August, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
469 
debted for some excellent sport fishing 
for brook trout. 
On our way up the St. Croix we had 
:o contend with numerous floating pine 
logs, which were being taken from the 
lower end of the most remarkable log- 
jam ever known in that section. The 
entire length of the Dalles of the St. 
Croix river, for thirty miles, was occu- 
pied and filled with a mass of great pine 
logs, being thirty feet wide and thirty 
feet deep. We found several steamboats 
and numerous teams of horses engaged 
in trying to break the jam by pulling out 
logs from the lower end. The logs were 
in an inextricable condition, lying at all 
angles, and many of them broken like so 
many colossal matches. 
I N 1884 I supervised the publication of 
my “Camping and Cruising in Flori- 
da,” which went through several edi- 
tions until the stereotype plates, together 
with those of the “Book of the Black 
Bass” and “More About the Black Bass” 
were destroyed in a fire at Cincinnati. 
The following winter Judge Longworth 
and I went to Florida. At Cedar 
Key we chartered the sloop Jeanette of 
five tons, and cruised down the Gulf 
Coast, enjoying the varied fishing and 
hunting of that section. We finally en- 
tered Caloosa Bay and anchored at Pun- 
ta Rassa, the jumping-off place, and the 
last inhabited place on the Gulf Coast. 
There were but three or four houses 
and a cattle wharf at Punta Rassa, from 
which the cattle from the flat pine woods 
of southern Florida were shipped to Key 
West and Havana. The houses were 
mounted on posts some twenty feet high, 
as the flat point was subject to the an- 
nual overflow of Caloosahatchee river. 
A large building was occupied as a tele- 
graph office, the shore end of the Havana 
cable being at this point. The office of 
the U. S. Signal Service and the post 
office were also located in the building, 
and it was also the only hotel in that 
section, and boasted a billiard table for 
the amusement of the guests, mostly ang- 
lers and sportsmen. The yacht of U. S. 
Senator Matt Quay happened to be in 
port, and we were challenged for a game 
of billiards that evening. The Senator 
had sent a case of champagne ashore, 
and for several hours the ivory spheres 
soiled merrily until midnight, when the 
judge and I went aboard the Jeannette 
after a very pleasant evening. 
At sunrise we weighed anchor and 
sailed up the river to Fort Myers, which 
at that time was famous as the best loca- 
tion for tarpon fishing. We soon had a 
surfeit of the sport, however, and after a 
few of its large and beautiful scales 
were secured as souvenirs the royal pro- 
portions of the silver king, being unfit 
for food were thrown to the sharks. Mr. 
Thomas A. Edison, and his partner, Mr. 
Gilliland, had erected fine winter homes 
near Fort Myers, and had also built a 
large laboratory for experimental work. 
We went up the Caloosahatchee several 
times in their steam launch. On these 
trips the great wizard, in addition to his 
wonderful inventive skill, proved himself 
a keen sportsman and a good rifle shot, 
especially at alligators, whose skins he 
wanted fcr various purposes. 
Fort Myers, at that time, was quite a 
% >5^-" 
- : g ■*&/, 
Essential as a Gun 
1 
'r *■ — -• : 
~^.v 
For hunting trips and other 
' • ’ ' 
■ 'f ■ ’ m 
Fall excursions you’ll find this 
shirt as necessary as your rod 
or gun. It is a 
the ideal shirt for outdoor men. 
Soft, comfortable, warm, wind 
proof and wears like iron. Built 
for action. 
UNioaS^l^S^pc 
Ask pour dealer lo show you a Windbreaker. 
WARNING: 
Hilker-Wiechers Mfg. Co. 
Every Cenuine Signal 
■Shirt has this Trade 
1257 Mound Ave., RACINE, WIS # 
Makk below the collar 
band. 
Without this Trade 
Mark it isn't a Signal. 
THE SMALL-MOUTHED BASS 
By W. J. LOUDON 
Tells the story of this ever game fish — it tells 
you how and where it can be caught. In ad- 
dition to describing its haunts and habits. 
Price, $1.00. 
With a Year’s Subscription to 
Forest and Stream at the 
Regular $2.00 Yearly Rate. 
FOREST & STREAM 
9 East 40th Street, New York, N. Y. 
Knit your j 
own fish 
nets 
Landing nets, hoop nets, seines, hammocks, etc., 
may be easily and quickly made at little cost. 
We teach you how in one hour. 
Also how to catch fish the year round. Send 
for particulars right now. 
W. E. Clayton Company, 
43 IT. Main St., Altoona, Kans. 
Colorado Teachers College 
HOME OflFers courses of instruc- 
^ y, tion by correspondence. 
&IUDY “The GREELEY PLAN” 
known throughout the U. S. helps stu- 
dents in absentia. 
Ask J. G. CRABBE. President 
Greeley. Colorado 
