Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. ' 
Copyright, 1904, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
'ITerms, $4 A Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $2. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1904, 
J VOL. LXIl.-No. 9. 
I No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
A Two-page Illustrated Supplement 
will be given with our issue of next week, March 5. 
. TRAILS OF THE PA TH FINDERS. 
To us in America the day of adventure in wild lands 
seems past and gone— yet not so long past but that there 
are men alive who can remember it — and surely there 
never took place wilder scenes of adventure than were 
constantly occurring in the West in these early days. 
This year there is to be celebrated at St. Louis the cen- 
tenary of the Louisiana Purchase by which a vast terri- 
tory was added to what belonged to the then newly born 
United States. The story of exploration and discovery 
in that new territory, and in the Western country at 
large, is full of excitement and romance, and we begin 
this week to publish a series of articles under the above 
title which tell something of yvhat was done and seen and 
felt by the heroes of an earlier day who left behind them 
written records of their achievements. 
The fitst explorers of the West were missionaries, led 
thither by the hope of saving the souls of the natives, 
hut hard on the heels of the missionaries followed trapper 
and trader, whose example was so widely different from 
the precept of the black-robed fathers that the mission- 
aries strove to have voyageurs and traders alike kept out 
of tke ; country, on the ground that they corrupted the 
natives and brought disgrace on the Christian reHgion. 
The articles to be published will deal with the most im- 
portant and best known of the explorers of those early 
days. They will tell of Alexander Henry, the elder, who 
in 1761 pushed boldly off from Lachine on his westward 
journey, and for sixteen' years suffered every danger and 
every hardship ;. of Jonathan Carver, and Pike and Long 
and Gregg and Kendall and Ruxton and Garrard and 
Townsend, the naturalist, and many another who beat 
out unknown trails and trafficked and fought with the 
Indian and slew, the grizzly bear. 
There is no one of these men but led a heroic life and 
associated with heroes hke himself, whose exploits he re- 
lates—all unconscious of their heroism. We who to-day 
are living our commonplace business or professional 
lives may look with wonder ' upon this race which has 
wholly passed away. 
NEW YORK SPRING SHOOTING. 
An Assembly bill, No. 292, to amend the game laws 
of New York: State, proposes, to change the close of the 
open season for ducks from January i to April i. This 
bill passed the Lower House February 10, and now goes 
to the Senate. ■ 
The opponents of the bill requested Mr. Reeve, chair- 
jnan of the Assembly Fish and Game Committee, to per- 
mit them to appear, before the committee in opposition to 
the bill, but their request was denied, the statement being 
made that a heating had ali'eady been held. Immediately 
after that the bill passed the Assembly, and is now be- 
fore the Senate. 
This bill was introduced by Mr. Hubb, representing • 
the Long Island duck shooters, who from the beginning 
have been opposed to ' the abolition of spring shooting. 
They are determined that, if possible, they will continue 
to destroy the birds in spring, whether sentiment of the 
State or that of the whole country is opposed to spring 
shooting. 
The new law cutting off in New York the shooting in 
the spring of ducks, geese, and swan, has had no oppor- 
tunity to be tried, for this is its first season. Moreover, 
the law has not been well observed on Long Island, as is 
shown by the frequent complaints made in these columns 
and elsewhere. 
Within a short time all of Canada, and several of the 
New England States, have put an end to the shooting of 
birds- in spring, and the same action has been taken by a 
number of States further -to the westward, and this action 
has been followed by a very considerable increase in the 
number of our wildfowl. 
Whether this increase has been brought about by the 
abolition of spring shooting, by which the birds remain 
unmolested both on their way to their breeding ground 
and while they are nesting, cannot yet be told. The laws 
have not been, working long enough for us to be certain 
9n this point. What is certain, however, js t|iat |or tjie 
last year or two wildfowl in many localities have shown 
a distinct increase, and no cause is known which will ac- 
count for this , increase, except the fact that the birds 
have been .protected in many localities ' where they were 
formerly shot at the breeding season. , 
It will be a shameful thing if the: State of New York, 
having ohce had the wisdom to' shorten the open season 
for wildfowl, should :now, at tJie behest of a small sec- 
tion of the Sta,te, .reverse such action and; again counte- 
nance the destruction of birds breeding or about to breed. 
And it seems also .a" shameful thing for this great State 
to take advantage of the protective measures adopted by 
its neighbors ,t0: the north and to, contiriue selfishly to 
destroy the birds which those neighbors are striving to 
protect, in order that they may increase for the benefit of 
all the sportsmen of America. , ' , 
Slight as is: the interest. taken in , game protection by 
many of our legislators, "New : Yoi-kers have at least the 
satisfaction of kriowihg 'that ' there are ' some men at 
Albany who .are,, devoted to its principles. ,, In Senator E. 
R. Brown, of Jefferson county, the ■friends of game pro- 
tection have a tower of ''Strength; His . zeal in well doing 
is untiring, and his acquaintance with game -conditions in 
this Stat'e:'qualifies',him to .speak with, high .authority on 
6,11 subjects which come before his committee. , It is upon 
Senator Brown that the; friends of game protection must 
rely for the continuance in, operation of the; bill abolishing 
spring shooting of fowL/which h.e, passed, last yea.r. 
: HUNTERS' LUCK: AND: PLACE-NAMES., ' 
CilANCE has played a large part; in geographical 
nomenclature ; and more than- one trivial incident of 
hunters' luck, has, been conimemora.teii.', in some familiar 
place-name. . Bear, Buffalo; Elk and Deer i,n various com- 
binations dof the map/; and .indicate that in some , no.w 
remote period the places bearing thern were -the haunts of 
these animais. There' are.' rn.p,re:, than, sixty Elk or Elk- 
something-or-other plfices in the. United , .States nanied 
for the old-time stamping, grounds of' the game. In two 
instances the ; name has special' signifidante.' Elkton hi 
Michigan was so.^called by Martin .Ba an early settler, 
who saw two large .elk there, when . the rfirst, building was 
being put up.i-'Elkhorn in- Wisconsin took its name from: 
the Elkhorn prairie, 'whicli was so called in the year 1830' 
from the finding. bf;an elk' horn in ;a tree.'' ■ , . /. .T 
There are .many .Deerfieldsjj.but the one in New Hamp- 
shire was named by hunter's, luck. -^When the petition for 
a town was pending, bne of the'settlers, a Mr; Batchel- 
der,. killed a deer,, which he; presented to GoyernOr Went- 
worth, and in returti, for, it, obtained the act. setting apart 
the town and the name. Antelope county in Nebraska 
received its naihe from the killing- and eating of an ante- 
lope by a party of .settlers in pursuit ^ of ; soniie Indians. 
The village of Buck Creek, in Indiana, was so named 
because for several seasons a xer tain -buck was- seen in 
the vicinity of a creek near by. Bear Creek, in the Yel- 
lowstone Park, was , given; its name by a 'party 'of ex- 
'plorers who: found a. hairless, cub on its banks; while a, 
mountain peak' in Colorado took its -name Grizzly from 
an adventure which-'another ■ cbrhpany of 'explorers had 
with a full grown bear. Or.co upon a time a German 
hunter got lost, .in Pennsy!vania,4n , a. locality which, .he. 
described as a "hosensaek," a German word meaning a 
"breeches pocket." The ' name "Stuck, - and' afterward.5 
when a town was established tllere it was called, and is 
called to this day, Hosensaek. 
, DISCUSSION, 
In the practical affairs., of life, Avhether ' of sport or 
business, .intelligent .discussion, of their details adds, in- 
estimably to the sum total 'of human, knowledge. No one : 
possess all the knowledge' on aiiy given subject.-' 
It is true that in many of the mechanical arts there is a 
general acceptance of what constitutes their true theory 
c.nd practice; but even they have many speculative fea- 
tures and are constantly undergoing 'the ''changes which 
are inseparable .from true; progress. . But When it is con- 
sidered that artisans work ^iii-. groups and, that therefore 
their scientific and empirical knowledge: is acquired under- 
like conditions in the main,\-it is apparent that there is 
no obstacle to their cOmrnon acceptance and agreement 
concerning their common theme. . It is principally a mat- 
ter involving cause and effect as they relate to material 
things. It is quite different from matters of Uncy. 
In the realm of sports, particularly those of the dog and 
gun, rod and reel, boating and camping, etc., the personal 
equation is conspicuously dominant. The angler of 
hunter, to attain even a reasonable degree of success, 
must seek his sport alone, or with a minimum of com- 
pany. The more members in a party whose purpose is to 
seek duck or deer, or to cast fly or frog, the less are its 
chances then of material success. 
From long usage and more or les.s success from solitary 
cft'ort the average sportsman becomes habituated to his 
own personal methods, and when the best methods of his 
sport come into question, he' maintains his own opinions 
and methods sturdily against all opponents. This is an 
admirable trait of sportsmen, this generously frank 
characteristic to divulge freely the best information they 
have, and fearlessly to defend what they belie-ve to ibe 
true. " 
What knowledge pertaining to his craft the artisan 
acquires in groups from common observation, the sports- 
man acquires by individual experience as it pertains to his 
sport, and by discussion of it with his fellows. , 
, Thus, while no one individual possesses all knowkdge, 
a great many individual sportsmen may individually pos- 
sess bits of valuable knowledge which, when divulged, 
inures to the general' benefit and progress of the guiW. 
The profitable discussions in Forest and Stream and 
other journals through the weeks and years on all the 
innumerable phases of natural history, shooting, fishing, 
yachting, travel, camping, etc., illustrate the matter under 
consideration. . 
,-',.■,■»■,,•"', 
Senator Proctor has introduced for Senator Dilling- 
ham a bill to repeal the present game -law. of Alaska and 
to substitute for it a law \<fhich shall provide for nothing 
more than to prohibit the export of the heads, hides, or 
carcasses of deer, moose, or caribou, except. that a resi- 
dent, upon payment of a $25 license fee, , or a non-resident, 
upon payment of a fee of $250, may export ' the heads, 
hides, and meat of two deer, moose, and caribou, arid «o 
more. The proposed repeal of the existing law has grown 
out of the, complaints of deprivation laid before the Sen- 
ate committee of investigation in -Alaska last summer. 
Whatever may have been the' merits of the case,, with 
respect to -the natives, the remedy: for . any .existing evils- 
surely rnay be, found in some expedient less, radical than 
the repeal of the law. This proposed substitute makes 
no note of the wild sheep which' should 'have protection,;, 
nor does it make any note of the local -ma,rketing of 
game, which surely should, be regulated; , ' 
, i» . , 
The Washington Centennial Guard celebrated Wash- 
ington's Birthday with a banquet in the Long' Room of 
Fl-aunces' Tavern, in this city, the .room in which Wash- 
ington took leave of his officers. . In such a place, hal- 
lowed by association with the man who would not tell 
a lie, the spirit of truth holds' sway, and the speakers last 
Monday confined themselves to,, the strictest verities. 
Among the important historical facts recalled , by Mr. 
Louis F. Cornish, secretary of the Sons of the American 
Revolution, was this, that in 1740 lobsters ranged , six' feet 
long in New York Bay, and were _ of that size until ail 
the big ones were scared away from these waters by the 
commotion of the British fleet ; and oysters in those days 
he said, were fourteen inches long. Truly we live in de- 
generate days ; but it is a world of compensation; lobsters 
have decreased in size most deplorably, but when it comes 
to long bows the Sons are a hmidred years in advance 
of their Revolutionary sires. 
The official reports tell us that for long continued 
severity the winter of 1903-4 surpasses, any. since the 
Weather Bureau was established. It has been a^ time of 
stress for the wood inhabitants, and disaster has over- 
whelmed the game supply throughout wide aireas. The 
attention of individuals and associations concerned rnay 
now profitably be directed to restocking the covers which 
have been depleted. The Massachusetts Association is 
raising funds for the purpose of procuring live quail to 
put out this spring. The enterprise of restocking has 
been made extremely difficult of recent years by the arbi- 
trary intervention of the Department of Agriculture to 
prevent the transportation of live birds from the Indian 
Territory, and the, Massachusetts people will probably 
find it simpler to raise funds than to discoyer a source of 
supply from which to draw their birdSt 
