


FOREST AND STREAM. 

ANID RINVEER FISHING 


Massachusetts Sawdust Law. 
Boston, Mass., May 5,—Editor Forest and 
Stream: In connection with the attempt to nul- 
lify the efforts that were made by the late Cap- 
tain Collins, chairman of the Massachusetts Com- 
mission from 1899 to November, 1904, to compel 
mill owners to desist from polluting streams, with 
sawdust, all trout fishermen will be interested in 
the statements contained in the Massachusetts 
Commission’s published report of 1903. Quoting 
from the report of A. P. Knight, professor of 
animal biology in Queen’s University, Kingston, 
Canada, it says: “When sawdust was allowed to 
lie in still water, or in very slowly running water, 
the most disastrous effects followed the immer- 
sion of different animals in the poisonous mix- 
ture. Not merely did adult fish die in it, but fish 
eggs, fry, aquatic worms, small arthropods, ani- 
malcules and water plants. Nor was the cause 
of death due to suffocation from lack of oxygen, 
because when air was made to bubble rapidly 
through the solution the final results were the 
same, the only difference being that death was 
somewhat delayed. 
“No one could paint too vividly the deadly 
effects of strong solutions of pine or cedar saw- 
dust when soaked in standing water. Adult fish 
died in two or three minutes; fish eggs in a few 
hours; fry and minnows in from ten to fifteen 
minutes. Every living thing died in it, and if 
one were to judge of its effects by laboratory 
experiments alone, then the prohibitory legisla- 
tion needs no better defense.” 
The above was printed in the Forest AND 
STREAM, Oct. 24, 1903, and is one of the many 
instances of the presentation of important infor- 
mation in the interest of sportsmen which the 
files of your paper show. At this time, when an 
attempt is made by legislation to break down the 
plan by which Captain Collins was able to do so 
much to save the trout in Massachusetts streams 
from this deadly poison, it is of especial interest 
to every trout fisherman in the Old Bay State, 
and, in fact, throughout the country. 
Similar experiments were made with perch 
eggs, and the conclusion drawn by Dr. Knight 
was, that the eggs were killed by the poison con- 
tained in the water and evidently dissolved out 
of the sawdust. The late chairman adds: ‘This 
is in harmony with our observations of the effect 
of sawdust on fish life in streams, and the result 
of these scientific experiments should have their 
proper weight.” 
Notwithstanding this scientific demonstration 
there are found mill owners who claim that saw- 
dust is not harmful to fish. One mill owner of 
some prominence in Berkshire county and having 
what may be designated in common parlance a 
political pull, has succeeded in having a bill intro- 
duced, which was referred to the Joint Judiciary 
Committee (the member who secured its intro- 
duction being a member of that committee), 
which, if enacted, would require the commission- 
ers to give a public hearing in the county where 
the mill is located; and in case the Board should 
see fit to order that sawdust be not put in the 
stream, and the owner feels aggrieved by said 
order, he can appeal to the Superior Court, which 
may alter, amend, annul or confirm the order. 
The bill, having been referred to a committee 
where it would not be expected to go, was not 
noticed by the sportsmen, and was passed by both 
branches. Then there was nothing for trout 
lurers to do but intercede with the Governor. 
The result was a suggestion from His Excellency 
to have the bill recalled. This being accomplished, 
it was recommitted to the Judiciary Committee 
and a hearing thereon has been requested. 
Every change sought in this bill is unqualifiedly 
bad, in the opinion of the Legislative Committee 
of the State Association, and the sportsmen of 
the State generally. We are hoping, in case the 
committee think it rather late in the session to 
grant a hearing, that it will recommend its refer- 
ence to the next General Court. The action of 
the committee thereon will be watched with the 
keenest interest by thousands of sportsmen. 
H. H. KIMBatt. 
Angling Notes. 
SAYRE, Pa., May 1.—Editor Forest and Stream: 
Thus far trout fishing in this section of Pennsyl- 
vania has been far from satisfactory. The open- 
ing day saw snow squalls scurrying across the 
hills, with now and then a peep of sunshine 
intervening. Generally speaking, the day was 
raw and cold, and the streams, for the most 
part. were running banks full of roily water. A 
catch of twenty trout was made over at Harford 
Mills, in New York, which stands, so far as I 
am informed, as the record for any single day, 
for one rod, this season. The conditions have 
continued to be adverse to good fishing up to 
within a few days. A recent shower or two and 
a bit of warm weather have resulted in develop- 
ing a better state of things, and we are there- 
fore prepared to presently receive more satis- 
factory reports from the trout waters. 
At Harford Mills, McLean, Richford, Speeds- 
ville and Slaterville, all lying adjacent to the 
L. & N. Y. branch of the Lehigh Valley Rail- 
road, with Sayre and Auburn as terminals, are 
to be found streams easily fished, as trout fish- 
ing goes, and productive of a nice lot of fair- 
sized trout, with an occasional large one. 
From the headwaters of Six Mile Creek, fed 
by numerous fine springs, some excellent creels 
of brook trout are now being taken. This 
stream may be reached from Ithaca, through 
which it flows, or from Slaterville. 
From a little stream that comes brawling 
over stony declivities across the township of 
Enfield, finally scolding itself away into the 
inlet above Ithaca, a good number of California 
trout have been taken during the past few sea- 
sons, sOme of these trout being of splendid 
size and of rare fighting ability. It is said that 
a number of large ones have already been taken 
from these waters this season. Over on the 
headwaters of Fall Creek, in the country ad- 
jacent to Groton, Cortland and McLean, in a 
territory that may be said to be ideal trouting 
land, because even the chronically indolent find 
pleasure in tramping, not a few brook trout of 
which no angler need feel’ ashamed, may be 
taken in an easy day’s fishing when fit weather 
conditions prevail. One may get into this sec- 
tion from either Ithaca, Sayre or Auburn via 
Lehigh Valley Railroad. ‘ 
Coming from southern New York into 
Pennsylvania by way of Sayre, one finds scarcely 
any trout fishing this side of the big and little 
Shrader. down along the Monrceton line out of 
Towanda. Even here the wood choppers are 
devastating the timber about the headwaters of 
these streams. and the trout supply is rapidly 
diminishing. In fact. it has already diminished 
to such an extent that the local fishing tales 
fail to interest one. To be sure, some nice 
trout are to be taken from the streams inter- 
secting the Monroeton stretch of country, but 
the glory of the old, and, at that time, ap- 
parently inexhaustible supply has waned sadly, 
and to-dav the angler must be satisfied with trout 
comparatively few in number. Nevertheless, the 
beauty of the landscane is a free possession to 
all, and the warmth of the sunshine is quite the 
equal of any of bygone days, so that there are 
inviting compensations still coming to the 
angler who elects to invade the land of the 
Shraders. 
[May 12, 1906. 

In the country around Wilkesbarre and White 
Haven are many lovely trout streams out of 
which a good many fine trout are now being 
taken. And over all impends the lure of the 
springtime. CHILL. 
James Frazer Marsters. 
To many readers of Forest AND STREAM who 
were his old customers, the death of Mr. Jantes 
Frazer Marsters will come as a surprise. Born 
in Halifax, N. S., in 1839, he came to Brooklyn 
in 1848, and in 1864 became a partner of his 
brother, Mr. George Carter Marsters, the rod- 
maker. Over forty years of painstaking atten- 
tion to the wants of sportsmen, placed Mr. 
Marsters in a position to handle the requisites for 
field sports, of which he was an ardent follower 
and enthusiast. The secret of his success was his 
close attention to business and his painstaking, 
looking after the small things that make so 
much for success. 
It was my privilege to know Mr. Marsters, and 
the fishing reports in his note-book carry one 
away back to the times when Hell Gate, Graves- 
end Bay, Coney Island Creek and Sheepshead 
Bay were in their palmy days. At that time his 
figure was a familiar one to those who frequented 
those waters, ‘Trout and striped bass were his 
favorite fish, and it was the delight of his later 
days to recite the events of that time, as experi- 
enced by himself and friends. 
In the early ’60’s Mr. Marsters made a trip 
west, and the party was attacked by a war party 
of Indians. Three of their men had been riding 
about a day in advance of the main body, some 
seventeen in all, when one day two of the ad- 
vance party dashed into camp, reporting the loss 
of their comrade. The party advanced and 
found him dead, scalped, and fairly bristling with 
arrows. They camped right there, while the In- 
dians, some fifty in all, surrounded them and 
prepared to starve them out. Why the Indians did 
not at once attack them is not known, except that 
a detachment of troops was expected to pass that 
way daily. The Indians took a branch of willow, 
peeled it and flattened one side, fixing it in the 
earth like a horseshoe. With the glasses the 
besieged could see depicted in color on the flat- 
tened side of the willow, a representation of 
every member of the party, including a headless 
body for the dead man. This was believed to be 
a taunt. As the days passed the rations grew 
shorter, and Mr. Marsters doled out the flour 
daily, so much to each man. As the ration short- 
ened, volunteers were asked for to run for it at 
night and brine aid. Mr. Marsters was one who 
volunteered. Whether or not the volunteers left 
I do not recall, but the Indians suddenly withdrew 
and the troops relieved the little party none too 
soon, for the rations were exhausted. The Goy- 
ernment reports tell the facts, and Mr. Marsters 
received special mention. I asked him one time 
how he felt when besieged. The answer was 
characteristic of the man: “I wasn’t afraid,” he 
said, “I knew the Lord was with me, and if He 
intended me to get through or be killed by the 
Indians, I could not avert it!” ‘ 
His illness was of long standing. Three years 
ago, after a severe illness, he planned to retire 
from business and spend his remaining days 
with his two sons on their cattle ranch in 
Oregon. 
The West had gotten “into his bones,” as it 
does to every other man who goes there, and 
he never tired talking of it. To say that he was 
kind, congenial, generous to a fault, broad- 
minded, but precise when occasion required, 
often imposed upon, but once only by the same 
offender, gives a good notion of the character 
of this good man. G. W. Beatty, M.D. 
