472 
cut more. So by three o’clock I had a great p.le 
of warm, dry branches and Wife made up a bed 
that looked very restful. All in all, it was a busy 
■day, and evening found us tire.d and ready to re¬ 
tire. During the day we had a call from our 
■farmer friend of the night before, who evidently 
thought we looked more prepossessing in daylight, 
for he promised *0 supply anything, for a con¬ 
sideration, which his farm afforded. We bought 
a chicken, some vegetables and bread, and then 
retired for the night. 
The next morning we slept late. Once or twice 
I wakened during the night, to hear the rain 
beating on the tent, but it only served to lull me 
to sleep again. Sunday passed quietly enough, 
the church bell at Nelsonville calling us, not to 
cloistered walls, but to “God’s first temples.” As 
Monday was rainy, we lingered in camp. Wife 
and Girl had their fancy work, and I cooked. 
Tuesday morning the weather did not appear set¬ 
tled, but we oiled our boots, packed up, took a 
crimp in our courage, and set out. You will note 
that I have said nothing of fishing, simply be¬ 
cause there was no fishing. The water was high 
and dark, and not even a chub did I catch. How¬ 
ever, good fishing is usually to be had, both na¬ 
tive and rainbow, in that part of the river. Had 
not the weather man played us false. I am sure 
that I would have had a different story to tell. 
Along toward noon, in a bit of rapids, we ran 
upon a snarl of barbed wire and tore a great 
hole in the bottom of the Canvasbaclc, quick work 
alone preventing a bad mishap. As it was, we 
were delayed only an hour. That is one of the 
advantages of an all-canvas canoe; repairs are 
easy. Girl was much disgusted because we ate a 
lunch while we worked, thus saving time. It 
was not much after noon when we entered the 
pond above Amherst, a rather pretty place, but 
one that we remember with anything but pleasant 
thoughts. 
When we carried around the inevitable dam, 
quite a bunch of people gathered to watch us 
“tote” our loads, and some took occasion to pass 
“smart” remarks. We certainly were not the 
first canoeists to go down that river, but per¬ 
haps because we were strangers some thought 
we were to be made game of. Years before I had 
spent a Sunday in the town, preaching twice from 
one of their pulpits, so I knew that those who 
took occasion to make remarks regarding our 
appearance did not represent all of the people. 
Indeed, later I met a man who had been down the 
Tomorrow in a boat and he, with that true cour¬ 
tesy which ever marks a sportsman, gave me 
much valuable information. It was the only time 
on the whole trip when we met with anything but 
the kindest and most courteous treatment from 
the citizens of the towns through which we 
passed. Neither do we lay up the remarks of a 
few hoodlums against the town. I have always 
held that if a person deports himself as a gentle¬ 
man he can journey where he will without of¬ 
fending or receiving offense, and find no reason 
to change my mind. 
Just below Amherst dam we found the worst 
snarl of fences we struck on the whole trip. One 
was almost tempted to believe that they were 
erected to enclose ducks, so many wires were 
there. But at last we got through, with only 
one bad cut. Below town we landed for repairs, 
and while the oil was drying I returned to the 
village and purchased a few supplies, including 
a large watermelon. I mention the melon because 
FOREST AND STREAM 
during the next two days it heartened us again 
and again when our courage was all but gone. 
Some mile and a half or so below Amherst we 
came to another pond, but a high bank upon the 
eastern shore offering a good campground we 
landed. As it never has been my policy to camp 
on a man's land without first getting permission, 
I went up to the house and made my request, 
which as usual was readily granted. 
It fell out that I was acquainted with the gen¬ 
tleman who owned the farm, and at nine o'clock 
he came down and urged us to go up to the house 
and spend the night with him. Wife looked 
down at her rig, very convenient in the woods, 
but when she remembered our experience at Am¬ 
herst, she informed my friend that she thought 
we had better remain in camp. Lady readers will 
know how she felt about meeting strangers. 
However, Mr. X— said so much and was so 
urgent that at last we shut the tent and trailed 
up to the house. I think we all enjoyed that stop 
as much as any experience of the trip. We had 
been in camp long enough to appreciate a good 
bed, and to sit down at the table for breakfast 
in a civilized fashion the next morning was a 
treat. It was eleven o’clock before we- returned 
to the river. If Mr. X— sees this article he will 
know that we are thanking him again. His name 
does not begin with X, however, for that is the 
letter which stands for the “unknown quantity.” 
We thought we knew what trouble was, but it 
was not until the late afternoon of that day, 
Wednesday, that our real trouble began. After 
carrying around the dam just below Mr. X's home 
we struck shallow water and gravel bottom, a 
combination which we soon saw was going to be 
the ruin of the much-abused Canvasback. Though 
Wife and Girl walked a goodly portion of the 
time, the heavily loaded canoe dragged often and 
began to leak. So we gave it a careful going- 
over, reinforcing every weak place with a strip of 
canvas saturated with oil. When we had done the 
best we could for the boat, we tramped up the 
railway track to the home of Mr. So-and-So. 
Never mind his other name; sufficient to say it 
was the gentleman who first introduced me to the 
beauties of the Tomorrow, and whom I had 
known as a boyhood friend. Of course we spent 
some pleasant hours in his home. Girl helped 
Ed feed the calves and was sorry when we set 
out the next day. Mr. So-and-So accompanied us 
to help through Sipperly’s rapids, which he told 
us was just below where we had left the Can¬ 
vasback. 
Loading up. I started out and soon found the 
rapids more dangerous for our boat than many 
rocks and much water would have been. We 
portaged often, and at noon found ourselves 
alone on a section of river more than beautiful. 
If we had only had water! There was plenty 
of quick water, and the way the Canvasback 
would go dancing along when there was sufficient 
depth was a joy. But alas, there seldom was 
water enough. The thing we should have done, 
as we afterward learned, was to have waited for 
water. It was being saved at the electric light 
plant, whose wheels were not turning. But we 
pushed ahead, punishing the boat cruelly. That 
night, after running innumerable rapids, some 
of which sent the boat dancing and glancing 
along like an arrow, we went into camp just above 
a low bridge where a large stream united with 
the Tomorrow from the right. And before the 
tent was up the rain was falling, cold and dreary. 
After supper I went down to the mouth of- the 
new stream, where several rainbow were disport¬ 
ing themselves in the pool, but I did not succeed 
in setting a hook in a single one. I did not fish 
long, owing to the rain and mosquitoes. I was 
losing my grit. 
Then after lingering there three days, waiting 
for fair weather that did not come, we set out 
once more, running some splendid rapids. But 
we were in no mood to enjoy our trip, which had 
come to be a race with time, and our boat was 
pretty well worn out. So, after shooting a par¬ 
ticularly nasty rapid which I had been warned 
to carry around, we went into camp again. The 
next day I hired a farmer to take us, bag and 
baggage, down to Waupaca and set us afloat on 
the river below the woolen mills, which is on the 
Crystal River, a branch of the Tomorrow, or 
"Waupaca," as the stream is called there. Once 
more we were afloat, but the Canvasback leaked 
and all signs betokened another cloud-burst, so I 
suggested that we call it off and ship our outfit 
home. Wife did not want to give up, but we had 
only three days remaining anyway, and the 
thought of another imprisonment by rain decided 
her. We quit. 
We had run the worst part of the river, and 
all the rapids and bad water were behind us, 
while before us was a sedate bass water, and the 
broad expanse of the Wolf, a stream upon which 
small steamboats ply. I would not advise anyone 
to attempt to run the Tomorrow with as heavy an 
outfit as ours, but if one would go practically 
without dunnage, which could be easily done, as 
there would be no trouble in finding sleeping- 
quarters along the way, the trip would be rare 
fun. From Nelsonville to the Wolf would take 
about three days, and a week’s time would make 
an ideal fishing trip. I am going through again, 
but I am going light. 
ELK FOR MINNESOTA. 
Fifty elk from Yellowstone Park, given to the 
state of Minnesota, soon will be on their way to 
Itasca Park where they will be turned loose to 
roam at will, protected by the state game laws. 
None of them will be sent to the Superior Na¬ 
tional forest as urged by the state game and fish 
commission on the ground that the state forestry 
board has no right to spend its money for stock¬ 
ing a National forest. 
6,000,000 TROUT FRY PLANTED. 
Tarleton Bean, New York State fish culturist, 
said recently that the Commission had planted 
more than six million trout fry in state streams 
and lakes during the last year. The different 
families included brown, rainbow, lake, and brook 
trout. The total distribution of all kinds of fish 
in streams and lakes for the past twelve months 
was 1,287,325,520. 
