Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1902, sv Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $2. 
f 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 1902. 
( VOL. LVIIL— No. 14. 
j No. 346 Broadway, New York 
The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 
ment, instruction and information between American sportsmen. 
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pages are devoted. Anonymous communications will not be re- 
garded. While it is intended to give' wide latitude in discussion 
of current topics, the editors are not responsible for the views of 
correspondents. 
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particulars respecting subscriptions, see prospectus on page iii. 
ANOTHER BAD ADIRONDACK BILL. 
/ - 
Senator Brown's bill in the New York Legislature to 
turn the State's Forest Preserve over to the wood pulp 
makers, having been recalled from the Assembly and 
amended in the Senate, was in the end killed by a sub- 
stantial majority vote. From that particular attack New 
York's forests are preserved for another year. But there 
has been put through another bad measure, which while 
not so much of a menace to the woods, would open the 
way to the ruin of large portions of the Adirondacks. 
This bill was introduced and pushed by Senator Brown, 
and it probably had its origin with the interests his lum- 
bering bill was intended to serve. 
This bill, which because of its title as an act to amend 
"the navigation law," has escaped the attention of the 
friends of the Adirondack forests, is Senate Bill No. 404. 
It provides that any person desiring to use a river or 
stream which is recognized by law or use as a public high- 
way, "for the purpose of floating, running or flooding 
timber, logs, wood or lumber down the same, may in- 
stitute proceedings for the condemnation of such river 
or stream, the channel thereof and lands adjacent thereto, 
-to the public use as a highway for transporting timber, 
logs, etc." Upon condemnation any person may build 
shutes, aprons, dams and booms; "store water and for 
that purpose overflow lands by the erection and mainte- 
nance of a dam or dams upon such river or stream 
* * * and the water may be released from time to 
time, * * * and thereby increase the volume and flow 
of water in such river or stream." A person acting under 
the privileges of this measure shall be liable only for 
damages "occasioned by his negligence or unlawful exer- 
cise of the same." 
In a memorial addressed to Governor Odell by the 
New York Board' of Trade and Transportation, it is 
pointed out that the bill differs from the existing statute 
by giving to private persons the right to invoke the power 
of eminent domain. "The power of eminent domain is 
to be prostituted to purely private ends." This is a most 
extraordinary proposition; and the other provisions of 
the measure are in keeping with it in their riding rough- 
shod over the rights of property owners. For when under 
the license thus given, a person floods the lands of an- 
other, destroying his property, the one whose property 
is thus destroyed has absolutely no redress unless he 
can prove that the damages suffered were inflicted by the 
"negligence" or unlawful use of the privileges accorded 
by the act. This is putting upon the injured party the 
burden of proof of the negligence or unlawful act — some- 
thing which it would fie extremely difficult, if not prac- 
tically impossible to do. And even then the damages may 
not be sued for, but must be appraised by a board of 
three commissioners to be appointed by the Supreme 
Court. Under the present law a bond of $5,000 must be 
provided as an indemnity against all losses and damage 
suffered by flooding operations, and there is no require- 
ment that negligence must be proved. The Brown bill 
is thus a most outrageous invasion of private rights; it 
puts every landowner on an Adirondack stream at the 
'mercy of the lumbermen. For cool effrontery this has not 
been matched by any recent attack on the property rights 
of Adirondack owners and the State's own forest pos- 
sessions. 
Another effect of the operation of the proposed law 
demands consideration. Not only does the damming of 
the streams destroy by the overflow extensive tracts of 
woodland, leaving those ghastly stretches of drowned 
lands with which we are all too familiar in the North 
Woods, but the released waters rushing down with tre- 
mendous force destroy the stream bed and carry away the 
logs, boulders, bars and other natural obstructions which 
serve as dams to form reservoirs for the retention of 
the water and its gradual flow. The effect upon the breed- 
ing grounds of fish is wholly destructive. What would 
follow the operation of the Brown bill with respect to the 
fishing interests of the Adirondacks is well set forth in 
the letter written by Mr. William G. De Witt to Governor 
Odell, and printed in another column. The fishing in 
Adirondack waters is in value and public benefit a resource 
which should not be surrendered to private greed. To 
give the lumbermen such license as is conferred by this 
Brown bill would be a gross betrayal of public and private 
interests. As the Board of Trade and Transportation 
memorial points out, the "bill is a menace to every hold- 
ing in the State if 'any person desires' to use any stream 
for the purposes named. It could be used, and doubtless 
would be so used, for *the purpose of forcing out the 
present owners and of securing possession, and render- 
ing valueless the properties now held by associations and 
individuals, as well as by the State within the forest 
preserve. This bill passed the Legislature ostensibly as 
an amendment to the navigation law during the last mo- 
ments of the session, and without receiving the considera- 
tion which it deserved. Its provisions, however, vitally 
affect the State forest preserve, and, if carried out, will 
ultimately destroy that vast and complicated plexus of 
waters so absolutely essential to the welfare of the com- 
monwealth." 
THE SEASON AND THE FISH. 
Lamb-like., the month of March came in and lamb- 
like it disappears forever from the calendar of 1902, yet 
during its existence it brought the month's usual varied 
weather. There were floods and dust storms, calms and 
tornadoes, fierce storms of snow and gentle showers of 
warm rain. Now at its end come bright sunshine, warm 
airs and gentle breezes from the southwest, while grass 
grows green, and buds seem to swell before our very 
eyes. In many of the States has come the day longed 
for by the angler, when the speckled trout — which so 
long has held first place in the angler's heart — may law- 
fully be taken. Not always are conditions so propitious 
as they seem to be this year. We can all recollect too 
many opening days, when the breezes blew, cold, or keen 
north winds carried with them powdery snow, when the 
temperature was low and the line sometimes froze in 
the guides. 
This year it will not be so. Spring is further advanced 
than usual, the snow water has gone out of the brooks, 
insects tempted by the warmth of the sun, which daily 
shines on them longer and longer, have ventured forth, 
and flying here and there on joyous wing, fall into brook 
or pond and tempt the troutlet's appetite. Perhaps there 
is only one condition at the opening day this year which 
the angler may fairly criticise. 
Most of the brooks are full of water, and are pouring 
down brown or muddy torrents which carry debris from 
bank and meadow and swamp, on which the trout may 
easily fill their hungry maws, so that when the fly of the 
angler dances lightly over the water, or sinks for an 
instant in the eddy, only to be withdrawn again, the full- 
fed fish may be too lazy to dart for it with their spring- 
time vigor. But this is not likely to happen. Whoever 
saw a trout that was satisfied? Sometimes, it is true, 
they will not rise, but we venture to say that — if the 
cause of their refusal could be known — it would be -found 
in some other condition than satiety. 
But it is seldom that the best fishing is had on the 
opening day. To that day we bring keen eagerness for a 
pastime from which we have long been debarred, and more 
than half our pleasure comes from anticipation. 
It is later in the season, when the grass, well sprung, is 
thick and green, when the air is softer and warmer than 
it ever is on the opening day, when beautiful flowers 
spangle the meadows or nodding over the stream's border 
are mirrored in clear waters, when birds have come, in 
full numbers and their songs are heard from every branch, 
that we best enjoy the fishing. By that time the keen 
edge of our eagerness has become a little dulled, and we 
can fish with less excitement, and with more astuteness 
and effect. 
In those days we may even lure from his hiding place 
beneath bank, or stump, or fallen tree trunk, some mon- 
ster of the brook which it has long been, our ambition to 
take. Perhaps in previous years we have had a rise 
or two from him; perhaps we have even hooked him, and 
he has broken away, sending us home in such utter 
humiliation of spirit that for a day or two we could 
scarcely speak of our misfortune. But now, on one of 
these days of later May or early June, we approach his 
well-known hiding place with double caution, and per- 
haps a carefully planned campaign culminates in the cap- 
ture of the great fish. Then what tumultuous beating of 
the heart as the landing net lifts him from the water and 
carries him far back from the bank, and we put him on 
the scales ! Does he shrink a little as he pulls down the 
spring? Perhaps so. So do most of the pleasures of 
life grow less when we hold them within our grasp, and 
like the boy. who caught the butterfly, we find that what 
we wished has still escaped us. Nevertheless, he is a 
noble fish, and to have taken him is a great feat. Re- 
joice, therefore, and bear your prize home in triumph. 
You may never again take so goodly a fish. 
A CANADA SPECIAL. 
This square-shouldered, full-chested, feathered athlete 
is known to sportsmen of various localities under the 
name scaup, broadbill, blackhead, bluebill and others. 
Wherever our wildfowl are gunned, in all weathers, one 
finds this ubiquitous free lance the same alert, never-tiring 
thoroughbred. 
Everything he does goes with a snap to it. Even an 
old hand, who takes regular toll of the royal canvasback 
and redhead, often finds the broadbill a puzzling target 
as it flashes by down wind, or darts on recurved wings 
for the decoys. He has to learn a new trick before he can 
stop the birds with certainty. 
When crippled, this duck is extremely cunning, and 
will often sneak away under cover of the ripples right 
before one's eyes, with just the top of his bill showing at 
intervals as he takes breath. 
On calm days when fowl are not coming well to the 
decoys, the broadbill, assembled in large flocks on the 
still water, will romp and splash in great apparent glee, 
while now and again one hears their musical call pur-r-r-r, 
pur-r-r, as they play. 
The speed of the broadbill is wonderful. At times 
when they flash past with the full power of the gale 
behind them, it is marvelous to note how quickly they 
appear, grow large, and then vanish in the far distance. 
Our supplement gives a striking picture of swift mo- 
tion. The day is calm and one can almost hear the rush 
of wings — like the faint sound of escaping steam — as the 
Canada 'special darts by on its journey to the north. 
THE SPORTSMEN'S SHOW CASTING. 
There are few places in the United States, perhaps, 
where there is a greater number of enthusiastic anglers 
or expert fly-casters than in New York city, and it was 
to have been hoped that the fly-casting tournament re- 
cently held at the Madison Square Garden would have 
attracted competition by a large number of anglers, to their 
own pleasure and to the edification and pleasure of the 
public, who are interested in this attractive sport. The 
very reverse of this happened. Instead of having large 
lists of competitors, it was a difficult matter to get to- 
gether a corporal's guard of fly-casters. From pure good 
will a number of men entered their names in various 
events, but either did not cast, or if they did so, showed 
entire lack of preparation. 
In preparing the conditions of the competition, an 
effort was made to render the contest as nearly as pos- 
sible like what the caster would meet in the actual work 
of angling on a stream. It was not sought to make the 
work spectacular nor to adapt it only to those persons who 
have given much time to practicing long-distance casting, 
to the exclusion of skill in many other matters which 
come into the ordinary day's work of the angler. By 
arranging such conditions it was hoped to attract a large 
competition by ordinary, every-day fly-casters, and the 
offering of many classes shows an effort to induce com- 
petition by as wide a circle of anglers as possible. 
The criticisms brought forward against the competi- 
tion this year will very likely have a good effect in stimu- 
lating interest in this beautiful art, which has long been 
too much neglected here, though in other cities, like San 
Francisco and Chicago, the interest is well kept up. It 
is not true that people in New York know very little about 
angling, and it is hoped that hereafter they will be able 
to demonstrate this, '* 
