740 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. io, 1906. 
Newfoundland Salmon. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
And now it is Mr. W. H. Harrington, who 
feels it incumbent on him to break a lance for 
his friend, Mr. Notman. I like this; and if Mr. 
Harrington had been satisfied in stopping there, 
I’d have nothing further to say. But Mr. 
Harrington goes' further and 'making the Not¬ 
man and Muir incidents a text, he tries to dis¬ 
credit my notes on Newfoundland salmon fishing 
and brand them as “fish stories.’’ 
In passing I may say that Mr. Notman and 
I now understand each other; we have buried 
the tomahawk, and hope to foregather on the 
banks of some purling stream next summer. 
I have explained over and over again, that 
most of the reports sent by me for the amuse¬ 
ment and instruction of American sportsmen 
were clippings from the local papers, and I think 
the management of Forest and Stream, as well 
as most of its readers, understood that, hence 
Mr. Harrington need not have traveled outside 
the Notman incident, to deliver himself of this 
journalistic commandment as applying to my 
notes: “Newspaper correspondents should be 
careful about extravagant (the italics are mine) 
tales unfolded to them in wondrous ways.” His 
thirty-five years of journalism should have 
taught him. that he should be just as accurate 
when -criticising a writer, as the latter should be 
in his writings. 
Let us examine the first “extravagant, tale” 
that Mr. Harrington brands sarcastically as a 
“fish story.” Speaking of the allegation that 
one sportsman left 300 salmon to rot on 
the river bank, he says: “And Mr. Muir, the 
Scotchman, who was accused of leaving 300 
salmon on the bank to rot, denies in your issue 
of Sept. 22 in toto, the truth of this ‘fish story.’ ” 
Now if you'll look on page 461, issue Sept. 
22, 1906, you'll find that Mr. Muir does nothing 
of the kind. What he does say is: 
“* * * So far as I am aware, every fish, apart from 
those eaten fresh, and those left at Little river (the italics 
are mine), is now on the schooner. When I had been 
camped a short time on Little river, I sent the schooner 
round to St. Jacques to get supplies and mail, and she 
expected to be away three or four days. I told my guide 
to get some salt before she started, and the captain 
was to come up immediately on his return for the fish. 
Those caught in the meantime were carried to the camp, 
split and slightly salted, and, as I found my guide had 
not brought a great deal of salt, for two days I only 
fished for a short time to get a fresh grilse for camp 
use. When I considered the schooner must be back in 
the bay, even allowing for delays, I kept some fresh grilse 
to send down to her with the salted ones to be cured. 
When she had been away for eight days, however,, a longer 
time than I had intended to stay, we had to come away, 
as there was nothing left to eat. I was, of course, anxious 
to take the fish with us, but our boat was fully loaded 
with camp outfit, and I was reluctantly compelled to 
leave them behind. When we reached the mouth of the 
river, we found that the schooner had not yet arrived,' 
but she came in about 7 P. M. that evening. * * * 
There did not appear to be any object then in spending 
two days going back for the uncured fish, and the people 
in a village at the mouth of the bay were told about the 
salted ones, so that they could get them.” (The italics 
in the foregoing quotation are mine.) 
Is this a denial in toto, or does Mr. Harring¬ 
ton endeavor to torture it into one, and thus try 
to discredit my notes in general? Mr. Muir 
does not deny; in fact, he plainly asserts that 
he left both fresh and partially cured grilse be¬ 
hind him. The difference between Mr. Muir and 
his critics, is not whether he left fish behind him 
to rot on the bank, but how many did he leave? 
I'll do Mr. Muir the justice to say, that he ex¬ 
plained the matter to the satisfaction of the 
Minister of Fisheries. Perhaps under the cir¬ 
cumstances he was not wholly to blame for 
leaving some fish behind, when he could not 
conveniently save them. He stated that the 
number left behind was much less than 300— 
that is-, as far as he was aware. 
Now to prove to Mr. Harrington’s entire satis¬ 
faction that I was not the only one led astray 
by this “extravagant tale,” this “fish story” in 
quotation marks, I’ll refer him to page 340, 
Forest and Stream, Sept. 1, 1906, where Mr. 
L. O. Crane, of Boston, Mass., says: “The re¬ 
port that a Scotchman * * * left about 3<ju 
• salmon on the shore of the river to rot, I be¬ 
lieve is correct, as the captain of * * * the 
steamer Glencoe told me the same thing. * * * 
I will add that the same report came from one 
of his guides.” Further than this I’ll add. that 
the official who was sent to investigate it, and 
the chief engineer of the steamer who brought 
him there, informed me personally, that they 
thought there were more than 300 salmon left 
to rot there, but that the stench was so unbear¬ 
able that after a very short time they had to fly 
out of it. 
In view of these facts, and of Mr. Harrington’s 
statements and criticisms in relation thereto, I 
feel reluctantly compelled—with all due defer¬ 
ence and diffidence—to request Mr. H. to re¬ 
read the instructions given him thirty-five years 
ago as resident correspondent of the New York 
World, and advise him for the future, in the 
words of the said instructions “to corroborate 
reports before circulating them as facts.” 
* If possible, Mr. H. is more inaccurate when 
he deals with the 200,000 natives, who net, snare 
and jig fish. He is very stort-sighted and tre¬ 
mendously mistaken, if that is the net result of 
his six years’ observations. He mixes up the 
Sea and Inland Fisheries, and also those engaged 
in them. We have a large proportion of our 
population engaged in the deep sea and shore 
fisheries, but as a rule these do not trouble 
themselves with the game fishes. We have also 
a large proportion of genuine sportsmen, who 
look with disgust on hog fishing, whether it be 
practiced by a “native” or a "foreigner.” And 
it is largely due to the exertions of these, that 
American anglers can get right here, the very 
best salmon and sea trout fishing in the world 
without any fee, license or restrictions whatever. 
And if certain foreign sportsmen “spend their 
money liberally,” they get good value for it. I 
am sure Mr. Harrington does not belong to the 
class who wants to supply free grub and free 
guides and free duxback suits, as well as free 
fishing. As he naively and truthfully remarks, 
“Undoubtedly the salmon and trout fishing of 
Newfoundland is immense and the summer cli¬ 
mate is good and glorious.” 1 agree with him 
there. It was principally to let American 
anglers know about our climate and fishing, that 
I have been sending these notes for the last 
eight or nine years. I am not out for trouble or 
notoriety; neither am I anxious to start a news¬ 
paper controversy, on the merits or demerits of 
the reports that come in from the angling wateis 
during the season. Sometimes these reports 
may be a little exaggerated, generally they are all 
right. W. J. Carroll. 
The foregoing was written by Mr. Carroll be¬ 
fore his receipt of our issue of Oct. 20, contain¬ 
ing Mr. Muir’s letter in relation to the Little 
river salmon. Later, in comment on that letter 
and in answer to it, Mr. Carroll writes: “Mr. 
Muir misquotes my words and position in the 
Notman incidents and misrepresents me in every 
word. I feel like overlooking his heat and mis¬ 
representations; but I send for your information 
a correct copy of this official report of Inspector 
O’Rielly who, upon motion of Hon. Sir E. P. 
Morris, H. M., Attorney General, was sent to 
investigate the charge. This is a complete answer 
to Mr. Muir as far as I am concerned. Inspector 
O’Rielly was accompanied by four others who 
will substantiate every statement made by him.” 
The official report runs: 
[copy.] 
ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S OFFICE, 
St. John’s, Newfoundland, 
August 18, 1906. 
Dear Captain Dawe —Judge Prowse called here 
to-day and stated that a Scotchman had killed 
five hundred salmon at Little river, and left them 
to rot on the bank. I have no information of 
this, but if it be true I think you ought to give 
instructions to the police and the magistrate 
nearest the spot to have this man prosecuted. 
I remain, yours faithfully, 
(Signed) E. P. Morris, 
[copy.] 
NEWFOUNDLAND CUSTOMS, 
Revenue Preventive Service, 
Inspectors’ Office, 
August 8, 1906. 
Hon. Eli Dawe, Minister of Marine and Fisheries. 
Sir —I beg leave to report that on Saturday, 226 
day of July, I visited the river at Little river in 
the district of Burgeo and LaPoile. 
Just before my visit to the river a Mr. F. F. 
Muir and two other tourists from, I think, Scot¬ 
land had just left the place. They had been 
camped up the river and were there for some 
days salmon fishing. I had a report from several 
of the people at Little river to the effect that 
Mr. Muir and party had been tip the river, and 
that some of Mr. Muir’s party reported that they 
had caught three or four hundred salmon. Some 
others of them said that the party had caught 
seven quintals of salmon, and that Mr. Muir had 
left some qujntal and a half or two quintals in 
the country] and said that anybody that wanted 
them could go in and take them, and that the 
fish were then in near the place where they had 
camped. 
1 , with others, went up the river to where Mr. 
Muir was camped. The stench of decaying and 
rotten fish was intolerable. 1 saw the remains 
of many dead and putrid salmon. Some were 
lying in the water of a small rivulet near the 
camp. This rivulet ran into the main river, and 
the stench from this water was very offensive 
as many salmon in an advanced stage of putrefac¬ 
tion lay in this stream. The water of the main 
river was polluted from this cause. 
Before leaving St. John's this morning I called 
on Mr. F. F. Muir. This gentleman stated that 
he was salmon fishing at the- place named, and 
that he was the only person fishing, as the two 
others with him had no rods. He also stated 
that he. for his own rod, caught two hundred and 
fifty salmon while he was camped at Little river; 
that he brought some salt in the country with 
him, and that some of those fish were salted and 
taken away by some of his men and used for 
food purposes; that his salt and provisions were 
all used up, and that he had sent for a fresh 
supply. Mr. Muir says that he did catch salnun 
that were allowed to rot, and that another lot 
that was corned were allowed to remain and 
decay also. He admitted that those of this large 
number of fish was caught by him, and that there 
was a large number of fish left near his camp 
to rot. He says that this was not done inten¬ 
tionally by him, but was really caused by his 
vessel not getting back as soon as he expected. 
Little river is one of our finest salmon rivers, 
and when T was there in July the place was teem¬ 
ing with small and large salmon; one could 
catch almost any number. 
Mr. Muir says that he caught those fish for 
sport. I do not know if we have any regulation 
or law to deal with such a condition of things; 
if we have not I would strongly recommend that 
a regulation prohibiting 'such wanton destruction 
be placed in the rules. If persons who visit our 
streams are allowed to catch such large numbers 
of salmon, and then allow them to rot and pollute 
the waters of the rivers as has been done in 
this case, it will be a serious matter indeed. 
The department is making strong efforts in 
wardening and protecting our rivers from pollu¬ 
tion and depletion, and especially so in the in¬ 
terests of our visiting sportsmen we should he 
aiding and assisting the fishery department in 
their good work, particularly as all our streams 
and lakes are now free to sportsmen. 
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, 
(Signed) Joseph O’Reilly, 
Inspector R. P. S. 
Giving the Place Tone. 
On Second avenue is a rather small grocery 
kept by a German and his wife. Over the door 
is their name in very bright gilt letters, and on 
the window, in equally glittering letters, the 
world is informed that at this small shop “Yacht 
Supplies” are “a Specialty.” It gives quite an 
air to the place. 
The woman said, “The feller what put the sign 
over the door, he also put the sign on the win¬ 
dow. He say, ‘Dat bring business,’ but it is no 
one what has asked for the yacht supply, so we 
never git ’em. Personally ourselves, we ain’t got 
no idea of what it is they is.”—New York Sun. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
