FOREST AND STREAM 
821 
Quebec’s New Minister of Fisheries 
An Accomplished Sportsman Who Has Been Selected For This Important Post 
By E. T. D. Chambers. 
Nearly all the sportsmen who come to the 
Province of Quebec for either fishing or hunting 
are thrown into close relationship, either in re¬ 
spect to licenses, leases or the application of the 
fish and game laws, with the provincial Depart¬ 
ment of Colonization, Mines and Fisheries and 
must therefore be more or less interested in the 
personality of the Minister at the head of this 
Department. 
Those who had occasion to come into contact 
with the late Minister, the Hon. Charles R. Dev¬ 
lin, who died after a long illness on the ist of 
last March, will not easily forget the courteous 
demeanor and warm-hearted manner of the bril¬ 
liant, witty and popular Irish gentleman, who had 
had the distinguished honor, in his all-too-short 
life, of sitting in three different Parliaments,— 
that of the Dominion of Canada at Ottawa, that 
of British Isles at Westminster, where he was 
the trusted and confidential ally of Mr. John Red¬ 
mond, and that of the Province of Quebec, and 
who fought some ten or twelve elections without 
losing a single one. Mr. Devlin’s spirited de¬ 
fense at Toronto, in. January, 1909, of the 
Quebec system of leasing fish and game terri¬ 
tories will be recalled by many sportsmen pres¬ 
ent on that occasion and by numbers of non¬ 
resident lease holders in Quebec who were 
deeply interested in the outcome of the effort to 
condemn the system. 
Hon. Honore Mercier. 
Mr. Devlin’s successor, who has just been ap¬ 
pointed, is Mr. Honore Mercier, M. P. P. for 
Chateauguay. He is a son of a former Prime 
Minister of the Province. The late Honore Mer¬ 
cier (ist) governed the Province as Premier, 
from 1887 to 1891. His son, the present Minis¬ 
ter, was born in 1875 and has sat in Parliament 
since 1907. He brings to his new office the ma¬ 
tured experience of an accomplished sportsman. 
Equally at home with rod and gun, he has made 
the northern woods of the Province of Quebec 
his holiday home from his early boyhood. In 
company with his late father, he had the honor 
of enjoying the salmon fishing of the Grand 
Cascapedia, as the guest of the late Lord Derby, 
at that time Lord Stanley of Preston, and Gov¬ 
ernor-General of Canada. His hunting experi¬ 
ences have not been limited to the woods of 
Quebec, for he has enjoyed some of the best 
sport that could be offered by hospitable friends 
in the preserved forests of France. Sportsmen 
having dealings with Mr. Mercier’s Department 
may therefore rest assured of a cordial reception 
in the office of the new Minister, and of that gen¬ 
erous consideration which comes from a sympa¬ 
thetic and practical knowledge of all that con¬ 
cerns the requirements of the angler and the 
hunter, and the preservation of the wild life of 
Canadian woods and waters. 
Reuben Cary—Forest Patriarch 
A Biographical Sketch of a Well Known Adirondack Guide 
O F the old-type mountaineer and woods¬ 
man, descendant of that clan of early 
settlers who first invaded and hewed 
their homes in the heart of the Adirondack 
wilderness—but few individuals survive at the 
present time to attest the existence and re¬ 
call memories of that virgin forest-land as it 
used to be. But, as many as have been laid 
to sleep under the whispering pines, or near 
the blue waters of the lakes They once loved 
so well, there remain still a handful of 
grizzled patriarchs who in the fullness of 
years seem to radiate an atmosphere of those 
bygone halcyon days; men whose personalities 
retain a pioneer freshness and daring, and to 
whose ears the screech of the panther has not 
been alien. 
Among these few survivors of a decadent 
forest monarchy the name of Reuben Cary 
stands pre-eminently recognized as one of the 
most famous hunters and expert woodsmen 
the north country has ever known. 
Reuben Cary was born at Long Lake, Hamilton 
County, on the 11 th of February 1845 . His 
father, Thomas R. Cary, had removed from 
Vermont a few years previously to this un¬ 
frequented, and at that time little known, 
region, and had built his home on the present 
By Paul Brandreth 
With Photograph by the A uihor 
site of Brown's summer hostelry, near the 
head of the lake. He was, as a matter of fact, 
one of the original Adirondack settlers. Full 
bearded and large of frame, a man of great 
physical endurance, versed in the craft and 
hardships of the wilderness he represented in 
no small degree that type of poineer manhood 
which voyaged undaunted the perilous trails 
opened throughout the West by the discoveries 
of Lewis and Clarke. Indeed, when Thomas 
Cary first came to Long Lake, he was con¬ 
fronted by every problem attendant upon a 
raw, unchartered solitude. Wolf packs howled 
about the house at night, ready to prey on 
whatever livestock might stray unguarded into 
the forest; bitter winters and short summers 
confined the raising of crops to unfavorable 
limitations, and on all sides the dangers and 
difficulties of eeking out a livelihood from the 
soil of a cold climate arose in opposing forces. 
But he was fortunate above others in one way, 
and in possessing for a wife a woman of fear¬ 
less character and rare physical ability he was 
better able to combat the rigorous conditions 
and inclemencies of settler life. 
Jane M. Dournburgh was the daughter of 
one of the old Mohawk Dutch pioneers. She 
was an excellent shot; could swing an axe with 
the strength and dexterity of a man, and in 
every way was fitted to be the mother of virile 
hardy woodsmen. In recalling memories of his 
parents, a gleam of rightful pride invaribly 
lights up Rube’s eye. Sometimes he is tempted 
to turn a page still farther back and grow 
reminiscent on the personality of his strange 
old Dutch grandmother, whom he can just re¬ 
member. 
“She used to set by the fire in the evenings, 
smokin’ a little clay pipe,” I have heard him 
say, “and reelin’ off ghost stories that would 
make yer hair stand up. We children would 
hang around listenin’ till we were so scart 
we were afraid ter go ter bed. She didn’t know 
herself wliat fear was, and I heard ’em tell 
that when she was younger she’d work in the 
fields from daylight till dark and tire out all 
the men.” 
With such a race of progenitors it is not 
surprising that to Rube was handed down a 
robust constitution and fine quality of health. 
He was the oldest of five children, three of 
which beside himself were boys; and from his 
earliest days evinced a keen interest in, and 
devotion to the wild life of the forest that 
compassed his home. The woodsman instinct 
was always strong within him. While still 
