April 2, 1904.I 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
277 
Legislation at Albany. 
Albany N. Y., March 28.— Governor Odell has signed Assembly- 
man J. T. Smith's bill (printed No. 771) providing that there shall 
be no open season for deer in Columbia, Delaware, Dutchess, 
Greene, Oswego, Putnam, Rensselaer and Ulster counties prior 
to Sept. 1, 1907. 
Bills have been introduced as follows: 
Senate Forest, Fish and Game Committee, appropriating $350,000 
fcr continuing the acquistion of property in the Adirondacks, and 
$100,000 for acquiring lands in Catskill Park. The money is to 
be expended under the direction of the Forest, Fish and Game 
Commission. 
Senate Forest, Fish and Game Committee: Concurrent resolu- 
tion proposing an amendment to Section 7 of Article 7 of the 
State Constitution relative to the forest preserve, allowing the 
Legislature to authorize the removal of dead timber on burned 
areas so far as is necessary for reforestation. 
Senator Malby : Amending Section 187, relative to the pro- 
ceeds of actions by the people of the State. 
Assemblyman Wainwright: Amending Section 100 so as to make 
this article apply also to Westchester county. 
Assemblyman Cocks: Amending Section 102 so as to provide 
that gray squirrels shall not be taken or killed or possessed at 
any time in Nassau county. 
Assemblyman F. C. Wood: Amending Section 11 so as to allpw 
the Forest, Fish and Game Commission to restock the Adirondack 
region with elk. (Same bill introduced by Senator Townsend.) 
Assemblyman Cocks: Allowing the taking of trout from inland 
waters of Long Island for the purpose of selling the same. 
The Senate has passed the following bills: 
Senator Townsend's (12—853), for the protection of wild black 
bear. 
Senator Townsend's (15—870), providing for licensing non-resi- 
dent hunters. 
The Senate has advanced the following bills to third reading: 
Senator Barnes' (410—469), providing that trout shall not be 
taken in Rensselaer county for the purpose of selling the same. 
; Senator Elon R. Brown's (475 — 926), making the close season for 
plover and _ other birds from Jan. 1 to Sept. 15, both inclusive, 
and providing further that plover shall not be possessed from 
Jan. 1 to Aug. 15, both inclusive. 
Senator Le Fevre's (326—918), relative to the close season for 
quail in Schenectady, Dutchess, Orange and Ulster counties. 
Other bills passed by the Senate are the following: 
Assemblyman Coutant's (389—979), allowing the use of tip-ups 
and set-lines in Ulster county in fishing through the ice. 
Senator Ambler's (602—927), making the close season for gray 
■squirrels in Dutchess county from Dec. 1 to Oct. 15, both inclu- 
sive. 
Senator Le Fevre's (326—918), providing that there shall be no 
open season for guail in Schoharie county prior to 1906, no open 
season for grouse in Westchester county prior to 1905, nor in 
Dutchess county prior to 1907, and that in the latter county the 
close season , for quail and woodcock shall be from" Dec 1 to 
Oct. 15, both inclusive; and that there shall be no open season 
for woodcock, grouse and quail in Schenectady county prior to 
1906. 
The Assembly has passed the following bills: 
Assemblyman Stevens' (982—1220), relative to special game pro- 
tectors. 
Assemblyman F. C. Wood's (950—1182), relative to the compen- 
sation of game protectors. 
The Senate Game Committee has reported the following bills: 
Assemblyman Wolff's (383—886), prohibiting all fishing except 
angling in Sheepshead I3ay and Rockaway Inlet, excepting in 
certain waters from Oct. 10 to Dec. 31, both inclusive. 
Senate Forest, Fish and Game Commission's (668 — 873), relative 
to the prevention of forest fires. The bill has been restored to its 
place on third reading. 
The Assembly Ways and Means Comnjittee has reported the 
bill of Assemblyman Wood (1202-1618),' relative to restocking 
the Adirondack region with wild beaver. 
The Assembly Fish and Game Committee has reported the fol- 
lowing bills: 
Assemblyman Robinson's (1090—1416), prohibiting the placing 
of carp in Conesus and Hemlock lakes, Livingston county. 
Assemblyman Denison's (1100—1455), prohibiting the taking of 
wildfowl in Black River Bay between sunset and daylight. 
Senate Forest, Fish and Game Committee's (611—730), creating 
Catskill Park. 
Assemblyman Pearson's (321—337) relative to taking fish through 
the ice in Sullivan and Greene counties. 
A. C A. National Meet, Sugar Island, Thousand Islands, St. Lawrence River, August 5-19, 1904. 
The Log of the Iris. 
BY J. N. STALKER, DETROIT, MICH. 
{Continued from page 261.) 
The next morning the joy of living had returned to us, 
and we started out exuberantly for our twenty-eight mile 
paddle up the river to Port Huron. We had looked 
forward confidently to a wind that would enable us to 
sail, .such as there is, nine days out of ten, but this 
morning a flat calm prevailed; and the river was as 
smooth as a mirror. It was delightful paddling, however, 
the sun comfortably warm and every fleecy cloud in the 
blue sky faithfully mirrored in the glassy water. 
Sound was borne along the surface in a surprising 
way. VVe several times heard the spat spat of a gasolene 
launch when the boat itself was so far away as to be 
scarcely visible, and the sound of ordinary conversation 
reached us when carried on quite across the river. The 
continuous procession of big boats plying up and down 
the river was another interesting feature. We remem- 
bered with pride that no other water system in the world 
could show half the tonnage. There were the great steel 
five hundred footers, towering mountain-like above the 
surface of the water on_ the way up, or loaded deep on 
the_ way down, with their one or two consorts swinging 
majestically after them; the cigar-shaped whale-backs, 
with their cabins mounted on turrets and their decks 
Huron River. 
awash ; the older wooden barges, many of them large and 
line boats ; an occasional passenger steamer, perhaps, tear- 
ing along at eighteen or twenty miles an hour and rolling 
up the great swells behind her ; then smaller freight boats 
of every description, running all the way down to the 
forty or fifty foot tramp sailing schooner, some in the 
last stages of decay, and picking up a precarious liveli- 
hood as best they might. -. 
The current was most distressing. We left Algonac 
at nine o'clock and did not reach Marine" CitK eight 
mlies up stream until after twelve. This was ~ hardly 
satisfactory, so we began to hug the shore as closely as 
possible, which we had not been doing, and paddle 'a little 
harder. We kept steadily at work all day without a stop. 
t*ki]3g turns at lunch while the other man kept the boat 
going, until finally, about eight o'clock in the evening, 
we caught our first sight of the factory chimneys' below 
Port Huron. A couple of men in a rowboat tried to 
pass us about this time, and for the honor of otir, craft 
we had to keep ahead of them, but it really came hard. 
The way they hung on behind us, mile after mile, made 
us wonder if they had no homes. Then, just to find out 
whether we could do it or not, when they :final]y left us 
we kept up the same gait to the Black River where we 
were informed we could find a place to leave our boat. 
It was nine o'clock when we hauled her out, after a 
practically continuous paddle of twelve hours, The way 
we figured things out was like this: 
Actual distance 28 miles 
12 hours current at 6 miles per hour. . 72 miles 
Total 100 miles 
Those who do not accept these calculations may make 
others to suit themselves. 
The next morning we were feeling disposed to peace 
and quiet, and concluded that we would try a permanent 
Clinton River. 
camp up on Lake Huron for the few days that remained 
of our vacations, and see how comfortable we could 
make ourselves. Going the way we had been our facil- 
ities for comfort were necessarily very limited. We 
accordingly laid in a good stock of canned goods, cook- 
ing utensils, fishing tackle, etc., in Port Huron, and 
with our gunwales very near the water started for the 
lake. 
The current at the head of the river is appalling, but 
we managed to get out, and started coasting along the 
shore. We had never seen such clear water before 
in our lives. In one place where the bottom did not 
look a bit over six inches below the surface we found 
it about three feet, and a few m.oments later, when we 
judged it was about three feet deep, we could not touch 
bottom with our long double paddle. There was a 
slight breeze, so we soon hoisted our sail and moved 
along in the most enjoyable manner in the world, bask- 
ing like crocodiles in the hot sun, which would have 
been uncomfortable but that our skins were by this time 
about the color and consistency of leather. 
A finer beach than that above the city I believe does 
not exist^ — a gradually shelving shore covered with the 
cleanest, finest white sand you ever saw, back of which 
is a_ fringe of dark green pine -trees, diffusing the most 
fascinating fragrance under heaven, as is their nature ; 
and then, stretching out to the horizon and throwing 
into bold relief the strip of pure white sand, the deep 
intense blue of the magnificent lake. Truly it is a place 
to dream about. For perhaps five miles the beach is 
pretty well built up with cottages, which rather mar 
the artistic effect, but beyond them where we went, 
things were just as nature made them and delightful 
beyond description. 
We finally selected the site for our camp, ten or twelve 
mnles up the lake shore, pitched our tent, arranged our 
fire-place and got everything in order, and then set out 
to enjoy life. And enjoying life we certainly did. After 
a swim and a good large supper we lay down by the 
light of our camp-fire with our cigars and simply ab- 
sorbed delight at every pore. The moon was near her 
full and throwing her soft shimmer to us for miles 
across the lake; back of us the pine trees, intoxicating 
us with their fragrance, lifted their picturesquely jagged 
outlines boldly against the starry sky. The woods were 
full of the night voices of their little inhabitants, whip- 
poorwill, treetoad, cricket, katydid, and many others, 
together with the soft soughing of the branches, while 
at our feet we heard the lazy, interminable wash, wash, 
wash, of the lake against the pebbles. Around us were 
our tent, canoe, and stores in snug array, and the blaz- 
ing fire of driftwood crackling cheerily in the midst. 
It was too good to leave, and we lay there enjoying it 
until a disgraceful hour. 
In the morning we were up betimes to go fishing — 
and such perch fishing ! Lest anyone imagine that this 
account is too glowing, however, I will confess that 
we had our troubles catching minnows for bait. We 
had some mosquito netting which we got after our 
At the Outlet of Lake Huron. 
experience on the Snicardy, and we tied a string to 
each corner of this, and a stone and some bread in the 
middle and waded out. The middle, where ^ the stone 
was. sank beautifully, but th€ edges all floated,, so that 
m order to hold them down it was ..necessary to put 
our feet on the corners, much after the fashion of a 
ballet dancer doing the splits. Then of course our feet 
kept smkmg deeper and deeper into the sand, so that 
we kept settling deeper and deeper into the water, which 
was icy cold— and the lower extremities of the elemen- 
tary garment or so which we had donned for the occa- 
sion soon began to float artistically about us, on the 
surface of the water. In this position we waited for 
mmnows. At length some came, and we made ready to 
haul np the net, but of course before we. could extract 
a foot from the sand all the bait was in the next 
township. We tried this three times without a minnow, 
when we hit on the obvious scheme of planting the 
corners in the sand to hold them Ao-^n and then attach- 
