58 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 8, 1911. 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
George Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary, 
Louis Dean Speir, Treasurer. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of 
entertainment, instruction and information between Amer¬ 
ican sportsmen. The editors invite communications on 
the subjects to which its pages are devoted. Anonymous 
communications will not be regarded. The editors are 
not responsible for the views of correspondents. 
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THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful in¬ 
terest in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate 
a refined taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
THEIR BATTERIES SPIKED. 
The Palisades Interstate Park Commission has 
at last stopped the destruction of Hook Moun¬ 
tain by a trap rock quarry company. For years 
this company lias been actively engaged in blast¬ 
ing away the side of the mountain facing the Hud¬ 
son River. Great gashes were cut by series of blasts 
which, several times daily, awoke the echoes for 
miles around and shook the earth over a wide 
area. The last of these has been fired. The 
quarrymen have four more weeks in which to 
clean up and crush the loose stone already quar¬ 
ried, but by the first of next December the ma¬ 
chinery and equipment must all be removed, as 
at that time the property will pass into the pos¬ 
session of the commission. 
Little by little public sentiment has pushed the 
destructive quarrymen down the steep slopes of 
the Palisades into their barges and compelled 
them to cast off. From Fort Lee to Rockland 
Light silence reigns along the cliffs where the 
roar of heavy blasts disturbed all wild and other 
life throughout the daylight hours. Peaceful 
camps are tucked away in the shade all along 
the river side, and happy parties cruise along¬ 
shore or tramp over the footpaths, while ivy and 
sumach and small trees have spread out their 
branches and are slowly covering the great scars 
left by the vandals, who cared not for the beauty 
of the matchless cliffs but only for the money 
the crushed stone would bring in the market. 
Credit for the acquisition of this preserve, 
which has grown immensely in recent years, 
is due to public spirited men and women of the 
two States most affected, but the quarrymen 
themselves were the most potent factor in bring¬ 
ing about the legislation which has saved the 
Palisades and added to the original park thou¬ 
sands of acres of rough country not thought of 
at first. While the friends of the park move¬ 
ment talked of their pet scheme at odd times, 
the quarrymen never ceased to bombard all those 
who hesitated, and when the public could no 
longer tolerate the vandalism, it laid a heavy 
hand on the traprock men, and spiked their bat¬ 
teries forever. 
THE BALAKLALA CASE. 
Another smelter has been compelled to obey 
the mandate of the Federal Courts and cease de¬ 
stroying vegetation in the vicinity of its plant 
through the agency of deadly fumes from its 
smokestacks. 
The people of Shasta county, California, have 
for a long time sought to prevent the destruc¬ 
tion of forest trees and of their fruit trees and 
crops by gas escaping from the stacks of the 
Baiaklala Copper Company. About a year ago, 
as told in these columns at the time, the farmers 
obtained a decree against the smelter company 
in the United States Circuit Court, in which 
Judge Morrow forbade the company to operate 
its smelter should more than .0075 per cent, of 
sulphur dioxide be permitted to escape in the 
fumes. 
The destruction of vegetation went on apace. 
Finally the company, cited for contempt of court, 
admitted that the court order had not been 
obeyed, but claimed that no device existed which 
would stop the escape of deadly vapor. 
Such excuses have frequently been made in 
similar cases, notably that of the Anaconda 
Smelter in Montana, but this one was not ac¬ 
cepted by the complainants nor by Judge Mor¬ 
row. He has directed that when the ore now on 
hand at the Baiaklala plant has been smelted, 
the works shall be closed until a means has 
been devised to prevent the escape of the deadly 
gas. 
Ten years and more ago it was something of 
an adventure to float down the Ohio or the Mis¬ 
souri River and the Mississippi to New Orleans 
or the Gulf. Now it is not unusual to find 
launch and houseboat parties all along these 
streams in summer, ascending and descending, 
while with the coming of autumn the general 
trend is southward with the birds. Fishing and 
shooting parties find in the long cruise in autumn 
much that is fascinating at the time and pleas¬ 
ant to remember afterward, and there is still 
sufficient game and fish to furnish good sport 
and replenish the modest larder. There as else¬ 
where the cruising launch is at its best, and the 
men and women who pass their vacations in 
little or long voyages on these waterways have 
chosen wisely, as a glance at their happy faces 
and rugged bodies will show. 
The Australian flv-casters have again given a 
practical demonstration of the excellence of 
American six-strip split-bamboo rods. In mak¬ 
ing a great record, Dr. Maitland used a rod 
which was made in New York State more than 
four years ago. It is plain Tonkin cane built, 
wound and fitted exactly as are all of the typical 
American fishing rods. The Australians seem 
to regard it as remarkable that a rod four years 
old should prove to. be capable of such strenu¬ 
ous use, whereas age alone has little effect on 
American rods or any other good rods. Add 
to this the fact that the doctor has practiced 
almost daily with this particular rod, and his 
performance is indeed the most noteworthy one 
of its kind ever recorded in fly-casting annals. 
Consul Isaac A. Manning reports that ac¬ 
cording to a Caracas newspaper an effort is to 
be made to develop the silkworm industry in 
the eastern part of Colombia, near Cucuta. Ex¬ 
periments made at Maiquetia, a suburb of La 
Guaira, with the mulberry tree, have demon¬ 
strated that it can be successfully cultivated in 
that part of Venezuela, and an experiment will 
be made there with the silkworm also. In view 
of the high price of silkworm gut, the best of 
which comes from one small section in Spain, 
the progress of the Central American experi¬ 
ments will be eagerly watched. Substitutes for 
silkworm gut are being exploited, and when 
made up into leaders and snells give fair service 
for a time, but it is not to be expected that 
these wiil materially affect gut prices unless 
great improvement is made in them. 
W 
The camera has come into such general use 
that it is the exception rather than the rule to 
go into the woods without one. And while it 
is not always possible to bring back the heads 
or skins one seeks, other trophies as lasting, and 
often more interesting, are preserved through 
the medium of the little black box. Send the 
pictures you made on your last vacation to 
Forest and Stream. If they are of the right 
sort, those accepted for publication will be paid 
for. Silver prints are preferred, but black-and- 
white prints will serve. The popular glossy 
green-black prints do not reproduce well. 
8t 
The log of the yacht Virginia reads like a 
romance, but a romance of an unusual sort. 
While she lay hard and fast on the coral reef 
off the coast off Cuba, on which she grounded 
while returning from a cruise up the Amazon 
River, the party on board relieved the tedium 
by fishing. Better sport they could not have 
found had they searched far and wide, and they 
enjoyed it in a leisurely way not often possible 
in shipwrecks. 
K 
In another column will be found a statement 
of the results attained by one of our Tennessee 
correspondents in the treatment of hunting dogs 
for black tongue. In the South, Mr. Draughon 
informs us, this disease has frequently proved 
almost as fatal as hydrophobia, but after care¬ 
ful treatment with simple remedies he feels con¬ 
fident that a majority of the dogs affected with 
black tongue can be saved. 
* 
The Senate Committee on Forest, Fish and 
Game has decided not to report favorably the 
bill which was introduced some weeks ago in 
the New York Legislature, providing for a bar 
against the use of repeating and automatic guns. 
* 
The Index to Volume LXXVI. (January to 
June, iqti) of Forest and Stream is now ready 
for distribution and will be mailed to any sub¬ 
scriber who may request it. 
