Aug. 30, 1902.I 
FOREST AND - STREAM. 
167 
Mr. G. S. Wright, of Boston, has returned from a trip 
1 the home of the Inglewood Club. He is pleased with 
le location and the fishing-. Ex-Mayor Cobb, of New- 
m, fainily and guests, have been at the clubhouse since 
ily I. W. J. FoIIett. one of Boston's most devoted 
.vers of the angle and the Avoods, started yesterday for 
le Inglewood, with Mrs. FoUett. His two sons have 
3en there for a month and report much fashing and ;'i 
"tod time. 
Aiig. 25.— The correspondent of the daily press is stili 
iixious to make it appear that fishing is good at the 
irious New England resorts, but he well understands 
.at but little fishing is being done, with summer gaieties 
le rule. He carefully chronicles all the successes, but 
ever mentions the thousand failures. The season on 
out fishing closes in the streams of Grafton, Carrol 
id Coos counties, N. H., Sept. i. and the fishermen 
•e improving the last opportunity. But the season 
miains open on he lakes in that State till Sept. 15. 
ond bass fishing is being had at Asquam lakes, with 
>mc large catches made last week. Dr. Fernald, of 
oston, caught a good string of trout last week from the 
emigewasset River, near the famous Starr King View. 
fard O. Perkins, of the same city, also caught a rain- 
nv trout from about the same location, that weighed 
/2 pounds. Dr. Fernald's largest trout weighed 2 
3unds. Herbert M. Worcester, of Dorchester, Mass.. 
lught a fine basket of pickerel Thursday from Ells- 
orth ponds. Conductor E, B. Lane, of Boston, took a 
indsome string of trout from the streams of Randolph 
,st week, one weighing 1% pounds. Fishing has con- 
niied good in all Coos County, the cool, wet weather 
:ing favorable. At Haines Landing, Mooselucmagun- 
: Lake, Maine, they are still taking trout and salmon. 
'ne little fellow. Master Randolph Bartlett, son of 
. J. Bartlett, of Boston, only a little over eight years 
■ age, has taken scA'^eral good strings of fish lately. He 
Js succeeded in landing, unaided, a salmon of 
xmds. Miss Anna Norcross, the little daughter of 
T. J. Norcross, of Brookline, Mass., has landed recently 
te trout and a salmon, her largest fish weighing 4]4 
unds. The big fish fought an hour and a half before 
iccessfully landed, one landing net being broken in the 
tempt. Mrs. A. M. Williams, of Boston, has made a 
3od record there recently, getting a string of 25 fish 
.at weighed from 2 to 4 pounds. Good strings of bass 
e being taken from the Belgrad lakes and Maranacook 
id the other Winthrop and Monmouth, Me., ponds, 
'r. G. S. Wright, of Boston, speaks in high terras of 
e pleasures of camp life at the Inglewood Club, New 
runswick. He occupied a log cabin with his wife, son 
id daughter. They think such a vacation is worth 
iving. They had one or two days of good fishing, al- 
lough midsummer, with the weather delightfully cool 
1 the time, Inglewood people do not desire all the 
olf, tennis, ping pong and dress suits that are being 
fought to other fishing resorts, and hope that such 
movations will stay away. SpeciaKi, 
Fish and Fishings 
Salmo saUt ia Ontario 'Waters. 
Some days ago my attention was directed to a ncws- 
aper paragraph alleging that a specimen of the true 
tlantic salmon had been captured in the St. Lawrence 
iver at Brockville. The matter seemed to me to war- 
int investigation and I forwarded the paragraph to my 
lend, Mr. S. T. Bastedo, Deputy Commissioner of 
isheries for the Province of Ontario, who has under- 
ken to inquire into the facts of the case. Though the 
leged capture has not been reported to the Department 
'- Fisheries by its overseers at Brockville, Mr. Bastedo 
lys that he has no doubt that the present paragraph is 
jrrect, and that a real salmon was taken last year at 
ornwall. It will probably be a surprise to many anglers 
I learn that any salmon at all remain in Ontario waters,, 
lough it is a well-known fact that almost every tribu- 
iry of the St. Lawrence as far as the head of Lake On- 
rio contained large quantities of this fish in the early 
irt of the last century. A writer in one of the Ontario, 
iports quoted a well-known authority as stating that its. 
lal disappearance from Lake Ontario had occurred 
ibsequent to 1875. He mentioned the fact that the 
reams and creeks flowing into this lake used to be 
•Qwded at spawning time with salmon, and added that 
,heir disappearance is unquestionably due to the dry- 
g "up of these streams consequent on the altered con- 
tions of the land drained hy them, to obstacles like 
.ill-dams preventing the ascent of the fish toward the 
jadwaters, and to the pollution of the streams by saw- 
ist and other refuse." It would seem, from the fact 
lat solitary specimens of the fish still ascend to On- 
rio waters, that there is no reason why the planting of 
ilmon in suitable Ontario tributaries of the St. Law- 
;nce. with a proper sj'^stem of protection should not 
rove successful in restocking western streams in which 
ley were formerly so plentiful. At all events, there 
■e many westerly Quebec rivers flowing into the St. 
.awrence, such as the St. Charles, the St. Francis, the 
te. Anne, the Portneuf and the St. Maurice, in which 
le experiment could certainly be made to succeed. It 
only because of the careful protection accorded to the 
3h which frequent its waters, that there are salmon 
ill to be had in the Jacques Cartier River, which is 
early thirty miles west of Quebec. 
"The Compleat Angler.*' 
Can anybody tell me how many copies of the first 
lition of Izaak Walton's "Compleat Angler" are now 
nown to be in existence, and how many of them are in 
duerica? I am under the impression that not more 
lan twenty copies, and perhaps not more than fifteen 
spies of this much prized little volume are known to 
ave been preserved. I have been already told of eight 
□pies which are owned in America, and it is not unlikely 
lat this is even more than are now owned in the land 
f its origin, for it has long been a cause for regret on 
le part of English collectors of angling literature that 
Sie rarest books upon the sport whiob they loye, find 
leir way to America, _ _ 
Raptd Growth of Aoadromous Ftsh. 
The recent results of certain fish-marking experiments 
which have been carried on in English waters, furnish 
interesting illustrations of the rapid growth of those 
species of the salmonidas which run down to salt water. 
.\ sea trout, which weighed three pounds when it was 
captured and marked on July 8, 1901, was re-caught 
in the Deveron in July, 1902, and then weighed six 
pounds, having thus doubled its avoirdupois in one year. 
A kelt of 13 pounds, which was labeled in January, 1901, 
weighed 21 pounds when recaptured in July, 1902, and 
a salmon of 16 pounds weighed in August, 1901, had at- 
tained to 22 pounds when again taken and weighed in 
July, 1902. 
Fish Breeding at Lake St. Joho. 
Within the last few days salmon have been caught in 
the Lake St. John waters weighing over a pound and a 
half, and showing that so far the young fish planted 
there three years ago are doing well. Mr. Marcoux, 
who has charge of the fish hatchery at Roberval, writes 
me that he has over five hundred parent ouananiche 
inclosed in a pond for stripping as soon as their eggs 
are ripe. He expects to have over a million eggs for 
hatching this autumn. 
Anglers may be interested in learning that the ouan- 
aniche in the Grand Discharge are now moving up the 
stream, and are at present plentiful in the vicinity. 
E. T. D. Chambers. 
Retriever and Dynamite Stick. 
From the ^fiw York Times Saturday Review. 
Since the days Avhen Mark Twain proved to the sat- 
isfaction of his friends, if not to his enemies, that he 
did not steal his story of 'The Jumping Frog" from a 
Hellenic source, there has been nothing more remark- 
able than the varied interpretations given by Frank Nor- 
ris, Jack London, and Charles Forrest McLean to what 
was once, in all probability, an actual occurrence. Some- 
where in the mining section of the great West a dog, 
Avhich had -been trained to retrieve, chased a stick of 
dynamite to which a lighted fuse had been attached and 
brought it unwelcomed to his master. The expected 
happened and both master and dog suddenly disappeared. 
S. T. Clover, the editor of The Los Angeles Express, 
with considerable patience and without malice, shows 
how this episode figures as the principal incident in 
Frank Norris's "The Passing of Cock-eye Blacklock," 
published in the July Century ; in Jack London's "Moon 
Face; a Story of a Mortal Antipathy," which appeared 
in the San Farncisco Argonaut of July 21, and in Charles 
Forrest McLean's "An Exploded Theory," which ap- 
peared in The Black Cat of November, 1901. In spite 
of the fact that names and localities are changed, as well 
as the motive improving the thrower of the stick of 
dynamite, and the extent of mortality following its ex- 
plosion:— still the circumstances attending the tragic 
death .of the three dogs remain conspicuous in each. 
As a literary study it seems worth while giving the 
synopses of the stories as they emanated from the pen of 
the editor of The Los Angeles Express: 
He (Cock-eye Blacklock) was a "short-card" artist, 
whose business had been shamefully curtailed by the 
Marshal of Ophir Camp, Placer County, Cal. This puts 
Cock-eye out of touch with his fellows and he retires 
to a dilapidated cabin to become a terror of the settle- 
ment. But wdth all his killings and maraudings he is 
cunning enough to evade the law. One of his devilish 
delights is to dynamite a favorite trout stream, gather 
in the dead fish, and sell them "down Sacramento way" 
to the market. It is determined to catch Cock-eye red- 
handed; many attempts are made by the Marshal and 
his posse, but they prove fruitless. 
It is a yellow, worthless fool pup named Sloppy 
Weather that finally brings Cock-eye to grief. Sloppy 
has been trained to retrieve in the water, and thereby 
hangs the tale. He goes out chasing jack-rabbits one 
day and doesn't return to camp, for, as is afterward dis- 
covered, he "meets up" with Cock-eye and visits with 
that outlaw to his everlasting undoing. 
It is the day following that the Marshal and his assist- 
ants again lay for Cocke-eye. They hear him dynamit- 
ing up creek, but cannot catch him in the act. After 
a while they hear a dog j'arp, and soon Sloppy comes in 
sight of the men lying concealed, followed by Black- 
lock. The latter looks cautiously around; all is quiet. 
Taking a stick of dynamite out of his hip pocket, he ties 
two stones to the stick and "heaves it into the drink." 
But the rocks slip off and the dynamite floats with the 
lighted fuse still burning. 
Meanwhile the fool pup, unnoticed by Cock-eye, has 
plunged into the stream at the moment the stick leaves 
Blacklock's hand. The man sees the dog's head almost 
within touch of the burning fuse and tries to call him 
back. Useless, the pup is too well trained. He gets 
the stick of dynamite in his jaws and turns for shore 
with the fuse sputtering like hot grease. Blacklock 
heaves a rock at the brute, yells, capers, dances. Sloppy 
conies right on. Then Cock-eye lights out, but the dog- 
is after him; he thinks that is part of the game. 
No use, Cock-eye cannot evade his fate! The dog 
catches up, cavorts around, jumps up and down on 
Cock-eye, having lots of fun. Then all at once "some- 
thing big happens," and when the watchers look again 
there is a hole in the side of the cafion. When the 
smoke clears away they find many fragments of Black- 
lock, but nor hide nor hair of Sloppy Weather. 
Well, that is the story told by Frank Norris, author 
of "The Octopus" and other stories. Now for the sec- 
ond. In The San Francisco Argonaut of the current 
week (dated July 21) is a weird j^arn by Jack London 
called "Moon Face; a Story of a Mortal Antipathy." It 
purports to have been written in San Francisco. July, 
1902, and it is so much worse than anything that Jack 
London has written heretofore that, but for the denoue- 
ment, one might fancy it was one of his earliest juve- 
nile efforts in the literary line. 
There is a morbid person in this story of Mr. Lon- 
don's, who entertains an intense aversion to the irre- 
pressibly good-natured John Claverhouse. The reader 
pannot doubt this, for John i§ hftf^ssed and plagued by 
his bete noir until anybody but a glutton would have 
been satisfied. Not so this revengeful chap; only John's 
life will appease him, and he proceeds to plan for it. 
How? That is the question. Ah, he buys a water 
spaniel, a young one, teaches it retrieving, and when 
Bellona is well trained, with devilish intent he presents 
the dog to John Claverhouse. He knows John is fond 
of trout fishing, and is cognizant of his private and civic 
sinful methods of catching fish. A week later John 
takes his dog, his dip net, and gunnysack and starts ofif. 
His Nemesis follows swii^ly and stealthily after. From 
the top of a bluff he sees John arrive at his favorite 
pool, throw down his dip net and sack and draw from 
his hip pocket what appears to be a large, fat candle. 
Reader, you have guessed it. Yes, it was a stick of 
dynamite. He attached the fuse by wrapping the 
"giant" tightly in a piece of cotton.. Then he ignited 
the fuse and tossed the explosive into the pool. 
But why continue? Mr. Norris already has told the 
sequel. Of course Bellona plunges in after it, retrieves 
the "stick," pays no attention to the yells of Claver- 
house, nor the rocks he pelts at the well-trained spaniel. 
When John realizes his danger and runs, the dog takes 
after him hot-footed. 
"And then, just as she caught up, he in full stride, and 
she leaping with nose at his knee, there was a sudden 
flash, a burst of smoke and terrific detonation, and 
where man and dog had been the instant before there 
was naught to be seen but a big hole in the ground." 
But the queerest phase of these literary coincidences 
remains to be told. In The Black Cat of November, 
1901, appeared a story by Charles Forrest McLean, en- 
titled "An Exploded Theory." This also is credited 
to the Pacific Coast, Howe's Pool, half a day's ride from 
Seattle, being the locale of the story. 
Same idea as before, or, perhaps, as tliis" one saw 
light six months in advance of either the Norris or 
London effort, it is only fair to say — after. "Fishing" 
party, illegal dynamiting of stream, retriever dog, de- 
nouement! But in this instance the water spaniel is the 
only victim. 
Really, this begins to be funny. Listen to the finale: 
The cartridge has been tossed into the pool and the 
"fishermen" are awaiting the result. But they suddenly 
hear another and a louder splash. Of course, it is the 
dog, faithful to his instincts, intent on retrieving the 
"stick-." As with the others, his master alternately calls, 
raves, and swears. No use! The dog makes for the 
shore with the "long-timed" cartridge between his teeth. 
.A:ll the men take to the woods. The spaniel follows his 
owner, a fat man, who is in a panic of fear. He stumbles 
over a log just as the loaded spaniel is upon him. He 
shouts and drops behind the prostrate tree trunk. The 
next instant the cartridge, explodes; the man iS' safe, 
but Tips, oh,. where is he? ' " 
Of course, the only fair explanation of this extraordi- 
nary literary verisimilitude is that the fishing incident 
was told to Frank Norris, Jack London and Charles 
Forrest McLean about the same time. Each saw in 
it possible "copy," and clothed it in his own form. It 
must be confessed that The Century story is by far the 
most pretentious of the three versions. One can under- 
stand that it may have been written by Mr. Norris long 
before The Black Cat yarn was in manuscript even, for 
every one knows the length of time it takes for an ac- 
cepted story to see daylight in the big magazines.' 
But how about The Argonaut infliction? Granting that 
Mr. London had overlooked The Black Cat production 
of last November and had let the July Century pass his 
eye unnoticed, what has the publisher of this usually 
carefully edited literary weekly to say of his remissness? 
He owed a double duty; first to his readers, next to his 
contributor, for Mr. London has achieved deserved fame 
as an original, virile writer, and he should have been 
spared this. 
Curious, isn't it? — .New York Saturday. 
Orange County Bass Waters. 
Orange County, N. Y., August. — I am spending the 
summer up in Orange County and I thought perhaps 
some information about the fishing in this locality might 
be of use to you. I have fished in several of the lakes 
here and with very good success. 
One week ago last Sunday with two friends I fished 
Watton Lake, near Monroe (on the main line of the 
Erie.) and we took six large-mouth bass averaging two 
pounds each. This lake contains small-mouths, too, but 
of recent years few of them have been taken. However, 
you sometimes get a good one. John Proctor, of Grey- 
court, took one there last week which weighed S pounds. 
Mon Basha Lake is another lake which is reached from 
Monroe and it is a famous one for large-mouth bass. 
Last -week two friends of mine from Warwick fished 
there and took eight bass and two of them weighed 4 
pounds each. I can recommend a good guide in the 
person of Peter Fitzgerald, of Monroe. He is a good, 
faithful fisherman, will meet one at the station with bait 
at any tirne, can keep a party over night, is very reason- 
able in his charges, and the fellow that employs Pete 
will come pretty close to getting some fish. 
A very humorous and interesting event occurred at 
Warwick last week. The town reservoir lies on the 
mountain side and has been stocked with brown trout. 
The recent rains so filled this reservoir that some fear 
was felt that the dam would not stand the strain, and so 
last Thursday the gate was raised to relieve the pres- 
sure, and one Pete Eager surmised that some trout 
had escaped to the stream below and investigated the 
matter on Friday with the result that he took twelve 
trout, three of which weighed 2 pounds each and the 
others were by no means small. On his return to the 
village and while exhibiting his catch to an admiring 
audience, he remarked to one "Gore" Smith, also a fol- 
lower of old Izaak, that one fish that he hooked but 
;^ad lost, would put anything in the present collection 
m the shade. Smith suggested to Eager that they go 
nut together the next morning and try for the big fellow, 
Init Eager, realizing the mistake of his hasty remark 
and considering that fish his own private propertv, said 
lie couldn't go, and they decided to postpone the trip 
until the following Monday. Daylight Saturday morn- 
ing, hoAvever. fowd Smith on the stream, and he hooked 
