it has been 
misapplied and debased to unworthy objects. It has been 
extended to a mass of improper matters , and from its 
elegant appropriateness it has been debased to vulgar and 
dishonest associations. 
The creature who lives on the most contemptible pas- 
sions and with skill from long practice cheats all who 
may come his way, winning by unfair means and rules in 
so-called games of chance, a professional bettor in the pool 
room, on the race course, devoid of the first instincts of 
a love for the horse, simply looking upon the noble ani- 
mal as a mere machine on which to win or lose, arranging 
for events that are fraudulent from their inception and 
carried through with dishonesty of purpose to hoodwink 
the public — in fine, a man who lacks the first quality of all 
that goes to make up a gentleman — this is a "sporting 
man." And there is as much difference between him and 
the "sportsman" as the darkest night and brightest day. 
The man who loves the woods, waters, mountains and 
deep forests; whose whole being is in accord, in deep 
sympathy with nature and her works; who loves the dog 
used for sport; who pursues game for pleasure and not 
for financial gains ; who shoots on the wing, taking, of 
the game in moderation ; wlio still-hunts the deer, pitting 
his knowledge of the forest and of woodcraft, the .habits 
and haunts of the quarry against its cunning, delicate sense 
of scent and hearing, and brings the game to bag with 
possibly one shot that has taken hours of trailing to se- 
cure; who is unselfish, afield with his companions, extend- 
ing to them those courtesies, and ainenditics that so largely 
contribute to the pleasure of a d^iy's, shooting or life in 
camp. This is a "sportsman." Dick Swiveller. 
Shooting in Pennsylvania. 
Saym;^ Pa. — For two day's last week — Novt 28 and 29 — 
Peter Zang and George Flickinger, of this p!ace, true 
yoke fellows in the spirit of sportsmanship, abandoned the 
seductive dissipations of society and sought the wily 
grouse in his native fastness. The party went to Wilcox, 
a station on the Bcrnice branch of the Lehigh Valley 
R. R., and with a neighboring farm house as a point of 
rendezvous, shot through the surrounding locality. In 
two days the two guns scored twenty-eight ruffed grouse 
and three brace of quail. The country thereabouts is an 
ideal grouse country, wild and rugged in its condition's 
and requiring plenty of endurance on the part of men and 
dogs alike to work it out. The melodious rattler rattles 
his rattle undisturbed in these tangled retreats, and nlost 
any old thing in the form of small game finds an easy 
cover. With the present laws rigidly enforced, it w:ll 
be many years before the grouse supply of that locality 
will be shot out. 
The score made by IVtessrs. Zang and Filckinger d'oeS 
not establish the fact that the average shooting rnan can 
do equally as well in the same section of country. Zang 
is an uncom.monly good wing shot, while Flickinger 
handles the shotgun with deadly precision, probably rank- 
ing as one of the best field shots in northern Pennsyl- 
vania. In addition, Flickinger owns and hunts an Eng- 
lish setter of untitled pedigree, but with enough bird sense 
and sagacity to put him in the f orefroB.t -as a Xjl^in, un- 
varnished meat dog. ' 
The season on grouse closes the isth inst., and it will 
leave plenty of birds from which to expect ' a strong 
supply of grouse for the season of 1901. 
M. Chill. 
Michigan Deer, 
Hartford^ Mich. — Editor Forest and Stream: I find 
in our local paper a press dispatch from Menominee. 
Mich., which reports that the "American Express Com- 
pany handled 41,574 pounds of venison during the deer 
hunting season which closed Nov. 30. The season opened 
Nov. 8 and the first shipment was received here on the 
gth. Siiipmeuts will continue until to-day or Dec. 3 or 4, 
as permitted hy law. Of the total amount of venison re- 
ceived here, 25 574 poimds were transferred to the Ann 
Arbor steamship line for southern Michigan points, and 
16,000 pounds were for local hunters and meat dealers. 
Over 400 carcasses of deer were handled here. Menominee 
was made a transfer station by the expres.s company, an 
express car being placed on one of the car ferries and 
loaded here. The largest deer received here during the 
season was killed by a Menominee hunter near Kenton, 
and weighed 242 pounds." 
Perhaps it may be of interest to know how the laws 
allow the beautiful deer to be slaughtered, I do hope our 
Legislature will at the next session cut the number down 
to two of those bucks and make it a criminal offense 
to kill a female deep- Su^luvan Cook: 
Certainly Earned His Dinner/' 
The -Hampshire Gazette, of Northampton. Mass., 
prints this ingenuous item: "E. A. Hawley. of North 
Hadley, did some clever work on Thanksgiving Day by 
shooting and killing with a single charge fourteen quail 
which were running along the ground six rods distant. 
Mr. Hawley certainly earned his dinner on that day. The 
birds were to be seen in Mr. Kendrick's market. Am- 
herst. Friday mornrng and were quickly disposed of." 
Mr. Turner's Moose. 
Allegheny, Pa., Dec. 7. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
J notice ip Game Commissidner Cormifir's report of 
moose killed in the Kippewa and Temiskaming districts 
for the season of 1900, published in your issue of Dec. 
8, that I am' credited with one s6l4-inch moose head 
and two 36-jnch heads. In one case my address is showp 
9s PittvT^irg. ap,d in the pther. as Emsworth: BmS'^rth 
