Dec. 14, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
751 
Way Up North 
By E. S. WHITAKER 
A GAIN away for my summer vacation to 
Douglas Lake in the semi-wilds of Che¬ 
boygan county, and meeting old friends, it 
seemed very pleasant, notwithstanding during 
August and September there was scarcely a day 
when it did not rain more or less. A large por¬ 
tion of the time the wind blew with unwonted 
velocity, so that rowing, fishing and woodland 
walks were only occasional rather than daily 
pastimes. 
New guests would come and were glad to 
be escorted through the island, the neighboring 
woods and over to the famous ‘'Big Springs,” 
and when it was a bit sunny, take snapshots of 
such views as took their fancy. A camp of 
Michigan lumbermen cutting immense hemlock 
trees near by was very interesting, and sawing 
into logs—hauling to, and upon huge skidways 
and making roads, so that they might be hauled 
in winter to the mills at Pellston—proved a very 
attractive sight to the majority of tourists. 
Some of the logs were over five feet in diam¬ 
eter and required skill to handle, but these old 
veterans knew what they were about and made 
no false moves. In the districts burned four 
years ago, it is remarkable how rapidly the sec¬ 
ond growth has sprung up and covers the hide¬ 
ous scar on nature’s face, and under it blue¬ 
berries ripened this year in profusion and were 
very appetizing when served with cream or made 
into pies; also the blackberry bushes have sprung 
up thickly in many localities, and this year 
yielded considerable fruit to those who had the 
temerity to force a way into the prickly tangles. 
The season was so wet that plants and shrubs 
grew luxuriantly, and those that bore flowers 
and fruit were burdened by the quantity, and 
as masses of berries began turning from green 
and yellow to blue and black-purple, red or 
orange, according to their nature, the bushes of 
three or more kinds grouped together made 
lovely pictures, and each succeeding day the 
change was more apparent, until the perfection 
of colors in the ripened fruit remaining a week 
or so was succeeded by the gradual decline and 
the dropping off. Never before had I seen such 
wondrous combinations. Most conspicuous among 
them were the withe bush, red-stemmed dog¬ 
wood, choke berry, American holly, together 
with small trees of mountain ash and wild red 
cherry, all of which are natives of this part of 
Michigan. The leaves of all these were un¬ 
usually large, and as we had no frost whatever 
until in October, remained green until very late, 
and then the gradually changing colors and their 
great diversity presented daily pictures of much 
interest to the lover of nature, and could be 
seen at the best advantage in rowing a boat 
about the lake. 
High winds and rain prevented much fish¬ 
ing and bass were not taking bait freely during 
the season, small strings as a rule being brought 
in. I used only my twenty-six-year-old seven- 
ounce split bamboo rod with an artificial fly and 
caught altogether thirteen fine bass, one pickerel 
and an eight-pound Northern pike and had much 
pleasure in handling them. The pike towed my 
eleven-foot canvas boat over half a mile, and 
it took me three-quarters of an hour to bring 
him exhausted to the net. While not taking as 
many fish as others who use minnows and arti¬ 
ficial lures, I have more satisfaction in getting 
one with my fly-rod than in taking a dozen on 
my steel rod, which I have not used for some 
years. Of course it is merely a question of taste. 
For some years the hunting of deer has 
been prohibited in this section of the State, and 
they have increased very much in numbers, and 
in my wanderings I frequently came across 
tracks. The embargo being removed this fall, 
quite a number of hunters were afield, and some 
venison secured. Ruffed grouse were fairly plen¬ 
tiful, and many were brought to bag and proved 
an appetizing addition to the hotel bill of fare. 
Upon the lake an occasional flock of edible ducks 
would tempt pursuit in rowboats, and a few 
were obtained, but as a general rule few fre¬ 
quent this water, the greater number passing to 
the larger lakes of Mullet and Burt. 
A few plover are occasionally seen and many 
gulls have their nesting places here and are 
daily seen sailing above the water in search of 
their food, and their movements and weird cry 
prove of much interest to city people taking 
launch rides, while the peculiar call of the loons, 
who are more or less frequent, is startling and 
puzzling to many. 
The interesting camps of the civil engineer¬ 
ing and biologist classes of the Michigan Uni¬ 
versity prove a great attraction. They are 
located in the curve of South Fishtail Bay and 
the tents are put up on streets in symmetrical 
order, while those of the professors in charge 
are back partly up the high ridge, and at the 
top is located the cook and eating houses, and 
the American flag being planted near finishes the 
pretty picture seen from the lake. It pays to 
land at their dock and ascend the pathway of 
steps, and from the middle of the ridge have 
a fine view of both Douglas and Burt lakes, 
which at this point are but a mile and a half 
apart. It is hard for the beholder to realize the 
fact that the water of Burt is 102 feet lower 
than that of Douglas Lake, or that the vision 
covers fully ten miles over the former. It is 
certainly a beautiful panorama of woods, water 
and some cultivated country that one never for¬ 
gets. 
In my walks through the woods I could not 
but miss the gray, black and occasional fox 
squirrels that I have heretofore seen in certain 
localities, and which—when resting on a log — 
I have watched with much interest in previous 
years, but their absence this fall was especially 
noticeable. After late frosts in October, I found 
that there was very little for them to eat, as 
there were no beechnuts whatever, and this fact 
has caused them to migrate to better feeding 
grounds. 
It adds very much to the enjoyment of a 
lover of nature to see wild life occasionally 
when wandering over hill and dale in the woods 
The whir of a grouse, the scurry of a squirrel, 
fox or hare, and the flap of an owl or hawk are 
all interesting, and each so different, too, and 
when one sometimes is fortunate enough to get 
a good view of a graceful deer bounding in its 
native wilds, with so much poetry of motion, it 
compensates for many a mile of travel, and is 
a sight not to be soon forgotten. And this re¬ 
minds me of my tours through the Adirondacks 
of New York many years ago, when it was more 
of a rough wilderness than it is to-day, and 
when scarcely a day passed in which deer were 
not seen, also many other varieties of animal 
and bird life. It is a fact that I kept count dur¬ 
ing my first season there until I had enumerated 
175 deer. It was before the kodak era, so that 
no snapshots were secured, but several groups 
and picturesque poses which I saw were indelibly 
impressed upon my memory, and in my mind's 
eye can be recalled at any time with great pleasure. 
At one time as I was in my boat and turned 
into a little bay, I saw a splendid buck on a 
RESTING IN THE BIG WOOD. FIVE LITTLE INDIAN MAIDS (WHITE). 
