JULV 23, 1904.3 ' 
makes the easiest kind of a carpet over . which to tramp. 
It sounds very enticing in the railroad guide book when 
we read of "a delightful walk over the moss," but should 
the latter in places be nearly a foot thick, and as full of 
. water as a wet sponge, fifteen or twenty miles with a 
I fifty-pound pack create no very pleasant anticipations in 
i the mind of a packer. With Jim we awaited a fresh sup- 
I ply of tea, "baccy," and baking powder, a few more trout 
flies, and my rifle, which had been left at his home on 
our way in, as being wholly superfluous while salmon 
fishing. - - . - tJ *T 
- So William proposed' pushing on that day to Andrew's 
Pond, some ten miles to the eastward, where, caribou 
were always plentiful, and the brook trout had never seen 
the colors of an artificial fly. He carried the heavier 
pack, firmly secured after the Indian fashion with a tump 
line' across his forehead, but I carried Jim's loose-locked 
muzzleloading shotgun with about eight loads of buckshot 
and exactly eleven caps. It was an old historic heirloom, 
and had killed hundreds of beaver in its day; but now, 
merely a worn out relic of the past, loose and ricketty, 
and always guaranteed to do damage at either end. Vast 
barrens covered with rank wet moss stretched out before 
us, crossed and recrossed by well-worn deer leads, each 
trending in a different direction. Some of these runways 
were a good two feet deep and filled to the brim .with 
muddy rain water; others, faintly discernible in the grass, 
showed fresh sign made the previous night. Once an 
old hen ptarmigan and her brood of nearly grown chicks, 
flushed with a noisy whirr from beneath our feet; but 
with this single exception, not a creature stirred over the 
desolate expanse. 
■It was well toward four o'clock when, rounding a great 
mass of boulders, the welcome sight of water greeted our 
eyes far below in the valley, and two hours later, emerg- 
ing from the woods, we stood upon the shore of Andrew's 
Pond. Here occurred the most exasperating experience 
: as a sportsman that it has ever been my misfortune to en- 
: dure, and I will relate it in all its details. The pond -was 
over a mile in length, surrounded on all sides by a thick, 
almost impenetrable, tangle of stunted spruce and balsam. 
At one end a gradually receding shore sloped down gently 
to the water's edge in a beach of white, hard sand a few 
yards wide and a quarter of a mile in length — just such 
a spot as caribou choose for an evening stroll. This 
1 b'iach was divided at its center into two separate stretches 
by the inlet of the pond, a stream some thirty yards 
wide; and the whole shore was covered with broad, 
cloven tracks, showing that more than one animal wan- 
dered by daily between sunset and dawn; A shotgun is 
! hardly a dignified weapon for the pursuit of such noble; 
I game as caribou, and for such a purpose it is justly 
■ tabooed by sportsmen ; but that particular evening Wil-r 
liam and I did not pose as sportsmen, but were content 
j as pot-hunters pure and simple. 
William Arthur Babson. 
[to be continued.] 
The Grape Vine Telegraph. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
We would often wonder how our Indians always_ man- 
aged to find out all that had happened, or was going to 
happen, as soon as we knew it ourselves — often before 
even we knew it. We dubbed their source of information ; 
the "grapevine telegraph." 
About 1877 Dull Knife's band of northern Cheyennes 
were sent from Camp Robinson, Nebraska, to join the 
southern Cheyennes at the Darlington Agency (Fort 
Reno) in the Indian Territory. They were never con- 
tented there, the climate was killing them, they said; and 
they had tried to go north again several times, but had; 
always been driven back, and all .through the summer of- 
1878 we were looking for them to make another attempt 
BH> go. * ij 
' There were only two troops of cavalry at Reno to hold 
about 5,000 Indians here, and we had to watch these In- 
dians closely.. In the fall, about" the first of -October, I 
think it was, I was down at Fort Sill with two wagons 
after a load of lime, and was in camp below the -post,- 
when one morning just at daylight ol"d Stumbling- 
Bear, a Kiowa chief, paid the camp a visit. He was no 
doubt looking for his breakfast, as he would not go over 
one hundred miles, out of his way at any time to bring me : 
' news. He never had had much use - for me since the 
time several years before this when I had lined up a party 
of men I had out with his band to shoot :him for disobey-. 
J ing my orders. Coming into camp after the - usual 
' "How," he said : "Mebbe ' so," Cheyennes go," pointing 
north. They had. left late .the afternoon- before. 
We had a telegraph line here, a single wire that we 
had put up ourselves ; it ran from Gainesville, Texas, 
through Sill and Reno up to Fort Supply. 
I went up to the office ri<rht-away and found-the opera- 
tor, an enlisted man, fast asleep.. He had not heard, from 
Reno since noon yesterday, he told- me. " Going to his key 
while he was dressing, I began to call -for "R," our sig-' 
rial at Reno, but could .'hot/get an answer. Then the 
operator took his key arid continued' to call, but he got' 
110 answer either. J thought I' knew what' was wrong. 
That operator at Reno belonged "to Our troop, and he was; 
rio doubt out after Indians now. - " 
After a while we got a leply. ' Someone who could tele-' 
graph had been hunted up. He" was" another telegrapher 
Hke myself— a slow one. After he had made several" at- 
tempts at it, he told us that the Cheyennes had gone at 
last, and" that our troop had followed them. There was' 
riot much more than half . a troop there, thirty men,' to fol- 
low anything: the rest of us were scattered all over the 
country on 'details just like mine, and the other troop dare 
not. be : serit "also ; if it had been sent, then other Indians,- 
Cheyennes and Arapahoes, would have lost no time in 1 
going upon a raid to Kansas also. 
' The northern Cheyennes went clear across western 
Kansas, leaving a trail of fire and blood behind them, and 
were "finally rounded up at Camp Robinson. The troop 
got in ahead of them once, and in the fight that followed 
lost' one man, the blacksmith, but did not stop the In- 
dians; they kept on burning ranches and killing settlers. 
The troop brought these Indians back, though, all except 
Dull Knife, he was kept up. there a prisoner, and a new 
chief. Standing Elk, brought the baud back. It took them 
about ten days to go up, and nearly as many weeks to 
come back again. 
Forest and^stream. 
It is about seventy miles from Reno to Sill'i some In- 
dian rode his pony these seventy miles between dark and 
some time before daylight next morning and brought this 
news here. Some southern Cheyenne chief had sent him, 
with the expectation that the Kiowas would go 'out next,! 
then the others here at Darlington would go. 
• • Ca bia BlAncq: 
Nine Thousand Feet Above the Sea. 
Gardnerville, Nevada, July 4.— Editor ■ Forest and 
Stream: Can it be possible on this glorious Fourth of 
July that anybody in Uncle Sam's vast domain is swelter- 
ing in heat or wishing for a .cake of ice on. which they 
may sit? Are any sick, or is life a burden or monotonous 
to any? I presume so: but it hardly seems possible 
viewed from this peak of the Sierra Nevadas. As I write 
the temperature suggests early spring. Wast banks of 
snow many feet deep lie close to camp, lending a fresh-, 
n.ess and vigorous life to this glorious atmosphere utterly 
indescribable. Are you sick or tired? Do you imagine 
you feel old age creeping over? Does the thought 
now. intrude that after all your hopes and efforts, life is 
likely to prove a failure, and happiness and contentment 
as far away as when you began life's battle ? If , so, take 
the writer's advice and follow his example; pack your 
grip and also that of the partner of all your joys and sor- 
rows; bid farewell to business for an indefinite period; 
say to care and worry, "Go to thunder !" and to ambition, 
"Get thee behind me, Satan, what canst thou avail me if 
I sacrifice health and strength and happiness and only 
grasp thee on the brink of the grave?" Then resolutely 
climb the highest peak of these grand old mountains.; ■ 
higher and yet higher, until you feel a new life entering 
in at your nostrils and vibrating through every fiber of 
your being; and there, where perpetual snow-banks gleam 
in the summer's sun', and countless flowers bloom between 
those banks of white, you pitch your camp, in an at-, 
mosphere so pure and surroundings so peaceful- and 
healthful that the most hopeless invalid must feel a. new; 
life and fresh hope stealing over him. 
In an atmosphere so pure as this, fresh meat .will hang, 
for weeks without tainting. ; 
One can see from these snow-capped peaks range after- 
range of rugged mountains, with beautiful and fertile .val- ; 
leys between. Lake Tahoe, although many miles "distant,- 
seems almost at our feet. The Sacramento Valley, al-' 
though two hundred miles away, can be plainly seen-; .and- 
it is said that on a clear day Salt Lake. City, and the Great- 
Salt Lake, six hundred miles distant, can be. seen from 
one of these peaks. ., '. . > 
This is the season for fish in. these mountain streams^ 
and lakes. He who has' not wandered "along, the' banks of 
a leaping, bubbling -mountain stream,- arid, felt the. ecstatic 
chills chase up and down the spine as a. splendid, .fish- 
makes his grand rush,, and the. reel ..sings arid . the - rod. 
bends — he who has riot felt these, joys has failed to taste 
of some of the most exquisite thrill's that man can feel. 
Not far from where I write "a beautiful little lake" 
nestles in the. mountain tops several. hundred feet higher 
than Lake Tahoe, arid is alive with speckled trout. Our 
mountain streams are stocked'. with, a' variety of trout 
which are. peculiar to these mountains. They are a little 
larger than the. eastern speckled .trqut, which they resem- 
ble very much in; shape 'and general appearance, but lack 
the red spots. ' They -are' a' very "?amy fish, more so, if 
possible, than our eastern' trput. " .In ray next I will write 
o'f trie' game 'in .these mountains'. 
_ Mrs.' Thomas and, I .'came here". some months ago from 
Delaware in hope "Of .regaining- lost health, and the 'result 
has been more than could 'be expected. We live in an 
Open tent,' Eirtd have discontinued, the use of medicine. I. 
will ' be pleased' to answer' any questions concerning this 
country, its game, or other resources. • 
. ' S. H. ..Thomas. 
Trails of the Pathfinders.— XtL • 
Lewis and Clark. 
. . . • (Concluded from page 6.)' 
. The winter was spent chiefly in' procuring food," and in' 
observing the natives, and the geography of the neigh- 
boring Country, and the expedition has not expected to 
leave their permanent camp,- Fort Clatsop,' before the first' 
of April. By the first of March, however, the elk, on, 
which they chiefly depended for food, had moved away 
to ascend the mountains,' and their trade goods being 
almost exhausted, they were now too' poor to purchase 
food from the Indians. It was evident that, they must, 
start back up the river, in the hope of there finding food, ' 
and must reach the point where they had left their horses 
before the Indians there should have moved off across the. 
mountains or dispersed over the country. 
During the winter they had worked hard at dressing 
skins, so that they were now well clad;' and had besides 
three" or four hundred pairs of, moccasins. They still had- 
also 140 pounds of powder and about twice that weight of 
lead, enough to carry them back. 
On the 23d of March, therefore, after giving certificates^ 
to some of the Indian chiefs-, and leaving tacked up on 
one of their cabins a notice of their successful crossing of 
the continent, and their start back, they took leave of the" 
Indians, and set out in two canoes up the Columbia. As 
they ■ passed along they .at first "found little difficulty in- 
securing provisions from the acquaintances they , had 
made while descending the river; and besides this,' the' 
hunters killed some game. Before ' long, however, they 
began to meet Indians coming down the river who in- 
formed them that they had been driven from the Great' 
Rapids by lack of provisions, their Winter store of dried 
fish having become exhausted, and the "salmon not -being, 
expected for a month or more,. This was dismal news to' 
people who were ascending' the river in the hope Of ob- 
taining provisions, but there was nothing for them to" 
do except to keep on, living- on the country as well as' 
they could, trying to reach the place where they had left 
their horses before the Indians should have departed.'. 
Their hunters succeeded in killing some deer and elk. on 
the south side of the river, though there seemed to be no 
game on the north. Besides that, the deer killed were 
so extremely thin' in flesh, that it hardly' scented worth 
while to bring them into camp. 
6? 
( ; Ma »y 0/ the indians still stood hi great' fear o'f the 
^medicine' ;of the white men; and Captain Clark; return- 
ing' from, a short exploring trip, saw an example "of this : 
On entering one of the' apartments of the house, Captain- 
Clark -offered' several articles to : the Iridians in exchange' 
for wappatoo; but they appeared sullen and ill-humored,' 
and refused to give him "any. He: therefore sat down by' 
the fire opposite to.' the .men, and, drawing' a : portfire' 
match from his' pocket, threw a small piece of it irito the 
flames; at the same time' he took out his pocket compass, 
and by means, of. a magnet which happened to- be in his ' 
inkhorn, made the needle turn"rouhd very briskly. . The. 
match immediately took fire, and burned violently, on 
which the ' Indians, , terrified at this strange exhibition, 
brought a quantity of wappatoo and laid' it at his feet, 
begging him to put out the bad fire; while an old woman'; 
continued, to speak with great vehemence, as if praying 
and imploring protection. After receiving the roots, Cap- : 
tain Clark put up the compass, and, as the match went out 
of itself, tranquillity was restored, though the women and : 
children still sought refuge in their beds and behind the' 
men. He now paid them for what he had used, and, after' 
lighting his pipe and smokihg with the'rri, continued down ' 
the river." ' 
. The hunters still were killing some game, but it was so 
thin as- to be unfit for use; six deer and an elk were' left 
in the ti'mber, while two. deer and a bear were brought; 
in. .The .wappatoo- was now largely the food of all . the 
Indians ;_ the ,buib, which grows in all the ponds of the " 
interior, is gathered.'by the women, who, standing in deep : 
water, feel about'" in the mud for the roots' of the plant, ; 
and -detach "the bulbs with their toes ; these rise to the! 
surface and are thrown into the canoe. The roots .are 
like a 'small 'potato; and" are light and very nutritious. 
„A few -days later they obtained from the Indians' the' 
skin of a "sheep" (mountain goat)', which is described 
sp that there is no doubt about the identification. The'-' 
hunters also, killed three black-tailed deer. Near' 
Sepulcher Rock, a burial place for the surrounding tribes,' 
Captain .Clark crossed -the river in the endeavor to pur- 
chase a. few horses, by which they might transport their 
baggage and ' sortie provisions across the mountains, but 
in this he was unsuccessful. However, some Indians were 
met, who promised a little later to meet them and furnish 
s.ome horses. At the foot of the Great Narrows ' four' 
were purchased to assist in carrying the baggage and- the 
outfit over the portage. 
.' The Indians at the upper end were rejoicing over the' 
catching, of the first salmon; and they were so good-; 
natured "that they sold the white men four more horses' 
for two kettles, which reduced the stock of kettles to one.; 
There was a good deal of trouble here from thefts by the-' 
Indians, and' from their practice of trading articles and' 
then returning and giving back the pfice that they had" re-' 
ceived and demanding articles that had been traded. So' 
annoying did this become, that Captain Clark declared to' 
the Indians in council assembled that the next man caught 
thieving, would be shot; , and a little bit later lie was - 
obliged to threaten to burn, the Village. At last, however, 
they got away, with ten horses, and proceeding' up the-' 
river secured a few others. By this time they had ex-' 
hausted "pretty much all their trade goods, ' and the; 
capacity to buy was about at an 'end. The Indian tribes 
that they were passing now 'did not seem to be particu-: 
larly friendly, and held themselves aloof ;' but a chief of 
the. Walla- Wallahs, whom they met a' little later, treated 
them' most hospitably, and in striking contrast to the peo-' 
pie that they had lately seen. This chief presented Cap-: 
tain Clark with' a fine horse, and received in return a? 
sword," one; hundred balls, some powder, ' arid sortie other 
small presents. The chief helped them cross the river in 
his canoes; and they r camped on the Columbia, at thei 
mouth of the Walla Wallah River. They now possessed 
twenty-three horses; and on the whole "were in pretty 
good shape; except that they had but little food, and had- 
nothiiig. left whieh they eould trade for food. About the 
first, of 'May they met a". party of Iridians, consisting of 
one of the. chiefs of the Nez Perces who' had gone down 
Lewis River "with them the previous year, and had been 
of great service to them, and who, hearing that they "were; 
returning, had .come to rheet them with ten young men. 
They were now" out of provisions, but at an Indian camp 
not far off .. managed . to obtain two lean dogs and some: 
roots. As they went on they lea rend that most of the 
Nez Perces were scattered out gatheririg spring roots, but: 
the Indian in whose 1 charge their horses had been left 
was not far away. ' . 
At this point the explorers were' applied to by the two* 
or three, persons who were ill, .and their simple treatment : 
benefiting the Indians, their fame greatly increased. The: 
white 'men were careful to give? the Indians only harmless - 
medicine, trying to assist nature rather than to do any-, 
thing that. was radical. 'The Indians' who had been bene- 
fited 'gave material evidence of their" gratitude. Since they: 
had been 'on the Columbia River the Indians had made 
great, fun of the white men because they ate dogs; and it' 
was just after their experience in ddctoringy'but at: an- 
other village,' that "fin Indian standing by,- and looking' 
with great derision at our' eating' dog's -. flesh, ' threw a: 
poor half starved puppy almost into "Captain Lewis's' plate,' 
laughing heartily at the hufnor of it. ' Captain Lewis took: 
up the animal and, flung it back with great force into the' 
fellow's 'face, and seizing his tomahawk, threatened to cut 
him down if he dared to repeat such insolence. 1 He im- 
mediately withdrew, apparently much mortified, and we 
continued our 'dog repast very quietly." Continuing their: 
iourriey; they 'were again applied to for medical, advicei. 
and assistance, but declined to practice without remunera- 
tion.-' One Or' two small operations were performed ; arid' 
a woman who had. been treated, declaring the next day< 
that . she felt; much better, her husband brought . up a; 
horse, which they at once killed. 3 : •'.'•'• '-' ' 
Hiving crossed the; river, on the advice' of the 'Iridians> 
that more game was fo be found, they kept ori- their -way/ 
and the day' after the hunters brought iri. fotir''deer r ! which^ 
with the remains of the horse, gave the'in- fbr= th'eimoment 
an abundant supply of food. Here -they-'m'ef . Twisted 
Hair,' m ' whose charge they , had left- thei'r'-hors'es/ whd 
told them that,, owing to the care that; 'he: had 'taken of 
their horses, he had been obliged, tol'quarrel'^with otheif 
chiefs, who were jealous with him, arifd -'that finally he? had 
given up the care of the horses, which were' now scat i 
tered. -"They, soon 'recovered : 'twenty-one of their horses— 
most of which were in' good condition— a part of their 
