4B0 
•FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 7, 1901. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Game in Lower Michigan. 
Chicago, 111., Nov. 27. — Mr. W. B. Mershon, of Sag- 
inaw, under date of Nov. 23, chronicles some of the 
doings of the Saginaw Crowd, that representative gang 
of good ones. The only bad news he mentions is an 
accident to Mr. Watts Humphrey, and Mr. Humphrey's 
very many friends will regret to hear that he is to be 
laid up and will miss the closing days of the shooting 
season: 
"On our Dakota trip we had a good time, every one 
was well, the weather delightful, and we got all the ducks 
we really needed. It has been a good many years since I 
have seen the quantity of mallards that I saw in North 
Dakota this year. Some of our nicest shooting was over 
decoys in the barley stubble, where we would blind 
among the shocks of grain and kill these fine birds on 
the hard ground. 
"The Saginaw Crowd put the car in commission, and 
went out a week ago last Tuesday. Humphrey got his 
foot in a rabbit hole and dislocated his ankle, and had to 
crawl on his hands and knees half a mile to get a farmer 
to take him home. His foot is in a plaster cast, and he 
will be laid up a long time. The boys stayed down there 
about a week, going and coming. Mr. Briggs had good 
luck. You remember last year he did not go far away 
from the car, for he cannot stand much of a tramp, and 
after the others were gone, about 9 or 10 o'clock, he 
would hunt around the car, and did not miss a day but 
what he would have six or seven partridges. 
"The country has been cleared up so you would hardly 
recognize it since you were there a year ago, and the 
boys did not get many birds; yet, from what I can learn, 
there were some patches of woods where they really did 
see a good many, but did not brag much about their 
shooting qualities. I could not go with them, for I had 
a lot of business that week, and besides I was a little 
stale, for I had put in about three days elsewhere the 
week before, trimming up twenty partridges and eigh- 
teen quail. But last Monday night they tempted me, and 
I joined the gang as they passed through Saginaw for 
a point up on a logging road west on the P. M. R. R. 
We arrived at our destination about 8 in the evening, and 
were up and away at 7 next morning, driving even- 
tually seven miles from the car, stopping at one or two 
places on the way. W e had to learn the ground. Briggs 
and Lyon, 'the two old men,' as the driver called them, 
hunted around the car, and as usual came in with six 
or seven birds. The rest of us missed a good many. 
We found them too close to the cedar swamps, where 
they would dart in out of sight in an instant, and it wa,s 
impossible to follow them. I think when I counted up 
that ni,ght the party of nine had twenty-six partridges 
and about thirty quail. 
"It is strange how the quail , have thrived in that 
northern country. Their entire habits have been 
changed. They are now wood birds, very wild, fre- 
quenting swamps to such an extent that one never can 
kill more than two or three out of a covey, and I never 
saw such large birds. Some of them are fully double 
the size and weight of those I have shot in the South. 
"The next day we concluded we had gotten on to the 
territory, and were going to have good shooting, and it 
turned out we did very well. I had my shooting clothes 
on, and killed fifteen partridges and four quail, and had 
a long tramp all by myself. I had old Bob, and every 
bird was killed over his point, and it is a strange thing, 
but I did not once during the day walk on to a bird. 
Every one I put up was one that the dog was pointing. 
Twice I got three out of a bunch, being able to ,^lip in 
the third shell before they had gotten away. Theri were 
times when I found a bunch of five or six together, and 
twice I made a double, two leaving the ground at the 
same time. When we all got in that night we had fully 
as many birds as we had the day before, and some had 
drawn a blank. The next day was delightful, but we got 
out of the good territory and only had fair shooting. 
So you see that was a good hunting trip. The car is 
out of commission for the year, and every one feels 
pretty well satisfied. 
"The general report is that quail are veiy scarce, and 
partridges are rapidly becoming extinct, unless you go 
away up North for them." 
Deer in Southern Illiaois. 
Mr. W. A. Powel, of Taylorville, 111., this week sends 
rews of a very unusual sort from his part of the world. 
He says: "Fred Langley and I had a deer hunt last week 
and got a spike buck after quite a chase. We trailed him 
several miles, and finally Fred shot him. He probably 
got away from somewhere, but we have not heard of 
any one losing any deer anywhere near." 
It was five or six years ago, if memory serves cor- 
rectly, that Mr. Powel killed another deer a few miles 
from Taylorville, and the event was made much of at the 
time, as no such animal as a deer had been seen in that 
part of the country for perhaps thirty years. It was sup- 
posed that this deer in some way crossed the Mississippi 
River from Missouri and worked its way up across the 
less settled portions of Illinois. Taylorville is in an old 
farming country, and the timber has given way to corn 
and wheat these many years past, only a few strips of 
tiinber here and there around the creek bottoms remind- 
ing one of old days. Strangely enough, an occasional 
wolf is seen even yet in that neighborhood, and the 
sportsmen of that county now and then have a run after 
one. Mr. Powel has the skins of two or three which he 
has killed inside of ten miles of town. 
Illinois Takes Up the War. 
Emulating the activity of Deputy Warden Brews! er, of 
Michigan, the Fish Commission of this State has taken 
up the matter of prosecuting infractions of the Illinois 
fiFh law, of which several of the market-fishers of Chi- 
cago have been guilty recently in the waters of Lake 
Michigan. Deputy Warden Ratto, of this city, has been 
ordered to stop the taking of whitefish and trout in Il- 
linois waters of Lake Michigan, and has been authorized 
to charter a tug, and if necessary to take with him an 
armed posse. Mr. Ratto has evidence that lake trout are 
being caught somewhere in Lake Michigan by diflferent 
tfieml)er§ of the fishing fleet of this city. He has not yet 
had evidence that these depredations were committed in 
Illinois waters. Between now and the end of this week, 
when the closed season for whitefish and trout ends, Mr. 
Ratto will be actively engaged in watching the com- 
mercial fishermen. During the week Mr. Ratto was to 
confer with wardens Overbach, of Wisconsin, and Morse, 
oi Michigan, as to the best course of co-operation against 
this fleet of lawless fishing tugs. The trouble is that 
Indiana has no closed season corresponding to that of 
Michigan and Illinois, and the defense of all these fish- 
ing boats is that they were operating in Indiana waters. 
.Some of the largest concerns in Chicago have been 
guilty of this law breaking. There was never better 
proof than this of the wisdom of vmiform game and fish 
laws throughout a group of States adjoining each other 
and offering piactically the same conditions in regard 
to fish and game life. 
Another Requisition Ucder Game Law. 
It is stated in the daily dispatches of this week — with 
what accuracy it is impossible at this writing to deter- 
mine, that requisition papers would be taken out to-day 
in Wisconsin for the arrest in Chicago of Charles H. 
Dahlgreen, a Chicago man. who is charged with the at- 
tempt to transport game through the State contrary to 
the law. Mr. Dahlgreen claims that he killed two deer 
at one shot, and that, although he broke the law. he 
did so unwittingly. (He had already killed one deer ) 
The Government of the State of Wisconsin is .<;upposed 
to take the stand that he could not be unwitting in bring- 
ing three deer instead of the legal number of two out 
of the State. It is alleged that he shipped two of the 
deer by express and put the hide and saddle of the third 
(leer in a trunk which he undertook to get throu.gh. Mr. 
Dahlgreen will be prosecuted under the Lacey Act, 
which entails a heavy fine in case of conviction. It is 
stated that he is not the only Chicago man who has had 
game confiscated under the charges of illegal shipment 
from the State of Wisconsin, and there is a very good 
possibility of other cases receiving prompt and thorough 
investigation. It is not yet ascertained that the requisi- 
tion from the Governor is to issue without fail. Should 
it issue, and should Mr. Dahlgreen be taken from this 
State to the scene of his offense, the precedent will be 
one of mcfst vital importance to all sportsmen, whether 
of the witting or the unwitting class. As soon as it is 
determined that a man can be taken from the bosom of 
his family and hauled back to another State and forced 
to square himself for the infringement of the game laws, 
it may be considered as a moral, legal and actual c.r- 
tainty.ihat he will be mighty careful how he breaks 
game laws after that; and so will evei-y one of his neigh- 
bors who hears of his misfortune. It is no use "holler- 
ing'' against the game laws. The time of greater strict- 
ness in these statutes is coming, and coming mighty 
fast in this part of the world. 
Buffalo Jones Not Disappointed. 
The following letter^ just at hand from Mr. C. J. Jones 
(Buffalo Jones), would seem to finally prove in some- 
what conclusive manner that Mr. Jones is neither dead 
nor d' '"-appointed. It is mighty nice to hear from him m 
the same old way from Topeka, which is west of the 
Missouri — this side of the Jordan. He is a man of big 
ideas, is Jones; and although he has been quiet, about 
himself for a couple of years, it seems it has been simply 
because he was elaborating something he had up his 
sleeve, so to speak. May he live to see all his big plans 
succeed: 
"On rhy return from the Pan Handle of Texas, where 
I have been a few weeks at the Goodnight ranch, super- 
Intending the cutting out of calves for weaning and 
grading the catalo. etc., I find your letter and obituary 
clippings. The clippings, and many others, had reached 
me prior to j'ours, and had caused me much annoy- 
ance in contradicting them, * * * You say nu doubt 
I died a disappointed man. To rescue America's great- 
est animal was one of my chief aims. This I have fully 
accomplished. Another was to originate a race of cattle 
by crossing the buffalo and cattle; this I also succeeded in. 
and named the new race catalo. 'Cat,' the first three let- 
ters of cattle, 'Alo,' the three last letters of buffalo. This 
race of cattle will some day ere long surprise the world. 
The herd of 100 now at the Goodnight ranch is simply 
wonderful, Some of the grades from the black polled 
Angus and Galloway cows have robes that sparkle more 
brilliantly than a thousand dewdrops in the morning sun, 
while the animals carry a third more meat than native 
cattle, and the best of all, they never require nor will 
use artificial shelter, and do not require artificial food 
to keep them hog fat the year around. Do you suppose 
I would die a disappointed man after such great achieve- 
ments? 
"Again. I always had a desire to be instrumental in 
making the desert to bud and 'blossom like the rose.' 
It looked at one time as if that too had been accom- 
plished, but the people of Colorado diverted the water 
f-om the Arkansas River and the great system of irri- 
gating canals constructed in southwestern Kansas by 
myself became worthless, and the fields of those happy 
and prosperous people, whom I had induced to settle 
there, became dried and barren as Jonah's gourd vine. 
This gave me much worry and many regrets, and caused 
me to set about to overthrow the disaster that had 
rushed upon myself and friends. Thus, while away in 
the frigid zone, the cold was so severe it drove me into 
my little cabin. There, with nothing to read and no one 
to converse with, I was compelled to employ the long 
nights in some way, and as the wind was constantly from 
the barren lands and Arctic Ocean, I determined to 
invent some method of raising water by means of na- 
ture's own power, the wind, and for seven long months I 
whittled and whittled, endeavoring to arrest the wind 
with some kind of an appUance, to secure a direct pres- 
sure, all of which I accomplished; and to-day I have 
an air motor running with all the ease of a sewing 
machine, with power beyond computation. The one now 
in operation here draws, or elevates, nine barrels of 
water per minute, 18 feet high in a 1 6-mile wind, with 
ease. The capacity I can double by an outlay of about 
$4. The power also drives corn shellers and grinders, 
saws wood, runs the grindstone, churn, washing ma- 
chine, and no doubt will generate all_ the electricity 
;ieeded on the farm and ranch for all kinds of use, in- 
cluding heat and power for automobiles. I have a 
patent covering every detail, and will have the motor 
on sale in the spring. It will be salvation to the people 
I located at and near Garden City, as the water there, 7 
feet below the surface, is inexhaustible. 
"Now, do you suppose I am disappointed in life? 
"To be sure, I have other aims, and greater measures 
which I hope to accomplish, but I never have as yet 
wasted any time and energy on impossibilities. 1 have 
next to my heart now the establishment, by the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, of a preserve for the 
bison fend other American herbivorous wild animals. I 
shall again this winter ask Congress to set aside a tract 
of the barren and desolate waste of New Mexico to such 
a purpose, and feel sure our gr.and and noble President. 
Col. Roosevelt, will join in with his big and liberal soul 
to make sure of such a grand enterprise. 
"I send vou some photos of very recent date of the 
herd." 
Why He Is President. 
From time to time mention is made in these columns 
oi that singular body of sportsmen known as the Wish- 
ininne Club. It is part of the constitution and by-laws of 
this club that any man to be eligible to membership must 
be either a shooter or a fisher. The club has no treasury 
and its only officer is a president. In very many ways 
the Wi?;hininne Club is a pure democracy'. Among its 
members are a mayor, an ex-mayor, three bankers and 
many others of prominence in the business woi'ld of this 
city. While all of these are present at the table — the 
Wisliininne Club is not in official session anywhere 
except at the table — the members bow to the iron rule of 
the president, from whose rules there is absolutely no ap- 
peal. He assesses fines for "talking shop," regulates the 
conduct of those present, and in other ways so conducts 
himself as to raise the occasional question whether the 
club may not be more properly called a monarchy or an 
uutocracy. 
There has never been but one president of the Wish- 
ininne Club. His name is W. L. Wells, sometimes 
known as Billy Wells or Bill Wells. Mr. Wells was 
captain of the Minnesota camping party when the 
original Wishininne Club was organized. After that he 
announced himself as president of the club, and no one 
has since been able to oust him from that position. 
He saj^s there cannot be any election, and that he intends 
to hold the job for the rest of his natural life. Yestei"- 
day evening, while in conversation with Mr. Wells, he 
engaged in certain reminiscent remarks: "My brother 
used to be an awfully good man," said he. "That was 
Jim Wells. I rememlDer one time he got into some sort 
of a personal difficulty with a fellow about six feet long 
down at Monmouth, 111. It was out on the depot plat- 
form. The fellow said something to Jim he didn't like, 
and Jim hit him, kind of thoughtless. The bystanders 
said that the fellow's heels dragged on the boards for 
about five feet before he .got through falling." 
"Your brother must have been something of a man," 
said I, sympathetically. 
"Yes," said Billy, "he was; and, you know, I could 
always lick Jim easy. He was about the poorest man in 
our family." 
This would seem to be the reason that Mr. Wells con- 
tinues in the high office of president of the Wishininne 
Club. E. Hough. 
Hartford Buu-Dine, Chicaeo. 111. 
My| Fitst Grottse. 
Up in the hills of Ticonderoga there is a wild farm 
which is the summer home of a retired professional man. 
Little attention has been paid to the subject of fencing or 
tillage, but the number of birds and rabbits is always a 
fixed quantity there. I was then .spending my first season 
of delight as an amateur farmer, and, of course, liked to 
see a gun hanging from the antlers in the old log kitcheir. 
This piece formerly belonged to the famous fox himter, 
Ben Cheeney, of Ti street. It was a muzzleloader and 
pretty rusty, but I managed to secure a number of squir- 
rels during mj' early shooting days. 
One morning with pail in left hand and gun on i 
shoulder. I started to the cold spring along by the orchard ' 
and mountain side, hoping to see something on the way. 
The path led through green shrubs and long, graceful 
berns, and made a sharp turn up the hill near the 
.spring. Just at the bend a big cock partridge started off [ 
on a run up the steep rock. I had never dreamed of snap 
shooting, but somehow I dropped that pail, cocked the 
stiff right hammer and fired just as the bird had got to 
the top of the rock near the .spring about on a level with 
my head. There was a deafening report, and, of course, 
a cloud of smoke, but no bird could I find, although 
feathers by the handful were lying about. I searched for ^ 
half an hour to no avail, and had to go away sadly. In ' 
later days an old himter asked me if there was not a pile 1 
of brush near. "If so," said he, "you'll find him there, or 
what's left of him." One day I went to work and lifted a 
quantity of tree limbs, throwitig them upon the fence, and 
there at the bottom between two large stones lay the bones 
of my game. Peter Flint. 
A Big: Bucfc for Pennsylvania. 
Bedford^ Pa. — Editor Forest and Stream: A party of 
hunters from Bedford, Pa., went hunting on Raine's Hill 
in Fulton county on Nov. 13. On the 15th, while four of 
the men were "driving" and four were on crossings, a ' 
large buck was jumped by H. N. Fisher. The animal ! 
circled around a side hill and came to Clarence Akers and 
Benjaiuin Hanks, who both fired bucksiiot at it. The ani- 
mal ran about twenty yards and fell dead. The buckshot 
had reached the heart, but whose is not known. When ' 
the animal was weighed after deviscerating, it tipped the 
beam at 266 pounds, probably the largest deer killed in 
this State for many years. No one at Bedford ever saw 
a larger one, or one so large. The party saw, but did not 
get, five other deer on the hunt, which ended on the 17th. 
The buck's horns had five points on one branch and four 
on the other. They were large, but not in proportion to 
the body. ' Raymond S. Spears. 
All communications intended for Forest ahd Stream should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., end I 
not to any individual connected with the papor* 
