In the Adirondacks in 1858. 
Lockport, N. Y., March 30 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: This all happened longer ago than 
two-thirds of the readers of this issue of Forest 
and Stream can remember. At Theresa, N. 
Y., before daylight on the morning of Aug. 17, 
1858, a party of eight , climbed into a farm 
wagon and started on a drive of sixty miles into 
St. Lawrence county for two weeks’ hunting and 
fishing. 
The senior member of the party was Franklin 
Parker, a prominent business man of Theresa; 
the others were J. D. Moak, G. W. Cornwell 
and Dr. N. M. Davison, also of Theresa; W. H. 
Moak and a Mr. Claudius, of Canandaigua, N. 
Y.; E. J. Benson, of Syracuse, and myself, 
then of Utica, N. Y. Mr. Benson had come to 
Theresa to regain his hedlth after a severe ill¬ 
ness and had been there a few weeks when I 
came to spend my vacation. He had passed 
much of the time fishing for mascalonge and 
black bass, with good success, for he was an 
expert angler, but he wanted to have some shoot¬ 
ing and had been told that when I came he 
would get all the hunting he wanted. 
We met for the first time the morning after 
my arrival, and that afternoon I took him over 
my old stamping ground for partridges. I do 
not remember how many birds we got, but think 
it was seven. The next morning when I called 
on him to go for ducks he was so lame that he 
could not get out of bed. When he learned that 
a party was going to the Adirondacks he wished 
to go with us. I told him that he could not 
stand the tramp, but he replied that if he died 
all we would have to do would be to bury him 
beside the trail. He went, stood the trip and 
came back as strong as any one of the party. 
Our first day’s drive brought us to Canton, 
fifty miles from Theresa. The next morning 
after getting a barrel of soda biscuit forwarded 
from Ogdensburg, we started for Colton. Our 
objective point was Racket River above South 
Colton. Here we engaged two guides, William 
Lalancett and Bill Waffles, with three boats, one 
of which was on the river while the other two 
had to be drawn on an ox sled two miles through 
the woods. I now wonder how we ever got 
those boats and our provisions through those 
woods. After loading our baggage and provis¬ 
ions in the boats and eating our dinner, we 
took to the boats and started up the river. After 
going three or four miles we came to a portage 
of more than a mile. While the boats and lug¬ 
gage were being loaded on a wagon, I went with 
the woman of the place to the potato patch to 
get half a bushel of potatoes. I offered to do 
the digging, but she insisted on doing it,' say¬ 
ing that she was the smartest woman in the 
whole town. I asked if she was the only one 
in the town. She said: “Yes.” This was the 
last house we saw until we returned two weeks 
later. 
We made our first camp some four or five 
miles above this portage. While we were mak¬ 
ing camp and getting our supper, one of the 
guides took Benson, the invalid, in his boat to 
a small brook above the camp. They came back 
after dark with a nice mess of trout for break¬ 
fast. About 9 o’clock they started out again 
with gun and jacklight and came in at 12 o’clock 
with a fine deer, a doe. At that time there was 
no law against hounding and jack ight deer hunt¬ 
ing. While we were at that camp a party of 
four men came down the river, going out. They 
had been in two weeks and had killed thirty-two 
deer. They said they “could have killed twice 
as many if the nights had not been moonlight.” 
The second morning we were at this camp 
A NEW BRUNSWICK LAKE. 
Photograph by S. W. Lippincott. 
Benson caught a 2j/2-pound brook trout and 
found a dead trout that would have weighed 
over three pounds. 
After five days at this camp we moved ten or 
more miles up the river to what was called “Big 
Moose Head,” our ideal camping ground. 
Our second night here, guide Lalancett took 
four of the party in the large boat and started 
down the river, when about a mile below camp 
we left the Canandaigua boys on a point to 
watch for deer coming in to feed. After an 
hour or more drifting down the stream the boat 
suddenly stopped and the guide asked if we 
heard anything. A moment later we heard what 
I thought was an engine whistle on the Potsdam 
Railroad. The guide laughed and said it was 
wolves we heard, and that there was no use 
of going any further that night. When we got tO' 
the boys on the point they said they had heard 
wolves on the opposite side of the river, and 
when we reached camp the others reported that 
a gang of wolves had been hanging around camp 
for some time, and that they fired their guns 
in their direction, when the wolves left. We 
heard nothing of them again while in the woods. 
This was the only time I have ever heard the 
howling of wolves, although during my boy¬ 
hood days there were a few about Theresa. 
The next night W. H. Moak, Mr. Claudius 
and guide Waffles went to a small pond two 
miles from camp to watch for deer and Claudius 
got a yearling buck. As they were about to 
start back to camp, Claudius saw three animals 
playing in the water on the beach. He shot at 
them, killing one and wounding another. Leav¬ 
ing his gun he walked out in the water to get 
the one he had killed. As he neared it he began 
to sink in quicksand and the first thing he knew 
he was in up to his waist. The guide warned 
him to keep quiet. There were plenty of small 
dead spruce trees on the beach. Waffles took 
one of them, and feeling his way out, gave one 
end of the tree to Claudius, who by this time 
had sunk nearly up to his armpits. After get¬ 
ting hold of the tree, he reached for his game 
and threw it toward the guide who, with the 
help of Moak, pulled their friend out. The ani¬ 
mal proved to be an otter. This was nearest to 
a tragedy of any event of the trip. Later we 
had a real farce. 
On Saturday we returned to our former camp. 
Early Sunday morning the two guides, my 
brother, Dr. Davison, and J. D. Moak, went out 
to gather blackberries, which were very abund¬ 
ant, The getting of breakfast fell to me, and 
I thought wheat pancakes would be good for 
a change. Having been instructed before start¬ 
ing on the trip as to what ingredients I should 
use, I began to make the batter. The cakes 
were to be baked in the frying-pan and all went 
well until I came to the turning over point, when 
they refused to turn. After using about half 
of the batter without accomplishing a turn, the 
berry party returned, and guide Lalancett, see¬ 
ing my predicament, came to my assistance by 
asking if I had used warm water in making the 
batter, and when I said, “Of course,” he ex¬ 
plained “that was just what was the matter.” 
He then made another batch, using cold water, 
and began to bake them, and when it came to 
the turning point, he simply gave the cake a 
toss and it turned over and came down in the 
frying-pan. We had all the flapjacks with maple 
sugar we wanted with our venison steak and 
coffee. 
I did not throw away the hot water batter 
that was left, as we were to have a venison 
stew for dinner at 3 o’clock. I thickened the 
batter and put it on top of the venison and we 
had delicious pot pie. You will remember that 
I mentioned our getting a barrel of soda biscuit 
and may wonder what we did with them. We 
also had thirty pounds of butter. A combina¬ 
tion of biscuit and butter is a good thing to 
take between meals in the woods. For dessert 
