
‘and play on them. But you imported a very fine gun the 
other day, did it meet your expectations? 
Aries.—Perfectly. It ought to have done so, as it cost 
not quite $625 laid down here. It makes just the pattern I 
wanted. 
Papilla.—Do you shoot then toa pattern? Oh! Alcibiades 
of guns! 
Aries.—Of course Ido. Men have so many different 
ideas about things. Of late years our own gun-smiths are 
paying attention to patterns I am pleased to say. I include 
. all patterns under three categories. There is first the gun 
which shows ona thirty inch target a concentration of 
shot in the centre, the bulk of the shot going there, and 
~vith but few pellets on the outside; another gun makes 
ithe cullender pattern, where every square inch of the tar- 
‘get has a shot or two in it; there is even a third pattern, 
where the pellets are thrown at five or six different points 
in the target in qnantity, those centres having their occa- 
sional shots around them : 
Papilla.— Which pattern do you prefer? 
Aries.—It is according to what I want to use my gun for. 
The first gun I would take for geese, when I wanted to kill 
one bird certain. The second tor snipe and flocks of birds, 
but the third gun I would like best for ducks. It may be 
the dilettanteism of sporting as to results, but it is perfectly 
possible to get guns to shoot in these ways, if you 
know where to buy your guns. 
Papilla.—You are indeed worth listening to. 
Avies.— Now I must confess, that all you have said to me 
«bout cheap guns may be true, but to return to your watch 
question. [suppose a machine can make the various parts, 
in fact the whole movement of a watch. 
Papilla.—Certainly. 
Aries.—Can a machine regulate a watch, adjust it? Find 
out the faults, the idiosyncracies of the time keeper? 
Papilla.—Of course not, some skilled hand work is mostly 
necessary. 
Aries.—Hand work has nothing to do with it friend Pa- 
pilla. It is head work which comesinto play here. When 
T pay $900 for my English gun, I divide the bill as fol- 
lows: Material twenty-five dollars, not more. That means 
cost of iron, steal and wood. Labor $200, that includes all 
ithe barrel forging, boring, lock filings, braizing, wood-cut- 
, ting, and more delicate finishing. Now something else 
comes in; the brains of the foreman of the shop, or of 
the maker of the gun, who has tried the gun may be one 
hundred times in altering the barrels or the bore a little 
every time he shoots my gun, until he gets it to throw the 
shot exactly tosuit his fancy or mine—well, that portion of 
the expense, | put down at $275, and I do not think Iam 
paying a penny too much for it. Now whenIsay that I 
am perfectly willing to give a good round sum of money 
for my gun, I expect to pay for the time and skill employed 
in adjusting the gun, and Laflirm that the best English 
makers do this work, when they are paid for it, and do it 
thoroughly and conscientiously. That is what I mean by 
the secrets of the trade. 
Papilla.—You pay then for the experience of the gun 
maker. Well it as richly merits compensaticn as any thing 
else. in fact, Aries, I must confess thereis a great deal of 
reason in what you say. ’ 
Aries.—I am forced too to allow that as to the feasibility 
of manufacturing good cheap breech-loaders at home, why 
what you have mentioned to me, when I think it over, leads 
me to suppose that it might be done. 
Papilla.—Might be done? Why it is done to-day. 
Aries.—Do you shoot with one of your breech-loading 
guns made by the gros sas you said? 
Papilla.—Of course I do. 
Aries. —And it satisfies your requirements? 
Papilia.—Perfectly. 
Aries.—And my Englisb gun suits me. We are then 
both contented, and there can be no differences between 
us. ; 
Papilla.—I suppose Achilles could not have fought as 
’ well unless he had had a silver bossed shield, a mirror for 
the Graces and a glaive of exquisite workmanship When 
I have time I will look up my Homer. 
Aries.—And the Spartans, who did wonderful slaughter 
with their more homely weapons? s 
Papilla.—Chaum a son gout. That is it, aint it? 
Aries.—Precisely, ouly that there was but a single Achilles 
who could afford to shoot with a $600 breech-loading, 
whereas the general herd of Thracians, Lacedemonians, 
Spartans and Greeks, generally had to use much cheaper 
guns when they went after their game. 
Papilla.—I will excuse your classic anachronism. 
i 
THE EAGLE RIVER COUNTRY. 
Senses 
For Fornst AND STREAM. 
HE Eagle River probably furnishes the best trout fish. 
ing of any river in Colorado. It is seldom visited, 
except by a few straggling miners and the Ute Indians. 
There is a trail leading up the valley of the river which 
runs from Tennessee Pass to one of the U. S. Ute agencies, 
but it is seldom used. During the past summer the head 
waters of the Eagle River was surveyed by Dr. F. V. Hay- 
den’s U. S. Geological Surveying party. We found it nec- 
cessary to camp a few miles from the Holy Cross Moun- 
tain, as there was so much fallen timber we could not get 
a pack train over it, although repeated trials were made. 
Each time we were forced to turn our backs to the uncon- 
querable fallen timber and loose rocks and return to camp 
with bruised and foot-sore animals. In fact there was 
searcely a horse or mule in our outfit that was not the worse 
e 
. Mr. H- 


for wear. Many of the men also suffered from hard krocks, 
and to add to our discomforts, it rained steadily for nearly 
two days. Finally a party was made up to ascend the Holy 
Cross Mountain at all hazards. Those who intended clim- 
bing the mountain selected the best animals in our herd, 
strapped a pair of blankets, poncho, and a few provisions 
behind their saddles, and set out for the mountain, When 
leaving camp they thought they could reach the mountain 
top in a single day, but when they had been out two days 
one of their party came to camp with a woe-be-gone look, 
and said, ‘‘Bill! have you got any bread baked?” Said 
Bill (our cook) soon emptied the mess boxes of their con- 
tents, and our delighted visitor left us ~vith a full stomach, 
and some bread, a pail of baked beans, and a smiling coun- 
tenance. That night he reached his famishing party, and 
there was a merry making at timber line on the mountain. 
They reached camp the next night, having completed their 
work on the mountain top. Our provisions were becom- 
ing low, so the writer and our hunter concluded to kill some 
game or catch some fish. I had heard several buck elks 
‘“‘whistle” on a mountain side near camp, so we concluded 
to try them first. We found many fresh trails, but the 
noise made by the bells of the ‘‘bell mares” and the shout- 
ing of the packers had scared away all the game. We re- 
turned to camp with a few grouse, (Zetrao obscurus,) deter- 
mined to try our luck the next day in another quarter. 
Early-the next morning we saddled our horses, took part of 
our bedding, some provisions, some dry tea, (we were 
out of sugar,) a piece of bacon, some bread, two tin cups, 
and a large stout iron gray pack horse, which we promised 
to load with meat, fish or fowl. After leaving camp we 
descended a steep hill, about two miles from our starting 
paint, and having made our way through numerous beaver 
dams, camped in among some huge boulders, which entire- 
ly concealed ourselves and animals from the outer world. 
When searching for aplace to camp we started two deer and 
abear. We only heard them break cover, but after hun- 
ting up their trails, found we had frightened away two 
does and one grizzly bear. When our animals were picket- 
ed, we made a fire, and then built. a shelter tent with our 
rubber ponchos and a blanket. By the time our tent was 
completed the fire had ‘‘burned up,” so we poked out some 
coals and brewed our tea over them in the tincups. A few 
pieces of bacon were frizzled over some sharp sticks, which 
were eaten with bread, and with our tea we had a fine 
lunch. The sun was then getting low and my ‘‘pardner” 
remarked ‘‘it is time the deer were coming down from the 
hills to drink, and we may as well get ready to meet them.” 
We repicketed our horses so that they might have better 
feeding, and taking our rifles, (a Ballard and Sharpe,) we 
separated, and set out on a still hunt. My companion fol- 
lowed up the West Fork of the Eagle River, while I went 
down the main river to watch alick. It was sometime 
after dark when we reached camp. When reaching it I re- 
plied, ‘‘What luck?” ‘‘Didn’t see a hoof.” ‘Neither did 
I.” “This will never. do,” said my companion. ‘We 
must try the trout in the river as soon as the sun brings out 
the grasshoppers in the morning.” After supper we turned 
in. At daybreak, the next morning, we made bedding, &c. 
in a pack, which was handed over to ‘‘old gray” for trans- 
portation. In two hours we reached the fishing ground. 
When our animals were attended to and our ‘‘traps’’ made 
snug, we armed ourselves with spruce branches from a 
neighboring tree and commenced a raid on the grasshop- 
pers. As fast as they were captured we put them in an old 
rubber coat sleeve, tied up at one end witha string, from 
the leggings of my companion. We soon had all the bait 
we wanted, and with our willow poles, landed eighty-five 
pounds of trout in three hours. The water of the Eagle 
River is remarkably clear, and the large trout can be easily 
seen before taking the hook. At the point where we were 
fishing the river is not over ten yards wide, although it is 
very deep in many places. 1 landed thirteen large fish on 
a small boulder in the river, and could have easily caught 
others if our hungry men had not been awaiting us at 
camp, which was a long way from our fishing ground. 
The trout caught were large, light-colored, and regularly 
spotted, but only half way up the body from the tail. They 
proved to be excellent eating, and the flesh of some of the 
larger ones was the color of that of the salmon, when 
cooked. We reached camp in the afternoon, and our artist, 
, made a fine drawing of a group of our largest 
fish, which were arranged on a manta. 
eho Bi Us is) Gusunveys 
Dr. Haypen, in charge. 
<p o 


For Forest dnd Stream. 
Ri RB oti @ OPRLUNG IN Je nh Ol DEN WLM E 
AND IN THE PRESENT DA Y—CREED- 
MOOR—ACCURATE SHOOTING, &e. 

HE writer of this can remember very well when per 
cussion caps and cartridges were unknown and flint 
locks alone were used on rifles and shot guns, and many 
a day has he followed his father and his uncle, who were 
famous shots and mighty hunters in their day, in thezback- 
woods of Ohio and Virginia in quest cf deer, turkey, coon, 
squirrels, and ruffed grouse. He has been at western shoot- 
ing matches and hunts, and chased the red fox with old 
men who can remember the Clarks, Lewis’s, Pae’s, Ken- 
tons, and Doddridges of the valley of the Ohio. He has 
sat by the cabin fires and heard the old trappers tell their 
stories of ‘‘hairbreadth ’scapes by flood and field,” of bear 
fights, contests with Indians, and wonderful and fatal shots 
at long distances; but he is satisfied that if these festive 
old sports could break the cerements of their humble 
tombs, and issue forth with their long shooting irons, 

stoekless, and with the obsolete flint locks, they would be 
as much amazed as was Irving’s renowned hero of the 
Catskills when he gathered up the remains of his old mus- 
ket. They never dreamed that rifle shooting could be 
brought to the perfection it has now attained—hitting a 
turkey at two hundred yards, or a deer at three hundred, 
was an event to be talked about fora lifetime. We have 
known famous old rifles named ‘Old Betsy,” ‘Honest 
Lige,” ‘‘Truthful Reuben,” &c. All of them had a mar- 
vellous history. In this day, however, they would be 
worthless except for old iron. If the old rifle shooters 
could have lived to see a Creedmoor or a Wimbledon, they 
would feel as far behind the age in which they hunted and 
shot as the man who had been used only to country wag- 
ons and came suddenly upon a train of cars at full speed. 
That rifle shooting is destined to become a great national 
sport in America there can be but little doubt, and when 
the desire to excel and improve begins to take hold of the 
vigorous and sport-loving people of the west and south we 
will see a great demand for the best guns and shooting ap- 
paratus that can be made. Amateur rifle clubs will be 
formed in every county throughout the forty States and 
Territories of the Union. Literature concerning marks- 
manship, the “butts,” the Forest AND STREAM, will be in 
demand. Grand national and State tournaments will be in- 
augurated, and thousands of competitors will in time an- 
nually contest for superiority, and away yonder in the not 
very distant future we think we see the victorious Ameri- 
can “team” issuing forth with the championship of the 
world on their banners. 
Without disparaging the great achievemcnts of the rep- 
resentatives of other nationalities, or making any invidious 
comparisons, we think we may be allowed to indulge in a 
little egotism, and possibly ‘‘to brag,” to some extent, about 
what we have done on this side of the water, considering 
we have not yet turned the corner of the first century. 
We have made advances in the sciences, arts, agriculture, 
and gunnery, and wherever there has been a demand or a 
need for men, women, children, or things, they have been 
forthcoming. It would be strange, then, if we could not 
produce rifle shooters who shall compete with the best on 
the planet. 
Steamboats were needed to navigate our vast rivers— 
Fulton invented them. Lightning communication was 
called for, and Professor Morse put up the wires. A fast 
sailing yacht was required, and Steers made the ‘‘America.” 
A trotter was wanted, and Flying Dutchman did three 
miles in 7:32, and then came Dexter, who brought the time 
of the Dutchman, which was 2:30 2-3 to the mile, to 2:174, 
eclipsing the world. A racehorse of endurance and speed 
was needed, and that mighty equine hero, the blind stal- 
lion now at Woodburn, Kentucky, appeared in 1855 and ran 
four miles in 7:193, which has never yet been equalled. 
When the chess world became excited Paul Morphy was 
brought to the surface. He sailéd for Europe, and after 
singly defeating the champions of the Old World he played 
five games against twenty-five of the best players that could 
be produced, on five different boards, blindfolded, and 
won the majority of the games. He then challenged 
Staunton, the great Englishman, who intimated that he 
would only play fora stake, and when Morphy was di- 
rected by his friends in New Orleans to offer to play for 
$50,000 a side, or any larger amount that might be agree- 
able, Mr. Staunton declined. 
We have some very big things here besides men and 
women. We have extensive rivers and lakes, mountains 
and valleys, vast trees and high falls, and now we are 
called upon to produce eight marksmen who are to com- 
pete with those vigorous and intelligent sons of Erin who 
bore off the celebrated Elcho Shield from the English and 
Scoteh shooters at Wimbledon. We can but try, and while 
it will be dollars to cents that the gallant Celts will return 
to the ‘‘ould sod” after their match here as victors, still 
we have every confidence that we have the material here 
to make the champion shots of the world. At short range 
shooting, deliberate aim or at the word, or at three-quarter 
inch suspended bullets, the gallery of Mr. Conlin has pro- 
duced the most remarkable marksmen the world has yet 
seen. The shooting of Captains Travers and Paul has been 
surpassed and thrown quite inthe shade. For example, 
Mr. William Hayes made 175 consecutive bulls eyes at 
seventy-five feet. Mr. Hamilton, at the same distance, 
made 354 bulls eyes out of 359 shots; 155 consecutive. He 
made also forty-five consecutive bulls eyes at the ‘‘word 
one,” which is the best ever made at the ‘‘word.” He also 
made forty-one bulls eyes out of forty-five shots, the other 
four shots measuring one and one half inches, string meas- 
ure; besides this, he hit the one and one half inch bulls 
eye five consecutive shots at the word ‘“‘one,” We shall 
send you an article upon the requisites, as we understand 
them, fora good rifleman, rifle shooting in its anatomical 
aspect, and alsé some hints upon preparation an@ training 
for a match. OLD SuHor, 


—A New Haven editor spent last Sunday in Slawson, and 
attended church. When the contribution box came around 
he was ina doze, but on being nudged, hastily explained, 
“T have a pass.”—Danbury News. 
~ a oe 
—‘‘That dog of yourn flew at me this morning and bit 
me on the leg, and I notify you that I intend to shoot it the 
first time I see it.” 
‘The dog is not mad.” 
“Mad! I know he’s not mad. 
mad about? It’s me that’s mad.” 

What has he got to be 
—What is the difference between a loaf o’ bread and a 
loafer born? Onerises inthe dough; the other dozeg in 
the rye. 
