June 19, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
979 
leisurely making its way across the valley to¬ 
ward a high treeless mountain. Brown, who had 
the only available weapon, a black powder .40-82, 
drew it from its scabbard and dropped to one 
knee in the mud. His companions having packed 
their guns in their blankets to keep them from 
the rain could only offer spiritual comfort or 
sarcastic advice. 
Estimating the distance at 250 yards. Brown 
raised his sight to the top notch and opened the 
bombardment. Bruin was somewhat confused 
by the bullets striking in front of him, but be¬ 
tween walking and galloping, managed to in¬ 
crease the distance. As Brown had plenty of 
cartridges he kept up the firing until a furious 
rain squall interfered and suggested the erection 
of a tent. The boys rendered a verdict to the 
effect that bruin had fallen out of bounds, if at 
all, and was entitled to all the silence the moun¬ 
tains could give him. At any rate we did not 
look for his remains in the morning. 
In order to reach the hidden lake region from 
our camp, it was necessary to go up the valley 
of the East Fork to its head. Generally we fol¬ 
lowed the creek all the way, first through a 
narrow, open valley with an agreeable grade, 
next through two miles of pine forest along my 
blazed trail and then again into a beautiful open 
valley which extends to the summit. This upper 
valley we found to have been recently occupied 
by a large flock of tame sheep, which at once 
destroyed all our hopes of seeing and studying 
game animals and made useless the bear gun we 
had reserved for this particular point. 
Camp being made at timber line, where there 
was but little grass, forced us to turn our ani¬ 
mals loose with a good prospect of their stray¬ 
ing. Three great peaks stand on a T-shaped 
divide here, one of them a mass of satin mica 
schist. On the divide, running north and south, 
lies the East Fork Lake, an insignificant look¬ 
ing pond far below the level of its surround¬ 
ings, and possibly a crater, but only in the Sea 
of Dreams will one find more and better trout. 
Fifteen hundred feet below the pass in the 
east spur are the two lakes on the head of the 
Flint Fork of Pine River. We inspected these 
first, only to find the marks of the vandal in 
the shape of a section of a trawl or trotline, 
presumably the property of a market fisherman 
who had stuck up a board on an island of the 
larger lake, claiming entire possession. The day 
being hot and the water calm, we were not dis¬ 
appointed when we had fished around the lake 
without a rise. We next climbed a high rock 
overlooking a great space of shallow water, but 
not a fish could be seen. After a while Ed 
found a shady nook and fell asleep, while I 
fished listlessly in deep water from a low, flat 
rock. Presently my attention was drawn to a 
moving object in the water, I could scarcely 
believe my eyes, for passing very slowly in front 
of me was a six-pound trout. He was only six 
feet away, a foot below the surface and the 
water was as clear and smooth as glass. The 
tenseness of his body seemed at variance with 
the cold scrutiny of his eye. He seemed ready 
to spring instantly and yet appeared to be petri¬ 
fied and propelled by an unseen mechanical 
power, there being no movement of fins or tail. 
Perhaps the most surprising thing was his very 
slow, unaltered, long continued and absolutely 
straight forward sailing movement which was 
not interrupted by a cast 1 made for him after 
he had passed, ihere was something so ghost- 
iiKe about tlie’ act i torgot to admire him until 
later. 10 make it short, we tislied that lake for 
inree successive days, regardless of the weather, 
and only caught four three-pound trout. 
Vv e next tried the lower lake, a mere pond 
which has been formed by a landslide. It is 
snallow and being unruffled we could see the 
original winding channel of the creek in its 
bottom, and incidentally about 150 trout that 
would average twenty-tour ounces each. As 
we prepared our tackle a breeze dimpled the 
water and helped us to thirty minutes of the 
fastest fishing we had ever had. i here is no 
lasting pleasure, though, m catching and liberat¬ 
ing hsh, and so we went down the outlet on an 
exploring trip, testing the fishing occasionally 
and noting the geological teatures of the boulder- 
strewn valley. 
[to be concluded.] 
Large Brook Trout. 
Glens Falls, N. Y., June 2.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: On Saturday, ]\Jay 22, a man by 
the name of P'rank Welch caught a brook trout 
in Huntley Pond, Essex coiiniy, this state, which 
weighed seven pounds and one ounce, measured 
twenty-five inches in length and fourteen inches 
around. 
this trout was seen by several responsible 
parties who vouch lor the accuiacy of the weight 
and measurements. 
Is not this the largest on record, at least for 
the Adirondacks, or this section of the country? 
C. A. Stupplebeen. 
[We can find no authentic record of a larger 
brook trout, taken in the Adirondacks. It is 
said that one was taken there some years ago 
which was estimated to weigh between seven and 
nine pounds, but the only record left was the 
outline of the trout, traced on the door of a 
camp and a written statement witnessed by all 
the members of the party, who tacked their cards 
on the door. The late Seth Green is credited 
with a brook trout of 11 pounds, taken in the 
Sault Ste. Marie River, and large trout have 
been taken in Maine and Canada, but if one 
larger than the specimen referred to by Mr. 
Stupplebeen has been taken in the Adirondacks 
or New York State, we would be glad to record 
the fact. —Editor.] 
Utica, N. Y., June 9 .— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Probably the largest brook trout ever 
taken in the West Canada Creek region was 
brought to Utica to-day by William Light, of 
Northwood, who found the fish dead in a private 
fish pond in which he has an interest. The trout 
weighs 4R[ pounds. It is twenty-three inches 
long and has a plump, powerful body. The 
pond from which it was taken is on a brook 
running into the West Canada Creek. George 
Windheim, of this city, has stocked the pond 
with several thousand trout, but somehow the 
fishing has never been as good as warranted by 
the numbers of trout placed in it. About two 
years ago several pound trout from a hatchery 
tank were placed in the artificial lake and it is 
supposed that this is one of these trout and that 
he has grown fat on his smaller companions. 
The trout is to be mounted. E. A. S. 
Temagami. 
Brooklyn, N. Y., June 12. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: What we believe the Adirondacks to 
have been forty-odd years ago, as we recon¬ 
struct them from the pages of Murray and 
others, that Temagami is to-day-—and some¬ 
thing more. It would not be easy to translate 
its charm into type. Cy Warman has not suc¬ 
ceeded in his “Weiga of Temagami.” The at¬ 
mosphere of it has perhaps been most satis¬ 
factorily caught in White’s “The Forest,” the 
scene of which is not Temagami at all, but the 
country of the Missinaibi, further west. 
Temagami has an altitude above sea-level of 
more than one thousand feet. This, and its 
northern location ensure invigorating air. Dur¬ 
ing the months of July and August the weather 
is fairly well settled and there is little rain. 
This region is not suitable for agriculture and 
was withdrawn Irom settlement by the Ontario 
government. It is superbly wooded, the more 
important trees being the white and red (Can¬ 
adian) pines, poplar, cedar, white birch, and 
the Banksian or Jack pine. Some mining 
operations are being carried on within the re¬ 
serve, and the removal of timber in connection 
therewith is under close surveillance. The 
Province has not yet undertaken the harvesting 
of timber; but we have been assured that when 
it does so, careful methods will be strictly fol¬ 
lowed and due regard will be had for the camper. 
Most of the grub outfitting is done by the 
Hudson’s Bay Company, from which one may 
also rent tent, cooking utensils, blankets and 
canoes. The company will also recommend 
guides (generally Ojibways) when desired. 
Some of the canoe routes would be found a bit 
difficult by those with but slight experience in 
“the way of the woods.” A few properties 
about Lake Temagami have been leased from 
the Provincial government; but with these 
negligible exceptions, there is no spot where 
the outer may not hoist his canvas in welcome. 
In 1900, George R. Gray, in charge of the ex¬ 
ploration survey party that covered much of 
this territory, wrote as follows in his report to 
the Commissioner of Crown Lands: “Fish of 
every description are plenty in the rivers and 
lakes, the most abundant varieties being trout, 
pickerel and pike. The waters of nearly all the 
lakes and rivers are clear and cold, and some 
are so transparent that the bottom is plainly 
visible at a depth of twenty feet. The fish art 
very firm and of exceptionally fine flavor, diu 
doubtless to the low temperature and excellent 
quality of the water.” This is exactly true to¬ 
day. The small-mouth black bass fishing is su¬ 
perior throughout the summer. In Lake ’Wasac- 
sinagama, southeast of Lake Temagami, Dr. 
Jones, United States consul-general at Winni¬ 
peg, is reported to have taken at one cast, with 
a 5j4-ounce fly-rod, three bass aggregating 
eight pounds in weight. Four-pounders are ex¬ 
tremely common. During the warmer weather 
the lake trout lie deep, and uncommon lengths 
of copper wire, heavily weighed, are required to 
reach them. The average weight of these fish 
is not to exceed from fifteen to eighteen pounds. 
The smaller ones are generally considered of 
better flavor. G. S. Bryan. 
The Forest .\nd Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply yon regularly. 
