May 7 , 1910 .] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
731 
sewed it. I kept at work and felt no incon¬ 
venience until, as the cloth got dirty, I took it 
off some two weeks after, but was obliged to 
replace it and wear it some weeks longer. I do 
not know whether the help was due entirely to 
the mechanical support or to the virtue in the 
gum, but one or both cured the sprain. 
It snowed an inch or so one day while we 
were camp building. 
On the afternoon of the 15th Rufus wished me 
to take a canoe and go up a stream at the head 
of the lake which was marked on the plan as 
Avery Brook to see if I could not find some 
old camp from which we could get splits. I 
found that at the head of the lake there was a 
large sandy flat covered with coarse grass. The 
brook came in on the west side and on the east 
quite a wide logan* ran up for sixty to eighty 
rods. The stream was dead for a quarter of a 
mile and then narrow' and quite swift. I had 
taken a few traps with me, and although it looked 
rather unpromising, I set half a dozen for musk¬ 
rats on my right as I went up. Half a mile up 
I came to an immense log across the stream and 
had just turned back when, at a distance from 
*Logan, a cul-de-sac,_ a blind lead or channel running 
from a body of water into the land. To be loganed is to 
get into such a blind lead, from which one must back 
out. Used as substantive and verb. From poke-logan 
Fenobscot. 
the stream, I saw where some alders had been 
cut several feet from the ground. On landing 
I found, as I had supposed, that it was the work 
of beavers. The cutting was several weeks old, 
but there was no doubt that beaver were near. 
On going down I was surprised to find near 
where the stream entered the lake, a large beaver 
house lately repaired. It was eight or ten feet 
across at the base and perhaps three feet high. 
There was no dam, but it was on the back water 
of the lake. In the base of it, as a part of 
~T ' - 
the foundation, were three river drivers’ shaved 
setting poles laid in the form of a triangle. 
There were the marks of broad feet on the out¬ 
side where it had been newly plastered with mud 
and a few cut bushes were laid on top. I found 
that I had set one of my muskrat traps nearly 
opposite, but I had been so interested in looking 
on that side that I had passed the beaver house 
unnoticed. The stake of my trap was of white- 
wood (that is, Acer spicatum, the fish-tail 
maple), but, though they are fond of it, I hoped 
the beaver would let it alone, as I did not wish 
to catch one so early. 
On looking my six traps the next morning 
I took out four muskrats; I also shot the head 
off a pied-billed grebe with my rifle. 
Only twenty feet or so from our camp door 
was a narrow gully which ran up from the lake 
and headed just above. It was some five or 
six feet deep, now dry, but with a surface of 
gravel, and it looked as if there might be water 
beneath. On digging, water began to trickle into 
the hole when it was not over two feet deep. 
We dug down so as to make a well some two 
feet across and three feet deep when stoned up. 
We had expected to have to depend on the lake 
for our water, but now we had an ample supply 
of the best of water close to our door. 
The 18th being Sunday we stayed in camp. 
□ C 
D 
A 
A 
Experience of an Elk Farmer. 
Detroit, Mich., April 30. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Detroit Free Press, of April 28, 
prints the following item: 
Pontiac, Mich., April 27.—Another elk hunt 
is now in progress at the game preserve of 
Joshua Hill, three miles south of Pontiac. Mr. 
Hill has sold the remainder of his herd of elk 
to the National Canadian Park at Banff and the 
animals will be shipped as soon as they can be 
corralled. During the years that elk and buf¬ 
falo have been reared at the preserve, much an¬ 
noyance has been caused Mr. Hill by the animals 
either breaking from the inclosure or persons 
willfully cutting the wires to give them liberty. 
At least two cases arose in justice court as the 
result of the elk running at large after being 
freed from the inclosure. 
Mr. Hill is a banker residing in the little city 
of Pontiac. About three miles from the town 
he has a preserve, Forest Park, of between three 
and four hundred acres. It consists of marsh, 
meadow, hill-woodland, lake and stream, and is 
an ideal locality for the propagation of the 
Cervidce. For a number of years Mr. Hill has 
attempted this with the above noted termina¬ 
tion of the experiment. Mongolian pheasants 
which were planted did not thrive because of 
the weasels and other animals which preyed 
upon them, but the elk prospered and a herd 
of more than thirty head at one time ranged 
the forest tract. A small number of buffalo, 
three or four, also did exceedingly well. 
Mr. Hill maintained this preserve at consider¬ 
able expense for his own enjoyment and that of 
his friends and the public, to all of whom he 
has been exceedingly generous in the way of 
giving fishing rights on the lake and the use of 
his cabins. What has been the outcome? 
Although this property is situated in a fairly 
populous farming district and is therefore not 
isolated, the animals have been pestered and an¬ 
noyed, and from time to time vandals have 
broken the fences so that elk have escaped. Un¬ 
doubtedly the animals so set free have done 
some damage to crops and have thus created 
a spirit of antagonism among the neighboring 
farmers. Some of the elk have in consequence 
been shot by unknown parties, while suits for 
damage have been started in the courts, so that 
instead of stimulating pride and interest in the 
attempt to rear wild game, Mr. Hill’s efforts 
appear to have created a feeling of opposition. 
One cannot, therefore, wonder that in disgust 
with the whole affair he has now disposed of 
the remainder of his herd. It would seem that 
if deer farming is to become an industry of this 
country, a propaganda of co-operative intelli¬ 
gence must first be started among the people of 
the rural districts. 
It is also a great pity that we of the United 
States are so little alive to our own interests 
outside of money getting and wake up when it 
is too late. Like the Pablo herd of buffalo this 
elk herd of Mr. Hill’s should have remained in 
this country. Our Canadian friends are to be 
congratulated on their perspicacity and good 
sense. W. P. Manton. 
New York Audubon Society. 
The annual report of the New York Audubon 
Society has just been issued, and at a very ap¬ 
propriate time—when the Society’s plumage bill 
has just triumphantly passed the New York 
Legislature. 
The educational work being done by the New 
York Audubon Society is admirable and very 
effective. To its various activities it is now to 
add the circulating of a traveling library to move 
about from town to town for the uses of persons 
interested in the Society’s work. 
In the report the secretary, Miss Emma H. 
Lockwood, happily says: “It is well to teach 
the child as early as possible the value and the 
beauty of the wild birds, provided the teacher 
does not stop there.” And again: “The wise 
teacher who has implanted within the mind of 
the child the principles of' bird protection has 
not only opened his mind to a wholesome out- 
of-door interest which will be a source of enjoy¬ 
ment throughout his life. She has also given 
him a broader outlook upon the world and his 
own relation to all life, something he can never 
outgrow to whatever heights he may reach in 
his after career.” 
