308 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
mediately. When the shower ceased, Moodv £rtli hb 
hatchet cut into dry wood and gathered materials for a fire, 
and for two hours a blazing conflagration idned 1 the _udja- 
cent ground on which we were to sleep. We had our sup- 
per and the white tent was raised directly under a lofty 
tree which grew near the bank. In an hour or two even 
the remnants of the clouds had passed away, and a full 
moon shone forth in all its loveliness. I moved oil a little 
distance to enjoy the scene. We were many miles away 
from any human habitation. AH around us was unbroken 
wilderness. There was the blazing Are throwing red light 
on the canvas. Above was the lofty tree in its moonlit 
majesty, while the quiet river below reflected the radiance 
of the queen of night. There we lay peacefully down hko 
brothers tried— 
And slept nnttl the morning brum 
I'urpk'u the mounuuu mid the stream. 
I took home with me after this excursion three trout as 
trophies, which weighed about three pounds each. Side 
bv side there was little perceptible difference between 
them, but they represented the three graces as well as tish 
can do it, aud made an impression in Utica which is re- 
membered to the present day. 
Utica , New Turk, June 16fA, 1875. 
Amateur. 
FISHING ON LAKE 
For Forest and Stream. 
SUPERIOR. 
O N the 8th day of August, 1808, the writer and a friend 
with the classical initials of fl. O. C., started from 
Chicago on a Ashing trip to the north shore of Lake bupe- 
perior via Oreenbay and Marquette. A steamer was ad- 
vertised to sail direct for the "Soo" in a couple of days, 
but as time pressed we fancied the proverb might he at 
fault m this particular instance, and a short cut prove not 
the longest road. The sequel will show how the proverb 
had the best of it. Wo arrived in due course at Oreenbay, 
and the following morning got on board the Transit S. S. 
Co.'s boat lor Escanaba, which we reached the same af- 
ternoon. It was Sunday, aud no trains running north on 
that day we were obliged to remain there over night. This 
little city seemed only recently redeemed from the sur- 
rounding forests, their defuuet monarehs still asserting 
themselves right at the middle of their principal street. A 
long pier, built by the N. W. Railroad Company at great 
expense, is erected here for the accommodation of vessels 
loading the minerals of the north, whence they are carried 
by lake either to Chicago or points east of it.. Next morn- 
ing bright and early we embarked on the only available 
traiu— a freight oue— for Marquette, passed through dense 
forests of primeval growth (composed iu a large degree of 
cedar), which in fact make up the landscape in these parts, 
aud arrived at a place of mines, Negaunee, where we re- 
freshed ourselves on a sort of venison ragout, or, in the 
vernacular of the country, deer meat hash. We crept along 
from here at a paco suggestive of a funeral cortege, stop- 
ping at intervals at stations located, as it would seem, 
solely with a view to wood and water conveniences, and 
arrived at Marquette at 2 P. M., when we drove to the 
Northwestern Hotel. Hero we were informed by the pro- 
prietor that no boat was expected down from the “Soo" for 
at least two days; when she might l»o expected “up" was 
so exceedingly problematic aud speculative that we gave 
up all hopes of achieving the north shore on this trip, and 
began iuslead to make diligent inquiries concerning the 
fishing on the south shore of the lake. Miue host of the 
Northwestern was inclined to speak iu a depreciating strain 
of the north shore fishing, but was highly eulogistic of 
that on his side of the water, and as if to corroborate his 
stoiy there happened into the hotel that evening a man 
with a fine string of speckled trout, caught, in the neigh- 
borhood, but exactly inhere this “deponent saith not." I 
have since suspected they were captured in some neigh- 
boring pond, where by diligent stall feeding they had ar- 
rived at the desired weight. Anyway they were a tine lot 
of trout, and under the circumstances appealed to our 
wounded feelings with au eloquence surpassing the biggest 
fish stories. We then and there resolved to try our luck in 
the rivers Yellow Dog and Salmon Trout, both of which 
were recommended as furnishing capital sport. Before 
leaving Marquette we interviewed the captain of the tug 
that conveyed a party of Chicago lawyers across the lake 
to the Nepigon River. It appears they chartered this boat 
at $S an hour, aud as they had to encounter head winds al- 
most the entire trip, the voyage may be said to have been 
a most prosperous one — to the owners of the ship, a literal 
iustance of an ill wind blowing somebody good. Next 
morning we commenced early negotiations with a lot of 
amphibious half-breeds, domiciled along the margin of the 
lake, aud after considerable fouciug, engaged the services 
of a couple of them and a boat and sailed away iu a north- 
wester^ direction for the river Yellow Dog. A light, 
breeze springing up, accompanied by a fresh shower of rain, 
gave us at the start both a “wet sheet and a flowing sail,” 
and we spun along at a rate of speed which transformed 
our trolling spoon into a flying fish. 
At 4 P. M . we put ashore and regaled ourselves off a 
frugal meal of potatoes, onions and pork, our spoon hook 
contributing, 1 am sorry to say, nothing to Hie feast, aud 
after dinner shipped ourselves and our frying pan (that 
sine qua non of camp equipage), and were again on the 
road to Yellow Dog. The wind unfortunately died away 
with the setting sun, which necessitated our taking to the 
oars, and after a few hours’ rowing we camped out at the 
confluence of two stagnant looking streams, the site or a 
rude saw mill and hut, deserted manifestly not from the 
want of ff rist. Here we remained over night and embarked 
early next morning, and succeeded in reaching our destina- 
tion in time for dinner. Here we expected to eujoy some 
excellent 6port, notwithstanding appearances, which cer- 
tainly did not warrant auy such expectations. Vain hope! 
Fly, minnow and worm were successively tried without re- 
sults further than the capture of some nondescript fish of 
a .size possibly measurable in hulk, but individually too 
minute to be weighed by any human contrivance. My 
friend, who was growing sarcastic, suggested keeping them 
for bait! No lime of course was lost in leaving this un- 
promising locality. The very appearance of the banks of 
the river might have satisfied us that no well bred fish 
could live within its waters. These bunks were about 
equally divided between swamp land and thick jungle, the 
former the home of the plaintive bull frog, the latter, it is 
presumed, of the tawny canines. No stones, or rocks, or 
rapids, were there to indicate the presence of trout; noth- 
ing but mud, and ooze, and decayiug vegetable matter, in 
which clouds of mosquitoes lived and thrived when some 
of the genus homo happened to be around. Pulling down 
stream we essayed the lake once more en route to the Sal- 
nion Trout River, which we reached at 7 l . M. and rowed 
a couple of miles up stream, when we had to camp, on ac- 
count of the blockaded state of the channel. Here we 
fondly hoped to make a beginning to our sport, although, 
as in the liver we had just left, these never fulling eviden- 
ces of trout were conspicuous by tiieir absence. 1 wo sol- 
itary anglers might have been seen next morning whipping 
that devoted stream iu a fashion that must have astonished 
the inhabitants thereof, hut nary fish could they allure 
from its uncertain depths. At this particular juncture of 
affairs I don’t imagine two sicker men could be found 
within the boundaries of the State of Michigan. Our 
faith in the veracity of our fellow men, sufficiently strong at 
starting to remove mountains, was now lost completely out 
of sight. We bundled our traps into the boat and gave 
orders to Captain Sachem to pull down stream (metaphor- 
ically speaking, lor the Salmon Trout has no more current 
than the Calumet), as quick as he and his swarthy mate 
could ply their oars, my friend rematkiug meanwhile that, 
in his opinion, there were about as many salmon trout in 
this river us yellow dogs in the one we Ashed yesterday 1 
Our guides assured us that in the Huron River, situate 
some indefinite distance further in, the fishing was far bet- 
ter than in the Salmon Trout; but we no longer had any 
heart to pursue this Will o' the Wisp, bo pulling out to sea, 
we were fortunate in catching a breeze from the southwest, 
which soon took us out of sight, if not of mind, 
of our misfortunes. Soon after starting we rigged another 
sail, a jury one, out of a canvas sheet we had among our 
baggage, which made us actually fly over the surface of 
the water, aud we atrived at Marquette in the evening at 
0 o’clock, wet and weary, but just in time to get on board 
tbe Ontonagon, which was getting up steam for her trip to 
the "Soo.” After a very pleasant sail we reached Sanlt 
Ste. Marie, and put up at the Chippewa House, kept by a 
member of the Smith family, and au excellent hotel we 
found it. After completing our arrangements for another 
cruise, this lime to the Agawa River, about oue hundred 
miles, more or less, from the Sault, we amused ourselves 
looking at the Indians catching white fish from their 
canoes in the Ste. Marie rapids. These gentle savages 
make their living in this way, and it was quite a sight to 
watch their women cleaning the fish and preparing them 
for market. They showed about as much dexterity in gut- 
ting them as their husbands did in catching them. Their 
dwellings, a strange mixture between a house ami a wig- 
wam— a sort of half-breed order of architecture— were reek- 
ing with the smell of putrid fish, while the ground about 
them was a perfect golgotha of fishbones. Tbe scaven- 
gers of the village are the dogs, curs of low degree, mangy 
and lean from iheir everlasting fish diet. Next morning 
early we were again under way, and by nightfall had 
navigated Balchewauua Bay, passing many places abound- 
ing with trout, and camped out ou a point of rocks about 
five miles further on. Here we enjoyed some capital fish- 
ing, my friend being quite successful in landing a number 
of fine fish, weighing from two to four pouuds. As this 
life, however, is made up of compensations, he had the 
mortification 1o lose his fly book with all on board , in the 
unfathomable depths of the lake. Fortunately 1 was well 
supplied with everything and was glad to share with him 
of my abundance. 
Next afternoon wo reached our destination and were 
much pleased with the appearance of the river. The high 
mountains in the rear promised many rapids, and the look 
of the rocks was highly suggestive of trout. We passed 
an encampment of Indians at the mouth of the river, so 
thought it prudent to row about a quarter of a mile up 
stream, and pitched our tent on a beautiful shingly beach, 
the woods on the bunks being too thick and tangled to af- 
ford decent camping ground. In this delightful spot we 
remained seven days, aud the memories of those jolly 
times recur to me with a force aud freshness unabated with 
the laps of years. All the fishing we could wish for we 
found; in fact one of the best rapids in the river at our 
"front door" was at once our larder and our bulbing place. 
If auy breeze was blowing we were sure to get the bent fit 
of it, aud the Summer was far enough advanced iu this 
high latitude to save us from the persecutions of the 
mosquitoes. The river ut this time happened to be very 
low, which accounted in part for the great difference in 
size between the fish we caught up stream and tlioso caught 
near the mouth. We found the fish run the largest di- 
rectly at the mouth of the river, and from the rocks ou Hie 
margin of the lake, southeast of the channel; we used 
salmon tackle altogether, and found a trout’s eye very kill- 
ing when the tish wished a change of diet. One little cir- 
cumstance amused us very much. I had been very much 
annoyed by a small boil on my off hind leg, which 1 was 
doctoring as well as our limited medicine chest would ul- 
low, and had occasion to tear up a lot of old red pocket 
handkerchiefs, which had to do service instead of linen for 
poultices. These 1 renewed every morning, retiring into 
the obscurity of the woods for this object and" always to 
the same spot. Before returning home 1 found one of our 
Indians had carefully collected these scraps of gaudy cot- 
ton and stowed them away atnoDg his valuables for future 
use . 
1 can imagine no more enjoyable trip than a cruise round 
this same Luke Superior, and fishing irom the many points 
of vantage which present themselves around its rock- 
bound coast. All the supplies the fisherman requires cuu 
be had on the Canadian or American side of the falls of 
Ste. Marie at the lowest tariff, including sea worthy bouts 
and also seamen to manage them — men who are nonpariel 
as camp servants and learned in the geography of the 
coast. This item of boats is an important one, as this lake 
shows her superiority over the rest of the chain as much in 
the extent of her area as the frequency of her storms. If 
the untutored Indian can "see God in clouds and hear Him 
iu the wind," he must surely, in these parts, have the Deity 
forever present to his mind. In a word, if excellent spoil, 
magnificent scenery, line bracing air, und a "free trade" 
tariff, (the Canadian “Soo,” I believe, is still a free port), 
are considerations, I unhesitatingly commend the north 
shore of Lake Superior to all my brothers of the rod aud 
reel. J. C. 
BEINU 
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA— No. 12. 
NOTES OK A TOUR OK EXPLORATION— BY OUR OWN 
COMMISSIONER. 
P RIVATE business requiring Mr. Jones’ presence at 
the settlement at Crystal River, we took ail vantage 
of the opportunity aud followed in his wake. Wo reluct- 
antlv bade good bye to Mrs. Jones, and the unbounded hos- 
pitality, aud numerous sporting attractions of Homosasaa. 
This was our first visit to this sportsman s paradise, and 
we have reason to believe that it will not he the last. Crystal 
River is distant about ten miles from the llotnosassa, and 
the two are connected by across stream, known as "Salt 
River ’’ the latter being parallel with, and distant six miles 
from the Gulf. Two years since, two northern sportsmen 
wete rowing a small Whitehall boat, at the llotnosassa 
end of the river, when a tarpon weighing 125 pounds, 
leaped into the boat.. The result was ludicrous in the 
extreme In his efforts to escape, the motions of the tish 
imperilled the hull as well as the shins of the occupants. 
Oars were tried, but the sportsmen soon discovered that 
they would run the risk of knocking a hole through the 
boat’s bottom. Jackknives were tested, hut the huge scales 
of the fish protected it. As a dernier resort, the two leg- 
ged occupants sought refuge at either cud of the boat, and 
waited until the fish became exhausted. For several miles 
after entering this stream, we found it to lie literally 
covered with wild ducks, but as we could not utilize. them, 
we refrained from wasting ammunition. This river is 
tortuous and shallow, ami presents numerous difficulties in 
navigation in the way of extensive oyster bars and mini 
Iluls The bivalves are very large, fat, and almost mex 
hausliblc. Having no experience in the canuing business, 
wo can form no idea of the effect of climate in intefermg 
with the canning process; but if the climate did not prove 
loo warm we fancy that this would he one of the best lo- 
cations in the United States for u canning establishment. 
To Clean C'oat Collars — Take a lump of carbonate 
of ammonia the size of a walnut and put it in a cup of 
water. When it is dissolved, take a piece of clean flannel, 
dip it iu the solution and rub tbo collar two or three times 
with it. It will also remove the glossy appeuruucc along 
the seams aud upon the elbows. 
Wages are low, and oysters of large size can be obtained 
in unlimited quuuity for a trifling outlay. The prepared 
oysters could bo cheaply shipped to New York, New Or- 
leans or Havana. , . 
We reached the settlement of Crystal River early in the 
afternoon, and received a hearty welcome. The settle- 
ment consists of about one dozcu buildings, and has con- 
siderable trade with the interior. We entered the basin 
and found a number of springs which we sounded, the 
deepest measuring but eighteen feet. In the afternoon, 
the residents arranged for a fire hunt for our benefit, but 
as the night was chilly and as I was suffering fioiu an at- 
tack of infiamation of my right thumb following an injury, 
1 deemed it best to remain on the Spray, and allow Frank 
and Harry to represent the parly. In this connection we 
may remind the uninitiated that before they engage iu fire 
hunting il might be advisable for them to examine and 
note the size as well as distance apart of the eyes of horses, 
cows and deer, as mistakes are liable to be made. One of 
the gentlemen who was instrumental in getting up the fire 
hunt, has a tender spot ; aud that is an error he committed 
iu his first fire hunt. He sighted a pair of eyes, look de- 
liberate aim, pulled trigger, aud next day p*td $25, the 
value of a neighbor’s cow. Within a short period a 
Northern man settled not a liuudred miles frWtn New 
Smyrna and resolved upon having some sport, lie started 
with pan aud double barrelled gun, and ufter wandering 
several miles, succeeded in shining the eyes of two deer, 
and fired at both. They fell, and upon examination of the 
animals and the surroundings, he realized the fuel that lie 
had lost his way, was near liis home, atul iu a sportsman- 
like manner had killed a heifer and coll belonging to him- 
self. . , , 
Finding nothing very attractive about the settlement, 
we departed for the Crystal River oyster bars. These are 
situated about four miles from the main land and should 
be visited by every sportsman who is fond of superior 
bivalves. By lauding outlie bars at low water, large and 
delicious oysters can be gathered in any quantity We 
found them to be fat and of the most excellent flavor. 
Leaving the oyster bar, we headed for the Wilhlacoochie 
River, distant leu miles. The opening of this river can he 
easily detected, by the presence of a large saw mill at the 
westerly side of the river’s mouth. We encamped for the 
night near the mill, and the next morning commenced as- 
sending the stream. Wc ascended it for several miles, hut 
iu consequence of tjic height and density of too timber, we 
found our sail useless; as we were not inclined to pull 
agaiust the rapid current, and as the river did not seem to 
present any sporting attractions, we returned to the mill 
and encamped for the night. 
Next morning at 7 o’clock A. M, we hoisted sail ami 
headed for Cedar Keys. Not being disposed to follow the 
trend of the coast aud dodge oyster burs and nigger heads, 
we steered a course by compass and reached the Keys at 
1 P. M., at which point ended the cruise of the good boat 
Spray . We have wandered some little iu this, as well as in 
other lands, but our trip, extending over u period of two 
mouths, we shall always review as the most pleasant one 
we have ever taken. Having found our tour so enjoyable 
and satisfactory, we feel disposed to try it again, aud visit 
the best fishing and bundling points, and examine the 
portion of coast lying between Punta Rassa and Cape 
Suble . 
In taking a farewell of the readers of the Forest and 
Stream who may have followed us in our cruise, we may 
remark that however fishy some of our statements may ap- 
pear, they can he relied upon. To day l received a letter 
lrom a gOQtlemuu residing iuSavuunah, iu which 1 find tho 
following: 
" I itave traveled considerably iu Florida, more espe- 
cially in the eastern ami western pot lions of South Flori- 
da, and I may here atld, that while reading your interest- 
ing letters in the Forest and Stream, 1 wandered in my 
memory over many familiar places with you, and I hon- 
estly congratulate you on the accuracy of your reports. 
1 may also remark that 1 have become so much attached 
to Floridians, and am so much pleased with the climate, 
tliul I have permanently settled in Jacksonville; and that it 
will at all times afford me pleasure to communicate 1° 
sportsmen visitiug the Stale, any information in mv P°- s ‘ 
session. Our good friend, the editor, is ut liberty to give 
my name to sportsmen who desire it. In the future we pro- 
pose visiting localities away from the beaten truck of 
tourist travel, und shall briefly describe their sporting ad- 
vantages, for the benefit of gunuists uml fishermen. 
Having acquired some little knowledge of the outfit 
necessary for a trip to the southwest coast, wo would ad- 
vise those who intend visiting the region to lay in un ample 
