Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the kod and 
Copyright, 1904, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
G 
UN. 
Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. I 
Six Months, |2. ) 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 7, 1904. 
I No. 
VOL. LXII.— No. 19. 
346 Broadway, New York. 
The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 
ment, instruction and information between American sportsmen. 
The editors invite communications on the subjects to which its 
pages are devoted. Anonymous communications will not be re- 
garded. While it is intended to give wide latitude in discussion 
of current topics, the editors are not responsible for the views of 
correspondents. 
Subscriptions may begin at any time. Terms: For single 
copies, $4 per year, $2 for six months. For club rates afid full 
•particulars respecting subscriptions, see prospectus oh page ill. 
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION. 
On Saturday of last week the Louisiftna Purchase Ex- 
position, commonly known as the WorId*s Fair, at St. 
Louis, was formally opened with dignified, appropriate 
ceremonies whose every detail was majestic and har- 
monious, as was befitting the launching of an institution 
so world-wide in its scope, and so honored by the presence 
of an innumerable host of people. By proclamation of the 
Governcr of Missouri, that day was a holiday in that 
State in honor of the great centennial event. 
The Exposition, while sentimentally commemorative of 
an important national enlargement which happened one 
hundred years ago, is practically devoted to the world's 
best interests and doings. With all possible domprehen 
s:veness it presents the sum total of human progress up 
to the present time in the arts, the matiufactures, and the 
varied forms of agriculture obtaining in difYerent climes 
and countries. The diversified products of the earth, the 
air and the water most serviceable to mankind from the 
law to the finished state are quite fully presented for the 
study of the sightseers. 
The elaborate opening exercises were held near the 
magnificent Louisiana Purchase monument on the great 
Plaza of St. Louis, commencing soon after 9 o'clock. 
President D. R. Francis, the chief executive of the Ex- 
position, presided. Grouped about him were members of 
llie National Committee, several Senators and Congress- 
men, the officers and directors of the Exposition, the 
I'.oard of Lady Managers, the representatives and com- 
missioners of foreign governments, the orators of the 
day, important committees, a choir of several hundred 
singers, while the plaza was occupied by the immense 
gathering of the people, the power which made the Ex- 
position possible. The chief orator was Hon. W. H. 
Taft, Secretary of War, who represented President 
Roosevelt. 
A brief address by President Francis opened the formal 
exercises, after which, by the director of the works, the 
key of the Exposition was presented to him, which sig- 
nified that all was ready. This was followed by speeches, 
the playing of bands, the booming of cannon, the hymnal 
outbursts of the grand choir, and the applause of the 
assembled thousands. All was brought to a climax by the 
ui;furling of flags, which followed the starting of the ma- 
chinery by President Roosevelt, who, at Washington, in 
the presence of the members of his cabinet, members of 
Congress, the diplomatic corps, and distinguished ladies 
and gentlemen, touched the Morse l<ey which formally 
opened the Exposition, the time being 12 M. at St. Louis 
and I o'clock at Washington. 
Thus was brought to gratifying realization the gigantic 
centennial scheme which was suggested in an editorial of 
a St. Louis paper in 1898. It took material form at a con- 
vention held in January of the following year at St. 
Louis, and called by the Governor of Missouri for its 
consideration. The complete work is thus the develop- 
ment of an original idea presented by a journalist. 
The Exposition is in commemoration of the acquisi- 
tion of the vast territory purchased by the United States 
in 1803, and known as the Louisiana Purchase. It con- 
tained 1,000,000 square miles and cost $15,000,000. That 
territory is now occupied by Louisiana, Arkansas, Mis- 
souri, Oklahoma, Indian Territory, Kansas, Nebraska, 
Iowa, the two Dakotas, and by parts of Colorado, Wyo- 
ming and Montana. It is the centennial celebration of one 
of the greatest and most beneficent events of American 
liistory. 
In cost and space occupied it surpasses all prior world's 
fairs. The Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893 had 
613 acres and 150 buildings at a total cost of $40,000,000. 
This was the St. Louis World's Fair's greatest rival. The 
other great expositions, at Paris in 1900, Glasgow and 
Bufifalo.io ISPI, CharJ^ston in 1902, vyerg very raucli 
smaller. The St. Louis fair has 1,240 acres and 250 build- 
ings, great and small, at a total cost of $50,000,000. 
Forty-four States and fifty foreign countries are partici- 
pants. 
Forest and Stream has been an exhibitor at all the 
important Vv'orld's fairs from the Centennial at Philadel- 
phia in 1876 up to the present time. At each of them — 
the Centennial, the Columbian Exposition at Chicago, the 
Paris Exposition, besides other minor ' exhibitions — 
Forest and Stream has been officially recognized to the 
highest degree which the awards allowed, by medals and 
diplomas— the last a grand prize and gold medal from the 
French Exposition at Paris in 1900. These recognitions 
of its merit by the many eminent men who were judges 
at the various fairs have been granted on the ground of 
the paper's high order of literary merit, for its services 
in matters pertaining to the preservation of game and fish, 
to the. advancement of fishculture, to the sport of yacht- 
ing, and for its general interest to those whO' use the 
gun, the rod or the sailing vessel. 
We have an exhibit at the World's Fair in St. Louis, 
at which, among other things, is shown a complete set of 
the sixty-one bound volumes of Forest and Stream, 
v.hich include a complete history of game protection and 
fishculture in the United States, besides a vast amount of 
most interesting reading for the sportsman in any field. 
At this exhibit — in the Forestry, Fish and Game Build- 
ing — all readers of Forest and Stream and all who are 
interested in the sports which it covers will be very 
v.elcome. 
A NEW GAME BIRD. 
To MANY game dealers and hotel keepers the enactment 
into law of the Forest and Stream Platform Plank, for- 
bidding the sale of game, seemed a real hardship. 
When this plank was first announced it was received with 
derision by those whom it would most certainly affect, but 
time has shown that it appealed to the public and that 
it has come to stay. That some people should be hurt 
by the non-sale law which prevails in many of the States 
was inevitable, but it was a case where the greatest good 
to the greatest number had to be considered. 
Meantime, the hotel and restaurant keepers have been 
looking for a way out of their difficulty; and this is the 
parable of one of them : This man keeps a large summer 
hotel in an important town in a State where the sale of 
grouse and woodcock is forbidden. When the bill for- 
bidding the sale of upland game birds went through, he 
began to think and to think hard. He did not wish to 
violate the law, but he must either do that or provide for 
his guests a satisfactory substitute for the grouse he had 
been accustomed to serve. A substitute was found, and 
one so satisfactory to his guests that even after the season 
opened and grouse might lawfully be purchased, there was 
no demand for them. His guests preferred the bird that 
he had been serving, and the hotel keeper believes that 
this bird is destined to take the place of the ruffed grouse 
in all leading hotels and restaurants. 
This game bird is a young turkey, weighing from one 
tn one and one-quarter pounds. They cost the - hotel 
keeper last summer $1 each and were served at $2.50. 
Last year, although 2,500 birds were bought and served, 
the supply was not equal to the demand. For the coming 
season the hotel keeper has large contracts at $1 per bird, 
and hopes to have an abundant supply. 
For this new game bird he claims the advantages of 
(i) unlimited supply, as they can lawfully be placed in 
cold storage and kept until needed; (2) they can be 
served at any season; (3) there are no shot-torn birds; 
(4) they are in better condition and give better satisfac- 
tion to the guests than game birds. 
It is understood that the same hotel keeper has con- 
tracted with neighboring farmers for 2,500 young guinea 
hens, which he may possibly use as a substitute for wood- 
cock. He purchases his trout from a hatchery and keeps 
them in ponds until they are needed. He uses no wild 
native trout. 
Besides the advantage to hotel keeper and guests, the 
commercial effect of the course here outlined is worthy of 
consideration. The purchase of these young fowl benefits 
the farmers by stimulating one of their industries, raises 
the price of fowl, and is a real help to the neighborhood 
from which the birds come. Thus, on every hand, it 
would seem that the substitution of these domesticated 
fow^ (or the wild and untamable native Isirds is an ad- 
vantage to the community, and the changed point of view 
of a man who has been a large consumer of wild game 
may be commended to the consideration of other persons 
who are carrying on commercial pursuits similar to his. 
From this it may be fairly inferred that where there is a 
v/ill there is a way, and that hotel and restaurant keeper 
may obey the law and still suffer no great hardship. 
ADIRONDACK FOREST FIRES. 
The extensive fires which took place in the Adirondack 
region in the spring of 1903 led to much discussion In tSie 
columns of the Forest and Stream as to the causes of 
these fires. The timber land burned over amotinted to 
more than 600,000 acres, and about $175,000 was spent in 
fighting the fires, which were at last extinguished only 
by heavy rains. The total direct loss has been estimated 
as between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000, while the indirect loss 
due to the destruction of young trees, which should form 
future forests, and the injury of the forest soil caused 
by the burning out of the vegetable matter required by 
growing trees cannot be estimated. 
The Bureau of Forestry has investigated the burned 
area and a number of matters connected with the fires^ 
and has just issued a circular, illustrated by a map of the 
Adirondack region, showing the location and area of the 
various burned districts. The report is made by Mr. H. 
M. Suter. 
The very severe spring drought of the spring of 1903 
left the forests ready for. the flames. The snow fall of 
the winter of 1902-03 was light, and between the 17th day 
of April and the 7tli day of June there was a rainfall of 
only about 0.2 inch. On June 10, 11 and 12, there 
v/ere heavy rainfalls, and the fires were thus extinguished. 
"As a result of this protracted drought the whole forest 
was inflammable to^ an unprecedented degree. On CMt- 
cver land, the debris left after lumbering was ready to 
catch fire like tinder, and to spread it almost like a pow- 
der magazine. Throughout the Adirondack region, which 
is one great forest, broken only by lakes, marshes and 
clearings, every chance spark left unextinguished by 
smoker or camper, every glowing cinder from locomo- 
tive or brush burner's fire, carried the potentiality of 
a great conflagration. This was at the season when fish- 
ermen were building camp-fires and smudges in every 
direction. Under such conditions many incipient forest 
fires were and will always be inevitable. The only hope 
of preventing wide devastation at such times is through 
systematic watchfulness to extinguish every little blaze 
before it has time to gather headway." 
Some of the worst fires were near Lake Placid, in 
Keene Valley, in the Nahasane Preserve, near Catlin 
Lake, near Horse Shoe Pond, on the DeCamp tract, and 
on the Rockefeller preserve. The fires were fought by 
the State administration, as well as by individuals, and 
this fighting was carried on during six weeks. 
Besides the money and indirect forest losses, there was 
undoubtedly a large loss in fish and game. The breeding 
c'jid nesting season was at its height, and there must have 
been a great destruction of young birds and animals, 
'i'rout suffered — in shallow streams probably from the 
heat alone; in deeper streams from the lye leaching from 
the wood ashes into the water. 
By far the greater part of the fires were caused by cul- 
pable carelessness; many by deliberate incendiarism, and 
a few by accident. Fully one-half of the fires due to 
carelessness are charged to locomotive sparks from rail- 
roads passing through the Adirondacks, and an examin- 
ation of the map shows how the burned areas follow the 
paths of certain railroads. The burning of brush by farm, 
ers caused many fires, and much of this brush burning was 
done contrary to law. It is believed that the strong feel- 
ing of hostility to private preserves existing in some por- 
tions of the Adirondacks was responsible for a number 
of incendiary fires, especially those which started on the 
preserves; and the fact that $2 a day is paid as wages 
for fire fighting is thought in some cases t6 have led to 
ihe setting of fires in order to keep the work going. 
Of the conclusions drawn from the fires by Mr. Suter, 
the m.6st important is that should another long drought 
occur the State would be powerless, under present meth- 
ods, to prevent a repetition of the calamity of last spmng. 
An improved fire service, based on a careful study on tl^e 
ground of the whole Adirondack region, can alone conjT 
bat the terrible fire evil. 
