334 
[Feb. 29, 1908. 
The same optimism and enthusiasm found at 
Hanford exists at Kennewick, which is on the 
Columbia opposite Pasco. Old timers in Seattle 
and elsewhere in the State will recall how the 
smile was passed around eighteen years ago 
when someone said: “Watch Pasco grow. 
With the rest of the State Pasco went to the 
bad in 1893, but now things are different. Not 
only Pasco, but Kennewick as well, is thriving. 
Perhaps the recent financial depression has 
slowed things up a bit, but there is compara¬ 
tively little calamity howling. They are talk¬ 
ing about the kinds of crops they will produce 
on their “acre tracts.” One hears more about 
the virtues of alfalfa, wheat, peaches and grapes 
in ten minutes over that wonderful country than 
he can digest in a week’s time. 
The key to the development of southeastern 
Washington to a great extent is irrigation. And 
they are at work on this problem everywhere. 
The Hanford Irrigation and Power Company, 
which controls 32,000 acres along the Colum¬ 
bia River and which will derive its water and 
power from the vicinity of Priest Rapids, is 
putting through a great project, and unless all 
signs fail the water will be running in its main 
ditch within forty or fifty days. Alongside of 
the big companies are the individuals figuring 
and working on private irrigation plans. Not long 
ago much was said in these columns about the 
development of the gasolene engine for powei 
boats, then fishing craft and finally the pump¬ 
ing of water for use in homes where city sup¬ 
plies could not be had. To-day the gasolene 
engine is supplementing the water power in mak¬ 
ing valuable the land of southeastern Washing¬ 
ton for fruit and other crops. 
In past years hunters from the western part 
of the State have thought only of Kiona when 
they got ready to go forth in search of geese, 
but with the development of irrigation and the 
increase of the area used for wheat the hunting 
district is being greatly enlarged. 
It will not be long before another hunting 
section is opened up in the Hanford country. 
Along the river there will be fruit, 'melons and 
other products, but further back near the moun¬ 
tains will be located the third main irrigation 
ditch, and it is very probable that much of this 
land will be utilized for wheat. The geese will 
have an easy flight to these fields from the bars 
along the Columbia, adding to the pleasure of 
the sportsmen and the irritation of the ranch¬ 
ers. The latter are not so much interested in 
attracting geese as they are in raising crops, 
but the geese keep thoroughly posted on the 
development of the country. On the flats back 
of the high bluff opposite Hanford geese were 
practically unknown until 1907. 
My trip into the Kennewick-Hanford country 
was made in company with Frank R. Atkins. 
We left Seattle at 9:30 o’clock and reached 
Kennewick about 6 the next morning. The 
Mountain Gem runs up the Columbia to Han¬ 
ford, a distance of thirty-five miles. Before it 
left there was time for Atkins and myself to 
rout out O. C. Stark, at the Kennewick Hotel, 
and get breakfast. Early in the season his sons, 
Otto and Charlie, found the Hutchins goose. 
Later came the Canadian honkers. Charlie 
Stark tipped a Hutchins one day and caught it 
after a hard chase and a good rough-and- 
tumble fight. He keeps it now in a pen back 
of the hotel, and despite the fact that it is much 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
tamer than formerly it does not hesitate to fight. 
Once you get it up in your arms, with wings 
pressed close to its sides, and commence to 
smooth its glossy black head it becomes gentle 
and invites more petting. 
I had started out for southeastern Washing¬ 
ton with the idea of encountering cold weather, 
frozen ground and a lot of wind storms. T. o 
my surprise I found the entire country enjoy¬ 
ing typical spring weather. The sky was clear, 
the atmosphere. so pure that the outlines of the 
mountains in the distance were cut so sharp and 
distinct that a photographer would have gone 
into raptures. The absence of a strong north 
wind seriously affected our hunting, as when the 
geese came up from the river they were high in 
the air and studiously avoided the pits front 
which we hoped to give them a reception. 
Coming up the river we discovered a few 
gangs of geese, but they were wild and very 
accurate in the judgment of distance. The law 
that protected geese on the Columbia bars and 
back from the river for a mile is effective, irre¬ 
spective of what the hunters may have in the 
way of intentions. 
“You can’t miss Conkle’s house,” said a man 
in Hanford. “After you reach the top of the 
bluff just keep on going and you will get there 
some time. It is about two and one-half miles, 
perhaps three.” I guess he was right. The 
Government survey indicates that but I thought 
it was further than it is from Lake Crescent 
to Solduck Hot Springs in the Olympics, and 
no one has the nerve to say that trail is less 
than eighteen miles. Far across the immense 
wheat field that lay in front of the lonely habi¬ 
tation a black cloud suddenly appeared, and 
soon to our ears came the bewitching music of 
the real Canadian honker. Some people say 
geese cackle. That does not sound musical, but 
to the ear of the hunter there is harmony in 
every honk. Then in the growing twilight the 
black swarm disappeared over the bluff and we 
knew that the geese had gone to roost on some 
bar in the Columbia. 
Llunters always hope for the best. We were 
hoping the next morning when we groped our 
way across the fields in the darkness and put 
out the decoys. Unfortunately we did not have 
“profiles” and the corks were missing from all 
but two of those we did have. They would not 
stay inflated, and about the time the first flight 
came up from the river four or five looked as 
if they were suffering from collapse. The only 
satisfaction we got was a sight of several fair 
sized gangs as they went over looking for other 
feeding ground. The next morning we tried 
the bluff, but there was no wind, and the flight 
was not only high but from an entirely differ¬ 
ent direction. That afternoon we walked back 
to the Columbia and stood on the shore yelling 
for help until Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Blackler 
rescued us in their boat. The steamer Todd 
was stuck on a bar tip the river, and that meant 
two days before a boat would go down to Ken¬ 
newick. The next morning Mr. Blackler came 
to our help again. With his boat we rowed 
thirty-five miles to Kennewick and caught the 
night train for Seattle, arriving in the morn¬ 
ing. Our poor luck does not mean that goose 
shooting on the Columbia is a failure. We did 
not happen to hit it right.* After all the kill 
is only a small part of the outing. 
Portus Baxter. 
Bear Hunting on the Ocklawaha. 
Electra, Fla., Feb. 14. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Some years ago as my wife and 1 
were returning from prayer meeting about 10 
o’clock at night we heard, as we drove up to 
the barn to put up our team, a hog squealing 
about half a mile from the house. We sat and 
listened for a while, until we had marked the 
direction. Then I sent my oldest son to tell my 
nearest neighbor to be at my house next morn¬ 
ing by daybreak and bring all the dogs he had, 
and we would have a bear hunt. I was sure a 
bear had caught the hog. 
My neighbor and two of his boys with five 
dogs were promptly on hand next morning, and 
after a hasty breakfast we started for a large 
willow bed near the Ocklawaha River, in which 
we were sure the bear had killed his pork. 
About the middle of the willow bed the dogs 
found and savagely attacked the bear. Then 
the fun began, each one of us doing his best 
to get through the tangled willows and other 
brush to get the first shot. Before we could 
reach the bear he had knocked the dogs off and 
struck out across the river for a big bay about 
a mile distant. Men and boys made the best 
time thev could on foot, and when they came 
to the river they made no stop, but waded across, 
and then into a big sawgrass flat for another 
mile. The sawgrass cut our faces and hands 
like knives, but we did not mind that. The dogs 
were fighting the bear savagely not over three 
or four hundred yards in front of us, but when¬ 
ever we got nearly up to them he would run 
again. At length he reached the timber and 
ran up a large pine tree. When he reached the 
first big limb he stopped and stood straight up 
on- it. From where we were he looked as big 
as an ox, and \ach one did his best to get in 
proper distance to him first. 
As soon as the bear saw us coming he started 
down the tree backward, but before he reached 
the ground one of the boys fired two loads of 
buckshot at him at a distance of about seventy- 
five yards. At the crack of the gun the bear 
fell to the ground and the dogs covered him 
again, but he knocked them off as fast as they 
could get to him, and before we came near 
enough to shoot without killing our dogs the 
bear was in the big bay. 
The dogs soon brought him to a stand again, 
as the shot fired at him while coming down the 
tree had wounded him badly. Two of the party 
who were ahead crawled up to within about 
thirty feet and at last brought him down, but 
during the race he had killed two of our best 
dogs. He was only a small two-year-old after 
all but he made as fine steak as one could wish. 
G. W. W. 
Who Was S. Ball? 
A correspondent writes: “I have a double 
barrel gun 42 inches long. On' the barrel is the 
maker’s name, S. Ball, New York. The gun is 
an old muzzleloader with twist barrel, silver 
mounted. Do you know of such a maker? I 
want to find out when this gun was made, and 
to know whether it is ■ old enough to have any 
value as an antique.” 
The correspondent, though inclosing stamps 
for a reply, forgot to sign his name to his letter. 
We do not know S. Ball. Can any of our cor¬ 
respondents help us to the information? 
