88 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 
THE POLLUTION OF RIVERS. 
* | 'IIE agitation of this subject, which was so ably dis- 
1 cussed by Mr. Fred Mather before the Fish Cultur- 
PUBLISIJED BY 
forest and gtreimj publishing gomyattg. 
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NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1875. 
To Correspondents. 
All communications whatever, whether relating to bnslness or literary 
Correspondence, must be addressed to The Foi.hht and Stmu Pnn- 
lisiiino CoMrANr. Personal or private letters of course excepted. 
All communications Intended for publication must be accompanied with 
eal name, as a guaranty of good faith. Name* will not be published If 
objection bo made. No anonymous contributions will be regarded. 
Articles relating to any topic within the scope of this paper are solicited 
Wc cannot promise to return rejected munnscripts. 
Secretaries of Clubs and Associations aro urged to favor ns with brief 
notos of their movements and transactions, as it 1 * the aim of this paper 
to become a medium of useful and reliable Information between gentle- 
men sportsmen from one end of the country to tho other ; and they will 
And our columns a desirable medium for advertising announcements. 
The Publishers of Forest and Stream aim to merit and secure the 
patronage and countenance of that portion of the community whoso re- 
fined intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 
I s beautiful In Naturo. It will pander to no depravod tastes, nor pervert 
tho legitimate sports of land and water to those bnso uses which alwavs 
tend to make them unpopular with tho virtuous and good. No advertise- 
ment or business notice of an immoral character will be received on any 
erms ; and nothing will be admitted to any department of the paper that 
may not be road with propriety in tho homo circle. 
We cannot bo responsible for the dereliction of tho mall service If 
money remitted to ns Is lost. service, u 
Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each week, If possible. 
_ CHARLES I1ALLOCK, Editor. 
WILLIAM C. II VllltlS, Business Manager. 
ists’ Association, and by various correspondents through 
our columns, lias been considered of sufficient importance 
in Great Britain to be incorporated in the Queen’s Address 
to the Houses of Parliament. Nor is it the first time, by 
any means, within the recent history of that country that 
legislation has been evoked in the same direction. Existing 
nets, however, apply more to the consequences of pollution 
by sewage than to the deleterious effects caused by the 
waste of large manufactories, and it is to the correction of 
this latter abuse that legislation is now to be directed. 
If a means can be devised by which these conflicting in- 
terests can be reconciled in our own country, and the 
sewage and waste of manufactories be utilized, either in 
the cultivation of the soil, or in some other manner the 
grand desideratum will have been reached, and one of the 
most serious obstacles to the propagation of food fishes be 
removed. Wc shall watch all such efforts with interest. 
Pure water is not only essential to the existence of fishes 
but to the health of mankind. Ho who deliberately pollutes 
a stream, spreads disease and poison among bis fellow 
men. 
FISHY PROBLEM. 
THE BIG HUNT— FINIS. 
W E have received what purports to be a letter from 
Capt. F. Randolph, of the Army and Navy Club 
London, England, giving an outline of Air. McCarty’s pro- 
posed grand hunt in the West pretty much as it was origi- 
• A Mountain Man, Waoh !”— The arrival of our long 
absent friend, J. H. Batty, at our office last Friday in full 
panoply of beads and buckskin, fresh from the Western 
plains, brought to mind the border times of twenty years 
ago when ihe old trappers and mountain men returned 
weather-worn and greasy from their annual hunting trips 
and were welcomed with carouse and fandango. We say’ 
it recalled those days to mind, though neither fandango nor 
flagon extended its boisterous welcome to Mr. Batty- but 
we doubt if ever there was seen in this city a better repre- 
sentative of the ruddy, elastic, fearless class of heroes of 
border renown who fought red-skins and tempests, and 
whose exploits have now become almost as traditional as 
uieir race. 
beCa for last year sojourning in the 
Tar West. Accompanying the Commission to survey our 
boundary along the 49th parallel, under Mr. Archibald 
Campbell, he remained with that parly until the completion 
of the work in October last, subsequently establishing a 
camp near Moore’s Lake in Northern Minnesota, and 
within the limits of the Chippewa country. In this 
heavily Umbered, rolling district, he remained during all 
the cold of the past Winter, trupping, shooting and collect- 
ing specimens of rare birds. The thermometer for three 
days stood at 45’ below zero, and for three weeks ranged 
rom 21 to 45 below. The snow was about three feet 
deep on the level and the country filled with wolves, driven 
there by the scarcity of game in other districts. Mr Batty 
has brought with him over 200 fine specimens of antlers 
comprising everything from the spike buck to the grnnd- 
father of all bucks; also specimens of the great horned 
owl Acadian owl, barred owl, goss hawks, three toed wood- 
pecker, sharp-tailed grouse, deer, black bear and wolf 
The animals trapped were mink, wolves, (Canis occidental* ) 
foxes, raccoons, etc. Game on the whole was scarce the 
Chippewas having killed a great deal and the pot-hunters 
, rudd y complexion indicates 
that the old and hardships have in no way affected our 
friend s physical condition. 
[ 
pMuguiuuauuHu mu v» wi pretty much as it was origi- I . Q PEENa County Agricultural Society.— At a meet- 
nally printed or announced in the Forest and Stream last 1Dff ° f the Board of Managers of the Queens County Airri 
December. Indeed, wc should fancy both letters were by Gulluml Society held March 6th, it was resolved that the 
the same writer. The programme looks very attractive on Hortlcult ural Exhibition of the Society take place on Wed 
paper, oven to us who have surveyed tho ground aud con- nesda y «nd Thursday, June 10th and 17th next - the Exhibi 
ditions so often, and no doubt, if carried out sceundem tloa ho,din 6 two days instead of one as formerly T n ad 
orfem, might be made very enjoyable to the members of | d,tl0n to ,hc Horticultural Show there will be held a “Sales 
the expedition, with little or no detriment or damage to the 
Redskins and buffaloes of the plains. Cnpt. Randolph has 
evidently not read the numbers of Forest and Stream 
consecutively, or he would not have sent to us to publish 
as news that which has been so thoroughly ventilated and 
discussed in its columns, taking it for granted that a bona 
fide Capt. Randolph is the writer. Of course, it is unneces- 
sary to print this repetition ol what has been said before 
Fair, the object of which is to effect sales of live stock of 
all descript ions. All members of the Society and breeders 
of improved stock generally are expected to contribute 
animals which may be either for sale or for exhibition 
A few premiums will be offered for horses. 
The show of dogs which proved so attractive at the last 
annual fan-, will be one of the main attractions at the Spring 
exhibition. They will, if possible, inaugurate a grand ^plow- 
ina match whL>h will r . ■ pww- 
J , "V uecn saiu before. 1 : " "b n possioie, inaugurate a grand vUno- 
We only quote from the letter that “hundreds are anxiously \ ^9 match, which will probably take place during thee* 
awaiting the arrival of Col. McCarty in London to submit h,b,Uon ‘ Tho result will be to establish better plows bet' 
their names for Ins approval” (to be attached to the personnel tflr nWm “" • - ‘ ’ uei ' 
of tho big hunt), tho “interest in which is daily increasing ’’ 
This sounds very much like an auction, though it may bo 
only a bid. We do not propose to discuss further the 
merits of the case. Our correspondents have expressed 
their views freely pro and eon, and the expedition has been 
discussed solely on its merits, assuming that its conduct was 
in competent and upright hands, and leaving the character 
of its projector entirely out of the question. We do not 
choose to join in assailing a character of which we per- 
sonally know nothing, though we consider it our duty to 
advise our readers that prejudicial reports aro afloat re- 
specting the business integrity of Mr. McCarty, which, liav- 
ing been published, it would be unwise for us to ignore 
Our personal knowledge of the gentleman has been con- 
fined to the slight intercourse that attended the publication 
of the Big Hunt programme. Nothing, however, that has 
been said to his detriment need necessarily involve a pre- 
judgment of this new enterprise of his, which may or may 
not prove a success, quite independently of early piety or 
a certificate of good moral character. We shall watch its 
development with no abatement of interest on account of 
wbftt Uw recently transpired. 
tou uctl 
ter plowmen, and better agricultural horses. The Thirty- 
Fourth Annual Fair wil be held Sept. 28, 29, 30 The As 
soclation’s headquarters arc at Little Neck, Queens Coimtv 
Samuel Willets, Secretary. 
LlGHT f ,NG "v Electricity. -A correspondent sends 
additional information on this interesting subject. 
Editor Forest and Stream:- SaLEM> March 1 l?76 ‘ 
PH I r?,‘ n v, y0, " P ? Cr0f February 35th a communication from -I » 
!;rn even lleh ' 8 - employing a wire of some two miles' length Zl 
ondi Cd Bv m 6 pcr8 ? n ! n flfUJen 8CCond< - anti extinguished in eighfsec! 
The details « ould be too lengthy to expSS w ’ Ma ' 9 
presume, will he cheerfully g furoishc4 *by ad d 1 
above. Yours truly “uuressing the company as 
Teal 
TX7TIEN the following questions came to us, we per- 
V y ceived at once that we should get beyond our depth 
if wo attempted a solution, and very sagaciously, We 
think, turned the matter over to Prof. Milner, of the 
Smithsonian. Mr. Milner has waded through the whole 
subject, and lienee his knowledge cannot be icgarded os 
superficial. In so disposing of the matter, however we 
did not immediately waive all pretension to scientific at- 
tainments, but suggested that the rain water or surface 
water which collected in these holes might contain the 
elements of life, out of which fish were evolved at length 
after the necessary numerous and tiresome mutations! 
Having so ventured, we retired precipitately from the field 
with nervous alarm at our rash intrusion. Our presump- 
lion, however, has evoked the following very interesting 
information, which shows that mud-holes may sometimes 
become fountains of knowledge:— 
Birmingham, Mich., Feb. 14, 1875. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
1 a,p importuned by several to ask of you the solution of 
the following:— On Luther Stanley’s farm, within a quarter 
of a mile of this village, are two water holes, one made by 
scraping and plowing out; the other where the clay wm 
taken from in making brick. Neither has any inlet or out- 
let; yet, in both places are numerous fish, bullheads (cat 
fish species,) shiners and a small fish resembling the bream 
with flat and yellow sides; also chubs, such as are used for 
bail in bass and pickerel fishing. Can you give us a philn. 
soph ical geological and logical solution as to“how and when 
these fish came there? Some of the fish are in my aquarium 
perhaps twenty-five in number. J ’ 
^ ours i J- Allen Bigelow. 
United States Commission, Fxsii and Fisheries 
Washington, Feb. 28, 1875. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
Your question I And to a considerable exteut what you name it "a 
puzzler.” The starting point for an investigation of the matter would 
he thoroughly reliable observations of the presence of llshes in exca 
vated holes where there was no probability of there having been anv 
communication with waters Inhabited by the species, no likelihood „f 
their having been transported by the hand of man, aud no evidence of 
subterranean water-veins. 
The question has come up in my experience before-, from a slatcment 
made to meat SaultSte. Marie, Michigan, that sticklebacks had been 
found in the deep wheel-tracks of a road after a heavy rain ° 
As there is u long reach of level land lying along the Wricau side nr 
half dry ditch in the vicinity of the same road, there was nothing 
remarkable In finding the Ashes in the wheel-trucks after a rain that had 
probably been heavy enough, cither to overflow the ditches or to make 
to aw-emJ €m ““ WheeUrack8 ,nto 11,0 ditch *- ,s "’blch the fl bh cs were able 
The fact that certain species are able to retain life, buried in tho mud 
through a more or less long period of drouth, is well known I havn 
d " g ” ut bal ! head8 ! a'rariu*,) nnd sunflshes. (PomaU ) from 
the dry beds of sloughs in the Illinois prairies, where the surface of Tim 
mud had begun to crack under the drying heat of the sun At Z , / ^ 
^:.“:ttrfr 8d “ dandducayiugflshw ° r th ° « 
The Ashes of the plains of India have a supposed habit nr .. 
m the hot seasons of drouth. Francis Day, the Inspector Conn™! T ?" 
fisheries of India, says: ”A cnious 
waters, and one which has never been satisfactorily explained £2 
sudden appearance of healthy adult fish after a heavy fa], ofrnin’. 
localities which for months previously had been dn- will in 
water Inhabited by flsh yearly dry op, what becomes of them? ° f 
nary 18th, 1869, when examining this question, I was taken n . t 
perhap- an acre in extent, which was then almost dry, having onll?! ° f 
four inches of water in its centre, whilst its circumferen 0nlyab, ” u 
clently dry to walk upon. The soil was a thick »ndrnl "“ssuffl- 
clay. from which, and notnearer than thirty pace S ^ b,ll,8l ‘ 
fish were extracted from at least two feet below the surface «r In '° ,lve 
All wore lively aud not in the slightest degree torpid • these „ ( r ‘ C n "‘ d - 
over with a thick adherent slime. If when the water r f l f ecover ed 
variably died, the tanks would be depopulated the succeeding ,U flSh 
less a fresh supply was obtained from some other sourd ' thflsfthe iT 
tance from otner pieces of water at which they re-ann. ar > ^ d,s ’ 
many instances, the possibility of migration, which m ! in 
certain extent, he regulated by distance, time and other 10 ^’ '° “ 
stances. u uer *°cnl circum- 
Thcre are other references to this habit in certain sneeie. fr 
and Australia. species from Ceylon « 
The descent of flsh In a rain shower, which h>i« 
ent times, would, when It occurred, distribute fishes ai J® mcd at 
they fell. An evidence of ihis phenomenon may £ foundR. whera 
of New York, &c„ Part ill, by James E. DeKay o“ “ tte Zoolo «y 
ferring to a supposed species of ihe toad flsh (Ba/Z Z* 8 * V°’ re ‘ 
says: -In the Summer of 1854 a number of theie £h » ^ *' e 
streets of New York, after a heavy shower; and many a the 
were hazarded In the papers of the day ns to ,heir nrJ 8 f ecul “t'ona 
ichthyologist spoke of them as unknown to our waters TJ!.' Cmi,,eat 
In the books on ichthyology. The speculation Is a , cx2d?ni' ^ Cribed 
one, how fishes could bo elevated into tho atraosohe^^ “S'/ eimons 
means kept alive after they are raised. Showers of n h D<1 by "' hut 
mon a. id arc susceptible of an easy solution. Thev «*re rT UUC ° m ' 
___ Kvauti I Th • RUUUUI- 
winds or waterspouts; and the tenacRy oMife in Ihe'sne?!^'* 1 'T Wh,r1 ' 
eiderotlon accounts for their being found alive.” 8pecie8 under con- 
Mr. W. n. Dali, of the Smithsonian Institution 
phienomenon In Boston when at echool In 1862. ' rc ntes a similar 
That fish might be drawn Into the atmosphere and mm w , 
tance Is not unlikely, as in the tornado of May 2 -' Z! ,° T “ dis ' 
Illinois, planks, straw, ctiirm hmr Dn ,i ‘ 0,a > >n Iowa and 
Illinois planks, straw, grass, hay and all sorts oflSar'r 
earned in tho spiral coils of the "funnel-shaped cloud- “ rt,cles 
a and 
- were 
wherever it was 
I have not, as you see, made an attemnr in s««ij 
mode in which Ashes found their way to^he water? S’v ” 8 the 
describes, but have merely suggested the mean* i.„ . C , b air - "'Rvlow 
describes, hut have merely tt n 
of fishes in such locations might be accounted for * 1 Pfcseuco 
Yours truly, 
James \v. Milner. 
° U , r patrons are Pinioned against sending money to 
us by mail. Send only drafts, checks, or Post Office Or- 
Uvloi 
Articles Accepted the Past Week 
zlies in California, by C. E II • Ice Pi.n, IIunlln S 
foundlaad, by M. H ^ 
Jobnannes; West Florida, Nos. 4 and 5 b y ^ 
Among the Sea Islands, by N. II Bisn,m’ u i • ^ esc0; 
cock, by John de Ban C ; : Lmber S in Mn' ° f ^ 
Boring Guns, by “Under Grip.” Maine, by M. ; 
—The official proceedings of the Florida t? ^ 
Association arc now being published !o The RorSnTrf’ 
cuUurist- at Jacksonville, Fla. ' Aff 
i 
