Sept. 7, IQOI,] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
191 
A Troll for Lake Trout. 
, New York, Aug. lo. — Herewith I have the pleasure of 
handing you a photograph of the only really successful 
, artificial bait I have ever been able to find for Great Lake 
trout. A set was Sent to me from the maker to try in 
Lake Keuka. The result was most gratifying. For in- 
stance: The morning I left there I used my "little (in 
soldiers" (the new bait). Dart and I left the landing at 
5 A. M. punctuall}' : at S :30 we had lines out and a heavy 
strike. I worked my fish up to the boat and gaffed a 
6-ponnder, but found some life further down the line. On 
following on I found another, on the bottom leader, which 
scaled 5 pounds. Lines were straightened out, and within 
five minutes there was more trouble ; another 5-pounder 
had snagged himself. And so it went on until I had all I 
wanted to carry back to New York. We arrived at the 
dock at 6:15 A. M. with one 6-pounder, five 5-pounders 
and one 3-pounder. An excellent catch for an hour's 
work. I caught the noon express and delivered my fish 
to friends at New York in time for dinner. 
James Churchward. 
— • — 
American Ganoe Association, J 900- J 90 1. 
Commodore, C. E. Britton, Gananoque, Can. 
Secretary-Treasurer, Herb JBegg, 24 King street, West Toronto, 
Canada. 
Librarian, W. P. Stephens, Thirty-second street ana Avenue A, 
Bayonne, N, J. 
Division Officers. 
ATLANTIC DIVISION. 
Vice-Corn., Henry M. Dater, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Rear-Com., H. D. Hewitt, Burlington, N. J. 
Purser, Joseph F. Eastmond, 199 Madison street, Brooklyn. N. Y. 
CENTRAL DIVISION. 
Vice-Corn., C. P. Forbush, Buffalo, N. Y. 
Rear-Com., Dr. C. R, Henry, Perry, N. Y. 
Purser. Lyman P. Hubbell, Buffalo, N. Y. 
EASTERN DIVISION. 
Vice-Com., Louis A. Hall, Newton, Mass. 
Rear-Com., C. M. Lamprey, Lawrence, Mass. 
Purser, A. E. Kimberly, Lawrence Experimental Station, 
Lawrence, Mass. 
NORTHERN DIVISION. 
Vice-Corn., G. A. Howell, Toronto, Can. 
Rear-Com., R. Easton Burns, Kingston, Ontario, Can. 
Purser, R. Norman Brown, Toronto, Can. 
WESTERN DIVISION. 
Vice-Com., Wm. C. Jupp, Detroit, Mich. 
Rear-Com., F. B. Huntington, Milwaukee, Wis. 
Purser, Fred T. Barcroft, 40S Ferguson Building, Detroit, Mich. 
•e 
Official organ, Fokest and Smeam. 
Mid Reef and Rapid— XX. 
BY F. R. WEBB. 
On'e old gentleman remained, however. He was an 
interesting old gentleman, possessed of a remarkable 
flow of conversation. He was also in the interesting and 
loquacious condition not uncommon with old gentlemen 
of his type known as '"half seas over." from the too fre- 
quent and liberal use of a staple production of this region 
— apple brand.v. This artificial condition considerably 
augmented his natural conversational gifts, at times to 
the detriment of their coherency, while detracting nothing 
from their fluency. He was a well-posted old gentleman, 
possessed of a large fund of misinformation, which he 
>eemed amiably desirous of imparting, and he conversed 
fluently and at length upon almost every topic, from the 
doings of the Newport Fishing and Seining Qub — of 
which organization, he informed us with great pride, he 
Imd the honor to be secretary — to the doings of the 
Behring Sea Fishing and Sealing Commission. 
_ The Colonel and I had our books, camp stools^ and 
cigars. The morning was a beautiful one. The river 
rippled and sparkled in front, the swift waters broken 
into little wavelets, Avhich sparkled in the golden efful- 
gence of the early autumn sun. while its musical murmur, 
dominated by the drowsy drone of the big dam above, 
filled the air. We Avere rid of George and Lacy for the 
time Ijeing. A delightful breeze rippled and rustled in 
the shinunering leaves overhead. The beautiful Sabbath 
calm and quiet pervaded all nature, and so did the old 
gentleman, who babbled away incessantly, not in the least 
discouraged by so gentle and mild a protest as is usually 
ilfforded by a man buried in a book. 
He seated himself on the ground, close to the Colonel, 
md discoursed, and discoursed, the Colonel, meanwhile, 
joing on with his reading and answering at random, until, 
inally, on sopie poitit on which the old gentlem^^n desired 
inf(irination, the Colonel referred him to me as a recog- 
nized authority on the subject, whereupon he left the 
Colonel to his book and transferred himself to me. , 
■ Seating himself upon the ground close to my side, and 
leaning liis elbow on my knee, the better to lay down his 
proposition upon the grimy fingers of one and with the 
if possible still grimier forefinger of the other, he pro- 
ceeded to enlighten and entertain me upon a great variety 
of topics. I stood it as long as I could, until he began 
a dissertation upon the silver deadlock, then occupying 
the a-ttention of the Senate — wdiich he could easily have 
settled in a short time if he were there — when I rose and 
incontinently fled, leaving the Colonel to his tender 
mercies. 
When I reached the mill, I inquired of some of the 
Sunday idlers, who had returned to that rallying point, as 
to where George and Lacy might be found, and, on receiv- 
ing the desired information. I kept on up the road. Turn- 
ing a bend in the road beyond the mill, which led up along 
a gorge-like hollow among the foothills of Massanutton 
and away from the river, I was surprised beyond measure 
to note that Newport was quite a little village, for the 
houses, country stores, etc.. whose existence we had never 
heretofore suspected from the river, were strung thickly 
along both sides of the road for half a mile^ I soon 
found George and Lacy in a small carpenter's shop, the 
former industriously sawing out a paddle from an inch 
plank, which the latter was as industriously holding down 
on the rule trestles. It is quite a job to make a paddle, and 
George had my hearty .sympathy, as, with coat off and the 
perspiration standing in beads on his forehead, he pulled 
away with drawing knife and plane, after finishing his 
sawing operations. ./ 
There was nothing that I could do, however, to help 
him, except to take the job off his hands, so presently t 
returned to the boats> my boat being by this time dry 
enough to repair. 
I. found the Colonel lying flat on his back on his mattress 
in the last stages of exhaustion, his pipe out, his book 
fallen from his nerveless fingers, and his eyes half closed, 
while the old gentleman, who had secured possession of 
the Colonel's camp stool, by drawing it out from under 
his unresisting head, Was seated on the stool, leaning over 
the Colonel's prostrate form, one hand on his arm. while 
the other waved impressively in the air as he developed his 
views on the tariff question. 
I rescued the Colonel by rousing him to assist me in 
putting the patches on my canoe, and. with the little alco- 
hol stove placed on a flat rock under the open cockpit of 
the canoe, wdiich was raised up on one side for that pur- 
pose, in order to afford a lee from the brisk breeze which 
was blowing,' the patches were speedily prepared and 
plastered on. the old gentleman meanwhile taking great 
interest in the operation, as he pottered around, full of 
suggestions as to better ways of doing it. 
The remaining compound in the ladle was poured over 
the patches and plastered down, and the boat replaced in 
the water and packed, for the compound cools and hardens 
quickly, and the boat is ready for use as soon as the patch 
is on, by which time Lacy and George were discovered 
coming down the road with the new paddle. 
"Hadn't we better lunch here before starting?" said 
Lacy, with his usual fertility of suggestion about anything 
in the eating line. 
"Oh. Lacy ! for heaven's sake let me get away from here 
as quickly as possible," groaned the Colonel, in dismay. 
"Yes. this place is too public," I added. "It's less than 
an hour's run to the spring at the foot of the falls." I con- 
tinued, as I gave him a nudge with my elbow and pointed 
out the half drimken old chap, who was busily entertain- 
ing George, "and I guess you can hold out a little " 
"Say! Let's get out of here," said George, with deci- 
sion, as he cut loose from our old friend without cere- 
mony. George is peculiarly susceptible to boredom, and 
has but scant patience with such characters as the one 
we had now in stock. "That old fellow will talk us to 
death," he continued. "Have you noticed him ?" 
"Have we noticed him. Commodore?" asked the Col- 
onel, appealing to me with an injured air. "Well, I rather 
think we have 'noticed him." 
"If you had been half an hour longer with that paddle," 
T said to George, "I mucli fear me the Colonel would 
have been too exhausted to get away from here at all." 
We rounded the big bend below Newport, and skirted 
along the base of a' massive precipice, from whose face 
great, shell-like masses of limestone projected their thin, 
knife-like edges far out into the river, while immense 
fragments of rock, mossy and bush-growii. stood up high 
out of the water, as though fallen from the heights above 
into the depths below, in a vain attempt to stop the flow 
of the river, in whose still, black, reflective depths they 
were faithfully pictured. . 
"There you are. Colonel; there's the Columbian Falls!" 
exclaimed Lacy, as we slowly swung around the point of 
the mountain spur to the left, and the great rapid dis- 
closed itself to our gaze, the swift water tossing and leap- 
ing in bright, .sparkling waves in the sunlight; "that's the 
beginning of the Columbian Falls." 
"Well, it's a dandy, sure enough !" exclaimed the Col- 
onel, as he prudently followed our example and closed his 
hatches, for the big waves at the bottom of the first shoot 
— which seemed a greatly magnified edition of the "Devils' 
Race Path" — half a mile below, could be seen gamboling 
and tossing their shaggy manes high in air, as thovtgh 
leaping up on each other's .shoulders in their eagerness to 
get a look at us, and \velcome us in their tumultuous 
embraces. 
"You fellows hang up here among the rocks and wait 
and I'll go down first and get a position on the rocks at 
the foot of the shoot, and get a 4codak snap at you as you 
come through the rough waters." said George, as he 
pushed ahead. 
We accordingly beached our boats among the rocks and 
reefs at the crest of the falls and watched him as he was 
caught up in the resistless whirl of waters and was shot 
swiftly down the long, toboggan-slide-like rapid, his canoe 
rising and falling gracefull on the undulating, liquid slope. 
He was caught up in the big waves at the bottom of the 
shoot, and, for a brief minute or two, all that coidd be 
seen was a confused mass of boat, man, flashing paddle 
blades and showering clouds of spray. He presently 
emerged, and rounded to in the still water below, and 
to one side of the shoot, and disembarked, 
Afte^ a, bri^f interval, yi\>^<ih QoyUl be nhserved 
driving his sharp, iron-shod "jacob staiT" into the crevices 
of the rock, and adjusting his kodak thereon, he waved his 
helmet as a signal for the rest of tis to come on. 
"Go ahead. Colonel," I said. 
The Colonel backed his canoe off the rocks and pushed 
out. while Lacy and I watched him shoot down the slope,, 
dash, through the huge waves, whose spray flew all over 
him, and round in alongside of George's canoe. 
"Now, Lacy," .said L 
Lacy promptly followed the Colonel, and iii an in- 
credibly short time his canoe was lying alongside of the 
other two. 
"Now, Commodoi-e, it's your innings," said T, as with a 
few thrusts of the paddle I drew the nose of Frankie 
down off the detaining limestone ledge, and swung out 
into the whirl of waters, which shot me like an arrow 
down the long slope. 
If the big waves looked formidable from above, they 
looked ten-fold more .so in my astonished eyes, as my 
canoe bore swiftly and irresistibly down upon them, and I 
instinctively dipped my paddle into the water with a back- 
ward sweep, -to draw back from them, but, well knowing 
that there was no possible danger, save an inevitable 
drenching of my arms and shoulders, and also knowing 
that there was no escaping the remorseless grasp of the 
rushing waters, T checked the impulse, and, noting that 
my canoe Was headed squarely, bow on, for the biggest 
foamer of all, T pulled the waterproof canvas apron as 
high up on my brea,st as possible, and, with my paddle 
balanced across my lap. tiglitly held down the aft corners 
of my apron at each side, and let her drive. 
She buried her nose deeply into the breast of the first 
huge wave, which, as she lifted, rolled bodily over her 
decks and hatches, in a solid sheet of water a foot deep, 
while the .spray struck mc full in the face, fairly lifting 
my hehnet, and drenching my arms and shoulders. The - 
canoe was caught up on the huge crest, and lifted high in 
the air, and appeared to leap bodily across the intervening 
hollow, and -fall into the breast of the next wave, through 
which I plunged in like manner. With a yell of delight I 
grasped my paddle and rounded in over the lessening 
waves below, and joined the others, who were laughing 
and squeezing the water from their dripping sleeves. 
"Did you ship any water?" 3'^elled Lacy, as I opened 
my hatches and stepped ashore. 
"Not a pint," I answered. 
"I took about a tubful," said George, as he repacked his 
kodak. 
"I got a bucketful or so," said Lacy, as he drew his 
boat sponge out from under his floor boards and pro- 
ceeded to sponge out the half an inch or so of water in 
the bottom of his boat. 
"How did you take it in?" I asked. 
"It dashed in around back of the apron, at the aft 
corners of the well," he replied. "Just look at my legs, 
how wet they are !" 
"Mine, too," said George. 
"Why don't you hold your aprons down at the aft cor- 
ners with your hands?" I asked. "That's the way I did. 
I'm hardly wet a bit below the top of my apron." 
"I did that," said the Colonel, "and I didn't ship any 
water to speak of." 
By this time we were all re-embarked, and had pushed 
out into the still pool below the rough shoot, and were 
headed down stream again. 
"Is that all of it?" asked the Colonel. 
"Well, hardly," replied George; "that is simply the 
prelude, so to speak." 
"Just the vestibule, as you might say," Lacy added. 
"Is it any rougher than that shoot above?" he con- 
tinued. 
"Well, it isn't so much that it is rough, but it is the 
niost interminable series of reefs you ever saw." replied 
George. 
"The last half mile is rough enough, too," I added. 
"You want to look a little out, Colonel," added Lacy, 
"and not be so brash as you were up in Kemple's Falls or 
you'll get a spill, sure enough." 
"Don't you worry about the Colonel," replied that in- 
dividual. "The Colonel's gotten through so far about as 
well as the rest of you. for all your backing and filling 
and monkeying around." 
We paddled leisurely through the deep pool, and ap- 
proached the Avall-like line of reefs which bounded the 
lower end of the pool. A broad gap in' the middle of the 
ledge passed the water over in a smooth, deep, swift flow. 
The river swept majestically to the left around the long 
mountain spur. As we slipped through the gap in the 
reefs and began the descent which followed, all that could 
be seen of the river was a conglomeration of reefs, rocks 
and islands, down among which the water rushed swiftly, 
fretted and chafed into foam and spray, with here and 
there smooth, black channels, covered with white bubbles, 
indicating openings through the reefs through which we 
might slip, with good management. The reefs seemed to 
run with the river, in long, parallel lines, with tolerably 
clear channels between the lines, and all leading gradu- 
ally in to the left bank. 
We found no regular boat channel, but zigzagged bur 
way through, by slipping over from one parallel waterway 
to the next, as we approached the bank. 
"Where do you suppose the boat channel is throitgh 
here?" asked Lacy, after half a mile of this kind of work. 
"Perhaps it's over near the other side," suggested the 
Colonel. 
"No," replied George, "there never was any channel 
through here. The backset from the Columbian mil! dam 
covered all these reefs. You note the remains of the dam 
a quarter of a mile ahead there?" indicating, as he spoke, 
a long line of piles and broken-down dam timbers, extend- 
ing out from the left bank and reaching half way across 
the river. 
"What destroyed this mill rlam, I wonder?" queried the 
Colonel, as we approached and paddled past the broken- 
down dam. and picked our way cautiously through the 
reefy maze below. Tile river is very wide here, and cor- 
respondingly shallow. ' 
"It was carried out with the liiill, and. pretty much all 
the houses around it, in the great flood of 1870," I replied. 
"There must have been some loss of life, I should 
think," he rejoined. 
"V'es; there were eight or nine persons drowned here." 
1 replied. "That flood was a terrible tragedy; you can 
ber^r of it all along the river— tlie people are still talking 
