266 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
ing to take him out and also supply him with all the bait 
he needs. I except Duncannon because there is a hot- 
bed of fish pirates and every stranger who visits the 
place is supposed to be a fish warden, and he will have 
a very hard time of it until he is able to convince the 
native that he is not one of the upholders of the fish 
laws. The boatmen, as a rule, vie with eHlir other in 
giving the anglers employing them the best sport and 
the largest catches. W. E. Meehan. 
Fish and Fishing, 
Then and Now. 
In one of the most interesting letters of Mr. E. A. 
Samuels tO' Forest and Stream he mentions the fact 
that about forty years ago, the whole of Grand Lake 
Stream was offered to a gentleman of Boston, the late 
lamented Prouty, for the ridiculously small sum of a few 
hundred dollars. It seems that Mr. Prouty, who was a 
lover of the landlocks, endeavored to induce some of his 
friends to unite with him in purchasing: the river, but was 
forced to abandon the project for the reason that, as ang- 
ling privileges were everywhere free and abundant, no 
one thought it worth his while to spend money in buying 
a river. And Mr. Samuels rightly ventures the statement 
that if Grand Lake Stream , were now on the market one 
would have no difficulty in obtaining subscriptions of 
many thousands of dollars for it. I called this statement 
to mind the other day when I saw the suggestion of Dr. 
Morris with reference to the proposed purchase and reha- 
bilitation of some of the other rivers of Maine; but I am 
reminded of an even more striking instance of the won- 
derful increase in value of salmon waters than that cited 
by Mr. Samuels. 
It is a fact that not very long before the offer of Grand 
Lake Stream was made to the late Mr. Prouty, a still 
more remarkable one was made by the Goveniment of 
Canada to another Bostonian, Mr. Walter Brackett. Mr. 
Brackett had already, at that time, had considerable ex- 
perience with Salnto salar, having for five successive sea- 
sons fished the Dennys River in Maine, of which I had 
something to say in Forest and Stream quite recently. 
Let me break into the thread of my other story here, 
long enough to speak of the splendid sport which the 
young artist enjoyed in and about Dennysville. It was 
there that the brave- octogenarian of to-day, who is at 
present giving battle royal, tOi the salmon of the 
Marguerite, killed his first" specimen of the fish whose 
pictures have made his canvasses sO' famous. During the 
five years that he fished the Dennys River he averaged 
twelve fish a year, from lo to i8 pounds apiece. Then he 
applied to the Canadian Government for a lease of the 
Ristigouche River. He was informed that it had been 
granted to Sir Alexander McKenzie a few days before, 
but that he could have its four tributaries for $ioo per 
year, which -was the price to be paid for the main river, 
or he could have a season license of the Cascapedia for 
$50, with the privilege of a nine years’ lease at $100 per 
year. Mr. Brackett selected the tributaries of the Risti- 
gouche, and did most of his fishing at the forks of the 
Metapedia, taking a three years’ lease, dated i86g. As an 
instance of the sport which he enj oved for this ridiculous 
figure, when even the Mic-Mac Indians were permitted 
to spear without restriction, it may be mentioned that in 
twelve days he killed thirty-nine fish, which averaged 
■22Y4. pounds. 
, Mr. Brackett did not fish either the Palapedia or the 
Upsalquitch, but with a pair of horses towed up the main 
river, and also up the Kedgwick, as far as McDougall’s 
Brook, eighty-four miles from Fraser’s, the site of the 
present home and main club house of the Ristigouche 
Salmon Club at Metapedia Station. There the driver 
was dismissed, and four delightful weeks were spent by 
the angler, dropping down the stream from day to day 
and from one pool to another. The veteran artist has 
assured me, over and over again, that this was one of 
the most enjoyable trips of a long lifetime. The river 
was indescribably beautiful and there were plenty of fish. 
Mr. Brackett made no attempt tO' obtain a renewal of 
his lease, for he knew that it had been promised to four 
Canadian gentlemen of wealth and influence — Mr. George 
Stephen (now Lord Mountstephen), who got the Met- 
pedia; Sir Hugh Allan, the Upsalquitch, and Sir Sand- 
ford Fleming and Mr. C. J. Brydges, late manager of the 
Grand Trunk Railway, who were given the main river. 
They paid $20 each per year for the control and fishing 
of the whole of the Ristigouche water, the annual value 
of which to-day probably exceeds $50,000. It may be 
mentioned, too, that the fishing of the Grand Cascapedia, 
which was offered to Mr. Brackett for $50 a year, now 
yields the Government of the Province of Quebec $8,500 
per annum for only a portion of the river. 
Some Salmon Fishing Experiences. 
Before me, as I write, are some of Mr. Brackett’s let- 
ters, and as I have referred above to the fact that the 
first salmon killed by him was taken from the Dennys 
River in Maine, I must not forget to say that my genial 
old friend, who, like mysqlf, believes in hewing as closely 
as possible to the line of strict exactness in the telling of 
fish and fishing experiences, frankly admits that he lost 
his first fish, though he killed his second, third and fourth 
ones. From the related experiences of many of my ang- 
ling friends and acquaintances, I believe it is rather the 
rule than the exception for the novice tO' lose his first 
fish. My own personal experience does not bear me out 
in this respect, but then I have always been more fortu- 
nate than I deserved to be, though I had^ not the good 
luck to be born under the constellation Pisces. 
Mr. Brackett’s father had been a salmon fisherman 
before him, having aroused the son’s ambition to follow 
in his steps, by his tales of killing salmon with a fly in 
the Kennebec; and Walter himself was a proficient trout 
angler when he fought and lost his first salmon, having 
met with much success at Lake Umbagog and in other 
parts of Maine. It is not much wonder that even the 
most accomplished trout fisherman should lose some of 
his presence of mind in the excitement of playing his first 
salmon, and should find it difficult to maintain exactly 
the proper amount of pressure upon the fish to avoid both 
the giving of a slack line and the using of too much 
fprce, Some novices do remarkable things under the ip- 
fluence of the excitement of their first salmon, and the 
effect upon fny own cardiac region, of the leaps of a huge, 
lively mass of silvery fish at the end of my line, prevents 
me from experiencing the slightest surprise at anything 
that is done under such circumstances, even though the 
sportsman- be proof against any such trifling weakness as 
buck fever, for instance. 
I once acconypanied one of the oldest and best trout 
fishermen of New England upon his first expedition 
against the salmon. His first fish having been hooked 
for him by his guide, all who heard the screech of the 
reel ran to see_ the novice play the salmon. He was a 
prime favorite in camp and everybody was anxious that 
1^ should kill the fish, for they were -rising very poorly. 
But nOi sooner had he taken the rod in his hand than it 
straightened- rs cruckly as it had bowed a minute before, 
and the line cuic back minus the fly and half the casting- 
line. My friend had suddenly forgotten all his reading 
up on the subject in the pages of Wells and Forrester 
and the others, and all the verbal instructions which had 
been poured into his ears, and in the excitement of his 
fiist salmon had grasped both rod and line together in 
the hollow of his hand, while the fish was running, with 
the inevitable result that something had to give way. 
Mr. Brackett does not explain in the letter before me 
how he came to lose his first salmon, but there are, of 
course, many fish lost through no fault at all of the 
angler. Some are poorly hooked and the hook tears out. 
Occasionally it happens that the fish manages to get 
among logs or roots or other obstructions in the water 
from^ which it is impossible to restrain him, and so fouls 
the line. At others he may run beyond the angler’s con- 
trol, where the character of the water, the absence of a 
canoe or some other cause prevents the fisherman from 
following him. In such an event, of course, if the fish 
proves refractory, something must break. 
I have followed fish in a canoe for the greater part of 
a mile, and it is related of the Rev. Dr. Rainsford, that 
upon one occasion he was towed four miles down the 
Ristigouche by a large foully hooked salmon, which 
promised at one stage of the game to take him right out 
to sea. 
Mr. Brackett tells of some- exciting runs down rapids 
in birch-bark canoes, while fast to 30 or 35-pound salmon, 
and also to some red-letter days of splendid sport. On 
one of^ the latter he left his camp on tire Ste. Marguerite 
at 5 o’clock in the ev^ening to be poled tO' a pool four 
miles up the river. He killed one fish on the way and 
seven more at his destination, returning to camp in time 
to eat supper by daylight, and bringing with him eight 
fish of a total weight of 213 pounds. 
The Life History of Immature Salmon, 
\¥ere it not so well known that unlike the sea trout 
which is so often found near the estuaries of rivers, the 
smolt disappear at once from the realm of observation 
upon reaching the salt water from the streams whence 
they derived their birth and infant nurture, it would be 
more surprising than it is that scientific investigation suc- 
ceeds in adding so little to our limited stock of knowl- 
edge concerning the life history of immature salmon. 
English newspapers of a recent date reported the fact 
that Mr. W. L. Calderwood, of the Royal Society of 
Edinburgh, had secured a specimen of a small salmon 
weighing about a pound and measuring fourteen inches 
in length, which was evidently in a transition stage from 
the condition of a smolt to that of a grilse. The secur- 
ing of this .specimen is considered rather remarkable, for 
while in this state of transititon, the young salmon are 
somewhere in salt water quite beyond the pale of ordi- 
nary observation. Mr. Calderwood is understood to re- 
gard the size and time at which this specimen was se- 
cured as tending to dissipate the idea so long held, that 
only three or four months were required for the growth 
of the fish from the smolt stage of about three ounces 
in weight to that of a grilse of 3 or 4 pounds. 
E. T. D. Chambers. 
Stocked Stream Public Waters? 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Something has been said about the case of the Rome 
Fish and Game Protective Association against E. O. 
Worden. As this case is one of general interest to cit- 
izens and taxpayers, and of particular interest to all those 
interested in fish protection and propagation, it may be 
well to state the facts distinctly. The Rome Fish and 
Game Protective Association is an incorporated associa- 
tion, whose object it is tO' stock the waters of Oneida 
county with fish, and to see that the protective laws are 
enforced. One of the streams stocked by them with fish 
from State hatcheries is Golley Brook. Under the law, 
on the application of a town board, the Forest, Fish and 
Game Commission can close a stream to all fishing for 
a limited period of years. The object of this provision is 
to allow fish tO' propagate naturally, in order that the 
waters in which they are placed, or to which those are 
tributary, may be replenished. The law specifies that 
streams thus closed are “public inland waters.” The de- 
fendant, who is an attorney, made the point that “public 
inland swaters” are navigable waters only. On the trial, 
his coun.sel, Mr. M. H. Powers, made his argument on 
this point, and raised continuous objections to every 
question asked by Mr. C. H. Wiggins, the attorney for 
the Rome Association. It was shown that the original 
owner . of the . land, through which Golley Brook flows, 
not only agreed to the planting of fish from State, hatch- 
eries therein, but favored the protection of those fish until 
they could reach the lawful size. The court decided 
against the contention of Mr. Worden. The attorney for 
the Association made the point that the stream had been 
stocked with the consent of the original owner of the 
land through which it flowed, and that subsequent owmers 
had raised no objection to the continuance of this stock- 
ing, although they were aware that it was being done. 
The case has been appealed. Mr. Worden also- has been 
sued by the Forest, Fish and Game Commission for the 
penalty provided by law for taking trout from closed 
w^aters. 
The section under which the suit was brought was 
enacted by the Legislature for the purpose of providing a 
general law under which the Commission could act, in 
ij view of the fact that each year several counties were 
[Sept. 23, 1905. 
a.sking for legislation providing for the closing of streams' 
m a similar way. The law simply states that if the owner 
of the land through which a stream flows shall apply to 
have it stocked with fish from a State hatchery, the water 
so stocked shall be open to public fishing. A contract 
is here implied, and the fairness of the proposition will be 
seen when it is remembered that the State hatcheries are 
supported by money raised by public taxation. The law ' 
does- not contemplate that any water shall become public 
Water by the planting of fish raised in the State hatchery 
unless the owner or his agent applies for the fish, and the ^ 
application blanks furnished by the Commission state , 
distinctly that the fish furnished are to be planted in ■ 
“public waters.” Fish have a distinct commercial value, 
and, inasmuch as no person can take public property for 
private use without due compensation, it follows that 
anybody applying for fish from a State hatchery on the 
blanks furnished by the Commission, with the intent to 
deceive is liable to an action for the value of the property 
which he sequesters. This fact seems to have been over- 
looked by those who have recently attempted to close to the 
public streams like the Beaverkill and the Willowemoc 
and others. It remains for the higher courts to decide 
whether or not this law is good law. 
John D. Whish, 
Sec’y, Forest, Fish and Game Commission. 
Musical Fishes. 
Orovxlle, Cali. — Editor Forest and Stfeam: In the 
Northern Crown, a neat little monthly magazine pub- 
lished at Ukiah, in northwestern California, is an article 
telling something of singing fish, and while fish stories in 
that particular line are not altogether new, they are com- 
paratively rare, though related as facts, and the story 
mentioned is given as a bona fide contribution to the 
piscatorial branch of natural history. Generally, people 
are in ignorance of the fact that any of the finny tribe 
are endowed with the faculty of speech, though if I mis- 
take not, the catfish is so called from his habit of purring 
under certain circumstances. A couple of years ago I 
caught a perch in the surf off the beach of Golden Gate 
Park, and handling him rather roughly, was- surprised to 
hear him murmur a protest. Surprised, yet thinking the 
sound plight have been caused by the escape of water, 
from his throat, even as liquid gurgles when emptied 
from a jug, I hit the perch another rap and he distinctly 
muttered another protest. And there was nobody around 
either who could have perpetrated a ventriloquist joke 
upon me. I have seen the theory offered, too, that fish 
are msensible to pain, but if that rap I gave the perch 
didn’t hurt him, why did he cry out? 
I believe that much more could be said in affirmation 
of the opinion that the sound was really caused by some 
kind of fish peculiar to Big River, and also to Puget 
Sound waters. 
As a matter of fact, nearly all wild animals have notes 
that are not comnionly known of to humans. I can attest 
to- the song of singing mice, and there are gophers who 
have notes that are rare and used only on certain occa- 
sions. Birds also. My knowledge of these have made 
me feel friendly toward the animal stories — biographies-— 
which have had such a run the past few years, and I have 
always felt that John Burroughs did Ernest Thompson 
Seton an injustice in throwing discredit upon the latter’s 
fanciful tales, though they did seem a little far fetched. 
I cannot mail this without quoting, as apropos, the 
humorous line, just now going the rounds, to the effect 
that while fish are unable to talk, the whale, just the same, 
is a great spouter. Wm. Fitzmuggins. 
The story referred to in the Northern Crown is en- 
titled “Big River and Its Singing Fish,” and was written 
by Eugene Jamison Cox. It is as follows; 
“None of these streams, the Garcia, the Gualala, the 
Albion, the Noyo, Big River and others following west- 
ward to the Pacific Ocean, from the coast range of 
Mendocino county could appropriately be called big. 
They are full and roaring in winter, but in the dry 
season are shallow excepting deep pools and stretches 
until they near tidal water, within a few miles of the 
sea, where they assume a considerable amount of 
dignity. _ These streams, so similar in general character- 
istics, wind through a vast range of picturesque diversi- 
fied mountains, exquisite in coloring. 
“Glimpses of quiet scenery along their margins, blend 
with wild views of hilltops, blue distance and changing 
skies, into dreams of beauty, into almost audible tones 
of harmony. Sweet-scented azaleas, rhododendron 
blossoms, masses of_ fern, tangles of low foliage and 
trees, massive sequoi and exhilarating air, are always 
associated with these westward streams in memory. 
One sunless tract of many trees near a river is recalled, 
among them several giant sequoi having enameled-look- 
ing snow-white growths of the redwood, from four to . 
six feet in height, growing from the wet soil up around 
their trunks. These delicate feathery sprays seemed so 
unusual— freakish. They were beautiful. 
“Big River from a source near Orr’s Hot Springs, 
traverses miles to the sea. Within six miles of the 
sea a boom, or dam of logs, constructed years ago for 
milling purposes, crosses the river. Seaward from the 
boom, the river expands and deepens and soon spreads 
with the waves of the bay. Standing thus at the head 
of the tide water the boom must now appear a monu- 
ment of the -river’s past life and usefulness. On its 
wet surface, time is surely tracing its sad inscription. ■ 
The railway looks down smilingly, triumphantly on the 
river, peacefully stretched at the. foot of its decaying 
mossy head stone. With the slow crumbling of time 
and the shifting position of the logs on the river, do 
the fish still sing at the boom. 
“Singing Fish, a noise known by that name, was 
several years ago and is no doubt to-day, a distinctive, 
strangely unique feature of the river. A peculiar sound 
may be heard on the river, near the hour of midnight 
in the month of September, near the boom. Tradition 
states, only near the hour of midnight only in Sep- 
tember, near the boom. 
“The cause of this noise, which seems to have existed 
with the years is still unknown. The noise was in- 
vestigated man-y_ years ago, by naturalists from San 
Jose, so the writer was informed, who advanced thq 
