432 
FOREST AND STREAM 
August, 1920 
DR.J.A.HENSHALL’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
A RECORD OF MANY INTERESTING TRIPS TO FAMOUS FISHING WATERS IN 
THE UNITED STATES, CANADA AND CUBA DURING THE EARLY EIGHTIES 
F ROM 1882 to i88o I made a number 
of little journeys to various fishing 
localities. One was made to Goge- 
bic Lake and Eagle Waters in northern 
Wisconsin. The chief incentive for this 
trip was owing to a report that a new 
species of black bass, known as “razor- 
back”, existed in Gogebic Lake; and also 
to determine whether the true masca- 
longe inhabited Eagle Waters, which 
was a matter of some contention. Goge- 
bic Lake had just been made more ac- 
cessible by the completion of a railroad 
running within five miles, and a hotel 
and cottages had been erected to accom- 
modate the throng of tourists and ang- 
lers who had been attracted by the unu- 
sual abundance of black bass said to in- 
habit its waters. I found that this ru- 
mor had not been exaggerated, but the 
black bass was in a fair way to be ex- 
terminated by the handline and trolling 
spoon in the hands of summer tourists 
and fish-hogs, masquerading under the 
name of sportsmen, but who were taking 
the name of angler in vain. 
I found the lake to be a fine body of 
water, some fifteen miles in length, but 
of no great width, its shape resembling, 
somewhat, a human leg. The inlet, at 
its head, was Slate river, and its outlet, 
Ontanogon river, both good trout 
streams. The head of the lake, being 
rocky and gravelly, was the feeding 
ground of small-mouth bass, while the 
large-mouth resorted to the “toe”, which 
was more weedy. The “heel” of the lake, 
while not a “No 
Man’s Land”, or a 
“Tom T i d 1 e r ’ s 
Ground”, was used 
by both species in 
common, in about 
equal numbers, and 
on this account fur- 
nished a means for 
a practical demon- 
stration to deter- 
mine the compara 
tive gameness of 
the two species ; 
and it was there t 
proven and decided 
a number of times 
that the angler 
could not tell, by 
betting or guessing, 
whether the bass at 
the end of his line 
was a small-mouth 
or a large-mouth 
until it was 
brought to the 
landing-net. And 
It was also shown 
that the previous 
opinion entertained 
by the honest ang- 
ler in regard to the 
matter was mostly 
SIXTEENTH PAPER 
due to prejudice or hearsay, and not to 
practical experimental demonstration. 
I took a large number of the so-called 
“razor-back” bass of different sizes, and 
they proved to be all small-mouth bass 
infected with a small tapeworm, but not 
the same species that affects mankind. 
The characteristic sharp ridge of the 
back was due to the shrinkage of the 
dorsal muscles owing to lack of nutri- 
tion, the food of the fish being mostly 
assimilated by the parasites which har- 
bored in its intestines and abdominal 
cavity. But for the absence of plump- 
ness, the infected fish was not unwhole- 
some as food after it had been properly 
dressed and cleaned. 
D URING that visit to northern Wis- 
consin I found that the mascalonge 
was common to many of its lakes, 
and I was fortunate to take one in Big 
St. Germain lake that weighed forty-five 
pounds. Its head, which filled a six- 
quart tin bucket, I took to Milwaukee to 
be mounted by a taxidermist. It is now 
at the Federal Hatchery at Bozeman, 
Montana. 
One day, before leaving Gogebic lake, 
my companion and I were sitting on the 
porch of our cottage admiring the sunset 
and waiting for supper. A boat con- 
taining two ladies was nearing the 
wharf, one standing up in the stern, and 
as the boat struck the steps of the wharf 
she was thrown backward and headlong 
into the water. Hearing her scream, 
the rower turned just in time to grab 
her by the ankle. Running swiftly 
toward them I shouted: “Let her go; 
you’ll drown her; the water is but three 
feet deep!” I succeeded in getting the 
lady out and on to the steps of the 
wharf. After she had recovered from 
her fright I assisted her to the hotel. 
She was a lady from Milwaukee, whom 
I happened to know, and was sister to 
the wife of the proprietor of the hotel, 
who was the other occupant of the boat. 
The stairway to the upper floor of the 
hotel ascended from the veranda, and as 
the lady reached the upper floor there 
was a scream and I saw a blaze of fire 
at the head of the stairs. Rushing up 
I found that the lady, in her confused 
state of mind, had knocked a lamp from 
its bracket, and a lake of fire was 
spreading rapidly toward a portiere in 
the doorway opposite. Just at this junc- 
ture a chamber maid came running with 
a pail of water. As she approached I 
warned her not to throw it on the fire 
as it would make matters worse. I then 
opened the nearest door, snatched the 
clothes from the bed, and just as I did 
so discovered that the bed was occupied* 
but whether by a male or female I did 
not wait to determine. I soon smothered 
the fire, but did not dare to return the 
bed clothing to the room. The next 
morning I bid the lady good-bye, saying 
that after going through fire and water 
for her I could not tell what might hap- 
pen next, and that I thought it best to 
leave at once. She 
promised to return 
my handkerchiefs 
that I had lent her 
to wipe the water 
from her face and 
neck, but as she 
never did so, I pre- 
sume she kept them 
as souvenirs of a 
chapter of disas- 
ters, in which she 
was the center. 
The “C. O.” in Arkansas. Off for a bear hunt 
I HAD received a 
cordial invita- 
tion from Dr. 
Baxter, then Sur- 
geon-General of the 
U. S. Army, to visit 
his lodge on the 
Restigouche river 
in New Brunswick, 
for a week’s salmon 
fishing. My friend, 
Dr. W. W. Dawson, 
a prominent sur- 
geon of Cincinnati, 
and at the time the 
President of the 
American Medical 
Association, being 
very desirous to go 
