342 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Feb. 27, 1909. 
Blooming Grove Club’s Loss. 
The club house of the Blooming Grove. Hunt¬ 
ing and Fishing Club at Glen Eyre, Pike county, 
Pennsylvania, was totally destroyed by fire on 
the evening of Feb. 10, which was the twenty- 
eighth anniversary of the loss of the old club 
house by fire. 
The origin of the fire is not known, but it is 
supposed that in some way it began near the 
furnace of the steam heating plant. There were 
in the house at the time only the superintendent, 
Mr. Winter, his wife and the foreman of the 
stable. The house is closed during the winter 
months. 
The fire broke out about 8:30 P. M., and 
though those there used every effort to stay 
the fire, the house was doomed from the start. 
Within one hour there was nothing left. None 
of the cottages of the members nor any of the 
other club buildings, however, was harmed. 
The house was a frame building, the main 
portion of it having been built in 1882. Since 
that time additions have been made, so that at 
the time of the fire the house was more than 
twice its original size. 
The grounds of this club are at Blooming 
Grove, in Pike county, Pennsylvania, some 121 
miles from New York city. The railroad sta¬ 
tion is on the Erie road at a place called Glen 
Eyre, twelve miles from Lackawaxen on the 
main line and about thirty-five miles from Port 
Jervis. These grounds are about 15,000 acres 
in extent, a large portion finely wooded, and 
containing eight lakes and some twenty miles 
of trout streams. The clul) house was seven 
miles from the station and located on a ridge 
200 feet above Lake Giles and some 400 feet 
from the lake and about 2,000 feet above sea level. 
It was steam heated, had ample toilets and 
bath and was furnished with water pumped from 
Lake Giles into tanks above the house and hold¬ 
ing some 18,000 gallons. A perfect sewer sys¬ 
tem was put in last year. The house was about 
125 feet in front, facing toward the east, with 
two L's, one in which was kitchen, pantry, etc., 
and in the other billiard room and cafe and 
about 130 lockers for use of members. There 
were forty-two sleeping rooms. 
'While the loss of the house just at this time 
is a very serious matter, outside of the pecuniary 
reasons, because the fishing season will open 
on April i, the board of directors have already 
taken steps to provide a temporary kitchen and 
dining room and such other conveniences as it 
may be possible to install at this time, and those 
owning cottages will undoubtedly allow the use 
of their houses for sleeping accommodations. 
Steps have been taken looking toward a new 
club house, and if nothing unforeseen prevents, 
it is expected that a new club house with all 
modern conveniences and appliances will be 
ready for the members in the early fall. 
This club is the successor of the Blooming 
Grove Park Association, whose charter, granted 
by the State of Pennsylvania in 1871, was de¬ 
clared ■ by the Supreme Court of that State in 
1902 as unconstitutional. The new club was at 
once organized under the laws of Pennsylvania 
with a capital stock of $11,250, being 225 shares 
of par value of fifty shares each, and took over 
all the property of the association, its members 
all becoming members in the new club. 
It has been very successful in all matters per¬ 
taining to such a club. It has a trout hatchery 
and retaining ponds from which its twenty miles 
of trout streams are fully stocked each year. 
From the streams upward of 10,000 trout are 
taken each year, mostly with fly. 
It also has a large pheasantry at which last 
season nearly 3,000 English pheasants were 
raised, over 2,500 of which were turned out for 
shooting and some 1,900 were killed by the 
members, the allowance to each member being 
five a day, twenty a week, fifty a season. The 
eight lakes contain various fishes. One of them. 
Lake Laura, is always teeming with black bass, 
though they do not grow to any large size. A 
park of some 1,000 acres inclosed in a wire 
fence contains many deer. Members are al¬ 
lowed to kill one buck each season, stalking, 
using only a rifle. 
The membership is now 180 and among them 
are men well known in New York, Philadelphia, 
Trenton and elsewhere. A few of them are 
Charles Hallock, who was one of the pioneers 
of the old club, Adj.-Gen. Breintnall and Gen. 
IMurray, of New Jersey; W. W. Cook, E. A. 
Cruikshank, ex-Senator Dryden, of New Jersey; 
S. T. Everett, of Cleveland; Judges Dike and 
Fawcett, of Brooklyn; George S. Green, Jr., 
Charles R. Hedden, Hon. A. Bartow Hepburn, 
John S. Pluyler, A. R. Kuser, of New Jersey; 
Cliarles Lonstretch, H. S. Paul, Charles E. Scott 
and Otto C. Wolf, of Philadelphia; John 
Markle, Chas. R. Miller, Peter B. Olney, George 
B. Post, E. A. Richard, F. W. Roebling, King 
Smith, L. E. Sexton, John S. Sutphin, R. M. 
Thompson, Clifton Wharton, Jr., Charles T. 
Wills, Charles C. Worthington and many others. 
The present officers are: H. A. Smythe 
iMartin, President; Louis J. Dorflinger, Vice- 
President; Nathaniel E. Smith, Treasurer; 
James V. iMcNaboe, Secretary; and office at 68 
William street. New York city. 
New York Sportsmen’s Show. 
The fifteenth annual Sportsmen’s Show in 
Madison Square opened last evening (Feb. 26), 
and will close the night of March 6. This year 
the show will be a real sportsman’s show. The 
Anglers’ Club, the famous amateur fly-casting 
and fishing organization of New York, will have 
charge of the fly-casting tournament; the school 
boy rifle and sub-target rifle shooting tourna¬ 
ment, in which a thousand school boys will par¬ 
ticipate, will be under the auspices of the Public 
Schools Athletic League, and the aquatic sports 
and swimming carnival will be held under the 
rules of the Amateur Athletic Union. 
Over 150 guides from the great hunting re¬ 
sorts will be present and visitors will find them 
at the hunting and fishing camps. Old Uncle 
Jerry will be there with his coon camp from 
Virginia, and Maine will have an exhibit of 
over 1,200 specimens of fur, fin and feather. 
From Africa there will lie a magnificent dis¬ 
play of trophies of the chase. New Jersey will 
show a fisherman’s hut and net reel from Barne- 
gat, and a fishing display from Asbury Park. 
There will be a big pool for the waterfowl 
and over a thousand birds will be in another big 
cage. 
Over 1,000 school boys are entered in the 
school boy rifle and sub-target rifle shooting 
tournament and the twelve contests scheduled 
should be the great attraction. 
The anglers’ tournament will be under the 
auspices of the Anglers’ Club of New York. 
All the prizes will be cups. The fly-casting pool 
is 215 by 20 feet. The list of events follows: 
Event I. —Friday evening, Feb. 26, 8:30 P. M. 
Trout fly-casting for distance; 70-foot class. 
Amateurs only. Weight of rod and length of 
leader unlimited. 
Event 2.—Saturday, 3 P. M. Bait-casting for 
distance; quarter-ounce weight; 115-foot class. 
Amateurs only; five casts. Event 3—5 P. M. 
Trout fly-casting for distance; five-ounce rods; 
70-foot class. Amateurs only. Event 4—8:30 
P. M. Trout fly-casting for distance; five-ounce 
rods; 85-foot class. Amateurs only. 
Event 5.—March i, 3 P. M. Balt-casting for 
distance'; half-ounce weight; 165-foot class. 
Amateurs only. Event 6. 5 P. M. Trout fly¬ 
casting for accuracy under a bush; five-ounce 
rods. Open to all; five casts. Event 7—8:30 
P. M. Trout fly-casting for distance; 85-foot 
class. Amateurs only. 
Event 8.—March 2, 3 P. M. Bait-casting for 
accuracy, quarter-ounce weight. Open to all. 
Ten casts. Event 9—8:30 P. M. Trout fly¬ 
casting for distance, five-ounce rods; unlimited 
class. Open to all. 
Event 10.—March 3, 3 P. M. Bait-casting for 
distance; quarter-ounce weight; unlimited class. 
Open to all. Event ii—5 o’clock. Fly-casting 
for distance under forward obstacle; five-ounce 
rod. Open to all. Event 12—8:30 P. M. Trout 
fly-casting for distance; loo-foot class. Ama¬ 
teurs only. 
Event 13.—March 4, 3 o’clock. Bait-casting 
for distance; half-ounce weight; unlimited class. 
Open to all. Event 14—8:30 P. M. Trout fly¬ 
casting for distance; four-ounce rods; unlimited 
class. Open to all. 
Event 15.—March 5, 3 o’clock. Bait-casting 
for accuracy; half-ounce weight. Open to all. 
Ten casts. Event 16—8:30 o’clock. Salmon fly¬ 
casting for distance; unlimited class. Open to 
all. 
Event 17.—March 6, 3 o’clock. Fly-casting 
for accuracy and delicacy; five-ounce rods. 
Open to all. Event 18—5 P. M. Dry-fly cast¬ 
ing for accuracy; five-ounce rods. Open to all. 
Event 19—8:30 P. M. Trout fly-casting for dis¬ 
tance; unlimited class. Open to all. 
Trout and Tobacco. 
A NOVEL argument is made in the London 
Field against the theory that trout object to the 
odor of paraffin on dry flies. Rising trout were 
fed alternately with pellets of tobacco and bread 
tossed on the water from a place of conceal¬ 
ment. The tobacco was taken as quickly as the 
bread, though of course the former was ejected 
while the bread was swallowed. The inference 
is drawn that the tiny film of oil which spreads 
on the water when a newly paraffined dry fly 
alights is not so objectionable to the trout as 
it is to the angler, and that fastidiousness on 
the part of the latter prompts him to employ 
only the more expensive oils, which are sup¬ 
posed to be odorless to the trout. 
Newark Fly* and Bait-Casting Club. 
The annual banquet of the Newark Bait- and 
Fly-Casting Club will be held in Newark, N. J., 
the night of March 19. 
