xVIarch 4, 1905.3 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
171 
A Week In the Meramec Bottoms. 
BY PERRY D. FRAZEK. 
The region about St. Louis, so far a« clinl-atic con- 
ditions go, is hot in summer and cold in winter, with 
heavy thunder storms and cyclonic- disturbances by 
way of variety at other seasons and clouds of soft- 
coal smoke all the time; but there is no denying the fact 
that the autumn season is glorious, is appreciated by 
all the good people and particularly by the man who 
is fortunate enough to be able to slam his desk shut 
"with a bang now and then and hurry away to the woods 
or fields for a brief respite from the usual grind of 
routine work. 
These same woods are anything but attractive during 
the summer because of the hordes of mosquitoes that 
make life miserable for one during the da}', as well as 
the night; the redbugs, ticks and chiggers that burrow 
into his cuticle during the day, and the fleas that worry 
him when he endeavors to avoid the black mud or 
yellow clay and pitch his tent on sandy ground near a 
stream. The first week in October witnesses a change 
for the better, but he who can choose his time to go 
to the woods should wait patiently the coming of at 
least two heavy frosts before starting out; in other 
words, start on Oct. 15, or even a fortnight later, by 
which time the pests will have disappeared almost 
entirely, many of the dense leaves will have fallen, so 
that squirrels may be seen more rapidly, and while 
the nights are cool, the days are so mild and the air 
so balmy and productive of rest and laziness, that it 
will require the exercise of all one's will power to break 
camp on the last day of his vacation and leave sur- 
roundings so agreeable and beneficial to his physical 
and mental well-being. To readers I would say, if you 
have never camped in the woods in the foothills of the 
Ozarks in late October and early November, make a 
note of the place and go there next autumn. You 
will never regret it. 
Both last year and this I was compelled to go to 
fhe woods the first week in October or not at all, 
and while both trips were filled with keen enjoyment, 
the days were still too warm and the frosts too light 
to render the autumnal conditions ideal for one who is 
fond of woods loafing with a bit of squirrel shooting 
thrown in. The Madam being in Boston at the time, 
I chose as a companion for this trip Charles Noble 
Smith, a young man who had never camped in the 
style adopted by the Clan Frazer — that is to say, with 
a view to simplicity but thoroughness. The choice 
was a happy one, for instead of being discontented, as 
many beginners are. Noble was regretful of nothing 
but the fact that we could only be in the woods one 
week instead of a month. He picked up the methods 
of doing things readily, and the only criticism I had to 
ofifer, was that he flopped across country so much all 
day that when evening came he was too weary and 
sleepy to sit beside the fire and swap yarns for an hour 
or two over the pipes. 
We started from Valley Park on an early train on a 
Sunday morning, our equipment consisting of a canoe, 
.-a box of provisions and a couple of bundles, which went 
;in the baggage car, while we carried a rifle and the 
"l TRIED THE EDDIES NEAR CAMP." 
rods and camera with us. The train was late, so that 
it was nearly noon when we arrived at our destination, 
:a village in the rough hills between the upper Meramec 
.-and the Gasconade and Piney rivers; but the station 
:agent had kindly made arrangements with one of the 
villagers to meet us, and he was on hand with a pair 
of white mules and a wagon, so that the canoe was 
tied securely to the standards, the dufile thrown in, and 
in a few minutes we were bumping down the stony 
hill to the Meramec, a distance of about two miles. 
Arrived there, we unpacked the vapor stove and the 
provisions and dispatched our first meal with a relish 
we had not known for months, while our new friend 
angled among the eddies below a shoal hard-by and 
soon exhibited a huge carp as his reward. 
The outlook for squirrels was promising, both shores 
of the river being heavily timbered with sycamores, 
elms, soft maples, oaks and a few hickories; but the 
leaves were very thick and green and the river, which 
should have been low and very clear, was high and 
somewhat colored, there having been heavy rains dur- 
ing the week previous. At that point the stream is 
about fifty yards in width and quite swift, especially 
in the shallows. At the place where we launched the 
canoe there was an old railway-tie chute, and there we 
loaded her and pushed off, it being our intention to 
look over the gravelly further shore, the sunny side 
of the stream. With the high water we descended the 
shoal with a rush and stepped out on the cleanest, 
sweetest bit of gravel bar imaginable' — ^just such a spot 
as my old friend, L. F. Brown, would choose in which 
to sun himself, and fish. The shingle extended all along 
that side of the shoal, and was fringed with willows, 
behind which we foutld a sunny, open spot beneath a 
group of planes and ash trees, and there the tent was 
pitched. It was an ideal spot for our present purpose, 
for, while there was an abundance of room for fresh 
air, the willows hid the tent from the river side and 
boxelders screened it on the woods side, so that in only- 
one direction could our camp be seen fifty yards away, 
and in om* jaunts we were not fearful lest some prowler 
should make of? with our grub. The ground being 
sandy, with a carpeting of broad leaves, the place was 
clean and wholesome, while the hum of insects and the 
murmur of the swiftly flowing stream were conducive 
to restfulness and contentment. 
While Noble reduced all the nearby bits of scenery 
to negatives, I tried the eddies near camp with spinners, 
flies and various forms of artificial baits, but concluded 
that the hour was unfavorable for fishing. And as the 
shadows were growing long, we betook ourselves to 
the depths of the woods and came back presently with 
a fat squirrel. 
"Now, Noble," I warned him, "I will 'show you' what 
fried squirrel is like."" Noble's mouth watered at the 
"a DINNER ANY HUNGRY MAN COULD RELISH." ' 
thought. My intentions were good, but my promise 
was premature, for that old buck' was the toughest 
squirrel two hungry people ever tried to eat, and, al- 
though he did not say as much at the time. Noble 
afterward admitted that, while chewing this leathery 
morsel, he had made up his mind to desert, if that w-as 
the sort of fare I set up regularly. I remember now 
that he dwelt often during the evening, as we en- 
deavored to pick shreds and wisps of squirrel muscles 
from our teeth, on his fondness for fried black bass, 
and the hope that we would catch several of them next 
day. in order that we might "have a good feed" of 
fish. But gray squirrels were abundant in the flat 
woods on our side of the river. We breakfasted early, 
and by sunrise I was in my element, although compelled 
to smoke my pipe in order to keep the big, hungry 
inosquitoes at a respectful distance. With the previous 
night's experience in mind, I examined the first squirrel 
I saw very minutely through the telescope sights before 
deciding that it was a young one and likely to be tender. 
, It was in the very top of a great oak tree, but the 
tiny bullet brained it completely and it came to the 
ground with a bang. That was the second shot I had 
made at game through my telescope, which had been 
made for me according to my own "cranky notions" 
of what a rifle telescope for squirrel shooting should 
be, and I was highly pleased with it, for both squirrels 
bagged showed the tiny mark to be exactly where the 
crosshairs rested at the time of pressing the trigger. 
And I recalled the remark of an old hunting friend, 
made at the time I tried my first rifle telescope at 
target. Said he: 
"Don't get it into your head that all you have got 
to do is to hold the crosshairs on the game and it is 
yours. You will make misses with the glass, just as 
you may with any sights; but you will grow more and 
more fond of it the longer you use it. And if you pull 
when you have a good hold you will lessen the chances 
of crippling game but losing it." 
His words were prophetic. Hunting with a telescope 
has become more and more fascinating to me, for with 
it one can kill game when it is needed for food, and 
watch it for amusement at other times. 
I was even better pleased over the next shot, made at 
a young gray squirrel located in a soft maple tree near 
the river; for it dropped to the shot, but on top of a 
great drift heap, and when I climbed to the top and 
looked for the game, it was not there. A maple leaf 
with a drop of blood on it led to another similar mark, 
then a smirch on the side of a log revealed a hollow 
underneath, and careful search showed more further 
into the heart of the rubbish. A maple sprout was 
trimmed of all its branches save at the small end, those 
being left a half-inch long and sharp. This was in- 
serted in the hole and twisted until it would turn no 
more, and. drawing it carefully out, I had the satis- 
faction of finding the squirrel was mine, and not, as I 
had feared, hiding away to die miserably. Give me a 
clean kill or a clean miss. 
Turning northward, another gray was added to the 
string, and where the river curved sharply back of camp, 
I found Noble photographing an immense cave which 
opens ' out from the eottosistone cliffs. That Is » 
famous region for large caves, but this ofte is 'reniark- 
able for the reason that there is a smooth, pillar-like 
angle on either side, while above the mouili the stone 
is even and sharply cut. A tally-ho coach could easily 
be driven through the entrance, so large is it. Another 
interesting place is found a short distance below the 
cave and in the same cliff. This is another cave, but its 
opening is close to the normal water level, and from 
it there emerges with a roar that is distinctly heard a 
thousand yards away a spring of water so cold that 
no ice could possibly improve it as a summer drink. 
All about the run where this joins the Meramec the 
water is tinted bluish, while in the strong sunlight it 
has a milky appearance, and objects at the bottom take 
on an opalescent hue. Directly opposite our camp 
there was quite a strong stream of the coldest water, 
and this came direct from another large spring, while 
a hundred yards further down there was a brook ten 
feet wide and a foot in depth, whose source was a 
spring a half-mile above. All the water has the bluish 
tinge mentioned above. 
After I had skinned and dressed the squirrels Noble 
admitted that they seemed fine, but repeated his pref- 
erence for fish. During the day we tried all our lures 
and exerted our best skill to tempt the bass, but as the 
stream was still highly colored, although falling slowly, 
we ascribed our lack of success to the poor condition 
of the water. We did catch a large channel catfish, 
but as neither one of us is fond of this species, and we 
had the squirrels, we put it back in its element, re- 
turned to camp and took a swim in the icy water. 
Our vapor stove behaved very badly, at times refus- 
ing to perform its duties when fed with the exceedingly 
poor quality of kerosene the groceryman at the village 
had sold us. "Coal-oil," he called it, but it resembled 
castor-oil, kerosene and water in combination. How- 
ever, with nursing it burned after a fashion, and as 
Noble was lighting the lantern that night, lie stopped 
smoking long enough to remark: "That don't smell 
so bad, does it?" There were the three squirrels in 
the pot, and a generous quantity of . rice, bits of bacon 
and seasoning, and it was kept stewing until the dainty 
flesh was ready to drop off the bones. And with steam- 
ing hot coffee, baked beans with tomato sauce, etc., 
there was a dinner any hungry man could relish. Noble 
was converted at the first helping, and other squirrels 
that we fried or stewed being young and tender, he 
enjoyed this part of our camp life as much as he did 
everything else, and all was well with us during our 
stay. 
One whole day was passed by us cruising among the 
islands and whipping the pools far up and down the 
stream, trying everything we could think of that might 
lure the bass, but we had poor success. Still we be- 
lieve the fault was in the stage of water, the real rea- 
son coming to our knowledge later on. Another day 
we gathered pawpaws in the immense bottom woods 
opposite and above camp, finding all we could carry 
of these luscious "Missouri bananas," some of which 
THE CAVE IN THE CLIFF, 
were five or six inches long and fully three in diameter. 
All were then green, and on our arrival home I sent 
a box of them to my wife, who was in Boston, where 
they arrived in good condition, and several persons, who 
had never before seen a pawpaw, ate them with a 
relish. The woods where we found these pawpaws were 
ideal for squirrels, and we shot a few in them now and 
then; but the villagers shot black powder in scatter guns 
too much for the grays to relish that side of the river, 
and we found more game on our side, although nuts 
were not so plentiful there. But while the squirrels 
were not so abundant on the opposite side from camp, 
burrs were not scarce, and a walk of four miles through 
those woods put one in possession of so many cockle- 
burrs, sand-burrs, Spanish needles, little fiat three-corn- 
ered burrs and several other varieties, that one's clothing 
was covered and lined and stuffed with them. Although 
we scraped them off with our knives, for comfort's sake, 
they found their way among our blankets and prodded 
us all night, as the skeeters did during the day in the 
dark woods. 
I don't know much about bears in their natural state 
although on a very dark night years ago I ran plump 
against a big cinnamon. I did not learn until after- 
ward that the bear ran faster, if possible, than I did. 
I don't know why, for he had his weapons with him and 
I didn't, and he cguld not give it as an excuse for 
