May 17, igoa.J 
FOREST AND Sl'rtEAM. 
887 
sions and baggage, two guides, the second being Carson's 
son Arch, and the cook. We made fifteen miles the first 
day ; the last three were the longest I ever traveled. We 
reached our camp about noon of the third day, much 
fatigued, but well repaid for weary feet when we sighted 
our cosy little cabin. We found a soap box in our outfit, 
and knocking out one side with the words "Happy Home" . 
on it, nailed it over the* door. This name was as good 
as any, and ready made. 
"Happy Home" is on a knoll within 100 feet of the 
shore of a lake about a mile long and half as wide. In 
that country a lake of this size is not considered of 
enough importance to give it a name. It is one of a 
chain of lakes, which go to make up Rocky Brook, and 
there are twelve others of good size within three miles of 
our camp. Moored in front of our cabin was a cata- 
maran, to me a novel method of traveling. I never suc- 
ceeded in making any headway with the thing,, as my 
pole stuck in the mud and pulled me back. It was some- 
thing like the cat-in-the-well problem to me. I never was 
able to figure to my satisfaction just how long it would 
take me to reach the other shore with this "cat," so I 
generally let some one else do the work. 
When the rifles were unpacked, Carson gave a grunt of 
disgust ; every one was small caliber. The .40-70 had 
been left at home on account of its weight. A Mann- 
licher, two .30-40's, a .30-30 and a little .22 Winchester 
completed the outfit. Carson said he would as soon throw 
a handful of peas at a moose ; he thought he might better 
lash them together and fire them all at once. 
The very next day we had some encouragement. Chris 
and Arch went across the lake, and that afternoon we 
heard a fusilade like a second San Juan Hill. It was our 
lucky friend from Jersey after his first moose. He found 
the moose on an open barren, and fired every cartridge 
he had with him ; the moose paid no attention to him, but 
calmly walked off and fell dead some twenty-five yards 
away. He was hit seven times in the body, and some one 
or all of them settled him. His horns were an even 
spread, measuring close to fifty inches, and Chris could 
put one notch in his Mannlicher. Mr. Smith had more 
faith in his ,30-40, having used it on deer in the Adiron- 
dacks; but after he had hit a moose, seen him tumble 
over a windfall and reached the spot, only to find nothing 
there, he commenced to look sober. At less than twenty 
yards the Mannlicher failed to bring down the next 
moose, but later, by the judicious use of a large quantity 
of ammunition, picked off a small caribou. The .30-30 
was looked upon with so much contempt by this time, 
that it was never even fired. 
About three miles from our camp is Geordie Lake, 
named for Geordie Brown, one of the oldest and best- 
known trappers and hunters in that region. He has a 
little cabin on the shore and lives there most of the 
time, varied by occasional visits to the settlement or the 
different lumber camps, where his presence is a never- 
failing source of amusement. An old man and almost 
blind, he is well provided for by every one, and is now 
unable to follow his old-time occupation. 
Geordie was no respecter of the law; beaver or cow 
moose were to him as fair game as any other animal. 
. Long ago the authorities ceased to meddle with him, prin- 
cipally because he was a movable quantity, and there is 
quite a bit of room in the New Brunswick forest to 
play hide and seek. A sheriff traveled many weary miles 
in search of Geordie, and the story goes that at last he 
found him on the shore of a lake catching his breakfast. 
"Well, Geordie." said the sheriff, "I've come for you." 
"Did anybody t-t-t-see you c-come in?" stuttered Geordie. 
"No," said "the sheriff, "I was very careful that .they 
shouldn't." "Then," said Geordie, snatching up his rifle, 
"I'll t-t-take t-t-d— n good care no one sees you go out," 
and the sheriff had to give up his attempt at arrest, was 
escorted to the trail by the old man and made his way 
back to town. Many stories are told of the shrewdness 
of this same character. Having been overcharged by a 
grasping woman for some potatoes, Geordie determined 
to get even, so he ordered from her a tub of butter, 
"B-but on your life/' said he, "p-put no salt in it." This 
butter was made as ordered, but no Geordie put in an ap- 
pearance, so of course it spoiled. Some weeks after he 
called for it. but refused to accept it in that condition, 
averring that even if he had ordered it without salt he 
hadn't said anything against "putting pickle on it." 
Geordie Lake has quantities of large brook trout, so for 
that matter have all the lakes in that section. A fly, the 
tip of a squirrel tail, or a bit of white pork seem to them 
equally delectable. Our lake has many old beaver 
"works," otter rolls, and we saw quite a few mink. 
Every year we have visited some of Carson's bear 
traps, but autumn seems to be a very poor time to catch 
them; food is too abundant. Probably 200 would be a 
very conservative estimate of the number of skins Carson 
has taken. He says he never skins one without a shud- 
der ; the body looks so much like a human being's. The 
track in the snow might easily be mistaken for a human 
footprint. Beechnut trees with the tops all broken and 
interlaced showed where Mr. Bruin had climbed in search 
of a meal. 
There seem to be three distinct species of partridge in 
New Brunswick. I succeeded in getting a good specimen 
of both the "spruce" and the "birch" (ruffed grouse), but 
did not see the one they call "juniper." The .22, while 
out of question in New York State for partridge, seems 
just the thing in New Brunswick. They are as tame as 
chickens. 
Word came to us that a gentleman from St. Louis and 
his daughter were to stop at one of Henry Braithwaite's 
near-by Exchange Camps on their way out to the settle- 
ment, so I journeyed over to call; another woman was 
certainly a novelty. Both she and her father had a fine 
moose head. She was to go out to the settlement on 
horseback from that point, but I would rather trust to 
my own feet than a strange horse on that rough trail. 
Being nearly fifty miles from a physician, we always 
carry along a small medicine case, bandages and sur- 
geon's needles. Amateur surgery would be preferable 
to none. Luckily, none of us have ever needed any at- 
tention, but every year I have used nearly my whole 
stock on passing lumbermen. It is quite usual to meet a 
sick or "cut" man. made 'as comfortable as possible on a 
sled, and bumping over stumps and rocks on his way to 
|he settlement and a doctor, A foot half-cut off by 3 
slip of the ax is covered with a handful of flour, bound 
up, and it may be days before it receives proper medical 
treatment. Only a strong constitution pulls these men 
through. 
We had become quite hardened, so that we made the 
trip out in two days' time, but seventeen or eighteen miles 
a day would be quite a walk even over a good road. I 
would advise no woman to make such a trip unless she 
has excellent health and can put up with any hardship. 
Mr. Irland makes the statement that "Carson's party 
wounded seven moose." I do not know his source of 
information, but to my knowledge our list of casualties 
was one killed and but two wounded. Our party saw 
seven bull moose, and owing to 'the general disgust, in 
that section, with the small bores, on Mr. Irland's arrival 
no doubt they were all put down as "wounded." How- 
ever, after the many solemn vows that were registered in 
Camp Happy Home, it is safe to say that this year on 
another trip all will carry rifles in proportion to the size 
of game. Mrs. Henry Perrine Walker. 
— $ — 
Proprietors of fishing resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Foeest and Stbbam. 
Random Notes of an Angler* 
More About Trout. 
As we all have noticed, the trout has a great dislike 
to the direct rays of the sun, and when they shine upon 
him he retreats within the shadow of an old piece of 
submerged driftwood, a boulder or a bunch of aquatic 
weeds, where he remains motionless until clouds begin 
to move or a breeze creates a ripple which breaks the 
rays and throws a shadow to the bottom. 
The angler thus finds that on perfectly smooth water 
his flies fail to evoke the responses that he desires; but 
if the surface is stirred by the breeze, the trout begin to 
rise and soon accept his lure with eagerness. 
Although the reputation of the trout is that of a 
nervous, quick-moving fish, it is as a rule quite the con- 
trary. I now refer to those fish which live in deep pools 
and in the "still water" of rivers. 
Of course, it has its periods of activity, but generally 
it is indolent to a degree. Scores of times have I seen 
these fish moving about- sluggishly, loitering on or near 
the bottom and apparently without any energy whatever. 
In fact, the chub and suckers in the same pool display a 
much greater activity. 
This opinion is based on long observation and study of 
them, for which I have had abundant facilities, and in 
many waters. 
This sluggishness of the trout is exhibited in all degrees 
of temperature of the water, and is not, therefore, limited 
to the summer months. Those fish which live in the 
brooks and rapid streams, however, display much greater 
activity. 
It is chiefly owing to this indolence that trout fall 
easy victims to their many enemies, among which the 
otter and mink are most destructive. 
The otter catches with perfect ease the largest trout in 
the deepest water. I have often seen one swim from the 
shore, dive and reappear to the surface within a few sec- 
ends, holding a good-sized trout between its teeth. The 
mink is even more voracious. On one occasion I saw 
one capture five nice trout in less than an hour. It des- 
troys more than it can possibly eat, and seems to kill for 
the sake of killing. 
Eels also capture great numbers of trout, and even 
the great snapping turtle occasionally seizes one and 
mutitlates others that it does not succeed in holding. 
Every angler has at times taken trout with large, deep 
gashes in their bodies which were undoubtedly made by 
the turtles. Last autumn I caught three which were thus 
mutilated, and one of them had a large piece of its body 
torn out sufficiently deep to show the viscera. 
Lamprey eels are also deadly enemies of the trout, and 
in some waters destroy considerable numbers. They at- 
tach themselves by their sucking disc to the trout just 
behind the gills, and the unfortunate victim is soon re- 
duced to a physical wreck. 
I once captured a trout, which in good normal condi- 
tion would weigh three pounds, but which was hardly a 
pound in weight, it having been an unwilling living feast 
for a lamprey which was about eight inches in length. 
Much has been said about the coloration of the trout 
being affected by the bottom of the water in which it 
lives. While it may be stated that the brighter and 
cleaner the bottom, the brighter will be the fish, there are 
many exceptions to this as a rule. 
In one of my outings I had some excellent fly-fishing in 
an old abandoned mill pond near Malpecque, P. E. I. 
This pond was surrounded by a moss-overgrown swamp 
in which there were here and there scattered clumps of 
princess pines, stunted firs and hackmatacks. 
The water was very weedy and the bottom was com- 
posed of disintegrated red sandstone, such as the whole 
island consists of, over which was a layer of mud and 
alluvium. This pond was, if I may use such a hack- 
neyed expression, alive with trout; they came dozens at 
every cast of the fly, and our limit of three dozen was 
soon reached. They were beautifully colored fish, bright 
almost as sea trout, although many had the rich coloration 
that the trout displays during the mating season. 
I was greatly surprised to find such brilliant fish in that 
very unattractive water, and thought that perhaps there 
was some outlet by which they -could have run in from 
the sea, but was soon convinced to the contrary; it was 
simply one of the many forest ponds such as are scat- 
tered through the Maritime Provinces. Now, though 
those -fish were handsome to look at; yea, perfect pictures 
of piscine beauty, they were on the table simply atrocious. 
Their meat was red, it is true, but it tasted of hackmatack, 
moss, rotten wood and leaves most disgustingly — one 
mouthful was enough. 
One other example to show that environment does not 
always affect the coloration of trout. Nearly fifty years 
ago I fished a small brook in Milton, Mass., which ran 
for three or four miles through swamps and meadows and 
emptied into the Pine Tree Brook, so called, which found 
an outlet in the Neponset River. That river had in 
former years been ascended by shad and alewives, but at 
the period mentioned the high dams at Milton Lower 
Ealls and at Mattapan, which had no fishways, shut them 
out. It is more than probable that sea trout and salmon 
in the long ago also came into the river, but it must have 
been years before my time, certainly none could have 
ascended to the brook for years before I fished it; there 
was no chance for them to. 
The little stream was like hundreds of other meadow 
brooks, occasionally two or three feet in width, but oftener 
it was barely wide enough to permit my hook to drop into 
the water. 
Its depth varied from eight or nine to twenty or more 
inches, and the bottom was chiefly alluvium, such as is 
always present in meadow brooks which have but very 
little current. 
At many points the banks came so close together that 
there was barely room for me to pull out a fish, but of 
course the stream widened near the bottom, thus affording 
beneath the overhanging banks ideal lurking places for 
the trout. I fished the stream for about a m^» of its 
length, and captured twenty-three most beautiful fish. 
There were no small ones, the whole number being about 
of a size, and weighing about one-half pound each. Well, 
those trout were as silvery bright as fresh-run sea trout, 
which my old friend, Dr. Samuel Cabot, to whom I pre- 
sented six brace of the handsomest ones, at first declared 
them to be, until I assured him that by no possibility 
could they have ascended to the brook from the ocean. 1 
They were delicious fish, and as red-meated as a salmon, 
and this notwithstanding they had been taken from most 
unpromising water, both as to quality and temperature. 
While it is ordinarily a delicate feeder, the trout is 
often a gross one in the extreme. I know of no other 
fresh-water fish that is nearly so gluttonous. Repeatedly 
have I seen them and even had them come to the fly 
when they were stuffed to repletion, and often^ with a 
good-sized shiner protruding from the mouth, which they 
were unable to swallow. 
I once opened a good-sized trout which I took in the 
Jacquet River, N. B., and found it contained seven aver- 
age-sized smelts, and have, times without number, found 
from four to six smelts, minnows or shiners in them. 
This gluttonous habit is well-known to the Maine 
guides, and it used to be a common practice with them to 
bait certain favorite localities in the lakes by cutting up a 
large number of chub and dropping them in the water. 
The trout attacted by the bloody "chum" come to the 
feast in considerable numbers, and they haunt the spot 
several days, gorging themselves with the bait which the 
guides from time to time renew. This practice used to be 
considerably in vogue, but whether or not it has been 
abandoned I do not know. 
It was over one of these baited spots that I once as- 
sisted in making a somewhat remarkable catch of large 
trout. My old friend, Senator Randall, of Massachu- 
setts, and I had reached the last day of our outing and 
we both wanted a few fish to take home. It was early 
in the season, and trolling with spinning minnows was 
about the only method by which the large fish could be 
taken. As I did not care particularly for that' sport, I 
volunteered to row the boat and act as guide generally 
while he could hold the rod and enjoy himself to his 
heart's content. 
We did not meet with much success in the Welokenne- 
bacook Lake, and after a while we entered the narrows 
which connected this lake with the next one in the cele- 
brated Rangeley Chain, where I cruised back and forth, 
moving up the narrows gradually at every tack. 
At length as the boat passed the outlet of a small 
brook, which later in the season used to be a favorite 
locality with fly-fishermen, my friend's line received a 
heavy tug, apparently from a very large fish, and striking 
quickly he soon was reeling in a "whale," as he excitedly 
called it. When the fish was brought to the surface I 
plied the landing net and soon the prize, a six-pounder, 
was placed in the car which was being towed astern of 
the boat. Another minnow was affixed to the hook and 
we moved on again. In no other spot in the narrows, 
however, was a trout to be found, and as we had been 
so fortunate at the outlet of the brook I rowed back 
again over it and as soon as we reached the proper spot 
another large fish was struck and successfully landed. 
"Here's where they seem to live," exclaimed Mr. Ran- 
dall as the trout, a 3^-pounder, was placed in the car. 
"Let's try 'em here again." 
Well, to make a short story of it, we caught in less than 
two hours eleven trout, not one of which was less than 
three pounds in weight. 
"We've got enough," said my friend, as he laid his rod 
down ; "let's get back to camp." 
As I was about to resume my oars a boat approached 
containing two fishermen and one. of the camp guides. As 
they passed us I saw that their trolling lines were out. 
They moved along slowly, and as they passed us the 
guide shook his fist at me as if he bore me a grudge. I 
did not take any notice of the gesture at the time, but in 
the evening as we assembled in the camp I asked him 
what he had against me. "Oh, nothing much," he re- 
plied, "only for three days past I have baited that place 
where you took all those big trout, expecting to get a 
good mess for my Lowell party who go home to-mor- 
row; there wasn't a fish left in the neighborhood and 
you captured the whole shooting match. We found only 
two or three fish left after you got through. I don't 
bear any ill will, but if you can spare two or*- three of 
your catch my party will not have to go home with empty 
hands." 
"Of course we will," replied Mr. Randall; "it was 
rather a good joke on you, although it certainly was an 
unintentional one. We will divide with them share and 
share alike. Will that be satisfactory?" 
"Of course it will„ arid more, too, and I thank you 
very much for them.,'* 
Edward A. Samuels, 
