Jan. 10, 1903.] 
A goodly number of coyotes have been poisoned, 
trapped, and shot, and one mountain lion shot> which 
I mentioned. The latter are A^ery plenty in certain parts 
of the Park, and though efforts are made to kill them, 
so far very few have been killed. They are particularly 
destructive and partial to mountain sheep, of course 
killing elk and othets of the defer kitld. iOme special 
effort will have to be mad& tO kill dt capture thenl. 
1 have Said so rtlueh ahoUt the (Jujltititi^S of gdrtie aril- 
tnals to be seen about here that it's oilly repgatiilg the 
same story. Still, some one may take advantage Qf the 
Opportunities and come out here in winter, and see for 
themselves. 
I believe Mr. Hough has been the only Easterner 
who has seen the game here in winter. If there is any 
one who wants to see game by the thousand, they can 
do so now with comparative ease. 
The road to Soda Butte is open, and a team can be 
driven thtoufh, Qf they can go oil the regulai- mail. 
If they are wanting a little "roughihg.it" they can get it, 
and a "touch of high life" by making a snowshoe trip. 
There are a few comfortable, cheap hotels open at 
Gardiner. The Cottage Hotel at the Mammoth Hot 
Springs, and Uncle John Yancey, twenty miles from the 
Mammoth Hot Springs, in the midst of the game 
country, will see that one has enough to eat and plenty 
blankets over him. I have heard many say when they 
have seen small bands of elk, that "they were worth 
a trip from New York to see." Now they can see 
thousands, notwithsanding Mf. Fullerton, of Red 
Lodge, has killed most all the elk off— on paper— and is 
starving the rest — pti paper. Still, i suppose It is very 
hafd to get away frotil a comfortable fire aitd make a 
1-aiiroad trip of more than a thousand miles arid a 
snowshoe or sleigh trip of twenty-five or fifty miles. 
If the party would be satisfied with the sight of say 
1,000 elk, 500 entelope, 75 mountain sheep, 100 mule 
deer, 6 whitetail deer, and some small things, they can 
get them or see them all within a half circle of ten miles 
from Fort Yellowstone — most all the animals less than 
five miles from the Cottage Hotel. I am sure the man- 
ager of the hotel would have to keep the shades down 
at dinner time so that the Eastern guests would riot 
leave the table to watch the deer in front of the hotel; 
otherwise the food would get cold. 
Something like this happened early last spring. While 
a party of railroad people were at the Cottage Hotel 
at dinner, some one raised the shades and said, "Look 
at the deer." The dinner got cold* Still there was no 
kicking. 
I would like to see the President, arid the Secretary 
of the Interior out here for a few days. Then they 
would know we were not telling "fairy tales" about the 
game in the Yellowstone National Park. E. Hofer. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
§Hiti^ md §nn. 
— 
Proprietors of shooting fesOfts will find it profiUble to advertise 
them in Fosest and Stream. 
Reidy. 
Imagine a small squirrel with a very red back, large, 
shining eyes, ears just visible, a very scant tail, and you 
have a picture of Reddy. 
Jn the early part of last summer my father canle 
from the woods with Reddy in his pocket. He was a 
very scared squirrel, but did not offer to bite. I wished 
to keep him, but thought it iinpossible, as we had two 
cats, and the dog that had discovered him. I decided 
I could keep these animals away from him, so I took a 
box with wire netting over one side, put in one corner 
some cotton for a nest, and in another some bread 
crumbs, a dish of milk and last of all, Reddy, who 
seemed pleased with his new home. 
Later in the summer we moved into a cottage in the 
woods, and of course Reddy moved too. On pleasan; 
days I put him on a bench outside the door where other 
squirrels came and talked to him and tried to obtain his 
food through the netting. After a great amount of 
chattering, Reddy would drive the intruders away. At 
night I kept him in the house, and each morning while 
he was still asleep I took the cotton off his back, then 
he would come out of his nest, wash liis face cat- 
fashion, and eat his breakfast. 
One day the wild sqtprrels bothered him more than 
usual, and I think this made him cross, for when I 
took him out of his box, as I had many times before, 
I was suddenly aware of a bite in one of my fingers, 
and — Reddy was gone. 
For several days I saw nothing of him, when one 
morning I heard a familiar chatter, and sure enough 
there was Reddy on a nearby tree. It was impossible 
to mistake him, for he was so nearly earless. After 
several attempts, I succeeded in shutting him in his 
box, which I placed on the bench. 
This taste of freedom made Reddy uneasy, so one 
day I let him go. Many times after this I watched him 
come in the cottage and sit on the shelves and talk to 
me. In a few minutes he would carefully make his way 
to the table from which he would carry crumbs, and 
sometimes a cookie, to a safe place, and then would 
come back for more. 
Each morning while the family was eating breakfast 
I placed a dish of milk on a shelf for him, and he would 
come in and drink it, by dipping his forefeet in the 
milk and licking them clean.. After finding that he was 
free from danger, he became very tame and mischiev- 
ous, and vye were obliged to put things in a closet which 
lie could not reach, or he would hide them in a place 
known only to himself. 
Since we moved from the cottage, Reddy has made it 
his home, and in an old basket under the shelf he has 
made himself a nest from leaves and grasses. I am 
afraid he has grown very selfish and proud, for I saw 
him early in the winter running around the cottage, and 
from a safe perch he looked dox^ii and scolded me for 
trespassing in his world. 
Mabelle Annis Cook. 
A Good Day for 'Em.— "What luck did you have 
fishing yesterday, Pennybunker?" asked an Austin 
gentleman of a well-known impecunious character who 
*;owes everybody. "Splendid! While I was out on the 
wharf twenty men with bills call#d at my house to col- 
iJeet ERQtiey." _ 
The Corbin Game Park. 
SliTCE the death of Mr. Austin Corbin in June, 1896, 
practicalljr riothing h&s found its way mto prmt m re- 
gard to his pgt project arid estate in Sullivan County, 
New Hampshire, kriowtt to the public and sportsmen 
generallv the world over, as Blue Mountain iToyest 
Park, the largest private game preserve in the United 
States 
It was Mr. Corbin's intention that this immense 
tract of land in the wilds of northern New Hampshire 
arouiid the township where he was born should remain 
intact arid always be used for the purpose for which it 
was estabUshed. To this end stock in the property 
was divided among the various members of his family 
and owfiership vested in the "Blue Mountain Forest 
Association," incorporated under the general laws ot 
New Hampshire, . 
A little over two years later, however, m September, 
1898, those interested in the estate found it rather bur- 
densome to keep and maintain, and partly to help pay 
the expenses of the vast estate, and partly to get as- 
sistance in its management from practical sportsmen 
and to attract influential persons to the place and its 
immediate neighborhood, there sprang into exist- 
ence the Blue Mountain Forest Game Club, the mem- 
bers Of \Vhifeh were granted certain fishing and shoot- 
ing privileges. „ . , , • 
Membership in the club WaS Imiited to thirty per- 
sons, and from its inception it has been generally re- 
garded as. the most exclusive and close organization of 
its kind in this country, scarcely anything as to. the do- 
ings of its members on the estate, or anything m rela- 
tion to the general welfare and condition of the prop- 
erty, having since been made public. As this article 
deals at some leno:th with both these subjects, a brief 
introductory sketch is given of the park in its greatly 
ittiproved condition of to-day. 
The park proper embraces twenty-five thousand 
acres, and includes Croydon and Grantham mountains, 
with their foot-hills and valleys on either side. It, takes 
in part of the towns of Croydon, Grantham, Plamfield 
and Cornish, and comorises farms and uncuhivated 
lands purchased from tAVO hundred and seyenty-five 
diiferent individuals, covering over sixty farms and 
sets of farm buildings. 
The contour of the park is nearly oval, extending 
with the range of mountains northeast and southwest, 
-measuring from end to end about ten mdes and hye 
miles across its greatest width. Croydon Mountain 
lies to the south and Grantham to the north, while 
between, almost in the center of the range, is a deep 
gorge of wild and picturesque beauty, through which 
passes the "Notch Road," connecting the eastern and 
western sections of Croydon township. _ 
Croydon Mountain is the highest elevation in Sulli- 
van County, being nearly 3,000 feet above the level of 
the sea. It commands one of the most extensive and 
beautiful prospects in the State. To the northeast rise 
the majestic peaks of the Presidential range, with 
Mount Washington at the 'head, while to the east in 
seeming solitary grandeur, like some grim sentinel, 
stands Kearsarge on guard, and beyond the tar-off 
lands of Maine. To the southeast the dark and rugged 
brow of Sunapee watches its own shadow in the crys- 
tsl Is-kc cit its feet. 
On the south are the Washington and Unity hills, 
while the western horizon is bounded by a clear and 
well defined view of the Green Mountain range of Ver- 
mont. Nearer to the east and south are the lesser 
hills 'of Croydon and the peaceful picturesque valley of 
the Sugar River, with its fertile farms dotting the 
landscape, and the prosperous village of Newport eight 
miles away. 
The land within the park touching the Sugar River 
Valley is rich and productive; higher up the mountain 
sides it alters to pasturage and forest, overtopped in 
turn with lofty piles of granite crowning the whole as 
if to place the seal of nature on some of her grandest 
work. 
The boundary lines of the park follow, as nearly as 
was found practicable, the established highways of the 
towns that skirt it, but wherever deviation was neces- 
sary, connecting roads have been built and are main- 
tained by the estate at its own expense. The public 
highways running through what is now the park were 
abandoned by the respective towns and are now kept 
in good condition, as well as broken out for passage 
during the winter, entirely at the expense of the estate. 
The towns have thus been relieved of a charge^ for 
work on the mountain roads that was no small item 
of expenditure, especially in winter. 
Although now under private ownership and subject 
to taxation with other property of the park, these 
roads are, for all practical purposes, still public high- 
ways, as no one is refused permission to travel over 
them, the only condition being the procuring of a pass 
— wliich can be obtained at a number of convenient 
places — and registering of name at point of entrance to 
the park. There are six public or pass gates, each in 
charge of a keeper, who lives at hand in a comfort- 
able lodge, whose additional duties are to patrol daily 
the section of boundary line in his district, see the 
fence is kept in repair and report the habit of animals 
coming under his observation. 
The driveway of the roads encircling the park is 
about thirty miles in length, along which has been 
erected, to enclose the park, an eight and a half foot, 
and in some places nine foot, barbed and meshed wire 
fence. The fence proper is twenty-five miles in ex- 
tent, built at an expense of one thousand dollars a 
mile. At each fence post was planted a white pine or 
willow tree, and the planting is being continued from 
year to year with the intention of building a complete 
hedge of trees around the park. At intervals of four 
toiles along the driveway, granite watering- trouehs 
27 
have been placed supplied with cool, clear water from 
the mountain springs, adding materially to the comfort 
of man and horse during a drive around the park, 
which is doubly interesting from the beautiful scenery 
constantly unfolding to the eye, and the glimpses of 
wild animals confined within the fence. . 
There are very nearly fifty miles of well-kept drives 
through the park, to which the best ideas of road-mak- 
ing are being applied under the direction of the super- 
intendent of the park, and a large corps of assistants. 
About thirty miles of roadway have been recon- 
structed with gravel bed and proper drainage, and_a 
drive over them is an enjoyable privilege that any one 
may have, as the park is open to the public from May 
to November. One can never drive through without 
getting sight of some of the animals, the bolder ones 
coming to the stone walls along the road to peer with 
interest at the passer-by, while the more timid gaze 
curiously from afar. 
Duly organized and incorporated, the Blue Moun- 
tain Forest Game Club, numbering thirty members, 
secured among other concessions from the Corbin 
estate the privilege of shooting per member each sea- 
son two deer, one elk and one boar, the shooting of 
any number of smaller game and certain rights m the 
lakes and ponds on the preserve. Since then these 
privileges have been curtailed or extended each season, 
varying with the increase or decrease each year of the 
various species of game. This season one elk, three 
deer and two boar are allowed each member, and dur- 
ing the last two seasons lots are drawn among the 
members for the privilege of shooting six moose. 
Among the rules and regulations adopted by the 
club are the following: Boar may be shot from Sep- 
tember I to March 15. Elk, deer, and moose, from 
Sept. 15 to Jan. 15. Gray squirrels and raccoons from 
Sept. 15 to Jan. i. Hares from Sept. 15 to April i. 
Woodcock and ruffed grouse from Sept. 15 to Dec. 15. 
The open season for trout is from April i to Aug. i; 
for bass from June 15 to April 30. 
Central station is the business headquarters, at which 
are the boarding houses for the employes, barns for 
the work animals, fenced inclosures for the detention 
of newly arrived animals that their characteristics may 
be studied, winter quarters for the buffalo, dog ken- 
nels, stables and yards for fine breeds of cattle, and 
such other buildings and inclosures as are required. 
For the purpose of shooting the park is divided into 
four sections: North and south of the Notch Road, 
and east and west of Croydon Mountain, and these sec- 
tions in the busy season are again sub-divided in two. 
Any member going into the park to shoot must notify 
Central station into which section he intends going, 
having previously ascertained that no other member 
has secured it, and he must confine himself to that sec- 
tion, which will be reserved for him tor one day. When 
necessary the different sections are drawn for by lot 
each day. A section may be sub-divided by mutual 
agreement between members, in which case Central 
station must be notified of the exact location of each 
shooting party. This rule is regarded as of strictest 
importance, and all members acquaint themselves, as 
nearly as possible, with the location of shooting parties 
in the forests, so that the danger from the use of long- 
range rifles in a place of limited area is minimized. 
How closely this rule is adhered to may be gathered 
from the fact that there has not been a single shooting 
accident on the preserve in the almost fifteen years 
that it has been in existence. 
A further rule is that all wounded animals must be 
followed up and, if possible, killed, by members who 
wound them or by their guides; if the animal escapes, 
and is, in the judgment of the member, mortally 
wounded, it "is counted against his score. 
The comfortable club house which was built out of 
the funds paid in as initiation fees by the members, is 
open all the year, and from Sept. 15 to Jan. 15 board 
and service is provided for members at the nominal 
sum of two dollars a day. At other times members 
make their own arrangement with the superintendent 
of the association. A member may bring ladies to the 
club house for luncheon or dinner in passing through 
the park, but ladies may not remain over night at the 
Central .station under any circumstances. A member 
may, however, establish himself at any camp with his 
family. 
The officers and active m'embers of the Blue Moun- 
tain Forest Game Club comprise: Messrs. L. Q. 
Jones, President; Henrv S. Redmond, Vice-President; 
William A. Russell, Secretary and Treasurer; Frederick 
H. Allen. Franklin S. Billings, Samuel P. Blagden, Jr., 
Arthur J. Brooks, William Astor Chanler, Winston 
Churchill, James M. Green, William A. Hall, Frank A. 
Kennedy, Philip Lvdig, I. W. Morton, James S. Mc- 
Callum, Lvman Nichols, A. S. Nichols, Myron _M. 
Parker, Redfield Proctor, Henry S. Redmond, William 
H. Remick, W. F. Richards, Charles L. F. Robinson, 
William A. Russell. Charles D. Sias, Marion Story, 
George N. Talbot, Lloyd Warren and W. Seward 
Webb. . . , J 
Members of the Blue Mountain Association entitled 
to the privileges of the club are William E. Chandler, 
A. N. Parlin and Wilham Dunton, as directors of the 
association, and the following, as stockholders and the 
members of their family: Mrs. Corbin, Mrs. Edgell, 
G. S. Edgell, Corbin Edgell, S. M. Edgell, G. H. Ed- 
gell, A. C. Chainpollion and A. Corbin. 
Young Mr. Austin Corbin, who has succeeded his 
father as head of the estate, gives the following inter- 
esting and entertaining account of the shooting and 
fishing now enjoved on the great preserve and of the 
habits and condition of the various game and animals 
as they exist m their, so to speak, semi-domestic state: 
"As to the buffaloes," said Mr. Corbin, "we began 
with a herd of seventeen, which now numbers one 
hundred and thirty-five head. At first we had consid- 
erable trouble with the calves, many of whom died; 
this, we found later, being due to the fact that the hay 
fed to the mothers was too tender in quality, poor 
milk being the result. Now, however, we have a regu- 
lar natural increase each year, and all are in perfect 
health. The twenty-seven calves this year have all 
survived. In fact, they thrive and are treated like ordi- 
nary domestic cattle, being turned out to grazis oa thf 
