FOREST AND S T R E A M 
275 
An Economical Vacation For The Family 
It Doesn t Cost a Fortune —On the Contrary it is Cheaper Than Staying at Home—Hints From 
One Who Been There 
UR annual expenditure for an 
outing had been limited to fifty 
dollars. This may seem small, 
but we are close to the woods 
and waters and are content to 
put up with some of the incon¬ 
veniences. This year we wanted 
to buy a canoe, but did not 
know at first how we were going to manage 
it and get an outing out of fifty dollars. 
So we began to figure! A sale of canoes in 
St. Paul gave us the first chance. We found 
a guide’s style, Charles River model, eigh¬ 
teen-foot canoe at thirty-four dollars. We 
bought it and dropped it Into the river, 
Father of Waters, and had, after paying our 
fare to the city, thirteen dollars and fifty 
cents left. But we were not discouraged. We 
had carried our silk tent, duffle of casting and 
fly-rods, cook kit and blankets and other necessi¬ 
ties to the city with us and thus obviated ex- 
pressage. With three dollars and fifty cents’ 
worth of supplies we were ready to go ahead 
with the vacation. 
In this narrative “we” means the wife and I. 
If anyone could finance a vacation for two on 
the sum of thirteen dollars and a half she could, 
thought I, hence I gave her the purse and settled 
myself in the stern of the canoe to ply the main 
paddle. Though the route we took is not a new 
one by any means, still it is attractive enough 
for many to even do it each year. We dropped 
down to Prescott, Wis., where the small-mouth 
bass fishing is better than on any point on the 
upper river. Here we spent a week. The wife 
and I fished in Lake St. Croix and along the 
wing-dams below Prescott three days and had 
great luck. The fish were taking the fly splen¬ 
didly. We had located the best fishing points 
and had the maximum of sport. On the morn¬ 
ing of the fourth day the wife decided not to 
go out and at the landing there was a fisherman 
who wanted to go in her place. He had just 
come. He had heard of our success and wanted 
me to take him out for the day. 
The weather was perfect and we went up the 
lake to try for bass along the rocky shores and 
about the mouth of several little creeks. I had 
as much good sport that day as previously, though 
I was guiding the stranger. We used Fischer 
flies made by Stapf and took to camp a fine bag 
of small-mouths. Three following days the 
stranger and myself worked along the wing-dams 
below the junction of the St. Croix and the Mis¬ 
sissippi and were fairly successful. My four days 
of guiding brought me ten dollars, though I said 
nothing to the wife about it and hid it away for 
an emergency. Then we journeyed on in the 
canoe up Lake St. Croix. The fishing was not 
as good anywhere we tried in the lake as it was at 
the mouth. 
By Amos Burhans 
It took four days more time to go to the head 
of Lake St. Croix and return on the opposite 
side of the lake. We pitched camp early every 
night and plied the flies along shore, and never 
tired of the great skillets of fried small-mouth. 
At the farms the wife bought the few necessi¬ 
ties we needed from day to day. One beauty of 
this trip was that it was so primitive along the 
lake, yet so close at hand were all the necessities 
we must have. 
At the junction of the rivers again we took a 
steamer for St. Paul at a total cost of a dollar 
and then headed up the Minnesota river for Man¬ 
kato, where we planned to ship home, twenty-five 
miles east. There is no river in the north more 
replete with historical associations than the Min¬ 
nesota and we enjoyed it to the full. At pic- 
turesue Fort Snelling we stopped and spent the 
night nearby. The following day we went on to 
Shakopee and wanted to get .up into the pike pools 
and sand-bars for the fishing. Every night we 
set a bull-head line with some meat bait on about 
a dozen hooks, this to fill the biggest item of the 
food problem. It was astonishing what a variety 
of fish we would secure on this trot-line. Once 
we got a ten-pound sturgeon, once a twelve-pound 
catfish, both of which we traded for butter and 
eggs and potatoes, the exchange being craftily 
made by the good wife with some kindly farmer 
along the river bottoms. I have often wondered 
at the demand for fish among a class of people 
who have accessible waters well filled with them. 
At all the little creek-mouths we found fair 
fishing for pike of the sand species. In the big¬ 
ger pools of the clear streams that entered the 
river were a few big-mouth bass that took the 
surface lures with a deal of spirit. We found a 
few little lakes where the big-mouths were biting 
well, and by obtaining permission we had access 
to them. Not once were we ordered off for tres¬ 
passing, for we first sought permission. It was 
always gladly granted. There cannot be a great 
number of vacationists or canoeists who travel 
up the Minnesota river, we decided, for we were 
looked upon almost as curiosities. Local sports¬ 
men in the smaller towns always gave us a nice 
lift with their little launches, towing us from 
place to place and pointing out the best fishing 
This was appreciated, for the constant drag 
against the current was tiresome, though we did 
not try to overdo the task. 
St. Peter was one of the most interesting stops 
we made. There is lots of good bass fishing 
about this little city, and a fine lot of sportsmen, 
accommodating and courteous. Through the 
broad valley of the Minnesota to Mankato we 
gradually made our way. If we had worked too 
hard we would have reached the destination tired 
and weary, but we took our time, rested perfectly 
at night and did not need a couple of weeks to 
get rested from our vacation trip. One of the 
reasons so few women who have tried canoeing 
ever make the second trip is that they are given 
too much hard work, more than they can stand, 
at the paddle. By going slow, making every camp 
a comfortable one and being satisfied with sim¬ 
ple food, one can always come home fresh and 
full of vigor, the correct ending of a vacation. 
The wife gained in weight, strength, was al¬ 
ways eager to do more than her share, and her 
general health improved wonderfully in the few 
weeks we were outing. Out tent was screened 
and she slept well, gained animation and a re¬ 
freshing lot of lung exercise she could have had 
in no other way. She was wiser in experience, 
had a fund of humor picked up on the way and 
is still giving it vent. She is a better canoeist, 
knows more about water and its likelihood for 
good fishing, can plan and build a camp, and is 
far wiser in woodcraft than when she started. 
She has seen a portion of the state she wanted 
to learn something about. In general, I may 
say that I gained the same things out of the trip. 
In experience in fishing, boating and camping, 
it is the continual following of it that makes one 
proficient. Being cooped inside steadily I strive 
to make as many short trips as possible and one 
long one every year. After this trip my muscles 
were again hard as nails and ready for the grind. 
The main thing is not to overdo. 
In dollars and cents we were in debt to the 
vacation fund just five dollars. In other words, 
we spent fifty-five dollars for the trip, and this 
included a first-class canoe, an asset that offsets 
the debt. I used but five dollars of the ten I’d 
earned guiding. We had as much sport on the 
water and better fishing than we had ever en¬ 
joyed in Minnesota. The trip could be duplicated 
by anyone. For economy, sport, fun, physical 
fitness, experience, making acquaintances, fishing, 
seeing new country (to us), we vote this the best 
vacation we ever had. 
DO PARENT ANIMALS PROTECT YOUNG 
IN WATER? 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
On a number of different occasions I have had 
the pleasure of watching animals crossing lakes 
and other wide stretches of water. I began to 
observe after different experiences of this nature 
that there seemed to be order in the method of 
various species—that is, the mother deer always 
swam about a yard behind her fawns, while the 
black bear mother preceded the cubs by that 
distance. Was this by accident or design? If 
the latter, I presume the deduction is that the 
bear mother goes ahead of the cubs to face pos¬ 
sible danger first, while the doe swims behind, 
the better to observe ahead or to protect the 
rear. Have any of the veteran woodsmen read¬ 
ers of Forest and Stream any theories to offer 
on the subject? 
AMATEUR NATURALIST. 
