f 
14 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 4, 1903. 
Annual Cruise of the Goodenough. 
Story Safamitted in "Forest and Stream*' Cruising 
Competition. 
BY FRANK F. FRISBIE, DETROIT, MICH. 
To fish the stream well one must wear waders, but it 
is not a stream one can wade in all places. 
We made several good catches on the Batchewana in 
'02.. The Skipper one day five fish eleven pounds, another 
day five fish twelve and a quarter pounds, the Doctor 
eleven fish six pounds, while the Professor had eleven 
eight pounds. Small trout can be taken galore, but if 
one tries only for the big fellows he will not take so 
many. 
Time flies and Ed. said he must go home, so we sad 
once more to the station and put him aboard the Dixon, 
but on the following trip up, we receiA^ed another guest 
from Detroit, a lawyer friend, who, though sixty-five 
years have frosted his beard, loves 10 go a-fishing. 
Soon after he comes aboard, we get sail on and stand 
out of the bay round the lower end of Batchewana Island 
for Commodore Island, which lies east of Rudderhead 
and south of Batchewana Island. We have to handle our 
craft with care here, as there is foul ground about the 
island, but when once in behind the island, we are in as 
THE LOCKS AT SAULT STE. MARIE. 
fine a little harbor as one can find and where we ccrtdd lie 
sifely through any old blow. From this anchorage we 
fish Rudderhead reefs and the shore "to the eastward. 
Here we take all the trout needed and -ramble in the 
deep forest of the mainland. While lying here an Indian / 
c.ime after a deer he had killed not far a\*ay, and we 
went aboard his small two-masted fish boat. He was 
cooking some tea. The Indian cooks tea. ' He boils it and 
boils it, until it is like lye. He had quite a scheme f ar > 
building a fire in his boat. It consisted of a sheet-iron 
cylinder, with some dirt in the bottom and . a hole or two 
punched in for draft. In this he built a fire of small 
sticks and hung his tin tea pail inside ; in a few fnoments 
it was boiling furiously. The Professor tried to get a 
photograph of the outfit, but it was not very satisfactory, 
as he could not get far enough away in the small boat. 
After some time spent in under Commodore Island we 
t'ook advantage of a favorable breeze and slipped in 
through between Batchewana Island and the main land 
toward the head of the bay. Here was. another favorite 
anchorage, near a rocky island in a sedge-bordered bay, 
where we sometimes found bass. . • 
While the Skipper and the Doctor prospected in the 
small boat, the Professor sailed the yacht through the 
straits. He had to make several tacks to get in, but as 
the wind was light it was easy work to handle the 
schooner with Percy's assistance. In fact, one man can 
handle the Goodenough in a light breeze, as her staysail 
sheet leads aft and if necessary to let go to come in stays, 
it is eas)' to get at. With much wind and especially if he 
wanted to be sure that he would not miss stays, he might 
have trouble if alone, and not quick enough. Anchored 
in the little bay behind the island, we were very snug and 
a squall which went over was not noticed. The sun 
shone warm and with not much breeze, we needed our 
awning over the cock-pit. Then table and chairs were 
gotten out and we had a comfortable place for a game of 
cards: . 
We fished for bass a little, but they did: nbti care to be 
taken oiit of the wet, so more . loafing was done than 
fishing. The Skipper did some exploring in the small 
boat and all did some sleeping. 
We once in a while get up early enough to see the sun 
rise and when we do, the scene viewed from the deck 
of the yacht when at this anchorage is beautiful. A 
rainy, misty, cloudy morning came, and as the sun 
carne up over the high hills back of the distant Chippewa, 
trying in vain to disperse the low-lying, heavy moisture 
laden clouds, it well repaid us for being routed so early. 
A photogfaph was made, but it lacks- the coloring and is 
very unsatisfactory. If one could only -reproduce some 
of the gorgeous effects of color seen in the sunrise and 
sunset of this north l^nd; the result would astonish 
those who have never witnessed them in nature.- 
After some time at the little island" •which we have 
christened Skeeter Island, from the fact that Billy, one 
of our friends, was driven off of it by the buzzing pests, 
we made sail for the lower bay, visiting the Chippewa 
on the way again, where the Doctor took some bass and 
some of the crew rowed up to the falls and took a 
few pound and pound and a half trout. We, got back: 
in time to get to our anchorage near the fish station by 
ten o'clock P, after a four hours' sail. We found 
more friends from the Soo at the station , and some 
.strangers- with them from Albany, New York, who had 
come to the north shore for fishing. . Our friends came up 
in a 30-foot gasoline launch. We had the crowd over 
for a baked trout .supper, served in Percy's best style, and 
the gentlemen from Albany admitted baked Lake Supe- 
rior' brook trout were up to the mark. 
We had not fished the Carp River this season, so we 
got the hook up and with a light breeze which threat- 
ened to either head us off or fail altogether, we manage 
to make our anchorage about a quarter of a mile from 
the mouth of the Carp. There is a sand bar extending 
some distance out and there is hardly water enough on it 
to float a small boat. 
. The Carp River is so named because there are no carp 
in it. The stream is between the Batchewana and the 
Chippewa in size, and about six miles from its mouth 
in an air line are some very beautiful falls and a very 
picturesque caiion. 
The lower stretch of the Carp can be fished by rowing 
up the river a mile or two and then wading. The upper 
stretch is best fished by walking up to the falls and then 
fishing down stream until a road is reached that leads in 
a straight line to the anchorage. 
We spent several days on the Carp and fished the upper 
and lower stretches of the river. The day in question 
we all went up to the falls and spent the day admiring 
the beauties of the cation and falls. The river descends 
from the height of land in a succession of falls, each 
one jumping into a pool and then plunging down another 
steep. On one side the rocks are nearly perpendicular 
and can only be scaled with difficulty. At the lower fall, 
a large pool of ciTStal clear water contains a goodly 
number of trout, aiid we caught enough for dinner and 
soon had them broiling over a camp fire. It is strange 
how much better a fish tastes cooked out of doors in 
this way than when served on a platter in the orthodox 
martncr. Below the falls in the canon there are a suc- 
cession of cascades and pools, each one good for one or 
more trout. Huge boulders and rocks, some encrusted 
with earth enough to support vegetation and trees, fill 
the canon, while on each side rises a neauly virgin forest. 
Ahcr fishing the Carp thoroughly and getting photo- 
graphs of the falls, we again felt like sailing, but the 
beautiful river with its falls, cascade, rapids and shadowy 
pools was hard to leave. Some of the shadow eft'ects 
which we saw on the lower stretches of the river were 
fine, but it was aggravating not to be able to reproduce 
them with the camera. 
YACHT GOODENOUGH AMONG THE FREIGHTERS, SOO CANAL. 
Again we point, onr prow for the fishing station anchor- 
age and the Tuff Enough, the Skipper's pet name for 
the yacht, generally contracted by all into the Tuff, 
dashes the rippling waves of the bay aside as she bowls 
along under full canvas with started sheets. 
The scribe of the party after hearing the Skipper re- 
name the Goodenough one day, seized his pencil and 
labored on the following, which has been dubbed the 
hymn of the Goodenough : 
"This is the craft that sails the inland sea, 
And tho' she's Tuff, she's Goodenough for me. 
Oft times we growl at tlie old Tuff, 
But vote at last she's Goodenough. 
"The Commodore some change would make, 
The Mate her windlass votes a fake, 
But one and all say she's the 'stuff,' 
And rightly named the Goodenough. 
"When winds do blow and seas are high. 
She rides them with her decks quite dry, 
No matter if it comes with squall or puff, 
The Tuff's on top and Goodenough. 
"Tho' One and all seem quite inclined 
With this or that some fault to find, 
But after all, be it calm or rough. 
We'll -s-wear the Tuff is Goodenough." 
While at anchor we saw the ketch-rigged yacht Cero, 
of New York, come into the bay and go up toward the 
Chippewa. This yacht was brought from salt water via 
the St. Lawrence and Wclland canals. She is about 60 
feet over all and has an auxiliary gasoline engine. Her 
owner is a gentleman who has become enamored with the 
north shore and has been on it for several seasons and 
has owned several yachts. The Cero is a very fine look- 
ing craft and seemed to be a good boat for north shore 
cruising, but on our way down we heard she had been 
caught out in a gale and had a very hard time. The 
Cero did not anchor near us, but we saluted her with 
bugle calls, to which she replied in kind. Chief Justic'e 
Shiras, we' understood, was on board with her owner. 
The justice is a regular north shore visitor, as we have 
met him several seasons. 
August was nearly gone and we had to go south before 
the first, as much as all the crew would like to linger. 
So the Skipper kept his weather eye open for a favorable 
wind and on the morning of the 28th, when he poked his 
head up the.companionway, he sniffed a northeast wind. 
The bugle soon sounded the stirring notes of the reveille 
and all hands were on deck in no time in pajamas or 
.'iny'old thing, walking the yacht up to- her anchor. As 
soon as hove short stops were cast off, mainsail hoisted, 
sheet hauled taut and then the windlass clanked merrily 
until the hook was aweigh, up went our head sails and 
hard over went the wheel. The Goodenough slowly 
came about with the light breeze just filling her sails and 
soon her nose was pointing out of the bay. It was otily 
five o'clock and we hoped the wind would freshen as the 
sun got higher, but it did not, and at nine o'clock we 
had only made Rudderhead. Here our wind flattened 
out and we hardly had steerage way, still we slid along, 
for it is wonderful how a craft like the Goodenough will 
creep over the water when apparently there is no wind. 
Drawing so little water and being nearly flat-iron shaped, 
she offers very little resistance. 
We were in for an all-day drift, for as the stm rose 
higher and higher, the breeze became lighter and lighter. 
We got the table on deck and prepared to put in the 
time as comfortably as possible, The lake was as smooth 
as the proverbial mirror, and the deep water was nearly 
inky black, it was so clear. The water of Lake Superior 
is very peculiar in its color. When near the shore, so 
one can see the bottom, there does not seem to be any 
color, it is so clear and crystal-like, and one can see 
twenty or twenty-five feet iiato its limpid depths, but 
when in deep water it looks dark and black. 
About four P. M. we were off Maple Island and the 
Skipper and Doctor lowered a small boat and rowed 
oyer to the reefs, to try for a trout. They had several 
rises but did not hook anything. There is good trout 
ground here. 
OPENING THE GATES SOO LOCK TO LET GOODENO-UGH OUT. 
While drifting along these shoals, we saw a. little 
tragedy enacted. We noticed a slight ripple on the 
water as if something was naoving and presently saw a 
poor sick trout, of about ei_ght inches, swimming on the 
surface. The poor little fellow seemed to be in bad 
shape and he wiggled by the yacht very slowly. We 
watched him over our stern, until he had gone fifty j'-ards 
or more, then we saw a great gull swoop down and 
snatch the little fish up and rise into the air; before 
the gull had fairly gotten on wing again, the ifish had 
gone where its sorrows and troubles were over. 
Now our calm is broken by a slight breeze, but it is 
from the southeast and nearly dead ahead. We push 
our booms over to the starboard and try to get the yacht 
to head toward Parisian Island. As the sun sank into 
the west, the breeze freshened, but we could not make 
much on this tack, and when we came about did not seem 
to hold our own on the other. We debated the question, 
whether it would not be better to run up into Goulais Bay 
for the night, but decided as the wind came out of the 
bay, we would have to beat in and it might take nearly 
all night to do it. We had had that experience the 
year before. So the Skipper said sail on, aiid we sailed. 
At 7 o'clock the Professor got out the signal lights, as 
we were noAV down where the big steamers pass, and at 
8 o'clock everybody turned in excepting the Skipper and 
Professor, who put on their heavy coats, as the night 
was cold and a winter ulster was none too warm. Our 
wind freshened and soon the yacht began to heel and 
dash the spray over her bows, but we made very little 
headway, and it was stand back and forth and keep our 
eyes peeled for the great freighters and their tows. About 
I o'clock we had gotten down nearly abreast of Iroquois 
Light, which we could see flashing every 30 seconds out 
of the gloom, and then began a race with a Pintsch gas 
buoy off of Gros Cap reefs. The wind now freshened 
into half a gale and the Tuff jumped and plunged as she 
took the choppy seas. The Professor had hard work to 
keep her on her course, as she would fall off and then 
when he would give her wheel, she would get a sea under 
her bow and come up too quickly. We had to make 
short tacks and not get too far inshore, so quick work 
had to be done, as it would not do to miss stays, when a 
400ft. iron freighter was coming down oia us 14 miles an 
hour. The Skipper Avould sing out, "Let her come," and 
jump for the staysail sheet, let it go and then to the fore 
sheet, which he would slack. Round would come the 
yacht, everything creaking and snapping. The great 
foresail would fly over and be brought up with a bang, 
as the wind caught. The Professor would meet her with 
the wheel, steady her and then heave down on the staj'-- 
sail sheet, until the Skipper could make it fast. The 
Skipper would rush forward to change the smokestack, 
so the galley stove would draw and keep a fire going 
to keep the coffee hot; so all in all, there was some- 
thing doing on the Tuff Enough. 
The Skipper said he would not turn in, so the Doc- 
tor was called to help out and the Prof, turned in 
about 2 A. M. We had laow gotten below Iroquois Point 
and about 3 A, M, the wind blew itself out, and about 
five in the morning it was nearly a calm, and we le't go 
our hook just outside of the steamboat channel off 
Point Aux Pins, six miles from the Soo. Having seen 
the sun rise, we all turned in and did not rise ourselves 
until the Skipper's bugle played mess. 
At eight o'clock a little wind came up and wfe ttrdught 
