448 
OREST AND STREAM 
F 
I found wire and twigs all matted to- 
gether. No wonder the wrens gave it up! 
The wires were in pieces from one to four 
inches, and were old remnants of chicken 
wire, and the wood was from a plum tree, 
hard and tough. In the future I will 
make a door at the back large enough 
to clean them out. It was new to me to 
know that a bird used old rusty pieces 
of chicken wire to build a nest. Perhaps 
others will tell me its an old trick. 
H. L. Allen, 
Prince Bay, N. Y., June 10, ’20. 
AMERICAN CANOE ASSOCIATION 
NOTES 
IN accord with Article XII of the Con- 
•* stitution, notice is hereby given that 
the following amendments will be pro- 
posed at the next meeting of the Execu- 
tive Committee of the American Canoe 
Association, to wit: 
Article VI, Section 10, on Page 12 of 
the 1917 Year-Book by adding after the 
word “Association” in the tenth line, the 
words “or a copy of the suggested amend- 
ment has been mailed to each member to 
his last known post office address.” 
Article X to be amended by adding 
after the word “Organs,” in the fifteenth 
line on page thirteen, the words “or a 
copy of said application has been mailed 
to each member of the Association to his 
last known post office address.” 
After the word “Publication” in the 
eighteenth line, change the “of” to “or.” 
And on page fourteen, strike out in the 
third line after the word “Notice,” “in 
one of the official organs.” 
Amend Article XII by adding after 
the word “upon” in the fifth line, the 
words “or a copy of suggested amend- 
ment has been mailed to each member to 
his last known post office address.” 
After the word “Publication” in the 
seventh line, the words “or notice.” 
The following amendments will be of- 
fered to the By-Laws by striking out the 
words “to the official organ for publica- 
tion in the next issue” in the thirteenth 
line of Chapter 1, Section 1. 
Chapter IX to be amended by striking 
out “in time for publication” in the 
twenty-fourth line. 
Chapter XIII to be amended by adding 
after the word “organs,” in the fourth 
line, the words “or a copy of suggested 
amendment has been mailed to each mem- 
ber to his last known post office address.” 
The Racing Regulations to be amended 
in Rule XXVIII after the word “Associa- 
tion,” in the fourth line, the words “or 
a copy of said proposed amendment has 
been mailed to each member to, his last 
known post office address.” 
Notice is also given that at the next 
meeting of the Executive Committee an 
amendment will be proposed to Chapter 
1, Sections 1, 2 and 3 of the By-Laws 
in relation to changing the amount of 
dues of the Association from the present 
rate to an increased amount, such amount 
to be determined upon by the Committee 
after a full discussion thereof. 
At the present time, owing to the ne- 
cessities of the times, the present rate of 
dues do not bring in a sufficient revenue 
to meet the expenses of the Association, 
and it is proposed at the next meeting of 
the Executive Committee to consider the 
advisability of reconsidering the action 
taken at the last meeting of the Execu- 
tive Committee and propose an increase 
in the dues, not to exceed Five Dollars 
per annum. 
The language of such an amendment 
will be practically the same as at present 
appearing in the Year-Book of 1918-19, 
with the exception that the amount of the 
proposed dues will be included. 
Robert J. Wilken. 
Payne L. Kretzmer. 
A TALE OF TWO WOODCOCK 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
M R. ALEC. CRATER, a prominent 
resident of Bound Brook, New Jer- 
sey, a real sportsman and game protector, 
has two mounted woodcock, that he did 
not shoot, but which were killed and pre- 
sented to him, in a most unusual manner. 
Thirty-six years ago, while working in 
a powder mill near Lake Hopatcong, Mr. 
Crater, with twelve others, was working 
Woodcock killed by explosion 
in one building, making the unlucky num- 
ber, thirteen. Lucky for some, and un- 
lucky for others. 
Mr. Crater, with two others, came out 
of the building and went down a hill 
about fifty feet to a well, where they went 
to get a drink of water. Mr. Crater left 
his companions at the well, and started 
for the building. He reached the door 
of the building and was about to enter 
when one of his companions called him 
back to show him a snake near the well. 
Just as Mr. Crater reached the well a 
terrible explosion occurred in the building 
that he had just left. The main force of 
the explosion, traveled in an opposite di- 
rection from the well. Mr. Crater was 
blown twenty feet. His hat brim was torn 
off, the works of his watch were blown 
out, and not one spring or wheel was ever 
found. The first words he heard when he 
came to, were: “Are you dead?” “No,” re- 
plied Mr. Crater, “I am alive and kick- 
ing.” The three thirsty men, who had 
gone to the well, were the only ones left 
alive of the unlucky number thirteen. 
The ten that were in the building were 
blown to atoms. A hole, forty feet across, 
and twenty feet deep, appeared where the 
building stood. A path was cut through 
the forest, as if a cyclone had passed. 
August, 1920 
Oak trees, two feet in diameter, were cut 
off like pipe stems. Rabbits, groundhogs, 
robins and the two woodcock were found 
killed by the explosion. 
The superintendent of the plant had the 
woodcock mounted in New York, and pre- 
sented them to Mr. Crater. Among the 
relics of the explosion, picked up by Mr. 
Crater, was a knee-cap, or patella, 
wrapped in a piece of sheet lead, a freak 
of the explosion force. 
Mr. Crater being an expert mechanic, 
presented a small steam engine to the su- 
perintendent, which he had made from 
two hundred and sixty-four pieces of 
metal he had picked up in the woods, rel- 
ics of the explosion. 
J. B. Pardoe, N. J. 
THEN AND NOW 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
TN the June number of the Forest and 
1 Stream, Dr. Henshall gives the best 
description of the St. Lucie River, when 
the East Coast of Florida was a wilder- 
ness, that has ever been published. 
I had the pleasure of reading that de- 
scription to Mr. Otto Stypman, who en- 
tered and made the second homestead 
filing on land near the said river (on a 
part of said homestead is now located 
the city of Stuart) ; but Mr. Stypman did 
not locate here until 1883. He was glad 
that the early history of the St. Lucie 
River had been given such wide circula- 
tion, as he found the same conditions- 
that Dr. Henshall describes, when he 
made his settlement here, and the only 
way of travel was -by sail boat on the 
St. Lucie and the Indian Rivers. 
The St Lucie River, with its two forks,, 
drains a basin 20 miles in width by 50- 
miles in length, and in times of excessive- 
rainfall it carries so much flood water- 
that now, since an Inlet has been opened 
to the ocean, its dark waters discolor the 
ocean water more than a mile from its 
mouth ; then it had to discharge through 
the Indian River, at the St. Lucie Inlet 
22 miles north, or the Jupiter Inlet 20 
miles south, and this high water gave so 
strong a current that sailboats could not 
go against it, and had to lay by at an- 
chor, sometimes for weeks at a time. And 
these same conditions existed after every- 
period of 3 or 4 days of strong north 
winds, which would drive the water of 
the Indian River, with its wide, shallow 
bays and sounds, for a distance of over- 
200 miles down to the St. Lucie River,, 
where the Jupiter Narrows, the only out- 
let, could not care for the flood water, 
which would back up the St. Lucie and 
flood the low lands. 
In 1883 the mullet was the only ocean 
fish that came into the St. Lucie, and its. 
sand bars and shallow places were cov- 
ered with water plants, on which black- 
ducks, mallards, widgeon, pintail and 
canvas-back, in the winter season, came 
in thousands to feed. (Now we never 
see any ducks on the river, but a small 
fish-duck, about the size of a blue-bill.) 
By the winter of 1891 settlers had lo- 
cated about 15 miles south of then Fort 
Capron (now Fort Pierce), here and 
there on the main land down to the St. 
Lucie and up its shores to the Forks, un- 
til there were 18 of such settlers growing- 
