856 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Trouting in The Ozarks 
A Fishing Story of the “Little Niagara” River 
By Edward W. Cochrane. 
Hidden among the gigantic elm, poplar and 
oak trees of the “Irish Wilderness,” a remote and 
sparsely settled region of the low and ragged 
Ozark Mountains in south Missouri, flows the 
“Little Niagara” river. It was this stream, far 
from any one except a scattering few of the poor, 
ignorant natives of that section, and filled with 
fish of all sorts and a goodly number of rain¬ 
bow trout, that our party sought at the outset 
of the open season for trout in the “show me” 
state. 
Through ours and other similar expeditions 
into that little-known part of the state, the 
"Little Niagara” has now become pretty well 
known to the thirty-third degree anglers who 
are willing to brave hardships of travel over the 
rocky hills. Our party consisted of Joseph R. 
Donegan, Ben Donlin, Mason Benjamin, E. J. 
Finley and myself, all of whom spend eleven 
busy months in Kansas City and the remaining 
one in some ideal spot, hooking the game fish 
that abound in the waters of the southern part 
of the state, the only region in Missouri where 
clear water and good fish can be found in abun¬ 
dance. 
The bad mountain roads, which are more like 
trails, made by the natives, no bridges, and poor 
method of travel, make it possibly the most dif¬ 
ficult stream to reach in all the great Southwest. 
It is a region of poverty, the natives being the 
most shiftless and unprogressive of any in the 
Southern States, which accounts for the bad 
roads and ether things of the sort that must be 
fought on such a journey. This also accounts 
for the abundance of good fishing. But this is 
a good thing for the real sportsman who stops 
at nothing to take from the swirling waters of 
the “Little Niagara” the shining rainbow beau¬ 
ties. 
The first section of our journey required a 
twenty-four-hour railroad ride into the mountain 
region. But this was only a start. Our guide 
got us up at four the next morning, and we 
found a lumber wagon, of the rough mountain 
type, loaded with our provisions, tackle, a camp 
stove, tent, etc., that would go to make up our 
camp when the river was reached. A drive of 
thirty-two miles over rough mountain roads and 
trails put us at our destination. For the first 
ten miles we traveled along at a fairly good 
rate, miles of the way being through scrub oak, 
which was dotted here and there by a clear spot 
of a few acres, upon which some native with a 
large family managed to make a bare existence. 
We passed through a few hamlets for the first 
ten miles, and from there on it was a vast wil¬ 
derness, stretching for a great many miles on 
either side the wide forest of this wild region, 
which ds of little value. 
From sunrise to sunset we traveled up and 
down these low, rocky hills, where is laid the 
scene of Harold Bell Wright’s famous novel, 
"The Shepard of The Hills,” and then we pitched 
camp for the night. Someone suggested a coon 
hunt, hut by the time the welcome dinner of hot 
food was devoured we were all too tired for the 
tramp, having walked much of the way to help 
the horses up and down the steep inclines. We 
retired early, and at daybreak we were aroused 
again for the remainder of the journey, which 
was seven miles of the roughest going on the 
entire trip. Before noon we reached the bank 
of that beautiful stream and found a level spot 
of green grass, resembling an oasis in the desert. 
Here we pitched our camp and gave orders to 
the driver to return for us in two weeks. 
The “Little Niagara” wends its crooked way 
through these scraggly mountains and roars over 
solid rock most of its course. The water is 
perfectly clear and cold, being fed by springs 
from the mountains, and the stream averages 
about twenty feet in width. There are many 
deep pools where the rainbow trout abound, and 
black bass and other finny inhabitants are not 
scarce. 
As there are but few streams in the state where 
trout can be found, it always has been more or 
less of a mystery to those who have caught large 
rainbows out of the “Little Niagara,” how this 
variety came to be there. The natives give an 
explanation of this that, while it may or may 
not be true, is a possible solution of the problem. 
They claim that a New York banker and a few 
friends once sought to establish a camp in the 
wildest part of the Ozark Mountains, where they 
could spend one or two months every year far 
away from civilization. They wanted to fish 
where there was plenty, and hunt where big 
game could be found in abundance. This was 
an ideal spot for both some years ago. They 
found a large spring flowing out of the rocks 
about half a mile from the “Little Niagara.” 
They built a dam near the river and made an 
artificial lake. Into this they put thousands of 
rainbow trout and hired a watchman to take care 
of the grounds and see that no one caught the 
trout. 
The trout multiplied rapidly in the cold spring 
water, but the Easterners soon gave up the camp 
and the dam was allowed to wash away and the 
trout went into the “Little Niagara,” where for 
many years they have multiplied, with no one 
cutting down the supply. As the result the stream 
is well stocked. To substantiate their claim the 
natives took our party to the lake and there we 
found what remained of the dam, and the ruins 
of the log club-house. 
The natives are not skilled fishermen. They 
use nets a great deal, and a croppie or a perch is 
as good to them as a trout. Anglers from St. 
Louis, Kansas City, Joplin and other cities in the 
state are now invading the stream, and some 
large catches are reported every open season. 
The first day in camp we landed a good catch 
of trout. One in the party is a lover of bass 
fishing, and he came in with some of the black 
boys that are right next to trout when it comes 
to eating. We waded the cool waters day after 
day for the two weeks we were in camp, often 
going as far as ten miles up-stream, and our 
invasion against these prize beatifies was success¬ 
ful each day. We used live minnows and flies, 
and found that the trout would bite at minnows 
as quickly as the artificial bait. We were able 
to get plenty of the little ones for lure, although 
we were careful never to use a trout minnow. 
If all anglers would use this same precaution it 
would help greatly to keep the streams stocked 
with game fish. 
When we broke camp we had had more trout 
each day than we could eat, although they were 
served each meal and in various forms. The 
camp was well equipped for cooking, and our 
guide was a wonder at preparing fish meals. 
The followers of Isaac Walton in the “show 
me” state are going to have an ideal stream 
for fishing of all sorts for many years to come, 
and possibly it will be a century before the 
gamey trout is extinct in this region, because 
of the difficulty anglers encounter and the time 
required to reach this river. It is not likely that 
the time will come in the next half century when 
travel in the “Irish Wilderness” of the Ozarks 
will be made easier, because railroad experts have 
stated that the cost of reducing the hardships of 
travel in that section is so great that it will not 
pay, the fertility of the soil being of a very low 
grade; and there is no other source of wealth 
in that country. 
On our return to Kansas City we did not bring 
any fish. We were traveling as heavy as possi¬ 
ble, and, despite the fact that we wished to give 
a dinner to our friends in the Kansas City Yacht 
Club, we were certain that the fish would not 
keep until we could make that long, hard jour¬ 
ney home. But we resolved to spend one month 
in thg same spot next year and to double our 
party. When the season opens again the smoke 
of camp fire will be seen by the natives, rolling 
lazily above the tall oaks, and again the fly will 
splash along gingerly on the rippling waters of 
the “Little Niagara,” tempting the rainbow spe¬ 
cies of the finny tribe. 
MANY BIRDS ARE LONG LIVED. 
The question of which birds live the longest 
has never been settled satisfactorily. But the 
. raven comes very high in the list, and is said to 
reach the great age of two hundred years. 
Eagles and vultures also enjoy long lives. In¬ 
deed, an eagle owl is known to have lived ninety 
years in captivity. In this particular case the 
bird began to lay eggs after fifty years, and dur¬ 
ing the last forty years of its life brought up 
numerous little ones. 
A hundred years is probably a conservative 
estimate of a parrot’s age, and it is recorded that 
one of the birds also started nesting after thirty 
years of captivity. With ordinary luck, both the 
crow and the swan may reasonably expect a cen¬ 
tury of life. 
It is not by any means the largest birds that 
enjoy the longest lives. For instance, the spar¬ 
row sometimes celebrates his fortieth birthday. 
Other ages reached by birds are: Hens, io years; 
pheasants and partridges, 15 years; larks and 
nightingales, 18 years; pigeons, 20 years; cana¬ 
ries, 24 years; peacocks, 30 years, and herons, 60 
years. 
