FOREST AND STREAM, 
mutation extremely dangerous to navigation hasbeen ‘ fo™9d. 
Tins cannot be passed except at b.gh ° f jjf* 
the middle of August, therefore, steamers do not attempt to 
co above Cow Island, but land their cargoes on the shore 
there, whence they arc hauled to Ft. Menton by teama \ ice 
versa, freight and passengers arc frequently sent down to the 
late steamers in mackinaws. A mackinaw is R 
size* from 20 to 00 feet in length, flat-bottomed and flat-sided, 
with a sharp prow and square stem. The “j‘ 88uffl ^ eut 0 
ly swift to make rowing unnecessary going dovra. and so 
strong that you must drag your boat up by corddlmg. 
When we were there some government engineers * th an 
escort of troops were at work dredging the rtver of rocks and 
building a wing-dam so as to concentrate the vast force : of the 
river upon oue channel, and make it its own perpetual dredge. 
A« unusual height of water was experienced tins year, and 
their operations were delayed until tale in the season. The 
amount of money granted by Congress for this work wm 
small. Perhaps there is no water-improvement in the whole 
country that would yield such bountiful returns in propor- 
tion to the outlay as the removing of the obstructions from 
the Upper Missouri. 1 dare say the proper expenditure of 
$150,000 would add three months in the year to the freighting 
season of the upper river. It will lake very much more than 
that to put the Yellowstone at all into shape, notwithstanding 
some reports of its excellence as a steamboat route to Mon- 
was just sunrise as we reached the rapids, and we heard 
the cook beating the bottom of a tin pail for his gong, before 
we saw the little colony which had just sat down for breakfast 
in a bower made of cedar bushes, while the officers mess was 
in one of the row of small white tents cuddled down in a 
hollow. Our whistle, however, put breakfast out of their 
heads for had not we the mail from home ? And is there any- 
thing dearer to the heart of one of these exiles than his letters 
and newspapers ? We gave them a great packet and a goodly 
quantity of grocery supplies. One would hardly have thought 
these roughly attired men, without the shadow of uniform 
about them, were officers of the Army, so accustomed are we 
to the glitter and military carriage of our West Pointers in the 
East. But they were very good soldiers, and held as nrm dis- 
cipline— though genially— in buckskin and beads as in broad- 
cloth and buttons. One wonders also at the apparent content- 
ment of these gentlemen, cut off for such .long periods from 
civilization ; but their resources of amusement are more varied 
than we think, their duties keep them busy, and the certainty 
that they must stay enforces a habit of contentment. 
At Cow Island the only sign of human use is a dilapidated 
shanty and a tumble-down sign board upon an insignificant 
knoll, whereon is scrawled “Fort llgcs.” The island is cov- 
ered with a sparse cottonwood growth. 
Below this the shores become less grotesque, more and 
more rounded and grassy, and the heights recede from the 
banks overgrown with pines and cedars that straggle loosely 
up the sides but gather more densely on the summits. Island 
after island, low and flat, interrupt the free flow of the river. 
Each one is known by name to the pilots. From all of these 
long sand-spits run out into the river, sometimes showing 
their yellow backs above the surface, often concealed by a 
thin film of water. But the practical pilot detects them all by 
the peculiar “ ripple ” on the water. “Marks” are of little 
use in steering on this upper river. The pilots, to be sure, do 
fil l their marvelous memories with points to* be remembered 
at every bend, whereto go next to the bank, and whereto 
keep away, although to our ignorant eyes each league of the 
smooth water aud every yellow bend looks precisely like Its 
neighbors above and below ; but for the most part the pilot 
must steer by the appearance of the water, and his eye never 
wanders from its shimmering flood. Forty times a day his 
bell calls for soundings, sometimes only op one side, some- 
times on both. Then a darkey seizes the sounding-pole, 
which is marked into sections of feet and half-feet, and 
pluDge8 it down alongside of the lower forward deck. If the 
water is more than seven feet deep he drawls out, “N — no — o 
bottom !” But generally he finds one pretty quick, and you 
hear the thick utterances, repealed by another darkey on the 
upper deck, “Se-e-vcn feet !” with a lunge forward and sink- 
ing emphasis on the last word. Then “S — i — i — i — x and a 
h— a— 1— f ! S— i— x feet ! F— i- -ve feet ! F— o-ur and a 
h— a— 1— f ! Thr— e— e— e feet !” and so on until perhaps 
there is only “Two— o — o f— e — e — t sc — a — n — t!” and we 
glide over, grating on the bottom, and our wheel kicking up 
the gravel behind us. Time and again we got aground, but 
always got off again without serious difficulty. In this we 
were very fortunate. Steamers have sometimes stuck for 
two or three days at a time in the sand, which was tedious, 
when nothing but Missouri River water was passed over the 
bar. 
A PLACE FOR SUMMER REST. 
come up do sot cujoy one of ’the 
assure auy mau that it would bo q °“° fishiDC before the 
pleasures to get up aud anchor ready for Asking 
suu shows itself on the hill top. , t t j ie 
If you have no other brit take a - “inch 
skin off, say half an inch thick and in P *lie liook i let 
square, pul ou the hook with the flesh s i leaves the 
the heard of the hook pass through tin i [“» bwe, 
point of your No. 1 English spear Turteen- 
so that you arc not aware of your lazy tw . 
inch perch, who take this bait in their mou *‘ 8 > un less you see 
them. Here you are without a rod ^‘nnd^larir^Sfr 
as lazy as the fish, with the lme wound 
chip, and let the line down among the old m^hack percu. 
When your pork goes out of sight you pull P* * t ho 
hook baited as above and sharp pointed y indolent to 
fish, then all I can say is that you were pljjj 
mob,, nnp min k move, which needs to be the nrsi one. x «» 
ever had, except 
Bay City, Mich., Jan. 7, 1878. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
Higgins Lake, Roscommon County, Michigan, is nearly six 
miles from Roscommon Station, on J. L. and S. R. R., distant 
north of Bay City eighty-five miles. The take is two and 
a half by 6ix miles loDg. An island and Tittle bays and 
sharp points make all tho protection from the wind you 
need, eo that you can fish every day ; and one acquainted 
with the lake can catch more fish than any party can eat. 
There are no ducks here, hut Mud Lake, half a mile below, 
has some, but not enough for much shootiDg. The shooting 
is mostly for partridge, of which there are plemy along the 
6hore, yet the season for rest on the take is the close season 
for partridge. July and August are the season for the most 
perfect rest. Some of your readers have heard of the St. 
Louis, Mich., Mineral Springs, the great benefit to all who 
are affected in the least wiin kidney difficulties from the use 
of the water. I think the water in Higgins Lake is the feeder 
for the famous springs mentioned above, for all I have 
Been who have been at the lake say that the lake water has no 
equal in purifying the system. We found much pleasure 
shooting with a Sharps' rifle at the loons on the take, 
and I assure you I was surprised at the distance one of their 
$45 sporting rifles would shoot. In firing at a loon about 400 
yards out on the water 1 found that the balls went clear 
across the lake, a distance of two and a half miles. I could 
not believe it until by actual experiment I found it to be true. 
In warm, hazy weather, the fishing cannot be surpassed. 
A sail on the Jake and trolling at the tame time is the most 
indolent pleasure in the warm or summer eeason 1 ever en- 
joyed. The best fishing for perch or rock bass is in the early 
moroiDg. The lake is as smooth as a looking-glass, and as 
true to mark the shore or clouds, and I have seen a sunrise 
wiih equal splendor show in the lake as in the sky; a.nd a 
sunrise on HiggiDB is a beauty, once seen never to be for- 
gotten. As for those who do not like to get up to see tbp i uo 
UdU, l llv 1 1 at I A WIU ...y- , 
make one quick move, which needs to he ti 
sure you it was the most indolent Ashing i - - • n 
sailing and trolling. Yet, oh how enjoyable ! Y ou are in no 
hurry if your companion or wife (this is a P 1 
lake one's whole family) says look, or see he Y 
plenty of time, for if the fish you have hooked is ostjou 
can very soon get another. Y ou have the , . j f 
enjoyment. There is no hurry like moat every kmd oi 
camping out. Of course this does not stir up i the blood like 
grayling or trout fishing ; but it is for rest wo are here, to 
get away from dunning letters. In a slm t while 
perch enough for breaktast ; then we pull “li > > 
the cook is getting breakfast, if you feel »U»dy, you . h «je the 
loou always to try your Sharps rifle on. Ata breal kfas t y >u 
take the sailboat and sail aud troll. Do not to^ge y 
large-brimmed hat, and a lady will need an umbrella How 
dSigtitfnl. The lady can read or knit-tbey always wotk. I 
hold the rudder and line, it is so easy. You “ B ,.S J! 
sleep. I have lost myself so that my attention ' bad to be 
called to the boat often while sailing. Y ou do not have this 
kind of sailing all the time, for 1 have seen quite a sea upon 
the back of old Higgins. However, there are little .coves you 
can run into; there is no danger if you care to be safe^ 
About the fish in the lower end of the lake, your reward [ w 
black bass. Have caught them as high as eight pounds. 
They are the same as everywhere else, when first hooked 
jump clean out of the water and try to get free «w hook 
by this and their familiar run after the boat, so that you are 
sure he is lost. Next comes a little more lively fishing for 
rock bass. The places you have to find for yourself, for no 
one ever leaves auy mark for others. All fish with anchor, 
never leave a pole stuck in the lake. Those who are familiar 
with rock bass can soon find them, for the water is so pure 
and transparent that you can see the bottom of the lake as 
easily as if you were on dry land. Y\ e let a new tin pail 
down in the lake, and could see it seventy feet below the sur- 
face. I may as well tell you how we get our ice water W e 
take a twenty or twenty-five fathom line and fasten it to a 
two-gallon stone jug (you always take one with you when 
you go from here) and let it down in the lake with a cedar 
stick large enough to hold the jug. (I have a jug there now 
with a too small piece of cedar attached to it ) After two 
hours haul up and you have water so cold that you will not 
think of ice or ice water again, for you have it at hand. Now, 
to rock bass— we have found them while I digressed. 1 he 
great beauty of this lake is, you see all the fish you catch with 
the hand. I never used my rod once while there. It is only 
in the wav, and I can catch four fish with the line in my 
hand to any man’s one with the rod. The fi6h do not bite a* 
they do in other waters. Bate your liook the same as for the 
perch, only make the pieces of pork larger. It is more sport 
to catch the bass than the perch, for they are more garney ; and 
I assure you that if you strike a big school you can have a 
lively time, for we (four of us) caught forty-five in thirty 
minutes that would weigh from onc-balf to two pounds 
apiece. I then pulled up anchor and sailed away, for we had 
more than we could eat, and there is no way to dispose of 
them. You are alone in the wilderness. Not a house can be 
seen from the lake, and I think the nearest settler is a mile and 
a half away. The only gamy fish I ever caught m tee lake 
was a muskalongc. I caught one up in the upper end of the 
lake, so that 1 know they are there, and I assure any one who 
can take one that will weigh fifteen to eighteen pounds will 
find it a lively job. and feel when he has him safe that he has 
done a remarkable thing. They are not very plenty, or, at 
least, I have not been able to find them. I sailed and rowed 
more to get my one muskalongc than all my other fliLing put 
together. ”• G * 
A Rough Hunting Country.— A correspondent, W. H., of 
New Orleans, who has been snipe hunting in the swamps five 
miles below that city, writes : 
“ If one wants high, dry and easy hunting let him not seek 
it in the swamps of Louisiana. Alligator holes, ditches, mud, 
filth, and other obstacles impede the progress, lacerate the 
hounds, clothes and dogs. A morning’s tramp here is enough 
to fatigue the strongest man and wear out the staunchest dog.” 
Five miles below the United States Barracks our cor- 
respondent has a favorite ground for snipe. One of bis snipe 
hunts he lias taken pains to immortalize, by writing us a 
letter. He says : 
“ Our dogs wereNibbs, the celebrated Dacotah chicken dog ; 
and Frank, a New Jersey pointer; both very beautiful and 
universally admired by every one we met on the day of our 
hunt. Starling at 0 r. m., we reached the Barracks by 7 
o’clock. Our Creole friends who met us were very cordial in 
their politeness, and our horse and dogs being put up, we were 
posted aB to the most desirable hunting grounds. The bar- 
keeper was an old Frenchman, who told good stories and 
chuckled at his wit. lie was t he proud owner of at least eight 
or ten rat terriers, and at our feet around the stove these 
sharp little fellows lay. He was delighted with them, and on 
noticing them cried, ‘ Bazaine,’ and up started a toy dog, 
valiant with the rat as his namesake with the German. 
‘McMahon,’ ‘Eugene,' aud others answered in turn, aud 
upon the mention of the word 1 rats,’ the French dogs arose, 
and the exiled Bazaine and uneasy President McMahon were 
all intent upon getting a smell of a rat. If ono appeared but 
poor show he stood. 
“Bed-time came and we turned in. At four in the morn- 
ing we were up, heated a little coffee, ale a breakfast, fed our 
horse, and resumed our seats. It was bitter cold, and we 
drove rather rapidly for the Ducros plantation, five miles 
dowD. On our right was the Mississippi, and on our left cane- 
fields and plantations. Slowly day broke. Then came hard 
work through a prairie, across ditches, and into lioles, losing 
sight of our dogs in endeavoring to pick our way. Boon a 
snipe flew, and we prepared for more. On we tramped, kill- 
d °“°W e went back to where our wagon was, and 
a number of negro huts about I sought a place t r 
feet, which were soaking and cold. An cabin a 
in nnil calling my companion wo entered his cauin, u 
room about 12x10, with a wood tire iu the chimney and u pot 
of coon boiling. We took Beats and found the flic very com- 
fortable ‘ Jim,’ our host, told us he had caught the coon 
in a trap the night before, and was cooking him for Ins break- 
fast He had the meat in a little water, and tho whole filled 
nn with embers to ‘brown do meat,’ as ho said. 
P “ After^varming thoroughly we again started for snipe, 
and tg^nw^ wet and more tired, but shot a rail and rab- 
bU in addition to ft few more snipe. By noon we left the 
fields and started for home." 
gi§h §alttti[i{. 
Fish Culture Undeb Difficulties. -Tho following para- 
graph from the Kingston (N. Y.) Courier shows some of the 
obstacles which those who attempt to propagate fish have to 
encounter. We are glad tho citizens of Kingston arc deter 
mined to protect the plants : „ _ 
“ Already, through the creditable efforts of James L. Low 
and George B. Styles of this place, 100 pounds of yellow 
perch have been put into the waters of the Lsopus Creek. 
Arrangements have been perfected by the last-named gentle- 
man with Seth Green, of Rochester, to further et^kthesamu 
waters by adding 200 pounds of mature black bass within ft 
few days. If these fish arc let alone for the period of three 
years and allowed to breed, we can reasonably promise as fine 
fishing at the expiration of that time as can be had in any 
waters of this State. , . , 
“ Certain lawless characters, in defiance of the taw of the 
State as well as in defiance of the special enactment of the 
Board of Supervisors of this county at its last session, persist 
in using nets and fykes in the creek. If allowed to continue, 
the labor and cost of stocking these waters will prove m vain. 
Nearly *100 will have been expeuded when the black bass are 
received from Rochester; and shall all this be wasted to 
satisfy tho greed of a few lawless persons who have con- 
tributed notliing ? , . „ , , , 
“ Furthermore, any person who shall put ft net or fyke in 
'the creek, in defiance of both State and county taw, will be 
prosecuted from this date. Let every good citizen constitute 
himself a game constable for that purpose. Mr. Clearwater, 
the District Attorney, has promised to faithfully prosecute all 
offenders.” 

Gold— Fish.— Our special correspondent, B. B. Porter, 
Esq., late of the Fish Farms, in Bergen County, New Jersey, 
reached San Francisco on Jan. 23, having rendered us good 
service en route. In the following letter ho mixes the gold 
and fishes of Nevada in a fashion which indicates his interest 
in both : ^ _ 
“ Ban Francisco, Jan. 23— Mr. Editor: I found myself 
the other day in the far-famed Virginia City, Nevada, so noted 
for its bonanzas, and learned that Mr. J. B. Overton, super- 
intendent of the Virginia City Water Company, was raising 
trout in the reservoirs with success. 
“ Through this gentleman’s kindness I was conducted 
through the works of the Virginia Consolidated and California 
Mining Works. Mr. Mooney, foreman of the melting room 
of the Bonanza mine, said that in figuring up he found (hat 
the qiino produced through the month of December, 1877, 
$1.23 per second. The mine is run night and day; Sundays, 
too. Piles of silver bricks, 130 lbs. each, 47$ per cent, gold, 
were awaiting transportation. Thoy use scales that weigh the 
1,800th part of a grain. From 80,000 to 85,000 feet of timber 
per day is sent down one shaft alone to timber up with. The 
magnitude of these miDcs is indeed wonderful, and worth 
going a long way to sec. 
“ From Virginia City I went to Carson City, aud met that 
genial soul, Hub Parker, Fish Commissioner of the State of 
Nevada, with whom, behind a spanking pair of grays, I 
visited Lake Tahoe. Though out of season tho day was fine. 
Mr. Parker has 100,000 Michigan white fish, now being 
hatched, to put into tliis lake. We took a short sail out on the 
lake ami caught what they call a silver trout, weighing 4$ lhs. ; 
a male and a perfect beauty. It was the first of the kind 1 
ever saw. The waters of thc#Lakc Tahoe are the clearest I 
ever saw ; I could sco the pebbles on the bottom very clearly 
in water fifty feet deep. It is a wonderful lake and well 
worth a visit. 
“Yours, etc., B. B. Porter." 

■ Eels.— A correspondent takes us to task in regard to a 
reply of ours to “ Septuagenarian ” on the subject of cels. We 
stated “ When eels are young and have to be carried any dis 
tancc an assistant should accompany them." In the para- 
graph before' wo printed “Eels arc very difficult of trans- 
portation, dying in a few hours unless the water is changed. 
Now, if our correspondent bad read tho article tho least care 
fully he must have understood that we meant young cels. 
Everybody knows that the adult eel is very tenacious of life, 
and can be transported even out of tho water a long distance. 
Our friend also differs with us about cels going to salt water. 
“That is a mistake," our correspondent writes. Ho says: 
“ Wo have eels (in Pennsylvania) in nearly all our rivers, 
creeks, ponds and lakes that have no outlet, aud in the rivers 
and lakes having falls and dams of from five to twenty feel, 
so anybody can see that the fresh water is tho native 
home of tho eels." This wo do not seo at all, any more than 
that the shad or tho sulnion, because they are caught in tho 
Hudson or Merrimack, have native homes in tho fresh water 
For ono cel caught in fresh water ten are caught In salt 
water. A fall or dam of twenty feet would not present, auy 
difficulties to an eel who could wrlgglo up or down them st 
pleasure ; but in any serious obstruction no eels are found 
above it. Ho far our correspondent may enjoy the benefit of 
his doubts as to tho difficulty of transporting young eels, but 
