For Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun. 
MY OLD ROD. 
\At HkN this old rod was new 
T T The brooks wore full of trout— 
Good, active Osh, and stout— 
The anglers then were few ; 
Men mostly OBhed with bait 
In eighteen twenty-elghr, 
When this old rod was new. 
When this old rod was new 
The salmon did abound— 
Sold for ten cents a pound— 
But Canadian waters through, 
To no Oy would they rise 
Which anglers could devise, 
When this old rod was new. 
When this old rod was new— 
In London It was made, 
And full a pound It weighed— 
Its ash, Its timber, grew ; 
No lancewood Joints or tips, 
Or split bamboo In strips, 
When tills old rod was new. 
When this old rod was new 
The Oshlng grounds were near. 
To walk we did not fear 
At morn a mile or two ; 
And then return at night, 
Creel fllled with beauties bright, 
When this old rod was new. 
When this old rod was new 
No poachers with their net 
Despoiled our brooks, or set— 
A prowling, robber crew— 
Their night lines in our lake, 
Our finest a«h to take, 
When this old red was new. 
When this old rod was new 
No monster tront were known 
In Nepigon or Rangely, grown ; 
A Dsh In weight a pound or two 
Was thought to be the largest size 
That ever gladdened anglers’ eyes, 
When this old rod was new. 
When this old rod was new 
The bass had never here been seen, 
Big-mouthed or small-mouthed, black or green, 
For western streams alone It knew ; 
Nor grayling in swift Manistee 
With brilliant dorsal rising free, 
When this old rod was new. 
When this old rod was new 
Few angling books to read had we, 
Save Walton and Sir Humphrey D 
From them our scanty lore we drew. 
Then forests and streams abounded. 
But no Forest and Stream was founded, 
When this old rod was new. 
S. C. C, 
For Forest and Stream. 
grout in the §ochn fountains. 
TT was in July, 1803, that I first crossed over the snowy 
A raDge to the Middle Park, in the heart of the Eocky 
Mountains, and the centre of Colorado, on a trouting expedi- 
tion. True, I had a broken clavicle, and my beet arm was 
hound firmly to my body so that I was not exactly calculated 
for a lively campaign, yet I rode fifty miles in a day over the 
ruggedest heights, and the wildest gorges and the thickest of 
forest on the most stubborn and headstrong of ancient qovern- 
ment mules. After that my fishing was mainly by proxy. A 
company of soldiers were stntioned on the hank of Grand 
River at Hot Sulphur Springs in the middle of the park, and 
they were catching trout from that stream every day literally by 
the gunny-bag full. I remember them now as the fattest, slick- 
est, jolliest lot of men I ever saw, and they said it was the re- 
sult of a strictly speckled trout diet. At that time fish of 
three to five pounds weight were common, and specimens 
weighing from six to seven pounds were occasionally taken 
The fishing was all with hook and line, but science or skill or 
fancy tackle were unknown. 
Two years later I went again and by accident found that a 
little creek on the way. at which we threw off our saddles for 
a noon rest, was literally alive with speckled beauties. In 
Grand Eiver the sport was equally good and the fish much 
larger. I caught one that measured twenty-two and a half 
nchea , first losing two hooks by his strikes, and finally break- 
mb LTJ h f in kUdlDg him ' SiDC ® lhat Jear 1 bclieTe 1 have 
missed but one summer without making one or more excur 
sions to that locality. In 1868 I did my best fishing. There 
were a good many pc° pl e at the springs; a large party o' 
Government explorers, camps of pleasure seekers^ etc , mini- 
densJgroves^of 'lofty^ w^ e spreni5in^coU^wTOds 'por iT* 
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msmm 
"fi assays* arc jsr. nf 
if punszg *33a JtsHsH 
« e B„,s c 8 a P s,“ d n g 
'ssssjrz 4£T u? 
the north * ' q Welve T leS down ’ Troublesome River from 
mdes further, the South Fork from the sou£s? ' .RmS™ 
KsSSrSSS 
G& ’SS.-S5- 
camps, with an occasional cargo to Denver The5 j ra “d'af 
saaa a 
Acin i '. ° e .°F two men accompany the animals, sell the 
fish and return with loads of flour and other supplies Three 
or four men operatmg in this way will from the middle nf 
middle ® f September.^ from three "and 
& l S2SS B 4 P 3aS 0r tr ° U n Wh,le m are raarket - 
the others are collecting another load. The 
trout of the lake are mostly small, weighing from four to 
eight ounces when dressed. The fishing ground is from three 
hundred feet to five hundred feet off shore, where the water 
s from twenty to thirty feet deep. It is on the brink of a 
dpnth' be J?? d wt !? h tb ® b °ttom drops off to an unknown 
I de i^, b ‘ times the schools of fish visit other places. Seve- 
ral streams enter from the mountain side, and late in the sea- 
Tou\^ when the water 
of law p “uniing that can be done under cover 
®s sKJsa 
the lake • hut wiVi7? f C1U bo beur ^ from the west side of 
mMdow^Ia^M'andWUow^^SJroyer^^iih 
to tho !! ra ° d a k ’ and , on ,be mountain slopes above the lako 
“ea U v D e ,aia ^ f ' ? “ u ' e ftrtSlK “puS5 of 
beaver, mink and marten along them everywhere. P y 
mg our horses in the morning we would rid* h „ i v} 
determined U p„„, picket & Krf 
down the stream and the other un milling ir, .i.° n 01 V? g0 
^verv n nt?| 1 « Way8 t ret . ur ) nin g with’ well tlBod buskets, 01 Over 
but very little water did we fish a second time The last 
OfS adve^fS^T h 8t i ay We dcc |. ded upon something more 
lak“ ' £ ofni th^ 'rt CD T hCUrd 0f tt newl y discovered 
• Ke ,y ou m the southwestern rim of the nark A row 
mg and romantic preacher, who had taken his vocatton iftho 
SJ“®» before n the woods, had told mo of it He tilled if 
Black Lake, and said that it was literally full of trout But 
rWrth d H U »h t S ‘ Ve Very dcflQit0 directions how to find it but 
Wver bC Packing^ur Mnnk & , creek * bat from it toC 
niver. i aching our blankets, coffec-pot. frying nan and 
paSdise 0V1 Tbie e ° vn" P ° Uy ’ 7° 8et out ^ now 
paradise. 1 hrec young men, or large boys— two of them 
from Denver and one from Tennessee— who were vagabond- 
S3? 
inclo8ID K mountain spurs. It if a delight- 
f JJifSSl aQ d fbe march we had laid out for the day did 
ft T t i* d ? ° f was . t,n « l,mc for a systematic hunt. At the head 
of the valley we had to turn to the right and pass over a high 
mountain ridge. I bad passed it eleven years before in corn 
P“y Y‘ tb B a ); a rd Taylor by a well beaten Incfian tSl and 
trusted to finding the route as good, or better, now In that 
I was disappointed. As we got into tho timber Md beran tte 
steep ascent the trail scattered out. Fallen timber ha<? great- 
ly obstructed it, and a young growth of pines formed an im 
pervious jungle. The party got scatterp .1 «„ “It < i n 1 .“* 
reigned. My friend, who was not used to “ roughing it ^be- 
flowering plants higher than our horses’ bucks and of 
