FOREST AND STREAM 
107 
it, for a moment, in historical interest and im¬ 
portance. 
Another fishing excursion is mentioned in a 
later diary of Washington. When he made his 
great northern and western tour, already alluded 
to, in 1789, Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, was 
the extreme point of his journey. While he was 
there he was taken out to view the harbor, and 
to try his skill and luck in salt water. On Mon¬ 
day, Nov. 2, they went down to the outer harbor 
beyond the fort and the lighthouse, where, as 
he says himself: 
Having lines, we proceeded to the Fishing 
Banks, a little without the Harbor, and fished 
for cod ; but it not being a proper time of tide, 
we only caught two, with which, about 1 o’clock 
we returned to town.” 
His visit to Lexington, to which I have allud¬ 
ed, took place on his return toward New York. 
He had intended to go to that historic locality 
while he was yet in Boston, but on the day ap¬ 
pointed. Monday, Oct. 26, his record is: 
‘‘The day being rainy and stormy, myself much 
disordered by a cold and inflammation in the left 
eye, I was prevented from visiting Lexington, 
where the first blood in the dispute with G. 
Brit’n was drawn.” 
Returning from Portsmouth, he left that place 
on Wednesday, the 4th of November, passing 
through Exeter, Haverhill, and Andover, where 
on the 5th he was received and escorted by the 
Hon. Samuel Phillips, Jr., President of the Senate 
of the town. He made a short visit to Mr. 
Phillips, who attended him as far as Lexington, 
where they “dined and viewed the spot on which 
the first blood was spilt in the dispute with G. 
B. on the 19th of April, 1775-’’ His further route 
was continued through Watertown, and by what 
was known as “the middle road” to Hartford, 
Conn. He arrived in New York on Friday, the 
13th November. 
Future research may or may not reveal par¬ 
ticulars of these fishings in the Schuylkill and 
the Delaware or their tributary streams, the 
character and weight of the catch, the methods 
of the sport in those days, and all the incidents 
which crowd such fleeting hours of charming 
recreation. I am content to have been the first to 
claim for George Washington his rightful place 
as an angler—a genuine disciple of Izaak Walton. 
REVIVAL IN HUNTING ATTRIBUTED TO 
WAR. 
That the European war exerts a power of sug¬ 
gestion on the minds of those who use firearms 
is the belief of County Auditor A. P. Erickson. 
In that way he accounts for the issuance of 7,423 
hunting licenses this season, the largest number 
ever issued at the Minneapolis office. He said 
that he actually believes a great many who ob¬ 
tained hunting licenses did so to test their shoot¬ 
ing ability as game was not so plentiful as a 
year ago when 6,036 hunting licenses were issued. 
IOWA CONSERVATION SOCIETY. 
The Iowa Conservation Society, formerly the 
Iowa Park and Forestry Association, at a meet¬ 
ing recently held in Des Moines, elected officers 
as follows for the ensuing year: President, T. 
C. Stephens of Sioux City; vice-president, Fred 
Lazell of Cedar Rapids; secretary, G. B. Mc¬ 
Donald of Ames; treasurer, Mrs. H. J. Taylor 
of Sioux City. 
On the Prairie in the Great Northwest 
Worcester, Mass., Jan., 1915. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
Having recently returned from a four weeks’ 
visit to my nephew, a homesteader in the Prov¬ 
ince of Saskatchewan, the middle of the Prairie 
Provinces, perhaps a little account of this great 
grain producing territory of Canada may inter¬ 
est some of your readers. 
What a transformation from the New Eng¬ 
land landscape! A vast rolling prairie of waving 
wheat, flax and oats as far as the eye could 
reach in all directions. Mortlach is a thriving 
little town of about 350 inhabitants, has three or 
four grain elevators, several stores, a church, 
good school house, Masonic and Odd Fellows 
lodge-rooms, post-office and two banks—branches 
of the Bank of Toronto and the Bank of Ham¬ 
ilton. About all the government land adjacent 
to Mortlach has been taken up by homesteaders, 
but between the bad land west of Montreal and 
the Canadian Rockies there is room enough for 
100,000,000 people. 
The uncultivated portion on the prairie is a 
perfect garden of wild flowers, roses predominat¬ 
ing, mushrooms are also very plentiful and of 
the best variety, and in the ravines there are 
lots of wild gooseberries and currants. Game, 
consisting of wild ducks, geese, prairie chick¬ 
ens plover and wilson snipe is plentiful and 
can be shot almost in one’s door yard. One 
morning, while I was there, there were five 
prairie chickens on top of my nephew’s rustic 
summer house, and on going out I flushed a 
covey of about thirty a little further away. 
That was in September, before the law was off. 
The shooting season on these birds opens Octo¬ 
ber 1, and closes Oct. 15. Resident bird license, 
$1; non-resident $25. As I left for home on 
Oct. 2, I had only one day’s chicken shooting, 
but I killed a good bag of those strong fliers 
with my little Parker 24 inch barrel brush gun 
on the opening day; killing them all on the wing, 
of course, and without the aid of a dog. 
I had great sport all through September with 
the ducks which are to be found in all the little 
sloughs. I shot mallards, black ducks, spoon¬ 
bills, American widgeons, pintails and teal, all 
with the same little gun—consequently we had 
roast duck nearly every night, for dinner dur¬ 
ing my four weeks’ visit. The ducks feed on 
the wheat in the fields in addition to what they 
get in the water, and as there are no fish in these 
little ponds, they are of most excellent flavor. 
A dinner of fat, grain fed, roasted duck with 
mushrooms, and all kinds of vegetables fresh 
from the garden, with appetite sharpened by a 
good outing in the bracing September air, fol¬ 
lowed by a fragrant cigar is not a bad wind up 
to a day’s hunt on the prairie of Saskatchewan 
One day late in September while we were duck 
shooting the sky became very black toward sun¬ 
down, and in a few minutes a blizzard struck 
us and when we reached home the ground was 
covered with snow, yet on the fifteenth of Octo¬ 
ber, I hunted prairie chickens all day with a 
coat on and was uncomfortably warm, with mos¬ 
quitoes much in evidence. 
It is very easy for one not familiar with the 
locality to get lost on the prairie. I frequently 
hunted alone and one afternoon, being busy with 
the ducks until after the sun went down it grew 
dark before I got back, but I had my compass 
w:th me, and by the light of a match I got my 
bearings and headed due north, knowing that if 
I kept that course I would reach the house all 
right, but before long I found myself traveling 
in the wrong direction. I soon had my bearings 
again and located the house by the light in the 
window. The night was warm and I probably 
would not have been very uncomfortable if I 
had been compelled to sleep out, but there were 
quite a lot of prairie wolves about and although 
they are harmless, unless extremely hungry, 
their howling at night gives a tenderfoot the 
creeps. I saw several of them on different occa¬ 
sions and heard some that I did not see. 
The mounted police force of the Canadian 
northwest beats the world. When a “mounty” 
gets after a crook he might as well come right 
in as he will get him if it takes years to do 
it. They are a fearless lot of men. I was told 
of one who, on coming up with his man, had to 
look into the muzzle of a lb'aded gun, but in¬ 
stead of throwing up his hands he sprang off 
his horse, knocked the gun out of the man's 
hand and made the arrest. 
Having a camera with me I secured a number 
of interesting souvenirs of my trips to this great 
grain-growing Province of Canada and when the 
day came to exchange corduroys for “glad rags” 
and travel east I said to myself: “This seems 
to be a suitable place to plant a sprig of acacia 
in memory of one of the most enjoyable outings 
I have ever experienced.” 
GEORGE H. BURTIS. 
Advancement of interest in the preservation of 
protected birds, wild animals and fish by means 
of an educational campaign is given as the ob¬ 
ject of the Ohio Fish and Game Inspectors’ 
Association, has been organized at Columbus, 
Ohio. The members are the deputy fish and 
game wardens of the State. 
The officers elected are: C. C. Acton, Cincin¬ 
nati, president; Harry Crosley, Sandusky, vice- 
president; A. C. Baxter, Columbus, secretary, 
and Charles Becht, Columbus, treasurer. The 
following committee was appointed to draft a 
constitution: Herman Nohr, Russell’s Point; A. 
C. Wagner, Tiffin; Charles Haines, Lima; 
Charles Ruckel, Akron, and Sherman Conover, 
Dayton. 
An educational campaign, the members be¬ 
lieve, will be of material assistance in the en¬ 
forcement of the game law. The meeting was 
held in the office of J. C. Speaks, chief state 
game warden. 
WERNERSVILLE ROD AND GUN CLUB. 
The newly elected officers of the Wernersville 
(Pa.) Rod and Gun Club are: President, H. G. 
Sensinger; vice-president, William Spatz; finan¬ 
cial secretary, P. J. Guinther; recording secre¬ 
tary, W. V. Hassler; captain, U. Lamm; trus¬ 
tees, William Ochs, Irwin Brossman and Rufus 
Brossman. 
