Oct. 7, 1905.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
29S 
the hunter and the fisherman. When I first became ac- 
quainted with that region, in 1876, it was an unbroken 
wilderness covering an area of 100 square miles, with only- 
two or three houses in the whole region. It was a 
famous hunting ground. The northern end of it was 
called Canada, the southern end Canaan. It has a rather 
firm place in my memory from the fact that the first 
camping out I ever did was in the northern end of this 
region, when I was fifteen years old. The expedition was 
of several days’ duration. It is something which I deem 
worth mentioning that a boy who^ was with me on that 
occasion, in 1876, afterward became the discoverer of 
Chilcoot Pass, in Alaska, the highway to the Klondyke, 
through which the railroad was afterward built. 
The Canaan valley was for two* or three generations 
the most famous hunting ground in West Virginia. The 
last elk killed in the State was shot there in 1856. When 
I first knew the region, deer, bears and panthers were 
plentiful, although I never bothered them and they never 
bothered me. 
When I visited the valley a few weeks ago the country 
was transformed. Instead of being a wilderness, it is a 
series of fine meadows, thickly dotted with farmhouses. 
A splehdid highway runs down the valley. I entered the 
southern end and followed the road to Black Fork, four 
or five miles distant. The stream is crossed by a steel 
bridge. The last time I was there I crawled across on a 
cherry log. The banks of the stream were then dense 
masses of brush. In some places they are that way yet, 
but the stream is different. The lumberman has done his 
work, with the usual result. At the point where the 
bridge crosses, the bed of the creek was filled with several 
hundred sawlogs, ready to float to Davis on the next 
flood. The current was never strong, and it is now s 5 
sluggish that movement is scarcely visible. 
This was once the finest trout fishing, but' is not so now. 
I found a camp of fishers on the bank of the stream, con- 
sisting of about a dozen persons, men and women. They 
had a wagon and horses. They seemed to be satisfied 
with their success, although they had caught only one fish, 
a trout as long as a lead pencil. They had it on exhibi- 
tion, and pointed to- it with unconcealed pride, and with 
hilarious laughter. I suppose the campers were summer 
visitors from some city, as they seemed unused to coun- 
try ways. The young ladies were making awkward but 
commendable efforts to ride the horses bareback up and 
down the road. I am quite sure they would not know 
how to use sidesaddles. 
I was impressed with the view these campers took of 
fishing.' They found more satisfaction with that one 
trout, than the three porcine bipeds previously mentioned 
found with the 900 which they caught and wasted. The 
hunter or fisherman who has the true instincts finds, his 
pleasure in the wild, free life of the forest, in the pure 
air, in the romance of the woods or the beauty of river 
and brook, and not in the mere number of his catches. 
I passed on down the Canaan valley, and saw nothing 
but burned woods, outside the fields that had been cleared. 
The streams were choked with trash in which fish could 
not live. Passing out of Canaan valley, and some six or 
eight miles after crossing Backbone Mountain, I found a 
stream in which ! had caught many a trout in years gone 
by. I tried it again with very poor success. Only a few 
small trout could be found. It was another case of a 
stream that had been fished to death. I was told that un- 
principled persons had killed practically all the fish in the 
stream with dynamite. A man who is mean enough to 
dynamite trout is fit for treason. Yet I am told that it 
has frequently been done. 
I had now reached the waters of Horseshoe Run, in 
Tucker county. I followed that stream to its mouth and 
came to Cheat River, some twenty-five miles south of 
Rowlesburg. I made a boat and started down the river. 
That stream was once as good bass fishing as could be 
found in the State, and there were plenty of catfish and 
wall-eyed pike. I was told that fish are still plentiful, but 
the water is so foul that the fish are tainted and are unfit 
for use. The tanneries at Davis and Parsons, and the 
paper mills, discharge into the river, and the water is 
basely contaminated. The fish survive, but they are unfit 
for any respectable fisherman’s line. Further down the 
stream they are said not tO' be so bad. I floated down the 
river eleven miles, but I made no effort to catch anything. 
The black and reeking water turned my thoughts from 
Ihe subject of catching fish. 
Taken all in all, my expedition through the most se- 
cluded and rugged part of the State convinced me that 
fish and wild game are practically things of the past, and 
I had doubts whether game laws and game wardens 
would ever again be needed in this part of the State. But 
while talking of the matter with L. E. Friend, the Mor- 
gantown photographer, he gave reason for taking a 
brighter view of the situation. He had just returned 
from his old home in Garret county, Md., and told me 
that since the lumbermen have ceased operations there 
the streams have cleared their channels of offal from the 
sawmills, and fish are once more plentiful. It was neces- 
sary to stock some of the creeks where the fish had be- 
come extinct. When the lumberman finishes his labors 
in West Virginia, perhaps our creeks can be made ten- 
able again But that is in the far future, because our 
forests will last a long time. 
Pfotectof Pond. 
This letter from Mr. Nelson O. Tiffany, president of 
the Erie County Society for the Study and Protection of 
Song Birds, Fish and Game, reflects, we take it, the feel- 
ing of sportsmen and protective associations through the 
State as to the service Major Pond has rendered as chief 
game and fish protector : 
“Buffalo. N. Y.. Aug. 24, 1905.— Major J. Warren 
Pond, Chief Game Protector, Albany, N. Y. : My Dear 
Major-— I was delighted to receive yours of the 22d, and 
to realize that you are still with the Department. I saw 
a statement that you had resigned, and I regretted ex- 
ceedingly that the Department was to lose your ability 
and experience. 
“You have filled the position, I am sure, to the satis- 
faction of all who are seeking to enforce the protection 
laws. I trust that the newspaper report that you have 
l-fsjgned is not correct, and am, sincerely yours, 
' “N^son 0. Tiffany" 
A New Brunswick Moose. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Some of your readers may be interested in what has 
come under the observation of one who has just returned 
from a hunting expedition in the woods of New Bruns- 
wick, Canada. 
For this trip the point of leaving the railway was 
Doaktown, a station on the Canadian Eastern, and the 
hunting region in the vicinity of Meswall Pond, some 
fifteen miles to the southwest. This pond, including its 
marshy shores, may be a mile in length and a half-mile 
wide. It is so shallow that moose can walk about in al- 
most the whole area, and has a flat surrounding country. 
Some five or six miles to the south is the Cains River, 
with an almost trailless forest intervening, while in all 
directions it is surrounded by. thickly wooded country for 
considerable distance. ■ Camp was made near one end of 
the, lake under the direction of Thomas Weaver, guide, 
and Miles Marohey, cook. .We got things into shape dur- 
ing the afternoon of the 14th — the day before the opening 
of the season. Following this moose were seen in the 
early morning and late afternoon of almost every day 
feeding in the waters and about the shore, usually, how- 
ever, at points most distant from our camp, but with the 
aid of a good field glass could be, in most instances, quite 
clearly observed. In nearly all cases those seen would 
prove to be cows or calves. For the first four days but 
two bulls were seen. One was approached to within 
some 200 yards, but as the head carried small horns (the 
animal being smaller than the average cow) he was 
allowed tO' go his way in safety. 
No moose were encountered in still-hunting in the 
woods. Upon the fifth morning,, before the light was 
good, I saw a bull with what appeared to be a fair head. 
He was approached to within what afterward turned out 
to be 225 3'ards, and I concluded to take my chances, I 
firing as he presented a side view. The only effect of 
this shot was a startled jump that turned him head to- 
ward me ; my second shot following quickly he reared 
on his hind legs, turning and making off with full side 
view exposed; wuth my third shot he stopped short, his 
rear legs giving way, head going up and then pitching 
over on his side. So far as I or my guide could see not 
a motion was made, even with his feet, and when we 
reached the point he was found “stone dead.” The head 
proved to be rather disappointing, the spread being only 
a trifle over forty inches ; measured around the curve of 
the horns, however, the distance was over sixty inches. 
The shape of horn was not wholly characteristic of the 
moose. The gun used was a .35 caliber Winchester. My 
guide being in a good position to observe, insisted that 
the moose had been struck only by the . last ■ shot, and in 
the position which he lay, the result of this was the only 
one that appeared, it being one squarely through the body 
from side to side, well back of the shoulders. When re- 
moving the hide a bullet from which the jacket had been 
stripped, was found back of the hip, lodged against the 
skin. .As the skinning proceeded it was found that this 
bullet had entered the side of the neck a foot or more in 
front of the shoulder on the side opposite from where 
founds it having traversed diagonally almost the longest ■ 
possible course through the length of the body. Anyone 
who has observed the tremendous tearing effect of these 
heavy, high velocity mushrooming bullets, will under- 
stand about what sort of state of affairs was found when 
the carcass was opened ; it seemed as though the interior 
had been all torn in shreds. Death must have speedily 
followed, although the animal would nrobably have gone 
considerable distance. The' cross bullet passed through 
the heart, (an unusually large organ in the moose) and 
in this instance at least, death followed immediately. 
Wounds to other internal organs than the heart, in ani- 
mals of a strenuous nature, do not appear to produce 
such a shocking effect in the bone or muscular system. 
Two years ago, in the Maine woods, while alone, I shot a 
deer as he was going from me ; without the least sign 
of a stagger, and with one bound he went into the brush 
and out of sight. Searching, I found a blood trail which 
I marked, and then went back to camp. Returning an hour 
or so later with my guide, we trailed for about 100 yards, 
where we found the deer dead. Apparently he had 
traveled until he had dropped in this position. It was 
found that the ball (from this same .35 caliber rifle) had 
entered the flank and passed out in front of the shoulder 
on the opposite side, the trail of the bullet being almost 
exactly as in the case of the moose, and the effect even 
worse because in the body of a smaller animal. 
With the moose taken, my attention to this species of 
game was filled, and we made our search for caribou. 
Still, moose were seen about the pond without searching 
effort on our part, and I had further opportunities of ob- 
serving their action. In this pond, if there had been a 
growth of lilies, they had entirely disappeared, but much 
of the bottom was covered with a growth of short grass- 
like vegetation, and this appeared to afford the attraction 
for moose. I had previously supposed that when feeding 
in water they seized hold of what was attractive to them, 
and after withdrawing their heads from the water, pro- 
ceeded with masticating what they had gathered. From 
my observation at this pond I am satisfied that with their 
heads down in the water they graze and masticate in the 
same manner that cattle do, for example, when at pasture, 
withdrawing their heads only to take new breath. They 
would keep their heads down, often entirely submerged, 
from forty-five seconds to one minute, and after a brief 
interval out, return to their under-water feeding. When 
alert, and with the air still, it is surprising how far they 
can detect a slight sound of the human voice, and with 
what speed so large and heavy an animal can trot away 
over the marshy ground that is so yielding that it is 
almost impossible for a human being to pass ove-r at all. 
Upon one morning I saw fourteen moose, all in sight at 
one time, from one position of observation. I do not, 
however, think there was a. single bull among thevi. On 
the evening of a later day of my stay, I saw in the pond 
a moose with the sort of a head I had hoped to get. 
From his position and the direction of the wind it would 
have been an easy matter to have approached to within 
about 200 yards. Aided by a field glass we watched for 
a half an hour, during which period he remained feeding 
at almost the same spot. As he would put his head down 
in the water my guide remarked there appeared to be 
room enough between his horns to paddle a canoe. This 
was one of the cases where I regretted my having been 
so “quick on the trigger.” In traversing the region for 
miles about this pond, moose signs were plentifully seen 
everywhere, and almost equally sO' those of deer. By the 
calendar the season was at hand when bulls should have 
come to call, but we were not able to get any, response 
save on the first night which was before the opening of 
the season, and was the only cold, frosty night during 
our stay in the woods. Mr. Weaver attributed this in- 
ability to get response to the out-of-season warm weather, 
accompanied as it was by so much wind and rain. ThHe 
was only one cow call heard, and that on our last night 
in camp. 
No success attended my hunting for caribou, though 
fairly fresh signs were seen. The caribou grounds were 
situated so that it required a walk of five or six miles to 
reach them. This ten or twelve miles’ walk through forest 
trails of itself constitutes not a small part of a day’s 
work, leaving only the middle and unfavorable portion 
of the day for hunting. We should have moved o.ur 
camp into the caribou region after disposing of the 
moose. 
Digressing from my subject to that of gun caliber, and 
adding my quota to, the mass of conflicting opinions 
given, would say that long ago I carried the .38-56. With 
the advent of the high power, small caliber sporting, I 
carried a .30-30 Winchester carbine. For the past four 
seasons I have had the .35, and for large game pin my 
faith tO' this arm, though I usually take my .30 caliber 
with me into camp where I can. I believe that the .35 
caliber has superior stopping powers to any other rifle, 
other than possibly the .405. Its 24-inch barrel with the 
weight well concentrated about the breech, makes it an. 
arm that can be carried easily in thick woods and quickly 
gotten mto position. With mine I have never, so far as 
I know, given a deer a wound and have him escape; save 
in the instance here noted, everyone has been stopped 
short with one shot. Where one wants the .30 caliber I 
am strongly inclined to the carbine. So far as my obfier- 
vation goes, the penetration and accuracy of this does not 
differ materially from that of the full length rifle, while 
its light w'eight and shortness makes it much handier. I 
have all my rifles fitted with Lyman sights. TO' me these 
appear superior for every kind of shooting, and particu- 
larly so for quick work at a moving object. 
In coming out of the woods I was favored with a sight 
that is not often the privilege of the sportsman hunter. 
A wagon having come in the evening before, we broke 
camp with the first light of day, in a drizzling rain. With 
the loading of the equipage my guide and self started on 
foot ahead. We had gone some three miles, and I had 
just a few minutes before shot the head from a partridge 
that appeared in the road. The woods being rather free 
from underbrush, I had walked rather faster and was 
something like 100 yards in advance of my guide, when 
my eyes fell on a large bull moose not more than seventy- 
five yards av/a}3 and a little to one side of the trail, he 
standing looking at me. I, of course, stopped short, 
when this fellow commenced advancing directly toward 
me. He would advance a few steps, stop, shake his head 
and utter those fierce grunts. The guide (Weaver) com- 
ing up in no way deterred this advance, which was con- 
tinued until he was not more than twenty-five or thirty 
yards distant. Mr. Weaver, by shouting and throwing 
sticks, stopped his advancing farther, and he turned and 
went off into the woods, showing, however, nO' particular 
hurry in doing so. I wanted the opportunity- of shooting 
and was in hopes that he wmuld “charge,” giving. me jus- 
tification. He was rather a large fellow with a spread 
of' horns apparently of nearly sixty inches. One can 
readily understand that he presented a formidable appear- 
ance in his advancing maneuvers. Mr. Weaver tells me 
that in his thirty years’ experience as woodsman and 
guide, he never but once before saw a mqose act in this 
manner, although he had frequently heard of their doing 
so. Had I been free to take a moose I would have shot 
him on first seeing him, and thus been deprived of the 
sight that followed, which in itself was worth a trip into 
the woods. 
While I did not succeed in getting a caribou I feel tfiat 
the hunt was a success, and that my guide did all, that 
could be done. I also wish to acknowledge obligations 
for courtesies to Mr. George E. Weathen, the Superior 
School teacher of Doaktown, who is, besides, an ardent 
sportsman. Also to Mr. Daniel Doak, who has -leased 
privileges about the pond. All parties I met -in New 
Brunswick expressed kindly interest and appeared to wel- 
come visiting sportsmen. They all, residents and guides, 
so far as I had conversation with them, express disap- 
proval of the act increasing the license fee from $30 to 
$50. E. Graves. 
Naw Jersey, Sept. 30, 
Tennessee Game. 
Sportsmen generally will be much pleased to learn that 
owing to the effectiveness of the game law of 1903 
Tennessee has more quail than for many years. The sea- 
son opens Nov. i, and as the prospects for fine quail 
shooting are splendid, many sportsmen from other States 
will probably avail themselves of the opportunities for 
sport, particularly as the Tennessee game laws are ex- 
ceedingly liberal to non-residents, the license fee being 
only $10 for the whole State, and the shooter is not 
limited as to the amount or kind of game he takes, home 
with him. Reelfoot Lake, in Obion and Lake. counties, 
is perhaps the finest ducking preserve in this country.' It 
is not owned or controlled by any club, and visiting 
sportsmen can be supplied with boats, decoys and guides 
at very moderate rates. 
The lake can be easily reached by vehicle, either from' 
Obion or Union City, Tenn,., from both places hacks run 
regularly. Parties coming, by way of Memphis- should 
stop off at Obion, all others at Union City. W. E. Pr^tt 
keeps the hotel at Samberg, on the lake, and P. C. Ward 
at Walnut Log. Both supply guides and boats. The' 
State w.arden at Nashville, Tenn., issues all licenses, and 
his _ department will furnish any particular information 
desired, 
THE MANY-USE OIL 
Cleans out stnokel?S§ powder; keeps bore bright and for- use. 
—>4 d.7}. ‘ . . . f 
