466 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
{June is. igoi. 
reservations. Tints far something like $80,000 has been 
taken from these lumber operators as penalties for cut- 
ting green timber under the "dead and down" act. It 
would seem that there is at least a tardy and partial 
awakening of those, most interested in preventing such 
nefarious operations as those which have disgraced tlie 
State of Minnesota and the Government of the United 
States tinder the protection of this infamous ."dead and 
down'' timber act. 
As to the Minnesota Park, let us be patient. After the 
lumbermen have by hook or by crook succeeded in cut- 
ting away all the dead and down timber, all the green 
timber, and everything else marketable, then perhaps we 
may have our park. 
E. Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, 111. 
Gttn Licenses. 
New York, June 4. — Editor Forest and Stream: When 
1 was a boy, my grandfather, whose bojdiood went back 
to within a few years of the foundation of our Govern- 
ment, and who was very much alive to the rights and 
privileges conferred thereby, used to take me squirrel 
httnting, and deeply impressed on my youthful mind that 
in this great and glorious land of liberty "fishing and 
fowling are free to all men." 
Now I read in Forest and Stream "The gun license 
question in this country is not, Should' we have the 
license? nor. Shall we have the license? but. When will 
the license come?" and it jars me. Rather than put a 
price on what most Americans have been taught to con- 
sider a birthright, would it not be better and more Amer- 
ican to cut the open seasons shorter and shorter, if neces- 
sary, to preserve the game? Would not an open season 
of a few days only, free to all lovers of field sports, be 
better than one of several weeks, open only to those who 
have surplus dollars?. Should not necessary restrictions 
be for all alike, and not be measured by the size of any- 
body's pocketbook? And is it not to be hoped that the 
legislators of certain States will become ashamed of the 
petty meanness of non-resident license laws taxing "the 
other fellow" ? 
Allow me to propose as Plank No. 2 of Forest and 
Stream Platform, "Carrying guns in woods or fields 
should be prohibited in the close season." Laws to that 
effect would do. more to preserve song birds and game 
than any possible license laws. Exceptions could be 
made of registered shooting grounds for practice, and 
allowing farmers to shoot predatory animals and birds on 
their own land only, to protect their crops and poultry 
yards. 
As one of the correspondents of Forest and Stream 
•recently said, "What use has a man for a gun in the 
woods or fields in the close season except to violate the 
laws?" p. R. Marshall. 
A New Aditondack Preserve. 
On Monday, June 3, at Albany. N. the Fenton Game 
Preserve Association was incorporated. Its purposes are 
to lease or own 40,000 acres of the John Brown tract in 
Lewis and Herkimer counties, to be maintained as a pri- 
vate park for hunting and fishing purposes and for recrea- 
tion. The directors are Arthur Luetchford, of Rochester; 
Sanford E. Stanton, of Watertown; Pierce D. Schenck, 
of Dayton, O. ; Prof. Eugene L. Richards, of New Haven, 
Conn., and Samuel W. Skinner, of Cincinnati, O. 
Wild Geese at Little Magfogf Lake. 
Sherbrooke, Que., June 4,— Little Magog Lake, nine 
miles from Sherbrooke, Que., is a favorite resting place 
for wild geese in their migrations. This spring six out 
of a flock seemed to admire the place so much that they 
are still there. They are being watched with interest, 
and woe to the being who may dare to molest them. 
Whether they are nesting or not is not yet known. Jos. 
Partners "Wanted for the Rockies. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Lam thinking of a trip for big game in the Rockies, and 
would like to find one or two companions to make up a 
party. Perhaps some reader of Forest and Stream 
might care to communicate with me through your office. 
100 Spommett's f inai 
Some of the Queer Discoveries Made by Those Who Are 
Looking for Game or Fish, 
67 
About the queerest fish story I know of, a highly truth- 
ful-looking man— indeed, he was a clergyman— tells the 
Washington Star, happened to me at a little lake m Wis- 
consin where I used to summer with my family. One day 
my wife was out in our boat with a party of friends. She 
was letting her hand trail in the water, without thinking 
about its shrinking effect, and when she finally took her 
hand in her wedding ring was gone. The lake was deep 
at that point, and although we made considerable effort 
to recover the ring, it was not found. Naturally it worried 
her a good deal, and the next year she would not go back 
to the same place. Nor did we go the following, year; but 
the third year we went there again, and one day I was in 
the woods, about a mile from the lake, with my boy. trying 
to get a shot at some denizen of the forest or other. ^ As 
we went peering around among the trees to get a squirrel 
we had seen, I noticed something shining on a twig in a 
tree about twenty-five feet from the ground. I sent my 
boy up after it, and when he came back I was more 
than astonished to find that the shining thing was my 
wife's wedding ring. 
How it ever got there was a mystery at first, but I was 
not a believer in fairies and that sort of thing, so I 
began to investigate for material causes. The top of the 
tree had deadened, and with a suspicion in my mind I 
sent my boy up to see what signs might be above the 
green boughs. He called down to me presently that there 
were remains of a fishhawk's nest in the forks of the 
tree, and, putting this and that together, I came to the 
conclusion that the hawk had caught the fish that had 
gobbled up my wife's ring in the lake, and had taken it to 
the ne.st for the young hawks. They didn't care for 
jewelry and bad left that part of the fish in the nest, from 
which, as the nest was blown to pieces by the wind and 
beaten by the storms, the ring had dropped out and by 
chance had caught on the twig where I found it. In any 
event, if that was not the way it got there, hovy did it? 
For it surely was there, and my wife is wearing it to-day. 
68 
And here is another ring story to go with No. 67. The 
Newf York Evening Sun tells it, and if you see it in the 
Sun it may be so : 
General Grant was very fond of fishing at Greenwood 
Lake, and stories of his fishing exploits are still told at 
the Fuller House. Here is one of them : "One afternoon 
the General was fishing for pickerel on the lake when he 
hooked a large eel. The slimy creature knotted itself 
with the leader, and in removing it a beautiful horseshoe 
ring slipped from the General's finger and fell overboard. 
Banker J. Rhinelander Dillon visited the lake two weeks 
afterward and killed a large pickerel. The idea occurred 
to him that he would like to taste a fish just out of the 
water, so iiis guide cleaned it, and they were about to row 
to shore to cook it when the guide picked up the entrails, 
preparing to thrbw them overboard. To his surprise he 
discovered the very ring which General Grant had lost 
two weeks before." 
To verify this story an Evening Sun reporter called on 
Mr. Dillon. This gentleman not only said the story was 
true, but he also exhibited the ring in question. 
Said he : "I believe it was in either '74 or '75 that the 
affair occurred. I rarely eat fish, but that particular 
pickerel looked so tempting that I was seized with a 
strong desire to eat it. Under ordinary circumstances I 
should have given the fish away. I told the storj-- of the 
find on my arrival at the Fuller House, and then learned 
that General Grant had lost the ring. I wrote to his son. 
Colonel Fred Grant, and explained how the ring came into 
my possession. He wrote back that if my story was true 
I was entitled to the ring, and might keep it. I actually 
believe that Fred thought I was telling a fish story, or he 
would not have told me to keep the ring." 
Mr. Dillon now wears the ring on the little finger of his 
right hand. 
— ^ — 
Unreliable IVaditions^ — IL* 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In an article recently sent to you in regard to unrelia- 
ble traditions I stated that there were some other tra- 
ditions open to criticism, which I would refer to in a 
later communication, and the first to which I would refer 
is the one which has come down from time immemorial 
and commonly believed, that trout should be eaten, if 
possible, on the day on Avhich they are caught, and when 
I say that trout should be kept over night and cooked 
on the next day to be at their best, I am aware that 
almost every angler will say that this claim is simply 
absurd. 
But right here I must ask my brother anglers the ques- 
tion whether they speak from their own actual test and 
experience. Can any angler give me, from his own 
knowledge or experience the name of any fresh water 
fish- which should be cooked on the day in which it is 
caught? 
I am not bold enough to say that there are_ none, and 
can only say that after a pretty large experience I do 
not know of any, and, least of all, those belonging to the 
salmon family. 
About three-quarters of a century ago a man by the 
name of Evans was the proprietor of a hostelry some 
three miles or more north of the city of Philadelphia, on 
the road lying on the east bank of "the Schuylkill River. 
It was a typical wayside inn lying on the west of the 
road, with a charming lawn extending to the east bank 
of the river. The building was only a story and a half 
high, but with its ample piazza and grounds kept in 
perfect shape it naturally commanded a large patronage. 
But to this Evans very soon added a new attraction. 
He very soon discovered that the Schuylkill River, 
whose waters were remarkably pure, was full of catfish 
of the most delicious varietj'', and when parties came to 
his hotel he always served them with a supper of catfish, 
and it very soon became quite the rage in Philadelphia 
for persons to get up parties to go to Evans' hotel for 
a supper of catfish and coffee. Evans tried to impress 
upon his guests that the catfish were never killed until 
after their arrival, and he carried out this delusion in this 
way: He had a large trough at the pump near his hotel 
in which he kept a large number of fish, about a half 
pound each in weight, and when a party arrived he 
always took enough fish by count with a little net to 
supply tlie table, and they always believed that the fish 
on the table were cooked and served as soon as they 
were killed, and this belief made his inn so popular that 
in the '40's hg retired with a fortune. 
But now as to the real facts of the case. 
In the early '40's, while yet a mere lad, I had the privi- 
lege of enjoying one of these suppers of catfish and coffee 
and saw Evans take the fish which we supposed we were 
to eat, out of his horse trough, but after our supper he 
quietly admitted to me that it was utterly impossible to 
cook a catfish- as soon as it was killed, for the reason that 
it would cur! up in the pan or spider and that he. there- 
fore, always had plenty of fish in his cellar which had 
been killed the day before, which had become hard and 
which would lie out straight in the pan and not curl up 
while being cooked. 
He also admitted that the fish taken from the trough 
in front of the inn were put in a tank at the back of the 
house and replaced over night in the trough. 
Why Evans was so frank I do not know, unless be- 
cause he felt safe in satisfying my boyish curiosity, know- 
ing that I lived far away 
And now let us apply the same rule to trout. When 
they are first brought in the fish are usually soft and 
*For first paper see issue of last week. , 
pressed out of shape, and if they are immediately cleaned 
and put in the frying pan or spider the tail ends will 
invariably curl up, and often be underdone. 
But if they are cleaned and wiped dry, and the dish 
or pan in which they are placed set on a_ cold cellar 
floor, the fish, on the next day will have resumed then- 
natural shape, the flesh will be hard and solid, and the> 
will lie in. the spider as straight as shingles — and a trout 
to be its best must be evenly cooked. 
Years ago, when a surplus of trout was brought in at 
Murdock's, on the Beaverkill, or at Smith's, on the Ron- 
dout, they were always cleaned and kept in the ^coolest 
part of the cellar to be drawn upon in case of a scarcity, 
and they were often drawn upon in another way. On a 
riumber of occasions both Mrs. Murdock and Mrs. 
Smith suggested that to wait until the day's catch was 
cleaned and cooked would delay supper a full half hour, 
and to avoid delay it was proposed to cook for the first 
dish the first fish caught the day, or, perhaps, two days 
before, and furnish the second one from the day's catch. 
I was in the secret, and, at their request, usually stated 
that only one of the dishes had been supplied from the 
day's catch, and in every instance the response was thai 
they had noticed that the first dish was the most per- 
fectly cooked and the most delicious, with a regret that 
the second dish could not also have been supplied from 
the day's catch. 
There is one more tradition in which I believed and 
followed for some years, and that is that ice should be 
used for the purpose of transporting trout, but I soon 
discovered that the presence of the ice destroyed, to a 
large extent, the delicate flavor of the fish, and in two 
or three instances the fish became tainted during the 
process of cooking, and others have no doubt had the 
same experience. 
I resolved to abandon all eft'orts to bring my fish home, 
but was reminded that in many places, particularly in 
Mexico, it was cu.stomary to wrap a wet flannel cloth 
around a pitcher of jar of water, with the result that by 
reason of the gradual evaporation from the wet cloth 
the v/ater in the jar would be kept cool and even reduced 
in temperature, and as an "experiment I applied the same 
principle in the keeping of trout, and have done so many 
times since, and always with the result that I have never 
had a fish spoil or "become tainted, although kept for 
several days, and I therefore feel that I can very confi- 
dently recommend to other anglers the following plan: 
Never open or clean a trout. It is not according to 
nature that the air should be allowed to touch the inside 
cf the fish and the little sac of blood at the head of the 
stomach will very frequently cause the fish to spoil or 
become tainted even after it is placed in the spider. 
The angler usually desires to take home his catch of 
the last two days, and possibly the third, which can 
readily be done if the weather has been cool, and he- can 
do so by adopting the following method: 
Select the fisk which it is desired to take home, wipe 
them dry with a soft cloth and place them unopened in 
a dish or pan upon a cool cellar floor. If the cellar is 
not sufficiently cool a cake of ice to cool the air may be 
placed within one or two feet, but must never be allowed 
to touch the fish. When it is desired to pack the fish 
for transportation again wipe them dry and then pack 
them in the following manner: 
Take four or five thicknesses of ordinary wrapping 
paper, or if that cannot be obtained take newspapers, 
inclose the trout in the paper and tie up the package. 
Then take a woolen cloth or flannel, for which an 
ordinary blue flannel fishing shirt wnll an.swer every pur- 
pose, soak it thoroughly in cold spring water, then wring 
The water out, as far as possible, and wrap this cloth Or 
flannel three or four times around the package of trout, 
and then, in order to prevent too rapid evaporation, wrap 
.three or four thicknesses of paper again around the bun- 
dle, and the package is complete and need not be exam- 
ined until home is reached. 
If a woolen or flannel cloth cannot be obtained, the 
moss which grows in the beds of our streams will answer 
the purpose almost quite as well, only that the water, as 
far as possible, must be pressed out of it; and there is 
also another way of keeping trout upon the same prin- 
ciple, which I have tried with perfect success. 
Some j'ears ago I caught, with my companion, quite 
a large number of trout on Monday morning in,Balsam 
Lake, and left them in my basket over night, simply 
setting it on the cold cellar floor. 
On the next day I took out the trout, wiped them dry, 
and in the absence of the woolen cloth I soaked my 
basket in cold spring water, using it as an evaporator, 
then put three or four thicknesses of newspaper inside of 
the basket and filled it with trout, and to prevent too rapid 
evaporation I wrapped five or six thicknesses of newspa- 
per around the basket, which was not opened until 
Wednesday morning, when the trout were cleaned, and in 
the afternoon they were served at a trout supper at which 
two or three old anglers were present, all of whom refused 
to believe at first that the trout had not been caught on 
that very morning. 
1 have suggested the above method of preserving trout 
with great reluctance, but the use of ice is attended with 
so much labor and annoyance that if any other method 
to preserve the fish can be suggested it is at least worthy 
of a trial, and this is all that I would suggest to my 
brother anglers, 
I am not prepared to say that the plans which I have 
suggested could be adopted with equal success with re- 
gard to other fish, for I am aAvare that some fish — nota- 
bly the black bass — cannot be preserved for iiny length 
of time without the use of ice. ' J. S. Van Cleef. 
June 5. 
Pickerel Fly-Fishing. 
Duane, N. Y., June 6. — Editor Forest and Stream 
Answering your correspondent, Muskodosa, of West Rox- 
bury, Mass.. in your issue of June i. with regard to catch- 
ing pickerel with a fly, let me record that my wife while 
trolling near the shore for speckled trottt on the evening 
of June 3, in Lake Meacham, Duane, N. Y., caught on a 
fly-rod with a dark alder fly, size No. 6, a pickerel that 
weighed 5 pounds. Guides of thirty years' experience in 
this vicinity have never known of one being talcen in this 
way before. H. 
